Jonah

Fleeing to Tarshish

When Jeroboam the son of Joash began to reign over Israel in Samaria (2 Kgs 14:23), he restored the border of Israel “according to the LORD, the God of Israel’s word, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath Hepher” (2 Kgs 14:25).

“Now the LORD’s word came to Jonah the son of Amittai” (Jonah 1:1), telling him, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me” (Jonah 1:2). “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD” (Jonah 1:3). He went down to Joppa, paid the fare, and boarded a ship going to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3).

“But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea” (Jonah 1:4). The sailors were afraid, “and every man cried to his god” (Jonah 1:5); Jonah was fast asleep below deck (Jonah 1:5). The men cast lots, “and the lot fell on Jonah” (Jonah 1:7). Jonah said, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land” (Jonah 1:9), and, “Take me up, and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you” (Jonah 1:12). The men rowed hard but could not get back to land (Jonah 1:13); they cried to the LORD, then threw Jonah into the sea, “and the sea ceased its raging” (Jonah 1:15). “Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows” (Jonah 1:16).

In the Fish

“The LORD prepared a huge fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17).

“Then Jonah prayed to the LORD, his God, out of the fish’s belly” (Jonah 2:1). He said, “I called because of my affliction to the LORD. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice” (Jonah 2:2). He spoke of the waters around him and the weeds wrapped around his head (Jonah 2:5), and said, “yet you have brought my life up from the pit, LORD my God” (Jonah 2:6). The last line of the prayer is: “Salvation belongs to the LORD” (Jonah 2:9).

“Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land” (Jonah 2:10).

Nineveh

“The LORD’s word came to Jonah the second time” (Jonah 3:1), again telling him to go to Nineveh, that great city (Jonah 3:2). This time, “Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD’s word” (Jonah 3:3). The passage says, “Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey across” (Jonah 3:3).

Jonah went a day’s journey into the city and cried out, “In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). “The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least” (Jonah 3:5). The king arose from his throne, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes (Jonah 3:6), and decreed a fast for people and animals alike: “let them turn everyone from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands” (Jonah 3:8).

“God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it” (Jonah 3:10).

The Vine

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry” (Jonah 4:1). He told the LORD why he had fled in the first place: “Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm” (Jonah 4:2). And he said, “Therefore now, LORD, take, I beg you, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:3). The LORD asked him, “Is it right for you to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4).

Jonah went out and sat on the east side of the city, made himself a booth, and waited “until he might see what would become of the city” (Jonah 4:5). God prepared a vine to shade him, “So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine” (Jonah 4:6); at dawn the next day God prepared a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered (Jonah 4:7); when the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind (Jonah 4:8). Jonah grew faint and again asked to die (Jonah 4:8). God asked him, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death” (Jonah 4:9).

The LORD said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night and perished in a night. Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:10-11).

The book of Jonah ends on this question.

In the New Testament

Some asked Jesus for a sign. He said, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet” (Matt 12:39); “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt 12:40).

He also said, “The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here” (Matt 12:41; Luke 11:32).

Luke also records: “For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so the Son of Man will also be to this generation” (Luke 11:30).