When I first read that Jonah was the anonymous fast runner from the company of the sons of the prophets who was commissioned by Elisha to anoint the rough-and-ready military commander Jehu as king of Israel, I thought, ‘Cute tradition. Runner, eh? Yeah, but how could it possibly be proved?’

As soon as the question popped into my mind, the answer flashed in right after it. ‘Because he’s in the prophetic line that descends from Elijah through Elisha and then flows on through him to John the Baptist. That’s why the angel tells Zechariah to name his son “John”—it’s after Jonah, the last to hold Elijah’s mantle.’

I realised this was why John was the designated Elijah-who-is-to-come but had a name that had seemed, up to that moment, quite random. Anyone in the first century who knew the tradition that Jonah was a disciple of Elisha, the prophet who’d received a double portion of Elijah’s mantle, would have seen the connection.

Jonah is famous for running away. Elijah did too: he ran south beyond the boundaries of the land of Israel into the desert while Jonah went west to the sea.

Skipping over the story of the giant sea creature that swallowed Jonah—no doubt bleaching his skin white and thus making him the perfect sign to send to Nineveh, the place of the fish—we discover Jonah’s motivation for running. During a sulking tantrum in the aftermath of the repentance of the people of Nineveh, we learn he was afraid of this very outcome—because he knew that God was gracious and compassionate and would forgive them. Instead of Nineveh being destroyed, as Jonah wanted, it would have another chance.

What we learn here is that Jonah has set himself up as the ultimate judge. He was called to be a mediator between God and the people of Nineveh but instead he’s judged them. Then he goes further and judges God Himself. And he refuses to reverse that judgment, even when the people show themselves willing to change. He’s implacable, unyielding.

And yet, he merely follows the example of his teachers. Elijah was commissioned by God to anoint Jehu as king of Israel and Hazael as king of Aram. Decades later—somewhere between two and four decades later—Jehu is finally anointed by Jonah. Hazael never is.

This is not for lack of opportunity in either case. Elijah met up with Jehu once as is clear from a comment of Jehu’s about witnessing a prophecy. Moreover, Elijah’s hometown may have been just five kilometres from the fortress where Jehu was regularly stationed. Five kilometres—less than an hour’s walk. If Elijah couldn’t travel that far in over a decade, then he too judged God’s choices as wrong. That’s why he failed to complete his assignment.

Those who are tasked today with fulfilling the Elijah legacy need to be wary of this lingering tendency to judge God and others.

This is Grace Drops and I’m Anne Hamilton. May Yeshua cleanse your faithline of unrighteous judgment today.

Thank you to Lorna Skinner of www.riversofmusic.co.uk for the background music.

For more on Elijah’s mantle, see Dealing with Lilith: Spirit of Dispossession or The Elijah Tapestry. Please get in touch through the contact form at Armour Books if you are in the US, UK or Australia and there are availability/price issues at the retailer.