Jonah 1:1-16 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
The book of Kings, telling of the reign of Jeroboam king of Israel, mentions a prophet. Jeroboam 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).
The book of Jonah is about this prophet. It does not begin with where he came from; its first line is: “Now the LORD’s word came to Jonah the son of Amittai” (v. 1).
This lesson reads Jonah chapter 1.
1Now the LORD’s word came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”
3But Jonah rose up 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 its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.
4But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up.
5Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship and he was laying down, and was fast asleep.
6So the ship master came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.”
7They all said to each other, “Come! Let’s cast lots, that we may know who is responsible for this evil that is on us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8Then they asked him, “Tell us, please, for whose cause this evil is on us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you?”
9He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.”
10Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “What have you done?” For the men knew that he was fleeing 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 to us?” For the sea grew more and more stormy.
12He said to them, “Take me up, and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this great storm is on you.”
13Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them.
14Therefore they cried to the LORD, and said, “We beg you, LORD, we beg you, don’t let us die for this man’s life, and don’t lay on us innocent blood; for you, LORD, have done as it pleased you.”
15So they took up Jonah and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging.
16Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.
Arise. “Now the LORD’s word came to Jonah the son of Amittai” (v. 1). The LORD told him, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it,” and gave the reason: “for their wickedness has come up before me” (v. 2).
But Jonah rose up. Jonah did get up, but not to go to Nineveh: “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD” (v. 3). “He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it” (v. 3). In that one verse the passage says twice that he was going “from the presence of the LORD” (v. 3). Why he fled, this chapter does not say; in Lesson 4, Jonah will say it himself (Jonah 4:2).
A great wind. The next verse begins with ‘But’: “But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up” (v. 4). The sailors were afraid, “and every man cried to his god”; they threw the cargo into the sea “to lighten the ship” (v. 5). Meanwhile, “Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship and he was laying down, and was fast asleep” (v. 5).
Call on your God. The ship master found him and said, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish” (v. 6).
The lot fell on Jonah. They cast lots, “and the lot fell on Jonah” (v. 7). The passage records only that they did this; it does not present it as a way of finding God’s will. Then the men asked him question after question (v. 8). Jonah answered, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land” (v. 9). “Then the men were exceedingly afraid,” and asked him, “What have you done?” (v. 10). He had already told them that he was fleeing from the LORD (v. 10).
Throw me into the sea. The sea grew more and more stormy, and they asked Jonah what to do (v. 11). Jonah said, “Take me up, and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this great storm is on you” (v. 12). The sailors did not do it at once: “Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not” (v. 13). First they cried to the LORD: “don’t let us die for this man’s life, and don’t lay on us innocent blood” (v. 14). Then “they took up Jonah and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging” (v. 15).
They feared the LORD. The last line of this passage is about the sailors: “Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows” (v. 16). What happened to Jonah in the sea, the next lesson reads.
On the ship Jonah said the God he feared was “the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land” (v. 9). Israel sang the same in worship: “The sea is his, and he made it. His hands formed the dry land” (Ps 95:5).
Readers can see this: the One Jonah went out to sea to get away from was the very One Israel sang of, the maker of the sea and of the dry land.
Perhaps there is something you want to get away from right now: something that is yours to do but you don’t want to do, someone you don’t want to face, or a season you don’t want to live through.
This lesson does not say that every storm in your life comes because you are running from God. What it shows you is this: Jonah headed for Tarshish, and the LORD did not let go of him; the sailors, who had each cried to his own god, in the end “feared the LORD exceedingly” (v. 16). A psalm asks: “Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence?” (Ps 139:7). And it goes on: “even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me” (Ps 139:10).
This week: Read Psalm 139:1-12 once. If there is something you have been trying to get away from, write it down, and this week find a time to bring it before God and talk with him about it.
Scripture: World English Bible.