Angeles Jay Isaac O

TREDTRI N05
The story of Jonah is primarily about how God frowns upon pagan religion. Jonahs story
begins with him running away from the calling of God as God requires him to preach His word
to Nineveh, a pagan town. Jonah then rides a boat headed to Tarshish thus the Lord sent out
strong winds and a violent storm that the ship almost broke that the sailors were already
lightening the load of the ship in order to survive the calamities. They then searched for who may
have caused the disaster, terrified, they ran to Jonah and asked his identity. Later on Jonah told
the sailors in which they were still hesitant but later on threw him off the ship and the sea shall
calm down which the sailors obeyed and so it happened. The Lord then had Jonah swallowed by
a fish wherein he stayed within the belly of the beast for three days and three nights. Within the
belly Jonah prayed to the Lord acknowledging His grace and His mission to preach the word of
God to the citizens of Nineveh. The beast then spat Jonah out on dry land and he headed to
Nineveh announcing that within forty days Nineveh will be overthrown. As soon as the word
reached the king he ordered this people to repent and turn into a new leaf to which God has
shown mercy and forgiveness upon them. Jonah was very angry about this for he thought that he
believed that God would destroy Nineveh for their ways but rather He showed His mercy. Jonah
prayed to the Lord that he would rather die than see Nineveh live. Jonah then took shelter outside
the city where God provided him a tree for shade and overnight He provided a worm to chew the
roots of the tree and even sent scorching winds as the suns heat blaze on Jonah. Under great
discomfort Jonah prayed to the Lord that he would rather die than suffer but the Lord believed
otherwise. The Lord believes that every life is important and as long as an individual is breathing
his life shall not be deprived of him.

Examining the Book of Jonah, it can be observed that he suffered a lot and moreover he
has been placed in grave situations such as the calamity in the sea, living within the belly of a
fish, going to Nineveh (which was believed to be a city of Assyrians who are seen as violent and
barbaric), and lastly his experience while awaiting the destruction of Nineveh. To which all
implies that God will put us out of our comfort zones in order to nurture us with his grace. Just
like Jonah, God believes that His love can and will work through us no matter how hard it would
be. God believes that deep down inside His beloved creations there is kindness that will in which
we should find goodness and mercy.
A commentary proposed by Ray Stedman (n.d.), that Jonah is a charm for bad luck. That
of all the people that can be chosen to proclaim the message of God it was him that was chosen.
To the point of running away from his divine calling he found himself in the middle of a natural
calamity only to be swallowed by a fish live inside for three days and three nights and then be
spitted out walk to Nineveh and see his disappointment of his threat to overthrow Nineveh in
shambles because of Gods mercy and forgiveness. Although it is still a mystery on why did the
king of Nineveh quickly obeyed and not took Jonah for granted, it is probably because of Jonahs
appearance while preaching the word of God. Surely being swallowed alive by a fish and living
within it for three days and three nights will take a toll to the body and so it might have in
Jonahs case and the people of Nineveh upon seeing this took Jonah, himself, as the evidence of
Gods grace thus the turn into a new leaf. In a separate commentary by Mark Kirkpatrick (n.d.)
wherein he took notice of the significance of Jonahs stay within the belly of the fish for three
days and three nights which are the same period of time that the Son of God, Jesus, is to be
resurrected. In addition Kirkpatrick also pointed out Gods unselfish love towards His people that
rather than sparing the life of all the inhabitants on Nineveh Hed rather save them for turning

back from their old ways even though Jonah thought that it was just proper that Nineveh was
destroyed for he thought that the people there deserved the punishment.
Just like Jonah I believe that some point in our lives, God will appeal to us in different
ways. In such a manner that no matter how far we run from it we will still keep finding ourselves
in the same corner where God has always been waiting for us. We may not like it, it may be too
hard for us to handle but God has always believed in us the way we believe in Him. Thus no
matter what He throws against us we must take it the other way around and consider it as a
blessing, a living testament where God has yet again proved his love for mankind.

References:
Kirkpatrick,

M.,

(n.d.),

The

Man

Who

Disagreed

With

God,

retrieved

from:

http://www.easyenglish.info/bible-commentary/jonah-lbw.htm
Stedman,

R.,

(n.d.),

Jonah:

The

Reluctant

Ambassador,

https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/stedman_ray/Adv_Jon/Adv_Jon.cfm

retrieved

from: