Jonah's name means "dove" in Hebrew. I've been thinking about Biblical names and how God used even the NAMES which mothers and fathers (of their own free will) choose for their children to dictate His divine destiny for these characters. Sometimes God told people what their childrens' names would be, especially if they were born only with God's divine aid (Jesus is a prime example, but also: John the Baptist, Ishmael, and probably others I can't recall at the moment).
The book of Jonah is often misunderstood because of Jonah's rebellion from preaching the message of God's love to the city of Ninevah. But Jonah's rebellion is more realistically credible (but keep in mind, rebelling against God never ends up well!) when one considers the historical context. The "Ninevites" were Assyrians, the ruling empire of the time. These people make Nazi Germany look, dare I say, tame. Some of the gruesome things they did to inspire fear was to chop off a certain body part from every captive that they conquered. An ear, a hand, an eye--did it matter? These people sacrificed their children as THANK offerings, their evil seemed unchecked. And God told Jonah to preach the gospel to these people, though Jonah knew that they would repent and God would be merciful. And he hated that mercy, because Jonah probably believed that such mercy was saved only for the circumcised, the people of the promise--but he failed to see that the covenant (from the beginning) was of those circumcised of the heart, not of the flesh, or the blood that flows through one's veins.
Historical context, check.
Jonah flees the presence of the Lord, and takes a boat in the opposite direction. He manages to sleep through a storm (like Jesus), and when he confesses to the other sailors--"I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land" the other men were "terrified" (Jonah 1:9-10 NIV). Jonah also told them that he was "running away from the LORD" (Jonah 1:10). Jonah also confesses the remedy for their vital situation--for the innocent sailors to cast the rebel into the sea. This type of self-sacrifice resembles Jesus' act of obedience on the cross, but in the reverse. Though Jesus gave Himself up to save sinners, He was innocent, and the people who cast Him into the earth were guilty.
Anyways, though Jonah may have wanted to end his life rather than preach the gospel to a people he hated (as seen in his reaction to the Assyrians' positive response of repentance in Chapter 4), God wouldn't have such suicide notions indulged. Instead, "the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights" (Jonah 1:17). This is a 3-fold miracle, in my opinion. First, God sent/commanded/provided (I like "provided" of the NIV) the fish. Secondly, God provided a fish to swallow Jonah. Thirdly, God preserved Jonah "from inside the fish" (Jonah 2:1). How ironic, that Jonah was subjected the stomach fluids (painful...) because he refused to preach to the brutal Assyrians.
Jonah prays from inside the fish, and he realizes something important in terms of God's providence. He says: "You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas...To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God...Salvation comes from the LORD" (Jonah 2:3,6,9b). With this confession, Jonah must have realized the power of God's will in his life. His time in the "depths of the grave" (Jonah 2:2b) parallels the time Christ spent in the grave, and Jesus foretells this himself (Matthew 12:39-41).
Another interesting point (or three) I'd like to add before I conclude this poorly-constructed string of thoughts. When Jonah preachs the gospel for (presumably) three days, seeing how the city was ~60 miles in diameter (3 days journey = 20mi/day, 60 mi to center), he was probably covered with fish innards and fish vomit. Yuck. But God would not let the messenger interfere with the preaching of the Word (seeing how the Lord obviously intervened Jonah's 2 attempts at fleeing, if one counts the suicidal request a rebellion and not a trust in God's plan to deliver Jonah to Ninevah). Still the people believed the message of God's abundant love. When the king heard, he declared:
"Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish" (Jonah 3:7b,8,9).
The word I'd like to focus on here is translated "urgently" in the NIV, but I prefer the "mightily" of the KJV. I do not know much Biblical Hebrew or Aramaic, but I'd bet this word is the same word translated in the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4,5) as "[You shall love the LORD your God] with all your might." If this is the case (I'd love for someone to confirm or deny this!), then the kingof Assyria was calling his people to repent with ALL they had in them. The best word I can give for "me'odekah" is "oomph" or maybe "will." The idea is running that extra mile, doing an extra set of crunches and push-ups, of staying up that extra hour for a person in need. The king of Ninevah realized the depth of a radical love God was calling people to love Him with--with every labored breath. And God saw that their repentance was true--and He had compassion on them. This is the radical love God commands.
Jonah's name means "dove." Perhaps this is a foreshadowing of the appearance of the Spirit of God descending like a dove, symbolizing the message of God's peace and compassion? Jonah was cast into the water, the torrential storm that symbolized chaos, much like the story of creation, where the Spirit of God hovers over the waters (Genesis 1:2). Jonah presented a message that did not return unfruitful. Are there other things I'm missing?
