Jonah 1.3-Jonah Disobeys The Lord And At Joppa Boards A Merchant Ship Heading To Tarshish
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Thursday September 9, 2010
Jonah: Jonah 1:3-Jonah Disobeys The Lord And Boards A Merchant Ship At Joppa Heading To Tarshish
Lesson # 6
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 1:1.
This evening we will study Jonah 1:3, which 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 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.’ 3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
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.
“Rose up” is the third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb qum (קוּם) (koom), which 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.
Constable writes, “Tarshish was the name of a great-grandson of Noah through Noah's son Japheth and Japheth's son Javan (Gen. 10:1-4). From then on in the Old
Testament the name describes both the descendants of this man and the territory where they settled (cf. 1 Kings 10:22; 22:48; 1 Chron. 7:10). The territory was evidently a long distance from Israel and on the Atlantic coast of southwest Spain (cf. 4:2; Isa. 66:19). It also contained mineral deposits that its residents mined and exported to Tyre and probably other places (Jer. 10:9; Ezek. 27:12). Since the Hebrew word tarshishu means smelting place or refinery, several such places on the Mediterranean coast bore this name. Therefore it is impossible to locate the exact spot that Jonah proposed to visit. The identification of Tarshish with Spain is very old going back to Herodotus, the Greek historian, who referred to a Tartessus in Spain. In any case, Jonah sought to flee by ship from Joppa on Israel's Mediterranean coast and to go to some remote destination that lay in the opposite direction from Nineveh. Joppa stood about 35 miles southwest of Samaria, the capital of the Northern Kingdom. Nineveh lay about 550 miles northeast of Samaria.” (Constable, Thomas L., Notes on Jonah-2009 Edition, page 9; copyright 2009; Published by Sonic Light: http://www.soniclight.com/)
“From the presence of the Lord” is composed of the preposition min (מִן) (meen), “from” and the preposition le (לְ) (le) and the masculine plural construct form of the noun pā∙ně(h) (פָּנֶה) (paw-neh), “before” and the masculine singular proper noun Yahweh (יהוה) (yeh-ho-vaw), “the Lord.”
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.)
This phrase 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 flee from His presence means that Jonah refused to serve the Lord in his office as prophet.
“So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” explains further the previous statement that Jonah arose in order to flee to Tarshish from his service to the Lord.
“He went down” is the third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb yā∙rǎḏ (יָרַד) (yaw-rad), which suggests that Jonah traveled from Jerusalem, which is at a higher elevation, from which he received his marching 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 feminine singular form of the proper geographic noun yā∙p̄ô (יָפֹו) (yaw-fo), 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.
Jonah 1:3, “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.”
“Found” is the third person masculine singular qal active prefixed imperfect (sequential) form of the verb mā∙ṣā(ʾ) (מָצָא) (maw-tsaw), which means “to intentionally find” something after seeking and searching for it.
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 feminine singular for the noun ʾǒniy∙yā(h) (אֳנִיָּה) (on-ee-yaw), which denotes a merchant ship bound for Tarshish.
“Paid” is the third person masculine singular qal active prefixed (imperfect) sequential form of the verb nā∙ṯǎn (נָתַן) (naw-than), 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 masculine singular suffixed construct form of the noun śā∙ḵār (שָׂכָר) (saw-kar), 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.
Commenting this Lessing writes, “Translations usually say that Jonah paid ‘the fare’ (RSV, NIV,NASB) or ‘his fare’ (NRSV, NEB, JB). However, according to Sasson, it wasn’t until Roman times that the ancient world had a specific word for ‘fare’—‘a charge for the purchase of space in an expedition, seagoing or otherwise.’ The idea expressed here is not that Jonah pays a fare, but rather that he hires or makes a payment for the services of the ship and its crew. The nuance underscores the magnitude of Jonah’s action; he has financed an entire ship for his disobedience! Chapter 1 supports this. That Jonah has access to the ship’s ‘innermost recesses’ (1:5) makes sense if he has hired the entire boat. That also explains why the sailors hesitate to throw Jonah overboard (1:13–14) even after they discern that he has endangered the entire ship. Even the captain does not order Jonah off the ship, but merely asks him to pray (1:6).” (Concordia Commentary: Jonah, page 76)
“He went down” is the third person masculine singular qal active prefixed (imperfect) sequential form of the verb yā∙rǎḏ (יָרַד) (yaw-rad), 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 presence of 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 1:1, “Now, a message from the Lord was communicated to Jonah, 2 ‘You must go immediately to Nineveh, that great city and then announce judgment against it because their wickedness has come to my attention.’ 3 However, instead Jonah arose in order to flee to Tarshish from the commission of the Lord. Specifically, he traveled down to Joppa and then found a ship, which was heading in the direction of Tarshish. Next, he paid for her services. Then, he went down into her in order to head in the direction of Tarshish with them from the commission of the Lord.” (My translation)
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.
Jonah 3:10, “When God saw their actions – they turned from their evil way of living! – God relented concerning the judgment he had threatened them with and he did not destroy them. 4:1 This displeased Jonah terribly and he became very angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought would happen when I was in my own country. This is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to Tarshish! – because I knew that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment.’” (NET Bible)
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.