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| Sperm whale (Physeter microcephalus) illustration by Uko Gorter |
But Jonah arose to flee to
Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship
going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them
to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
*source
of crow miles: https://www.freemaptools.com/how-far-is-it-between.htm
**https://www.timesofisrael.com/stuck-between-israel-and-pa-key-archaeological-site-neglected/
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%20sunflower%20makeover%2045x63.png)
Jonah received His marching
orders on what Yahweh wanted for him to do (Jon 1:1-2). V3 gives Jonah’s
response to the mission at hand,
But Jonah arose to flee.
Now, the immediate question is the location of Jonah’s launchpad: Samaria
(the capital city of Israel)? Gath-Hepher (Jonah’s hometown)? Jerusalem (the capital
city of Judah)? An undisclosed place? We could go around and around in circles
over determining this! Or does it really matter?
In one sense, it doesn’t;
Jonah’s bias was so strong that we learn in the final chapter that he wanted
the Assyrians dead. Jonah would have scooted for Tarshish wherever the word of the
LORD came to him in this matter of going to Nineveh and preaching to the
Assyrians. Going to a foreign land and preaching repentance was unheard of
among the prophets! If we are not careful, our prejudices can cause us to lose
objectivity and sensitivity and be unrighteous in cutting against the grain of God’s
will.
In another sense, it does matter because it helps to explain
the meaning of the puzzling clause, Jonah arose to flee
to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. How was that
possible? This leads to a discussion on the perfections of God and how these
attributes impact God’s children in carrying out His will for His glory throughout
history and in the present. In some sense, Jonah had already blasted off in his
heart as soon as the command came. This comes as no surprise to Yahweh
Jonah taking off in the wrong
direction after receiving his commission illustrates the importance of a
healthy thought-life, thinking about the right things that promote good spiritual
health because of thought preceding behavior: wrong thinking, wrong actions, garbage
in, garbage out. Jonah had such a negative bent toward the Assyrians that it
was forced to the surface by divine intent. Redirecting the rebellious prophet
would require some intense measures by Yahweh to cause Jonah to do some serious
“soul searching” in some very deep and dark places, literally. Unbeknownst to
Jonah, he volunteered for this of his prejudice, his disregard for human life, and
more importantly, his disrespect of Yahweh’s majesty and sovereignty.
The to (Nineveh or Tarshish) and
from the presence of the LORD (Jerusalem) have a spiritual connection. Whatever reason
brought Jonah to Jerusalem; this was where God’s prophet was supposed to be
when the word of the LORD came to Jonah. However, being at the right place
(geographically) doesn’t necessarily equate to the heart being in the right
place spiritually, even though Jonah was a true prophet of God (cf. But Jonah, v2, that
will set things in motion rapidly!).
God has a way of making our
faith choices to obey or disobey, in Jonah’s case, go to Nineveh or flee to
Tarshish, to reveal the present condition of our spirituality before Him!
Immediate obedience is a good sign of spiritual healthiness; conversely, an
area in our life not surrendered to the sovereignty of God is not a good sign
of spiritual vitality. It plagues us and does not produce the peaceable fruit
of righteousness. Those unyielded areas do not necessarily disqualify us for
service. From our perspective, Jonah thinking that there was something
worth disobeying Yahweh over is a disqualifier for this mission to Nineveh.
From God’s point of view, He
does not see things as we do (Isa 55:9). If we were in charge, who would send someone to
preach repentance to a people that person had a death wish for!? But that is
precisely what Yahweh did! Yahweh wanted to save tens of thousands as well as
address Jonah’s ill feelings toward the Assyrians. God was giving Jonah an opportunity
to adjust his attitude before the LORD. We learn in chapter four that willful sin is an ugly business.
When you think about it,
salvation is going from the darkness and unfathomably ugly to the light and
something staggeringly beautiful. Hoisting the white flag in every unconquered
area of the heart must happen before the first and second commands can be an
encompassing reality in spiritual life. It is so easy to amen this, but very
difficult to apply consistently, once you transition from the ideal to the
reality. We are commanded to love the LORD with the totality of our being and
our neighbors as ourselves. This is treating the truth like an action verb.
It’s impossible to go total when there are bastions of flesh within the heart
that are refusing to surrender.
For our love for Him to be holy
unto God, it must obey all commands out of a heart of love (agape).
Obedience is the reflection of a love for the glory of God. Disobedience
reveals there is a love problem. Any area of the heart that is not subject to
God’s right to rule is in need of surrender. Carnal strongholds of the heart
exacerbate the love for God and others.
As with Jonah, God does the same
for us as believers. He will go to great lengths and cut across the grain of
human reasoning to get us where we belong in His eyes. It is an ongoing
process that is uncomfortable and painful at times in progressive
sanctification or maturing in the faith. Areas of unholiness in our lives can
be spiritually detrimental to our spiritual health as it was for Jonah.
Because Jonah took off for
Tarshish rather than Nineveh, it is prima facie evidence that Jonah had a
strong disagreement with Yahweh. Let’s be blatantly obvious here; Jonah
hightailing it to Tarshish is disobedience to Yahweh, and that is sinful. Whenever
we willingly disobey God (1) there is a love problem (Deut 6:5; cf. Jn 14:15)
and (2), there exists a disagreement (cf.1 Jn 1:9; the verb, confess, in 1 Jn 1:9
means to agree).
It really was no different back
in Old Testament times; to disagree with Yahweh was a sin in the 8th
century B.C., as it is right now in the 21st century A.D. Yahweh, in His infinite wisdom, mercy, and grace, confronts our disagreements with Him one on one. He loves us too much not to do so. Yahweh wants His prophet to have
a right heart alignment with Him (first command) and the people of Nineveh
(second command), but a wrong choice or an out-of-the-will-of-God choice is not
going to make that a reality, nor will it put an end to Yahweh’s aggressive pursuit of his prophet in taking ownership of his responsibility before Him.
Jonah is going to learn
firsthand that running away (fleeing to Tarshish) from his responsibility
(going to Nineveh) will never force Yahweh to seek another more compliant
messenger or allow the Assyrians to self-destruct (Cf. Jon 2:8; this warning is
not only good for Nineveh but for Samaria and Jerusalem who are both guilty of
idolatry and all of its attendant vices). This is simply never going to
happen!
Forcing God to change His plans to fit our narrative is futile because of His attribute of impassibility. Briefly
speaking, it means that nothing can be imposed upon Yahweh by His creation,
with or without coercion. Jesus is the Rock of Ages, but He is not without
feelings. We see this in the NT revelation of the incarnation of Jesus as the
God-Man (cf. Heb 2:17-18; 4:15-16).
Jonah’s next destination after
Jerusalem is mentioned thrice in v3 – Tarshish! Naturally, that location is disputed as well; go
figure. Come to think of it, the Bible is challenged from every imaginable
angle possible by the critics who refuse to believe that the Bible is the final
and supreme authority in all matters of faith and practice!
To give some cartographical orientation to
these cities related to Jonah (except for his hometown in Gath Hepher), consult the map below. I have also found a website
where we can see the calculations as the crow flies. I would not take it as the
gospel, but it provides some perspective from a bird’s point of view, and we know crows are pretty smart avians! <><
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| Click on Map to Enlarge |
As the Crow Flies Data
|
||
From
|
To
|
~crow miles*
|
Temple Mount, Jerusalem
|
Nineveh (within Mosul,
Iraq)
|
551.23
|
**Modern Sebastia/Nablus,
Israel served as the capital city of the northern kingdom under the name of Samaria
in Jonah’s time
|
Nineveh (within Mosul,
Iraq)
|
533.14
|
Gath Hepher, Israel
|
Nineveh (within Mosul,
Iraq)
|
501
|
Temple Mount, Jerusalem
|
Joppa (Jaffa, Israel)
|
34
|
**Modern Sebastia/Nablus,
Israel served as the capital city of the northern kingdom under the name of Samaria
in Jonah’s time
|
Joppa (Jaffa, Israel)
|
30
|
Gath Hepher, Israel
|
Joppa (Jaffa, Israel)
|
58
|
Temple Mount, Jerusalem
|
Tarshish (site unknown,
ancient merchant city of Tartessos, site unknown) selected modern Cadiz,
Spain, a vicinity believed to be near Tarshish in the SW part of Spain
|
2,379
|
Joppa (Jaffa, Israel)
|
Tarshish (site unknown,
ancient merchant city of Tartessos, site unknown) selected modern Cadiz,
Spain, a vicinity believed to be near Tarshish in the SW part of Spain
|
2,346
|
Tarshish (site unknown,
ancient merchant city of Tartessos, site unknown) selected modern Cadiz,
Spain, a vicinity believed to be near Tarshish in the SW part of Spain
|
Nineveh (within Mosul,
Iraq)
|
2,716
|
Gath Hepher, Israel
|
**Modern Sebastia/Nablus,
Israel served as the capital city of the northern kingdom under the name of Samaria
in Jonah’s time
|
33
|
Gath Hepher, Israel
|
Nazareth, Israel
|
3.05
|
Nazareth, Israel
|
Temple Mount, Israel
|
63.83
|
Gath Hepher, Israel
|
Temple Mount, Israel
|
66.71
|
**Modern Sebastia/Nablus,
Israel served as the capital city of the northern kingdom under the name of Samaria
in Jonah’s time
|
Temple Mount, Israel
|
34.4
|
**https://www.timesofisrael.com/stuck-between-israel-and-pa-key-archaeological-site-neglected/
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| To Part 2 |
