Teaching Kids Jonah
I love the Jonah story. Even more as an adult. So much that I preached a sermon series on it a couple years ago. It’s not just for kids. But I don’t often hear adults teaching kids Jonah well.
It’s almost comical how much more I learn coming back to scriptures usually reserved for children. What’s not funny is how often this story (and many others) are dumbed-down for kids. They can handle more. Like the viny cliffhanger at the end of the Jonah story.
There’s so Much to Love:
- He really might think he can run away from God. In that time and culture, gods were understood as confined to a certain geographic area. Their worshippers settled there—under the protection of that god.
- The people lived to appease and serve those gods—who were pretty demanding. It was kind of a symbiotic relationship: Scratch the gods’ backs well enough, and they might scratch yours. (Or sometimes: sacrifice your kid and maybe you’ll get a good growing season.) Not at all the picture of love that God is. And some of that thinking—the geographic part—crept into the heads of God’s people.
- Tarshish is practically the end of the world. It’s as far as anyone had gone at the time. And as far as they thought was possible to go. Jonah is really trying to get away.
- When God’s wind reached across the lands and to the boat, everyone on it was astonished. Now they knew the power of the God of the Israelites. The captain and his shipmates were converted right then and there.
- God “provided” a fish. Jonah was drowning. Because he told the crew to throw him over. He was ready to die. He was prepared for hell. But that wasn’t what God wanted. The fish saved Jonah. It wasn’t a punishment. It was provision. It was saving grace. After three days of pouring out his heart regarding how wrong he’d been, the fish spits Jonah out.
And Ninevites to Hate:
- Ninevites were a brutal people. Merciless. Maybe as brutal as anyone had known at the time. For example, the stone wall around their city was covered in human skins—skins of those they killed in battle. I can relate when Jonah wants nothing to do with helping these people by calling them to repentance. He’d rather God just smite them.
- Ninevites knew fish. They worshipped Dagon: the fish god.
- Jonah walks into the city. Alone. A foreigner. Calling them sinners. Telling them God is going to smite them. Why did no one skin him? There is suspicion that the acid from the fish’s belly would’ve lightened Jonah’s skin significantly. When the fish people saw him coming, they may have known full-well he wasn’t lying about his story. They would’ve known what ingested things look like after some time in a fish belly. Total speculation. But so fun to wonder!
The Cliffhanger
So, the Ninevites—the wall-of-skins people—repent. Hard. Even the animals are ordered to fast. They take it super seriously.
And God lets them live.
But Jonah is ticked.
“I KNEW this would happen! I just KNEW you’d let them off the hook. This is why I didn’t want to go in the FIRST PLACE!”
I mean, I kind of get it. He’s a prophet. But this prophecy didn’t come true. God let the Ninevites live. Does this make Jonah a false prophet? Deuteronomy law calls false prophecy punishable by death.
Jonah and God have this quick discussion-slash-argument about whether or not it’s right to let the Ninevites live. God grows a vine to shield Jonah from the blistering heat wave the area was known for. He gives Jonah an object lesson in effort to show him the error of his heart and mind.
In the end, we don’t know if Jonah’s heart softened. Did he see it from God’s perspective? What kind of life—and how long—did he live after?
We know nothing.
Teaching Kids the Full Jonah Story
Jonah’s ending leaves us like the best movie cliffhangers do: Questioning what happened.
Did Jonah have a change of heart? Would we? Am I a modern-day Jonah?
I bet any kid can relate to wanting someone they don’t like to get caught and face punishment—rather than stop, repent, and escape the consequences. Haven’t we all?
Who’s the bully in your child’s world? Who cheats on tests? Which classmate copies homework? Who are these people in your life?
No. Really. Who are they? And who are yours?
I can already feel something rising in me as I type this. Heightened alert. Sights targeted. Mental ammunition loaded. Defenses up.
But. In the meekness I’m called to, I hold that power secure. I don’t pull the metaphorical trigger. Not yet.
If I’m careful, I might instead aim only to eradicate their sin. I may be able to get rid of the enemy without getting rid of the person.
And in the Jonah story, isn’t that God’s goal?
In the end, the Ninevites are no longer a threat. God did exactly what was needed to wipe out evil. He just didn’t do it like Jonah wanted.
Kids can grasp this, too. And we’ve made a 4-part printable set just to help you teach them the Jonah story well.
Get Our Jonah Printables
Get our 4-part Jonah printables—and teach all of Jonah well!
Until next time, fellow Pioneer. Keep on cultivating their unique seeds of faith—no matter what territory you find yourself in!
