The missionary book of the Old Testament is the book of Jonah. In it the larger purpose of God in choosing Israel shines out, and his loving concern for all humanity is manifest, The conceit and selfishness of the people whom God had set apart for his witnesses in all the earth, is manifest in Jonah's attitude. "The secret of the church's comparative failure," says G. C. Morgan, "is exactly the same which halted Jonah. It is because we hate Nineveh." The real reason Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh with its message is stated by himself in Jonah 4:2--"Therefore I hasted to Tarshish, for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, and repentest thee of the evil." Our objection to God's showing mercy to Nineveh is not in most cases so pronounced and active as Jonah's--though I fear some have almost or altogether gone even that far. But with most of us, the "hate" takes the form of "love not." It is passive rather than active, and negative more than positive. We simply do not care whether Nineveh goes to hell or wherever else; and meanwhile, not to seem uncharitable, we entertain a mild hope that perhaps God may do something extra for the "heathen," so that they won't be lost. We do not love Nineveh. If a son or a daughter, a brother or sister, or even a dear friend decides, for the foreign field, we go to him like Peter to the Lord, with our "Be it far from thee--this shall never be unto thee." And the loved one is not always strong enough to say "Get thee behind me Satan, for thou mindest not the things of God but the things of men," though by all rights this would be the fair reply. It seems so far-fetched, so useless, so uncalled for that our friends or loved ones should go on such--shall we say it?--a fool's errand. What strangers we are to the God who so loved the world and sent His own Son that the world might be saved! What strangers in heart to the Son of God who, though he was rich yet for our sakes (and who were we?) became poor, and came dawn from heaven to give his life a ransom for many! What strangers even to one of his devoted servants who could have wished himself anathema for the sake a his kinsmen of Israel! No, we don't care for Nineveh; we have heathen at home. And sometimes not overmuch for the heathen at home--the real heathen, that is, and they know It. But as to Jonah, so to us, come God's orders, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee."--"Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world." Who then is the wise and faithful servant who will pray and who will give and who will go? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh shall find so doing! [87]

["Modern Jonah's." Word and Work 9 (February 1916): 87.]

      The electronic version of R. H. Boll's "Modern Jonah's" has been produced from microfilm of Word and Work for 1916.

      Pagination in the electronic version has been represented by placing the page number in brackets following the last complete word on the printed page. Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 5 February 2002.
Updated 22 June 2003.