Deeper ReflectionIN THIS WEEK LEADING UP TO BLESSING SUNDAY, WE
consider the story of Jonah. This story is well-loved and included in
children’s Bibles everywhere because of the appearance of the great fish
(Jon 1:17)! But it is really not about the fish. In the first three verses of
this masterpiece, the main cast is introduced – the LORD who commands
and Jonah who rejects the command. The book of Jonah
61 is a unique
prophetic book for two reasons. First, it focuses more about the personal
experiences of Jonah, rather than Jonah’s message. This is very different
from all the other Old Testament prophetic books.
62 Second, the prophet
Jonah is portrayed negatively. Biblical scholar Douglas Stuart tells us that
we can boil down the overall message of the book of Jonah to a simple
warning: “Don’t be like Jonah!”
63Jonah was perhaps the original “running man”. Twice in verse 3 it was
mentioned that Jonah sought to run “from the presence of the LORD”.
It was also mentioned twice that Jonah “went
down” (v.3, NAS) – to
Joppa and into the ship that Jonah believed would take him to freedom.
Jonah’s life was indeed rolling
downhill because of his rebellion against
the LORD. Puzzling why Jonah thought that he could escape God (see
Psa 139:7!). Jonah may have believed that if he stayed in Israel, he would
have heard more from God, but if he left, he would have been let off the
hook.
64 Have we ever done the same – shut our ears to God’s voice and
(secretly) told God to leave us alone? There is a bit of Jonah in all of us.
61Located within the collection of the minor prophets in the Old Testament.
62Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah (Dallas: Word, 1987), 431.
63Ibid., 434.
64Ibid., 450.
