Jonah 1.1-A Message From The Lord Was Communicated To Jonah
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 2, 2010
Jonah: Jonah 1:1-A Message From The Lord Is Communicated To Jonah
Lesson # 3
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 1:1.
This evening we will study Jonah 1:1, which records that a message from the Lord was communicated to the prophet Jonah.
The content of the message is revealed in Jonah 1:2.
Jonah 1:1, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.’”
The book of Jonah in the original Hebrew text begins with the conjunction waw (וָ) (wa), which is prefixed to the qal masculine singular third person active prefixed (imperfect) sequential form of the verb hayah (הָיָה) (haw-yaw), “came.”
The verb hayah is used to demonstrate that the message Jonah communicated to the Ninevites originated from the Lord.
The context indicates that we can translate the word “communicated” since the Lord is doing just that in that the Lord is communicating to Jonah the message He wants delivered to the Ninevites.
The formula “Now the word of the Lord came to…” (וַיְהִי רְּבַר־יְהוָה) (wayhî dĕbar yhwh ʾel) appears frequently in the Old Testament, especially in Jeremiah and Ezekiel where it describes a message from the Lord being delivered to a prophet of Israel (Jeremiah 1:4, 11, 13, 16:1; Ezek. 3:16; 6:1; 7:1).
This expression does not open any other Old Testament book, only Jonah.
It appears many times opening an episode in a larger book (1 Samuel 15:10; 1 Kings 6:11; 16:1; 21:17, 28; 2 Chronicles 11:2; Isaiah 38:4; Jeremiah 29:30; 32:26; 33:19, 23; 34:12; 35:12; 37:6; Zechariah 7:8).
The expression “the word of the Lord came to Jonah” emphasizes with the reader that Jonah received divine authority to proclaim a message of judgment for the city of Nineveh.
“The word of the Lord” (רְּבַר־יְהוָה) appears 250 times in the Old Testament and is composed of the masculine singular form of the common noun in the construct state debar (דָּבָר) (daw-bawr), “the word of” and the masculine singular proper noun Yahweh (יהוה) (yeh-ho-vaw), “the Lord.”
It is used the majority of the time in the Old Testament to refer to a Word spoken by Yahweh to a prophet as a technical expression for the prophetic word of revelation and is the formula that gives the prophetic books of the Old Testament their distinctiveness.
This expression in the Old Testament also is an earmark of inspiration indicating that what the prophet is communicating to people in writing is inspired by the Holy Spirit and is a revelation of God’s will.
2 Peter 1:20, “Above all, you do well if you recognize this: No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, 21 for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (NET Bible)
Therefore, we can see that the book of Jonah does not begin with a title as most of the prophets such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos and Obadiah but rather it begins with God’s self-revelation to Jonah.
It emphasizes that Jonah was commissioned by the Lord to go to the Ninevites and speak a message of judgment against the city of Nineveh.
In Jonah 1:1, the noun debar means “message” referring to what Yahweh said to the prophet Jonah and the content of this message is related in verse 2.
The exact manner in which Jonah received this message is not given.
God chose to speak to His prophets in various ways whether through dreams or direct communication or through a “still small voice” (1 Kings 19:9-13) or through a whirlwind (Job 38) or earthquake.
The proper noun Yahweh, “Lord” is the personal name of God emphasizing that He is the redeemer of mankind and is used in His relationship to His covenants or contracts with men whereas Elohim emphasizes the transcendent character of God.
So the term Yahweh, “Lord” is used alone in Jonah 1:1 and not Elohim, “God” or Yahweh Elohim, “Lord God.”
This is significant since the term Yahweh, “Lord” is the covenant-keeping personal name of God used in connection with man’s salvation and emphasizing the personal relationship that Jonah had with the Lord and the personal attention and revelation that Jonah was receiving from God.
This is emphasizing the “immanency” of God meaning that He involves Himself in and concerns Himself with and intervenes in the affairs of men whereas Elohim, “God” emphasizes the transcendent character of God.
Therefore, in Jonah 1:1, we have the term Yahweh, “Lord” employed under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in order to emphasize God’s concern for the human race and that He intervenes in the affairs of men on planet earth.
“To Jonah” is composed of the preposition al (אַל) (al), “to,” whose object is the masculine singular form of the proper noun yownah (יוֹנָה) (yo-naw), “Jonah.”
The Hebrew proper name yônâ (יוֹנָה) means “dove.”
The prophet’s home was in Gath-hepher, which is in Zebulun (Joshua 19:13) situated 2.5 miles northeast of Nazareth in Galilee (Note the error of the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 7:52).
He was a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel, whose predecessors were Elijah and Elisha and Hosea and Amos would likely have been Jonah’s contemporaries.
Jonah is the only Old Testament prophet to attempt to go AWOL and run from performing his duty as a prophet of God.
He was one of four Old Testament prophets whose ministries were referred to by the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Mt. 12:41; Lk. 11:32).
The others were Elijah (Mt. 17:11-12), Elisha (Lk. 4:27) and Isaiah (Mt. 15:7).
2 Kings 14:25 records that Jonah lived during the reign of Jeroboam II in approximately 793-753 B.C.
“The son of Amittai” is composed of the masculine singular construct noun ben (בֵּן) (ben), “the son of” and the masculine singular form of the proper noun Amittay (אֲמִתַּי) (amit-tay), “Amittai.”
Jonah 1:1 and 2 Kings 14:25 identified Jonah as “the son of Amittai” (בֶן־אֲמִתַּ֖י), whose name means “truthful/faithful.”
In Jonah 1:1, we have introduced to the reader the principle characters, namely, the Lord and Jonah.
These two function in the narrative as protagonist and antagonist.
All the other human characters in the narrative are unnamed with the exception of course, of Jonah’s father, Amittai.
These unnamed characters are foils to emphasize the relationship between Jonah and the Lord.
Interestingly, the word of the Lord begins the narrative and ends it.
Therefore, the book of Jonah is concerned with the effects and consequences of the word of the Lord.