Jonah Bible Study

Session 1: God is Calling (1:1-3)

Opening Prayer

Father, it is all too easy for us to become complacent and comfortable. We love your gifts but too often ignore you, the Giver. We confess that such a smug faith is really no faith at all. Just as you called Jonah to an uncomfortable assignment when you sent him to Nineveh, you likewise seek to stir our hearts into action. As we begin our study of this prophetic book, enliven our faith by your Holy Spirit so that we respond anew to your call with the words, "Here am I. Send me!" (Is 6:8). We ask this in the name of Jesus, Amen.

Synopsis of the Theme

God sometimes calls his people to assignments that are not always convenient. In Jonah 1:1-3, he summons Jonah to preach his Word not within the friendly confines of Israel, but to the fierce, pagan Ninevites. How did Jonah answer this call of God? Not with an exuberant, "Here am I, send me!" (Is 6:8), and not even with reluctant "Okay Lord, I guess I should go." Called to speak, Jonah was silent. Called to arise, Jonah went down to Joppa. Called to Nineveh, Jonah got on a boat bound for Tarshish!

Topic for Sharing/Ice Breaker

When did the Lord call you to a difficult task? How did you respond?

Questions: Text

Read Jonah 1:1-3

Why do you think God called Jonah to go to Nineveh?

• As 1:2 indicates, the evil of the Ninevites had come up before Yahweh. He tolerates wickedness from no one, Israelite or Gentile. "For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom 3:22-23). He is "the Judge of all the earth" (Gen 18:25). His law is written on the hearts of all people, and all people are obligated to keep it whether they believe in Yahweh or not (Rom 2:14-16).

• What sort of welcome could Jonah expect to receive in Nineveh?

• The Ninevites were one of the most violent peoples in the ancient Near East. The books of Nahum and Zephaniah emphasize Nineveh's role as the symbol of the Assyrian Empire, the mortal enemy of Israel (cf. Nah 3:1-4; Zeph 2:13-15). The book of Jonah confirms this picture of Nineveh. Its inhabitants are guilty of evil (1:2) while the city's king and administrators command each person to turn away "from his evil way" and the practice of "violence" (3:7-9).

• Why is it significant that Jonah got on a ship bound for Tarshish? What fate did such ships typically meet? See 1 Ki 22:48, Ps 48:7, Is 23:14, Ezek 27:25-26.

• Ships bound for Tarshish were about as secure as the Titanic on her maiden voyage! Tarshish ships are proud, noble structures (Is 2:16), a symbol of everything that is "proud and lifted up" against Yahweh (Is 2:12). They are destined for destruction. Already at the outset of Jonah's scheming to flee from Yahweh, his choice of an escape boat tells us he is doomed to fail!

• What are we to make of a prophet who flees from the command of God?

• Like all of us, Jonah is both saint and sinner at the same time. While he displays sinful behaviors, such as fleeing from God's command (cf. also 3:10-4:1), he also displays faith (see his psalm in chapter 2 and his obedience in 3:3). While his list of sins is long (flight, complaint, frustration, stubbornness, self-pity, mercurial anger, repeated and strenuous wishes for death), he continues to trust that Yahweh, who is "gracious and merciful" (4:2), will be that way toward him. Indeed Yahweh remains committed to Jonah throughout the book.

Questions: Context

Read Jonah 4:1-3

Why did Jonah flee to Tarshish in 1:3?

• Because he knew that if he went to Nineveh and preached to them, God would save them (4:2)! Jonah did not want the Ninevites to be saved, but to be destroyed!

• Why is Jonah's attitude toward the salvation of the Ninevites hypocritical?

• Jonah was unwilling to have Nineveh receive the same Gospel that saved his own life (see 1:17, where God provides a great fish to swallow Jonah and save him from drowning; see also 2:2 where God delivers Jonah from the judgment of Sheol which is the equivalent of hell). The prophet thinks the salvation of these Gentiles is a great evil (4:1). Ironically, Jonah confesses that "salvation belongs to Yahweh" (2:10), yet he is angry over the fact that Yahweh alone decides who will be saved. Jonah can be so duplicitous. He believes one minute and throws a temper tantrum the next!

• How has Jonah's relationship with God changed since chapter 1?

• While Jonah maintained icy silence toward God in chapter 1, here the conflict between Jonah and God erupts into open hostility.

Questions: Mission in the Old Testament

It is commonly assumed that God's salvation in the Old Testament was only for Israel and only in the New Testament was this salvation broadened to include the Gentiles. But God called other Old Testament prophets to go beyond Israel's borders. Read the following passages and describe who God called and how this call demonstrates his love for all people:

Gen 12:1-3

• God calls Abram to leave his family and go to a new land, one which was unfamiliar (" land which I will show you", v. 1), and so required great faith on Abram's part. God's love for all people can be seen in his promise to Abram (v.3). This passage could be considered the "Great Commission" of the Old Testament.

Ex 3:1-14

• God calls Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt and into the Promised Land. However, this salvation is not just for Israel, but also for the nations. In Ex 9:14-16, Moses tells Pharaoh that the purpose of the plagues was not only to punish; they were also meant to demonstrate Yahweh's power over the gods of Egypt so that the Egyptians might come to know Yahweh as the one, true God. This display was successful, for when Israel left Egypt, a mixed multitude went out with them (Ex 12:38).

1 Ki 17:9, Lk 4:25&ndash29

• God called Elijah to the Gentile town of Zarephath in Sidon to take refuge with a widow. When Jesus related this story to those at the synagogue in Nazareth (Lk 4:25-26), the crowd became angry and tried to throw him off the cliff (Lk 4:29) because Jesus implied that in the Old Testament God sometimes found greater faith among the Gentiles than among his own people (cf. Jn 1:11).

Questions: Discussion/Application

Do you think God still speaks to his people today? Does he speak directly, or through means?

• Share a personal experience. God will not call his people to do anything that is contrary to what is written in Scripture (Gal 1:8). We can only be absolutely certain about the will of God when it concerns those things he has chosen to reveal to us in Scripture (2 Tim 3:15-17). There is a difference between inspiring biblical authors to write their books and God's leading in our lives. We value both as his gifts and can be certain that the will of God will never be contrary to the Word of God.

• Should the guilty escape responsibility, as did Nineveh, or should they be punished?

• Evildoers in God's left-hand kingdom (government) are often punished (cf. Rom 13:1-5. But in God's right-hand kingdom (the church) justice stands in tension with mercy, and when the two come into conflict, his mercy always prevails (cf. James 2:13b). Ultimately, it is the intercession of Jesus Christ, who suffered the divine judgment for the sin of all humanity, that fully satisfies God's justice and is the source of his super-abounding mercy (see Rom 5:20). Grace, by definition, cannot be earned or deserved, but is given by God to those who receive it through repentance and faith (see Eph 2:8-9; Tit 3:5).

Closing Prayer

Forgiving Father, you have made all that there is, and your desire is that all people would come into a saving relationship with you, as you demonstrated when you sent Jonah to the pagan city of Nineveh. Fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we are patient and loving when we find ourselves among people who are different from us. Give us courage that we might be bold to speak your Word even when it is uncomfortable, to the end that all people might share in the eternal life that is freely given through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Assignment

Read Jonah 1:4-16

Ask yourself:

1) Even when God in his grace has sought me, how have I dug in my heels, refusing to hear to him?

2) How has this stubbornness caused trouble for others?

3) How was Jonah's sacrifice similar to as well as different from that of Christ's sacrifice on the cross?