From Splendor to Shadow

Jonah Cast Overboard

But the prayers of the man who had turned aside from duty brought no help. The mariners proposed as a last resort the casting of lots, “that we may know,” they said, “for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; what is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?” SS 145.3

“And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.” SS 145.4

“Then ... the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.” SS 145.5

“Then they said to him,‘What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm for us?’—for the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me’” Jonah 1:11, 12, NKJV. SS 145.6

“So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging ... .” SS 146.1

“The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” SS 146.2

“Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying: SS 146.3

I called to the Lord, out of my distress,
And He answered me ...

For Thou didst cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the flood was round about me;
All Thy waves and Thy billows passed over me.

Then I said, ‘I am cast out from Thy presence;
How shall I again look upon Thy holy
temple?’ ...

When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord;
And my prayer came to Thee,
Into Thy holy temple ... .

What I have vowed I will pay.
Deliverance belongs to the Lord!”
RSV

At last Jonah had learned that “salvation belongeth unto the Lord.” Psalm 3:8. With penitence and a recognition of the saving grace of God, came deliverance. Jonah was released from the perils of the mighty deep and was cast upon the dry land. SS 146.4

Once more the servant of God was commissioned to warn Nineveh: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” This time he did not question or doubt, but “arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.” RSV. SS 146.5

As Jonah entered the city, he began at once to “cry against” it the message: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” From street to street he went, sounding the warning. The cry rang through the streets of the godless city until all the inhabitants heard the startling announcement. The Spirit of God pressed the message home to every heart, and multitudes repented in deep humiliation. SS 147.1

“Then tidings reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh, ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let ... every one turn from his evil way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows, God may yet repent and turn from His fierce anger, so that we perish not?’” RSV. SS 147.2

As king and nobles, the high and the low, “repented at the preaching of Jonas” (Matthew 12:41), mercy was granted them. “God repented of the evil which He had said He would do to them; and He did not do it.” RSV. Their doom was averted, the God of Israel was honored throughout the heathen world, and His law was revered. Not until many years later was Nineveh to fall a prey to the surrounding nations through forgetfulness of God and through boastful pride. SS 147.3

When Jonah learned of God's purpose to spare the city, he should have been the first to rejoice. But he allowed his mind to dwell on the possibility of his being regarded as a false prophet. The compassion shown by God toward the repentant Ninevites “displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.” “Is not this what I said,” he inquired of the Lord, “when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that Thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and repentest of evil.” RSV. SS 147.4

Once more he was overwhelmed with discouragement. Losing sight of the interests of others, in dissatisfaction he exclaimed, “Therefore now, O Lord, take my life from me, I beseech Thee, for it is better for me to die than to live.” RSV. SS 147.5

“And the Lord said, ‘Do you well to be angry?’ Then Jonah went out of the city ... and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. And the Lord God appointed a plant, and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.” RSV. SS 148.1

Then the Lord gave Jonah an object lesson. He “appointed a worm which attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a sultry east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he was faint; and he asked that he might die, and said, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’” RSV. SS 148.2

Again God spoke to His prophet: “‘Do you do well to be angry for the plant?’ And he said, ‘I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.’” SS 148.3

“And the Lord said, ‘You pity the plant, ... and should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left?’” RSV. SS 148.4

Jonah had fulfilled the commission given him to warn that great city; and though the event predicted did not come to pass, yet the message of warning was nonetheless from God, and it accomplished the purpose God designed. His grace was revealed among the heathen. The Lord “delivered them from their distress; He brought them out of darkness and gloom.” “He sent forth His word, and healed them, and delivered them from destruction.” Psalm 107:13, 14, 20, RSV. SS 148.5

Christ referred to the preaching of Jonah and compared the inhabitants of Nineveh with the professed people of God in His day: “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” Matthew 12:41. Into the busy world where men were trying to get all they could for self, Christ had come; and above the confusion His voice was heard: “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” Mark 8:37. SS 148.6