Jonah - blue whale or red herring?

Was a blue whale the big fish which swallowed Jonah? After all, a quick search on Wikipedia confirms that the blue whale is the largest mammal in the world and the heaviest that has ever existed, and unconfirmed stories exist which tell us about instances when people have had an experience not too dissimilar to Jonah’s.  

Jonah is one of the favourite Old Testament stories, alongside Noah, David and Goliath, Samson, God speaking to Samuel and so on. It’s one of the world’s great stories. That can make it a tough one to teach to children of any age. ‘We’ve heard that story before!’, ‘He gets swallowed by a whale!’ And, to make matters worse, the famous and memorable bits, like the fish or Jonah’s second chance, mean that we often never communicate what the story is principally about. This is a great pity because Jonah tells us some great truths about God in a humorous and punchy way. Let me explain.

Here are some things to notice:

1. Jonah’s reluctance to do what God tells him.

He’s an Israelite and a prophet, yet he refuses point blank to obey God. Why? The people of Nineveh, or Assyrians, were among the very worst enemies that Israel had ever had in the Old Testament, up there with the Egyptians, the Philistines and the Babylonians. They had a reputation for extreme cruelty and were responsible for taking the people of the northern kingdom of Israel into exile in 721BC. We are not told why Jonah refused to obey God, but we can assume that he was motivated by this chronic fear and bitter hatred.  

2. God’s original promise to Abraham included the words ‘… in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed’ (see Genesis 12:1-3).

So the people of Israel were expected to be a shining light to the other nations, sharing the many blessings of their relationship with God. The book of Jonah contributes to a discussion which Israel had with itself about how they could be a special, chosen people at the same time as a light and an example to the outside world.

3. The storm.

The sailors, as well as being eminently practical, unlike Jonah, immediately cry out to their god and wonder that Jonah is not doing the same. The question then arises about who Jonah is and where he comes from. When he comes clean, the sailors are terrified of Jonah’s God – a more appropriate reaction than how Jonah behaves. His suggestion is effectively suicide but the sailors try hard to avoid that. On all counts they are shown to be his moral and spiritual superiors.    

4. Jonah’s prayer in chapter two.

The most straightforward understanding is that, inside the fish, he comes to his senses and prays in the way that any self-respecting Israelite prophet would. ‘Salvation belongs to the Lord’ (2:9) is, in many ways, the key theme of the whole book. But some would argue that, in the light of Jonah’s behaviour later on, he is simply parroting orthodox prayers in desperation without really believing them.

5. Preachers down the ages have focused on Jonah’s second chance, but the emphasis is actually upon the fact that God hasn’t changed his mind.

He still wants the message to go to the Ninevites. This time Jonah goes,    preaches repentance and the important outcome is that the pagan people respond in faith. And God decides to delay his judgement.

6. Jonah still can’t change his own heart towards what God wanted him to do and be.

Once again it is almost comical. ‘I knew that you were a gracious God…’ (4:2). Once again he trots out well-known thoughts about God’s character. He, however, is angry, sulky and suicidal. God, on the contrary, remains compassionate, concerned and full of loving intent both to Jonah, the sailors and the Ninevites.

The book of Jonah speaks powerfully into our multi-cultural and multi-faith society. The privilege and responsibility of God’s people to reach out to those who do not share our faith has always been a great challenge. We follow Jonah’s example all too closely either because we can’t cope personally or like Jonah, know the right things to say, but don’t believe them enough to put them into practice.

The book of Jonah can be a wonderful and funny way to introduce children to how God loves the whole world, whether we hate or fear them or not. Our privilege and responsibility is to love them too. Then, maybe, we can help the Church to grasp opportunities to share our faith and abandon our stultifying reluctance. That’s a lot more radical than arguing about fishes!