JONAH+—An Illustrated Summary of Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible by G. Campbell Morgan

"On every page of the God-breathed writings are many thoughts that stretch out like long, clear arms of light across the darkness, discovering things otherwise hidden and illuminating wider areas than those of the immediate context. They are searchlights. I have selected one in each chapter of Scripture, for at least one central thought in every chapter should arrest the mind and affect the life," wrote G. Campbell Morgan, a skilled, wise, warm-hearted Bible teacher who conducted a classic 3-year study called Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible. Here is the fruit of that research—summarized, illustrated, and amplified with useful details—on all 66 books of the Bible.

GENESIS, EXODUS, LEVITICUS, NUMBERS, 

DEUTERONOMY, JOSHUA, JUDGES, RUTH, 

1 SAMUEL, 2 SAMUEL, 1 KINGS,  2 KINGS, 

1 CHRONICLES, 2 CHRONICLES, EZRA, 

NEHEMIAH, ESTHER, JOB, PSALMS, 

PROVERBS, ECCLESIASTES, 

SONG OF SOLOMON,  ISAIAH, JEREMIAH,

 LAMENTATIONS, EZEKIEL, DANIEL, 

HOSEA, JOEL, AMOS, OBADIAH, JONAH, 

MICAH, NAHUM, HABAKKUK, ZEPHANIAH,  

HAGGAI, ZECHARIAH, MALACHI,

 MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE, JOHN, 

ACTS, ROMANS, 1 CORINTHIANS,

2 CORINTHIANS, GALATIANS, EPHESIANS, 

PHILIPPIANS, COLOSSIANS, 1 THESSALONIANS,

2 THESSALONIANS, 1 TIMOTHY,  2 TIMOTHY, TITUS,

PHILEMON, HEBREWS, JAMES, 1 PETER, 2 PETER,

1 JOHN, 2 JOHN, 3 JOHN, JUDE, REVELATION

Jonah 1:3 "... but Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." The prophet Jonah had exercised his office with good effect in dark and difficult times in Israel's history. We are told specifically that because of "the Word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet," King Jeroboam II had his borders restored as an act of mercy from the Lord (2 Kings 14:25-27). The book of Jonah, however, opens with the Lord telling Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach against the great city's wickedness, but he flees in the opposite direction. Why? He tells us later in his own words to the Lord Himself: "I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity" (Jonah 4:2). Jonah fled because he knew God well. His dereliction of duty did not come from ignorance of God, but rather from accurate understanding. He knew if he went to Nineveh, warned the people about God's coming judgment on their wickedness, and they repented, God would spare Nineveh. Jonah did not want God to do that because the cruelties emanating from the capital city of the Assyrian Empire had been particularly brutal. He had no pity in his heart for any of the people who lived there. He was in complete sympathy with the righteousness of God proceeding to punish the wicked, but he had no sympathy with divine compassion. Therefore he fled. The book bearing Jonah's name goes on to reveal that a passion for righteousness making God's servants vindictive and incapable of forgiveness, even in the case of those as cruel as Nineveh, puts them out of fellowship with God, yet God will go to great lengths to make things right.

Jonah 2:1 "Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God out of the fish's belly." The "then" reminds us of the events following the flight of the prophet. Jonah was a true servant of God who knew Him well. The Lord does not allow such a man to escape Him easily, although at first circumstances were in Jonah's favor: he found a ship going to Tarshish, he paid his fare, and embarked. Then God began to act. He "sent out a great wind upon the sea." Jonah understood the storm. He said to the mariners, "I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you." At his own request they cast him into the sea. "And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah." Out of that unusual undersea grave, Jonah prayed. His prayer was made up of quotations from the Psalms, just the ones that would occur to a person familiar with them in a situation of mystery and darkness. Jonah celebrated the delivering power of God, but notice he says not a word that suggests any yielding to the compassion of God as it might move out towards Nineveh. It was a self-centered prayer with 24 occurrences of first-person singular pronouns, but it does reveal that his sense of his relation to the Lord had become more acute. At least Jonah discovered he could not sever his relationship with God.

Jonah 3:1 "The Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time." Those are words of pure grace, which is the central theme of Jonah. One might think that when a prophet of God breaks down to the point of withdrawing from his work and declining to deliver a divine message because he did not desire results from it that would conflict with his own notions of justice, that prophet would be forever disqualified from service. But it was not so in the mind of God. He did not cast away His servant because of this failure, but gave him a second chance. How many today who have been called to deliver the Word of the Lord would still be doing it apart from this patient and perfecting grace of God? In hours of failure and deflection, the Lord leads through dark and dismal experiences in which we can find Him anew, and out of the very belly of the pit we cry out to Him. Then He delivers us. That itself is wonderful, but all the more so in Jonah's case because this prophet was again entrusted with God's Word and sent forth to deliver it. 

Jonah 4:9 "It is right for me to be angry, even to death!" These are the last recorded words of Jonah, and they are startling. God gave him his second chance and he obeyed, going to Nineveh and delivering the divine message. The result was exactly what he expected: the people genuinely repented so God's judgment on the great city was, for a time, averted. Jonah was angry, still  characterized by a lack of compassion, but is that the end of the story? Hardly. There are two things to be said. The first is that God has the last word in this book, gently talking with Jonah, listening to his complaints, and reasoning with him so he could see he was foolishly and selfishly showing more compassion on a temporary plant than needy human beings and animals. The second is that Jonah humbly presents himself in this unfavorable light to teach us to be in sympathy with the heart of God. The book of Jonah rebukes the spirit of vindictiveness and reveals divine grace, especially in the One who said of Himself, "a greater than Jonah is here." The Lord Jesus Christ was and is in perfect sympathy with both the righteousness and compassion of God. We are not and therefore need the warning of this book and also its encouragement.

How Jonah (around 775 to 760 B.C.) relates to other prophetic writings and historical events.

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