Into the Sea

Jonah 1:11-17
11 Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. 14 Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 17And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah's fate is sealed as he is cast into the sea. The sailors have tried valiantly to save his life, having come to the conclusion that he is indeed the source of God's wrath. In the midst of this terrifying event, the sailors are actually saved as they learn how to cry out to the living God. One can only imagine the conversations that followed between them after Jonah has been tossed overboard and the sea immediately ceases its raging. There are several commentators who support the idea that Jonah is so filled with hatred for Nineveh that he would rather died than see them saved. His own words bear that out in chapter 4. While it may appear that he is being self-sacrificing so that the sailors may be saved, that might be an over statement of his largess. Jonah’s proposal appears to be a noble gesture of self-sacrifice by one who recognizes his own role in bringing calamity upon others. But there appears to be a straight line between Jonah’s “deep sleep,” in 1:5–6, his request to be cast into the sea in 1:12, and his prayers for death in 4:3, 8.

If we adopt this interpretation, it follows that Yahweh’s creation of the storm was not intended to kill anyone, although it certainly threatened to do so. Rather, it was intended to prompt Jonah to carry out his prophetic assignment. Yahweh doesn’t want Jonah to die; he wants Jonah to preach! Seeing the storm, Jonah shows contempt for his own life. He would rather die than carry out Yahweh’s commission to go to Nineveh. Put another way, Jonah does not want to die to his theological worldview and be transformed into a missionary to Nineveh (as will happen in chapter 2 and 3:1–4); instead, Jonah opts for death by drowning. He reckons that it is better for him to die than endure the consequences of the Gospel (as he says outright in 4:3, 8). Edwin Good confirms this understanding when he writes: “Perhaps we must see Jonah’s offer not as a sudden burst of generosity but as his perception that death might yet be a way out of his frightful mission.”
Lessing, R. R. (2007). Jonah (p. 131). St. Louis, MO: CPH.

Jonah is the only person in the narrative who has such a cheap view of life that he seeks death. He does not value his own life, nor does he value the Ninevites, whose lives would be preserved when they would repent and believe in God because of Jonahs preaching. These positive actions of the mariners stand in stark contrast with the behavior of Jonah. They have been thrown into a life-threatening storm through no fault of their own. They have lost their cargo. Yet they still seek to save the life of the man responsible for all the chaos. The sailors are models of true forgiveness.

Here we find the irony of Jonah's story in full force. The "man of God" that he was supposed to be hides out from his calling and actually hates the people he has been called to serve. Those who are supposedly pagan are the ones who act with the most love and forgiveness.

Jesus came into the world to be soundly rejected by His own people. But those who embraced Him found a life of love and forgiveness that remains today and into forever. Even though Jonah gets it wrong, his story reminds of us of Jesus at almost every word.

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