So, I read through Jonah. What a crazy story! Well, the part with the whale is a fairly common story, but it's mainly the last chapter that is so intriguing to me.
The first three chapters tell the popular story: God tells Jonah to go to Ninevah, he refuses, running off and getting on a ship. There's a great storm, and the men are forced to throw Jonah overboard. He ends up in the belly of a fish for three days, but when God releases him, Jonah goes to Nineveh and preaches for repentance. Nineveh listens to his message and repents.
The last chapter, however, Jonah is angry that God turns his anger from Nineveh.
"But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, 'Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? This is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.' But the Lord replied, 'Is it right for you to be angry?'" (Jonah 4:1-4)
Wow, how often do we have the same attitude? We pass judgment and we like to think we know who is righteous and who isn't. We would gladly choose who received punishment or blessings from God. But we are mere men, and God is - well, he's God.
Then Jonah goes to place outside of the city and wait to see if anything will happen to them. It's hot, so God gives him a gourd for some shade. But when a worm comes and eats the gourd, Jonah gets angry again and says he's so angry he wants to die.
"But the Lord said, 'You have been concerned about this gourd, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hands from their left - and also many animals?'" (Jonah 4:10-11)
And that's the end of the book. We don't know how Jonah responded, if he ever got over himself, or if was just miserable because God spared the Ninevites.
But again, how often does this happen? We care about worthless things and turn away from our fellow human beings. We get angry over things we can't control. We cry out to God for ourselves while we ourselves our cruel to our neighbor. I don't know what happened to Jonah or his attitude, but I hope we can accept God's will, even if we don't agree with it. I hope we can approach life with a dose of humility, realizing he's in charge and we're not. I hope we can choose to have the same compassion and love that God has.
I read Nahum this morning, and it's also about Nineveh. Nahum's prophecy is against Nineveh, predicting its destruction. Out of curiosity, I looked up the dates that Jonah and Nahum are thought to be written. Jonah is placed somewhere from 786-746 BCE, and Nahum 615-612 BCE. So while Nineveh repents in Jonah, they have done evil again to bring about the prophecies in Nahum.
This echoes the story of Israel - there were many times God warned them, and Israel did repent. But it only lasted for a short while, they soon fell away again, turning to false gods and cruelty. It appears God did this with Nineveh - he delayed destruction when they repented, but Nahum places some serious charges on them (1:14 speaks of idolatry, 3:1-4 of violence and prostitution, 3:19 of "endless cruelty"). While some individuals may have changed when Jonah came, the society as a whole didn't. God is merciful, but he did have to carry out judgment on them.
Proverbs 26:11 says, "As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly." May we have the strength to stay away after the first time.
