The port of Joppa is part of the oldest area of this ancient city.

JOPPA Greatest Export : God's Compassion to Gentiles

JONAH 1

 JOPPA'S name first appeared on the pages of history when the Egyptian pharaoh Thutmose III captured it in the fifteenth century BC. The port city sat alongside the great international highway that stretched from Syria n the north to Egypt in the south. For centuries prior to the construction of Caesarea in 22 BC, Joppa served as Israel's primary port.

The prophet Jonah began his fateful journey in Joppa, boarding a ship bound for Tarshish. Jonah fled from God's will only to find himself swallowed by a great fish, which the Lord had appointed to save him. This scenario seems outrageous to us today, but Jonah was a real person mentioned in other parts of Scripture (2 Kgs. 14:25), and Jesus even compared Himself and His ministry to Jonah (Luke 11:32).

The people of Nineveh were wicked. They angered the Lord, so He told Jonah to go and offer them an opportunity to repent. God's compassion for Gentiles moved Him to tell Jonah to go preach to them. But Jonah understood how God's grace works, and he knew that the Lord would relent from His intent to destroy the wicked Ninevites if they repented and that's exactly what happened. This upset Jonah greatly, and he sat in the desert outside the city to see what would unfold next. God proceeded to teach Jonah a lesson on His compassion (Jon. 4:5-11). Jonah recorded his own blunder that we may learn from his example (2 Tim. 3:16).

Centuries later, God's concern for Gentiles crossed paths with one of His messengers again at Joppa. The apostle Peter, while staying at Simon the Tanner's home, received a message from God to go to Caesarea. In spite of Peter's confusion about the vision, he went to Caesarea and spoke of God's grace to Cornelius, and a whole household of Gentiles repented and was baptized (Acts 10:11).

Across time, the message of God's compassion for Gentiles went out from Joppa one place among many others through the lips of a reluctant Jonah and a confused Peter. Joppa's greatest export was God's compassion.