Nahum 1:1-8

“The oracle against Nineveh; the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite: The Lord is a zealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and very angry. The Lord takes vengeance against his foes; he sustains his rage against his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will certainly not allow the wicked to go unpunished. He marches out in the whirlwind and the raging storm; dark storm clouds billow like dust under his feet. He shouts a battle cry against the seaand makes it dry up; he makes all the rivers run dry. Bashan and Carmel wither; the blossom of Lebanon withers. The mountains tremble before him, the hills convulse; the earth is laid waste before him, the world and all its inhabitants are laid waste. No one can withstand his indignation! No one can resist his fierce anger! His wrath is poured out like volcanic fire, boulders are broken up as he approaches. The Lord is good – indeed, he is a fortress in time of distress, and he protects those who seek refuge in him. But with an overwhelming flood he will make a complete end of Nineveh; he will drive his enemies into darkness.”

— ‭‭Nahum‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭8‬‬ 

Nahum and Jonah are the two books that deal with Nineveh. So much of the interpretation of these two books concerns dating. Which one was written first affects our understanding. Most conservative scholars will place Jonah around the lifetime of the prophet (assuming he wrote it). There are good arguments against this, as in not many prophets write their books in the third person. The sequence is then that Jonah went to preach repentance, it “worked,” but not for long. Nahum comes along and announces judgment that is coming regardless of their response. 

If Nahum is first, then scholars put Jonah as written more in the exile period. Nahum announced the fall and destruction of Nineveh, and the Jonah comes later to use the Assyrians as an example of just how great God’s love/compassion is. To a people in exile, wondering about all these foreign oppressors, the author uses their worst historical enemy (and somewhat recent) to let them know that God has forgiveness for even the worst.

Zealous: Also jealous. This is a very human trait, and the NET lists all the ways it’s used. Not often is it in a good context. They describe God as protective of His people and in judging their enemies. 

This type of anger/ wrath is odd to identify, and not typically something we see in descriptions of God. Especially for v. 7 to be focus verse of the day. How can these two things coexist, and not in a salvation conversation. I would think it does go back to His covenant with Israel and His protection of them. He can be angry against those who oppose them. This whole scene though is using human attributes and war imagery to describe a deity. This is very common in ancient near eastern writings. This may be more about how Israel is perceiving their God in relation to those of other nations as opposed to inherent, natural qualities of YHWH.

God is marching and walking on the storm clouds. He is Lord over creation, and this certainly has the imagery of other gods, too. There were storm gods, war gods, etc. These descriptions of YHWH find a home when compared to other civilizations and their gods.

Lots of phrases about his wrath, indignation, and fury against the enemies. Attacking Israel was attacking their god. So yeah, if I wanted protection, I would turn to YHWH. He knows how to lead and help His people. All those who oppose Him will be on the losing end.

Jonah 4:1-11

“This displeased Jonah terribly and he became very angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought would happen when I was in my own country. This is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to Tarshish! – because I knew that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment. So now, Lord, kill me instead, because I would rather die than live!” The Lord said, “Are you really so very angry?” Jonah left the city and sat down east of it. He made a shelter for himself there and sat down under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city. The Lord God appointed a little plant and caused it to grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to rescue him from his misery. Now Jonah was very delighted about the little plant. So God sent a worm at dawn the next day, and it attacked the little plant so that it dried up. When the sun began to shine, God sent a hot east wind. So the sun beat down on Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. So he despaired of life, and said, “I would rather die than live!” God said to Jonah, “Are you really so very angry about the little plant?” And he said, “I am as angry as I could possibly be!” The Lord said, “You were upset about this little plant, something for which you have not worked nor did you do anything to make it grow. It grew up overnight and died the next day. Should I not be even more concerned about Nineveh, this enormous city? There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not know right from wrong, as well as many animals!””

— ‭‭Jonah‬ ‭4‬:‭1‬-‭11‬‬

What exactly displeased Jonah? Final verse of chapter 3 says that God’s response to Ninevehs’ repentance was to relent, not to judge/destroy them. He showed mercy. Jonah is now very angry. 

This is why Jonah is one of the most read minor prophets. Regardless of the historical debates, the narrative itself grabs us. It’s relatability is overwhelming. Emotions are flooding the characters, and they well up in us as well. It’s remarkably simple to place ourselves in the story and ask, “How would I respond?” 

Assyrians are the most feared/ruthless peoples of the day. They have and will be attacking Jonah’s people just like they have done to all the other surrounding nations. So these are national and religious enemies. God promised judgment—Israel would be rescued from even the threat of danger—and now God offers mercy. What do I think when “the worst person or group of people” (of course, in my own opinion) receives mercy?

Of course, the real message of the book of Jonah is that if Assyria can receive mercy, then God may just have enough grace and compassion for others living around Israel or among Israel.

I’m going to go ahead and call Jonah’s bluff. He didn’t go to Nineveh because he knew God would forgive? Maybe. This is the main message of Jonah. God is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger. Jonah knew all of this. So why get angry when God is true to His character??

But I still think Jonah ran away to save his own neck. 

And now Jonah wants to die because he’s so upset?!?! I’ve seen enough complaints on social media about kindness, goodness, and compassion towards certain groups of people that comes close to this. The entitlement is through the roof, but I also know there are hundreds and thousands of faithful, serving people who would sacrifice anything for anyone regardless of background or choices made.

Jonah goes east…never a good direction. Adam and Eve kicked out east. Cain exiled east. Israel exiled to Babylon which is east. East is bad. 

Jonah is illogical. He knows God’s decision. He has described God’s character, but he’s still hoping for some fire and brimstone. Meanwhile, he’s in love with a plant.

Back to “appoint/ordain.” God ordains things throughout the book (from ch. 1, the storm, the fish). Now the plant, the east wind, the worm. He is moving in sovereignty to stir Jonah’s heart.

Jonah complains again about the dead plant and wants to die, allowing God to question his motives.

Haven’t studied enough about the size of Nineveh. 120,000 may be accurate or making some other point. Needs more research. This also relates to Jonah’s three day journey in ch 3. This is obviously a capital city, but cities were built differently and obviously not as big as modern cities. 

There is power in leaving the book open with question. We don’t get Jonah’s response. Did he stop complaining or double down on his position. The book of Jonah is the Prodigal Son story of the OT. There the Father invites the elder son into the party because his love has been constant, and we don’t get the response of the other son. Did he go in, or did he stay outside and sulk?

The point of that passage is the same here…over one sinner who repents there is (and should be) rejoicing. God’s mercy is for all. And before God we all need equal measures of grace and compassion.

Jonah 1:1-17

 “The Lord said to Jonah son of Amittai, “Go immediately to Nineveh, that large capital city, and announce judgment against its people because their wickedness has come to my attention.” Instead, Jonah immediately headed off to Tarshish to escape from the commission of the Lord. He traveled to Joppa and found a merchant ship heading to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard it to go with them to Tarshish far away from the Lord. But the Lord hurled a powerful wind on the sea. Such a violent tempest arose on the sea that the ship threatened to break up! The sailors were so afraid that each cried out to his own god and they flung the ship’s cargo overboard to make the ship lighter. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold below deck, had lain down, and was sound asleep. The ship’s captain approached him and said, “What are you doing asleep? Get up! Cry out to your god! Perhaps your god might take notice of us so that we might not die!” The sailors said to one another, “Come on, let’s cast lots to find out whose fault it is that this disaster has overtaken us.” So they cast lots, and Jonah was singled out. They said to him, “Tell us, whose fault is it that this disaster has overtaken us? What’s your occupation? Where do you come from? What’s your country? And who are your people?” He said to them, “I am a Hebrew! And I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Hearing this, the men became even more afraid and said to him, “What have you done?” (The men said this because they knew that he was trying to escape from the Lord, because he had previously told them.) Because the storm was growing worse and worse, they said to him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea to make the sea quiet down, because I know it’s my fault you are in this severe storm.” Instead, they tried to row back to land, but they were not able to do so because the storm kept growing worse and worse. So they cried out to the Lord, “Oh, please, Lord, don’t let us die on account of this man! Don’t hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood. After all, you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.” So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. The men feared the Lord greatly, and earnestly vowed to offer lavish sacrifices to the Lord.” 17 (2:1) The Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

— ‭‭Jonah‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭17

The story of Jonah is so fascinating, and it’s really the OT equivalent of the Prodigal Son (or Luke 15). Because the point of both passages is whether God’s people will rejoice or sulk when God offers mercy to the worst of sinners. Yet, the grand emotion and shock factor is often restricted in conversation because people first want to debate whether this is historical or not. Or rather, they want to make sure everyone knows Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale/large fish. If you believe otherwise, then you are the worst of sinners and need to repent.

Of course, there are arguments on both sides, and there are counterpoints on both sides. Just because Jesus talked about Jonah in the fish’s belly, this is not a slam dunk argument. It’s a good argument, but it doesn’t seal the deal. Both sides talk about genre and contextual clues about how to read the book, so it depends on who you like to read and who’s more convincing. If you want to believe that it must absolutely be historical or else the Bible is a bunch of lies, that’s fine. If not, have at it. When it comes to intense debates like this, yes, I have thoughts, but when I see scholars—and not just their academic work, but also good, solid Christian men and women—disagree in conclusions, I say, “Ok, let’s move this down the hierarchy of important things to seize doctrinally.” It’s ok to disagree here.

Another important debate is the date of Jonah, or for that matter authorship. Most conservative dating/writings will have this during the life of the prophet, sometime around the reign of Jeroboam II (the key is before Nahum). Others will find this odd, because Nahum is not too long after Jonah lived, and the mercy of God in Jonah then “disappears” or “runs out” and the promised judgment comes in full force. Nahum promises and delivers some serious destruction on Nineveh.

The more progressive/liberal (I honestly don’t know what the point is of using terms like this anymore, because it just seems like enemy markers) approach is to date Jonah much later, like in the exile/post exile period. Then when God promised judgment in Nahum, it happens. But when Israel is wrestling with the character of God post exile (see Malachi), and how they should interact with their surrounding nations, and how God’s sovereignty is still intact, the book of Jonah was written.

Assyria was long gone by then, but they were known as the most ruthless empire when they were around. Sticking hooks up noses. Parading through streets naked. Perhaps I’ll post articles sometimes about their tactics. This is precisely why Jonah would say “Umm, I don’t think my going there would be a great idea. Hard pass.”

Whether the story happened in time of Jonah, or the story was created makes the same point. God is the type of God that offers forgiveness to the most cruel enemy the Jews ever faced in their history to that point. Would His people be willing to continue their mission of being a light to the surrounding nations? 

Some more points from this first chapter: Chapters 1-2 use the word “down” multiple times for Jonah. Hebrew has it more visibly than English. He goes down to Joppa. He goes down into the ship. He sinks into the sea. Pretty soon seaweed is around his head (whether metaphorical or real). It’s fantastic imagery of his rebellion against God.

Multiple times throughout the book, God appoints things: the storm, the fish, the plant, the worm (ch 4). And all these things are way more obedient than Jonah. In fact, whenever we read “the word of the Lord came to a prophet” in the OT, we always hear of the prophet speaking some terrible judgment against someone or doing some crazy stunt. Not Jonah. He runs away. This is absurd, and we want to stay engaged with the text to see what happens and why he has done this.

These sailors would have been somewhat used to storms but nothing like this. Their superstitions led them to Jonah, and even they had more faith at this point. Jonah’s speech is such a lie. I worship YHWH. Yeah. At least, he confessed that much. 

Small debate whether his willingness to be thrown overboard was contrition or more running. It was better to drown than go to Nineveh. 

NET has vowed to offer sacrifices. Not sure these sailors converted to Judaism or anything, and hopefully they waited to reach land before building a fire. But God’s power over the storm clearly showed them whom to fear.

This opening chapter sets the stage for everyone responding to YHWH correctly (even creation), except Jonah. And if I knew the Ninevites, I would probably be in the sea with Jonah,  too. But hopefully by ch 4, I wouldn’t be complaining as much. Hopefully.