The Upside-Down Grace of God: Jonah and Israel
The book of Jonah is traditionally read in Jewish synagogues on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. “Why,” you may wonder, “is Jonah read in connection with the Day of Atonement?”
Several reasons are typically given but is it possible that this tradition reflects misunderstandings of the book itself, as well as of the nature of salvation? Examining Jonah in more detail may help dispel confusion and lead to new insights.
Supposed Connections Between Jonah and Yom Kippur
The usual connections between Jonah and Yom Kippur have to do, first, with God’s infinite mercy that is displayed in the book. It is said that no one is beyond God’s reach, not even the Ninevites. However, Isaiah 59:1-2 says that even though God’s reach is not limited, our sins have separated us from Him “so that he will not hear.” It is true that no one is beyond God’s reach, but His reach may be in mercy or in judgment.
Secondly, Jonah is read because regardless of past behavior, repentance is said to result in God’s mercy. In Mishna tractate Ta’anit it is suggested that the Ninevites are a model, a paradigm, of repentance for Israel.[1] The Midrash imagines Israel saying to God, “Master of the universe, if we repent, will you accept us?”
God replies, “Would I accept the repentance of the people of Nineveh, and not yours?”[2]
However, repentance in Scripture is always preparatory; it lays the groundwork for faith in God. For example, in the New Testament, John the Baptist’s preaching of repentance was preparation for faith in Messiah, without which it was rendered meaningless (see Acts 13:23-24; 19:3-5). The greatest offense was a rejection of Jesus, the Prophet of whom Moses had prophesied, the promised Messiah (Deuteronomy 18:15,19).
Finally, some say Jonah reminds us that all nature is in God’s hands, and His sovereignty can be trusted. Along this line, it should be pointed out that everything in the book operates explicitly according to God’s command: the wind (1:4), the sailors (1:5-16), the fish (1:17), the Ninevites (3:5-9), the plant (4:6), the worm (4:7), and the scorching east wind (4:8) – all, that is, except Jonah. Jonah could not take comfort in God’s sovereignty over nature, for the issue was God’s control of Jonah.
An Alternative Perspective
I want to suggest that it is time for a fresh appraisal of the connection between Yom Kippur and the book of Jonah. Jonah only contains 48 verses, but the word “big” occurs 14 times. Although it is a very small book, it holds some whale-sized lessons.
First, we need to understand that the prophet, Jonah, is presented as an “anti-Abraham” – the opposite of Abraham. To go to the land of Israel was always “to go up,” and to leave was “to go down.” When God called Abraham to leave the land of Babylon to go to the Land which the Lord would show him, he was going up.[3]
Repeatedly in the book of Jonah, the prophet was going down. He “went down” to the port city of Jaffa (1:3). He went “below deck, where he lay down” (1:5). When he is thrown overboard, he goes down into the depths of the sea (2:6). Abraham was obeying God and going to the Land of Promise, but Jonah was disobeying God and leaving the Land. Abraham was going up, but Jonah was going down.
Furthermore, the Hebrew word, haphak, connects the two stories. God told Abraham of His impending judgment on Sodom, a judgment that consisted of “overthrowing” (from haphak) the city (cf., Genesis 19:25, 29 [2x]). This word literally means to turn it upside-down. Interestingly, a form of the same word is used in Jonah 3:4 of Nineveh, as Jonah proclaimed, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
Secondly, we need to understand that Jonah’s proclamation was not an unfulfilled prophecy, but a conditional promise.[4] This can best be understood in light of what God says in Jeremiah 18:7-8: “If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned.”
The condition is implied but it is clear that Jonah understood it to be conditional for he said, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (4:2).[5]
We must also understand that the result of the city’s repentance was not spiritual salvation as we think of it, but instead, it was salvation from the judgment that was proclaimed against it. The city was not turned upside-down. A century and a half later, the city was destroyed, even as prophesied by the prophet Nahum. Spiritual salvation had to be connected to the covenant God had made with Israel through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (see Eph 2:11-12).
Finally, we must understand the upside-down grace of God in Jonah. It is true that the explicit message of Jonah is that God has compassion on Gentiles as well as on the Jewish people. But there is also an implicit message that is often overlooked. Jonah is the only Israelite mentioned in the book, and as such represents the nation. His prejudices also characterized many in the nation.
But Jonah wrote the book. No one else could have known what his prayer was from inside the great fish. Jonah could not have written it without genuine repentance, faith in, and restoration to the God of Israel.
In this also Jonah stands for the nation. The day will surely come when “all Israel will be saved” (Romans 11:26) through repentance and faith in Jesus the Messiah. For the present, a remnant of Israel is being saved, while many from the nations are coming to faith. We long for that day when Israel’s spiritual blinders will be removed.
Yom Kippur, Jonah, and Me
On Yom Kippur and on every day, thank the Lord for the salvation we enjoy through faith in Jesus the Messiah. Reflect on the grace of God that led you to Him. Commit to sharing the gospel with others, both Jewish people and Gentiles.
On Yom Kippur and on every day, pray for your Jewish friends and acquaintances that they may come to know their Messiah and the redemption He alone offers. He alone fulfilled the sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:39-41).
On Yom Kippur and on every day, pray for the coming of that wonderful day when “they will look on [Him], the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son” (Zechariah 12:10).
On Yom Kippur and on every day, pray for the present remnant of Israel, whose lives are being turned upside-down…or, right side-up!
Written by Jim R. Sibley, PhD, Research Professor, Israel College of the Bible
Will you thank God and pray for the above?
Yom Kippur starts the evening of September 24th (2023). Will you consider fasting and praying for the Jewish community as they observe a fast?
Check out more info on Yom Kippur at: www.lifeinmessiah.org/feasts-yom-kippur.
Endnotes:
[1]See M. Ta’anit 2:1.
[2]See Midrash Pesikta DeRav Kahanna, 24:11 at https://www.sefaria.org/Pesikta_DeRav_Kahanna?tab=contents.
[3]In contrast, when he went to Egypt briefly, during a time of famine, he “went down” (Gen 12:10).
[4]Cf. Michael A. Grisanti, “Does Biblical Prophecy Fail?” in To Seek, To Do, and To Teach: Essays in Honor of Larry D. Pettegrew, edited by Douglas D. Bookman, Tim M. Sigler, and Michael J. Vlach (Cary, NC: Shepherds Press, 1922), 67–104.
[5]Emphasis added.