TODAY IN THE WORD
The Assyrian empire was one of the most brutal regimes in human history. As one scholar catalogued their cruelty, the Assyrians made pyramids of human heads, left bodies to rot and be ravaged by dogs outside the city gates, and impaled women and children around the city walls when they conquered an area. They were perhaps best known for showing no mercy to their opponents, whether king or infant. The Assyrians had oppressed Israel for decades, finally causing the defeat of the Northern Kingdom in 722 B.C. (see 2 Kings 15-19). Nineveh was their capital, and Jonah had been sent by God to preach there.

Our passage today starts after Jonah’s famous encounter with the great fish. God told Jonah again, “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you” (3:2). Jonah finally obeyed, and his worst nightmare came true: his mission was successful. Nineveh repented, and God relented. Jonah was furious (4:1). His complaint was rooted in the very gracious and loving character of God. The irony is that Jonah had experienced God’s mercy firsthand when he was delivered from the fish, but he was unwilling for his enemies to participate in redemption.

So Jonah pouted. His huffing and puffing is comical in itself, and it’s even more ridiculous given the situation. God gave Jonah an object lesson in compassion, first providing him with a vine for shade and then taking it away. Upon the loss of the vine, Jonah declared that he wanted to die (v. 8). For the second time, God challenged Jonah’s right to be angry, noting that Jonah had more concern about the life of a vine than about an entire city of people created by God. Ultimately, Jonah was concerned only for himself.

Jonah thought that God’s mercy toward the Assyrians was foolish, though he himself had benefited from God’s deliverance. God revealed that Jonah’s resistance to grace demonstrated true foolishness and that His abundant, lavish, incomprehensible love could pour out on anyone who would call on His name.

---

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
In his book, And God Created Laughter, Conrad Hyers observes: “When we look at the figure of Jonah, his self-centeredness and narrow-mindedness, his extreme behavior, his self-contradictions, we laugh at him, and, as we laugh, realize that we are laughing at ourselves.” Jonah challenges us to follow Christ’s command to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (Matt. 5:44). Will we rejoice when a sinner comes to salvation? Or will we pout when our enemies enjoy God’s redemption and blessing?

< Previous Day

Next Day >