The Predicament of Jonah (1)
The sending and disobedience (1–3). A commission from the Lord commands Jonah to rise up, travel to Nineveh, and cry against the city. Nineveh’s wickedness has become a crucial issue before the Lord.
(1) “Arise” calls for detachment from present involvement at least for a time. It also requires flexibility to move to a new place to which God commits Jonah.
(2) "Go" gathers within its obedience all the steps needed to position and guide Jonah where God wants him to serve.
(3) “Cry” or preach is the actual proclaiming of the message men must hear. Here it is God’s direct warning against sin and the consequence (judgment) in light of what the Lord is and His hatred of sin. That the wickedness has “come up before Me” reminds one of Psalm 50:21 where God knows all sins and can set them in order before a sinner’s eyes. Sin had come up before God in regard to Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:20) and Israel (Hosea 7:2).
