[August 30, 2024] As a child, I was mesmerized by the telling of the story of Jonah and the whale. This story specifically drew me to the church and piqued my interest in reading the Bible. However, I had no idea what was behind the story; there was a deeper meaning than mere entertainment value.1
Note: I’m doing something a bit different today by jotting down my thoughts somewhat randomly. And I do appreciate those of you who will comment to help bring it into focus. Thanks for that. Here are some of my ideas.
Like many in the Bible, this story is very old but interesting.
When we first encounter Jonah, the good guy in this story, there is little to know about him. From what we know, he is like any man we might see walking down the street, or he could just be you or me or anyone.
God comes to Jonah, and it says there is a city called Nineveh (historically a city of the enemies of Jonah’s people), and God tells him that he’s not pleased with the behavior of the city’s inhabitants. These citizens have not abided by the moral laws of God, and so God is considering destroying the city.
It seems God is having second thoughts about wiping out Nineveh, so he tells Jonah that he must go to them and convince them to stop acting immorally. Jonah thinks that if God wanted to destroy the enemies of Jonah’s people, then that might be a good thing. Jonah is disinclined to follow God’s commands to help Nineveh. Plus, maybe those citizens who know nothing of Jonah might not accept his word that God is not pleased with their behavior.
Jonah decides not to tell the citizens of Nineveh that God is going to destroy them for having deviated from the straight and narrow moral path. Johan thinks that helping Nineveh is a bad idea for himself. I think most of us can emphasize with Jonah in his predicament.
Jonah boards a ship headed far away from Nineveh. Jonah has chosen to do something much easier than follow God’s commands and he is doing so by running away. So, Jonah gets on a boat to head out, and shortly in his travels, a storm blows us with heavy winds and large waves that threaten the ship. This might mean that if we run from our conscience, we risk putting ourselves in danger and others too.
The terrified sailors believe something is amiss, that someone has angered God. They cast dice to figure out who that might be, and that points to Jonah. The sailors go to a sleeping Jonah and wake him up to explain the predicament the ship is in due to the storm and tell him they think he is the one who has angered God.
These men on board the ship do not like that fact of admission that Jonah did something no right with God. Nevertheless, Jonah confesses his sins to God and his cowardice for running away. And so Jonah asks the sailors to throw him overboard but they refuse. The sailors do their best to bring the ship into port but cannot because the storm worsens.
Finally, Jonah prevails with his request for them to throw him into the sea. And they throw him overboard. Although Jonah now faces imminent death from drowning, it was worse for him not to speak up to the Nineveh citizens when it was his duty to do so.
This is when the whale (or large fish or terrible beast) rises and takes Jonah to the bottom of the ocean. And so Jonah now spends three days and three nights in the belly of the whale. For Jonah not to tell the truth that he was commanded to do, he has put the ship he was riding in and the sailors at great risk but also Jonah has descended into Hell.
Because Jonah is a good man, he repents for the error of his ways, now understands the gravity of his duty, and will now do as God tells him. The whale then spits Jonah onto the shore, and Jonah goes to Nineveh.
Jonah now tells his enemies convincingly about their immoral behavior. The King of Nineveh and the citizens now return to the straight and narrow path, and the city is saved. But this is not where the story ends.
Jonah is not happy with his success. Yet, we have learned from this story that if you have a compelling story to tell and do not speak up, that puts you and those around you in danger. The cost of not speaking up is greater than we might think.
—————
- Much of what is written here is taken from multiple lectures by Dr. Jordan Peterson (links here and here) when he uses psychology to give us an alternative interpretation of the story of Jonah. I found his ideas compelling and I’ve tried to condense much of it into a shorter version, although not altogether successful, but useful for an article. Thanks for reading this version.
—————
Please read my books:
One of the greatest stories ever told. 🔮🖤🌃📔
Gen. Satterfield, this is also my first memory of a story from the Bible. Thank you for igniting a long-ago and pleasant memory from my early childhood. Much like your “Letters to My Granddaughter”, which I read religiously, I find your articles enlightening and educational. But more importantly, I find your articles often take me back in time to a more innocent time of my youth, with my parents and siblings, the way we should all live.
Well done, Gen. Satterfield, yes, you do need to flush this out a bit but I think you are on track.
Correct, but Gen. Satterfield is definitively on the right track here.
Gen. Satterfield touches on this part but it deserves great thought. Jonah put these sailors on the ship in the difficult position of having to risk the displeasure of God. If the Lord was displeased enough with his own prophet to put him in mortal peril, imagine what he might have done them if they had killed Jonah? He should have jumped. Instead, he forced the sailors to throw him into the water. In other words, Jonah was not a hero; the sailors were not villains. Yep, interesting!
What we discover upon deep inspection of Jonah is that the book has very little to do with fish or whales; Jonah evokes themes of depravity, denial, doubt, and obedience both outside the church and within. And Gen. Satterfield is beginning to do just that.
Jonah 1:2 – “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
That is the challenge and so begins the great adventure that Gen. Satterfield talks so much about and we can read in his ‘letters to my granddaughter’ when he writes of seeking adventure. The linkages here are easy to see. One would need to be blind not to see the link for each – Jonah and boy Satterfield – wanting to run away from great responsibility but nevertheless drawn back to where they should be. I love Gen. Satterfield’s letters and soon he will end the series, but they are worth re-reading and also reading the Bible to see how Gen. S. – like so many kids’ adventures – struggles to become a man.
Lana. Thank you for the observation.
Wow, nicely put Lana. I also believe that the Bible, in part, tells stories about the past that are repeats of everyday human experiences today and that it gives us the way forward to believe in God and that although the path to a good and proper life is through God, that we will struggle to stay on the path and the Bible can tell us how.
Good points all. This is why I like to read the comments in Gen. Satterfield’s comment section.
I see that much of this is from part of a couple of lectures by Dr. Peterson. Great man, Dr. P. Thanks sir for all you do.
“Jonah is not happy with his success. Yet, we have learned from this story that if you have a compelling story to tell and do not speak up, that puts you and those around you in danger. The cost of not speaking up is greater than we might think.” – Gen. Doug Satterfield. This is a good line of thinking. These stories from the Bible are immeasurably about our inner psyche. I think it was Gen. Satterfield who once said that the Bible was the best Psychology Textbook ever written.
God Bless General Satterfield. He tells the old stories.
Rev. Cain and Ayn, yes thank you. And there is more to the story of course and the website “Bible Study Tools” gives us more of the story to learn from. I will take someone better than me to eek out the multiple meanings but it is worthwhile to do so. Here is the link on this website that is worth reading:
https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-stories/jonah-and-the-whale.html
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Sir, well said. Great story.
My favorite story too. 🙌