Re-examining Jonah

“Jonah”
What is your first thought when you think of Jonah? Maybe you think of a big fish, or maybe you think of a stormy sea, or just maybe you think of a selfish prophet. Most of us think of a selfish prophet. In fact, this is what we have been taught every since we can remember. Jonah doesn’t have a very good reputation among most believers today. And the reason for this has a lot to do with the way it has been taught for many years. At one point in time, someone’s interpretation stuck! And therefore, you have a “traditional teaching.” Now don’t take this in the wrong way, I’m not trying to rock your boat, I just want you to examine the character of Jonah for who he really was.
Was Jonah selfish? What about prideful? Allow me to explain. Jonah knew God very well and was extremely close to God, much closer than most of us have been taught. Jonah had such a tight knit relationship to God that God would ask Jonah to go to Nineveh and proclaim a message that would not come to pass! Let us examine the text; we do know from the book of Jonah that God was not going to fulfill the prophecy that he was commanding Jonah to speak (Jonah 4:2).
Why would this anger Jonah? Why would Jonah flee? Why does Jonah say, “Please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live” (4:3)? After all, he had already attempted suicide, by means of assistance, at the hands of foreign sailors (1:12). This totally destroys the traditional teaching that Jonah was running because he “hated” foreigners. If Jonah was such a “hater,” then why, during the first century, did the Jewish nation consider Jonah to be so great? Here are the words of God in the flesh; “The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a “greater” than Jonah is here” (Luke 11:32).
So, why did Jonah run from God? And why did Jonah say, “That it would be better for him to die that to live?” Five letters my friend, P-R-I-D-E! Let me explain; Jonah knew his duties as a prophet of God (Deut. 18:18). And Jonah knew the way to discern a prophet sent from God and the penalty for being a false prophet (Deut. 18:20). This was a definite deal breaker for Jonah, up to this point he had a successful career as a prophet of God! Yet, in the blink of an eye, Jonah selfishly went the opposite direction when God asked him to deliver a message that he knew would not come to pass. And the lesson from all this is, we need to do what God’s word instructs us to do whether it seems like the logical thing to do or not! If God said it, we must do it!