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Jonah and his Whale. Jonah was one of what we usually call the "Minor Prophets" of the Old Testament. Not because the message conveyed by these men was any less important than the "Major Prophets" like Isaiah or Ezekiel but simply because the books as we have them at present are shorter in length. This brief look at the book of Jonah is the first in what is hoped to be an occasional series of short studies on the "Minor Prophets". Jonah is a bit different from the other eleven books. Whilst the other books tell the story of each prophet's message from God, the book of Jonah dwells more on the prophets reaction to the message and his attempts to get away from having to bring it to his enemies. Outline of the book  First Calling - Chapters 1,2   Chapter 1 Jonah Runs   Chapter 2 Jonah prays and is delivered  Second Calling - Chapters 3,4   Chapter 3 Jonah goes to preach   Chapter 4 Jonah complains Who was Jonah? This man Jonah is first mentioned in II Kings 14:23-25. 23"In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years. 24And he did that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin. 25He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath unto the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Jehovah, the God of Israel, which he spake by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher." Note that Gath-hepher was a town of Lower Galilee, about 5 miles from Nazareth (Easton’s Bible Dictionary) and yet in John 7:52, the Pharisees argue "Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet". They didn’t know their own scriptures! We know from above that Jonah had been obviously a faithful and God-fearing man, he is described as a servant of God. Indeed, the message that he was called to bring to Nineveh would only be entrusted to someone that had been faithful to God in the past. Where and When? The action is centred around 780BC before the nation fell to the Assyrians around 722BC. We do not know where Jonah was at the time of his calling to preach to Nineveh but it is possible he was near home in Galilee – around the area later known as Nazereth. This would make sense in that to escape from heading east to the great Assyrian capital, what better than to head west to Tarshish. The Story 1"Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD." Jonah 1:1-3 (KJV) Jonah quite simply didn’t want to go. Why? Firstly, the Assyrians were notorious for there extreme violence. They would not tolerate this Hebrew telling them they were wrong. Put simply, he was afraid – HE WAS AFRAID OF FAILURE. Secondly, Jonah loved Israel and hated Assyria. As we find out later, he did not want God to be merciful to Nineveh, he wanted revenge on his country’s enemy. He knew that the Assyrians’ pride and sinful living would bring God’s wrath upon them sooner or later so why warn them? If he did and they repented, perhaps God would not punish them. What would the Israelites think of him then? HE WAS AFRAID OF SUCCESS. Quite a dilemma. It is often easy to dismiss Jonah as a weak individual who runs away from responsibility – but is this really the case? I think that Jonah was not perhaps as weak as it first seems. 1.He was previously described as the Lord’s servant (II Kings 14:25) 2. When confronted on the ship regarding the storm, he does not go on the defensive but admits that he is trying to run from God. That took guts. I think if we view his position and circumstances closely, we might come to a similar dilemma. He was known as a man of God – delivering the Lord’s Word to the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel. He was being asked to speak out against the biggest and most powerful empire in the world at that time (and indeed is still viewed as a mighty empire even by today’s standards!). This was his country’s biggest enemy - a ferocious and pitiless people. Surely it could not be in God’s plan to forgive them? I think I can pity his plight. I too would have difficulty with this situation. Yet in all the doubt and confusion that must have gone through his mind, Jonah somehow still knows the call of God. He was able to recognise what it was that God wanted even though his own mind said "no, this can't be right". I must admit that I really admire Jonah at this point, not for his reactions or his later complaining to God but simply because he can hear and knows how to recognise the Word of God. Of course we do the same thing today. How often do you feel God telling you to do something which you feel is not really what you want or expect Him to do. Indeed we unconsciously anticipate this by telling God what we think is plan should be! We think of an idea or plan of action that seems good and reasonable. It must therefore by God’s will if it is good and reasonable. So we tell God this. We decide what we will do then pray that God will bless the plan and make it work! To be continued.