Jonah 1.3-Jonah Disobeys The Lord And At Joppa Boards A Merchant Ship Heading To Tarshish (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)

Doctrinal Bible Church

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Sunday December 7, 2025

Jonah Series: Jonah 1:3-Jonah Disobeys The Lord And Boards A Merchant Ship At Joppa Heading To Tarshish

Lesson # 6

Jonah 1:3 records Jonah disobeying the Lord’s command to go to Nineveh and announce judgment against its inhabitants because of their wickedness.

Jonah 1:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. 4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. (NIV84)

Jonah 1:3 presents a contrast with Jonah 1:1-2 since this statement records Jonah disobeying the Lord’s command to go immediately to Nineveh and announce judgment against that great city.

Not translated by the NIV84 is the verb qum (קוּם), which means “arose” and appeared in verse 2 where it was used in the imperative form of the Lord commanding Jonah to go to Nineveh.

Commenting on this, the NET Bible writes, “By repeating the first verb קוּם the narrator sets up the reader to expect that Jonah was intending to obey God. But Jonah did not ‘arise to go’ to Nineveh; he ‘arose to flee’ to Tarshish. Jonah looks as though he was about to obey, but he does not. This unexpected turn of events creates strong irony. The narrator does not reveal Jonah’s motivation to the reader at this point. He delays this revelation for rhetorical effect until 4:2-3).”

“To Tarshish” is probably Tartessus in southern Spain, approximately 2,500 miles west of Joppa.

“Jonah ran away from the Lord” does not mean that Jonah was hiding from the Lord since Jonah knew full-well that God is omnipresent meaning that He is everywhere present but rather it means Jonah fled from his service-commission as a prophet which he received from the Lord Himself.

To stand in the presence of someone is often used in the sense of acting as one’s official minister. (Cp. Gen. 41:46; Deut. 1:38; 10:8; 1 Sam. 16:21f. 1 Kings 17:1; 18:15; 2 Kings 3:14, etc.)

To flee from His presence means that Jonah refused to serve the Lord in his office as prophet.

“He went down” is the verb yā∙rǎḏ (יָרַד), which suggests that Jonah traveled from Jerusalem, which is at a higher elevation, from which he received his orders in the Temple to the seaport of Joppa 34 miles northwest of Jerusalem.

The NET Bible writes, “The verb יָרַד (yarad, ‘to go down’) is repeated four times in chs. 1–2 for rhetorical effect (1:3a, 3b, 5; 2:7). Jonah’s ‘downward’ journey from Jerusalem down to Joppa (1:3a) down into the ship (1:3b) down into the cargo hold (1:5) and ultimately down into the bottom of the sea, pictured as down to the very gates of the netherworld (2:7), does not end until he turns back to God who brings him ‘up’ from the brink of death (2:6–7).”

“To Joppa” is the proper geographic noun yā∙p̄ô (יָפֹו), which corresponds to the modern Jaffa, which is now a part of Tel Aviv and is the place where Jonah found a merchant ship heading to Tarshish.

Joppa is 34 miles northwest of Jerusalem and 58 miles south west of Gath-hepher, Jonah’s hometown.

“Found” is the verb mā∙ṣā(ʾ) (מָצָא), which means “to intentionally find” something after seeking and searching for it and so therefore, the word indicates that once Jonah arrived in Joppa he sought after and searched for a ship that was heading to Tarshish.

“A ship” is the noun ʾǒniy∙yā(h) (אֳנִיָּה), which denotes a merchant ship bound for Tarshish.

“Paid” is the verb nā∙ṯǎn (נָתַן), which means “to pay” for i.e. compensate money for a particular service to be rendered and refers to the price charged to transport a person.

“The fare” is the noun śā∙ḵār (שָׂכָר), which has the basic idea of engaging the services of a person in return for pay and or in other words “hiring” someone for their services.

Here it does “not” speak of Jonah paying the “fare” needed to board the ship but rather it is used of hiring the services of the ship and its captain to get him to Tarshish.

“He went down” is the verb yā∙rǎḏ (יָרַד), which this time refers to Jonah “going down” to the galley of this merchant ship and also indicates the second stage in Jonah’s downward journey.

“From the Lord” emphasizes with the reader Jonah’s determination to disobey the Lord’s command to go immediately to Nineveh and announce judgment against its inhabitants.

Jonah 4:1-2 reveals that Jonah disobeyed the Lord because he knew full well that the Lord wanted him to issue a proclamation of impending destruction of Nineveh and its inhabitants in order to elicit a response from the Ninevites, namely that they would repent so He could not execute this judgment.

So Jonah hated the Ninevites so much that he was willing to travel all the way across the Mediterranean Sea to get away from them.

He is out of the “geographical” will of God meaning Jonah is not in the geographical location that the Lord has directed him to be in.

Jonah is also going against the “directive” will of God meaning he is disobeying a direct command from the Lord.

The Lord is permitting Jonah to disobey Him, which is the “permissive” will of God.

However, Jonah will soon experience the “overruling” will of God in that the Lord will “overrule” Jonah’s bad decision and will use a storm and a great fish to “overrule” his bad decision.