Monday, October 6 – Jonah 3:10-4:3
- Josh Breslaw
- Oct 5
- 2 min read
Jonah is upset that people were saved by God. That’s the headline. But why is Jonah upset? Two possibilities arise given Jonah’s prayer/outburst in verse 2. The first possibility is that God has made Jonah a liar. Jonah knew all along that God was not going to destroy Nineveh, so instead of obeying God, Jonah ran the other way so God could not set Jonah up to fail. In this first possibility, Jonah sees his prophecy as a failure because it did not come true. Never mind that an entire city was spared because Jonah warned them of their destruction. The destruction didn’t happen; Jonah thinks God duped him and made Jonah out to be a liar. So now, Jonah is cranky and mad enough to die.
The second possibility is similar to the first. Jonah knew that God was going to save Nineveh. Jonah wanted no part in saving Nineveh because he actually wanted Nineveh to be destroyed. Jonah did not want to give Nineveh the chance to repent, but now that he spoke the message from God, he was responsible for leading them back to God. And Jonah did not want this because he hates the Ninevites. He thinks the Ninevites do not deserve God’s grace. God’s grace should only be for Israel. It is possible that Jonah did not want the Ninevites to be saved because Jonah thinks he and his people are superior and more worth saving than those evil Ninevites.
No matter the reason, Jonah says he is mad enough to die because God saved Nineveh. And that is 100% the wrong attitude to have. We will continue to discuss Jonah’s ridiculous pity party tomorrow, but for today, know this. Jesus died for all people, and all people deserve a chance to hear the gospel and repent of their sin.
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