A Devotion from D.A. Spurgeon
1 Chronicles 17; James 4; Jonah 1; Luke 6
REGARDLESS OF WHEN THE BOOK OF Jonah was written, Jonah himself can be located with fair accuracy.
According to 2 Kings 14:25, Jonah son of Amittai was a prophet from Gath Hepher who
predicted the military successes of King Jeroboam II (about 793 to 753 B.C.). If one were to play
a game and ask what verbal link comes to mind when the word Jonah is uttered, probably most
people would reply, “big fish” or “whale” or the like. Yet we should not forget that the big fish
occupies textual interest for precisely three verses—three out of forty-eight. The comment of
G. Campbell Morgan is still appropriate: “Men have looked so hard at the great fish that they
have failed to see the great God.”
The greatness of God is highlighted by Jonah’s twin confessions (1:9; 4:2). Here we reflect
on the first: “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and
the land” (1:9).
(1) From our perspective, as from Jonah’s, this confesses that God made everything, that he
is the Sovereign Lord over the entire universe. Probably the pagan sailors did not understand
quite so much. For them, the gods have various domains. If this Hebrew claims that the God
from whom he is fleeing is the Creator of the sea (whatever else he made), for them the claim
would gain credibility precisely because of the storm.
(2) But for Jonah (and for us), the claim has two other overtones. First: not only has God
made the sea, but everything; and he is in charge of everything. So there is no escaping this
God. Even if Jonah were to find a way to get to shore safely, this God can track him down
anywhere. Jonah painfully recognizes that there is no fleeing from this God—if “the hound of
heaven” is on your trail and resolves that you will not get away. That is why he invites death.
Second: the sheer greatness of God is what makes sense of God’s determination to give the
wicked city of Nineveh an opportunity to turn from its sin. If monotheism is true, if there is but
one God, then in some sense this God must be God of all, not just the God of the covenant
people. This Jonah could not stand. He could see that just over the horizon Assyria would
become a formidable foe of his own people, the people of God—and here is God giving them
ample opportunity to repent.
(3) From a canonical perspective, here once again is the missionary God—far more
committed to reaching toward “outsiders” than his people are. Here too he prepares the
ground, step by step, for the Great Commission that mandates believers to herald the good
news of Jesus Christ throughout the whole world.