Introduction

The overall theological message of the book of Jonah has been debated throughout the centuries. The vast number of themes in Jonah surely contribute to the diversity of the debate. A popular proposal is to read the book of Jonah typologically where Jonah represents the nation of Israel, a nation that resists Gentile inclusion. Alternatively, the typological interpretation can be applied to Christ, as a figure that preached repentance and experienced a type of death and resurrection. Another proposal focuses on the missional aspect of the book. When God calls the church to a mission, the church must listen. Finally, some suggest the overall message of the book is repentance and forgiveness, which is certainly highlighted in chapter 3. All the proposals have merit, but each one falls short of encapsulating the basic overriding theological message of Jonah: God is sovereign. The following analysis explores three major theological themes that support the overall theological message of the book: (1) God is in control of life, (2) God is in control of salvation, and (3) God is in control of His mission.

God Is in Control of Life

The fact that God is in control of life is quickly revealed in the first chapter of Jonah. Jonah announces to the mariners God’s sovereignty by acknowledging God as the Creator who is in control of life by stating, “I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land” (Jon 1:9). ^[1] More specifically, once Jonah disobeys his commission, God hurls a great wind upon the sea (1:4).

Hosea-Jonah, Volume 31: Word Biblical Commentary

God directs the mariners to cast lots and identify the culprit (1:7). God directs the wind to calm once Jonah is thrown overboard, and God directs the fish to swallow Jonah (1:15-17). God is in full control of all the resources of His creation. Douglas Stuart notes that through the tumultuous ups and downs of the first chapter, God “used his sovereignty to rescue a disobedient prophet.”^[2] Stuart is certainly correct. However, God not only rescued Jonah, He also rescued the mariners by using all of creation to accomplish His purposes. An important aspect of the theological messaging of God’s sovereign rescue was the participants’ experience. Alan Jo Hauser observes that Jonah’s experience throughout the first chapter is one of passivity, which is reflected in the meaning of the name, Jonah.^[3] Furthermore, the term fear (יָרֵא) is used three times to describe the mariner’s experience, with the final usage reversing course and turning to worship.^[4] Like so many modern responses to difficult circumstances, while the mariners frantically responded in fear and Jonah responded apathetically, God’s sovereign rescue was in process.

The sovereign control of God over life circumstances continues as Jonah is vomited onto dry land (2:11). God then provides a second chance for Jonah, and Jonah delivers the five-word sermon (2:4). The circumstances orchestrated by God then provide the opportunity for the Ninevites to repent, which they do in force (2:5-8). At this point, God’s sovereign rescue of Jonah has become a platform for another rescue, the Assyrians. Once the people of Nineveh repent, then God relents. However, God is not finished. God has one more potential rescue to orchestrate.

When the Ninevites repent, and God relents, Jonah is angry. The prophet knows that God is merciful, but when His mercy is extended to Jonah’s evil enemy, Jonah is resentful and wishes to die (4:1-3). God now appoints a plant to provide shade for Jonah (4:6). John Walton argues that the plant symbolizes the unmerited grace of God.^[5] God then appoints a worm to attack the plant and the plant withers, which takes away the comfortable shade of God’s grace from Jonah (2:7). Once again, under God’s sovereign control of life’s circumstances, He utilizes His creation to orchestrate a rescue plan. However, the rescue in chapter 4 is not a physical rescue from the belly of a fish, but a spiritual rescue from the darkening of Jonah’s heart. Finally, God’s sovereign control over life’s circumstances is not to be equated with a predetermined outcome that relinquishes responsibility from humanity. The decision to learn the lessons orchestrated by God were the choices of both Jonah and the Ninevites. Unfortunately, the book of Jonah ends with an unanswered question that hints at Jonah’s choice to remain angry. Furthermore, the Assyria people ultimately choose to reject God and return to their evil ways as recorded by the prophet Nahum.^[6]

God Is in Control of Salvation

Jonah confesses at the end of his prayer in chapter 2 that “Salvation belongs to the Lord!” (Jon 2:9). God was in control of delivering the mariners from the storm, Jonah from the belly of the fish, and Nineveh from calamity. In each case, God’s extension of mercy appears to be contingent upon the individuals. God appears to extend mercy and grace because the mariners cried out to God, Jonah prayed to God, and the Ninevites turned from their evil ways. In other words, God’s sovereign control of salvation appears to be conditioned upon the response of the individuals. However, if salvation is conditional, then God’s sovereign control of salvation is undermined. The individuals’ response determines the extent of God’s mercy and grace: humanity controls God.

God’s control over salvation entails both God’s sovereignty and God’s relationality. As Daniel Timmer provides an important summary, God’s “sovereignty is not exercised arbitrarily, but responsibly and responsively, interacting with the moral, or immoral, actions of human beings.”^[7] The application of God’s sovereign relationality to God’s control of salvation is crucial for an appropriate understanding of the message of Jonah. If the reader concludes that God’s salvation is conditioned upon a human response, and that he must simply cry out to God like the sailors, pray a prayer like Jonah, or wear sackcloth and sit in ashes like the king of Nineveh in an attempt to control the salvation of God, the point is completely missed. God did not have to offer salvation to the participants. God’s extension of mercy and grace is not conditioned upon a human response but is determined by God’s sovereign relationality. God could have determined that not responding to sailors’ cries, Jonah’s prayer, and the Ninevites’ repentance was the most gracious and loving response that would have provided the best opportunity for the participants to be reconciled to their Creator. If that had been the case, God’s response in each situation would have been different: humanity does not control God. In short, God is in complete control of salvation through his sovereign relationality; a concept that eventually angered Jonah.

Jonah rejoiced at the end of chapter 2 when God delivered him from certain death. However, when God delivers the Ninevites from certain destruction, “it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry” (Jon 4:1). Jonah then complains to God that he fled from Tarshish because he assumed that God would deliver the Ninevites from destruction (Jon 4:2). The double standard is palpable. As Kevin Youngblood observes, Jonah did not understand the significant implications of his own words at the end of his prayer until after he completed his mission to Nineveh.^[8] Accordingly, the message that arises from God’s activity in the book of Jonah is that His salvation extends beyond the covenant people of Israel to the evil Assyrians to the consternation of Jonah.^[9] God’s control of salvation means He alone chooses how the deliverance occurs, when the deliverance occurs, and, perhaps most importantly, who is offered deliverance.

God Is in Control of His Mission

The overarching theme that God is sovereign not only means that God is in control of life’s circumstances and the how, when, and who of salvation, but that God is also in control of His mission. The key biblical text for God’s mission is the prophet’s prayer in Jonah 4:2, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” Douglas Stuart explains that Jonah’s prayer cited an ancient formula first found in Exodus 34:6, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (cf. Num 14:18; Pss 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Nah 1:3; Neh 9:17).^[10] The language of Exodus 34:6 becomes a central confession throughout the entire Old Testament. For example, Jonah’s phrase, נחם על־הרעה, “relenting from disaster” is also found in Joel 2:13.

The contextual backdrop of the Exodus 34 passage is the Israelites’ worship of the golden calf in Exodus 32. In response to Israel’s idolatry, God extends mercy and grace. The significance of the relationship between Jonan 4:2 and Exodus 34:6 is that, according to Gary Yates, the reference in Jonah is the first time the confession is applied to non-Israelite nation.^[11] Thus, Yates explains that the parallels “demonstrate that Yahweh extends mercy to the nations in response to their repentance in the same way that he does toward Israel.”^[12] The implication is that God’s character is consistent in all times to all people, which has significant missional ramifications.

God is in control of His mission from the beginning of the Old Testament. Genesis begins with creation, moves through the judgment of the flood, and continues with the rebel nations being dispersed by God throughout the earth at Babel (Gen 11:8). According to Michal Heiser, the biblical worldview from the time of the Babel experience onward is “about Israel verse the disinherited nations, and Yahweh versus the corrupt, rebel elohim of those nations.”^[13] Accordingly, the revealing of God’s character of mercy and grace to the non-Israelites ought not to be a surprise in light of God’s covenantal promise to Abraham. God promises Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3 that all the families or tribes will be blessed through the nation of Israel fathered by Abraham. The entire Old Testament is the story of Yahweh reclaiming the disinherited non-Israelite nations. Thus, Youngblood appropriately observes that Yahweh uses Jonah’s escapades as an opportunity to reveal Himself to even the hated Assyrians as part of reclaiming the disinherited nations through God’s chosen people, the nation of Israel.^[14] Isaiah reinforces God’s missional initiative by describing a time when Israel, Egypt, and Assyria all will be recognized as the people of  God (Isa 19:23-24). Without question, God is in complete control of His mission and the Old Testament, and more specifically, Jonah 4:2 reveals the missionary heart of Yahweh, the sovereign God of the universe.

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[1] Unless otherwise noted, all biblical passages referenced are in the English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2008).

[2] Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, vol 31 of Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, 1987), 480.

[3] Alan Jon Hauser, “Jonah: In Pursuit of the Dove,” Journal of Biblical Literature 104, no. 1 (1985): 23.

[4] See further discussion regarding repetition and reversal in Phyllis Trible, Rhetorical Criticism: Context, Method, and the Book of Jonah, ed. Gene M. Tucker, Old Testament Series (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1994), 151.

[5] John H. Walton, “The Object Lesson of Jonah 4:5-7 and the Purpose of the Book of Jonah,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 2 (1992): 57.

[6] See discussion of Nineveh’s relapse in Gary E. Yates, “The Problem of Repentance and Relapse as a Unifying Theme in the Book of the Twelve,” Themelios 41, no. 2 (2016): 259.

[7] Daniel C. Timmer, A Gracious and Compassionate God: Mission, Salvation and Spirituality in the Book of Jonah, ed. D. A. Carson, vol. 26, New Studies in Biblical Theology (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2011), 112.

[8] Kevin J. Youngblood, Jonah: God’s Scandalous Mercy, ed. Daniel I. Block, 2nd ed., Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013), 118–19.

[9] See Gary Yates, “The Literary Structure of the Book of Jonah,” Liberty University, video of lecture, 4:20–4:50, http://learn.liberty.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_622614_1&content_id=_ 39582205_1.

[10] Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, 503.

[11] See Gary Yates, “Jonah and God’s Heart for the Nations,” Liberty University, video of lecture, 3:00–3:30, https://learn.liberty.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_622614_1&content_ id=_39582225_1.

[12] Yates, “The Problem of Repentance,” 258.

[13] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm (Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2015), 115.

[14] Youngblood, Jonah, 88.

Bibliography

• Hauser, Alan Jon. “Jonah: In Pursuit of the Dove.” Journal of Biblical Literature 104, no. 1 (1985): 21–37.
• Heiser, Michael S. The Unseen Realm. Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2015.
• Stuart, Douglas. Hosea-Jonah. Vol. 31 in Word Biblical Commentary. Dallas: Word, 1987.
• Timmer, Daniel C. A Gracious and Compassionate God: Mission, Salvation and Spirituality in the Book of Jonah. Vol. 26 of New Studies in Biblical Theology. Edited by D. A. Carson. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2011.
• Trible, Phyllis. Rhetorical Criticism: Context, Method, and the Book of Jonah. Edited by Gene M. Tucker. Old Testament Series. Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1994.
• Walton, John H. “The Object Lesson of Jonah 4:5-7 and the Purpose of the Book of Jonah.” Bulletin for Biblical Research 2 (1992): 47–57.
• Yates, Gary. “Jonah and God’s Heart for the Nations,” Liberty University, Video Lecture, 3:00–3:30, https://learn.liberty.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp? course_id=  _622614_1&content_ id=_39582225_1.
• ——— . “The Literary Structure of the Book of Jonah.” Liberty University, Video Lecture, 4:20-4:50, http://learn.liberty.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp? course_id=_622614_1&content_id=_39582205_1.
• ——— . “The Problem of Repentance and Relapse as a Unifying Theme in the Book of the Twelve.” Themelios 41, no. 2 (2016): 248–62.
• Youngblood, Kevin J. Jonah: God’s Scandalous Mercy. Edited by Daniel I. Block. 2nd ed. Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2013.