HCC Weekly - March 24th
- rachael6517
- Mar 24
- 2 min read
Pastor David
Jonah is one of the common stories in the Bible that are taught to kids in the United States. The more well-known part is when Jonah is swallowed by a fish.
But the lesser-known part is chapter 4. In this chapter, the Bible records Jonah’s displeasure with God deciding to spare Ninevah after they showed repentance. I’ve always struggled with this part. Why would Jonah want a town that has at least 120,000 people (Jonah 4:11) to be destroyed?
Studying this I’ve found two ideas of why he might be upset.
Jonah worried about his own image as a prophet because he announced the destruction of the Lord on the town of Ninevah. If God changed his mind and didn’t destroy Ninevah then Jonah’s “street cred” as a prophet would be tarnished.
King Jeroboam II was ruling in Israel. He was the 13th king of Israel and he continued on the practices of his predecessors of idol worship. The thought behind all this was that Jonah would be hoping to us Ninevah as an example for Israel. Witnessing Ninevah's destruction, Jonah would have been able to return home and share about the sin of Nineveh and tell Israel that if they didn’t turn back to God, they would face the same consequence, but because of God’s grace and mercy, this was taken from Jonah.
Whatever the reason for Jonah's disapproval, God gave him a lesson in the form of a plant giving shade to Jonah and then later dying due to a worm. The point God made to Jonah is that his investment in Nineveh was very minimal, yet God’s investment was great; so who had more authority to decide what happened to Ninevah? And the bigger message we can take from this is that God cares for the heathen. Israel was seen as God’s chosen people. Yet God made sure that the heathens (in this case the Assyrians) heard the call to repentance. And he made sure they heard it even when his prophet was disobedient in getting that message to them.
This is evidence that John 3:16 rings true. God so loved (not just Israel) the WORLD that he gave his one and only son. So, this morning remember that God loves you and wants a good relationship with you! And let’s take the example of those in Nineveh and repent of any unforgiven sin in our life today as well!
God Bless!