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It's an odd thing. When I was growing up we all knew the story of Jonah and the Fish. (Yeah, that's right. We were told at the outset that "this was no whale". Fish.) We knew it. We saw the connection of "in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights" and Jesus in the grave for that time. Yeah, yeah, okay. Fun story and all. But did it really mean anything? I mean, did you get anything out of it?

It is, after all, a bit of a strange story, even without the whole fish-swallowing-a-man component. First you have a prophet who figures the best course of action when God spoke was ... "Run!!!" Why? Then you have this guy who travels to a foreign city and calls on them to repent ... and they do! Why? And finally you have a wonderfully successful prophet -- I mean, the people he warned to repent did -- who is mad at God for it. Why?? Very, very strange.

Recently, however, I've been getting some interesting things out of Jonah and I thought I'd take a few days to share some with you. Maybe you might see something interesting there, too.

Okay, so if you don't know the story, go read it. It's a short book. Not difficult. I'll wait ...

The first question that came to my mind the first time I heard this story (the first question I can recall) was "Why?" Why did Jonah, a prophet, run? What made him think that was a good idea? Or, from the other perspective, what made him think choosing a course different from God's clear instructions was better than following them? Well, I suspect you'll find the answer ... in the cross reference.

We only have one other reference to Jonah (besides those New Testament references). In 2Kings we find that Jonah was a prophet in Israel (northern kingdom ... bad, bad kings) during Jereboam II's reign. There we learn that Jonah was an accurate prophet (very important for the job of prophet). Back then Jereboam II "restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher" (2 Kings 14:25). So, Jonah said their land would be restored and it was! Well, that's good, right? You'd think so, except for two factors. First, it was Jereboam, who "did evil in the sight of the LORD" (2 Kings 14:24). Oh, that's not so good. And the other factor was that, while God did right by Israel, there was no hint of repentance. So, here we have God's prophet declaring good things, good things that actually occurred, but obtaining as an outcome a restored kingdom credited to a bad king and no repentance.

So God comes knocking again. "Jonah, I have another job for you. Go to Ninevah and tell them to repent." Oh, yeah, that will work. His own people didn't repent even though he promised good things from God. Now God wants him to go to Ninevah, one of the most wicked, most vicious cities in the Assyrian empire, and tell them bad things? When put in those terms, I can see why Jonah might have run.

Then jump to the end of the story. As it turns out, Ninevah actually does repent. But instead of being happy about it, Jonah goes and pouts. Why? I'd suggest the same precursor. His own people didn't repent. Now there is repentance on the part of the heathen Ninevah. As it turns out, while Ninevah was slated by God to be destroyed immediately for their sin, historically they ended up lasting another century and a half. What was Jonah's problem? The same one we see in ourselves too often. "Why do good things happen to bad people?" Why did Israel get restoration without repentance? Why did Ninevah get repentance at all? That's not fair!

May I suggest that in your dealings with God you do not go there? We humans have a horrible sense of fair when it comes to God and His dealings. It didn't work for Jonah. It won't work for you. A valuable lesson from the guy who got eaten by a fish.

"'Winging It" from Stan Smith

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