Introduction
“Because it tells of a fish swallowing a man, many have dismissed the book of Jonah as fiction. But 2 Kings 14:25 mentions Jonah living during the time of Jeroboam II (about 793-753 B.C.), and Jesus referred to Jonah as a historical person (Matt. 12:39-41).
Unlike other prophetic books, Jonah focuses on the prophet himself rather than on his message. When God sent Jonah to Nineveh he rebelled, was swallowed by a fish, repented, and fulfilled his mission after all. When Nineveh repented, the reason for Jonah’s rebellion became clear; he had feared that God would forgive the Ninevites; and when God did forgive them, Jonah resented it (4:1-3).
The book lists no author, but only Jonah himself could have known all the facts it records.”
Jonah Flees the Presence of the Lord
The word of the Lord went to Jonah and him to go to the city of Nineveh and call out against it for their evil had been noticed by God. Instead, Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish trying to escape the presence of the Lord (as if that would happen). He found a ship going to Tarshish so he paid the fee and went about.
The Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea and there was a mighty tempest that threatened to break apart the ship. The mariners were afraid and called out to their god. They hurled the cargo on the ship overboard trying to lighten things up for them.
Meanwhile, Jonah had gone down to the inner part of the ship and was fast asleep. The captain went down and woke him up telling him, “Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”
Jonah Is Thrown into the Sea
The men said, “Let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” The lot fell on Jonah and they asked him all sorts of questions trying to figure out why. Jonah told them that he was a Hebrew and feared the Lord. Then the men were exceedingly scared.
They questioned what to do with Jonah so that the sea may calm down for them. Jonah told them to pick him and throw him into the sea and the sea would quit down for them. He knew it was because of him that God had made the storm.
The men rowed hard trying to get back to dry land, but could not do it. Therefore they called to the Lord and said, “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.”
So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. The men feared the Lord and offered a sacrifice and made vows.
A Great Fish Swallows Jonah
The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah and he was in its belly for three days and three nights.
Jonah’s Prayer
Jonah prayed to the Lord from the belly of the fish, saying,
“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress,
and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
and you heard my voice.
For you cast me into the deep,
into the heart of the seas,
and the flood surrounded me;
all your waves and your billows passed over me.
Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight;
yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’
The waters closed in over me to take my life;
the deep surrounded me;
weeds were wrapped about my head
at the roots of the mountains.
I went down to the land
whose bars closed upon me forever;
yet you brought up my life from the pit,
O Lord my God.
When my life was fainting away,
I remembered the Lord,
and my prayer came to you,
into your holy temple.
Those who pay regard to vain idols
forsake their hope of steadfast love.
But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;
what I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation belongs to the Lord!”
And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.
Jonah Goes to Nineveh
The word of the Lord went to Jonah again and told him to go to Nineveh and call out against them the message God would tell him. Jonah yelled out to the city, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” The people of the city believed God and called for a fast and all put on sackcloth.
The People of Nineveh Repent
The word reached the king of Nineveh and he rose from his throne, removed his robe, and covered himself in sackcloth and sat in ashes. He issued a proclamation that all beings, people and animals, would fast. They would not eat or drink water, and would all be covered in sackcloth.
He continued, “Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”
When God saw what they had done and how they turned from their evil ways, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
Jonah’s Anger and the Lord’s Compassion
This displeased Jonah and he was angry that God would have compassion on an enemy of Israel. He wanted God’s goodness to be shown only to Israelites, not to Gentiles. Jonah asked the Lord to take his life from him, for he thought it were better for him to die than live.
“To Jonah God’s mercy to the Ninevites meant an end to Israel’s favored standing with him. Jonah shortly before had rejoiced in his deliverance from death, but now that Nineveh lived, he preferred to die.”
Jonah went out of the city and made himself a booth for himself. He sat under it in the shade and waited to see what would become of the city. God appointed a plant to go out over Jonah’s head for shade and to save him from his discomfort. So even though Jonah was being a brat, his Father still provided for him.
When the dawn came up the next day though, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant and it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east win, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head and he was faint.
Jonah was angry and said he would rather die. But God asked him if he had any right to be mad at the plant. Jonah said he did and was angry enough to die. God explained that Jonah had been concerned with the plant, but hadn’t done anything to make it grow. It came up overnight and died overnight.
God continued saying that there were more than 120,000 people in the city of Nineveh that did not “know their right hand from their left,” as if they were small children that needed God’s fatherly compassion. God’s concern extended even to the domestic animals as their were a lot of cattle.
“God had the first word and he also had the last. The commission he gave Jonah displayed his mercy and compassion to the Ninevites, and his last word to Jonah emphatically proclaimed that concern on every living creature, both man and animal.
Not only does the “Lord … preserve both man and beast” (Psalm 36:6, Nehemiah 145:16, Psalm 145:16), but he takes “no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but (desires) rather that they turn from their ways to live” (Ezekiel 33:11, Ezekiel 18:21-23).
Jonah and his countrymen traditionally rejoiced in God’s special mercies to Israel but wished only his wrath on their enemies. God here rebukes such hardness and proclaims how own gracious benevolence.”