Week 5
10/12/2025
Fall 2025
-
Central Passage: Jonah
-
Check out the Middle School Sunday School Resources page for other books of the Bible resources. Note: the Jonah handout will be available eventually.
Contents
Jonah is one of the more well-known minor prophets, despite having little information about him. Furthermore, the book attributed to him contains very little prophecy. Instead, Jonah is a story about a reluctant prophet, bitter and self-righteous to the very end. Several questions arise through a reading of Jonah. What was the message God gave to Jonah, and did Jonah finally preach that message to them in chapter 3? Was Jonah’s prayer a prayer of repentance? Were these Ninevites saved only from disaster and destruction, or were they also saved eternally and grafted into God’s people? Why did Jonah remain bitter?
Jonah’s delivered message to Nineveh is found in Jonah 3:4: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (ESV). God gives Jonah a particular message to preach to the Ninevites, first stated in Jonah 1:1-2 and restated in Jonah 3:1-2. The contents of the message are not directly given, but Jonah 1 contains several clues. First, God’s word comes to Jonah. The preposition “to” is directional. In other words, the word of God directionally comes down to Jonah. God moves toward Jonah, yet Jonah continues to move away from God as the story unfolds.[1] Nevertheless, God’s instructions to Jonah are to “go to Nineveh and prophesy against it, for their evil has come up before me” (Jonah 1:2, italics added).
After being vomited up by the fish and recommissioned to take the same message to Nineveh, Jonah seems to have retained the first part of the message, but the second part appears absent. He does not mention the evil they have committed nor the God whom they have offended.[2] Though not explicitly stated, most prophecies that use disaster as a warning to the wicked also instruct listeners to the proper response. In fact, Jesus’ ministry begins with proclamation and response: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). Lastly, the word Jonah uses, translated in the ESV as “overthrown,” is vague. The range of meaning for this word can indicate a simple change or overthrow. Jonah likely uses this weak, ambiguous word as a reluctant prophet forced to preach to people whom he would rather see receive God’s judgment. However, despite Jonah’s worst effort, the people of Nineveh believed God.
Did the Ninevites Have Saving Faith?
Does the response in Jonah 3 contain a great spiritual awakening in Nineveh? To answer that question, consider the sailors in Jonah 1. Jonah 1:16 says that “the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.” At the start of this scene, a great storm causes each sailor to cry out to their silent, powerless gods while Jonah sleeps in the belly of the boat. After waking the slumbering prophet and casting lots to determine who is responsible for bringing the storm upon them, they ask Jonah several questions. First, they ask why this storm is happening. In other words, what has Jonah done to upset the god causing the storm?[3] Their second question pertains to his occupation. In ancient Near Eastern culture, one’s occupation often revealed the god whom they worshiped as well, so this begins to ask the question of, “Which god is making the sea rage?” This is not to mention that Jonah is a prophet and therefore ought to have a message from God (though they do not know this at the time). Third, they ask “Where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” (Jonah 1:8). The answer to these three questions would further reveal the angry god, for ancients often believed that gods were tied to geographical location/people groups. To his credit, Jonah gives a beautifully orthodox answer, describing who his people are, the god whom he fears, and God’s sovereignty over all creation.[4] After this statement, Jonah consents to being hurled into the sea to spare the sailors. After the sea calms, the men go from fearing a great fear due to the storm (the more wooden translation of Jonah 1:10) to calling upon Yahweh for deliverance and fearing a great fear of Him instead.
The Old Testament word most often used to describe devotion to God is fear. When people follow God, they fear Him. The sailors responded to their holy and proper fear of Yahweh by offering sacrifices and making vows to Him. This passage seems to indicate that God gained new worshipers among the sailors that day. This is the language of saving faith that grafts one into the people of God. So, how does this compare to the Ninevites?
Jonah 3:5 indicates that the Ninevites believed God (ESV). The NASB rightly includes a preposition in this phrase: they “believed in God.” This phrase is used in several places in the Bible to indicate someone believing in a particular message, not necessarily belief in the New Testament sense that constitutes trusting obedience and allegiance.[5] Additionally, they believed God, a very different phrase from the sailors’ fear of Yahweh in Jonah 1:16. They still seem to not know the personal, covenantal name Yahweh, the God who had spoken this message through His prophet. Yet they believe him anyway. Last, their response to believing this message is to fast and put on sackcloth. Though Jonah had left no clear instructions for repentance, the Ninevites responded with a very typical ancient Near Eastern display of mourning and repentance. Sackloth and ashes were physical signs and perpetual signs of their mourning. Especially for a king removing his royal robes, it would be difficult to forget your repentance if you are constantly clothed in these. Their unsure guess in Jonah 3:9 that repentance may cause God to relent from His anger indicates further that Jonah had not given them the proper response and that they did not know the character of Yahweh, who loves giving mercy to repentant sinners (Ezek 18:23).[6]
From this story alone, it may seem like these Ninevites did not receive saving faith. However, Jesus receives the final decision on the matter in Matthew 12:41. Jesus declares that those men of Nineveh who repented at Jonah’s half-hearted preaching will rise up at the judgment to condemn this generation of unrepentant scribes and Pharisees. This does not necessarily mean that the Ninevites (and the queen of the South in Matt 12:42) will actively participate in the judgment. Rather, the Ninevites repented based on very little proclamation of God, yet the Pharisees had received God’s revelation, come face to face with Jesus and His mighty works of the Spirit, and still refused to repent. Therefore, those who repent based on very little will be a condemnation to those who have received the full knowledge of God and still refuse to repent.
However, a few decades later, Nahum would prophesy that Nineveh would be destroyed. By 612 BC, the Medes and Babylonians destroyed the city. This mercy appears to be temporary. The repentance did not continue to future generations. Instead, this one group of Ninevites received mercy, potentially to eternal life if we take Jesus’ words at their fullest meaning. The message is clear: God loves to show mercy, and He often does so based on very little. Yes, the kingdom consists of those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, pursuing God through His word, but there are times when God grafts people into His kingdom based on very little knowledge they may have of Him. However, those who have access to His word and are slow to repent ought to be warned.
Jonah’s Unrepentant Bitterness
Ironically, the Ninevites repented, but Jonah never did. Some attribute Jonah’s prayer in Jonah 2 to be a prayer of repentance that indicates the turning point in Jonah’s rebellious track record so far. However, these are not careful readings of the text. Jonah’s prayer in chapter two contains no confession of sin, only lamentation over his circumstances, a cry out to God for deliverance, and assurance that he will return to the presence of God at his temple. Other commentators have rightly pointed out that Jonah’s prayer is more self-righteous than it is repentant and contrite over his sin.
Afterward, the fish vomits Jonah out onto dry land. This could indicate that God had heard his cries for deliverance, and surely he did. However, this phrasing likely indicates that God had rejected Jonah’s self-righteous, unrepentant prayer. Leviticus also uses this language of vomiting in reference to the promised land vomiting out disobedient and unclean Israelites as a curse against them (Lev 18:28; 20:22). Vomiting often refers to rejection.
So, if Jonah is unrepentant, it is no small wonder that his prophesying throughout Nineveh is so half-hearted and devoid of content. We would be as shocked and embittered as Jonah at the Ninevites' reception and repentance. Imagine the frustration of being a prophet in Israel to a long line of unrepentant kings who consistently reject the word of God through His prophets (cf. 2 Kings 14:23-25). Then, God commands this prophet to go to one of the capital cities of Assyria, the people who invented crucifixion and peeled people’s skin off while they were still alive.[7] And then these cruel people repent. The tragic irony of the story is that Jonah’s countrymen are persistently unrepentant, and so is Jonah—meanwhile, the Ninevites readily listen to God.
So, why would the Ninevites have been so ready to repent? The short answer is that God called them to repentance. There is a longer answer to explain the circumstances that God used to bring them to repentance. Nineveh was politically unstable at this point. They had been experiencing internal revolts while cities declined in wealth in power. The city of Assur, the religious center of Assyria, had even experienced these revolts. Famines had plagued the typically fertile land, and omens had been perceived. Historians have noted that a solar eclipse occurred around the time of Jonah’s ministry, which would have been an omen that the gods were against them. Though their beliefs about gods and omens were false, this at least would have prepared them for a message of judgment. In short, the people are anxious and fearful, and their gods have failed them. But then a foreign man who serves a foreign god comes to town, and this man appears to be a Hebrew, an enemy of Assyria. He is possibly still covered in fish guts and stomach acid, smelling rancid while proclaiming doom and gloom, though he is hesitant to name his god. So the people listen and respond.
But Jonah still doesn’t see the beauty in God’s mercy on display, for Jonah 4:1 informs that it appeared to be exceedingly evil/unjust to Jonah that they would repent, causing him to burn with anger. Jonah even voices that he is angry that God is “merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:2). Yet God provides a plant to shade him from the sun, an ironic act of mercy to an undeserving Jonah. But when He takes the plant away, Jonah would prefer death. God’s patience with Jonah up until this point is unlike anything humans can embody. But now, after Jonah continues to refuse repentance, grieves over God’s righteous character, and acts entitled to the merciful shade that the plant had offered him, God still patiently speaks to Jonah. There is no indication that Jonah ever received God’s rebuke. Though the Ninevites had been driven to despair through their circumstances and received God’s message, Jonah had been driven to despair through his circumstances but never explicitly repented.
This is a story of God’s eager desire to show mercy to those who deserve it the least. God’s desire to give mercy to whom He wills is greater than anyone’s weak efforts to proclaim His word. His view toward those who don’t know Him is well-summarized in Jonah 4:11: he shows mercy even to those who do not know their left from their right. This is a phrase indicating that they have no basic understanding of right and wrong. But God wants to be merciful toward them. He takes more delight in mercy than in the destruction of the wicked. If this were not the case, He never would have poured out His wrath on His Son for us.
This is also a story to condemn self-righteous, entitled (so-called) followers of God. The conclusion is left open, almost naturally assuming that these questions are not simply for Jonah to answer and find resolution. They are also for the reader to ponder. In what ways do we self-righteously assume exclusive entitlement to God’s blessings? How can we replace anger and indignation with godly pity for sinners? Though many of us may not be as bold as Jonah and complain directly against God’s character (Jonah 4:2), we may harbor similar resentment when God gives merciful steadfast love toward those who deserve it the least. This is human nature that carries on to Paul’s day, prompting him to write to the Romans that God is the sovereign potter, and we are His clay to use as He pleases for His glory. Jonah’s bitterness is true to life for a fallen human race that embodies the same stubborn refusal to let God give grace to whom He wills. But doing so is contrary to His story of salvation that once made gracious covenant with a pagan idolator named Abram.
France, R. T. The Gospel According to Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1985.
Fuhr, Richard Alan and Gary E. Yates. The Message of the Twelve: Hearing the Voice of the Minor Prophets. Nashville: B&H Academic, 2016.
Hoyt, Joanna M. Amos, Jonah, & Micah. Evangelical Exegetical Commentary. Edited by H. Wayne House and William D. Barrick. Bellingham: Lexham Academic, 2019.
[1] Jonah moves away from God, both vertically and horizontally throughout the book. He moves horizontally away from the promised land, abandoning his office of prophet, probably thinking that he would be safe from God the further away from Israel and Nineveh he went. He also went to a city, Tarshish, in the opposite direction. Vertically, he continuously moves down until the fish vomits him up onto land. He goes down into the belly of the boat, down into the belly of the fish in the chaotic sea, and down into the depths of Sheol to the roots of the mountains themselves (Jonah 2:2, 6). This all demonstrates that though God’s word had come to Jonah, Jonah moves away from God by his best effort.
[2] Some may assume that Jonah had to have preached more than just what is stated in Jonah 3:4. First, Jonah 3:3 does not indicate that Nineveh is a three-day journey in diameter. Instead, the three-day journey refers to Jonah’s movement throughout the city. He spent three days going throughout the city to sufficiently cover it, proclaiming his message. The statement of a three-day journey informs that Jonah had sufficiently and completely gone throughout the city. Second, the summary of this message, regardless of whether he preached more in some sections than others (though he likely didn’t) is simply the statement in Jonah 3:4. This seems to indicate that Jonah, though still bitter and reluctant to do this job, would more readily oblige going throughout the city for three days preaching only the first part of the message that the city will be overthrown.
[3] Though many translations render their first question similarly to the ESV with “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us,” their question can also be translated, “tell us on what account this evil has come upon us.” They already know Jonah is responsible, so now they are asking for the reason.
[4] Jonah describes Yahweh as “God of heaven.” These sailors were likely Phoenician, with many of them serving Baal Shemam, which means lord of heaven. This phrase is a polemic against this god, for Yahweh is the true lord of heaven. He is sovereign over all gods. Furthermore, Jonah describes Him as the maker of the sea and dry land. This is known as a merism, a phrase that uses two opposites to express totality. Thus, Yahweh is sovereign over all gods and all creation.
[5] Genesis 15:6 indicates that Abraham believed in God, meaning he believed the specific message about what God had promised to him. However, this does not mean that Abraham did not also fear God. This passage simply accounts for Abraham’s belief in what God had promised. His belief seemed to come from a place of fearful obedience, however, since God counted it to him as righteous.
[6] Pagan gods were often fickle and unpredictable. They were more like cruel taskmasters who created humans as slaves to do the work of creation that they did not want to do themselves. Thus, they would only sometimes respond to repentance. The Ninevites assume the same fickle behavior of Yahweh.
[7] Assyrians are well-known for their brutality and merciless warfare. The Annals of Ashurnasirpal depict their love of violence: “With their blood I dyed the mountain red like wool, [and] the rest of them the ravines and torrents of the mountain swallowed. I carried off captives [and] possessions from them. I cut off the heads of their fighters [and] built a tower before their city. I burnt their adolescent boys and girls.”
