Jonah 1

Introduction

The book of Jonah is a great book for Christians to read and study, but it’s also a difficult book for us to read. The reason why this book is so difficult for us to read is because it’s so familiar to us.

Most people know this story as Jonah and the…?

big fish.

This is what we’ve learned from a young age. This is the story of Jonah and the big fish. That’s how kids understand this story, but it’s not what the story is about.

The fish is only mentioned in 2 or 3 sentences in the entire book.

This story is not about the fish.

This story is about Jonah, the enemies of Jonah, and God.

So, this is a book that many people have heard of, but it’s not a book that many of us have truly studied and meditated on. So, I’m excited to study this book.

Here’s what we need to do. Since this story is such a popular story, we need to read it with fresh eyes.

If we fail to read this book with fresh eyes, then we run the risk of oversimplifying it.

We teach our children that the lesson of Jonah is that we need to be nice.

The book of Jonah holds so much more than that.

Here’s what the author is trying to do with the book of Jonah. He’s holding up a mirror. He wants us to see ourselves in Jonah. Jonah is all of us.

So, as we read through the book, we come to see that we are just like Jonah, and like Jonah, we have a great God. That is the true purpose of this book.

This makes sense because the Bible doesn’t teach us about fish. The Bible teaches us about ourselves, and about our God.

Background:

So, let’s jump into the book, but first I want to deal with some introductory matters (what/who the book is about, when it was written etc.).

Jonah 1:1

Jonah 1:1.

Jonah 1:1 ESV

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

In the very first verse, the author tells us who he’s writing about. He’s writing about Jonah, the son of Amittai.

Jonah’s name means dove

the dove is a symbol of God’s peace and mercy.

Jonah is the son of Amittai… Amittai is related to faithfulness.

So, Jonah is not only representative of God’s peace and mercy...

But Jonah is also the son of faithfulness.

We don’t know very much about this Jonah, but he is mentioned somewhere else.

Where is he mentioned?

2 Kings 14:25.

2 Kings 14:25 ESV

25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.

This tells us that Jonah prophesied during the 8th century (around 780-750 BC). This verse tells us that Jonah prophesied to the Northern Kingdom, and he preached a message of mercy and peace to the Northern Kingdom.

One thing that we should note is that while the events of Jonah take place during the 8th century, we don’t know who wrote the book of Jonah, or when it was written.

The book of Jonah is both anonymous and undated.

Jonah 3:3 ESV

3 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.

It seems that Jonah was written after the destruction of Nineveh.

Jonah 1:1-2

Jonah 1:1–2 ESV

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

Verse 2 gives us more context. Jonah is supposed to go to Nineveh. This is important context because the Jews were not friendly with Assyria (Nineveh is the capital). The Assyrians were wicked people who would go on to destroy the Northern Kingdom.

Sennacherib, one of Assyria’s kings, called himself the great “I am.” This was a prideful, wicked nation.

So, the Assyrians were enemies of the Jews. That’s important to understand was we read the book.

So this is some background on the book. Let’s jump into the text and start to talk about what it means.

1:1-3 Jonah runs from God

Jonah 1:1-3

Jonah 1:1–3 ESV

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 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.

To the original reader, this whole section is very shocking.

Not prophecy

The text starts off in a very familiar way. “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai.” Doesn’t that sound familiar? This is how many prophetic books begin.

Micah 1:1 ESV

1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

So, what do we learn from the first verse? What type of book is this?

After reading the first verse, we would say that this is prophecy. This is a book that contains a Jonah’s prophetic writings.

We would be wrong about this. The book of Jonah isn’t prophecy. The book of Jonah is a story about a prophet.

This is not what we are expecting.

In prophetic books we learn lessons through prophetic poetry.

In this book, we learn lessons through story

So, the very first section of this book shocks us, and it doesn’t stop there.

Not Righteous

What does Jonah’s name mean?

It means dove.

The dove is tied to God’s peace and mercy (Noah’s Ark/Jesus’ baptism).

What does Amittai mean?

This name is tied to faithfulness.

So, we expect Jonah to bring God’s peace… We expect Jonah to be faithful to God.

Is Jonah faithful?

NO! so this is another part of the book that shocks us. Jonah is supposed to be faithful. Prophets, in general, are supposed to be faithful, but Jonah is not.

Instead of being faithful to God, he runs away from God.

Satire

So, this is something that the author of Jonah continues to do. The author continues to shock us as we read the story.

He shocks us by using:

comedy

parody

satire

One of the things that we are going to notice as we read the book of Jonah is that everything is larger than life.

There is a Hebrew word that is repeated over and over again in the book of Jonah.

h:גָּדוֹל (gadol)

This word means “great, or huge.” and it’s used all over the book.

The wind

The tempest

Nineveh

Fish

The idea is that everything in this book is larger than life.

The author of Jonah even uses hyperbole to talk about the size of Nineveh.

Jonah 3:3–4 ESV

3 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. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

Here, we are told that the size of Nineveh is three days journey. We know that the size of the literal city of Nineveh is about 7 miles in circumference, so it’s not three days journey.

Here’s what the author is doing:

There was a literal city of Nineveh...

There was also a region of Nineveh.

I think that the author is intentionally referring to the region of Nineveh to give this grand image of the city.

So, that’s what the author is doing. He’s using this grand imagery, and satire in order to shock us as we read the book.

So, let’s talk about Jonah fleeing from God

Where is Jonah supposed to go?

Nineveh

Where does he go?

Tarshish

We all know what Jonah is trying to do. He’s trying to run away from God. The one who’s supposed to be faithful is now being faithless. He’s going the complete opposite direction of where God wants him to go.

Nineveh is to the east of Israel, but Jonah goes waaay to the west. He thinks that he can run from God.

He doesn’t like God’s plans, so he runs away and makes his own plan.

Do we do this? Do we run away from God when we don’t like his plans? Yeah… We are just like Jonah.

The way we talk.

The way we treat others.

1:4-17 Jonah Punished

Jonah 1:4-6

Jonah 1:4–6 ESV

4 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. 5 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. 6 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.”

God is not fooled. He knows what Jonah is doing, and where Jonah is trying to go.

So, what does God do?

He throws a great wind upon the sea, and the wind/storm/tempest is so great that the ship thought it would break up.

Since the storm is so great, what do the sailors do?

They cry out to each of their gods. There are a couple of things to notice about this.

They are polytheistic. They need to figure out which God is angry, so they don’t all die.

They have some understanding.

That last point is important for us to see. The gentile, pagan sailors can see that this is no ordinary storm. This storm is the work of deity.

They can see, but what is Jonah doing?

Jonah is asleep.

This part of the book is important. The text tells us that “Jonah went down into the depths of the ship. and laid down and fell into a deep sleep”

This idea of Jonah going down is a part of theme that we’ve seen from the beginning of the book:

Jonah 1:2–3 ESV

2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” 3 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.

Down to Joppa

Down into the Ship

Down into the depths of the ship

Laid down and fell into a deep sleep.

The idea is that Jonah is digging himself deeper and deeper into a pit, and he’s not going to be able to climb out. He’s going to need God to help him. Remember this as we go into chapter 2 next week.

So, Jonah’s hatred for the Ninevites puts him in a spiritual slumber… Because of his sin, he can’t even see the trouble that he’s in.

So, the sailors are alert can see the storm for what it is while Jonah descending into a state of spiritual slumber.

I think that there is a lesson for us in this… Even the pagans can see God’s punishment for what it is… Can we?

Sometimes God sends storms so that we will repent… Sometimes God sends pandemics so that we will repent. As God’s people we must be able to discern when God is calling us to repent.

The problem is that our sin puts into a state of spiritual slumber, and we fail to see the chaos that is around us.

This is something that the sailors could see, so they cry out to their God.

When this doesn’t work, they try to throw stuff off of the ship.

God throws a storm at them, so in response, throw stuff off of the ship.

As they are looking for stuff to throw off of the ship, they see Jonah asleep.

BTW who is hurting because of Jonah’s sin?

Other people… Our sin has an impact on others.

What does the captain ask of Jonah?

The captain asks Jonah to pray to his God so that they don’t perish.

Again, this gentile/pagan sailor seems like a good religious man. He’s not an Israelite, but he seems to have a good head on his shoulder. Notice a couple of things with me.

In their time of trouble, what does he encourage Jonah to do? to pray...

This man understands the importance of prayer.

“perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

This man also understands that humanity is powerless in comparison to deity.

It seems like this man understands more about God than Jonah, God’s prophet.

So again, this section is just so shocking.

The gentile/pagan sailors are actually pretty good religious people while the prophet of God is a horrible person. He just doesn’t get it.

So as we can see, this book is filled with satire and parody that is designed to shock us.

Jonah 1:7-10

Jonah 1:7–10 ESV

7 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. 8 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?” 9 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.” 10 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.

The sailors want to figure out what’s going on, so what do they do (verse 7)?

They cast lots.

In the ancient world, there really was no such thing as chance (at least not the way that we think of chance).

When we think of chance, we think that God has nothing to do with it. Some people respond to tragedy by saying “time and chance happen to all men.” God was not involved.

That’s not the way that the ancient people thought of chance. Even with chance, God was involved. Proverbs 16:33

Proverbs 16:33 ESV

33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.

So, even in chance, God is at work, and that’s what we see here.

The lot falls on Jonah and they begin to question him.

Where do you work?

Where are you from?

Where is your country?

What is your nationality?

In other words, they are trying to figure out which god he serves. How does Jonah respond?

He responds proudly “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who made the sea and dry land.”

Notice a couple of things about this.

Did Jonah say the right things?

He did. Jonah said the right things, but where is he? He’s on the boat and running from God.

In verses 1-3, Did Jonah ever tell God that he wasn’t going to go to Nineveh?

He didn’t say no with his mouth, but he said no with his actions. So, what we see is that Jonah says the right things, but he doesn’t do the right things.

As a matter of fact, when we read this section, we want to scream, “No you aren’t… No you don’t.”

At this point of the book, we really don’t like Jonah, and we begin to think: I would never be that stupid.

Whenever we think that, we’ve fallen into the Holy Spirit’s trap. Remember, the book of Jonah is like a mirror, and we are just like Jonah. We say things, but don’t live them.

We sing “make me a servant,” but we live with pride.

We sing “God give us christian homes,” but we demean and yell at our spouse.

We sing “I need thee every hour,” but we don’t pray or read our bible.

Sometimes we are just like Jonah. We need to work on that.

Notice again what Jonah says: “I am a Hebrew, and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who made the sea and dry land.”

Think about how dull Jonah is. Jonah says that he fears the God of heaven who made what?

Who made the sea and dry land.

So, Jonah is trying to run away from the God who made the sea by taking a boat… It doesn’t make sense, does it?

The pagans can see how stupid this is… “what have you done?” If you are running away from the God who created the sea, you don’t take a boat.

So, the story continues to shock us… Jonah is in a spiritual stupor, while the pagan gentiles can truly see.

It’s like Jonah is still asleep. There is a sense of urgency among the sailors, but it seems like Jonah doesn’t really care.

Jonah 1:11-17

Jonah 1:11–17 ESV

11 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. 12 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.” 13 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. 14 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.” 15 So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 17 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.

So, they ask “what do we do with you?” and he responds by saying “throw me overboard.”

What was the first thing that the captain said that he should do (verse 6)?

The captain wanted him to pray, but Jonah doesn’t do this at all in the chapter. Instead Jonah wants them to thrown him overboard.

The idea here is that Jonah wants to die.

This is amazing to me. Jonah would rather die than to preach to the Assyrians.

Maybe if Jonah would have prayed like the captain said, then the whole fish thing could have been avoided.

The sailors don’t want to throw Jonah overboard (again these are great men), so they try to roll to shore, but they can’t. So, they pray to Jehovah...

It’s interesting the the Sailors pray to Jehovah. So, who are the first people to pray to Jehovah in this book?

The sailors...

So, they pray to Jehovah and throw Jonah overboard, and when they do this, the sea was calmed.

How do they respond?

They respond by fearing Jehovah, offering sacrifices, and making vows.

These sailors are acting like Israelites.

Psalm 116:17–18 ESV

17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people,

It’s so ironic. God’s prophet was thrown to his death because of his own wickedness, but the pagans are acting like true Israelites.

BTW. Do you think that these pagans started a fire on their boat? They took time out of their day to make sacrifices and worship Jehovah. These men become loyal servants of God because of Jonah.

That’s what’s amazing about this chapter.

Is Jonah the ideal preacher for God?

He’s not, but these gentile men have come to learn the truth because of Jonah. It’s clear that God can use broken people to accomplish his purposes.

So the pagans become like Israelites.

Again… This is a story that continues to shock us with amazing irony. That’s what we see here.

At the end of the chapter, we expect Jonah to die because of his wickedness, and that’s how the chapter ends. It ends with death.

If a fish eats you, you die.

Jonah, is expected to die, but this vehicle of death, is really a vehicle of God’s mercy.

That’s another lesson for us.

We may mess up, but God is still willing to show us mercy.

God’s mercy may not be what we expect.