Jonah

The story of Jonah is one of the most fascinating stories in the Bible to me. And I'm not saying that because of the giant storm or the big fish or the fish juice that ends up all over the prophet. If you ever just slow down and read the story and try to look at all the things they didn't teach you in Sunday school, it is one of the richest stores in all the Scripture. 

I could write about Jonah for weeks. 

But the scene that I want to touch on for now comes near the end of the book. Jonah has gone to Nineveh and preached God's message of repentance. The people responded immediately and began to change their hearts and minds and turn toward the Lord. Then, we're told, Jonah walked back out of the city (which was a three-day journey across), climbed a hill, and sat to "watch what would happen to the city." 

Engage your sanctified imagination for a second: what do you think he was watching to see? 

He knows - he's known since the very beginning - that God isn't going to destroy the city. The kind of change of heart the people have had is exactly what he was so afraid would happen if he went and preached judgment. And now that he's seeing it with his own eyes, their repentance, he's even more certain. No judgment is coming on Nineveh. 

But do you think he was still kind of hoping anyway? 

Nineveh was the worst of the worst. Nobody wanted to be involved with Nineveh. He couldn't fathom how God could want to be involved with Nineveh. So do you think he was kind of hoping that some kind of destruction was still coming? 

Maybe he was watching to see if they would mess up. That they would build an illegal altar or offer an illegal sacrifice or somehow break the covenantal laws of God in such a way that the Lord would have no choice but to be angry with them again.

Then, He can smite them. And the prophet has a front row seat. 

Maybe he was watching to see them fail. To see them come up against the impossible decision - some stronghold in the city that would have to come down and something maybe they would struggle to tear down. Something that would make them show their true colors and reveal how fake all this repentance nonsense was. 

Maybe he was watching for the moment where he could say that he was right about Nineveh all along. 

I think it's less likely that he was watching to see what would happen to a people who truly turned their lives around. I think it's less likely he was watching to see them succeed. I think it's less likely that he was watching to see something that would change his opinion of Nineveh. 

I do wonder if perhaps a little jealousy was in play. I wonder if Jonah was sitting there thinking about his own life and his own journey with God...and hoping those lousy Ninevites didn't end up getting more of God's favor than he did. Just to make sure God wasn't going to love them more than He loved the prophet....