Jonah and the Love of God

[303 words] Before you criticize Jonah too severely, put yourself in his place. God commanded him to preach to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire. Assyria was a fierce and dreaded enemy of Israel. I could make you nauseous with details of the Assyrians’ cruelty to their enemies. The worse the pain they could inflict and the longer they could make it last, the better they liked it. No doubt Jonah would have been happy for God to wipe them from the face of the earth. Good riddance! How would you react if God told you to go preach to Pyongyang (North Korea, ruled by Kim Jong-un)? Or to Kabul (Afghanistan, ruled by the Taliban)? Or to ISIS in parts of Syria? Jonah’s assignment had much in common with those. Jonah was wrong to disobey God. Let there be no doubt about that! Jonah’s nationalism kept him from understanding…