Jonah: mercy for enemies

Does everyone deserve a second chance? A Year 7 who broke your pen by accident and said sorry: easy. A friend who shared your private message with a group chat and is now sorry: harder. A scammer who stole an elderly woman's savings and says he's changed: harder still. A soldier from an army that destroyed your town: that's a different question altogether.

Most people know the story of Jonah and the big fish. Fewer know how the book ends: with a prophet who would rather die than see his enemies forgiven, and a question from God that Jonah never answers. It's left for us to answer instead.

What you'll learn

• Who the people of Nineveh were, and why Jonah didn't want them saved
• What Jonah 3–4 shows about God's character
• How Jesus is "greater than Jonah", and what mercy for enemies means today

Who was Nineveh?

Here's the story so far. God told Jonah to go and preach to Nineveh. Jonah sailed the opposite way. A storm hit, Jonah was thrown overboard, a great fish swallowed him, he prayed, and he was spat out on dry land.

Jonah was a real prophet in Israel around 780–750 BC (2 Kings 14:25). Nineveh was a great city of Assyria, the superpower of the day, known for its cruelty to the peoples it conquered. Within a few decades, Assyria would destroy the northern kingdom of Israel. For Jonah, this was like being sent to preach to the army that would one day invade his country.

(Christians read Jonah in slightly different ways. Most read it as history, and Jesus spoke about Jonah and Nineveh as real. Some read it as a true story told to teach. Either way, the message is the same.)

A city turns

Jonah's sermon in Nineveh was just five words in Hebrew (Jonah 3:4). No mention of God's name, no call to turn back, no offer of mercy. Possibly the least enthusiastic sermon in history. Yet the whole city responded. The people believed God and fasted, the king sat in the dust, and even the animals were included in the fast!

"When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them." (Jonah 3:10)

An angry prophet

You'd think Jonah would be thrilled. He wasn't:

"Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry. So he prayed to the LORD, saying, ‘O LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster.’" (Jonah 4:1–2)

Here's the twist. Jonah didn't run away in chapter 1 because he was scared. He ran because he knew God would be merciful. He even quotes God's own description of himself from Exodus 34:6, Israel's favourite summary of who God is. Jonah loved God's mercy when it was for Israel. He hated it when it was for his enemies.

Jonah sulks outside the city, waiting to see what happens. God makes a plant grow to give him shade, and Jonah is very happy. Then God sends a worm to kill the plant and a scorching wind, and Jonah is furious again. Twice he says he'd rather die. And how does God respond to his angry, sulking prophet? Not with punishment, but with patient questions.

"But the LORD said, ‘You cared about the plant, which you neither tended nor made grow. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night. So should I not care about the great city of Nineveh, which has more than 120,000 people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well?’" (Jonah 4:10–11)

The unanswered question

The book ends right there. Jonah never answers. Why would the writer end the story like that? Because every reader has to answer it for themselves. Should God care about people we think don't deserve it?

Jonah believed all the right things about God, but his heart didn't match. It's possible to know all the right answers and still be far from God's heart. And Jonah cared more about a plant than a city of people. What do people today sometimes care about more than other people?

What mercy is, and isn't

Mercy doesn't mean pretending evil doesn't matter. God took Nineveh's violence seriously and warned them of judgement. The Bible says justice belongs to God (Romans 12:19), which frees us from needing revenge.

Forgiveness also isn't the same as trust. If someone has hurt you, forgiving them doesn't mean keeping it secret, staying in danger, or having to be around someone who is unsafe. Forgiveness can take time, and getting help from a trusted adult is always the right thing to do.

Key words

• Nineveh: a great city of Assyria, Israel's cruel enemy.
• Mercy: kindness and forgiveness given to someone who doesn't deserve it.
• Repent: to turn away from wrong and back to God.
• Relent: to hold back from doing something that was threatened.

How this points to Jesus

Jesus said, "one greater than Jonah is here" (Matthew 12:41). Jonah ran away from his enemies; Jesus came towards his enemies. Jonah was angry when his enemies were shown mercy; Jesus died so that his enemies could be shown mercy. Jonah was thrown into the sea so that the sailors would be saved; Jesus gave his life so that others would be saved, and rose on the third day. Paul says Christ died for us "while we were still sinners" (Romans 5:8). That's why Jesus can call his followers to love their enemies (Matthew 5:44): they know they were once God's enemies too.

Think about it

Take it further

Write your own answer to God's question at the end of Jonah. Then think of someone you find hard to wish well. You don't have to pretend what they did was okay, but could you pray for them this week, even just a sentence? Your worksheet helps you track Jonah's moods and compare him with Jesus.

If you'd like to, you could pray: Lord, thank you that you are slow to anger and full of love, even towards people like me. Where I'm like Jonah, change my heart. Help me want mercy for others, even people I find hard to love. Amen.