Michael-Grams: M-G: 10.15.19 // Some Observations in Jonah 1:3, Part 4 of 4

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.

This was Jonah’s cognitive dissonance; Yahweh was sending him to Nineveh to preach repentance to those he hated and wished were dead! God expected for him to travel the ~551 crow miles to Nineveh, not 4.9 times that distance of ~2,716 to Tarshish; that was his plan anyway. What makes Jonah unique among the prophets of God are two. (1) He is the only prophet to refuse God’s commission, and (2) He is the only prophet to go into a foreign land and preach repentance. So, from Jerusalem,

He went down to Joppa

Down is a literal reference to elevation, not a spiritual digression though there was certainly that in the heart of Yahweh’s prophet. In Jerusalem, Jonah was at 2,582 feet above sea level. According to Unger, Joppa was the only harbor between Mt Carmel and Egypt.1

Joppa

When Jonah arrived in Joppa, it didn’t appear that Jonah was looking for any ship leaving port. He was looking specifically for a certain ship – and found a ship going to Tarshish. This ship was probably Phoenician and larger for cargo capacity, powered by wind and oars (cf. Jon 1:13).

It could be that he already had this place in mind as he was heading down to the seaport. When we are on the lam and it seems like smooth sailing and serendipitous events are happening, it should put us on high alert that there is a storm heading our way.

It is ironic that something similar happened in New Testament times. Remember when Simon Peter was in Joppa staying with Simon the tanner for a time (Act 9:43; 10:6), conducting missionary work. While he was there, the Lord instructed him to go to Caesarea, ~34 miles north up the coastline, to the home of Cornelius, a Roman centurion.

Naturally, Peter, being a Jew, knew that mixing with Gentiles was taboo for the Jews. He was reluctant at first, of course, because this Roman centurion was a Gentile. The Holy Spirit, however, told Peter to go to his house anyway (Acts 10:19-20; 11:12). I love the tearing down of artificial divides; Cornelius became one of the first Gentiles to be converted after hearing the gospel by Peter since Pentecost (Acts 10:47-48; 11:17-18)!

Here is what I find interesting about Joppa. Jonah was only in Joppa to find a ship for Tarshish, avoiding the salvation of Gentiles by way of water; Peter was based in Joppa sharing the Gospel, and the Lord has him going to Caesarea to share the good news with Gentiles by way of land. Though it is true, Peter was not in Joppa for that purpose originally to preach to the Gentiles, and the events are obviously centuries apart.

Have you ever overlooked the obvious? There is a truth in Jonah that can slip by unnoticed because whenever you hear the name Jonah, that which usually comes to mind is the whale, right? We can allow it to dominate the mental landscape. It was literally a miraculous event, not fabricated. But I do think that it is worth mentioning the emotional drain that results from willful disobedience. I will point some out here and there along the way, but if you decide to look for it, read between the lines; it is all over the place.

Flee

Imagine how disturbing it must have been for Jonah upon receiving his commission to go to Nineveh and preach repentance. I can see the gaping jaw and the astonished look. It is stunning how quickly his prejudice towards the Assyrians became visible with his adverse reaction to his commission by Yahweh! Now, this invisible seed of hatred for the Assyrians burgeoned forth in plain sight of the reader – But Jonah.

That flee is going to cause him a great deal of stress that started as soon as he made that defective decision to go to Tarshish instead. The primary meaning of the verb flee is to bolt suddenly; it is a gut reaction to something as if surprised or startled. He must have booked it to the coastal town of Joppa, NW of Jerusalem, ~33 crow miles to the coast. Obviously, Jonah wasn’t hanging around Jerusalem to find out what was next!

What Jonah doesn’t know is the “next” is going to meet with him in the Mediterranean basin. He was stressed going to Joppa; he was going to remain stressed out on his voyage because that is the way it is when we run from the will of God. His worldview is about to flip.

Incidentally, how would these mariners interpret Jonah’s answer that He was running from his God (Jon 1:10)? We do not know, but I imagine (I am not suggesting that it is true by any means) that these men may have had a hardy laugh at Jonah’s expense, “Who hasn’t run from their gods or women at one time or another,” as they patted this embarrassed prophet on the back! These men were heathen, but this crew seemed to be comprised of good, honest, seafaring men who were likable, brave, and valued human life (cf. Jon 1:11-15).

Fare

By the time Jonah arrived at Joppa, he was mentally and physically spent already. Prior to boarding, He paid the fare. How much money have we spent out of the will of God…? When the storm came up out at sea, he was in a coma below deck (1:5). The loss of fellowship, peace, blessings, time, energy, and money are just some of the ways in which disobedience pays off! R.G. Lee said it well in his famous sermon, Pay Day Someday, on 1 Kings 21, “The devil always pays in counterfeit bills.”

Satan wants believers to run from God’s will, hello! Satan definitely didn’t want Jonah in Nineveh either! Could we go so far as to say, that when we run from God, we are doing the devil’s work? Hmm. Jonah volunteered for those losses; it is no different from us today.

The story of Jonah is about an individual who disagrees with Yahweh and runs from His will; in some sense, he is a type of both the northern and southern kingdoms who were running from God’s will, and terribly mistaken in their theology that Yahweh loves only the Jews and hates the Gentiles! They never got that idea from the Scriptures, by the way!

If we obey, we are blessed; if we are disobedient, we are inviting problems into our life that could have been avoided. Jonah is fixing to find that out in a tough way as robust as his stubbornness! Historically, Samaria will ultimately fall in 722 B.C. by the Assyrians, and Jerusalem will finally succumb to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. Sin has consequences. This is no game!

Jonah can be a story of us if we are dodging God’s will when it doesn’t fit our narrative or opinion, as if that will change the course of events. It didn’t with Jonah; we are no different. Jonah is one of a host of biblical characters that Paul has made an indirect reference to in Rom 15:4. We simply cannot pick and choose what we want to obey and ignore those things in the Word that doesn’t fit our narrative. That, too, has consequences.

There is no doubt about it in my mind; Jonah thought that the Assyrians deserved to be destroyed; God, however, sought to provide them an opportunity for redemption with Jonah’s preaching! Jonah was mentally distraught over this. We will see in chapter four that he fulfills the letter of the commission but not the spirit of it while his cognitive dissonance resonates in his brain in Nineveh.

If Jonah had kept his heart in check (Prov 4:23), all of this expended emotional energy in the book of Jonah could have been avoided. Are we taking this to heart? A whale may not be in our future because we are running from God’s will, but a whale of troubles could be in the forecast if we don’t stop the craziness and head back in the right direction of God’s will.

Whenever we arrogantly think we can govern the world or our little world better than God, we are being arrogant and unwise, not to mention, stupid, too! Allow me to paraphrase something Billy Graham once said about disobedience, “We can avoid 90% of all our problems if we would just obey the Scriptures” or in Jonah’s case, the word of the LORD (same thing).

It would be presumptuous to think that God in the OT was not interested in the thought-life of His prophets or His people because ungodly thinking leads to ungodly behavior; the thinking prior to the running from God’s will is ungodly thinking leading to ungodly behavior. It was then; it is now.

Yahweh is eternally immutable which means He is the same God of the OT, NT, and today. Man’s heart is the same throughout the ages (cf. Jer 17:9) which is why the Bible always remains relevant in any economy. Jonah teaches us what not to do (cf. Rom 15:4).

Here is the scariest spiritual place to be for a believer, in my opinion. We find it in Jonah. He willfully allowed his racial hatred of the Assyrians to break fellowship with Yahweh over it! It is analogous to trading peace for war! What value do we place on our fellowship with Yahweh? Is exchanging treasure for trash really a rational, loving move?

Take note of David’s dreary testimony of disobeying God,

(Psa 32:3, GNB) When I did not confess my sins, I was worn out from crying all day long.

(Psa 32:4, GNB) Day and night you punished me, LORD; my strength was completely drained, as moisture is dried up by the summer heat.

Disobedience exacts a hefty amount of emotional energy, yes? Yahweh loved the Assyrians in spite of their sins that He was willing to send His prophet to preach repentance who personally wanted every living thing in Nineveh dead! It was a mission of mercy and grace for the Assyrians but also for His wayward prophet (cf. Heb 12:11).

I can imagine Jonah wanting the Assyrians dedicated to destruction like it was with Jericho in Joshua’s day. From God’s point of view, according to Peter under inspiration, the Lord is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance (2 Pet 3:9). But all who refuse to come to repentance, they will perish… <><