Jonah 1:1-4:10 | Kathryn Alban

Our Failure, God’s Mercy

Jonah is the only prophetic book of the bible that focuses on the prophet himself, instead of his message. The book of Jonah is a story about this prophet Jonah, who rebelled against God’s plan.

Due to Jonah being swallowed by a big fish some think that this is a fictional story that was included in scriptures to illustrate a lesson.

However, due to Jesus mentioning Jonah and Nineveh others take this story as non-fiction and one of God’s many miracles. In the Mediteranian sea, where Jonah was when he was swallowed by a big fish, there is a whale called a sperm whale that lives in the mediteranian sea. This whale is known to swallow food whole and vomit parts of prey before digesting them.

When it comes down to it no matter what you conclude of this story being non-fiction or an illistration. The lesson of this story was included in scripture for a reason.

Jonah 1:1–3 ESV

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

1. Running Away:

Jonah received God’s calling, and runs.

So, here we have Jonah getting God’s call....

How many of you have wanted to hear clearly from God....BUT sometimes that clear message isn’t always what we wanted, and more times than not God’s calling will push us outside of our comfort zones.

This calling for Jonah was the worst, most uncomfortable calling that he could have gotten. Nineveh was a city full of sin. This was not a nice missionary journey that God was asking Jonah to take. It was one that would take courage, sacrifice, and humility.

In Nahum Nineveh is described:

Nahum 3:1 ESV

Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder— no end to the prey!

Nineveh lived by bloodshed and seemed to relish the opportunity to inflict more destruction on others. “All warfare, modern as well as ancient, is violent, but Assyria surpassed the ancient Near Eastern world in terms of violence and bloodshed.”

Kenneth L. Barker, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, vol. 20, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 220.

God sees this sinful city, and decides to send them a prophet…Jonah....and Jonah’s mission was to bring God’s message to the city. That it would face destruction if they continue in their wicked ways.

—So what does Jonah do?

Run in the other direction. To a town named Tarshish, 2,500 miles in the wrong direction.

Find Illustration about running

Why does he do this?

We find the answer in the 4 chapter of Jonah...

Jonah 4:1–3 ESV

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

Jonah does not run out of fear of the Ninevehites but rather of fear that they will turn to God and God would forgive them!

A selfish running.

(Prodigal Son and Older brother) This reminds me of the story of the prodigal son. Luke 15:28-29

Luke 15:28–29 ESV

But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.

Sometimes we run from God’s will…What we will see in Jonah’s life is that running will only

cause more harm than good

make the path back to God’s call a whole lot more complicated than listening to God.

---God could have just chosen someone else besides Jonah…He could have left Jonah in his selfish running.

But in Jonah’s failure was God’s mercy.

Jonah 1:4–6 ESV

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

Jonah 1:7–12 ESV

And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, “Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?” And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, “What is this that you have done!” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet down for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. He said to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”

Jonah 1:13–16 ESV

Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, “O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you.” So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Jonah 1:17 ESV

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah 2 ESV

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!” And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

Jonah 3:1–5 ESV

Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.

Jonah 3:6–10 ESV

The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.