Jonah: A Reluctant Missionary

Jonah: A Reluctant Missionary

 Sometimes the prophets of the Lord tried to challenge His wisdom in calling them for divine service (Moses in Ex. 4; Jeremiah in Jer. 1). However, Jonah is the only case in the record of Scripture where a true prophet of the Lord (2 Kin. 14:25) tried hard to thwart the will of God by fleeing from the task that God had given him (1:3). In contrast to Elijah’s obedience to the Lord (1 Kin. 17:8–10), Jonah tried to go as far as he could in the opposite direction from where God had commanded him. Jonah hoped that Nineveh would get just what it deserved. He was afraid that if he announced judgment the people of Nineveh might respond in a manner that would prompt God to change His mind (4:2). So, in an attempt to restrain God from being merciful to his national enemies, Jonah ran away.

 There is something humorous in this account. How could a prophet of God hide from the Creator of the universe? (The location of Tarshish may have been the southeast coast of Spain. In any case it represents the farthest place known to the people of ancient Israel. It is similar to going “to the ends of the earth.”) Yet there is also something frightening here: Were a prophet of the Lord directly to disobey the Sovereign God, he might place not only himself, but others connected with him, in dire jeopardy. Sadly, Jonah was not on a mission of mercy, even if he had achieved his goal. He was, in a way, an antimissionary, namely, one who resisted God’s call to go to the nations. The repetition of the words “from the presence of the Lord” emphasizes Jonah’s attempt to remove himself as far as possible from his service to the Lord.

 When we remember that the people of Israel were not a maritime people, but rather had a great fear of the sea (Ps. 93), we are all the more amazed at Jonah’s risky action. Jonah’s natural aversion to the ocean was overcome by his greater distaste for the thought that Nineveh might escape God’s threatened doom. Thankfully, God did not allow Jonah to succeed, so there is something reassuring here as well. God accomplished His work despite the resistance of His reluctant worker.