Monday
The
word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city
of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up
before me.” But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish.
He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After
paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the
LORD. - Jonah 1:1-3
Jonah
was a prophet; he was not a priest. Priests served in the temple. They
offered sacrifices. They led worship. A prophet was different kind of
character altogether. A prophet was a reformer, an activist. Prophets
were often asked to do and say hard things, and they were rarely ever
appreciated for their role. Israel always had a lot of priests, but
generally just one prophet at a time because that was all Israel could
stand.
One
day the Word of the Lord comes to this prophet Jonah. Life is not easy
when you are a prophet. The Word comes to Jonah and says, "Go to Nineveh." When you hear from God, and sometimes you will, it may be just three little words, but they can change your life. "Go to Nineveh." Jonah
was a prophet, but he was a prophet to Israel, for crying out loud.
Why should he go to Nineveh? If God wanted him to prophesy against that
wicked city, why couldn’t he just do it from Israel? But the Word of
the Lord comes to him, "Go to Nineveh and preach." It's very striking how this is expressed. Not go to Nineveh and preach to it; go to Nineveh and preach against it, the text says. This is a very daunting task.
Nineveh
was the capital of Assyria. In the seventh and eighth centuries BC,
Assyria was the great world power. It chewed up and spit out countries
right and left. It would put the populations of countries that it
defeated on death marches. It practiced genocide basically as state
policy. When Israel was split into two sections, there was a northern
kingdom, ten tribes up there, and the southern kingdom, just two tribes.
The northern kingdom, those ten tribes, was captured and basically
obliterated, by Assyria. the southern kingdom had to pay tribute to
Assyria and they would have made those payments directly to the city of
Nineveh.
Assyria
was hated so much...this is what a prophet named Nahum said about
Nineveh, which is the capital, kind of embodied Assyria, "Woe to Nineveh" (Nahum 3) "woe to the city of blood...full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims, piles of dead." Now think about this, "...bodies without number, people stumbling over corpses...your injury is fatal." Nahum here is predicting the fall of Nineveh. "...your
injury is fatal. Everyone who hears the news about you claps their
hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty?" Nineveh
is so hated. Not just cruelty, but endless cruelty. When it is
destroyed Nahum says, people are going clap; they are going to stand up
and clap.
If
you want to understand how an Israelite felt about Nineveh, think of
Al- Qaeda, think of Nazi Germany, think of a power that killed your
children, enslaved your brother, brutalized your sister. Nahum said
very, very strong condemning words about Nineveh, but where do you think
Nahum was when he said those words? He was in Israel. He was a long
ways away from Nineveh.
Then the Word of the Lord comes to Jonah, "Go to Nineveh." Learn
to speak Assyrian and tell them face to face that they're facing
judgment. Jonah says, "Lord, Nahum got to taunt them from a distance.
Couldn't we like send them a telegram or something?" "The Word of the Lord came to Jonah, 'Go to Nineveh.'"
How
did the Word come? Was it a burning bush? Was it a still small
voice? Was it an angel? Was it a vision? Was it a dream? Was there
room for doubt or discussion? The text doesn't say. Was there a Mrs.
Jonah? If so what did she think about all of this? The text doesn't
say. It just says the Word of the Lord came to Jonah, "Go to Nineveh."
Nineveh was not at all in Jonah's comfort zone. What do you do when God asks you to "Go to Nineveh."?
Nineveh is the place God calls you to where you do not want to go.
Nineveh is the person you don’t want to face. It is the issue in your
life that you don’t want to deal with. How do you respond? Because God
will say that to you.
We
know how Jonah responded, he ran, he ran away from God. This is really
a pretty ridiculous thing to do when you think about it...God is
omnipresent! Where is he going to go?
Where
can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I
go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you
are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far
side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand
will hold me fast. - Psalm 139:7-10
But
Jonah knows this about God, he knows that he can’t really get way from
Him. He is running to get away from his own awareness of God’s presence
in his life (do you ever do this?), so he heads in the exact opposite
direction, for the city of Tarshish. Nineveh is located in
Northeastern Iraq today, Tarshish was a wealthy seaport in Spain! This
was the opposite end of the known world! Tarshish was well known for
it’s prosperity and wealth through trade. Perhaps Jonah thought he was
running to a place of security and comfort...but what often seems safe
and secure from a human perspective, turns out to be trouble.
Jonah will eventually learn that the only truly safe place in this life is in the center of God’s will!
What do you do when God calls you to "Go to Nineveh."? Do run toward Him or do you run away?
Jeff Frazier
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