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| Sperm whale (Physeter microcephalus) illustration by Uko Gorter |
And he said to them, Pick me up
and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know
that this great tempest is because of me (Jon
1:12).
What do you make of this –
[You]
pick me up and throw me into the sea?
He could not jump overboard on his own for that would
be taking his own life. Was this idea driven by the sixth commandment of the
Decalogue, You
shall not murder (Ex 20:13)?
When it comes to suicide, there
have been some hardcore advocates who believe that intentionally dying is
suicide whether by self or others, but failing to differentiate purpose. This stringent
view on suicide would see Jesus giving His life as suicide or Jonah being thrown
overboard as suicide or a soldier falling on a hand grenade and shielding
others from the fragments as suicide.
I don’t agree with this position
that intentionally dying should always be construed as suicide because the
results are the same (Jonah had intentions of dying). We have to consider (1) who is doing the taking of life (self
or others)? and (2) what is the purpose behind it. Regardless of the answer to
those two questions, I agree that they both will result in physical death. The
answer to these two interrogatives will reveal whether this death was a suicide or a
sacrifice for others.
Jesus willingly died on the cross
to provide salvation for all the sons of Adam. His death cannot be deemed a
suicide. Jonah's willingness to be thrown overboard to save the crew cannot be considered
a suicide attempt; his willingness to die was to save lives. His insistence on
the crew owning the solution and casting him overboard rather than taking the
plunge himself could be that he wanted to make sure that he was not guilty of
self-murder and violating the sixth commandment of the Decalogue in some way – You shall not murder (Ex
20:13)? There is no doubt he was under extreme pressure; everybody was feeling
the heat.
The death of a soldier jumping
on top of a hand grenade to shield his fellow comrades cannot be ruled a
suicide either. Volunteering for a suicide mission is better referred to as a
one-way ticket mission or something to that effect. The purpose behind such a
mission is to delay, disrupt, or destroy in order to further the cause and save
lives. Again, who is doing the taking of life, and the purpose behind the dying?
Again, in no way, shape or form, can Jesus’
death be construed as suicide. It would be disrespectful to His holiness and
majesty. People normally see suicide as the epitome of self-centeredness, self-murder, not dying to save others
but bailing out, an inability to cope, et cetera. Committing suicide is not
considered heroic or a noble death; dying for others, however, is viewed altogether differently.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all
acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am
chief (1 Tim 1:15).
The Bible never characterizes
Jesus volunteering to be the propitiation for mankind as suicide, not even
remotely suggesting such a thing. In my humble opinion, had Jonah jumped over
the side of the ship because he believed it would have spared the lives of the
crew, it would still not be construed as suicide in the sense of eliminating
himself for selfish reasons.
I do not think Jonah knew whether being
thrown over the side would work or not; strangely, it did! He was courageous,
heroic, and sacrificial, and though he was running from the will of God which is disappointing and anything but noble, I admired his decision to try and save the crew.
If he wanted to commit suicide in the name of “It’s all about me,” all he had
to do was to continue doing nothing and go on down with the crew and ship.
Nineveh would be the least of his worries.
We will learn from Jonah’s
prayer in the whale that he changed his mind about dying; he was desiring to
live to go to Nineveh! He went overboard to save the crew and experienced death
by drowning, not death by a whale. Intent or purpose is vital in understanding
the difference between immoral suicide and sacrificial death. You can argue the
technicality of the meaning of suicide until the cows come home, but who is
doing the taking of life and the intent for the death are crucial in determining if
such a willingness to die was suicidal or sacrificial, self-hatred, or the
giving up of life so others could live (cf. Mk 10:45; Rom 5:7-8).
Jonah wasn’t being overly
dramatic – Throw me into the sea. You don’t say this kind of thing in front of a Q7 group
- Why have you done this (Jon 1:10a)? Unless you want to end up in the drink! Jonah didn’t know
these guys, and they didn’t know him. In Jonah’s mind, they had every right to
pitch him over; he expected them to do so; but he was wrong. Jonah definitely
possessed a cold streak in him to be sure, or he wouldn’t have been out on The Mediterranean Sea building up crow miles between him and Nineveh, but his
response (Jon 1:12) came out of nowhere. His beef was with the Assyrians, not
the Phoenicians.
I have met men and women who I thought
were devoid of compassion; then there was that element of surprise! We may have
thought that of Jonah in his self-righteous temperament. One of the
characteristics of an SRP is insensitivity toward others. Jonah’s case of
insensitivity was anything but mild! If Yahweh destroyed Nineveh, located in
modern-day Mosul, Iraq, and the surrounding burbs, the death toll could
possibly have reached over a half-million strong, not including livestock
(cf. Jon 4:11).
In v12, Jonah willingly offers a
solution and acknowledges he is the problem; he never broke loose and
apologized. In Jonah’s thinking, offering a solution was the inherent apology.
He is owning it. This is coming from a prophet who wanted Nineveh nuked (or
destroyed, I know I am being anachronistic.)! God is not compelled to employ an
invading army to wreak destruction because of His attributes of omnipotence
(all-powerful) and impassibility (God’s hand cannot be forced by the sons of Adam to
do anything against His will). Recall the cities of the plain in Lot’s day, Abram’s nephew lived there (Gn 13:12;
19:29), the only survivors of the plain were Lot and his two daughters.
Jon 1:12 is really a mixed bag of stuff. Jonah offered a solution unapproved by Yahweh. He had no knowledge of what was coming his way under the surface of the waters. How did he know the sea would become calm once he was thrown overboard? He didn't, but it happened immediately once he was pitched over the side! There is no way he could have known that Yahweh decreed no one was to die in this storm (We know that because they all lived). I seriously doubt that Jonah knew that either. No one died that day or night, not even a whale-drenched and whale-stunk prophet! Satan must have been barred from killing anyone.
Jon 1:12 is really a mixed bag of stuff. Jonah offered a solution unapproved by Yahweh. He had no knowledge of what was coming his way under the surface of the waters. How did he know the sea would become calm once he was thrown overboard? He didn't, but it happened immediately once he was pitched over the side! There is no way he could have known that Yahweh decreed no one was to die in this storm (We know that because they all lived). I seriously doubt that Jonah knew that either. No one died that day or night, not even a whale-drenched and whale-stunk prophet! Satan must have been barred from killing anyone.
There was something in this
verse that was very refreshing,
…[You] pick me up and throw me into the sea…. For I know that
this great tempest is because of me.
Jonah is now confronted by the
futility of his actions. How often do you find a headstrong person like Jonah admitting
he is the root cause, or anyone, for that matter, owning the problem for anything?
Today, accountability is another word for leprosy; no one wants to see it,
smell it, touch it, or be around it. Lie and deny. “Don’t admit to anything,
even if you are guilty!” He realized he put this innocent crew in danger by his
very presence onboard the ship. Jonah was a good man; we see that in the offering
up of himself, owning the problem, and offering a solution.
I am not convinced that Jonah
had an ulterior motive of making sure he didn’t have to go to Nineveh. He
wanted to live just like anybody else which is why he was traveling to
Tarshish. It is rather odd that Jonah didn’t want to be responsible for the
death of innocent people on the ship, but he didn’t view the Assyrians as
innocent, not even the little ones. To him, they were only deserving of death
and destruction. Goodness, we all deserve to die because of our sins, but then
there was God’s grace intervening on our behalf. Julia H. Johnston’s refrain (1911) comes to mind,
Grace,
grace, God’s grace
grace that
will pardon and cleanse within;
grace,
grace, God’s grace,
grace that
is greater than all our sin. <><
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