Jonah 1

1:3Nineveh was a powerful and wicked city. Jonah had grown up hating the Assyrians and fearing their atrocities. His hatred was So strong that he didn’t want them to receive God’s mercy. Jonah was actually afraid the people would repent (4:2, 3). Jonah’s attitude is representative of Israel’s reluctance to share God’s love and mercy with others, even though this was their God-given mission (Genesis 12:3). They, like Jonah, did not want non-Jews (Gentiles) to obtain God’s favor.

1:3Jonah knew that God had a specific job for him, but he didn't want to do it. Tarshish could be one of any number of Phoenicia’s western ports. Nineveh was toward the east. Jonah decided to go as far west as he could. When God gives us direc- I ena s-- —— a —— JONAH’S ROUNDABOUT JOURNEY God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Many of Jonah’s countrymen had experienced the atrocities of these fierce people. The last place Jonah wanted to go was on a missionary trip to Nineveh! So he went in the opposite direction. He boarded a ship in Joppa that was headed for Tarshish. But Jonah could not run from God. tions through his Word, sometimes we run in fear or in stubbornness, claiming that God is asking too much. It may have been fear or anger at the wideness of God's mercy that made Jonah run. But running got him into worse trouble. In the end, Jonah understood that it is best to do what God asks in the first place. But by then he had paid a costly price for running. It is far better to obey from the start.

1:4Before settling in the Promised Land, the Israelites had been nomads, wandering from place to place, seeking good pastureland for their flocks. Although they were not a seafaring people, their location along the Mediterranean Sea and near the neighboring maritime powers of Phoenicia and Philistia allowed much contact with ships and sailors. The ship Jonah sailed on was probably a large trading vessel with a deck.

1:4Jonah’s disobedience to God endangered the lives of the ship’s crew. We have a great responsibility to obey God’s Word because our sin and disobedience can hurt others around us.

1:4,5While the storm raged, Jonah was sound asleep below deck. Even as he ran from God, Jonah’s actions apparently didn’t bother his conscience. But the absence of guilt isn’t always a barometer of whether we are doing right. Because we can deny reality, we cannot measure obedience by our feelings. Instead, we must compare what we do with God’s standards for living.

1:7The crew cast lots to find the guilty person, relying on their superstition to give them the answer. Their system worked, but only because God intervened to let Jonah know that he couldn’t run away.

1:9-12You cannot seek God's love and run from him at the same time. Jonah soon realized that no matter where he went, he couldn’t get away from God. But before Jonah could return to God, he first had to stop going in the opposite direction. What has God told you to do? If you want more of God’s love and power, you must be willing to carry out the responsibilities he gives you. You cannot say that you truly believe in God if you don’t do what he says (1 John 2:3-6).

1:13By trying to save Jonan’s life, the pagan sailors showed more compassion than Jonah, because Jonah did not want to warn the Ninevites of the coming judgment of God. Believers should be ashamed when unbelievers show more concern and compassion than they do. God wants us to be concerned for all of his people, lost and saved.

1:14-16Jonah had disobeyed God. While he was running away, he stopped and submitted to God. Then the ship’s crew began to worship God because they saw that the storm had stopped.

1:17Many have tried to dismiss this miraculous event as fiction, but the Bible does not describe it as a dream or a legend. We should not explain away this miracle as if we can pick and choose which of the miracles in the Bible to believe. That kind of attitude would allow us to question any part of the Bible and cause us to lose our trust in the Bible as God’s true and reliable Word. Jonah’s experience was used by Christ himself as an iliustration of his death and resurrection (Matthew 12:39, 40).

1:17Jonah was sent by God to the Assyrians, ran from the task, and was swallowed by a great fish. The Bible tells us that he “was inside the fish for three days and three nights.” Then he was delivered and went to Nineveh where the people responded with repentance. These events in Jonah’s life were cited by Jesus. When the religious leaders demanded that Jesus give them a sign to prove his authority, Jesus said the only sign they would receive was the sign of Jonah: They would see Jesus swallowed by death and delivered after three days (Matthew 12:39-41; 16:4). Jesus was making it very clear to the religious leaders of the day that their stubbornness to believe in him would be judged. The people of Nineveh responded to Gad’s word spoken by