Jonah 2

Introduction

If you were a child in the ANE and you were misbehaving, your infuriated parent would look you in the eye and with a wagging finger would say: “You better behave yourself or the Tahanine will get you.”

Before a child could sleep it would ask, a frazzled parent to check the Tahanine wasn’t in the cupboard or under the bed.

But if you were an Assyrian child who lived in the suburbs of the city of Nineveh, you wouldn’t be worried about the cupboard or under the bed, for you knew the Tahanine lives in the water. If you want to be safe, keep your eyes on the shadow beneath the waves.

For in ANE the belief was that the Tahanine was huge monster the lived in the sea. For the Assyrians their fear belonged to children and adults alike. It was a fear of danger, of chaos, of lack of control, and in attempt to tame it they had turned to worship it, and they called it the god – [..]

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Fascinatingly, the Bible doesn’t deny the sea contains great sea monsters, but it does playfully jibe at the fears of the surrounding nations, by saying in [Gen 1] the sea monster you fear is no more than another creature within the created bio sphere of the planet under the power of God.

And in Jonah this idea that God controls even sea monsters expressed again in chapter [1:17].

¹⁷ Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Some ancient translations still say ‘dragon’ or ‘monster’ to emphasise the nature of this creature, the but the word ‘fish’ in our translation is helpful, because it reminds us that for Yahweh even the monster the breaths terror for the surrounding nations is nothing but a gold fish in the bowl of the creator.

Yet that said, this sea monster, this great creature, this fish – is still as a dangerous as the nations of the the ANE feared. And we left chapter 1, with Jonah not merely in its jaws but trapped in its stomach.

What we are about to look at is the trauma reflections of a believer.

The scribbled notes in the form of poem, that depict a human being who is trying to process a belief that there is a creator God who knows his name and hears his prayers and yet a creator God who permits his people to suffer and, in this case, face an unimaginable experience that will shape his mind, body and even spirituality for the rest of his life.

Structure

1. The nature of the suffering
2. A good example of suffering
3. A caution whilst suffering

Point 1: The nature of suffering

[Jonah disobedient and running away]

Note that the suffering he experiences in chapter 2 isn’t punishment. No one in the ANE would have blinked if Jonah had drowned.

But he doesn’t - he survives, and more than that – Jonah is rescued by miracle – how many sailors do you know have been rescued by sea-life?

For those of you old enough to remember, this is the original idea behind Lassie.

Jonah's suffering is real, but it is more to do with the discomfort of the life-boat rather than one of those stories of a survivor clinging on to life for days on the ocean as they pray to be rescued.

It is important to note that Jonah's suffering is whilst being held in a smelly, but necessary survival hug from God.

Lightening application – if you are suffering right now, whatever reason that might be, it's not that God is torturing you because he is cruel.

We do need to address the elephant (or should I saw whale) in the room. Did this really happen?

Fair question – because even for the Bible, this is pretty out there.

But I think the evidence suggests it is.

Firstly, because though strange it is not inconceivable that someone could be swallowed by a sea creature.

After all, occasionally it makes it into the newspapers, like when lobster diver Michael Packard was swallowed whole by a humpback whale.

Secondly, the text as we will see switches clearly from narrative to poetry, and the swallowing by a great creature is clearly presented [1:17, 2:1, 2:10] as something that actually happened.

Thirdly, as I mentioned, the god who was top of the league for Assyrians to worship was Ishta the goddess of the sea, who came in the form of a great sea creature..

So in chapter 3 when Jonah’s message goes viral across Nineveh, it is most likely because they were convinced he really was swallowed by Ishta and amazingly the God of the Bible forced his freedom.

So this is a real event, a real trauma, for a real worshipper of God.

Jonah genuinely believes that he has hit rock bottom, [7], ‘my life was ebbing away’

The reference [1:17] to ‘three days and three nights’ is also found in [Esther 4:16, 1 Sam 30:12], and it is a Hebraic expression to denote a period of suffering and testing. This means that Jonah’s suffering is meant to be understood as a time grow this man but not to utterly destroy him.

Again, there’s a helpful application here if you’re a believer

Application to mature believer

Point 2: A good example in suffering

So when we’re in the midst of suffering what can we learn that will help us?

Firstly, note that Jonah is convinced that God is still in control. In [3] he recognises that he is there because allowed him to be, and in [6] he believes that God will rescue him from the situation.

There is lots more we can say about this, and no doubt this area of God’s involvement in our suffering is often one of the hardest to understand, but the headline of this theology is that regardless of how uncomfortable you may feel about it, it will keep you afloat in a storm way better than the alternative.

For what do you say to the person who [...] –

• God didn’t know?
• God knew but was powerless to help?

Or that from your perspective it feels like chaos and disaster, but from God’s perspective there is a plan, and it is for your ultimate good.

Secondly, he is convinced that even in the depths of the ocean – and for an ANE person, that is the equivalent loneliness of being cut loose without a radio in outer space – where no one can hear you scream!

In that vast loneliness, in the permanent black. Jonah is convinced God can hear your voice and he knows that it is you, [2:1,2:7].

But most fascinatingly, Jonah in distress does what any wise believer does in crisis, they draw from the ‘in case of emergency break glass’ store house of their quiet times, their sermon notes and those doodled caligraphied Bible verses in the cover of your Bible – and he clings on to them like a driftwood in the aftermath of the Titanic.

His whole poem is a patch work of Bible verses stitched together.

Isn’t that interesting. In his deepest crisis he has no words of his own so he does exactly what scripture is for, he uses the very words of his heavenly father.

I:10-year-old Willie Myrick  

It goes to show parents the investment in helping our children to learn scripture is not wasted. It is a treasury more important than their university fund. For they may not be an academic but they will one day be in their equivalent of the belly of great fish.

It goes to show that failing to:

• invest daily,
• in the small moments,
• in reading your Bible,
• in soaking in the word of God at church,

makes you vulnerable because the storm is coming.

Point 3: A caution whilst suffering

There are two types of suffering:

1. Suffering as a consequence of your mistakes
2. Suffering that is not your fault

It is a serious error to get the category wrong. That’s exactly what Jonah does.

Jonah is very much in category 1 but he thinks it’s not his fault.

Mistaking which category your suffering is in is significant. And if you’re not sure then do come and speak to me, Ralph, Ponch at the end, we’d love to talk to you about this.

But let me apply this to those of us who struggle with the same thing as Jonah  - a self-blindness where you cannot see that your suffering is consequence of your sin.

Jonah demonstrates two attitudes that we should be cautious of in ourselves.

Firstly, it's never you -

Note that throughout the poem, there is no reference to why he is in this situation

• No mention of running away
• No mention of disobedience
• No mention of his prejudice

Only [9] gives a hint, of acknowledgement that he once made a vow of obedience and that he will now see that through.

Facinatingly, the Bible has much to say about the importance of confession of sin, of apologising to God, a contrite heart, a humble repentance.

And Jonah knows his Bible well, if we look only at the Psalms he quotes from, he could have also pulled in verses like:

[102:10] because of your great wrath,
   for you have taken me up and thrown me aside.

[69:5] You, God, know my folly;
   my guilt is not hidden from you.

[103:10] he does not treat us as our sins deserve
   or repay us according to our iniquities.

But he doesn’t because he thinks he’s suffering, but he doesn’t think it has anything to do with his own heart.

This is made clear in chapter 4, where Jonah is mad again with God for his generosity to the Assyrians.

[Mike]

Secondly,  it’s always someone else’s fault -

I am often slightly suspicious when some flags some bad thing that has happened to them, or a criticism that they have noted, and they don’t even have the slightest hesitation or perception that they may have been involved, may have contributed, may not see everything with 20/20 vision. Because all of us have blindspots, and Jonah’s blindspot is that his assumption is that other people are unrighteous and deserving of judgement (the people of Nineveh) but not him.

But in [8-9] he does it again.

[8-9] have puzzled scholars because this talk of ‘idol worshippers’ doesn’t seem to fit.

The logical of the flow is:

[7] I’m in a bad way but I’m doing the right thing by being prayerful.

[8] There are idol worshippers who are doing a bad thing.

[9] I’m doing a good thing by worshipping God properly.

Where did that come from?

Unless of course you link it to the only explicit mentioning of idol worship in the book so far – and that is in [4,6] when the sailors pray to their false idols in the midst of the storm.

Do you see what’s happening here?

Jonah is in the midst of crisis because of his own foolishness, but his focus at the climax of his poem, is ‘Praise God I’m not like the idol worshipping maritime numbnuts.’

Close

So what will God do with this grumpy, self aggrandizing, racially discriminatory prophet?

He rescues him and gives him new life.

Throughout chapters 1 and 2 the fish has been described using male language gender markers, but in [10] the word ‘fish’ switches to feminine.

Why? To create a picture of a mother birthing new life, as Jonah is rescued from death to life.

Don’t be distracted by the word ‘vomit’ the sentiment is meant to be “wow that’s beautiful!”

You see, rescued from certain death by miracle is a repeated image throughout the Bible:

The rebellious Israelites coming through the Red Sea.

Jonah, the wayward prophet coming through the fish to safety.

But most significantly, Jesus comes through death itself to rise on third day, not only for his own sake but so that self absorbed hypocrites like you and me can gifted eternal life.

If you are uncomfortable with God’s generosity to Jonah then you are uncomfortable with God’s grace to all of us.

Application 1: Get baptised.

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