“A Heart For The City” (Part One)

In Timothy Keller’s recent book entitled Counterfeit Gods, he identifies some 21st-century idols in our culture. For the idol of nationalism, he retells the story of Jonah. This week we will pursue the story of the runaway prophet Jonah and how God dealt with him.

Why Did Jonah Run Away?

In Jonah 1, we read that God called Jonah to preach to the great capital city of the Assyrian Empire, Nineveh (located in what is now northern Iraq). The problem was that Nineveh was a pagan city that worshiped Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, and many other gods. It was also known for its extreme violence and cruelty and was the sworn enemy of Israel. Nineveh was the last place Jonah would want to visit, much less bring a word from God! Moreover, any effort by Jonah to make life easier for Nineveh would have been viewed as disloyalty to his nation. Jonah believed that God’s blessing was fine for Israel but off-limits for Nineveh. He felt a strong nationalism, which in effect is making a god out of your country and considering all others inferior. He did not want to give Nineveh the opportunity to repent.

So Jonah ran away rather than minister to the hated enemy. He boarded a ship leaving Joppa that was bound for Tarshish, a Phoenician colony in southern Spain. This was as far west as anyone could travel in that day and time. But as Jonah learned, you can’t get away from God! While Jonah slept below deck, God was pursuing the runaway prophet with a merciless storm and mammoth waves that threatened to capsize the ship. As Jonah slept, the desperate sailors cast lots to discover who was responsible for the storm. After waking Jonah and learning that he indeed was the problem, the men reluctantly threw Jonah overboard and into the waiting mouth of a great fish.

Tomorrow we will listen to Jonah pray to God from the belly of the fish.