Tarshish In The Book Of Jonah

In this essay, I will argue that the book of Jonah illustrates the process God takes to refine the characters of His servants, and how He chooses to work through sinful people to bring about redemption. This process is first exemplified by God’s orchestration of events to redeem Jonah from his disobedience. Secondly, the narrative demonstrates Jonah’s prideful nature, in contrast with the humble nature seen in the Ninevites’ repentance, which kept him from experiencing true, lasting repentance. Lastly, God was able to work to redeem his people, even through Jonah’s imperfect and rebellious attitude. As part of the redemption process, God orchestrated certain events to take place to initiate the process of refining Jonah’s disobedient nature.
At the beginning of Chapter 1, when God first called Jonah to ‘Arise, go to Nineveh. . .and cry against it’ (verse 2), Jonah chose to ‘flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord’ (verse 3), avoiding and running away from the companionship and conviction of the Holy Spirit.
God sent a storm, not for the purpose of destruction, but to lead to the redemption of His servant. We can infer that God was beginning to work on Jonah’s heart during the storm, as the prophet who was not willing to sacrifice his will to follow God’s calling was now inclined to sacrifice his life for the sailors. He realized that ‘for [his] sake this great tempest [was] upon the [sailors]’, and commanded them to ‘cast [him] forth into the sea’ (verse 12). This was the first moment noted in the narrative where Jonah, laying aside his selfish priorities, was willing to give up his comfort—in this case his life—for the well-being of someone else. As they cast Jonah into the water, the ‘Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow [him] up’ (verse 17). This is another instance of God using any means possible to refine the heart of Jonah. It was during the uncomfortable experience in the stomach of this fish that Jonah called out to God, seeking deliverance. During his prayer, Jonah explained his situation in past tense, but then switched to present and future tense saying, ‘I am cast out of thy
sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple’ (Jonah 2:4). Although Jonah fostered a spirit of defiance towards the commands of God, this prayer serves as a testimony to the change God was working in his heart. God honored Jonah’s repentant spirit and caused the fish to ‘[vomit] out Jonah upon the dry land’ (verse 10); but God did not force Jonah to now obey. He simply commanded Jonah once more to go to Nineveh, and this time ‘Jonah arose’ (Jonah 3:2). The process of refinement that God took Jonah through was one of free choice, and one that was a continual journey throughout the rest of the book. Through this experience with the storm and fish, God worked to begin refining Jonah of his disobedience. Jonah’s selfish spirit of justification stood as a hindrance that kept from him experiencing lasting, true repentance, differing largely from the humble, repentant nature adopted by the Ninevites. Jonah cried unto the Ninevites, and they ‘believed God, and proclaimed a fast…from the greatest of them even to the least of them’ (Jonah 3:5). God saw ‘that they turned from their evil way’ (verse 3) and because of their heartfelt repentance, He did not destroy them for their wickedness. As a servant of God, Jonah should have been very glad because of this conversion, but the narrative records that ‘it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry’ (Jonah 4:1). Jonah prayed questioning God for His mercy to the Ninevites, and said that he fled from God’s presence because he knew God was a ‘gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness” (verse 2). This is evidence to the self justification of Jonah. Jonah was not motivated to preach to the Ninevites to provide redemption, but instead he desired their destruction. He did not realize that he was equally as sinful as the Ninevites, and that he was also in need of the mercy of God. Although Jonah had previously repented for his disobedience, this is evidence that his repentance was not thorough, and did not initiate a change in his perspective. God’s second command to Jonah: ‘Arise, go unto Nineveh, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee’ (Jonah 3:2), contrasts directly with His initial command, where He told Jonah to to ‘cry against’ (Jonah 1:2) the people of Nineveh. While preaching, compared to simply crying against someone, you are seeking their redemption from sinfulness, not just warning them of destruction. We can infer that even before Jonah entered into Nineveh, God was working to change his motive for service from a prideful mindset to a humble mindset of seeking redemption. God wanted Jonah to experience a deeper, lasting repentance, but Jonah let his religious sense of superiority keep him from God’s ideal purposes and mission. Through Jonah, a disobedient and prideful prophet, God was able to work for the redemption of sinful sailors and a wicked city. As Jonah was on the boat heading away from God’s calling, he was attended by sailors who were experiencing the consequence of his actions. They knew that he was a follower of the Hebrew God, and asked him to ‘call upon thy God…that we perish not’ (Jonah 1:6). Jonah is not recorded calling upon God from this boat, but the sailors are recorded crying to God saying, ‘O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life. . .for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee’ (verse 14). We can infer from this verse that the sailors realized God’s providence in Jonah’s situation. They cast Jonah into the sea, and the storm stopped. From this experience, the sailors ‘feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows’ (verse 16). Through Jonah’s disobedience, God was able to show His power to sinful sailors and lead them to redemption. This also happened with the Ninevites, as they ‘believed God and proclaimed a fast’ (Jonah 3:5). The Ninevites experienced a humbling repentance, sacrificing their comfort because of heartfelt sorrow for their actions. Even while Jonah, the prophet, came to speak to them for prideful motives, God was able to work through him for their redemption. Through Jonah’s prideful and disobedient actions, God was able to work out His redemptive purposes. The book of Jonah illustrates the journey of refinement that God takes His followers through, and how He works through sinful people to instigate redemption. The narrative showed the orchestration of events that God used to try to open Jonah’s eyes to his own disobedience. It similarly showed his prideful motivation for ministry, and how God was working to help Jonah overcome this mindset. Lastly, this book demonstrates that God was able to use an imperfect prophet like Jonah, despite his rebellious and prideful nature, to initiate redemption in the sailors and Ninevites, and in the process also save Jonah.