Biblical Theology of Jonah 1

Yes, I’m back in Jonah 1 again!

What happens if we take the view that Jonah represents Israel?

We see Jonah called to preach God’s mercy to the nations, to Assyria in particular. He refuses. Much as Israel has been called to be a light to the nations but has taken that on with reluctance, to say the least. Jonah 1 holds up a mirror to the nation of Israel, and challenges her to be a light to the nations, a light to her enemies.

Israel would reply to that, with some justification, that such a move would be suicide. But Jonah 1 shows that this is not, in fact, suicide at all. Jonah was only engulfed by the sea (often representing the nations in the Old Testament) because he did not take the gospel to the nations. Had Jonah gone to Nineveh when God asked him to, this would not have happened. Assyria will only swamp Israel if Israel continues to be stubborn about her role as light to the nations. If, instead, Israel reaches out to the nations she’ll be spared – it’s not suicide after all.

As we know, Israel doesn’t do this. Therefore Israel is thrown into the sea at the exile. Even at this point, she cannot avoid reaching out to the nations with God’s mercy. As with Jonah, this is so at two points. 1. When Jonah goes to the sea, he causes the pagan sailors to worship the LORD who made the sea and the dry land. So Israel, in her exile, brings fear of the LORD to the pagans – see Daniel and Esther. 2. Once brought back to land, Jonah goes to Nineveh as he was asked and brings light to the nations. So when the exile ends (Matthew 1), the new, true Israel brings salvation to the ends of the earth.

The problem is that, even at this point, ethnic Israel does not want to seek and to save the lost. So they kill the servant of the Lord, the one God has appointed to bring light to the nations.

Why is Jesus, the faithful servant, killed? (After all, Mark 4 gives us a contrast to Jonah 1. In Mark 4, another Hebrew is asleep in a boat, when a storm threatens to engulf them all, and seasoned sailors think they will drown. This Hebrew commands the waves to be still; he does not need to be fed to the sea.) Looking at Jonah 1, we might think that he was stricken by God and afflicted. Yet Israel should instead see that he was pierced for her transgressions.

And so, as representative of stubborn Israel, Jesus too is thrown into the sea. Like Jonah, like Israel in her exile, this again becomes the occasion for reaching out to the nations of the world. Again, this is so at two points. 1. In the sea, as he dies on the cross, he bore the sin of many. 2. Once he’s brought back to land, in his resurrection, he is given all authority in heaven and on earth so that all nations can be discipled.

“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” (Matthew 12:40-41)