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I have asked people if they watched a certain baseball game only for them to tell me they aren’t really that much of a baseball fan. You know what? That’s okay. I have returned from some great trips, eager to tell my family about our experience, only to be reminded that some in my family have absolutely no interest in travel. I don’t understand. But that’s okay. 

Then there was Jonah in the Bible. With his one thing he disliked, Jonah could give the pickiest person you or I know a real run for their money. His distaste for the Ninevites hits so strong that it’s hard to comprehend. 

That is our book this week, and this impactful story only lasts a brief four chapters. You could read Jonah in its entirety in mere minutes. 

God had threatened to obliterate them, absolutely wipe Nineveh off the map. Jonah wanted to be there for it. Nothing would have made him happier, it seems. 

A biblical text will sometimes tell us how it wants to be approached. That is, sometimes a text will present us with a problem or will ask a question that must be answered. You know that Jonah fled his calling by God and tried to sail to Tarshish. 

You know that the seas became angry such that the men threw him overboard and a giant fish swallowed him up. You know that eventually he was released from the belly of the fish.

Most of my life, I heard the Jonah story and I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t think to ask someone to tell me why he hated the Ninevites so much. To unpack the source of all that enmity, let’s do what we always should. Let’s find the context. You see, Nineveh wasn’t a part of Israel. It was in a neighboring country. 

Nineveh was a rival. The enemy, really. Yet Jonah was being sent by God to talk with them and to try to offer them a redeeming chance.

If you want to read some more biblical prophecies about the coming destruction of the city of Nineveh, Nahum has you taken care of. For instance, according to the book of Nahum, Nineveh was a “bloody city all full of lies and robbery.”

The mighty Assyrians were rattling their swords and already beginning to exert some influence by intimidation over Israel. Nineveh was their gleaming capital city, having grown steadily in size and importance since it was established by King Sennacherib.  

Still not sure what his issue with them was? Let’s try this. First, the Ninevites had vast wealth and could relax or distract themselves in all of the standard ways one might relax or distract oneself in the ancient world. It was thought of as a city of debauchery and no morals. Nahum refers to Nineveh as a city “…full of lies and robbery.” 

Second, Nineveh was neo-Assyria’s capital at the time, and the military campaigns that constantly threatened the neighbors were mounted there. Even more, the mercenary raids into Judah, where crops and livestock were stolen and tribute payments were demanded, originated from Nineveh. 

This virtual deathstar of robbery, sin and overbearing conduct loomed just across a body of water from, among other things, the border of Jonah’s home country. He wanted them to get what was coming to them. 

Yet that’s not what happened. God brought Jonah back from the fish’s belly. God said, “Let’s try this again,” and sent him on to Nineveh. Through Jonah, God called for their collective sorrow and repentance. They complied. 

Jonah tells us at least two things in its four chapters. I want you to take these two things to heart. The first is that we are expected to be faithfully obedient to God. We can try to run. We can try to dodge. 

We can try to talk our way out, but God expects us to love, serve, include, and minister faithfully — period. That much is obvious. We won’t negotiate our way out of that. Jonah tried.

The second thing Jonah clarifies to me is that we don’t always have to like everything to be faithful. Chapter four ends with Jonah so mad, he tells God he would rather die. He wanted God to obliterate Nineveh. 

But the God who called Jonah to preach redemption to the Ninevites knows Jonah did his job. Nineveh repented. Jonah wasn’t happy about it, but he did his job. God acknowledges his reservations and faithfulness.

DR. CHARLES QUALLS is senior pastor at Franklin Baptist Church. Contact him at 757-562-5135.