Message of the story of Jonah..?

Question

Does anyone know te message or meaning to the story of Jonah (the prophet)? And how does it affect th elives of christians today?
I thought it was the God gives everyone a second chance and does forgive those who repent in some way for their sins.

Answer 1

the message is - when god tells you to do something, you better do it - or you will get swallowed by a big whale.

or if you are not going to do what god tells you to do, go and live in the desert so the whale can't get to you!

Answer 2

As much as Jonah ran away and came back to do the job like how children act sometimes, but for me the turning point is when Jonah contemplates death because of the plant that had been hit overnight by a worn, (Jonah 4:8). Then God asks him, "Should l not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120 000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals".(Jonah 4:11). Therefore for me, not about being compassionate only, its about Godly compassion. How much of it is in us as Christians today? Let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, Amen.

Answer 3

Jonah was called by God to preach to the city of Ninevah, who were doing evil, but he ran away in fear. The message from the story is that no matter where you go, God is there. You can't run away from him, and he will eventually have you do what he asks you to! Jonah took the hard way, but he ended up doing what he was asked to in the end.
For the people of Ninevah, God forgave them after they humbled themselves, and did not destroy them at that time.
Jonah was angry with God for sparing the lives of this evil nation, so God taught Jonah another lesson, using the death of the tree under which Jonah sought shade. He said that Jonah was concerned about the tree, but God was concerned about the lives of many people in Ninevah.
Jonah must have learnt a lot about God in those times! You can't hide from him, he is merciful and gracious, and this grace extends to all, not just those who are already 'good'.

Answer 4

Jonah is one of the more interesting books of the Bible.


A long time ago, the Jews were overrun by the Babylonians, and this upset them. In order to preserve their culture, they solidified their religious beliefs and emphasized their monotheism. Several parts of the Bible were written then, drawing from attacks on Bablyonian religion and Jewish oral tradition.

Flash forward a bit, and you find a people trying to maintain their identiy post-Babylon. Now, the dominant ideology of the day, coming from their religion, was that God handed out justice, and thus bad things were a result of "sin." Because bad things happened to bad people and good things happened to good people, the Bablyonian captivity must have been punishment for something.

Yet, they didn't want to blame their *own* ancestors, so they blamed intermarriage with pagans. This theme appears in *many* books of the Bible, especially most of the prophets and some of the "history" books (which were written long after the events in them allegedly happened). Naturally, this sparked a strong xenophobia.


Some people didn't like the ideology. The author of Job attacked the idea of bad things only happening to bad people, and the author of Ruth worte a pretty love story that draws the reader into sympathizing with a foreigner, only to reveal that she was the ancestor of the revered King David. This was shocking stuff back then.

Jonah follows in that tradition. It's essentially a comic story in which a prophet (a caricature of the other prophets in the Bible) refuses to try to save a city because he hates foreigners. This gets him swallowed by a fish, and when he finally gives in and preaches, he complains when the people repent and are saved from destruction.

In another comic moment, he whines again when a plant he was using as shade withers and dies. The author notes that he cared more for the plant than for the humans.

The story is, of course, fiction, but it's supposed to be. It has a very interesting premise, and for its day, it's a pretty sophisticated piece of satire.


Jonah is one of the best books of the Bible. Enjoy it.

Answer 5

It shows how God does give every one a second chance even when it seems they don't deserve it because, after all, none of us deserve it. It also shows how sometimes we can be quite prideful thinking that we're better than others and think that others don't deserve God's forgiveness, as Jonah thought, and that that's not true. Plus it shows that no matter where we go we can never escape God.

Answer 6

I can see several messages from Jonah.

1. Not all prophets of the Lord were cheery, happy folk willing to submit themselves without complaint.

2. It's impossible to hide from God.

3. Even prophets have that streak of humanity that can lead them to complain against their own God.

4. God is patient even with His gifted and troubled children, as in Jonah the prophet.

5. Even a prophet who was making mistakes and not hopeful can still convert a city and its leaders to become holy repentant people, just by simply doing exactly what the Lord asked him to do.

I know that there should be more ideas coming from Jonah's story, but these stand out to me.

Thanks for letting me share,
Alvin R.

Answer 7

Jesus referred to the story of Jonah, when he said, "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgement with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here." Matthew 12:40,41(NIV)

Answer 8

The Story Of Jonah teaches us to "obey" God and do not Run from Him. He will always be with us protecting us, even if we take a detour. But it's Best To Follow Him and be In Agreement with Him. He Knows Best and Knows Our Destiny. He Has Special Plans for us if we will LISTEN TO HIM.

Answer 9

jonah was running away from the work god had given him but ended up being spat out by the whale exactly where god wanted him to be to deliver the message so maybe he is trying to tell us that we can run but cannot hide from him god that is not jonah

Answer 10

Rather than running from God, trust Him with your past, present and future. Saying no to God quickly leads to disaster. Saying yes brings new understanding of God and His purpose in the world.

We must not limit our focus to our own people. God wants His people to proclaim His love in words and actions to the whole world. He wants us to be missionary's wherever we are, or wherever He sends us.

God does not honour sham or pretense. He wants the sincere devotion of each person. It is not enough to share the privilages of Christianity; we must ask God to forgive us and remove our sin. Refusing to repent shows that we still love our sin.

Trust this will be helpful!

Answer 11

The history of the days of Jonah. We learn that none are beyond saving.It shows us that God is always their no matter what or how many times we fail.We see what God can do in people lives.