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- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Jonah 1-2
I find it interesting that God sent Jonah to preach to Nineveh, a hub of the evil Assyrian Empire. Not only were these not God’s people, they were an enemy of God’s people. Yet God extended them an offer of mercy. We learn later in the story that Jonah resisted his God-given task because he didn’t think the Ninevites deserved God’s mercy. Because of his resistance, however, he found himself also needing that mercy.
Jonah’s prayer for God’s mercy for him is part of the sign of Jonah that points to Jesus. It is a glimpse into our need and God’s plan to meet that need. It declares the truth, “Salvation belongs to the LORD.” (Jonah 2:9c). And the thing about mercy is that it is always a gift of grace; never deserved. The fact that we humans are more willing to extend this gift of grace to some than to others does not make it any more or less deserved. Jonah’s story shows us that God does not do as humans do. He does not show partiality in giving mercy. Whether you are a servant of God in a period of disobedience, an ignorant sailor simply going about your life, or among the most wicked of society, God freely gives salvation to any who humble themselves and turn to Him.
Jonah 3-4
The book of Jonah has a strange ending. It’s odd enough that the book ends abruptly with a rhetorical question from God. The question itself, though, has a strange ending as well. The final phrase of the question and the book is, “as well as many animals” (Jonah 4:11c). Wait, what? What do the animals have to do with anything? Amusingly, those animals took part in Nineveh’s repentant fast – also strange. It makes me think that those animals must be part of the message. So what’s the message?
God used a plant – one of the least significant, or least relational, living things – in His object lesson to Jonah. Animals and people are both a step up in importance from plants. Yet even this humble plant was good and provided Jonah pleasure. Thus, Jonah was angry when this good thing died due to an attack. I’m not sure it’s fair to say that Jonah actually cared for the plant. It’s likely more that he cared about what he lost because of the plant’s death. But that might also be part of the point.
God pointed out that Jonah had nothing invested in that plant. Yet still he recognized it as good and suffered at its loss. God, on the other hand, personally created that plant and every other living thing; His investment is huge. We know from the book of Genesis that God saw all of His creation as good. We also know that all of God’s good creation died due to an attack. So I think the point in God’s rhetorical question, His object lesson, and the entire story of Jonah is that God cares about His creation. He is deeply grieved by the loss of His good work and rightly desires to restore it to Himself. He does not desire that any should perish (2 Pet. 3:9, Ezek. 18:32, 1 Tim. 2:4). And so He extends His grace, mercy, and salvation even to those we don’t think deserve it.