Having grown up in church, I always looked forward to Sunday School where I could hear Bible stories. Stories like the Nativity, David and Goliath, and, of course, Jonah and the Whale were my “go to” stories. Frankly, the story of Jonah and the whale is one of the most well-known stories in all of Scripture. Re-reading about Jonah recently gave me new insights.
Most people know the basics of Jonah’s story: He was an Israelite prophet who God commanded to go to the city of Nineveh, a very wicked city, and warn it of God’s coming judgment, giving all who lived there a chance to repent before God destroyed their city. But that’s not what Jonah wanted. He wanted judgment, not mercy, to fall on the Ninevites, so he refused God’s command to go to Nineveh and fled on a ship.
God, knowing all along what Jonah was doing, sent a violent storm. The ship’s sailors, knowing Jonah was the cause of God’s wrath, threw him overboard, where he was swallowed by a giant fish. For three days, Jonah remained in the beast’s belly until it spit him out on dry land. That’s when Jonah repented, went to Nineveh, where the people believed God, turned from their violence, and were spared from divine judgment. It’s been documented many times in history where people have lived inside a whale and spit out. After that experience, I would have repented, too.
Research shows that Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire — a military superpower in Jonah’s day and Israel’s mortal enemy. It was a polytheistic culture, with many different gods that were worshipped. One of those gods was named Oannes, described as a man-like being with a fish’s head and tail who comes out of the water to teach people divine wisdom.
It’s plausible that Jonah was received by the Ninevites because he initially appeared as Oannes (a man-like being with a fish’s head and tail) coming out of the sea to share wisdom. But at some point the Ninevites must have realized this is the real God revealing Himself, shedding wisdom and telling them that if they don’t repent, God will destroy them in judgment. This is a perfect example of how free will and God’s sovereignty beautifully co-exist.
It’s true Jonah was running from God, but he was never outside of God’s sovereignty. “God knew from the very beginning that Jonah was going to be swallowed by a fish, and he was going to spend three days and three nights inside the fish, which would be a prophetic sign for the Messiah,” Carlos Erazo says (Blaze Media).
“The whole process of him rebelling and running away from God and eventually repenting and obeying God, God knew He was going to use that testimony, that story, that experience, and eventually He was going to use all of that for the people to hear the gospel. … With God, no detail is ever wasted,” Erazo beams.
Jonah 1:7 “Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”
Tagged: Bible stories, Christmas
