The book of Jonah is full of irony. Sometimes we are so caught up with the story of the great fish that we miss a great God who is teaching great lessons on obedience.
In this book, Jonah was called to minister to Ninevites, but he decided to do the exact opposite. He thought he could resign from God's commission by simply walking away; but God used nature, animals, and even heathen people to stop Jonah and teach him a lesson.
The irony in this book is that everyone in the story listens to God, except for Jonah. Here are some other ironical elements...
- Jonah was called to Nineveh (God's plan) - Jonah was running away from Nineveh (His agenda)
- Jonah does not obey God - The creation (sea, wind, etc.) obeys God
- The sailors were praying earnestly (to their gods) - Jonah was sleeping comfortably
- Jonah admitted that he was fleeing from Yahweh - The sailors rebuked him saying, how could you do this? (even the sailors had better understanding of Yahweh when Jonah described Yahweh to them!)
