Jonah Warning Nineveh

 

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Part One:

 

http://open.salon.com/blog/monte_canfield/2009/06/17/hell_no_i_wont_go_jonah_first_of_three_posts#post_comments

Part Two:

http://open.salon.com/blog/monte_canfield/2009/06/18/hell_no_i_wont_go_jonah_part_two_of_three

 

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When I began this short series I pointed out that, while we know little about Jonah, one thing we know is that Jonah was an insider and that the book was written by an insider for insiders.  Today's insiders who read this short book are modern Christians and Jews.  That is not to say that there is nothing to learn if you are not an insider. There is much for "outsiders" to learn, including much of that is painful for insiders to hear.  Yet the lessons for insiders should be heeded by modern insiders because we are still not listening very well after 2700 years.

Unlike many of the wandering prophets we read about in the Bible, Jonah was very much an insider prophet, a prophet in service to the King and listened to by those in power.  Jonah was a royal prophet.  He was more powerful than a modern day bishop or church leader who is seldom listened to by the prevailing powers that be.  But Jonah had credentials that only a prophet in a theocracy sitting near the throne of power could have.  

And, to top that off, he was first and foremost, a prophet of God.  He was God's ultimate insider, set apart for the sole duty of being the mouthpiece for God. As God's prophet he had God's ear and was God's personal spokesman.  When he started an oracle with, "Thus says the Lord," people listened.  People in power who could make God's wishes happen if they heeded Jonah listened.

But Jonah comes off very poorly in this book.  He is hardly the prophet that God would have him be.  He is vain, disobedient, stubborn, self centered, self righteous, arrogant and bitter.  And, ironically, in this book it is not Jonah, the insider, who comes off well in our eyes, but the outsiders.  It is the outsiders who look good to us, and, in the end, they also look good to God.

There are two groups of insiders highlighted in the story: first, the sailors and their captain; and, second, the Ninevites and their king.

 I imagine that the sailors were a rugged bunch of individuals, having little sociologically in common with one another, coming from different places, worshiping different gods, trying to make a living in a dangerous occupation.  That is one thing they have in common: a dangerous, difficult, hard, low paying vocation.

And they all know the sea and respect the danger of a storm at sea.  When one comes they know what they must do: they pray to their individual gods and then they take action.  They are none of them Israelites, the "people of God" that Jonah is familiar with.  Like the Ninevites they represent the people of "the world," far from the "people of God," purely outsiders, and worse, pagans, worshiping other gods. 

To Jonah all of these outsiders, sailors and Ninevites, are anathema.

But the major purpose of the Book of Jonah is to shock insiders into seeing that these outsiders are people who do the things that insiders are supposed to do, and often do not actually do.  They exhibit characteristics that insiders associate only with other insiders, as if moral values and an awareness of God were a monopoly owned by insiders.

The sailors are humane.  They risk their lives trying to row the boat to shore and to save the ship and Jonah.  They are pious.  When faced with danger they turn first to prayer and then to action.  They are practical.  When disaster strikes they work, shoulder to shoulder, together, to do what they can.  They do not easily give up.

And, they are open to theological growth!  When, at the height of the storm they learn about the true God from Jonah, unlike Jonah, they pray to his God and offer to Him their sacrifices. Meanwhile, Jonah, the prophet of this God, sleeps and does not take the time to pray to the God he claims to worship. 

Jonah is willing to tell them about his God, but it does not occur to Jonah to pray to God even during the height of the storm.  He doesn't even pray on his own behalf, and certainly utters not a word on theirs.

The story wants insiders to be very uncomfortable.  We insiders are supposed to identify with Jonah, a fellow insider.  But we have a deeper sense of what is right and we know that we actually identify with the outsiders.  We want to think that we would act like the outsiders, not like Jonah.

What is happening here is that the writer wants insiders, those of us who see ourselves as "God's people," to reevaluate our attitudes and prejudices toward "outsiders," those that we would never normally see as "people of God."  Perhaps it might help us to remember that centuries later St. John would write: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son..."  John did not write, "For God so loved insiders...." 

Turning to Nineveh, we see the Israelites calling her a whore of a city.  Jonah hated Nineveh with all his passion, yet there is no indication that, up to now, Jonah had ever set foot in it.  But, spit safely onto the beach by the whale, Jonah is given by God a second chance to go to Nineveh and see for himself.  And this time, with great reluctance, Jonah goes to the whore, Nineveh.

And, miracles of miracles, he preaches the imminent destruction of the city and the whore listens!  And the murderous King of Nineveh hears and takes action.  The Ninevites respond with mourning.  The King himself sits in sack cloth and ashes.  He calls for a fast, one extending to even the animals as well as the people.  And the irony is that even the King has no clue whether any of this will help and avoid the destruction of the city by God.

One of the great ironic statements in the Bible or in any other literature, is the King's "Who knows?  God may relent and change His mind; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we do not perish." 

The King does not presume to know if God will have mercy and turn from his righteous wrath.  This outsider, this leader of  the city known as the whore, throws himself and his city on the mercy of God.  He knows all too well of the sins of his city, but, like the captain of the ship, his overriding concern is for the salvation of his people.  And he intuits what Jonah claims to know and even once prayed, "Deliverance belongs to the Lord."

And the city is "overthrown" all right.  But not as Jonah expected.  God changes his mind and does not consume it with His wrath.  It is overthrown by the repentance of its people, and by the love of God for these lowly "outsiders."  They are precious in God's sight.

Who besides the Ninevites care that God repents of his righteous anger?  Certainly Jonah, this prophet of God, cares, but he does not see this as a good thing.  Rather he is enraged.  And he walks out of the city, turning his back on this miracle of repentance and love.  He tells himself that God should have destroyed this city of whoredom, which by every standard of justice, and yes, vengeance, should be destroyed.

Jonah, this prophet of God, this insider of insiders, hated what happened to the city and he was furious with God.  He hated that the God to whom he sang while in the belly of the fish, "Deliverance belongs to the Lord," would have the nerve to deliver THEM!

This story insists that insiders, those of us within our churches and synagogues, who think of ourselves as God's "own" people, reevaluate how we feel about and act toward all of those "outsiders" we hold morally  inferior to us.  It is past time that we recognize that God cares about and loves  all the peoples of the world, not just Christians and Jews.

This story speaks a sharp word of criticism against a people who prefer the safety of their own groups.  It calls them to be about the tasks to which God calls them. It warns insiders against the danger of forgetting that we are ambassadors, givers, healers, friends and neighbors, participating in reconciling the world to God.

To me this story says that we who think of ourselves as "insiders" must, in our lives and by our actions, open ourselves to serve and to love all others, in a world filled with "outsiders."  And then, "Who knows?"  Perhaps God might spare US a thought, and be pleased by the compassion of those who claim to be His people.   


Monte

 

 

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The Book of Jonah, Chapter One

1:1  Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, 2  "Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me." 3  But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.

4  But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. 5  Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. 6  The captain came and said to him, "What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish." 7  The sailors said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.

8  Then they said to him, "Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?" 9  "I am a Hebrew," he replied. "I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." 10  Then the men were even more afraid, and said to him, "What is this that you have done!" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them so. 11  Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?" For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. 12  He said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you."

13  Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. 14  Then they cried out to the LORD, "Please, O LORD, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man's life. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood; for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you." 15  So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. 16  Then the men feared the LORD even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.

17  But the LORD provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

The Book of Jonah, Chapter Two

2:1  Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 2  saying, "I called to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3  You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4  Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look again upon your holy temple?' 5  The waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head 6  at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the Pit, O LORD my God.

7  As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8  Those who worship vain idols forsake their true loyalty. 9  But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the LORD!"

10  Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.

The Book of Jonah, Chapter Three

3:1  The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2  "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." 3  So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across.

4  Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" 5  And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. 6  When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7  Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. 8  Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. 9  Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish."

10  When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

The Book of Jonah, Chapter Four, Final Chapter

4:1  But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. 2  He prayed to the LORD and said, "O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. 3  And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."

4  And the LORD said, "Is it right for you to be angry?" 5  Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city. 6  The LORD God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. 7  But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. 8  When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, "It is better for me to die than to live." 9  But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?" And he said, "Yes, angry enough to die."

10  Then the LORD said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11  And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?"
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