The Assyrians and Nineveh
The prophet Jonah was afraid to do God’s will when God asked him to go to the centre of evil at that time—Nineveh, which was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Historian, Leonard Cottrell wrote of the ferocity of the Assyrians in his book, Anvil of Civilization.1 God had asked Jonah to do a very difficult thing and he didn’t want to do it because the Jews hated Assyria.
“In all the annals of human conquest, it is difficult to find any people more dedicated to bloodshed and slaughter than the Assyrians. Their ferocity and cruelty have few parallels save in modern times.”
Jonah the dove
Jonah was an Old Testament prophet from the Galilean region living only a few kilometres from Nazareth where Jesus grew up. I believe names have significance in the Bible. Jesus in Hebrew is Joshua or more accurately “Yeshua” which means he saves or one who saves and so I believe that we need to recognise that Jonah’s name meaning ‘dove’ is significant also. In the financial world, there are different types of animal metaphors used to describe general market conditions depending on whether the share market is broadly trending upwards or downwards and whether interest rates will rise or ease. An upward trajectory has the animal metaphor of being a bull market whilst a downward market is described as being a bear market. Rising interest rates are described as being hawkish whilst easing interest rates are described as being dovish. A dovish or hawkish outlook defines the relevant level of aggression. So a dovish tone naturally follows the timidity of its namesake animal in taking a weak passive approach. This really fits in well with Jonah. He didn’t want to approach Israel’s nemesis, Assyria with a confrontational message of repentance but his solution was rather to run the other way.
Don’t run away from God’s will
It is important in recognising what God is doing in our lives to not be passive and run the other way but to simply be obedient to what God has for us no matter what we think may lie ahead. The answer is not to be passive or aggressive but simply to walk humbly with God and to be obedient to what He is showing you. The problem of being dovish about the will of God is that God might just allow you to be swallowed by a large fish to get you back on track as depicted in a 1600-year-old mosaic picture recently discovered in northern Israel. Find out what really swallowed Jonah.
Despite the wickedness of the Assyrian Empire and the fact that they were Israel’s arch-nemesis, God made the statement about Nineveh, “Should I not be concerned about that great city?”2 Despite God’s mercy for Nineveh in circa 760 BC, little more than a hundred years later in 612 BC Nineveh was destroyed and never rebuilt again. It became a desolate area for animals and birds and wasn’t fully excavated until the 20th century.
Sometimes God asks us to do what is contrary to expectations. Just like this picture above, Jonah tried to run 2500 miles to Tarshish away from what he perceived as danger yet God was asking him to run towards the very place he didn’t want to go to—Nineveh!
Running toward the danger zone
What if God was also asking you to flee towards the perceived danger area rather than away which would be our natural tendency? At the very end of the age, I believe that God will ask the woman/church to flee towards Israel and then Jordan which are perceived danger areas in the Middle East. One day it seems that the Bible is telling us that we will have to flee towards Mt Zion because deliverance will literally be on Mt Zion and Jerusalem.3 Later the woman will be protected in the wilderness for 1290 days. It will take great faith and belief in the will of God to do so when the sage voices of the world and also probably the Christian world will be telling you to keep well away. But there will be an opening and God will open up the way just like for the Israelites at the Red Sea. We will need to escape towards the danger zone not away because we will be protected in His shadow. A shadow as we know is in very close proximity to the action.
How about listening to the Will of God series in the book of Jonah? In this series, I look at following God’s will for our lives. We can either run away from God’s will, run into God’s will, or run with God’s will. Jonah is a great example of how not to do things. God doesn’t want us to be dovish or fearful as in the meaning of Jonah’s name but he wants us to be courageous and full of faith.
One Response
Thanks Steve for article on Jonah. Good information on background and food for thought!