Tag Archives: Jonah

The ending to the book of Jonah is perplexing. The author doesn’t tell us what happened to Jonah. The author leaves us wondering: did Jonah repent of his anger toward God for not executing his justice and wrath upon his enemies, the Ninevites? What kind of storyteller is this? How could he not bring some resolution about the main character? And that, my friends, is the nub of the problem. If we think Jonah was the main character then we’ve missed the point…

Jonah’s story is a cautionary tale. This genuine prophet who was theologically orthodox blatantly disobeyed the command of God to evangelize the wicked Ninevites. And not because he was afraid of them but instead because he despised them. Sinclair Ferguson explains: “How perverse Jonah was. Living in a favored nation where spiritual light had been shone only because of the great mercy of God, he had come to assume that Israel deserved grace, whereas others had ill-deserved it. What a…