Lessons We Can Learn From Jonah and the Whale
Jonah and the Whale is an inspiring story of determination and courage. This tale teaches us that even in the direst of circumstances, one can look to God for guidance. It's a wonderful allegory that has been shared across generations, and it reminded me of the power of positive thinking. Jonah was able to find his way out of what seemed like an impossible situation when he prayed for mercy from God. There are many lessons we can learn from Jonah and the Whale, but I wanted to highlight just three: perseverance despite adversity, asking for help from others when you need it most, and a willingness to forgive others who have wronged you.
Our story begins with a great fish. The fish is named Jonah, and he lives in the belly of a large and ferocious whale known as "Mother". Mother takes Jonah for all sorts of adventures, but most of them aren't terribly pleasant. Jonah may have been able to handle all the things Mother did to him, if only she took him down to visit the other sea creatures on her way from one adventure to another.
Eventually Mother takes Jonah out of the water for good. They land in dry land far away from everything he knew, but Jonah is a strong swimmer and he soon finds his way home again.
Mother isn't happy about this and she scolds Jonah, telling him to never run away from her again. Jonah promises he wouldn't and he sets off to make a life for himself.
Jonah is an industrious man, even by God's standards. He builds a business that provides food for an entire town. It was as though the land had been waiting for his arrival, and everyone wanted a piece of him after he built his farm. They said, "Come, live with us! Become one of us!" Jonah knew that if he went with them, things would not end well for him (1:4).
He really didn't have much of a choice. They had sent him a note, and Mother knew that he wouldn't ignore it.
Jonah's neighbors are very persuasive and they were in the right place to convince Jonah to follow through on his commitment to them, but he must not have been listening when they described the weather previous winters. He probably thought that "living" with them meant spending some time there before returning back home, but it was much more than that.
Jonah goes out at night and cries out, "Lord, save me! In this evil town I've taken refuge." Then the Lord sees these people who eat anything off of metal plates and worship their own reflections. Is it even possible for God to be so evil?
The next day the Lord sends a great storm and a huge fish swallows Jonah. This fish was no ordinary fish, either. It had lots of children and it knew what it was doing. It took Jonah down into the belly of the whale and took him all over the world (1:14).
Jonah is taken around the world to different places, but he is never allowed to leave the whale's belly. Sometimes he is poked and prodded with knives while people laugh at him, but they don't kill him outright like they do so many other creatures that live inside Mother's belly.
Jonah is forced to stay inside the whale, and he is completely forgotten. One day the people go to feed Mother and she mentions that she has a guest. They panic and ask her about it, but she isn't talking. They poke around inside of her belly, but Jonah isn't there either- he has escaped!
Jonah makes his way back home again, but Mother finds him and takes him back under the sea with her again. This time Jonah really needs help from someone else because he was trapped in Mother's belly for three days and three nights (1:17).
The Lord revealed to Jonah, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. But now it is dead, so I am going to resort to another method of taking care of it." As a result, Jonah is denied any benefit from his work.
Jonah then begins a new endeavor. He seeks out people who live far away and tries to teach them how to be righteous. He says, "I know that you are a people who are evil and unjust; so I also will show you how bad you can be." While those people put their trust in God just like everyone else, the Lord makes them turn against Jonah by making one of their own injustices seem okay.
The people bring the word back to their city and they make it seem as though they believe Jonah's lies. They say, "Come, let us make a covenant with ourselves," but they make it seem as though they are making a covenant with God. They then build an altar and offer sacrifices to their god just as Jonah told them to (1:18:21).
We find out that this god is not the only one that the people worship. There's also "Another God" (1:23) who is described as a burning mountain. Of course, these other gods don't have any power over the people because a person would never sacrifice anything to a mountain of burning fire. When the people build their altar and make sacrifices to their gods, they are ignoring God who is the only god who can save them from all this evil.
The Lord says, "I am angry with you, because you have not been able to keep your own covenant, yet you have taken this foreigner and done this great evil in my sight. I also will banish you from my presence and I will reject you as king of Israel" (1:21).
As it turns out, the people aren't punished at all for these horrible things that they've done. They're just furious at Jonah for bringing back hatred from God against them when they were already living a perfectly happy life without him.
Jonah then tells them to go ahead and serve their gods, but God says, "Do not do so in my presence," and Jonah is sent away. But he is certain that God will never destroy the people for doing these horrible things.
Jonah then finds a place with a good reputation and pleads with the people there to take him in, but some of them are still angry at him for bringing their anger down upon them earlier (1:24).
God warns Jonah to be on his guard against the Babylonians because they have come up from the land of the Assyrians (1:12), though he does not tell him why he has been sent to this land or what it is all about.
Jonah then goes out to the east of the land, where the people are celebrating their king's birthday. They eat a meal to honor him, but when they finish eating what they can't eat, it's time for dessert. They get flour and bake a cake for their king and set it on the table in front of him.
"And when Jonah saw this," says God, "he went down to his own place (1:17).
Jonah knew that he shouldn't go back home to Mother after this because she would kill him for disobeying her by going out there (1:20).
Conclusion
In the end, Jonah was disappointed with how he was treated by his Lord and how he was punished for disobeying him. But this is a very unique story in its own way because Jonah tried to avoid doing the work that he was assigned to do. He tried to get out of it by running away from the people. He even asked them for mercy and compassion, but the people didn't give him anything because they were so angry at what he had done.
Another reason this story is so interesting is because of how it ended up getting its name. No one knows why God named it "Jonah." Perhaps it is because they both took shelter inside something that protected them from everything else.