Jonah

Jonah

Book Outhne

Key theme: Obeying God’s will brings blessing to us and to others through us; disobedience brings discipline.

Key verse:

I. God’s Patience with Jonah ()

A. Jonah’s disobedience ()

B. Jonah’s indifference ()

C. Jonah’s impenitence ()

II. God’s Mercy toward Jonah ()

A. He hears his prayer (, )

B. He disciplines him ()

C. He honors his faith ()

D. He accepts his confession (, )

E. He restores his ministry ()

III. God’s Power through Jonah ()

A. The gracious Lord (, )

B. The obedient servant (, )

C. The repentant people ()

D. The postponed judgment ()

IV. God’s Ministry to Jonah ()

A. God hears him ()

B. God comforts him (, )

C. God teaches him ()

Book Overview

Most people are so familiar with the story of Jonah that nothing in it surprises them anymore. But they may not know that Jonah is one of fourteen Old Testament books that opens in the original language with the little word and. These books remind us of God’s continued story of grace and mercy. Though the Bible is comprised of sixty-six different books, it tells only one story; and God keeps communicating that message to us, even though we don’t always listen attentively. How patient He is with us!

What is the Book of Jonah about? Well, it’s not simply about a great fish (mentioned only four times), or a great city (mentioned nine times), or even a disobedient prophet (named twenty-three times). It’s about God! God is mentioned thirty-seven times in these four short chapters, and if you eliminated Him from the book, the story wouldn’t make sense. The Book of Jonah is about the will of God and how we respond to it. It’s also about the love of God and how we share it with others.

Those who consider the Book of Jonah an allegory or a parable should note that identifies Jonah as a real person, a Hebrew prophet from Gath Hepher in Zebulun () who ministered in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (793–753 B.C.). They should also note that our Lord considered Jonah a historic person and pointed to his experience as a type of His own death, burial, and resurrection (; ).

The reign of Jeroboam II was a time of great prosperity in Israel; the nation regained lost territory and expanded both its boundaries and influence. But it was a time of moral and spiritual decay as the nation rapidly moved away from God and into idolatry. Jonah’s contemporaries Hosea and Amos both courageously denounced the wickedness of the rulers, priests, and people. It’s worth noting that Hosea and Amos also showed God’s concern for other nations, which is one of the major themes of Jonah.

While Jonah had a ministry to Nineveh, a leading city in Assyria, he also had a ministry to Israel through this little book. He discovered God’s compassion for those outside Israel, even those who were their enemies. God had called His people to be a blessing to the Gentiles (), but, like Jonah, the Jews refused to obey. And, like Jonah, they had to be disciplined. Assyria would conquer Israel, and Babylon would take Judah into captivity. Jonah’s book magnifies the sovereignty of God as well as the love and mercy of God. Jehovah is the God of the second chance, even for rebellious prophets!

“Be Transformed”

Jonah is one of the characters in the Bible who cause us to sigh and think, “Well, if there’s hope for Jonah, there’s hope for me!” Actually, God’s Word is laced with people whose character flaws, in our thinking, would probably rule them out as candidates for inclusion in God’s amazing record. Yet, they are there, warts, imperfections, and all, meeting us in the pages of Scripture. But Jonah reminds us that if only the right kind of people were in the Bible, we would never find ourselves in the message God gives us.

Jonah’s book and one other (Nahum) in the Bible end with questions. Both books have to do with Nineveh. God’s rhetorical question to Jonah in ends the book but not the story. Jonah himself reminds us of God’s ongoing work. This side of eternity, our lessons are open-ended. We leave Jonah sitting outside Nineveh, mulling over God’s question, the answer to which he knows and probably still doesn’t like. God does feel sorry for Nineveh. He feels sorry for Jonah, too. Jonah has walked with God while dragging his feet. He has been offered transformation, but he hasn’t yet let God’s view permeate his life. How often are we like Jonah? God gives us a life-changing experience and we quickly redefine it as an interesting adventure. Fortunately, God keeps working on us. He’s not satisfied until He transforms us!

Jonah’s Disobedience

2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”

3But Jonah arose 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 from the presence of the LORD.

The Storm at Sea

8Then they said to him, “Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”

9So 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.”

Jonah Thrown into the Sea

10Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

11Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.

12And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”

13Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.

14Therefore they cried out to the LORD and said, “We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, have done as it pleased You.”

15So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.

16Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows.

Jonah’s Prayer and Deliverance

2And he said:

“I cried out to the LORD because of my affliction,

And He answered me.

“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,

And You heard my voice.

Into the heart of the seas,

And the floods surrounded me;

All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.

Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.’

5The waters surrounded me, even to my soul;

The deep closed around me;

Weeds were wrapped around my head.

6I went down to the moorings of the mountains;

The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;

Yet You have brought up my life from the pit,

O LORD, my God.

7“When my soul fainted within me,

I remembered the LORD;

And my prayer went up to You,

Into Your holy temple.

Forsake their own Mercy.

With the voice of thanksgiving;

I will pay what I have vowed.

Salvation is of the LORD.”

Jonah Preaches at Nineveh

2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”

3So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.

The People of Nineveh Believe

6Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

7And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.

8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

9Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

Jonah’s Anger and God’s Kindness

2So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.

4Then the LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

6And the LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.

7But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered.

8And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

10But the LORD said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.

Annotations for Jonah

Jonah got into trouble because his attitudes were wrong. To begin with, he had a wrong attitude toward the will of God. Obeying God’s will is as mandatory for God’s servant as it is for the people to whom the servant ministers. In obeying God’s will we find our spiritual nourishment (), enlightenment (), and enablement (). To Jesus, the will of God was food that satisfied Him; to Jonah, the will of God was medicine that choked him.

Jonah must have been a popular man in Israel because his prediction had been fulfilled that the nation would regain her lost territory from her enemies (see ). Those were days of peace and prosperity for Israel, but they were autumn days just before the terrible winter of judgment.

Catalyst

We can use Jonah’s responses to God and the world around him to check our own attitudes. Unfortunately, we easily live out the same worldview as God’s resistant and reluctant prophet. When that happens, we need an attitude upgrade!

Jonah’s wrong attitude toward God’s will stemmed from a feeling that the Lord was asking him to do something impossible. God told Jonah to go to Israel’s enemy, Assyria, and give the city of Nineveh opportunity to repent, but Jonah would much rather have seen the city destroyed. The Assyrians were a cruel people who had often abused Israel, and Jonah’s narrow patriotism took precedence over his theology. Jonah forgot that the will of God was the expression of the love of God (), and that God had called him to Nineveh because He loved both Jonah and the Ninevites.

Jonah also had a wrong attitude toward the Word of God. When the Word of the Lord came to him, Jonah thought he could take it or leave it. But when God’s Word commands us, we must listen and obey. Disobedience isn’t an option. “But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?” (). Jonah forgot that being a prophet was a great privilege—to hear God’s Word and know God’s will. In doing the will of God we grow in grace and become more like Christ.

Jonah had a wrong attitude toward circumstances; he thought they were working for him when they were really working against him. He fled to Joppa and found just the right ship waiting for him. He had enough money to pay the fare for his long trip, and he was even able to go down into the ship and fall into a sleep so deep that the storm didn’t awaken him. Clearly we can be out of the will of God and still have circumstances appear to be working in our behalf. We can be rebelling against God and still have a false sense of security that includes a good night’s sleep. God in His providence was preparing Jonah for a great fall.

Finally, Jonah had a wrong attitude toward the Gentiles. Instead of wanting to help them find the true and living God, he wanted to abandon them to their darkness and spiritual death. He not only hated their sins—and the Assyrians were ruthless enemies—but he hated the sinners who committed the sins. Better that Nineveh should be destroyed than that the Assyrians live and attack Israel. But God wants to give us His love for the people around us who don’t believe in Him, no matter how hateful or vile they may be.

Go to the

God had called the Hebrews to be a blessing to all the nations of the earth (), but whenever they were out of the will of God, they brought trouble instead of blessing. Jonah brought trouble to a boatload of pagan sailors because he fled God’s will. Consider all that Jonah lost because he wasn’t a blessing to others.

Jonah lost the voice of God. We don’t read that “the word of the LORD came to Jonah” (cf. v. ) but that a great storm broke loose over the waters. God was no longer speaking to Jonah through His Word; He was speaking to him through His works—the sea, wind, rain, thunder, and even the great fish. Everything in nature obeyed God except His servant!

Jonah also lost his spiritual energy. He went to sleep during a fierce storm and was totally unconcerned about the safety of others. The sailors were throwing the ship’s cargo overboard, and Jonah was about to lose everything—but he still slept on.

Jonah lost his power in prayer. The heathen sailors had called on their gods for help while Jonah slept. Now the captain himself asked Jonah to pray, but we don’t see a word of prayer until he’s in the fish (ch. ). Instead, the sailors cry out to the true God (), even though Jonah was the one man on board who should have known to pray to Him. Of course, Jonah would first have had to confess his sins and determine to obey God—something he wasn’t willing to do.

Jonah lost his testimony. He certainly wasn’t living up to his name, for Jonah means “dove,” and the dove is a symbol of peace. Jonah’s father’s name was Amittai, which means “faithful, truthful,” something that Jonah was not. We’ve already seen that Jonah wasn’t living up to his high calling as a Jew, for he had brought everybody trouble instead of blessing. Nor was he living up to his calling as a prophet, for he had no message for them from God.

The “sign of the prophet Jonah” is seen in his experience of “death,” burial, and resurrection on the third day, and it was the only sign Jesus gave to the nation of Israel (; ; ). Some students are troubled by the phrase “three days and three nights,” especially since both Scripture and tradition indicate that Jesus was crucified on Friday. In order to protect the integrity of the Scripture, some have suggested that the crucifixion occurred on Thursday or even Wednesday. But to the Hebrews, a part of a day was treated as a whole day, so we need not interpret “three days and three nights” () to mean seventy-two hours to the very second. For that matter, we can’t prove that Jonah was in the fish exactly seventy-two hours. The important point is that centuries after the event, Jonah became a “sign” to the Hebrew people and pointed them to Jesus Christ.

From an experience of rebellion and discipline, Jonah turned to an experience of repentance and dedication, and God graciously gave him a new beginning. Jonah no doubt expected to die in the waters of the sea. But when he woke up inside the fish, he realized that God had graciously spared him. As with the Lost Son, whom Jonah in his rebellion greatly resembles (), God’s goodness brought him to repentance (). Notice the stages in Jonah’s spiritual experience as described in his prayer.

, Jonah’s prayer was born out of affliction, not affection. He cried out to God because he was in danger, not because he delighted in the Lord. But better that he should pray compelled by any motive than not to pray at all. No believer always prays with pure and holy motives, for our desires and God’s directions sometimes conflict.

Jonah accepted God’s discipline. The sailors didn’t throw Jonah into the stormy sea; God did. When Jonah said those words, he was acknowledging that God was disciplining him and that he deserved it.

Jonah trusted God’s promises. Jonah was going in one direction only—down. In fact, he had been going in that direction since the hour he had rebelled against God’s plan for his life. Jonah had gone “down to Joppa” and “down in the lowest parts of the ship” (, ). Here he was going “down to the moorings of the mountains” (); and at some point, the great fish met him, and he went down into the fish’s belly (). When you turn your back on God, the only direction you can go is down.

, Jonah yielded to God’s will. Next, Jonah admitted that he had idols in his life that robbed him of God’s blessing. An idol is anything that takes away from God the affection and obedience that rightfully belong only to Him. One such idol was Jonah’s intense patriotism. He was so concerned for the safety and prosperity of his own nation that he refused to be God’s messenger to their enemies the Assyrians.

The prophet couldn’t save himself, and nobody on earth could save him, but the Lord could do it, for “salvation is of the LORD”! This idea is an echo of and , and it is the central declaration in the book. It is also the central theme of the Bible. How wise of Jonah to know the Word of God, because being able to quote the Scriptures, especially the Book of Psalms, gave him light in the darkness and hope in his seemingly hopeless situation.

What an ignominious way for a distinguished prophet to arrive on shore! In chapter , the sailors treated Jonah like dangerous cargo to be thrown overboard, and here he was treated like a foreign substance to be disgorged from the fish’s body. But when Jonah ceased to be an obedient prophet, he cheapened himself, so he was the one to blame. We can be sure that he was duly humbled as he once again stood on dry land.

Did anybody see Jonah emerge when the great fish spit him onto dry land? If so, the story must have spread rapidly and perhaps even preceded him to Nineveh, and that may help explain the reception the city gave him. Had Jonah been bleached by the fish’s gastric juices? Did he look so peculiar that nobody could doubt who he was and what had happened to him? Since Jonah was a “sign” to the Ninevites (), perhaps this included the way he looked.

We don’t have to read very far in the Bible to discover that God forgives His servants and restores them to ministry. Abraham fled to Egypt, where he lied about his wife, but God gave him another chance (). Jacob lied to his father, Isaac, but God restored him and used him to build the nation of Israel. Moses killed a man (probably in self-defense) and fled from Egypt, but God called him to be the leader of His people. Peter denied the Lord three times, but Jesus forgave him and said, “Follow Me” ().

Nineveh was steeped in sin, for the Assyrians were known far and wide for their violence, showing no mercy to their enemies. They would impale live victims on sharp poles, leaving them to roast to death in the desert sun; they had beheaded people by the thousands and stacked their skulls up in piles by the city gates; and they had even skinned people alive. They respected neither age nor sex and followed a policy of killing babies and young children so they wouldn’t have to care for them ().

In the Hebrew text, Jonah’s message has only five words; yet God used those five words to stir the entire population, from the king on the throne to the lowest peasant in the field. God gave the people forty days of grace, but they didn’t need that long. We get the impression that from the very first time they saw Jonah and heard his warning, they paid attention to his message.

Was this the only message Jonah proclaimed? He must have spent time telling the people about the true and living God, for we’re told, “The people of Nineveh believed God.” They would have to know something about this God of Israel in order to exercise sincere faith (see ). Did Jonah expose the folly of their idolatry? Did he recount his own personal history to show them that his God was powerful and sovereign? We simply don’t know. The important point is that Jonah obeyed God, went to Nineveh, and declared the message God had given him. God did the rest.

How deep was the spiritual experience of the people of Nineveh? If repentance and faith are the basic conditions of salvation (), then we have reason to believe that the people of Nineveh were accepted by God because they repented and had faith in God (). The fact that Jesus used the Ninevites to shame the unbelieving Jews of his day is further evidence that their response to Jonah’s ministry was sincere ().

If this book had ended at the last verse of chapter , history would have portrayed Jonah as the greatest of the prophets. After all, preaching one message that motivated thousands of people to repent and turn to God was no small accomplishment. But the Lord doesn’t look on the outward characteristics and accomplishments; He looks at the heart () and weighs the motives (). That’s why was included in the book, for it reveals the thoughts and motives of Jonah’s heart and exposes his sins. The remarkable fact is that God tenderly dealt with his sulking servant and sought to bring him back to the place of joy and fellowship.

For the second time in this account, Jonah prayed, but his second prayer was much different in content and intent. He prayed his best prayer in the worst place, the fish’s belly, and he prayed his worst prayer in the best place, at Nineveh where God was working. Jonah’s first prayer had come from a broken heart, but his second prayer came from an angry heart. In his first prayer, he had asked God to save him, but in his second prayer, he asked God to take his life! Once again, Jonah would rather die than not have his own way.

Jonah was concerned about his reputation, not only before the Ninevites, but also before the Israelites back home. His Hebrew friends would want to see all of the Assyrians destroyed, not just the people of Nineveh. When Jonah’s friends found out that he had been the means of saving Nineveh from God’s wrath, they might have considered him a traitor to official foreign policy. Jonah was a narrow-minded patriot who saw Assyria only as a dangerous enemy to destroy, not as a group of repentant sinners to be brought to the Lord. When reputation is more important than character and pleasing ourselves and our friends is more important than pleasing God, then we’re in danger of becoming like Jonah and living to defend our prejudices instead of fulfilling our spiritual responsibilities. Jonah certainly had good theology, but it stayed in his head and never got to his heart. And he was so distraught that he wanted to die! God’s tender response was to ask Jonah to examine his heart and see why he really was angry.

For the second time in this story, Jonah abandoned his place of ministry, left the city, and sat down in a place east of the city where he could see what would happen. Like the elder brother in the parable of the lost son, he wouldn’t go in and enjoy the feast (). He could have taught the Ninevites so much about the true God of Israel, but he preferred to have his own way.

, God graciously “prepared a plant” that would shade Jonah from the hot sun. This made Jonah happy, but the next morning, when God prepared a worm to kill the vine, Jonah was unhappy. The combination of the hot sun and the smothering desert wind made Jonah want to die even more.

As He had done in the depths of the sea, God was reminding Jonah of what it was like to be lost: helpless, hopeless, miserable. Jonah was experiencing a taste of hell as he sat and watched the city.

God was still speaking to Jonah, and Jonah was still listening and answering, even though he was not giving the right answers. Unrighteous anger feeds the ego and produces the poison of selfishness in the heart. Jonah still had a problem with the will of God.

Do we agree with God that people without Christ are lost? Like God, do we have compassion for those who are lost? How do we show this compassion? Do we have a concern for those in our great cities with so much sin and so little witness? Do we pray that the gospel will go to people in every part of the world, and are we helping to send it there? Do we rejoice when sinners repent and trust the Savior? All of those questions and more are wrapped up in what God asked Jonah. We can’t answer for him, but we can answer for ourselves.

Catalyst

Each of the chapters in the Book of Jonah records a significant lesson the prophet had to learn. These parallel in many ways the lessons God consistently and patiently tries to teach each of us along the way.

In chapter , he learned the lesson of God’s providence and patience. We can run far, but we can’t run away from God.

In chapter , he learned the lesson of God’s pardon. God forgives those who call upon Him.

In chapter , he learned the lesson of God’s power as he saw a whole city humble itself before the Lord.

In chapter , Jonah had one more lesson to learn, perhaps the most important one of all. Here he had to learn the lesson of God’s pity, that God has compassion for lost sinners like the Ninevites, and His servants must also have compassion.

Incredibly, Jonah brought a whole city to faith in the Lord, yet he didn’t love the people to whom he was preaching. Jonah took God’s repeated pity on his own life for granted while he expected instant extinction for the sinners in Nineveh.

How often do we expect God to treat us one way while we pray He will treat others according to an entirely different standard? Apply Jesus’ words in to Jonah’s situation and ours: The grace we expect from God, we ought to ask Him to give to others.

Go to the

Jonah 1

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1:5 Literally from upon them

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Jonah 2

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Jonah 3

3:3 Exact meaning unknown

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Jonah 4

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4:6 Hebrew kikayon, exact identity unknown

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