End Notes

   Introduction to the Book of Jonah

1. The Jewish New Testament Commentary, by David Stern, Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc, Clarksville, Maryland, 1992, page 4.
2. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, by John Walvoord and John and Roy Zuck. The Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1986, pages 1461- 1462.
3. The Remarkable Journey of Jonah, by Henry Morris, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2003, pages 17-18.
4. The Book of Jonah: MBSO79, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries, San Antonio, TX, 2005, page 18.
   

   Jonah’s Authenticity and Historicity

5. Jonah and Micah, by David Baker, TOTC, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1988, page 81.
6. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, by John Walvoord and John and Roy Zuck. The Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1986, pages 1463- 1464.
7. The Minor Prophets, by Charles Feinberg, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1951, page 134.
   

   Jonah Among the Prophetic Books

8. Jonah, by Jack Sasson, The Anchor Bible, Doubleday, New York, NY, 1990, pages 13-15.
9. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 1993, pgs 19-20.
10. The Jealousy of Jonah, by Richard Henderson, The Columba Press, Dublin, Ireland, 2006, page 14.
11. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 1993, pgs 21-22.
    

    Jonah’s Way and God’s Way in the World

12. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, by James Bruckner, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004, pages 32-33.
13. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 1993, pgs 34-36.
    

    Jonah’s Message

14. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, by John Walvoord and John and Roy Zuck. The Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1986, page 1462.
    

    Jonah’s Good News

15. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, by James Bruckner, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004, pages 33-34.
    

    Jonah Flees from the LORD

16. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, by James Bruckner, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004, page 40.
17. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nash, TN, 2014, page 9.
    

    Chapter 1

18. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 1993, page 37.
19. The Jealousy of Jonah, by Richard Henderson, The Columba Press, Dublin, Ireland, 2006, pages 19-20.
20. Jonah, by Jack Sasson, The Anchor Bible, Doubleday, New York, NY, 1990, page 69.
21. Jonah and Micah, by David Baker, TOTC, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1988, page 63.
22. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 1993, pgs 37-39.
23. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, by John Walvoord and John and Roy Zuck. The Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1986, pages 1493-1494.
24. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, pages 10-12 and 16.
25. The Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk, by Joyce Baldwin, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1993, page 553.
26. The Jealousy of Jonah, by Richard Henderson, The Columba Press, Dublin, Ireland, 2006, page 122.
27. The Book of Jonah: MBSO79, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries, San Antonio, TX, 2005, page 6.
28. The Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk, by Joyce Baldwin, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1993, page 553.
29. The Remarkable Journey of Jonah, by Henry Morris, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, 2003, pages 31-32.
30. The Jealousy of Jonah, by Richard Henderson, The Columba Press, Dublin, Ireland, 2006, page 23.
31. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, pages 36-37.
32. Jonah, by Jack Sasson, The Anchor Bible, Doubleday, New York, NY, 1990, page 69.
33. The Jealousy of Jonah, by Richard Henderson, The Columba Press, Dublin, Ireland, 2006, page 24.
34. Jonah and Micah, by J. Vernon McGee, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN, 1991, pages 23-25.
35. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster, Louisville, Kentucky, 1993, pages 47-48.
36. The Jealousy of Jonah, by Richard Henderson, The Columba Press, Dublin, Ireland, 2006, pages 24-25.
37. Jonah: Bible Study Commentary, John Walton, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1982, pg 14.
38. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster, Louisville, Kentucky, 1993, page 50.
39. The Jealousy of Jonah, by Richard Henderson, The Columba Press, Dublin, Ireland, 2006, pages 26-27.
40. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, by James Bruckner, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004, page 44.
41. The Minor Prophets, by Charles Feinberg, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1951, page 136.
42. Jonah and Micah, by David Baker, TOTC, Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1988, page 115.
43. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 1993, page 52.
44. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, by James Bruckner, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004, page 45.
45. Manners and Customs of the Bible, by James Freeman, Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey, 1972, page 322.
46. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster/John Knox Press, Louisville, KY, 1993, page 52.
47. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, by James Bruckner, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004, page 45.
48. Jonah and Micah, by J. Vernon McGee, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN, 1991, page 29.
49. The Book of Jonah: MBSO79, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries, San Antonio, TX, 2005, page 8.
50. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, by James Bruckner, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004, page 45.
51. The Minor Prophets, by Charles Feinberg, Moody Press, Chicago, IL, 1951, page 137.
52. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, by James Bruckner, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004, pages 47-48.
53. Ibid, page 31.
54. The Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk, by Joyce Baldwin, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1993, page 563.
55. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, pages 58 and 63.
56. The Book of Jonah: MBSO79, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries, San Antonio, TX, 2005, page 10.
57. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, page 53.
    

    Chapter 2

58. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster, Louisville, KY, 1993, page 60.
59. Ibid, page 61.
60. The Book of Jonah: MBSO79, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries, San Antonio, TX, 2005, page 10.
61. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster, Louisville, Kentucky, 1993, pages 62-63.
62. Matthew 1-13, by J. Vernon McGee, Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN, 1991, pages 171-172
63. Matthew 8-15, by John MacArthur, Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, IL, 1987, page 327.
64. Matthew Presents Yeshua, by Barney Kasdan, King Messiah, Messianic Jewish Publishers, Clarksville, Maryland, 2011, pages 166-167.
65. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster, Louisville, Kentucky, 1993, pages 63-65.
66. Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries, by Tim Gustafson, Grand Rapids, Michigan, Sep-Oct-Nov, 2014.
67. The Book of Jonah: MBSO79, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries, San Antonio, TX, 2005, pages 11-13.
68. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, page 73.
69. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster, Louisville, KY, 1993, page 72.
70. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, pages 67-68.
71. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, by John Walvoord and John and Roy Zuck. The Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1986, page 1468.
72. Jonah: Bible Study Commentary, John Walton, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 1982, pg 35.
73. The Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk, by Joyce Baldwin, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1993, page 554.
74. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, pages 90-93.
    

    Chapter 3

75. Chiasmus in Antiquity, by John Welch, Research Press, Provo, UT, 1981, page 60.
76. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster, Louisville, KY, 1993, page 74.
77. Ibid, page 75.
78. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, pages 81-86.
79. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster, Louisville, KY, 1993, page 77.
80. The Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk, by Joyce Baldwin, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1993, page 577.
81. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, by John Walvoord and John and Roy Zuck. The Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1986, pages 1463-1464.
82. The Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk, by Joyce Baldwin, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1993, page 579.
83. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, by John Walvoord and John and Roy Zuck. The Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1986, page 1469.
84. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, by James Bruckner, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004, page 94.
85. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, page 123.
    

    Chapter 4

86. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, by James Bruckner, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004, pages 108-109.
87. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, page 129.
88. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster, Louisville, KY, 1993, pages 88-89.
89. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, by John Walvoord and John and Roy Zuck. The Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1986, page 1470.
90. The Book of Jonah: MBSO79, by Arnold Fruchtenbaum, Ariel Ministries, San Antonio, TX, 2005, pages 15-16.
91. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, page 129.
92. The Remarkable Journey of Jonah, by Henry Morris, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, pages 112-113.
93. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, by James Bruckner, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004, pages 110-111.
94. The Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk, by Joyce Baldwin, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1993, page 584.
95. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster, Louisville, KY, 1993, page 89.
96. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, by James Bruckner, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI, 2004, page 120.
97. The Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk, by Joyce Baldwin, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1993, page 584.
98. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster, Louisville, KY, 1993, page 94.
99. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, pages 134-135.
100. The Remarkable Journey of Jonah, by Henry Morris, Master Books, Green Forest, AR, page 117.
101. Ibid, pages 118-119.
102. The Jealousy of Jonah, by Richard Henderson, The Columba Press, Dublin Ireland, 2006, page 77.
103. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, page 144.
104. The Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk, by Joyce Baldwin, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1993, page 587.
105. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, by John Walvoord and John and Roy Zuck. The Victor Books, Wheaton, IL, 1986, page 1472.
106. The Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk, by Joyce Baldwin, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, MI, 1993, page 589.
107. Jonah, by James Limburg, Westminster, Louisville, KY, 1993, page 98.
108. Jonah, Navigating a Life Interrupted, by Priscilla Shirer, LifeWay Press, Nashville, TN, 2014, page 145.

Bibliography

Aalders, G. Charles. The Problem of the Book of Jonah, London, Tyndale Press, 1948.

Allen, Leslie C. The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans, 1976.

Baker, David. Obadiah, Jonah and Micah. Downers Grove, Intervarsity Press, 1988.

Baldwin, Joyce. The Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum and Habakkuk.

Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1993.

Bruckner, James. The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah. Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 2004.

Cohen, Aaron. The Twelve Prophets. London, the Soncino Press, 1948.

Coleman, Lyman. The Serendipity Bible for Groups, New International Version. Littleton, Serendipity House, 1988.

Davis, Ken. Lessons from Jonah: Second Chances. Distributed by Crown Comedy, 2005.

Edersheim, Alfred. The Temple. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985.

Erickson, Millard. Christian Theology. Grand Rapids, Baker Book House, 1985.

Feinberg, Charles. The Minor Prophets. Chicago, Moody Press, 1990.

Freeman, James. Manners and Customs of the Bible. Plainfield, Logos International, 1972.

Fretheim, T. The Message of Jonah: A Theological Commentary. Minneapolis, Augsburg Publishing House, 1977.

Fruchtenbaum, Arnold. The Book of Jonah: MBSO79. San Antonio, Ariel Ministries, 2005.

Good, Edwin. Irony in the Old Testament, Sheffield, Almond, 1981.

Gustafson, Tim. Our Daily Bread. RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan, different years.

Henderson, Richard. The Jealousy of Jonah. Dublin, The Columba Press, 2006.

Kasdan, Barney, Matthew Presents King Messiah, Clarksville, Jewish Publishers, 2011.

Keil, C. F. Jonah: Volume 10. Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1960.

Laney, Carl, Answers to Tough Questions. Grand Rapids, Kregel Publications, 1997.

Limburg, James. Jonah. Louisville, Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993.

MacArthur, John. Twelve Extraordinary Women. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2005.

MacArthur, John. Matthew 8-15, Chicago, Moody Bible Institute, 1987.

McGee, J. Vernon. Jonah and Micah. Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 1991.

McGee, J. Vernon. Matthew 1-13, Nashville, Thomas Nelson, 1991.

Morris, Henry. The Remarkable Journey of Jonah. Green Forest, Masters Books, 2003.

Shirer, Priscilla. Jonah: Navigating a Life Interrupted. Nashville, LifeWay, 2010.

Uriel Simon, Jonah: The Traditional Hebrew Text (translated by L. J. Schramm), Philadelphia, Jewish Publication Society, 1999.

Walton, John. Jonah: Bible Study Commentary. Grand Rapids, Zondervan, 1982.

Walvoord, John and Zuck, Roy. The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the Old Testament. Wheaton, Victor Books, 1985.

Walvoord, John and Zuck, Roy. The Bible Knowledge Commentary of the New Testament. Wheaton, Victor Books, 1983.

Watts, John D. W. The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah. New York, Cambridge University Press, 1975.

Welsh, John. Chiasmus in Antiquity. Provo, Research Press, 1981.

Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Expository Commentary, Volume 1, Wheaton, Victor Books, 1989.

Zlotowitz, Meir. Yonah: A New Translation with a Commentary Anthologized from Midrashic and Rabbinic Sources. Brooklyn, Mesorah Publications, 1978.

Jonah Had Gone Out and Sat Down
at a Place East of the City
4: 4-11

Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city DIG: What is the most important question in the book? Why does God pose questions like this? Humanly speaking, why did Yonah have every right to be angry? Why should we be pleased that God is slow to anger? Why did Jonah sit outside the city? What was his hope? What kind of shelter did he build? What did this have to do with Israel’s history? What three things does God provide Yonah? Why? What do the vine, worm and hot sun reveal about the LORD? About Jonah? How does the worm in this seventh scene point to Jonah as a type of Christ? Compare Elijah’s encounter with Baal-worship in First Kings 18:20-40 with Jonah’s relation to these pagans. What peak religious experiences, depressions, and rebuke from God do they have in common with each other? With you? What does this scene tell us about God? How would you end this dangling story? What do you think the disgruntled prophet did with his second chance? What does scene seven as a whole say about God?

REFLECT: Do you have a pouting-place? Are you disappointed or upset with God right now? How so? What is the importance of God’s question in 4:4 to you personally? As a result of your divine intervention, has God revealed to you a distance between His heart and yours? How so? Are there any misplaced priorities that have taken place in your life lately? What made this disparity clear to you? How do you feel about the idea that God may allow hardship to relay spiritual instruction? Why do you think the Enemy of souls may want to disguise difficulty used by YHVH as punishment sent by God? If you’ve had a string of your own difficulties, have you attributed them to ADONAI or to the Adversary? How have these instances made you feel? Have they drawn you closer to the Lord, or driven you away? Why? When have you tried limiting the Lord’s mercy to others? To yourself? To whom does ADONAI want you to show mercy to this week?

Short description of scene seven: ADONAI initiates the action in this final scene, this time with a question directed to the disgruntled prophet. But the LORD wanted Jonah to continue his prophetic ministry, so in a mild and loving rebuke, He simply asked him: Have you any right to be angry in light of the mercy I have shown you by bringing you back to life so you could fulfill My commission (4:4)? Surely God’s servant could trust the Judge of all the earth to do right (Genesis 18:25). Jonah, however, was in no mood to respond. He refused to recognize any suggestion that he might be in the wrong, and he persisted in justifying himself.⁹⁷

He took up a new position east of the city where he built a booth to provide some shade. Again, the LORD God takes the initiative by providing a plant, a worm, and a wind; Jonah reacts with another death wish (4:6-8). The story concludes with a question-and-answer exchange between God and Jonah (4:9) and then with a thirty-nine-word speech by YHVH (4:10-11), balancing Jonah’s thirty-nine-word speech in 4:2. The end of the story links with the beginning, picking up the theme: Nineveh, the great city. The closing question invites Jonah, and each of us, to become involved by responding with an answer.⁹⁸

Commentary on scene seven: After hearing Jonah’s whiny tirade, there was dead silence – a pause just long enough to wonder what was going to happen next. But now, the short pause has ended and the silence is broken with a word from the LORD. For the first time we listen in on a conversation between God and Yonah. His question: Have you any right to be angry (4:4)? is the most important question in the book. YHVH wants to know if Jonah’s anger results in any good. Divine inquiries are never for God’s benefit. He knows the answer to every question (Genesis 3:6-11; 4:3-10; John 6:5-6). He poses questions that we may realize and agree on the truth of the answer. Answering God’s questions requires a soul search that may unearth heart issues we did not formerly recognize, thereby helping us to see in ourselves what God seeks to uncover. The question God asked Jonah is the same Spirit that whispers to us as we teeter on the verge of falling headlong into a mound of anger. After all the moping and fury, we face this same simple question.⁹⁹

Dear Just and Righteous Heavenly Father, Praise You that You are always perfect in Your balanced of anger and love. You do get angry (John 3:36). Anger in, Your children are allowed when it is a righteous anger at sin, “Be angry, yet do not sin” (Ephesians 4:26a); not a selfish anger of not getting what someone wants. Get rid of all bitterness and rage and anger and quarreling and slander, along with all malice. (Ephesians 4:31).

Praise You that You open the door of salvation and entrance to heaven to all who choose to love and to follow You, Yeshua, God. Therefore the Torah became our guardian to lead us to Messiah, so that we might be made right based on trusting.  But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.  For you are all sons of God through trusting in Messiah Yeshua.  For all of you who were immersed in Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female – for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua (Galatians 3:24-28). Praise Yeshua for Hiswonderful gift of righteousness that He gives to all who love Him and accept His sacrifice as the Lamb of Godfor our sins. He made the One who knew no sin to become a sin offering on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. (Second Corinthians 5:21). We love You and look forward to living with You in heaven, praising Your great and holy name forever! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen 

Humanly speaking, Yonah did have a reason to be angry. After all, Assyria was Israel’s archenemy, and preaching to them could possibly keep them from being destroyed if they repented. In 722 BC, about thirty-eight years after Jonah preached to Nineveh, the army of Assyria pillaged the northern kingdom of Isra’el, and laid siege to Samaria. The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cutah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in place of the Israelites in the cities of Samaria. They took over Samaria and lived in her towns (Second Kings 17:24). The Assyrians treated their conquered peoples differently than the Babylonians would later in history. Whereas the Babylonians took the best and the brightest back to Babylon and killed the rest, the Assyrians brought their own citizens to the conquered area, intermarried with them and therefore assimilated them into Assyrian culture. This is, of course, what Yonah had feared would happen. Eventually the Jews in the southern kingdom of Judah viewed their northern brethren as inferior half-breeds, despised them, and wanted nothing to do with them (see my commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Gw – The Parable of the Good Samaritan).

As previously mentioned (Az – Jonah’s Anger and the LORD’s Mercy), Yonah said God was slow to anger. Aren’t we glad that’s the case? If He were inclined to angry outbursts, all of us would be suffering every moment of the day. Every form of solace shows us that ADONAI has a tendency to bestow kindness. Knowing that the holy, all-powerful God could be angry and yet is slow to yield to it should make us reconsider any anger we feel when betrayed, belittled, or just ignored. This should cause us to think about two things: First, it should cause us to question any anger we feel toward God. Knowing He could and should be angry with us, and yet, chooses not to be, should challenge us to rethink our position. Secondly, when we realize the gap between ADONAI’s character and ours, we should consider our great need for God’s assistance in molding us into His image (Romans 8:29; First Corinthians 15:49 and Colossians 3:10).

Since, from a human perspective, we may feel justified in our anger towards another or even toward HaShem, the only way we can ever be slow to anger is if the Ruach haKodesh compels us in that direction. The LORD gave us His Spirit for many reasons – companionship, comfort, fellowship, guidance, and counsel to name a few. But He also gave us His Ruach for empowerment. As believers, we should be empowered to live beyond our normal human capabilities. While we will never achieve perfection in any of God’s attributes, we can experience the work of the Holy Spirit in ever increasing measure. In other words, we can be sanctified. We can and should expect to see the fruit of God’s work in our lives as He changes us daily (Galatians 5:16-23).

But instead of answering ADONAI, Yonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city (4:5a). God tried to engage His prophet in his distress, but Jonah wasn’t ready to talk (He does answer the question when it is asked again in 4:9). Cain was asked the same question in Genesis 4:6. He didn’t answer either, but instead went out and killed his brother Abel (see my commentary on Genesis Bj – Your Brother’s Blood Cries Out to Me from the Ground). Jonah was at a similar point of moral decision in his relationship with God.

Yonah hoped that the LORD would still destroy the city in spite of the Ninevites’ repentance. So just in case that happened, the reluctant prophet did not want to be in the city, of course, so he went to a hill on the east, outside of the city, to wait out the forty days (3:4). He waited to see if the Ninevites repentance and God’s mercy would endure. There he made himself a shelter (Hebrew: sukkah) to protect his bleached skin, which was no doubt painfully sensitive to the sun. This shelter was reminiscent of the shelter built in the desert by the Israelites as they wandered for forty years. ADONAI commanded that these shelters be built every year as a remembrance (the feast of Booths or sukkoth) of God’s provision for His people during those years of wilderness wandering (Ex 23:16; Deut 16:13-16). So Jonah sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city from a distance (4:5b). When he thought that God might destroy the wicked Ninevites it probably brought a smile to his face. Yes, there was still a chance that strict justice would be inflicted.

A picture lesson: Then ADONAI God provided an object lesson in order to demonstrate His mercy and compassion. Notice that at each of the crucial junctures in the book, the expanded title ADONAI God is used (1:9, 2:1, 2:6 and here). Perched there like a vulture on the edge of the city awaiting its destruction, the sun beat down mercilessly on the disgruntled prophet. Sitting in his booth, the roof probably provided little protection. He must have been miserable baking under the sun’s glaring rays. So ADONAI God provided a leafy plant (4:6a). It is interesting that, in this very short book, the word provided is used four times to tell us about special acts of God. First God provided a whale, then He provided a plant, then He provided a worm, and finally ADONAI provided a scorching east wind (Jonah 1:17, 4:6, 7-8), all for special purposes related to Jonah’s calling and ministry.¹⁰⁰

God provided a leafy plant (4:6b). The plant (Hebrew: qiyqalown) is apparently hard to identify, but the Hebrew name is similar to an Egyptian name for the castor-oil plant, known for its rapid growth, tall height, and large leaves. God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah in one night to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort of the suns’ rays. Whether it would grow this rapidly in one night, however, is very doubtful. More likely, it was a miracle plant and Jonah was extremely happy about the plant (4:6c). Yonah, incidentally, used the same word when he described himself as extremely unhappy (which I translated: furious), at God’s decision to spare Nineveh (4:1). In fact, the same Hebrew word gadol, is also used to describe Nineveh as a great city, the storm as a great storm, and the whale as a great whale (Jonah 1:2, 1:12 and 1:17). Jonah apparently liked to use it. For that matter, all his experiences were so out of the ordinary as to require superlatives to describe them. He was furious about the divine protection given to others but excited and thrilled to receive a bit of his own divine protection.

Now I admit I’m not the one to judge Jonah. I’m keenly aware of how a change in temperature can put a smile back on my face. I can’t stand being cold, and when I’m warm, I suppose I can be just as happy as Yonah was with his plant. So I can relate with such a simple change causing me to compare it with my lack of concern about things of more significance. Divine interruptions have a way of making me more aware of my inconsistent heart. When I’m excited about my own needs being met but not nearly so anxious to see God’s purposes served, it’s apparent I’ve got some work to do. Divine interruptions often expose my lack of sensitivity to His purposes and absorption with myself. When the insignificant makes my heart pound while the truly significant gets a shrug, it’s clear that I’ve got a long way to go.

The phrase to ease his discomfort literally means to deliver him from his calamity. The Hebrew language here invites a three-way comparison between Jonah’s first calamity in the storm, Nineveh’s pending calamity, and Yonah’s discomfort with the sun. He was extremely happy and grateful about his resurrection from the dead. He was also extremely happy about his deliverance from the discomfort of the sun. Now you would think that it would have softened Jonah’s heart toward the Ninevites. Once again ADONAI showed divine favor to Yonah, and yet he was hesitant to extend mercy to others. YHVH uses this contrast in His final question to His chosen prophet.

Are we willing to extend grace and mercy to others as the LORD has extended it to us? When God graciously takes care of our needs, when ADONAI is there through our discomfort, or calms our anxieties, our first inclination should be to extend grace and mercy to others. His grace should make us more gracious to others, and His mercy should likewise make us more merciful. How often do you see this displayed inside or outside the congregations of God?

But the LORD . . . Here is another But, and it’s now YHVH’s move. God is sovereign and He saw to it that Jonah’s extreme happiness about the shade lasted for only one day. At dawn the next day Elohim sent a worm to attack the plant so that it withered (4:7). The castor oil plant is said to both grow quickly and deteriorate quickly, but again this seems to have been a miraculous worm to destroy it that fast. The emphasis here is not on God’s love and mercy but on His disciplining activity. God had a special lesson for His prophet.

Type 7. The worm was distinctive in another sense as well, although this could hardly have been obvious to Jonah himself at that time. It was known as “the scarlet worm” (Hebrew: towla), as being the source of the red fluid used in those days to produce beautiful crimson and scarlet cloth. In fact, the same word was actually translated “crimson” in Isaiah 1:18, speaking of the sins being “red like crimson.” The strikingly significant thing about this word is that it is used prophetically as applied to Christ on the cross in the marvelous 22^nd Psalm. There He says, “But I am a worm” (Psalm 22:6). Not just any worm, but the scarlet worm, whose blood-red fluid emerging from the body of the female worm as she dies in giving birth to her young, points eloquently to the shed blood of Yeshua Messiah as He died to bring us life (Romans 5:8).¹⁰¹

With the shade from the leaves of the plant suddenly gone, Jonah was again subjected to the searing heat of the Assyrian desert. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. Yonah is now completely worn out – he was absurdly joyful over the provision of the plant, and now too, like all his religious aspiration, had withered. The LORD had given and now the LORD had taken away (Job 1:21).¹⁰² Jonah almost had sunstroke and was extremely “faint”. He used the same root word as in verse 7 for how the worm “attacked” the plant to indicate the blazing of the “scorching” east wind. Yonah felt he might wither under the hot sun just as the plant had withered because of the worm. Not only had he been sent on a mission he didn’t want, and was disgusted at the outcome, but he couldn’t even find a comfortable place to recuperate.

Yonah was not only emotionally spent he was also physically tormented. Nothing seemed to be going his way. He was so distraught that for a second time (4:3) he considered death to be more suitable than life,¹⁰³ and said: It would be better for me to die than to live (4:8). The encounters with the plant, the worm and the wind had not taught him anything, and He has not moved beyond his wish to die. In three verses Yonah moved from anger to happiness, and then back to depression. By then he was ready to listen to God again.

A verbal lesson: The book concludes with a question for Jonah about God’s motivation. YHVH came to Jonah and asked: Is it right for you to be angry about the plant (4:9)? The terse inquiry, like the pricking of conscience, meets with self-justification: “I am right to be angry!” Yeshua depicted the same attitude in the elder son of the parable, who resented the joyous reception given to his wayward brother, “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving away for you,” he said to his father, “and never disobeyed your orders” (Luke 15:28-30). The last remark was not true of Yonah, but both men were preoccupied with vindicating themselves. They were unshakably convinced of their own grounds for doubt. But Jonah’s last words were quite literally death: It would be better for me to die than to live (4:8). In questioning and quarreling with ADONAI he loses sight of all that makes life worth living.¹⁰⁴

And then with a thirty-nine-word speech (in Hebrew) that balanced Yonah’s thirty-nine-word speech (in Hebrew) in 4:2, ADONAI ends the book by teaching Jonah the essential lesson he had been missing all along. He was not only a God of absolute holiness and perfect justice who does not leave the guilty unpunished (Exodus 34:7b), but also One who was maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin (Exodus 34:7a). He declared: But you have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight (4:10). Like Abraham, Moses and Jeremiah, the disgruntled prophet protested to ADONAI. His complaint came in 4:1 when the Ninevites repented (3:10). It’s as if the Lord said, “Let’s analyze this anger of yours, Jonah . . . It represents your concern over the plant that you loved so much – but what did it really mean to you? Your attachment to it couldn’t have been very deep, for it was here one day and gone the next. Your concern was dictated by self-interest, not by genuine love. You never had the devotion of a gardener. If you feel as bad as you say you do, what would you expect the real Gardner to feel like, who tended the plant and watched it grow only to see it wither and die? This is how I feel about Nineveh, only much more so. All those people, all those animals . . . I made them. I have cherished them all these years. Nineveh has cost Me no end of effort, and it means the world to Me. Your pain is nothing compared to Mine when I think about their destruction.”¹⁰⁵

Reflection on what scene seven as a whole says about ADONAI: The last verse offers us a peek into the heart of God when He said: And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left – and also many animals’ (4:11)? For the second time God asked Yonah a question. Is the Creator obliged to ask Jonah’s permission in order to exercise His mercy? The ironic question is intended to bring Yonah to repentance. Does Jonah really want to find fault with his God for being too gracious and loving?¹⁰⁶

If this is a reference to children who are too young to know the right hand from their left hand, and therefore innocent of sin and undeserving of death, then the total population of the Assyrian triangle (made up of Nineveh and her satellite cities of Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen) would have been around 600,000 people. ADONAI’s concern was for all the people for whom both God and Jonah ministered. God labored through His grace and Jonah labored through his experiences. To the first question, Yonah walked off in a huff and refused to answer (4:4-5). This time the lack of an immediate response leaves us dangling.

Jonah refrains from adding anything that might detract from the force of the question with which God concludes the book. Whether or not Yonah was convinced, and what happened to him afterwards, are unimportant matters compared with the lesson that is so convincingly taught. But if the rebel prophet had not come around, such a book would never have been written! Jonah had no right to God’s favor, so who was he to deny it to anyone else? The answer to the LORD’s question in 4:11 undoubtedly ended up being, “Yes,” and that “yes” expresses a unique emphasis in the book of Jonah. The entire Bible tells the story of God’s love for the insiders, the righteous of the TaNaKh and the New Covenant saints. But the book of Jonah has a special concern for ADONAI’s love for the outsiders, the people of the world – and even for their animals.¹⁰⁷

When you face trying circumstances please know you can run to a secret place: He hides me in the shelter of His presence when there is trouble; He will keep me safe from those who conspire against me. He keeps me hidden in His tent far from accusing tongues. He sets me high on a rock (Psalm 27:5 and 31:20 NLT). Like the eye of the storm, peace prevails in the presence of ADONAI, even when chaos arises all around. God has a sacred place of immunity from anything outside His will for us. He will meet you there, offering you the best of Himself and His purposes. Consider your life circumstances as divine lessons. Ask the Lord to open your eyes to see what He may be teaching you. Then open your heart to receive and retain those lessons.¹⁰⁸

Jonah’s Anger at the LORD’s Mercy
4: 1-3

Jonah’s anger at the LORD’s mercy DIG: Why is Jonah angry now? How did Yonah’s selfish anger compare with God’s righteous anger? How was this a reflection of the northern kingdom of Isra’el? How did Yonah rationalize his out-of-control anger over Nineveh’s repentance and ADONAI’S forgiveness? What was Jonah’s greatest fear? Compare Jonah’s five-point description of God to Moshe’s description of Him in Exodus 34:6-7. What attribute is missing? Do you think this omission may have been purposeful on Yonah’s part? Why or why not? How did Jonah know about the LORD’s mercy based on his experience with the northern kingdom of Isra’el? What is the difference between God relenting and repenting? Why the pause at this point? What does scene six as a whole say about God?

REFLECT: Have you ever tried to make an unspoken “deal” with God in exchange for your obedience? How did that work out? Did it affect your relationship with Him? Have you ever been displeased when you saw YHVH extend grace and mercy to someone you thought didn’t deserve it? When was the last time you obeyed ADONAI but your emotions lagged behind? What compelled you to obey the Lord despite the way you felt about it? Can you think of an attribute of God that you only appreciate in certain situations? What does our anger at the LORD reveal about our desire to control Him?

Short description of scene six: One of the issues driving the story of Yonah from the beginning has been: What will happen to the city of Nineveh, whose wickedness is so great that it has come to the attention of ADONAI? That issue has now been resolved. The Ninevites heard the message of the prophet, they changed, and the announced destruction of the city has been called off. But another issue remained. What will happen to a reluctant prophet who disobeyed Ha’Shem? Jonah discovered that it is impossible to run away from the Almighty. His preaching in Nineveh, it would seem, has been tremendously successful. One would think he would be overjoyed. But as the scene opens Jonah is absolutely furious.

Commentary on scene six: But Jonah . . . The cat and mouse game continues, so we should pause on the word But. Throughout the book, there is a constant dialogue between Yonah and the Grandmaster, often with action and counteraction, like a chess game. But Jonah was absolutely furious and burned with anger because the Ninevites had been saved (4:1). Most evangelists would have been delighted. Imagine preaching for forty days and ending up with about 600,000 people repenting and radically changing their behavior. But Yonah was not just upset, he was absolutely furious (Hebrew: ra’ah). Once again Jonah is playing upon a few of his favorite words. The previous chapter spoke of the people of Nineveh turning from their evil (Hebrew: ra’ah) ways (3:8). God saw that they had turned from their evil (ra’ah) ways (3:10a) and therefore relents about bringing evil (ra’ah) upon them (3:10b). YHVH has turned from His fury, while Jonah is absolutely furious. God has turned from “the heat [Hebrew root: hrh] of His anger (3:9) while Yonah is burning up (root: hrh) with it. Several times this chapter speaks of Yonah’s burning anger. He was angry at the grace and compassion of God (4:4), and because the plant that provided shade had withered (4:9).⁸⁸ His response turned out to be anything but what we would expect from a man sent by God to deliver a divine message.

Jonah’s out-of-control anger over Nineveh’s repentance and God’s forgiveness can best be understood in reference to Nineveh’s well-documented evil (to see link click  Aj – The Word of the LORD came to Jonah: Go to Nineveh and Preach Against It). Yes, the LORD hates wickedness, but the Jewish prophet’s anger contrasts with YHVH’s because he does not believe that their evil should be forgiven. In this, he symbolized the nation of Isra’el. Yonah’s self-interests were a reminder to Isra’el of her lack of concern for the ways and mercies of God for anyone but herself.⁸⁹ He cannot accept Micah’s pronouncement: God does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in grace (Micah 7:18b CJB).

From the preaching of Amos, Jonah already knew that Assyria had been chosen by Ha’Shem to destroy the northern kingdom of Isra’el. If Nineveh was spared destruction, that would signal the certain doom of his homeland. Yonah didn’t want to be the instrument that God would use to bring Nineveh to repentance, and therefore, spared. Not only that, but he probably believed that if he aided in the northern Kingdom’s demise that he could also be an instrument in the southern kingdom of Judah’s destruction.⁹⁰ Oy vey!

Jonah explains his anger. O LORD, isn’t this what I said when I was still in my country (4:2a)? It may not have been spoken, but maybe only thought. In the Hebrew text, the emphasis is on the words my country. Regrettably, Jonah is often pictured as an anti-Gentile bigot, but this was not the problem. If he were a bigot, he would not have wanted to go to Tarshish either, since it was also a Gentile city. The problem was not that he was anti-Gentile, but rather, that he was pro-Isra’el, a nationalist. This is seen from his statement, my country.

This verse carries the fullness of the disgruntled prophet’s relationship with HaShem combined with the basis of his dispute with Him. Yonah’s prayer begins with the same formula that the sailors used in 1:14: Please ADONAI, Please! That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish (4:2b). The key to understand this verse is found in the Hebrew behind the words: I was so quick (qiddamti). The verb form qadam means I anticipated or I was out in front of the action. Jonah just knew how things were going to turn out. This proves Yonah was not faithless. In fact he suspected that the Ninevites would repent and that ADONAI would relent, but the prophet wanted strict justice and didn’t want to have anything to do with any other kind. Even more than that, however, he didn’t approve of the LORD’s intent or action.

This familiar five-point description of the true God places the son of Amittai in a long line of important witnesses in the TaNaKh. The first use of this revelation of Ha’Shamayim’s self-description was to Moshe after he forgave the Israelites for worshiping the golden calf (Exodus 34:6-7a). The prophet Joel warned of coming judgment but reminded the Jews that it was not too late to repent for the sake of God’s reputation (Joel 2:13). David expressed the joy of YHVH’s forgiveness of his sin (Psalm 103:11-13). Ezra reminded the Israelites of the LORD’s long history of faithfulness to them as they rededicated the rebuilt wall in Tziyon after returning from the Babylon captivity (Nehemiah 9:17b). The psalmist also knew that although the arrogant were attacking him for his failings, God would still receive him (Psalm 86:15). But Jonah recites God’s reputation as the reason for his anger.

Jonah lamented: I knew that You are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and a God who relents from sending calamity (Jonah 4:2c, also see Joel 2:13). Jonah was very clear about God’s unique qualities. When the runaway prophet went to Nineveh he knew that ADONAI would very likely extend His mercy to them if they repented. While Yonah appreciated the character of God when expressed to him and Isra’el, he did not understand why they should be shared with the evil Ninevites.

While we may be shocked at Yonah’s response, we can often harbor the same feelings. When the ex who betrayed us, the friend who deceived us, or the offender who committed a crime against us receives God’s forgiveness and even His favor, we can quickly fall into a pit of anger and frustration because we secretly longed for their demise.⁹¹

Merciful: The adjective merciful or gracious (hunnun) occurs thirteen times in the TaNaKh and is used only in reference to God. Rabbi Sha’ul quoted Exodus 33:19 when he wrote: What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For he says to Moshe, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion (Romans 9:13-15). Jonah knew much about God’s mercy, based on his experience with the northern kingdom of Isra’el. He had been a prophet in Isra’el during the long reign of King Jeroboam II, who did what was evil in the LORD’s sight (Second Kings 14:24). Despite that, God used Jeroboam to save Isra’el from her enemies and to recover some of the territories taken away from her earlier by Syria. In fact, Yonah had prophesied about this (Second Kings 14:25). Could it be, Yonah may have wondered, whether if God was still sparing apostate Isra’el and even prospering them under such a wicked king as Jeroboam II, He was not thinking of promoting the terrible Assyrian nation in like manner as He had done for Isra’el – especially now that they seemed repentant of their ways (3:10)? It is interesting that Joel prophesying in the southern kingdom of Judah probably many years later, seems to quote from Jonah when he speaks of God’s relenting of the evil He had threatened: Don’t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with steadfast love. He is eager to relent and not punish (Joel 2:13 NLT).⁹²

Compassionate: The Hebrew word for compassionate (raham), is related to rehem, the word for womb, and thus has something of the sense of motherly love. This adjective also occurs thirteen times in the TaNaKh, always in reference to ADONAI. Merciful and compassionate are paired in Jonah 4:2; Exodus 34:6-7; Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17 and 31; Psalm 86:15, 103:8, 111:4, 145:8; Second Chron 30:9; Joel 2:13).

Slow to anger: The literal Hebrew for slow to anger has the sense long of anger. Being slow to anger is one of the virtues described in Proverbs; it is the opposite of having a hasty temper (Proverbs 14:29) or a hot temper (Proverbs 15:18) and is better than might (Proverbs 16:32) or pride (Ecclesiastes 7:8). This particular characteristic appears in many other places in the Bible (Exodus 34:6; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalm 14:8). Yonah had a heart problem and didn’t want YHVH to be patient any longer.

Filled with steadfast love: In addition to the above, the expression filled in steadfast love occurs in prayers, such as Nehemiah 13:22 and Psalms 5:7, 69:13, 106:7 and 45. Steadfast love translates the Hebrew word hesed. We may bring the sense of this word into focus by looking at its usage in a non-theological context. David and Jonathan made a covenant with each other, sealing their friendship (First Samuel 18:1-3). Later, Jonathan asked David to remember him and his family, no matter what the future might bring, saying: If I am still alive, show me the steadfast love (hesed) of the LORD, that I may not die; and do not cut off your steadfast love (hesed) from my house forever, when the LORD cuts off every one of the enemies of David from the face of the earth (First Samuel 20:14-15). This is love with a strong element of loyalty.

God gave Hosea a marriage comparison to illustrate this kind of steadfast love when He said: Isra’el, I will make you my wife forever. I will be honest and faithful to you. I will show you my love and compassion (Hosea 2:19). He tells Hosea to marry a prostitute and to be faithful to her as an example of God’s faithfulness to a faithless people. The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes of Baal worship (Hosea 3:1).

A God who relents in sending calamity: This is one of two kinds of compassion in this verse. The compassion of God (raham) is a gentle womb-like compassion of Ha’Shamayim (the One in the heavens) for His good creation; the God who relents (naham) is an agonizing compassion of ADONAI in relation to a sinful humanity. This concept of God relenting was discussed in more detail in 3:10. But Jonah’s thirty-nine-word speech (in Hebrew) here in 4:2 is balanced by a thirty-nine-word speech (in Hebrew) by YHVH in 4:10-11.⁹³

God spared the people of Nineveh although He had already decreed that they would be destroyed because of their evil ways. This teaches us that no matter what we have done, the grace and mercy of ADONAI awaits us if we only repent wholeheartedly.

Yonah had just about enough of God’s mercy and compassion, slowness to anger, steadfast love and relenting toward the wicked. How differently he would order events if he were in God’s place! He wanted the Grandmaster to destroy those wicked and cruel Assyrians. Now that they had repented, it seemed as though ADONAI might spare them all. They might even fare better than his own apostate and corrupt nation of Isra’el and he couldn’t stand the thought! In fact, he became so angry that he would rather die than see anything like that happen. He didn’t fear death anymore because he already died once and had been resurrected. He had already been at Abraham’s side (see The Life of Christ Hx – The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus) and would rather be in Sh’ol with him than live in a world dominated by the hated Assyrians.

Therefore, the prayer: Now, ADONAI, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live (Jonah 4:3, also see Numbers 11:15 and First Kings 19:4) is a measure of the depth of his displeasure. Out of tune with God, the reluctant prophet was distraught. Out of all mankind he was the most miserable. Yet, it is ironic that the cause of his discontent was the goodness of God, which he himself had experienced so dramatically when ADONAI had resurrected him.⁹⁴ But he still had doubts. Would anyone in Isra’el understand what he had done? Dying was better than living . . . if the enemy lived.

At this point, Jonah’s Masoretic scroll (one of the oldest and most reliable Hebrew copies of the TaNaKh) and the Dead Sea scroll both insert a setumah, or a grammatical indicator that punctuates the text with a pause when the story is read.⁹⁵

Reflection on what scene six as a whole says about ADONAI: God does not respond to Yonah by declaring that the wicked will meet strict justice. More accurately, God affirms His reputation by assuring His chosen prophet of His care for the wicked, even for their animals. Jonah’s complaint helps us to consider the full burden of believing and serving such a God. It means the world will be a place where the potential for great evil will remain. Exactly because our free will to reject or accept Him, the LORD hopes for the salvation of the wicked. Our faith is complex and even challenged Jonah, and it continues to challenge believers today to place their trust in a God who loves those whom we find despicable.⁹⁶

Dear Holy and Just Heavenly Father, How wonderful that You perfectly balance both mercy and justice. To the repentant sinner who comes humbly and lovingly to You – You offer forgiveness (First John 1:9); but to the hardened selfish person who may have done many good deeds – but whose heart loves himself and is very proud of all his deeds – to him You sentence to the same thing he had on earth. He chose not to be near You on earth, will be far from Your love after his body dies but his soul will live on alienated from Your love forever (Matthew 7:21-23)!

You differentiate between people – not by the amount of their good deeds- but by the love in their heart. Youlook for the person who humbly loves You (Matthew 22:37-39). The Father loves the Son and has given everything into His hand. He who trusts in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:35-36).

You are fair and just when those who love You receive Your righteousness (Second Corinthians 5:21) and go to heaven. Those who do not love You, these You send to hell. They may know about You, but loving You is the key to enter heaven. These shall go off to everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life (Matthew 25:46). You want all to enter heaven, but each person makes that decision for himself. It is not based on money, nor on race, nor on looks, nor on any other thing. Entrance to heaven is based on loving and believing in Yeshua God (Romans 10:8-9). You are worthy of all our love! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Jonah and the Plant
4: 1-11

This chapter again focuses on the disgruntled prophet’s relationship with ADONAI as they dialogue about Yonah’s anger over the mercy and grace shown by YHVH. God argues His preference for compassion, even in horrible circumstances. The LORD has compassion for His creation, no matter how ignorant, abusive, or violent the culture. Jonah is about this, so Ha’Shem gives His reluctant servant an object lesson in the form of a plant. He attempts to convince Jonah (and us) that His response of compassion is better than justice and more important than strict justice. Elohim, the God of creation and destruction, argues that, “If you, Yonah, are moved to pity over the destruction of a plant that you did not create, shouldn’t I have pity over the destruction of people and animals that I did create.” God loves all of His creation, for He is gracious and compassionate (4:2).⁸⁶

What do you do when you’ve yielded to the divine intervention but things still have not turned out as you’d like. You followed God’s path, resting in the comforting thought that at least some things might work out the way you wanted. Now, after the fact, you sit in stunned disbelief. NOTHING turned out the way you’d hoped. NOTHING. Without verbalizing it, you realize that you made a deal with God. You just thought He’d hold up His end of the bargain.

“OK, God. I’ll do this if the result will be that.”

Obviously you forgot to shake hands on it because ADONAI didn’t keep His part of this one-sided deal. You’re upset. Disappointed, and angry with the Lord.

Ever been there?

Why do you think we make unspoken deals with God when choosing to yield to His will?⁸⁷

Dear Great and Merciful Heavenly Father, Praise You that You always want the best for those who love You (Romans 8:31-39). Praise You that you reward those who love You – yes, with heaven and yes with Your presence and yes some other way also because You promised. For no one can lay any other foundation than what is already laid – which is Yeshua the Messiah.  Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear. For the Day will show it, because it is to be revealed by fire; and the fire itself will test each one’s work – what sort it is.  If anyone’s work built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward (First Corinthians 3:11-14). For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Messiah, so that each one may receive what is due for the things he did while in the body – whether good or bad (Second Corinthians 5:10).

We do not work for the reward. We joyfully serve You out of love and we desire to do with our rewards what the twenty-four elders do with their crowns in worship of You, our wonderful and Awesome God!  And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the One seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before the One seated on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever. And they throw their crowns down before the throne, chanting, “Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, For You created all things, and because of Your will they existed and were created” (Revelation 4:9-11)! We love You and look forward to living with You forever in Your heavenly home and praising Your great and holy name forever! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

The Ninevites Believed God
3: 3b-10

The Ninevites believed God DIG: What was the size of the city? What was the message to be proclaimed? In response to God’s word, what did the Ninevites do? What does their king do? How do you account for their response to Jonah’s message? Did ADONAI change His mind? What does this say about the LORD’s will? What does this say about God’s use of us to achieve it? What does scene five as a whole say about God?

REFLECT: Does God seem to make a point of putting you into situations that seem too big for you to handle? Choose two of the following examples of ADONAI giving what seemed to be unrealistic assignments: Jeremiah’s call and commission (Jeremiah 1:4-19); David and Goliath (First Samuel 17:20-51); Elijah and the prophets of Ba’al (First Kings 18:17-40). Then answer these three questions: How were they outmatched? How did they feel about the situation? How did God equip them to handle the situation?

Short description of scene five: Now the spotlight is on Nineveh. Seven times the city is named in the two scenes of Jonah chapter 3, verse 2, twice in verse 3, then in verses 4, 5, 6-7. To open scene five, Yonah pulls the name of the city around in front of the verb to emphasize it: Now as for Nineveh. This scene reports Jonah’s words in the city (3:3b-4), the reactions of the people (3:5) and their king (3:6-9), and finally the response of God.⁷⁹

Commentary on scene five: Yonah obeyed the word of ADONAI and went to Nineveh (3:3b). In keeping with the writer’s concise style, no mention is made of the long journey from Joppa where he was regurgitated by the whale. It is perhaps amazing that having focused so much attention on the efforts to get the reluctant prophet to Nineveh, his activity there is reported with such remarkable brevity. Now as for Nineveh, it was a great city. A city of two miles in diameter was a colossal size in the ancient Near East that it is not surprising that it was called a great city. It took three days to bring him to the inner and most densely populated quarter of the city (3:3c). It is true the circumference of Nineveh’s inner wall, according to archeologists, was less than eight miles. So the diameter of the city, less than two miles, was hardly a three-day journey. One day’s journey in open territory was usually about 15-20 miles. However, this was not only a description of the city itself, but also the entire Nineveh triangle mentioned in Genesis 10:11-12. There was the main city of Nineveh, and then a triangle of three other cities that served as its greater suburbs: Rehoboth Ir, Calah and Resen. The four cities together are called the great city of Nineveh (3:2). So taking three days to go through such a city and its suburbs is reasonable since Jonah stopped and preached along the way.

Jonah immediately began by going a day’s journey into the city. The message he proclaimed was very simple and direct: Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown (3:4). Forty days, associated with the Flood (Genesis 7:17, 8:6), with Moshe’s stay on Mount Sinai (Exodus 24:18), and with Elijah’s journey to Horeb (First Kings 19:8), had become a period of special significance (compare Matthew 4:2 and Acts 1:3).⁸⁰ The Hebrew word translated overthrown is a technical term that means complete destruction like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. The point of Jonah’s message was that within forty days ADONAI would overthrow Nineveh in the same manner that He overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. The LORD was threatening Nineveh with the same kind of destruction Sodom and Gomorrah received (see my commentary on Genesis, to see link click Fa – The LORD Rained Down Burning Sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah). No one would be left alive.

As the unknown foreigner preached doom and gloom, the Ninevites believed God. They believed the truth of the prophecy, and in doing so acknowledged their own sinfulness. The sudden and complete repentance of the Ninevites is in marked contrast with the unbelief and indifference with which the Israelites received their prophets, and is therefore greatly emphasized. Action was immediate: a fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth (3:5). Only a portion of the population would hear Jonah himself, but his message was repeated rapidly until all of them knew about it. If Jonah had gone to the great city during the reign of the Assyrian king Ashur-dan III, the prophet may have found the city psychologically prepared for his message by two foreboding famines (in 765 BC and 759 BC) and a total solar eclipse on June 15, 763. People in those days often took such events as indicators of divine wrath.⁸¹

When Jonah’s warning reached Ashur-dan III (772-754 BC), the king of Nineveh, he responded the way his people did. He rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust (3:6). The self-abasement of the king, who deliberately stepped down from his throne and took off his royal robes in order to be one with his own people in their mourning, symbolized the repentance of the whole city.⁸² To substitute a capital city like Nineveh for the particular country like Assyria is fairly common in the TaNaKh.

Dear Great and Holy Heavenly Father, How awesome You are! How wonderful heaven will be; but how my heart longs for family and friends who know all about You – but have not made the choice to love and follow You. Please open their hearts so they wisely seek You. For our trouble, light and momentary, is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,  as we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal (Second Corinthians 4:17-18).

Your love and heaven’s great peace and joy are worth all the trials we may go thru in this short time on earth. We only get one lifetime to make our eternal choice. And just as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this judgment (Hebrews 9:27). We choose to be wise and to focus on eternity, loving You and looking forward to eternal peace and joy in heaven with You as we praise Your great and holy Name throughout all eternity! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Some find such an extensive turning to God unbelievable. True, Assyrian records make no mention of this city-wide repentance, but official historical records often delete events that were especially embarrassing to them. For example, Egyptian records make no reference of the loss of all Pharaoh’s army, all of his horses, six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots in Egypt (see my commentary on Exodus Ci – The Waters Were Divided and the Israelites Went Through the Sea on Dry Land). Nor did the Assyrians record the loss of 185,000 soldiers in a single night as they were poised to destroy Yerushalayim (see my commentary on Isaiah Gw – Then the Angel of the LORD Put To Death a Hundred and Eighty Five Thousand Men in the Assyrian Camp).

Yeshua comes under the same scrutiny. Most people today consider the bodily resurrection of Messiah unbelievable. The message of God’s free gift of salvation was then, and still is, considered mere foolishness. Rabbi Sha’ul wrote: For Messiah did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel – not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power (First Corinthians 1:17).

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Indeed (First Corinthians 1:18), the TaNaKh says, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and frustrate the intelligence of the intelligent” (Isaiah 29:14).

Where does that leave the philosopher, the Torah-teacher, or any of today’s thinkers? Hasn’t God made this world’s wisdom look pretty foolish? For God’s wisdom ordained that the world, using its own wisdom, would not come to know Him. Therefore ADONAI decided to use the “nonsense” of what we proclaim as his means of saving those who come to trust in Him. Precisely because Jews ask for signs and Greeks try to find wisdom, we go on proclaiming a Messiah executed on a stake as a criminal! To Jews this is an obstacle, and to the Greeks it is nonsense, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, this same Messiah is God’s power and God’s wisdom! For God’s “nonsense” is wiser than humanity’s “wisdom” (1 Cor 1:20-25).

This is the proclamation the king issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence, which they must turn by making preparation. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish” (3:7-9). This fear of judgment from God is startling because the Assyrians were a cruel, violent nation (Nahum 3:1-4) fearing no one (2 Kgs 18:33-35).

Was their conversion genuine? Or was their response merely superficial as in the case of King Ahab (1 Kings 21:27-29)? And if their conversion was genuine, why did the Assyrians continue their violence later on? And why did they soon destroy the northern kingdom of Isra’el in 722 BC? The answer to these questions is that our faith is not inherited. Jonah’s message concerned repentance from evil to avoid judgment. Perhaps many did intellectually believe the truth of the threat of judgment without trusting in YHVH as the only true God. But however deep the mourning of the Ninevites might have been, or however sincere they appeared, it seems that most only responded out of fear. Apparently this repentance lasted for just one generation because their children continued down the same destructive path. Like Messiah’s offer of the Messianic Kingdom to the nation of Isra’el, it was a legitimate offer (see  The Life of Christ Ee – Come to Me, All Who are Weary and Burdened, and I Will Give You Rest), but most refused to take advantage of it.⁸³

The king’s intent was to avoid the destruction of the city. This pagan Gentile king understood that unless Nineveh repented, everyone would be destroyed. Judgment was not unavoidable, otherwise, there would be no need for the warning. HaShem did not send any prophets to Sodom and Gomorrah to warn them of their coming destruction, but the Ninevites were duly warned. But Yonah was not a happy camper.

Reflection on what scene five as a whole says about ADONAI: When God saw what they did and how they turned (Hebrew: shuv) from their evil (Hebrew: ra’ah) ways, He relented (Hebrew: nhm) with compassion and did not bring on them the destruction (ra’ah) He had threatened (3:10). This is the key verse in the book of Jonah. It not only saves the Ninevites, it is also the subject of Jonah’s protest from chapter one, and it will be the point of contention to the end of the book.⁸⁴

When God threatened punishment He provided a dark backdrop on which to etch most colorfully His forgiving mercies. This emphasized His grace most forcefully to the sinners’ hearts. ADONAI’s readiness to have compassion on a wicked but repentant people and to withhold threatened destruction showed Isra’el that her coming judgment at His hand was not because of His unwillingness to forgive, but because of her unwillingness to repent.

We can’t adequately describe God. We humans have to use our limited vocabulary in our attempts to understand and communicate about Him. Any terminology we use will inevitably diminish the fullness of who the LORD is, since our language is so inadequate for the task. For instance, the Bible says ADONAI’s hand is not so short that it cannot save; nor is His ear so dull that it cannot hear (Isaiah 59:1). God is spirit. He made the human body but is not limited to its functions. Yet phrases like these enable us to better relate to Him. Unfortunately, many translate the Hebrew verb nacham in 3:10 as “repent,” and this, quite naturally, creates difficulties for many readers. When the word “repent” is used in reference to HYVH, it does not have the same implication as it does when we repent.

A human being repenting normally suggests that he or she has sinned and needs to turn (shuv) from wickedness (Hebrew: ra’ah). Since we know that Ha’Shem is free from sin, the idea of His repenting seems contradictory until we discover that the Hebrew verb (nhm) can also be translated moved to pity. When Scripture speaks of God repenting, it doesn’t mean that He’s done something wrong or made a mistake; rather that He’s chosen a compassionate response as a result of another’s decision. God really hadn’t changed His mind . . . Nineveh had (the English verb relent conveys a better meaning of the Hebrew verb and that is why I use it in this commentary).⁸⁵ Furthermore, as Jeremiah 18:7-8 makes clear, prophetic pronouncements of judgment were not absolute, but conditional: At one time, I may speak about uprooting, breaking down and destroying a nation or kingdom; but if that nation turns from their evil, which prompted Me to speak against it, than I relent concerning the disaster I had planned to inflict on it.

Jonah Goes to Nineveh
3: 1-3a

Jonah goes to Nineveh DIG: What is the difference between mercy and grace? How did Ha’Shem show Yonah mercy? How did He show him grace? What evidence do you see here that ADONAI is the God of second chances? What are some examples of second chances in the Bible? In response to the LORD’s word, what does Yonah do? What does scene four as a whole say about God?

REFLECT: When has ADONAI given you “two chances” to be, or do, His will? To witnesses to someone? As best as you can determine, to what divine interruption has God called you to surrender right now? Do you struggle with feeling that you have wasted too much time to have another opportunity with ADONAI? If so, how does this mind-set affect your current actions?

Short description of scene four: Since Yonah has promised to offer sacrifices and fulfill vows (2:9), we might expect the narrative to continue with an account of a visit to the Temple in Jerusalem where those vows are to be carried out. This scene, however, brings a surprise. We are suddenly taken back to the beginning of the story. Again, the LORD initiates the action by giving Jonah his original assignment once more. But this time Yonah begins to carry it out. One of the greatest revivals in history occurred because one man responded in obedience.⁷⁶ ADONAI still wanted to use Jonah, and He still wants to use you.

Commentary on scene four: Poor Yonah barely has time to dry himself out before a disturbing word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time (3:1). The words are identical to 1:1 except the editorial comment: for a second time, which takes the place of son of Amittai. This formula introducing a second word from the LORD also occurs in Jeremiah 1:13 and 13:3 in first-person form. Then the word of ADONAI came to me a second time, saying . . . In case of Jeremiah, however, the second time means an entirely new question (Jeremiah 1:13), command (Jeremiah 13:3), or promise (Jer 33:1). The second time here is a repetition of the word that came the first time. Only Jonah among the biblical prophets has to have his assignment given to him twice.

A disobedient prophet like Jonah could meet with immediate calamity, as seen in the account of the prophet who disobeyed ADONAI’s word and was killed by a lion (First Kings 13:20-32). But here, in a picture of what Yonah himself will declare (4:2), God’s mercy and grace allows Jonah a second chance. Mercy is not getting what we deserve, and Jonah could have met the fate of a false prophet; grace is getting what we don’t deserve, and Yonah got a second chance. Although this is a book that teaches, the LORD does not use this as a teachable moment, saying, “See Yonah you can’t run away from Me!” Nor does God comment on Jonah’s foolishness or disobedience. He simply repeats the original assignment.⁷⁷

This is not something unusual that God did just in Jonah’s case. He is not making an exception with Yonah. Aaron was known as Moshe’s brother, serving as his mouthpiece when he went to stand before Pharaoh. After the Passover, ADONAI set Aaron aside to officiate in the Tabernacle. As the high priest, he served as the mediator between God and His chosen people. Aaron had the privilege of entering the Most Holy Place and experiencing the delight of the LORD’s presence in a way that few ever would. But while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments things began to unravel. All the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf (Exodus 32:3-4). Can you imagine Moshe’s disbelief at his brother’s actions when he came down from the mountain? While Moses might have been shocked, God wasn’t. Even while HaShem was giving Moshe the tablets of stone, God was fully aware of Aaron’s willful disobedience. Yet Aaron was given a second chance and was allowed to continue to serve as Israel’s first high priest.

Sarah was Abraham’s wife. God gave her a promise that she would have a son and become the mother of an entire nation. But ten years later she was still barren. So Sarai took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife (Genesis 16:3). Sarah’s choice and Abraham’s compliance resulted in a child named Ishmael. Both Abraham and God loved the boy as he grew up, but he was not the son of promise through which the chosen nation would come. While Abraham begged ADONAI to use Ishmael, the LORD held His ground and told the father of many nations that although He would bless Ishmael and give him many descendants, Sarah would get a second chance. She would still bear a child and he would become the son of promise (Genesis 17:17-21).

Jacob was a righteous man (see my commentary on Genesis, to see link click Gn – Then Jacob Gave Esau Some Lentil Stew and Esau Despised His Birthright), but because of Isaac’s disobedience he didn’t receive the patriarchal blessing in the proper way. Therefore, he wanted and needed a second chance. The LORD gave him that opportunity when Ya’akov wrestled with God at Peniel all night (see my commentary on Genesis Hw – Jacob Wrestles with God) and was renamed Isra’el.

Joseph’s ten brothers appear in the book of Genesis as a jealous and conniving brood who were out to seek revenge on their youngest brother. They were tired of living in the shadow of the son born to their father’s favorite wife Rachel. Being rather full of himself, Yosef seemed to enjoy a preferential status highlighted by a brilliant robe of many colors. Envy roared out of control and burst into flames of violence. They plotted to kill their brother, but their plans changed when some passing merchants agreed to buy Joseph as a slave, and they took the young man of seventeen down to Egypt. Can you imagine the despondency and heartache that must have ripped through his young heart every night? Yet the LORD was with Joseph (Genesis 39:2), and through the providence of God he miraculously rose to become Prime Minister of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh himself. When famine struck, Yosef personally administered the grain for Egypt and the whole world. This famine served as the catalyst to bring his brothers face to face with him. While he was completely aware of their identity, they didn’t know him until he chose to reveal himself. Joseph could have had his brothers killed or imprisoned for the injustice done to him. But in an astonishing display of mercy, he kissed all his brothers and wept over them (Genesis 45:15a). Yosef refrained from anger, abstained from vengeance, and offered his brothers a second chance at a relationship with him that they really didn’t deserve.

When Rahab first appears in the biblical account she is one of the most unsavory characters imaginable. In fact, she is introduced as a prostitute (Joshua 2:1). If you met her before the great turning point in her life, you would have written her off as being completely hopeless. She was an immoral woman living in a pagan culture that was fanatically devoted to everything God hates. But her whole life and future would be changed by her surprise encounter with two Israelite spies. By God’s sovereign design, Rahab’s house was perfect for the spies to escape. Her knowledge of YHVH was meager, but when she hid the Jewish spies and them let them down by a single scarlet cord, it demonstrated her faith (Josh 2:17-18). Given a second chance, she led a completely different life. Her name appears in the hall of faith (Heb 11:31) and in Matthew’s genealogy.

David was a man after God’s own heart, but he sinned against Bathsheba and her husband Uriah (Second Samuel 11:1-26). But after he repented (Psalm 51) he got a second chance and we see him in the far eschatological future with the dual titles of king and prince during the Millennial Kingdom (see my commentary on Revelation Fi – The Government of the Messianic Kingdom).

The Pharisees brought Yeshua a woman caught in adultery. They wanted to see if the Lord would agree to have her stoned. She was caught in the very act and they intended that she be punished to the fullest extent that there could be no second chance, no chance for redemption. But Jesus is the Lord of the second chances. After He pointed out that the Torah said her accusers could not be guilty of sin, they all left. Then He asked her: Woman, look up, where are they? Has no one condemned you (John 8:10)? Maybe she expected Him to scold her. Perhaps she expected Him to walk away in disgust. I’m not sure, but I know this: What she got, she never could have imagined. She got compassion and a commission. “No one, sir,” she said. The compassion was: Then neither do I condemn you, Jesus declared. The commission was: Go, and sin no more (John 8:11).

Mary Magdalene had started on the wrong side of the spiritual war. She was an enemy stronghold, providing food and shelter for the devils troops – seven in all, because she was a woman from whom seven demons had come out (Luke 8:2). The Bible gives us no hint as to how Mary became demon possessed, how long she lived in that desperate state, or the circumstances surrounding her encounter with Yeshua that led to her deliverance. From what we know of other demoniacs in the Scriptures we can safely assume that until she met the Messiah, she lived a deranged existence that pushed her to the fringes of society. But Miryam’s descent into hell ended that day she met the King of kings. He brought a sudden end to her savage bondage, restored her to her right mind, and freed her to follow Him. Given a second chance, Mary followed her Master and had the privilege of being the first person He saw after His resurrection.

Simon Peter also stumbled and fell. He denied Christ and ran away from Him. After such a fall it seemed that Peter’s calling as an apostle was over. What employer would ever keep a staff member who was disloyal and untrustworthy – much less offer him a promotion within the organization? Certainly he’d not be allowed to have a close and intimate relationship with the One he’d just so vehemently denied. But after our Lord had risen, He went back and gave Kefa a second chance (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Mn – Jesus Reinstates Peter), saying: Feed My sheep.

Jonah’s story illustrates how God treats His repentant children (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Hu – The Parable of the Lost Son and His Jealous Brother). The prodigal son came home. When he got there he didn’t get a beating, he got a banquet. He didn’t get kicked around, he got kisses. Instead of being rejected, the father loved him and took him back. What a wonderful heavenly Father we have!

Aaron, Sarah, Jacob, Joseph’s brothers, Rahab, David, Mary Magdalene, Simon Peter and Jonah were all given a gift that is still available to you and me as well. Have you fallen out of fellowship with ADONAI? Have you made decisions that have taken you further down the path of rebellion than you ever thought possible? Well, you need to know that you can’t outrun the grasp of His grace or overstep the boundaries of His mercy. It is still available to you – to me – right here, right now. Thank God for a second chance!⁷⁸

Yonah’s second commissioning becomes more specific than the first, in that he is now given the very words to speak: Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you (3:2). The command to go with two is expressed in the Hebrew with two verbs (rising and go). Together they mean “Go now.” Or “Go immediately.” Nineveh – the name is always a powerful symbol of a worldly city. Just as the B’rit Chadashah links Bethlehem and Herod the Great, Golgotha with Pontius Pilate, Paul with Rome, Yeshua and all the kingdoms of the world, so Jonah is linked with Nineveh. It is once again identified as a great city. This time nothing is said about the city’s wickedness. The phrase the great city, is literally great to God; great, not only from mankind’s thinking, but to God’s. The Hebrew word proclaim occurs only here in the TaNaKh. The parallel is in Jeremiah 19:2 . . . and proclaim there the words that I tell you. The Septuagint translates it kerygma, the word used for the apostolic preaching in the New Covenant (Romans 16:25; First Corinthians 1:21, 15:14; Titus 1:3). Jonah, as the author of his book, does not indicate the content of the message until 3:4.

As one reflects on this short passage the LORD’s patience immediately comes to mind. Without exhortations, without carping or harping, God reissues the charge that was given to Jonah in the first place (4:2). But behind this reassignment is HaShem’s urgent concern for the goyim, the Gentile world. In this case the people of Nineveh. The repeating of this commission, unique among the prophets, reminded Yonah of Isra’el’s bottom line blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples of the earth will be blessed by you (Genesis 12:3). God cares about the peoples of the earth, be they Ethiopians, Philistines, Egyptians – or Assyrians (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Mo – The Great Commission).

So . . . Yonah went to Nineveh. But how did he go? With what attitude did he go? Can we outwardly obey God with our actions while our heart isn’t along for the ride? Centuries later, this was the work of the Pharisees. Yeshua said they were like whitewashed tombs. Nice and clean on the outside but full of dead men’s bones on the inside (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Jd – Seven Woes on the Torah-Teachers and the Pharisees)! What kind of a man was Jonah? The reluctant prophet knew that God’s commission included mercy and grace. Nevertheless, he went. His relationship was restored with ADONAI, but not the Assyrians. In short, Yonah is in our image. He is not perfect. He is capable of anger, self-justification and despair. Although he is one of the righteous of the TaNaKh, he still has a sin nature. So Jonah has a half-hearted departure. He doesn’t know what he’s going to say until he gets there – but he goes. So Yonah’s feet are moving, but his heart isn’t in it.

Reflection on what scene four as a whole says about ADONAI: Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD. In 1:1-2 Jonah rose to run away, but here he has been reconciled to God’s call. The mission to Nineveh had begun again because ADONAI had called him again. God is patient and kind, full of mercy and grace toward His children. Here was Jonah . . . clothes wasting away because of the acid from the whale’s stomach . . . seaweed around his head . . . smelling like whale barf . . . and he went to Nineveh (3:3a).

Yonah’s answers to the sailors’ question in 1:12 and his subsequent actions give us a foreshadowing of four significant principles in the Renewed Covenant for reconciling with ADONAI. The fourth significant principle: We need to act on God’s direction by faith. The runaway prophet knew he had died, and knew he had been resurrected (see At – Jonah’s Prayer). You would think that dramatic event would change his attitude toward the Ninevites. But it didn’t. He didn’t feel like going . . . but he went anyway because that’s what God commanded him to do. In other words, His feelings didn’t prevent him from agreeing with God. He finally understood, and we need to understand, that our feelings are not the engine that drives our decisions; our feelings are the caboose. We act in faith, and the feelings will come later. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him (Heb 11:1-2 and 6). By faith Yonah went to Nineveh.

Dear Heavenly Father, Praise You that You are the God of second chances – as long as the person is alive. Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment (Hebrews 9:27 NIV). May you open the eyes of the hearts of my family and friends who have not yet turned to You for a second chance. Please help them to understand that there will be great peace and joy in heaven, only for those who willingly love and follow You on earth. May they focus not on earthly pleasures that are over so soon, but on eternal life with You in heaven. For our trouble, light and momentary, is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,  as we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal (Second Corinthians 4:17-18). We love You and look forward to living in heaven with You, praising Your great and holy name throughout all eternity! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen 

Jonah and the Great City
3: 1-10

This chapter concerns ADONAI and the Ninevites, with Yonah as God’s agent. The chosen prophet’s coming dispute with YHVH is not anticipated. The son of Amittai is called once again, goes to Nineveh, and preaches; the Ninevites repent, and the LORD forgives them. This chapter may be summarized in three words: overthrown, repentance, and compassion. These words represent the three major actions in chapter three: Jonah’s preaching, the Ninevites’ giving up their evil ways, and God’s mercy. They also represent the eternal truth of a genuine relationship between sinners and Ha’Shem. Reconciliation with YHVH is a threefold movement.

This three-part pattern is common in God’s relationship with Isra’el. In 1 Samuel 7:3-11, the Philistines threatened Isra’el. The children of Abraham put away their Ba’al and Ashtoreth idols and gathered at Mizpah for repentance. They came under attack, but the LORD delivered them with a thunderstorm. This general pattern is repeated in Esther 4 in Persia (see my commentary on Esther, to see link click Ba – I Will Go to the King: If I Perish, I Perish), in Ezra 8:21-23 at the Ahava Canal, and in Joel 2:11-19. In each of these cases, the Israelites were under the threat of being overturned in destruction. They turned to ADONAI in repentance, and were delivered by God’s compassion. In Jonah the same pattern is seen in the Assyrian enemy.

Overthrowing (hapak) means wholesale, complete, sudden change, either for the worse (destruction) or for the better (conversion). On the first day in Nineveh, the Jewish prophet proclaimed: Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown (3:4). The Ninevites obviously understood the threat of hapak and feared destruction. But when God says He will hapak them, there is a possibility it means something positive. God may change them for good. The word carries this dual meaning throughout the TaNaKh. Overthrown (hapak) has two possibilities in this chapter. The first is destruction (ra’ah) meaning evil or calamity, and the second is repentance, t’shuvah (noun), shuv (verb), meaning repent or turn.

The Hebrew word for destruction (ra’ah) in 3:10 is translated differently in various English translations: the evil (KJV, RSV), calamity (NRSV, NASB), punishment (CJB) and destruction (NIV). It is useful to look at several translations to see the wide semantic range of the word ra’ah. God does not do evil, which is the basic meaning of ra’ah. The meaning of ra’ah in the TaNaKh depends on the eye of the beholder. The LORD called the prophet to preach because of Nineveh’s ra’ah (wickedness 1:2). The sailors considered the storm a ra’ah (calamity 1:7, trouble 1:8). The king of Nineveh knew that his people were engaged in all kinds of ra’ah (evil 3:8). God saw that they turned from their ra’ah (evil ways), and He did not bring on them the ra’ah (destruction) that he had threatened (3:10). So ra’ah can be wickedness, or it can be destruction.

Believers experience the same dilemma today. Do we view ra’ah as evil or as just? On what basis do God’s people decide about their experiences and the experiences of others? When calamity falls as a righteous judgment on the wicked, do we rejoice and hope for another kind of overthrowing? Yonah did not approve of a God who relents in sending calamity (4:2c). But another kind of overthrowing is offered to those who recognize justice, even the justice of God’s destruction.

Dear Just and Holy Heavenly Father! How perfect You are! Your mercy is awesome and so is your justice. So often people want mercy when they have sinned, but Your holiness demands that mercy is offered only when the heart is truly repentant and has turned from the sin to following your holy path of righteousness. How awesome Your forgiveness, but that is for those who lovingly have a reverent fear of You. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him (Psalms 103:13, First John 1:9).

Praise You that though You do forgive in mercy all who come humbly to bow in love before You, You also will justly punish all who seek only their own good and who marginalize You.  Throw the worthless servant out, into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Mt 25:30). The Father loves the Son and has given everything into His hand.  He who trusts in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (Jn 3:35-36). You are worthy of all our love and worship. It will be wonderful to praise Your great and holy name in heaven forever! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Repentance before Ha’Shem is blind to race or culture. Overthrowing is also used in chapter three to describe repentance (shuv). Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up (shuv) or turn from their evil ways and their violence (3:8b). When God saw what they did and how they turned (shuv) from their evil ways, he relented with compassion (3:10). Yonah did not preach specifically to Gentiles but against wickedness. ADONAI makes the same call to turn from evil practices for all of His human creation (Second Chronicles 7:14; Jeremiah 25:5, 26:3-6).

Therefore, Jonah is read annually on Yom Kippur (see my commentary on Exodus Go – The Day of Atonement). It is read as a model for the proper attitude for repentance with Isaiah’s description of proper fasting (Isaiah 58:4-7). The rabbis teach that this reading reflects the view that this book depicts the concept of repentance so starkly and completely that it can stir hearers to repent of their ways and even modifies their conduct. The Ninevites’ repentance and YHVH’s forgiveness reject the ancient view, expressed by the disagreeable prophet . . . that only punishment can cleanse sin. The sovereign LORD accepted the Ninevites’ repentance of their wickedness and they were forgiven. The people’s turning in repentance (shuv) is mirrored by God’s turning with compassion (naham). God had compassion and did not bring on them the destruction He had planned (3:10).

Compassion means that God relented from His impending calamity. The LORD had compassion and Jonah complained the He relented from sending disaster. The words relent and compassion come from the Hebrew word naham. To an Israelite, to repent was to turn (shuv) from pride to compassion. To turn toward God meant to comfort the oppressed and dispossessed (see my commentary on Isaiah Hc – Comfort, Comfort My People Says Your God). To comfort the widow, fatherless and the foreigner meant repenting of one’s self-serving ways of pride. To have compassion was to turn from one’s own selfish ideals concerning wealth and acknowledge God’s viewpoint. True repentance meant that compassion and comfort would increase in the world.

The timeless truth of Jonah 3 is that compassion is a primary attribute of Ha’Shamayim. When it comes to justice, the LORD would rather be known as a God who forgives and is just. This is exactly what Yonah bitterly complains about: Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity (4:2).

God’s openness to change strict judgment is part of His character from the beginning of His dealings with Isar’el. At Mount Sinai, during the golden calf incident (see my commentary on Exodus Gs – Now Leave Me Alone So That My Anger May Burn Against Your People), Moshe pleaded with Ha’Shem to relent (naham) and have compassion in the midst of calamity. YHVH did relent, in striking similarity to Nineveh. Then God relented (naham) and did not bring on His people the disaster He had threatened (Exodus 32:14). In Yonah, God had compassion (naham) and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened (Jonah 3:10).

ADONAI is not like us. He is free to judge the rebellious by strict justice and not forgive them when they repent. But God is also free not to judge the rebellious by strict justice and to forgive them when they repent. David knew this eternal truth. When his son by Bathsheba was ill as a result of his murder and adultery, he said the same thing: While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, “Who knows? God may be gracious to me and let the child live” (2 Sam 12:22). In David’s case, YHVH judged according to strict justice.

YHVH is free from the necessity of strict justice and can pursue a better justice in His relentless love of His creation. The king of Nineveh also acknowledged God’s freedom when he said: Who knows? God may yet relent (naham) and with compassion turn from His fierce anger so that we will not perish (4:9). ADONAI’s judgment of destruction is just, but His compassion may prevail. The reality of Yonah is that the Ninevites of his day were not punished for their wickedness. They did not force the hand of the Grandmaster, however, nor were they certain of God’s response. It could have gone either way.

To really understand God’s compassion, we need to understand our need and our desperate spiritual situation. This leads us to humbly acknowledge: Who knows? The heart that believes in its own righteousness cannot receive even the certainty of Yeshua’s love and forgiveness. The fact that the hearts of the violent can be overthrown by the mere hint of God’s compassion is precisely the point of Yonah’s argument in chapter 4.

A The LORD’s Speech (3:1-2)

B Nineveh the great city (3:3)

C Jonah enters the city (3:4)

D The Ninevites Believe God and Repent (3:5-9)

E God did not bring on them the destruction He had planned (3:10)

D Jonah is angry because the Ninevites Repented (4:1-4)

C Jonah leaves the city (4:5-8)

B Nineveh the great city (4:11)

A The LORD’s Speech (4:10-11)

Chapters three and four should be viewed as one unit. The scenes alternate: in the country (3:1-3), in the city (3:4 to 4:4), and in the country (4:5-11). Nineveh is called the great city at the beginning and end of the section.⁷⁵

Then the LORD Commanded the Whale,
and it Vomited Jonah Out Onto Dry Land
2: 10

Then the LORD commanded the whale, and it vomited Jonah out onto dry land DIG: What mandate did Elisha give Naaman in Second Kings 5:10-11? What was Naaman’s response? What did Naaman’s suggestion of a different dipping point imply that he felt about Elisha, about God, about himself? What does scene three as a whole say about God?

REFLECT: Did you ever try to circumvent God’s instructions or do them halfway? What did this look like in your life? What do you see about this principle in Yeshua’s example in John 4:34 and Philippians 2:8? What represents Joppa in your situation?

Seven miracles have already happened in this short narrative: (1) God caused a violent storm (1:4), (2) had the lot fall on Jonah (1:7), (3) calmed the sea when the rebel prophet was thrown overboard (1:15), (4) commanded the great whale to swallow Jonah (1:17), (5) resurrected Jonah in the belly of the great whale (2:6b), (6) had the great whale vomit Jonah onto dry land, (7) and perhaps greatest of all, melted the reluctant prophet’s heart (as seen in his prayer of thanksgiving) (2:2-9).⁷¹

Reflection on what scene three as a whole says about ADONAI: The prose narrative now continues. The contrast between the sublime words of the poem and the undignified deliverance of Yonah from the whale could not be greater. And the LORD commanded the whale, and it did exactly as it was told and vomited Yonah onto dry land (2:10). Scripture does not say where the whale deposited the wayward prophet, but it is reasonable to believe that Jonah was right back near Joppa (1:3) where he began.⁷²

Not only must Yonah have been amazed that he had been resurrected, but he must have been startled when he got his bearings and realized that he was right back at square one with the same command he’d fled before. For Yonah, there’d be no getting out of God’s will and there’d be no shortcut to Nineveh. This is the storyteller’s ironic view of the one who thinks he can escape YHVH. And yet this irony, with all its exaggeration, is slyly absurd rather than cynical. He hadn’t gotten a full ride to the shores of Assyria courtesy of the “Sperm Whale Express.” Full, detailed obedience would be required. This incident brings the first half of the book to an abrupt end.⁷³

There are many biblical examples that show people who tried to take a shortcut when it came to obeying ADONAI. Avraham had an illicit relationship that yielded Ishmael instead of waiting on God’s timing and the child of promise. King Saul kept some of the best spoils of the Amalekites instead of destroying everything as HaShem had instructed him. There was a rich young man (see my commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Il – The Rich Young Ruler) who wanted to achieve salvation by doing everything but what Yeshua required. In fact, it seems even the Adversary knows the incredibly disastrous effects taking shortcuts can have because he even tried to get Messiah to take the easy road (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Bj – Jesus is Tempted in the Wilderness).

In Second Kings 5:1-19 we meet Naaman, a man who learned an important lesson about the details of obedience. He was commander of the Syrian army and highly regarded for the battles he’d won. You’d think a man in charge of a vast army would appreciate the gravity of meticulously receiving and following instructions, but he wasn’t willing to do so himself.

Naaman was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy. When he learned that a prophet in Samaria might be able to heal him, he got a letter from his king to the king of Isra’el requesting help in the matter. While the request for healing overwhelmed Israel’s king, Elisha was determined to show Naaman that there was a prophet in Isra’el (Second Kings 5:8) and that the God of Isra’el could heal. Naaman came to Elisha and received some specific instructions.

But the Syrian commander was angry because he had several problems with Elisha’s instructions. He didn’t like what he was told to do, how Elisha told him to do it, or where he was told to carry out the instructions. In fact, Naaman had his own ideas about how he should be healed and they didn’t have anything to do with what Elisha had told him to do! He even suggested a better method to procure his healing (Second Kings 5:12).

Elisha told him to wash himself seven times in the Jordan River and his flesh would be restored (Second Kings 5:10). But the rivers of Abana and Pharpar were in Naaman’s hometown and he knew them to be cleaner than all the waters in Isra’el. He was disgusted to think that someone of his stature would have to dip himself into the dirty Jordan. He didn’t think it would do him any good and he went off in a rage.

This was exactly what Yonah did. But there was no shortcut for the runaway prophet, and there would be no shortcut for Naaman. Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you . . . wash and be cleansed. So the mighty Syrian commander went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy (Second Kings 5:13-14). Like Yonah and Naaman, we meet up with instructions from the Lord that don’t fit with what we had in mind or seem to be unnecessarily inconvenient. What they needed to learn is what we need to learn; full obedience to the Word of God makes a difference. The work God is trying to accomplish in you requires your full participation. You will find the rewards when you submit completely to what He asks and do the tasks how and where He asks.

Our human nature, however, tries to find another route to accomplish what God requires that won’t take as much effort or energy as we will have to expend to obey ADONAI completely. Yet Joppa – the place of decision and the crossroads of obedience – seems to be the starting point of most second chances.

Jonah was back at Joppa and had to devote himself fully to HaShem’s will. No shortcuts could navigate the 550 miles to Nineveh. He had to put one foot in front of the other and trust YHVH for the rest. Now was the time to obey God fully and completely.⁷⁴

Do you feel a sense of hopelessness? Do you think, “Does God have any use for me?” Do you feel like you have turned your back on God for so long the He can’t hear you any more? That He doesn’t want you anymore? Well I have news for you. ADONAI is a God of second, third, fourth, even seventy times seven times chances (Mattityahu 18:22). This limitless number shows that God’s forgiveness is boundless. The number seven is often used as a biblical metaphor as the number of completeness. Perhaps Yeshua had in mind the Torah passage that speaks of Lamech’s unlimited vengeance (Genesis 4:24), in contrast to the unlimited forgiveness. True forgiveness does not count up the offenses. God gave the reluctant prophet a second chance even though Jonah disobeyed Him. It didn’t matter what his motives were. Yonah disobeyed Him. And God gave him a second chance.

Dear Holy and Loving Heavenly Father, You are awesome! To be given a second chance is so remarkable because you are so great. Praise You that You see the heart and know when a person really is sorry and want to turn away from their wrong – then You forgive. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness  (First John 1 :9). You also see when the heart says that they love You and the person does good deeds, but really loves only himself. How sad that they will miss out on heaven because of their selfish heart. Not everyone who says to Me, “Lord, Lord!” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.  Many will say to Me on that day, “Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, and drive out demons in Your name, and perform many miracles in Your name?” Then I will declare to them, “I never knew you. Get away from Me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matthew 7:21-23)! How important to love You from our heart (Matthew 22:37-39). How wonderful heaven will be for those who love You. It will be eternal peace and great joy praising Your holy name forever! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Jonah’s Prayer
2: 2-9

Jonah’s prayer DIG: What do you make of the fact that Yonah prays from the belly of the whale and uses verbs that are past tense, as though ADONAI had already answered his prayer? While Jonah may be safe for the moment, how is he still in “deep trouble?” What are the two ways that Yonah is a type of Christ? Where does he show assurance of deliverance in spite of appearances to the contrary? How does Jonah view his circumstances? How does Yonah view God’s sovereignty? How does Yonah view God’s purposes?

REFLECT: When have you felt far from God like Jonah, trapped in a situation beyond your control? How then was your life brought up from the pit? Where in your life are you desperate enough to pray with hope? Have you turned your back on God so many times that you wonder if there are any more chances left?

Dear Great and Wonderful Father, Praise Your infinite love and holiness! Thank You that for those who have gone their own way, but then they turn back to You in love and holy fear-they can count on Your forgiveness. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His mercy for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so ADONAI has compassion on those who fear Him (Ps 103:11-13). Forgiveness is not based on if small the sin was, but rather the important issue is how great the love is of the person who returns in godly sorrow and repentance to you. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing, what concern, what readiness to see justice done (2 Cor 7:10-11a-b). Your great love encourages us to run back to you in love and then to walk on in life following close to You. It is such a joy to know that You always want the best for each person. We love You! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Commentary on scene three: This song of thanksgiving is built on a pattern of individual thanksgiving and is best understood in the context of psalms of this type. These psalms express a grateful response to God for a specific act of deliverance, such as healing from illness (Psalms 30, 41, 103, 147), deliverance from enemies (Psalms 18, 92, 118, 132), or simply rescue from trouble (Psalm 66:14). They assume the presence of a congregation gathered for worship. Jonah’s prayer here is to a great degree made up of phrases from the psalms. Wording duplicated by in the Psalter is italicized and then quoted.⁶⁵

This was actually Jonah’s third prayer in which he made reference to his two previous prayers. He said: In my distress I called to ADONAI, and He answered me (Psalm 120:1). From the belly of Sh’ol I called to You for help (Psalm 30:2). The Hebrew word for belly in verse 2 is not the same word used in verse 1. Here in verse 2:2, the Hebrew word used for belly in reference to Sh’ol is the word that normally means belly of or midst of. The fact that there are two different Hebrew words used in these two verses points out that the author is talking about two different places: in the abdomen of the great whale in verse 1 and in the midst of Sh’ol in verse 2. All through the Scriptures, Sh’ol is located in the center of the earth and is a place for both the righteous of the TaNaKh and the departed unrighteous (see my commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Hx – The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus). So Jonah was in sh’ol, and while he was there, he prayed the second prayer out of the belly of sh’ol.

Maybe you have tried to hide from God, or maybe you think even He can’t see you. Please know this: If ADONAI can see and hear the prayer of a rebellious prophet from the belly of a whale, then He can see and hear you wherever you are, or whatever you’ve done. But that’s nothing to be afraid of. He’s always there, and He cares!⁶⁶

The content of Jonah’s second prayer was to be delivered out of the state of disobedience in which he died. But He asked for another chance to fulfill his commission. And because Yonah was one of the righteous of the TaNaKh, he was not in the agony and fire portion of Sh’ol; rather, he was at Abraham’s side, or Paradise, in the place of blessing (Luke 16:22a). While he was there, God heard his voice (Psalm 31:22). The real miracle of Jonah was his resurrection from the dead in the midst of sh’ol (2:2c CJB).

Yonah was thrown into the ocean. For You hurled me (Psalm 102:10) into the deep (Psalm 69:2 and 15) into the very heart of the seas (2:3a). Actually, it was the sailors who hurled Jonah into the sea, but the Galilean prophet recognized God’s hand in it. At that point Yonah describes what he experienced while he was in the water. He is pictured as bobbing up and down on the surface of the ocean as the waves crashed over his head. He said: And the currents swirled about me; all Your waves and breakers swept over me (Psalm 42:7 and Jonah 2:3b). Consequently, it is among the sickening waves of fear and dread that it is possible to be in touch with God. Jesus also experienced the same sense of lonely dread in the garden of Gethsemane. My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Going a little further, His sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground and He prayed: Abba, Father, everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what you will (Mark 14:34-36; Luke 22:44).

Yonah’s first prayer was prayed while he was still alive floating in the water. I thought to myself, “I have been banished from your sight” (Psalm 31:22). He recognized that it was ADONAI who hurled him into the ocean, and he realized he was about to die. When Yonah began to experience the pain of separation from God that he so much wanted, his thoughts turned back to God: Yet I will look again
toward Your holy Temple (2:4). He knew He would once again be in the presence of the Sh’khinah glory in the Temple.

The description of Yonah’s drowning is then given. The waters of the Mediterranean Sea closed in over me. He began to sink below the surface of the water to the point of death (Psalm 69:1; Jeremiah 4:10). The great deep (Psalm 69:1) engulfed me (Psalm 18:4, 116:3), sinking even deeper, and seaweed was wrapped around my head (2:5 NASB). He finally sank down to the ocean floor where the seaweed can be found. This is a picture of a drowning man. Herein lies the ultimate terror. Returning to Gethsemane: the Lord said: My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death (Mark 14:34a).

Then Jonah’s death is described. I sank down to the roots of the mountains that went deep beneath the earth to its foundations, to a land whose bars would close me in forever. The word bars means the bars or gates of sh’ol. The expression: would close me in forever pictures physical death (Job 38:17; Isaiah 38:10; Psalm 9:13, 107:18). If there has been any doubt in the reader’s mind up to this point that Jonah was dead, then this verse should dissolve every dubious thought. This language can only be explained on the basis of death. While his body floated down to the bottom of the sea, his soul went into Sh’ol (2:6a). Type 5. Jonah is a type of Messiah because both Yeshua and His servant died (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Lv – Jesus’s Second Three Hours on the Cross: the Wrath of God).

In both a spiritual and physical sense, Yonah has hit bedrock. But there is a unique mercy to be found down there. The moment of entrapment is the beginning of freedom. This is the sort of relief we find when we finally admit that we have no power of our own to save ourselves, and are force to trust someone else. Like the moment of surrender when being put under before open-heart surgery. The bedrock is Christ Himself. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:27a). The very rock which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Iy – By What Authority Are You Doing These Things).

Next Yonah’s resurrection is described: But you, ADONAI my God, brought me up alive from the pit (Psalm 103:4 and Jonah 2:6b). Type 6. Yonah is a type of Christ because both the son of Amnatti and the Son of Man were resurrected to life (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Mc – The Resurrection of Jesus: The Second Sign of Jonah). The Hebrew word for the pit is synonymous with Sh’ol. And the phrase brought me up alive from the pit is a Jewish idiom for the grave and death. Therefore, the sign of Jonah is the sign of death and resurrection. This is the same expression used prophetically of the Meshiach in Psalm 16:10, where Christ’s body was not to suffer corruption because He would be raised from the pit. Just as Psalm 16:10 points to the resurrection of Christ, so this verse should be taken in the same way, referring to the resurrection of Yonah. So the great whale picked up Jonah’s body while his soul went down to Sh’ol. The separation of the body from the soul is another indication of physical death. Then Jonah prayed for a second chance, and that prayer was answered. Jonah was resurrected while his body was still in the great whale.

Then Jonah’s resurrection is summarized. When my life was slipping away (Psalm 142:3-4), I remembered you (Psalm 143:5), Lord. The phrase when my life was ebbing away is a figure of speech for the departure of the soul. Yonah then remembered ADONAI and prayed his second prayer mentioned in verse 2:2c from the belly of Sh’ol. His second prayer was answered and Jonah was resurrected while he was still in the belly of the great whale. Then Yonah prayed his third prayer and mentioned the two previous prayers. And his prayer rose to God, and to His holy Temple (Psalm 5:7, 138:2 and Jonah 2:7).

After it is recognized that Jonah was actually resurrected, it is easy to understand why Yeshua made reference to His own resurrection as being a sign of Jonah. After Isra’el rejected His messianic claims (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Ek – It is only by Beelzebub, the Prince of Demons, that This Fellow Drives Out Demons), Jesus said He would give no more signs except the sign of Jonah, the sign of resurrection (Mattityahu 12:39-40 and 16:1-4). Just as Yonah died and rose again, Christ would die and rise again. It is no accident that the expression used of the resurrection of the prophet in Jonah 2:6 is also used of the Messiah in Psalm 16:10.

The prayer of Yonah ended with his recommitment. Those who worship worthless idols (Ps 31:6) turn away from God’s love for them (2:8). Those who worship false gods are said to forfeit any mercy that they might have obtained from God. This was the condition of Nineveh, a city that was totally given over to idolatry.

Then Yonah made his vow. But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice (Psalm 116:17) to you. What I have vowed I will fulfill (Psalm 22:25 and 116:18). His vow was to go to Nineveh and fulfill his commission. So looking ahead to that second chance He said, when I get there, I will say: Salvation comes from ADONAI (Psalm 3:8, Jonah 2:9).⁶⁷ In most cases, the Hebrew word vow implies a promised gift, not merely a course of action as implied by the English word. In other words, Jonah was not simply agreeing to go to Nineveh, he was also agreeing to return to Yerushalayim to offer the LORD the proper ritual sacrifice in the Temple. He was specifically referring to the peace offering (see my commentary on Exodus Fg – The Peace Offering). True sacrificial obedience would cost Yonah something more than just a one-time decision to go to Nineveh. Likewise, we must be willing to obey the small details along the path to obedience to the Lord as well.⁶⁸

The final words of this song of thanksgiving captures the essence of what the chapter teaches in the form of a motto: Salvation comes from ADONAI. The Hebrew word for salvation here is yeshuatah, from yeshuah. When the angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she would give birth to a Son and she was to give Him the name Yeshua (Hebrew: yeshuah), for He will save His people from their sins (Luke 1:31 and Matthew 1:21b). The believer who hears this conclusion to Yonah’s song of thanksgiving in its original language cannot miss the word that sounds so much like His actual name . . . Yeshuah . . . which has meant salvation for the peoples of the world (Yochanan 3:16).⁶⁹

Yonah’s answers to the sailors’ question in 1:12 and his subsequent actions give us a foreshadowing of four significant principles in the B’rit Chadashah for reconciling with YHVH. The third significant principle: We need to ask God for forgiveness. One word summarizes the essence of this step – repentance. Repentance has two aspects: confession, which means agreeing with God about any sin or rebellion in our lives and asking Him to rid us of that for which we have no more use; and change, which means changing our mind, attitude and actions. If we [agree with God about] our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness (First John 1:9).

Jonah had come to the point of agreeing with God about his sin. Clearly Yonah was one of the righteous of the TaNaKh . . . that wasn’t the concern. Previously, however, the disobedient prophet had a problem agreeing with God and changing his mind, attitude and actions to comply with the Grandmaster. His heart was out of alignment with the heart of God. Jesus addressed this issue with the Pharisees (John 5:39-40). Yet after his resurrection, Jonah’s words not only reveal an agreement with God but also a willingness to act differently. True repentance requires a change in direction.⁷⁰

If you have never asked Yeshua to save you from your sin . . . make Jonah’s prayer, your prayer. The Bible says that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures (First Corinthians 15:3b-4). If you believe that and have never asked Yeshua to be your Lord and Savior would you pray this simple prayer today: God, I admit that I have sinned. I believe Yeshua Messiah died for my sins, and I want to trust Him to save me right now. Now you need to find a good messianic synagogue or church that teaches the Word of God faithfully so you can grow in your faith and have fellowship with other believers.

The Sign of Jonah
Matthew 12:38-41 and Luke 11:29-32

The sign of Jonah DIG: Why do you think the Pharisees wanted to see a miracle? How does Jesus feel about this generation? Why? What is the sign of Jonah? How is Yeshua greater than Yonah? How is Jonah a type of Christ? How might the Pharisees have interpreted this?

REFLECT: Have you ever asked God for a sign? Is it biblical? Is there a difference between confirmation from ADONAI and a sign? Where do we get confirmation?

The Sign to the Nation: As the crowds increased, Jesus said to them: This is a wicked generation. The emphasis was on that particular generation. The common people are beginning to accept the pharisaic interpretation. It asks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation (Luke 11:29-30). The Messiah – the Creator, Savior, and Judge of the entire world – accepted the entire record of Yonah as absolutely real and profoundly important. Isra’el was to receive no more signs but the sign of Jonah, which was the sign of resurrection. This sign was to come to Isra’el three different times.

The first sign of Jonah was the resurrection of Lazarus (see my commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Ia – The Resurrection of Lazarus: The First Sign of Jonah), which was rejected when the Sanhedrin plotted to kill Jesus (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Ib – The Plot to Kill Jesus).

The second sign of Jonah was the resurrection of Christ (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Mc – The Resurrection of Jesus: The Second Sign of Jonah), which was rejected when the Sanhedrin stoned Stephen in Acts 7:1-60.

The third sign of Jonah will be the resurrection of the Two Witnesses (see my commentary on Revelation Dm – The Resurrection of the Two Witnesses), which will be accepted and all Isra’el will be saved (see my commentary on Revelation Ev – The Basis for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ).

The Queen of the South, (First Kings 10:1-13) will rise at the judgment with the people of this generation and condemn them (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Ep – The Queen of the South Will Rise at the Judgment with This Generation and Condemn It), for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom and profited by it. Now this generation had heard the wisdom of One greater than Solomon but turned from His word. Therefore, the men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here (Luke 11:31-32). A greater preacher than Yonah and a wiser sage than Solomon was here, making their condemnation even greater for rejecting Him.

After hearing Christ’s words of rebuke and judgment for blaspheming the Holy Spirit, some of the Pharisees and Torah-teachers (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Co – Jesus Forgives and Heals a Paralyzed Man) tried to retake the offensive by saying to Him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from You” (Matthew 12:38). That they answered the Lord’s biting denunciation by asking Him a superficially respectful question indicated that they were biting their tongues, as it were, determined to give the impression of civility until the best time to attack Him.

The Rabbi from Galilee categorically refused to grant them a sign, but directed them back to two incidents in the TaNaKh. The first incident is the account of the prophet Jonah who was raised from the dead after being swallowed by a whale (see my commentary on Jonah Ar – The LORD Prepared a Great Whale to Swallow Jonah). The second incident that Jesus referred to is the concerns of Solomon (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Ep – The Queen of the South will Rise with This Generation and Condemn It). Jesus was greater than Jonah and greater than Solomon. The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon and traveled from the ends of the earth to hear his wisdom. And yet Messiah had come from heaven, but the Pharisees and Torah-teachers would not listen to Him.⁶²

The Pharisees and Torah-teachers did not consider anyone outside of their own party to be qualified to teach them anything. So when they addressed Yeshua as teacher, their response was both sarcastic and hypocritical. It was sarcastic because they considered the Nazarene to be a heretic and blasphemer, and merely looked for a way to expose Him as a false teacher. It was hypocritical because they mocked Him in front of the crowd.

The kind of sign they wanted was not specified, but it must have been a whopper, probably something on a worldwide magnitude. The miracle-working Rabbi had already performed three messianic miracles (see my commentary on Isaiah Gl – The Three Messianic Miracles). But they wanted more on an even greater scale.

It was not that the Pharisees and Torah-teachers really expected Yeshua to perform any such sign because their very purpose was to prove He could not do such a thing and thereby to discredit Him in the eyes of the people. Even though no prophecy in the TaNaKh ever foresaw that the Meshiach would perform a sign on the magnitude they demanded, the Jewish leaders gave the impression to the people that it did.⁶³

The maverick Rabbi responded to their sarcastic challenge by first declaring that the very fact that they were asking for a sign reflected the evil expectations of their wicked and adulterous generation (Mattityahu 12:39a). Their flawed acceptance of the Oral Law (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Ei – The Oral Law), led them into a superficial, self-righteous, and legalistic belief system. The Great Sanhedrin (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Lg – The Great Sanhedrin) had led the nation astray.

Consequently, Jesus said that no such sign would be given (Matthew 19:39b). It wasn’t possible for Christ to perform the kind of miracle that the Pharisees and Torah-teachers wanted – not because He didn’t have the power to do so, but because it was totally contrary to ADONAI’S nature and plan. God was not, and is not, in the business of satisfying the whims of wicked people who have no relationship with Him.

Nevertheless, the Lord declared that another kind of sign would be given: the sign of the prophet Jonah. Yeshua had already changed His policy regarding signs (see my commentary on The Life of Christ En – Four Drastic Changes in Christ’s Ministry). So as a result of this new policy, He now said: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a whale, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:39c-40). Type 3. Yonah is a type of Christ because both Jesus and the wayward prophet spent three days and three nights in the grave. God brought Jonah out of darkness and death into the light and life. Jonah’s experience was a snapshot of the coming burial and resurrection of the Meshiach. The religious leaders from Yerushalayim would not understand the illustration, but those of faith would.

Continuing with His illustration from the life of Jonah, Christ contrasted the response of the pagan Ninevites to Jonah’s message with the response of the Pharisees and Torah-teachers to His. In one of His most biting rebukes, the Nazarene told the self righteous Jewish leaders, who thought they were the cream of the crop of God’s people, that the men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here (Mt 12:41).

Despite Jonah’s reluctance to preach God’s message to the evil and idolatrous Assyrians of Nineveh, when the prophet finally began to preach, Ha’Shem produced an unparalleled response: The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust (Jonah 3:5-6). Covering oneself with sackcloth and sitting in the dust was their way of showing genuine sorrow and repentance for sin. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He relented and did not bring on them the destruction He had threatened (Jonah 3:10).

The men of Nineveh were not only Gentiles and had no part of YHVH’s covenant or Torah, but were especially evil and cruel – even by pagan standards. They did not know ADONAI or His will, however, they were redeemed by their sincere repentance, and spared destruction as proclaimed by the disgruntled prophet’s harsh message: Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown (Jonah 3:4). Jonah performed no miracles and gave no promise of deliverance; however, on the basis of his brief message of destruction the people of Nineveh threw themselves on the mercy of the LORD and were saved.

Isra’el, on the other hand, was the chosen covenant people of God, privileged to have been given His Torah, His promises, His protection, and His special blessings in ways too numerous to list. Yet her people would not repent and turn from their sin even when ADONAI’s own Son, something greater than Jonah, preached to them in gentle humility and gracious love, performed three messianic miracles, and offered God’s gracious forgiveness and eternal life with Him in heaven. Nevertheless, His chosen people chose to turn their backs on Him. And for that they would stand under the condemnation of former pagans at the judgment (see my commentary on Revelation Fo – The Great White Throne Judgment).

It is significant to point out that for traditional Jews, the sign of Jonah is unwittingly contemplated once a year on the most high holy day of Yom Kippur (see my commentary on Exodus Go – The Day of Atonement). It is on this most significant day that the designated reading from the Prophets is none other than the entire scroll of Jonah. Therefore, Jesus continues to be for us a major sign of the true Meshiach every year as we attend high holy day services in the fall.⁶⁴

Dear Great and Awesome Heavenly Father, How fantastic that You defeated death (Matthew 28)!Death could not hold the creator of life. Death is swallowed up in victory (First Corinthians 15:54c). What great love You offer life to all who love You, by being their sin sacrifice (Second Corinthians 5:21). No other religion can conquer death – but You can and did. All who are wise, love and follow you. We choose to love and follow you-even if that means death to our earthy bodies (Second Corinthians 5:1), for we go home to live with You forever in eternal peace and joy. For I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). We love You and delight in pleasing You. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

The LORD Prepared a Great Whale to Swallow Jonah
1:17 to 2:1

The LORD prepared a great whale to swallow Jonah DIG: What is significant about the phrase . . . But the LORD? What did it mean for Jonah? What does the word prepared mean? What does the word swallow imply? Why? What is paradoxical about the great whale fulfilling it commission? What does the Jewish expression three days and three nights mean? Does the Bible say that Yonah was alive inside the whale? How do the Jews explain the whale experience?

REFLECT: What was the meaning of Jonah’s entombment for Jesus? For you? In a sense, this story isn’t about Yonah, or a great whale. It’s about a God who is omnipotent and can do anything He wants. And He chooses to give us a second chance. How has He given you a second chance? What did you do with it?

Short description of scene three: As scene two concluded, Jonah had disappeared into the waters of the Mediterranean and an eerie calm had settled over the sea. The sailors worshiped ADONAI with words, sacrifices and in their attitude in general. The story could have come to an end right there, making the point that one ought not try to run away from God. The narrative, however, goes on. But the LORD . . . The cat and mouse game continues like a chess game (1:3, 1:4, 1:17, 4:1, 4:7). Here the Grandmaster has outmaneuvered Jonah. Check mate. Game over. Scene three consists of a narrative introduction (17:1 to 2:1), a prayer (2:2-9), and a narrative conclusion (2:10).58

Commentary on scene three: In the Hebrew text, 1:17 is the first verse of chapter 2, introducing Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the whale. God prepared a great whale, which showed up at exactly the right place and at the right time to swallow Jonah (1:17a). ADONAI, who had called Yonah and who had sent the storm, acts again, this time preparing a large whale to carry out a special assignment. The Hebrew word for prepared means to assign, to count, to appoint or commission. The great whale was appointed or commissioned to swallow Jonah. The word swallow often implies danger, used as it is of the exile (Jeremiah 51:34), of God’s judgment (Psalm 21:9), and of enemies’ threats (Psalm 35:25). It’s a paradox that the son of Amittai, a rational being, failed his commission, but the great whale, an irrational creature, fulfilled its commission. It swallowed Jonah as it was assigned to do. The rabbis teach that this whale was created in the six days of creation and held in readiness for Yonah.

What sort of a great fish did the author have in mind here? The Greek translations have ketai megalo (ketous in Matthew 12:40), which may be translated a great fish. However, the Hebrew word for big fish does not refer to a specific species but leaves room for the imagination of the hearer or reader.59 Let’s not major in the minors and get caught up (no pun intended) on what kind of great fish this is. The man inside the fish is far more important. We will call it a great whale.

And Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights (1:17b). The reluctant prophet wanted to go to Tarshish but he ended up in the belly of a whale (see the commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Eo – The Sign of Jonah). The Hebrew expression three days and three nights does not require three full twenty-four hour periods. It is a common Jewish expression, simply meaning any period of time that touches three days. In Jewish reckoning, part of a day counts for a whole day.60 Notice that the Bible does not say that Jonah was alive inside the whale. By the end of chapter 2 everything will be stripped from him except his dependence on God.

Some of the Rabbis describe Jonah’s stay in the whale in imaginative detail. According to the Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, Yonah saves his host fish from being devoured by the sea monster Leviathan. In return for this, the fish takes Yonah on an extensive tour of the suboceanic world. In the Zohar, Jonah’s sojourn in the belly of the great fish and his subsequent ejection is understood as an allegory of death and resurrection. Most interesting is the account in Midrash Jonah, apparently developed to account for the variation between the masculine and feminine words for fish in these verses. Yonah found himself quite comfortable in the great fish, was not worried, and failed to pray. Then the LORD arranges for Yonah to be spit out of the original (male) fish (1:17, Hebrew: dag) and to be swallowed by another (female) fish (2:1, Hebrew dagah) that was pregnant with 365,000 baby fish in its womb. Jonah was very much afraid because of the dirt and refuse from all the fish” and immediately began to pray.61

From the belly of the great whale Jonah prayed to ADONAI his God (2:1). The Hebrew word for belly in relation to the whale means the abdomen. The identical verb form prayed occurs in 4:2, where it introduces Jonah’s bitter complaint to the LORD. The verb prayed can designate praying for help in a situation of acute distress (First Samuel 1:10; Second Kings 4:33, 6:18 and 20:2), or it can introduce a psalm of thanksgiving as in First Samuel 2:1 and as we see next in 2:2-9.

Dear Great Heavenly Father, There is no place that anyone can run from You,  Whenever I sit down or stand up, You know it. You discern my thinking from afar. You observe my journeying and my resting and You are familiar with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, ADONAI, You know all about it . . . You hemmed me in behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. If I take the wings of the dawn and settle on the other side of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me, and Your right hand will lay hold of me. If I say, “Surely darkness covers me, night keeps light at a distance from me,” even darkness is not dark for You, and night is as bright as day – darkness and light are alike (Psalms 139:3-5, 9-12). Your watchful care is wonderful! You are a joy and a comfort to trust, love and obey. How wonderful it will be to praise Your great and holy name in heaven forever! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Jonah and the Great Whale
1:17 to 2:10

By focusing on the sailors in 1:16, we lose sight of Yonah. As far as they are concerned there can be no hope of his surviving the raging sea (1:14). ADONAI, however, has not yet finished with the reluctant prophet. And by means of a great whale in scene three God snatches him from a watery grave.

Many Bible scholars say that the word in the Greek New Testament translated whale (Greek: ketos) could be just as accurately translated simply huge fish or sea monster. However, in defending God’s Word, it is not really necessary to rule out the possibility that this Greek word which may mean whale actually does mean whale. There are two reasons for this: First, Some research scholars tell us there is a species of whale which not only has a mouth large enough for a man to get in, but also has a throat large enough for the whale to swallow the man. And second, even if there is no species of whale today with a throat large enough for a man to pass through, God could have certainly prepared a whale with a mouth and throat large enough for Jonah to go right on down to the whale’s stomach, because the Bible tells us that the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah (Jonah 1:17). Thus, we should realize that it was a greater miracle for God to resurrect Jonah than it was for Him to create or appoint a whale, which could swallow the runaway prophet. For with God nothing shall be impossible (Luke 1:37). Therefore, the great fish of Jonah was probably a sperm whale (Catodon Macrocephalus).

It is important to understand that the whale here is not the hero of the story, neither is it its villain. The book is not even about a whale. The whale is among the props and does not occupy the star’s dressing room. Let us distinguish between the essentials and the incidentals. Incidentals are the whale, the plant, the east wind, the ship, and Nineveh. The essentials are ADONAI and Jonah . . . God and man.

Dear Mighty and Loving Heavenly Father, Praise Your love that knows how to guide Your wayward child back to you, so he or she can be forgiven.  Now all discipline seems painful at the moment – not joyful. But later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:11). Praise You for being the means of forgiveness so those who love You can enter your holy heaven. He made the One who knew no sin to become a sin offering on our behalf so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (Second Corinthians 5:21). We love You and want to follow You, for You always want what is best for Your child. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Then They Took Jonah and Threw Him Overboard,
and the Raging Sea Grew Calm
1: 11-16

Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard and the raging sea grew calm DIG: Would the sailors have been converted if Jonah had not fled from the LORD? Would Yonah have begun to realize the extent of ADONAI’s far-reaching love and providence? In this file, what are the two ways that Yonah is a type of Christ? In this file, what are two significant principles that are listed for reconciling with ADONAI? How is irony used in the book? What does scene two as a whole say about God?

REFLECT: Has an unbeliever ever done something that shamed you because it was more Christlike than what you’d done? What effect did this have on you? What spiritual signs do you think you can look for that reveal you are headed in the wrong direction? Is the Lord allowing divine discipline in your life right now? If so, are you yielding to it or fighting against it?

Commentary on scene two: The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us” (1:11)? With this last question from the Phoenician sailors, the interrogation was complete. The culprit was then forced to disclose his guilt. By this time, Jonah was surely sorry that he had tried to run away from ADONAI. Not only was he about to die, but so were all the sailors on board. If all this had not generated true repentance, it is hard to imagine what would.

“Pick me up and hurl me into the sea,” Yonah replied . . . Note that he did not throw himself into the sea, for there is a vast difference between an awakened conscience and a despairing conscience. Type 2. Yeshua and Yonah both went willingly to their deaths. Jesus said, “The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life – only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord” (John 10:17-18). And Jonah was not to kill himself, but to be killed.

. . . and it will become calm.” Once Jonah is dead the storm will end because it will have fulfilled its purpose. The disagreeable prophet will be dead and the sailors will be able to go on their way in peace. Type 3. Both Jesus and Jonah were willing to die to save others. Here, Yonah knew that if he were thrown into the vast ocean it meant certain death, but that the sailors would be saved. Likewise Yochanan said, “We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us” (First John 3:16a NLT).

But how did he know? There is an implication that Jonah had heard from God. Now Yonah had first heard the word of YHVH when told: Get up, go to the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it (1:1-2a). So if the LORD were going to speak to him again, this would probably be the time to do it. How God spoke to him is not disclosed, but somehow He spoke to Jonah and this time, the servant of ADONAI followed orders.

Yonah’s answers to the sailors’ questions and his subsequent actions give us a foreshadowing of four significant principles in the B’rit Chadashah for reconciling with the LORD. The first significant principle: We need to acknowledge our sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth of His Word is not in us; in addition, we make God out to be a liar (First Yochanan 1:8-10).

Thus Yonah confessed: I know it is my fault [Aramaic: beselli] that this great storm has come upon you” (1:12). Jonah confesses he was worthy of death and was willing to endure the punishment. This is the principle of substitution: Jonah’s life in place of theirs. How like Jesus this is (although Christ did not bring about the calamity as Yonah did by his disobedience). But if Yonah’s words were noble, the acts of the sailors were noble also.⁵¹

These were decent men and they respected human life. So instead of hurling Jonah overboard, the sailors did their best to row back to dry land. Just as Yonah thought he could run from the conflict at Nineveh, the sailors think they can row out of the storm. Ships in those days normally sailed close to the coast, and were at most times within sight of the land. The rabbis teach that having inferred that Jonah had sinned by fleeing from the land of Isra’el, the sailors exerted themselves to take him back there and put him ashore in the hope that this would meet God’s demand. But despite their best efforts they could not get back to shore. The lesson is subtle. ADONAI is the Grandmaster of both the sea and the dry land. The graphic language now heightens the tension: For the sea grew even wilder than before (1:13). But God will not allow an easy ending here. Each time His storm is mentioned, the sailors move closer to the truth.⁵²

ADONAI had told Yonah to preach against Nineveh (1:2) but the reluctant prophet chose not to. The captain asked Jonah to call upon his God in prayer (1:6), and again, Jonah does not do so. Finally, they realized that they would have to follow Yonah’s suggestion. But before they hurled Yonah into the sea, they prayed for forgiveness. The sailors turned to the very God who was responsible for the storm and cried out to ADONAI (the only such prayer in the Bible), “Please ADONAI, Please! Don’t let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you LORD, have done as You pleased (Ps 115:2-3; Jonah 1:14) as evidenced by the lot which fell on Jonah” (1:7). Not that they regarded Jonah as innocent, but they prayed that their action should not be accounted as willful murder. Earlier, they had been worshiping their own gods, but now they worshipped the only true God, the God of the Jewish prophet, the God of Isra’el.

The book is full of ironies. Here is a true prophet who refuses to prophecy, yet the sailors turn to the One true God. He runs from the God of the sea on a ship. He hates the Ninevites and only prophecies reluctantly, yet they all turn to YHVH. The LORD saves all the sailors and all Nineveh from certain death, yet Jonah dies. All this irony has a purpose for the reader. Things are not as simple as they seem. Yonah’s protest and dialogue with ADONAI raises complex questions about God’s relationship to the wicked of the world. Yonah’s ironic responses make us take a second look at the prophet who says more by his objections and conversations with YHVH than by the few words of his formal prophecy in 3:4. Jonah reveals God’s identity and way in the world by his conversations and arguments. He’s not a typical prophet, but he’s true to his calling, even in protest.⁵³

Jonah’s answers to the sailors’ question in 1:12 and his subsequent actions give us a foreshadowing of four significant principles in the Renewed Covenant for reconciling with ADONAI. The second significant principle: We need to accept God’s discipline. Then they took Yonah and hurled him overboard. By the time the sailors got around to tossing Jonah overboard, they’d become pretty used to hurling items into the sea. They’d most likely already thrown precious metals, horses and mules, ivory, and various other products into the Mediterranean. As soon as they did the raging sea grew calm (1:15). There is no evidence of a struggle, and it appears that he did not fight God’s discipline. My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when He corrects you, for the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes each one He accepts as His child (Hebrews 12:6 NLT).

This is the fourth use of tul (to hurl), which echoes throughout the chapter, and draws attention to the violent act made necessary because of the disobedient prophet. This is only one of the words that keep recurring, not because Jonah has a limited vocabulary, but because he is literary master. The pattern underlying 1:3 is discernible on a larger scale in 1:4-16 (to see link click Al – Jonah and the Violent Storm), and one of the characteristics of a chiastic form is the recurring word, phrase of ideas.⁵⁴

The sailors’ use of God’s name throughout the latter part of chapter one shows the awe with which they revered this God from whom the wayward prophet had the nerve to rebel. Can you imagine how their wonder intensified when, after throwing Jonah overboard, the raging sea grew calm? YHVH had proven Himself to be a God of wonders who deserved to be worshiped and obeyed. In fact, they were so stunned by this awesome God that they begged Him to have mercy on them for throwing the rebellious prophet overboard when all their other options for saving themselves had been exhausted. Again, those pagan sailors had more regard for human life when Yonah, the believer, had no regard for the lives of the Ninevites.⁵⁵

Dear Heavenly Father, You are awesome! Heaven will be so wonderful, but hell so awful! Please give us someone we can share with about how great and mighty and holy You are. Help us to know how to explain that the only way to enter heaven is not by our own good deeds. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves – it is the gift of God.  It is not based on deeds, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). We must in love receive Yeshua’s gift of perfect holiness. He made the One who knew no sin to become a sin offering on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (Second Corinthians 5:21). May You guide us to who we can share our joy of how wonderful You are and what great peace and joy there will be in heaven forever, for all who love You. Please help our friend to understand that he or she cannot just know about You (Matthew 7:21-23). Heart love for You is what is needed (Matthew 22:37-39). You are so wonderful and worthy of all our love! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Reflection on what scene two as a whole says about ADONAI: Seized with great fear of ADONAI, they offered a sacrifice and made vows to Him (1:16). He had done what their gods could not do. The sudden calm answered the sailors’ prayers. The calm also revealed that the storm had resulted from Jonah’s disobedience and that an innocent life had not been snuffed out by throwing Yonah overboard. They offered a sacrifice immediately on the ship. The words here refer to the offering of animal sacrifices (Exodus 24:5; Leviticus 22:29; Deuteronomy 18:3). And made vows of further sacrifices when they returned to land. The nature of this kind of vow probably meant that they knew ADONAI was the only God, and would worship Him alone. The rabbis teach that the Gentile sailors came to believe in the God Abraham, Isaac and Jacob despite Jonah’s bad testimony before them.⁵⁶ All this happened as a result of Yonah’s disobedience. God continues to be the Grandmaster in the story, causing the storm, and through it, bringing glory to His name.

The story, like the sea about which it reports, has now come to a place of resting and calm. But what about Jonah? The reader or hearer of the story cannot help but wonder what has happened to him. Yonah has disappeared into the sea, but this is a sea made by Jonah’s God (1:9) who does as He pleases (1:15). The story is clearly one that is “to be continued.”

Do you think a season of your life was wasted with no redeeming qualities? The LORD can use anything. He’s the Master of taking the bits and pieces of our leftovers and making something amazing out of it. He gives beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:3). Have you, like the runaway prophet, mishandled the divine interruptions that have come your way? God can use anything, even the leftovers, for His glory.⁵⁷

A Hebrew I am, and I Fear ADONAI, the God of Heaven,
Who Made Both the Sea and the Dry Land
1: 8-10

A Hebrew I am, and I fear ADONAI, the God of heaven, who made both the sea and the dry land DIG: How are the sailors pictured here? How did the sailors and Jonah communicate with each other? What had the sulking messenger left out of his story? Why do you think he left out those details? Why was Yonah’s declaration that he was a Hebrew important? What details about their current circumstances and the Jewish prophet’s description of his God may have begun to change the sailors’ hearts? How do you think Jonah felt after talking with the sailors? How do you think they felt about him?

REFLECT: Have you ever been embarrassed to reveal to someone that you are a believer once he or she has seen the way you’ve acted? If so, what were the circumstances? How are you known to the pagan world? Do you have to wear your faith on your sleeve? If you were arrested for being a believer, would there be enough evidence to convict? It’s been said that if you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. Jonah had dug himself a pretty deep hole. How long does it take you to stop digging?

Commentary on scene two: The sailors are described in a favorable manner. In the midst of the storm at sea they are calm, reasonable and fair men. Even though the lot had fallen on Jonah, they do not immediately assume his guilt, nor are they immediately ready to throw him overboard. They give him a chance to say something about himself in his own defense.⁴⁶

The sailors and Yonah continued to try to communicate as best they could. When the sailors speak to God’s servant, they say the same thing to him that they had just said to each other in Hebrew: So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for [ba’aser lemi] making all this trouble for us?” In a little while, Jonah will use the same expression to admit his fault, and he uses the sailors’ Aramaic: I know that it is my fault [beselli] that this great storm has come upon you (1:12b).⁴⁷

Dear Heavenly Father, Your love and patience is so great! The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some consider slowness. Rather, He is being patient toward you – not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance. (Second Peter 3:9). Your wrath is so great!  He who trusts in the Son has eternal life. He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him (John 3:36).Throw the worthless servant out, into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:46).

Yeshua’s last words on earth were so full of love for all mankind. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, immersing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Ruach ha-Kodesh, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you. And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age (Matthew 28:19-20). We will tell someone soon about Your holy love and ask them to love you so that You can take them to heaven (John 14:1-3; Second Corinthians 5:21). Please help my friend to understand that though they may be laughed at now for following You – they will have an eternity of great peace and joy in heaven forever. You are awesome and I love You! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Presumably Yonah previously had some time to talk to these sailors, but he didn’t tell them much of anything about himself. He certainly was no witness for the LORD. Someone out of the will of God can never be an effective witness. Notice what Jonah didn’t tell them when the sailors fire a barrage of five questions at Yonah. The first question, which some have seen as irrelevant: Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? gives Jonah the opportunity of denying the accusation. But the closet prophet said nothing so they continued, their interrogation: What is your job? He hadn’t told them he was a prophet of ADONAI. Where did you come from? He didn’t tell them he was from Gath-hepher in the northern kingdom of Isra’el. Nothing about his hometown. What is your country? He hadn’t told them that he was a citizen of Isra’el. Who are your people (1:8)? He didn’t explain that he was a prophet who represented the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and who had been called to go to Nineveh to bring a message of hope and salvation. He hadn’t said any of that. Why? Because he was entirely out of the will of God.⁴⁸

Now, for the first time in the story, Jonah speaks. As the author of the story, Yonah puts the spotlight on his speech by placing it at the exact midpoint of scene two (to see link click Al – Jonah and the Violent Storm). I can’t help but wonder if Yonah – the Israelite and the prophet – was a little ashamed to speak the name of God in conjunction with his own. Then Jonah said to the Gentile sailors, “A Hebrew I am” (the literal word order). That was very significant because this was the name of the Israelites among the Gentile nations (Genesis 39:14 and 17, 40:15; Exodus 2:7, 3:18). The Hebrews were known to be monotheistic; that is, they worshiped one God, never an idol. Jonah was clearly a creationist, for he declared: I fear ADONAI, the God of heaven who made both the sea and the dry land (Jonah 1:9; also see Exodus 14:21)? In other words, Yonah said, “The Creator of the heavens, the sea and the land is responsible for this storm and I am His prophet!”⁴⁹ With those words, they knew they were in trouble. After all, who runs away from the God of the sea on a ship?

At this point Jonah has answered only the last of the questions put to him (Who are your people?), saying nothing about his occupation, home, or country. While the sailors did not ask about his religious preference, he had volunteered that information in a confession of faith in the LORD who made the sea and the dry land although Yonah’s words had to have had an extremely hollow ring to them in light of his willful disobedience. Let this not be true of us.

In 1:5 the sailors indicated that they were afraid because of the storm. Now the description of their fear is intensified. At this the men were terrified because now they recognized who was responsible for the storm; they understood which God Yonah was running from. Intuitively they knew that this was the One true God. They couldn’t believe their ears, saying, “Are you crazy?” What is this that you have done to us (1:10a)? The sailors seem to grasp the seriousness of his disobedience more than the prophet did. How could anyone who claims to know the Creator God have the audacity to defy Him? How could this closet prophet be so indifferent to God’s power to pursue him? The sailors feared their gods, and to them, Jonah’s cool defiance of God must have been extremely confusing. Yonah now has to consider his guilt in the potential death of the sailors in the storm.

For the men knew he was trying to get away from ADONAI, since he had told them (1:10b). This half of verse 10 is a good example of Jonah’s method of supplying some necessary information that he might have recorded earlier in the story but didn’t. In this way he singles it out and makes it more memorable. He ran from his call to the Ninevites, but now he is face to face with pagan sailors. What will he do? The sailors and the original readers of the story want to know.⁵⁰

When we cry out, Oh God, how can I get out of this mess I’ve gotten myself into. He says to us, “Repent. Say you’re sorry. Turn around and go in a different direction. Come back to Me.” And many times in our lives then we say, “Oh Lord . . . is there another way I can get myself out of this mess?” Why do we wait until we’re in BIG trouble to call out to the Lord? Why do we keep trying to do it our way? Why don’t we respond the first time God calls us?

We should note that Jonah does not answer the question put to him, “What is this that you have done?” So the sailors follow up with another question . . .

They Drew Lots and Jonah was Singled Out
1: 7

They drew lots and Jonah was singled out DIG: What does narrator Yonah reveal that the sailors don’t know? Is the throwing of lots gambling? What history did Isra’el have with this peculiar way of finding out the truth about people or events? How did the process generally work? Is there any connection to the New Covenant? How so? Where? Why don’t we need to use this method of finding God’s will today? What did the sailors believe about the throwing of lots? Who really controlled the events behind the scenes?

REFLECT: Have you ever tried to run away from something you knew God wanted you to do? What was your Nineveh? What did you do? How did you distract yourself from obedience? What did ADONAI have to do to get your attention? What was your whale? How do you find the Lord’s will in your life? 

Commentary on scene two: While the captain of the ship attempted to arouse Jonah below, the sailors on deck concluded that there must be on board the one who was guilty of some great crime and they decided to throw lots in order to find out who he was. Today we recognize this as pure superstition. Yet Yonah, as narrator, has already revealed that divine responsibility for the storm rests with ADONAI (1:4). The sailors, however, still have to discover what the reader already knows.⁴² The purpose in throwing of lots was to make decisions, in this case to find the culprit. The practice was common in Isra’el (see my commentary on Exodus, to see link click Gb – The Urim and Thummin: The Means of Making Decisions) and other countries in the ancient Near East.

The Hebrew word goral, translated lot, is related to the Arabic word for stone: garila (be stony) or garwal (small stone). The process involved putting stones into the lap of one’s garment or into a container and shaking it until a stone come out. The exact procedure is not described but would be familiar to the first hearers of the story. At that time, those who loved the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob believed that HaShem guided the process. And the B’rit Chadashah indicates an addition to the process: when a replacement was needed for Judas, the procedure involved not only the throwing of lots but also the prayer of the messianic community (Acts 1:15-26). The expression in the New Covenant’s account of Matthias is the same as the Septuagint’s account of Yonah:

kai epesen ho kleros epi Ionan (Jonah 1:7 LXX)

and the lot fell to Jonah

kai epesen ho kleros epi Maththian (Acts 1:26)

and the lot fell to Matthias⁴³

Today, the throwing of lots is not needed because the indwelling Ruach HaKodesh is totally sufficient for guidance in the life of every believer. And the Spirit does so in accordance with the Word of God.

The sailors continue to take the initiative while the reluctant recruit remained uncommitted. Because of his disobedience, he had no desire for prayer.

Although it is not seen in English, the interplay of Hebrew and Aramaic in the conversation shows that the sailors and Yonah are doing the best they can to communicate with each other. When speaking to each other, the sailors use an Aramaic expression: The men said to each other, “Let’s throw lots and find out who is responsible for [besellemi] this calamity to happen to us” (1:7a).⁴⁴ The Targum paraphrases to sharpen the sailor’s request, “Tell us, for what reason is this evil upon us.” It was a common belief among sailors that the misconduct of one person might bring disaster upon the whole company.⁴⁵ So God used their superstition. The use of a two-colored stone provided “yes” and “no” answers to specific questions. They drew lots, but ADONAI so controlled the results that the right person was picked and, not surprisingly to the reader, Jonah was singled out (1:7b CJB).

The superstitious sailors might have thought it was merely fate. But Yonah knew that the lot is thrown into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD (Proverbs 16:33). As ADONAI had used the storm, He now uses the lot-casting to expose Jonah to the sailors and bring him to face his calling as a prophet. The wind, the sailors, and the lots are each in the hands of the Grandmaster.

Dear Holy and Awesome Heavenly Father, You are so wonderful! Praise You for how carefully You watch over Your children (John 1:12; First John 3:1, 3). Praise You that You are in control of every detail that touches Yourchild’s life. Your love is greater than anything that can happen to us-including death, for death of this earthly body means we can live in heaven (Second Corinthians 5:1) with Yeshua who loves us and whom we love! Who shall separate us from the love of Messiah? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.” But in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.  For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Messiah Yeshua our Lord (Romans 8:35-39). We love You! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

But the LORD Sent a Great Wind on the Sea,
So Violent that the Ship Threatened to Break Up
1: 4-6

But the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, so violent that the ship threatened to break up DIG: What effect did God sending a storm so great that the ship was in danger of falling apart? In what sense were they saved (compare verses 5 and 16)? Likewise, how was the prophet saved? How could Jonah sleep through the storm? Was he in denial? Was he depressed? How was Jonah a type of Christ? What irony do you see in the exchange between the captain and Yonah? Between the sailors and the prophet?

REFLECT: Can you recall the last time one bad decision led you on a downward spiral of rebellion and more bad decisions? How futile is it when we try to solve our problems by human reasoning? Could God intervene in a miraculous way more often? Why doesn’t He? What kind of believers would that create? Have you ever been surprised by how the LORD allowed good to come out of a time of rebellion in your life? What did ADONAI accomplish? What decisions are you making today that will impact your future?

Short description of scene two: But the LORD . . . Here is the second but as already observed (1:3, 1:4, 1:17, 4:1, 4:7). There is great power in the equivalent words but God, frequently used in the B’rit Chadashah when an unsolvable or difficult problem has been posed. There is no answer until but God, and therein is the whole answer – the Person and nature, power and purpose of ADONAI. Despite Yonah’s illusion that He can merely flee from the presence of the LORD, it is now made perfectly clear that God is there on the sea, and able to control it, whatever Jonah may think. The son of Amittai is like a young child covering his eyes and thinking that he cannot be seen. But the LORD was there after all. There in the calling, there in the flight, there on the sea, there in the storm, and there in the throwing of lots (1:7). In short, God is with us no matter what our circumstance. After all, God with us is the heart of our faith and a central message of this book. The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call Him Immanuel, which means: God with us (Mattityahu 1:23). It is just that Yonah, in his passion for Isra’el, had hoped it meant: God is with us (and not the Ninevites)!

Dear Heavenly Father, How wonderful You are! Praise You for Your great love for all the world, so they may know, from the rising to the setting of the sun, that there is no one besides Me. I am ADONAI – there is no other (Isaiah 45:6). You are an awesome father! For you are all sons of God through trusting in Messiah Yeshua.  For all of you who were immersed in Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female – for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua (Galatians 3:26-28). We desire to please You by our loving obedience. Even when it would be easier to ignore You, we willing will follow all You ask of us, for we know that You love us and want what is best for us. You have given Yeshua’s righteousness (Second Corinthians 5:21) to all who love You. We look forward to praising Your great name in heaven for all eternity. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Like King David’s one bad decision (see my commentary on the Life of David, to see link click Dc – David and Bathsheba), Jonah’s life started to slide out of control. We see another illustration of a bad choice running rampant in a person’s life in the story of the prodigal son (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Hu – The Lost Son and His Jealous Brother). Like the disobedient prophet, he set his sights on a distant country and lived rebelliously. It was not until his downward tumble gained steam that he found himself in the pigpen that it dawned on him how far he had fallen.

The LORD, who had made the first move by addressing Jonah, now takes the initiative again. As the Master of wind and waves He hurled a great wind on the sea as easily as one hurls a stone. But this is no mere display of power. The great wind is intended to stop Yonah dead in his tracks by preventing the ship from making any headway. Nevertheless, the verb hurl does imply vigorous exertion. It is used of Saul when he hurls his javelin at David with the intention of killing him (First Samuel 18:11 and 20:33).

Commentary on scene two . . . sent out a great wind on the sea, which made the sea so stormy that the ship was in danger of breaking apart (1:4). You can almost hear the creaking timbers as the stress of the pounding on the hull increases. The Hebrew word translated sent out is a strong word, meaning to hurl. ADONAI hurled the storm at the sea. To the people of the ancient world, the sea was like the kingdom of death. For them, to be sailing on the ocean was risky enough, to be hurled around worse, and to feel the ship breaking apart worse still. Their little bottle of security was breaking apart and the dread of being swallowed by the ocean was growing by the minute. It is this almost primal fear of being swallowed by the sea that aroused such empathy for the victims of the 2004 Asian tsunami, or the obsessive retelling of the story of the Titanic. Despite our technology and our statistics of safety, it doesn’t take much to rock our boat of confidence.³⁶

Even though they were all very experienced, the sailors were afraid . . . So severe was the storm at sea that even the hardened sailors thought they were going to die. The extreme danger reminded them of their frailty. As stated earlier, these sailors were most likely Phoenicians who were responsible for most of the sea traffic in the Mediterranean during the first half of the first millennium BC. It was they who pioneered the exploration and trade by the sea.³⁷ They were pagans who came from a polytheistic culture and therefore worshiped numerous gods. Each god governed a different part of nature and was easily offended. Elemental fear directed their thoughts to the supernatural realm. So when they became afraid by the storm each man cried out to his own god (1:5a). The rabbis teach the men of seventy languages were there on the ship, and each had his own god in his hand.

It is highly ironic that Yonah, the one with faith in ADONAI, is mingled with the crew, quite literally “in the same boat” as everyone else, subject to the same forces of nature, hopes and fears. Why was this happening? For believers, it’s common to blame unbelievers for the way the world is going. But here, Jonah, as the author of the book, turns this on its head; the ship is sinking because of the faithlessness of the true believer, not because of the sins of the pagans on board.

Loss of cargo was preferable to the loss of their lives so they began throwing the cargo into the sea to make the ship lighter (1:5b). The Hebrew word used here for throwing is the same word used for the LORD sending out the storm in verse 4. Just as God hurled the storm against them, that is how they hurled the cargo into the sea. So the sailors responded by praying to their own gods in fear and did the sensible thing, they worked desperately to try and save the ship. This turned out to be totally futile. They had neglected to go to the source of all wisdom.

But Jonah had gone down far inside the farthest corner of the lower deck to lie down, and he fell fast asleep (1:5c). Type 1. Both Jesus and Jonah were found asleep on board while their shipmates tried to keep the vessel afloat after a sudden storm arose (see my commentary on The Life of Christ Fp – Jesus Walks on the Water). In both instances, the storm was calmed and the shipmates’ faith in God increased.

Humanly speaking, the pagan sailors were doing what they could. In stark contrast, Jonah was doing nothing. He was asleep. This same vocabulary is used for an anesthetized-like sleep: So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh (Genesis 2:21). It is the same kind of exhaustive sleep that caused Sisera not to hear Jael sneaking up on him to drive a peg through his head, killing him (Judges 4:21). In the same way, the reluctant prophet was sleeping so soundly that he was not aware of the storm, the activity on deck, or the captain of the ship as he made his way down into the lower deck. This is the third going down of Yonah. Just as the ship heading west moved him across the horizon in the direction of his rebellion, so his descent continues, moving him in a vertical direction farther and farther away from ADONAI.³⁸ If you run from God long enough, you can be in the clutches of mortal danger and never know it. You can reach a point where you cannot even hear His voice (Romans 1:24-25).

In his stupor he probably recalled when he first heard the word of YHVH (1:1). Yonah was ambivalent about the world and about God. He was lukewarm and, like the church at Laodicea, Yeshua said to the reluctant prophet, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). Unable to choose either option, God’s servant becomes hopelessly useless. He neither prays nor offers any practical help; his sleeping shows his withdrawal from the reality around him. So Jonah, our anti-hero in his spiritual cocoon, is oblivious to the frantic activities of the sailors above deck. But he is interrupted again. This time, however, not directly by God but by the rough and urgent voice of the captain of the ship.³⁹

The captain of the ship went to him and said: Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray to your god! The rabbis note the irony. The pagan captain calls upon the Hebrew prophet to pray, his words mirror Yonah’s initial call from God. Each word mocks him. Maybe He will pay attention to us, and we won’t die (1:6). The captain acknowledges the possibility that Yonah’s God, the God of the Hebrews, is the one true God. The use of God as a generic term is remarkable in the mouth of a pagan, who had just prayed to his own national deity. It suggests that, with their worship of idols, some of the pagans had a vague apprehension of one supreme God; and in a moment of great danger, such a One would come to mind.

Eventually everyone in this book calls on ADONAI: the sailors, Jonah, and the Ninevites. The Hebrew word qara is translated as both to call and to cry out:

The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe He will take notice of us, and we won’t die (1:6).

Then the sailors cried out to ADONAI, “Please ADONAI, Please! Don’t let us die for taking this man’s life” (1:14a).

Jonah said: In my distress I called to YHVH, and He answered me (2:1-2a).

The king said: Let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence (3:8).⁴⁰

The storm, then, is God’s tool to bring Jonah to his senses. Thus far it has not succeeded in breaking through his defenses. But Yonah will be allowed to propel himself deeper into trouble before God can rescue, and ultimately persuade him to see things His way. Jonah comes back up on deck and sees the great storm that is threatening to send him, the captain and his crew, to the bottom of the ocean. The rough and tumble sailors conclude that there must be someone on board who was guilty of some great crime, and they quickly decided to throw lots in order to find out who the guilty person was.⁴¹

Jonah and the Violent Storm
1: 4-16

Scene one closed with Jonah running away from the LORD. Scene two opens by describing ADONAI’s reaction to Yonah’s flight, as God hurls a storm on the sea. The tension that brings the scene to life is introduced immediately. Will the ship break up and all aboard perish (1:4)? Yonah’s confession of faith has been carefully placed at the midpoint of the chiastic structure. There are 94 words in the Hebrew text from the scene’s beginning in 1:4 to the beginning of the speech in 1:9 (A Hebrew I am) and 94 words in 1:10-15. Verse 16, a reflection on what scene two as a whole says about ADONAI, stands outside the chiastic structure. Both the chiastic makeup and the exact balance of the number of words on each side serve to place the focus for this third scene on the confession of 1:9.³⁵

A The LORD hurls a storm (1:4)

B Sailors pray, then act (1:5ab)

C Jonah acts (1:5c)

D Sailors question Jonah (1:6-8)

E Yonah confesses, “A Hebrew I am” (1:9)

D Sailors question Jonah (1:10-11)

C Jonah speaks (1:12)

B Sailors act, then pray (1:13-14)

A The sailors hurl Jonah (1:15-16)

The principle person in the narrative is God, not Jonah. To accomplish His purposes, ADONAI sovereignly controlled various events recorded in the book, overcame the prophet’s rebellion, and opened the hearts of the Ninevites. Here the LORD miraculously altered the direction of His reluctant servant’s itinerary. A life interrupted. Between Yonah’s disobedience, his hardened conscience, the ferocious storm of discipline, the frightening waves and the gaze of the sailors staring a hole through him, I’m quite sure he never thought anything good was going to come out of this. But it did.

Dear Heavenly Father, How wise and awesome You are! Praise You that you are able to take what looks bad to your children (John 1:12, First John 3:1, 3) and You turn it around to Your glory. Now we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Praise how You guided all in events in Joseph’s life-from being thrown in a pit, to sold as a slave by his brothers, to being put in prison when his boss lied about him, and then in Your perfect timing – to being promoted to second in command to Pharaoh. Yes, you yourselves planned evil against me. God planned it for good, in order to bring about what it is this day – to preserve the lives of many people (Genesis 50:20). We love to serve You, even when we don’t understand why You ask us to do hard tasks. We trust You and know that You always want what is best and You are holy, righteous and wonderful. In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Jonah Flees From the LORD
1: 3

DIG: Why Tarshish? Why do you think he disobeyed the LORD and ran away? How will God, who is concerned about the great nations of the earth, react to the rebellion of one individual? What will happen to the one who tries to escape one’s calling by running away from ADONAI? How does that compare to how other prophets responded (see First Kings 17:1-6; Jeremiah 1:4-10)? Do you think Jonah was aware of the problems his decision would cause other people? What was he thinking when he left? What does scene one as a whole say about God?

REFLECT: Have you ever felt justified in choosing not to obey HaShem? Where can you escape Him (see Psalm 139:7-12)? Where do you go that’s in the opposite direction from where God wants you to go? Are you an inside runner? What keeps you from doing something you believe the LORD is calling you to do? On the other hand, how do you feel when you know you have responded to ADONAI’s call?

The structure of this verse makes its own contribution to the message, and the key to the structure is the repetition of the words Tarshish (three times), from the presence of the LORD (twice), and went down (twice). The name Tarshish is especially relevant at the beginning, middle, and end of the verse. The chiastic structure forms an ABC-CBA pattern and is appropriate to convey the deliberate purpose with which Jonah reacts.

A to run away to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD

B went down to the city of Joppa

C found a ship that was going to the city of Tarshish

C and paid for the trip

B went down into the ship

A to go to Tarshish, intending to run away from the presence the LORD²⁵

Commentary on scene one: But Jonah got up to run away to Tarshish (1:3a). If you drew a straight line away from Nineveh, that’s the direction Jonah was headed. The delightful cat and mouse game now begins, so we should pause on the word But. Throughout the book (1:3, 1:4, 1:17, 4:1, 4:7), there is a constant dialogue between Yonah and God, often with action and counteraction, like a chess game. This is the first But and the first counteraction because Jonah doesn’t have the power to directly countermand the Grandmaster. Yonah did indeed get up (1:2a) as commanded; however, he got up to run away to Tarshish. Tarshish is generally recognized to be the Greek city of Tartessos, a Phoenician colony in Southern Spain. It was at the far end of the Mediterranean Sea, and as far away that he could get.”²⁶ Once he began running his descent would take him down a slippery slope culminating with his drowning to death at the bottom of the sea in chapter two.

. . . from the presence of the LORD . . . This means that Jonah was heading in the exact opposite direction from Nineveh. He was trying to flee from the presence of ADONAI. As a prophet of God, Jonah clearly knew that YHVH is omnipresent, and there was no way of escaping from His omnipresence. But the presence spoken of here is not the omnipresence of God; rather, Yonah was fleeing from the Shechinah glory, which is the visible, localized presence of the LORD, residing within the Most Holy Place in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Shechinah glory was in the Land and Jonah was trying to flee out of the northern Kingdom to Tarshish and away from this presence of God.²⁷

. . . from the presence of the LORD . . . Here is the first irony, repeated later in this verse. Yonah cannot possibly run away from ADONAI, as David reminds us: Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your right hand will hold me (Psalm 139:7-10). The reluctant prophet mistakenly thought that a little bit of geographical separation could put some distance between himself and the Grandmaster. There are echoes, too, of Adam and Eve naively hiding from the presence of the LORD (Genesis 3:8 CJB). It didn’t work for them in the Garden and it wouldn’t work for Yonah on the ship. All we know at present about Jonah’s motivation is to get away from the presence of the LORD. He skillfully keeps that question unanswered until 4:2, holding us in suspense and arousing our active participation in solving the mystery.²⁸

. . . and went down to the city of Joppa where he could find docking facilities for the long-distance “Tarshish ships,” which were the equivalent of our long-distance ocean liners of today, traveling as they did to the western Mediterranean. It has been estimated that their journey via many ports of call could have taken as long as a year, so when Jonah paid for the trip he was likely to have parted with a considerable sum of money. The reluctant prophet had to have his own way and pit himself against the Almighty, whatever the cost.

. . . Joppa is Jaffa, a large port where Jonah can be sure of two things – anonymity and the chance to get on a ship bound for somewhere, anywhere other than Nineveh. He sulked around the docks, having already descended into a totally alien culture, moving among people he had never met and never wanted to meet. The place was brimming with pagan sailors, all Gentiles. In a strange way, however, Yonah welcomed all the people, the sights and smells because they provided a distraction for him. He was getting away from it all.

The small nation of Phoenicia, a small strip of coastal land in what is now Lebanon, had become a great and prosperous nation because of the maritime commerce they developed. Also, it is often said that they invented alphabetic writing, which soon replaced pictographic, cuneiform, and hieroglyphic writing. They were descendants of Ham and had two great cities, Tyre and Sidon, which anchored their sea trade.

Despite their very small homeland, the Phoenicians were indisputably the leading mariners of the ancient world. There is much evidence that they not only sailed on the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea, but eventually all over the Mediterranean world and down the coast of Africa, even navigating around the tip of Africa and reaching the ports of India. Thus they had trading centers all over the known world. Tarshish was undoubtedly one of these.²⁹

. . . where he found a ship that was going to the city of Tarshish about 2,500 miles west of Joppa (1:3b). So Jonah found his ship that he thought was going to take him somewhere over the rainbow. When he got on board, however, he instantly created a new and uneasy fellowship . . . a single believer on a ship of pagans.³⁰

While you might not have gone to such extremes to run from God externally, we’ve all run at one time or another in ways less noticeable. It’s far more simple and discreet to run away internally, isn’t it? We head to Tarshish in our hearts so we can pretend we’re obeying God.

We run mentally when we detach our thought life by building up callousness displayed by the attitude we show in others. We can even run spiritually, merely going through the motions while having no fellowship with Him. We can even run from ADONAI’s directives even while we are engrossed in them.

We can be living life and yet be on the run from the LORD, rebelliously pulling away from His will all the while. We can pack our internal bags just as quickly as Yonah packed his and be on our way headed in the opposite direction of God’s will. But we must be careful. What’s on the inside will eventually show up on the outside.³¹

Jonah paid for the trip, literally paid her price. Although the Hebrew word for ship is feminine, one would expect the text to say paid his price, which is what the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the TaNaKh) has. Jewish commentators say, the phrase: paid her price refers to the cost of the whole ship, for, according to medieval rabbinic interpretations, Jonah was rich. Consequently, the Jewish exegetical tradition has it that Yonah hired the entire ship and its crew in his haste to escape God. So the rebel prophet must have sold his home and left everything behind. It was as if he said, “Forget the cabin fare, I’ll take the whole ship, so long as we can leave right now!”³²

Reflection on what scene one as a whole says about ADONAI: And went down into the ship, planning to go to Tarshish, intending to run away from the presence the LORD (1:3c). Jonah continues his descent. He has been told to get up and go east. But Yonah has gone down and gone west. From God’s perspective, He goes down to Joppa, down into the ship, down into the sea (2:3), down into the great whale (1:17), down to the roots of the mountains (2:6), before being vomited up (2:10). Psychologically and spiritually he had gone down in a far more significant way, as we shall see in chapter 2.³³

Jonah’s experience may be helpful to you if you’re having a hard time and question if you’re in God’s will. I can’t tell you one way or another. But I can say this, the fact that you’re having a difficult time is not proof that you’re out of God’s will. More accurately, it may be proof that you’re in God’s will. If you’re having it too easy and things are breaking just right for you in every direction, and if that alone is what you’re using to determine if you’re in God’s will, then, like Yonah, you could be in for a surprise.

Let’s look carefully at the wayward prophet’s situation. Here is a man who hears God’s calling but takes off in the opposite direction. There is no doubt he’s out of the LORD’s will. He goes down to Joppa and when he gets there he has no problems. He finds a ship. He buys a ticket. He gets on board the ship and he goes to sleep. Smooth sailing.

How many believers think that just because they’re going through a rough time means they’re out of God’s will? Conversely, when their lives seem as if its smooth sailing they believe they’re in the will of God. Have you ever wondered why there are so many problems trying to get to shul on Shabbat, or church on Sunday? Read the Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis. It may be that the devil and his minions are working overtime because you’re drawing too close to the Lord. Believe you me, when you’re up over your eyebrows in sin, the devil leaves you alone. Just because you are having trouble doesn’t mean you are out of His will.

Everything seemed so easy for Jonah. But down through the centuries God’s men and women have not found the going so easy. Adoniram Judson and his wife Ann didn’t find the going so easy when they left for India in 1812. Shortly after they arrived they were ordered by the government to return to America, so the Judsons moved their missionary work to Burma, located between India and China. They settled in Rangoon, the principal seaport of Burma and began learning the language. They quickly realized that it would be very difficult to preach God’s Word in a language lacking the words for God, heaven, and eternity, but nevertheless they proceeded to translate the Scriptures into the Burmese language. They began with the book of Yonah, which was especially attractive to the Burmese mind.

Ann soon adopted the Burmese dress with its light tunic of bright-colored gauze and a skirt of bright silk, slit at the ankle. A dedicated missionary, Ann formed a society of native women who met together on Sundays to pray and read the Scriptures and conducted classes for women. Her greatest contribution to the cause of women and missions was her inspirational writing. She wrote enthralling stories of life on the mission field and the struggles she faced, predominantly when her husband was confined to Burmese prison for nearly two years. She also wrote tragic descriptions of child marriages, female infanticide, and the trials of the Burmese women who had virtually no rights except what rights their husbands allowed them. Ann felt that even worse than the ill treatment of women was their ignorance. Burmese women were not taught and they spent their days in idleness. She worked to remedy this situation and enlisted the help of women back home.

As with many missionaries, Ann suffered from poor health on the mission field. She served for thirteen years in Burma before she died at the age of 37 on October 24, 1826. She was buried at Amherst under a tree while her Burmese converts wept over her grave. In the decades after her death numerous biographies and biographical sketches were written about Ann and she became a role model for all young women of faith.

But Jonah was having no such problems. He was on his ship and as it slipped away, I imagine that he stood on the deck, smiling as the shoreline faded into the distance. He probably thought to himself: What a wonderful trip this is going to be. But we’ll find that the closet prophet wasn’t going to have it quite that easy.³⁴

Dear Heavenly Father, We praise and love You always-even in the midst of hard trials. What is so very tough and unfair now can be used by Your hand on the potter’s wheel of our life, to mold us to be purer for You. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may result in praise, glory and honor when Yeshua Messiah is revealed. These trials are so that the true metal of your faith (far more valuable than gold, which perishes though refined by fire) may come to light in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Messiah Yeshua (First Peter 1:7). Soon all our trials and problems will be over. For I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). All who love You will live with You in heaven (John 14:1-3; Revelation 21:4) in eternal peace and joy forever! We look forward to praising Your great name forever! In Yeshua’s holy name and power of His resurrection. Amen

The Word of the LORD came to Jonah:
Go to Nineveh and Preach Against It
1: 1-2

The word of the LORD came to Jonah: go to Nineveh and preach against it DIG: What else do we know about Jonah from the TaNaKh? What seems both fitting and surprising about God’s command? What do you think might have been some of the comforts Yonah had to leave behind in Isra’el to follow the LORD’s instructions? Where do we first hear about Nineveh? What is unusual about the name of the city? What kind of a place was Nineveh? What kind of people were the Ninevites? Why might the reluctant prophet not want to preach to those wicked people?

REFLECT: What are some of your life goals that you’ve yet to see become a reality? Has God interrupted your life and seemingly tampered with those goals? How did you respond? Do you trust YHVH with the big decisions in your life? Do you think ADONAI will call you to a life of joy and fulfillment, or a life of rules and misery? Are you always convinced that He has your best interests at heart? Sometimes HaShem sends us into a hopeless place because its there that He can demonstrate His power. Have you felt hopeless lately? Do you have a Nineveh assignment? Did you grow up with a hatred or fear of any group of people? What doesn’t seem to make sense about something God is asking of you right now?

The book of Jonah may be divided into seven scenes. Each scene begins with a short description, then a commentary on that scene, and finally there is a reflection on what the scene as a whole says about God.

Short description of scene one: The story gets off to a fast start in 1:1-3. Scene I introducers the characters (ADONAI, Jonah, the people of Nineveh), gives the locations (Nineveh, Tarshish, Joppa, a ship), sets the tension for the story (What will happen to Jonah and to Nineveh?), and starts the action, as Jonah attempts to run away from the presence of God. The fact that the word Tarshish is mentioned three times in 1: 1-3, and that the phrase: intending to run away from God is mentioned two times, highlight the point of the scene.¹⁸

Commentary on scene one: Now the word of YHVH came to Yonah ben-Amittai, which means my true one (1:1). The first word in the book of Jonah in Hebrew is wayehi, “and it happened,” here translated, Now . . . came. This is a typical biblical introduction to a narrative: the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First and Second Samuel, Esther, Nehemiah (1:1b), and Ezekiel all begin in this way. It signals that what follows will be a story.

When the word of God came to Jonah nothing could ever be the same again for him. The word of God didn’t merely instruct him, it enlisted him. Calling is God’s initiative, God’s choice, God’s purpose, God’s instrument, and even God’s witness. Calling and election are not for our amusement or edification, still less our pride, but primarily for God’s purpose. Once the word came, Jonah had to move – the reluctant recruit. Yonah now had faith and a calling, and he didn’t welcome the combination; suddenly infinitely more is demanded of him. Once he was called in this way, whether in disobedience or reluctant obedience, he can’t help but be as salt in the world (see my commentary on The Life of Christ, to see link click Df – You are the Salt of the Earth and the Light of the World) – an agent of saving transformation. And the hardest of all, he had to be transformed himself, even dying in the process. As with many other prophets, each has their own excuse, but eventually each says: Here I am. Send me (Isaiah 6:8b NLT). It just took a little longer in the case of Yonah (3:1).¹⁹

Jonah means dove (Genesis 8:8-12; Song of Songs 1:15, etc). Since names taken from animals are not unusual in Hebrew, there need not be any special significance to the name. For example in Hosea 7:11 a dove symbolizes Isra’el.

Jonah son of Amittai (Hebrew: meaning truthful) identifies the main character of the book. This was not the first time the spoken word of God had come to Jonah, for he had already received direct revelation from ADONAI by his prophecy that Jeroboam would expand the borders of Isra’el. That was a near historical prophecy, which was fulfilled shortly after it was given and authenticated Yonah’s prophetic office and calling. Because he was identified with the Jonah of Second Kings 14:25, he was believed to belong to the tribe of Zebulun west of the sea of Galilee (Joshua 19:10 and 13), near the present site of Nazareth.²⁰ This region later became known as Galilee and was in King Herod’s tetrarchy during the time of Messiah. So he would have been a familiar figure to the original readers of his book. Yonah was a contemporary of the prophets Amos and Hosea. Now, after a rather successful and positive ministry in the northern Kingdom of Isra’el, Jonah again received a prophetic message from HaShem, but this time it was of a different nature.

God interrupted Jonah’s life when He said to him, “Get up, go to the great city of Nineveh, and preach against it” (1:2a). Get up is the disturbing instruction that Yonah had to obey. He had no option to stay put, whether he obeyed with ready feet or whether there were heel marks in the carpet. But the destination was appalling – Nineveh. Notice that God didn’t change what He wanted Jonah to do. He had been a prophet to Isra’el; now he was being called to be a prophet to Nineveh. The LORD just altered where and to whom His message was sent. The adjective great normally applied to size, but in this case it applied to the status of the city as a royal capital. That ancient city was notorious for being one of the most godless cities in the ancient world. We can only speculate about the details of how Nineveh affected Jonah, but Isra’el had been brutalized by her archenemy. Nineveh was also a long way away and Jonah was asked to go alone to the Assyrian triangle of three cities of about 600,000 people surrounding, and including Nineveh. Basically, He was asked to walk into the lion’s den. He was asked to be a light piercing the darkness, sacrificing his status, wealth, comfort, security and very possibly his very life for what? The Ninevites?

Since the kingdom of Assyria is prominent in Jonah’s record, we need to review a little of its history and its situation at the time of Yonah. According to the biblical record, one of Shem’s sons was Asshur, and the name Assyria undoubtedly comes from him (Genesis 10:22). It is reasonable to assume that he founded the city of Asshur, which (although it is never mentioned in the Bible) was the first capital of Assyria. Thus, Assur was the founder of Assyria, and the nation is occasionally called Asshur (Hosea 14:3). Assur was also later deified as Assyrian’s chief God.

Nineveh is first mentioned in Genesis 10:11, where it is said of Nimrod that he went into Assyria and built Nineveh. It is on the east bank of the Tigris River (near Al Mawsil or Mosul), about 550 miles northeast of Jerusalem by air, or about 220 miles north of Baghdad. The expression, the great city of Nineveh, designates not only the walled city itself, but also the surrounding region and could be translated greater Nineveh.²¹ There was the walled city of Nineveh, and then a triangle of three other cities that served as its greater suburbs: Rehoboth Ir, Calah (twenty-five miles to the south) and Resen, which is between Nineveh and Calah – which is the great city (Genesis 10:12). The opening and closing words of the book call to mind the picture of a far-off, sprawling metropolis of ancient times.²²

Nineveh was a place of hopelessness. He was to go there and tell the people that they were destined for destruction within forty days after Jonah began preaching to them because their evil had come to God’s attention, literally, before My face (1:2b CJB). The Hebrew word evil has the double sense of wickedness and calamity. In the Hebrew mind the two were closely linked. The Assyrian people subjugated other nations with unusual ferocity and cruelty. However, ADONAI took note of Nineveh’s wickedness and now Jonah was commissioned to preach against the great city. All that happened in Nineveh, and by inference in every other place also, rises up and comes to God’s attention.

The Assyrian king acknowledged that his people’s ways were evil and characterized by violence (Jonah 3:8). They were carefree (Zephaniah 2:15) thinking themselves invincible. The prophet Nahum wrote about several of their crimes (Nahum 3:1, 4 and 16). Nineveh was well known in the ancient near East for the brutal atrocities it inflicted on its captives. For example, writing of one of his conquests, Ashurnasirpal (883-859 BC) boasted, “I stormed the mountain peaks, and took them. In the midst of the mighty mountains I slaughtered them; with their blood I dyed the mountain red like wool . . . The heads of their warriors I cut off, and I formed them into a pillar over their city; their young men and their maidens I burned in the fire.” Regarding one captured leader, he wrote, “I flayed him, his skin I spread upon the wall of the city.” He also wrote of mutilating the bodies of live captives and stacking their corpses in piles.

Shalmaneser II (859-824 BC) boasted of his cruelties after one of his campaigns, “A pyramid of heads I reared in front of his city. Their youths and their maidens I burnt up in the flames.” Another Assyrian king, Sennacherib (705-681 BC) wrote of his enemies, “I cut their throats like lambs. I cut off their precious lives as one cuts a string. Like the many waters of a storm I made the contents of their gullets and entrails run down upon the wide earth. Their hands I cut off.”

Esarhaddon (681- 669 BC) was even more boastful when he said, “I am powerful, I am all powerful, I am a hero, I am gigantic, I am colossal, I am honored, I am magnified, I am without equal among all kings, the chosen one of Asshur, Nabu, and Marduk.”

Ashurbanipal II (669-626 BC) described his treatment of a captured leader in these words, “I pierced his chin with my keen hand dagger. Through his jaw . . . I passed a rope, put a dog chain upon him and made him occupy a kennel.” In his campaign against Egypt, Ashurbanipal also boasted that his officials hung Egyptian corpses “on stakes and stripped off their skins and covered the city wall with them.” No wonder Nahum called Nineveh the city of blood (Nahum 3:1), a city noted for its cruelty (Nahum 3:19). Ashurbanipal was egotistical, saying, “I am Ashurbanipal, the great [king], the mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria, the great gods . . . magnify my name, they made my rule powerful.”

The city was also known for its gross idolatry. It had temples dedicated to the gods Nabu and Adad, and the Ninevites worshiped Ishtar, the goddess of love and war. The religion of Assyria was Babylonian in origin but in Assyria the national god was Assur, whose high priest and representative was the king.

After Jonah’s day, Nineveh became the capital of the Assyrian empire under Sennacherib (705-681 BC), the successor of Sargon II (722-705 BC) who destroyed the northern kingdom of Isra’el. It soon became the most powerful city in the ancient Near East. But the Assyrians had become relentless and persistent in their sins. The city of Nineveh fell to the Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians in August of 612 BC.²³

We all have things we want to accomplish in our lives – our life goals. But sometimes life gets in the way. My wife had worked many, many years as a nurse with a Bachelors of Science degree. One of her life goals was to earn a Masters of Science degree. Near the end of her nursing career she was enrolled in a Masters program and was at the top of her class (she is ten times smarter than I am). For a variety of health and financial reasons, she needed to complete her degree within that certain window of opportunity. But her mother became very ill and she had to seek the Lord for a decision to either finish her Masters program or take care of her mother. Unlike Jonah, she obeyed the Lord and took care of her mother. But her life was interrupted, and humanly speaking she felt frustrated.

You know the feeling don’t you? The overwhelming frustration that washes over you when you are derailed off your chosen course for just one day, let alone your life goal. The fog of life’s journey can clog our spiritual insight and the fear of the unknown can stop us dead in our spiritual tracks. We planned one thing, and yet our current situation looks nothing like what we had in mind. Sometimes we might even feel that God has tampered with our ambitions, goals, and dreams. The yellow-brick road of our lives veered off in some unexpected direction.

But YHVH graciously gives divine interruptions to His children. He presents us with an opportunity to partner with Him in purposes we could never imagine. A life interrupted by the Lord is a privilege (easier said than done). We must internalize this principle in order to live a life that accomplishes God’s will. He doesn’t need us to complete His purposes, yet He still chooses to ask us to partner with Him. Is that mindboggling or what? His calling means that He has chosen you above everyone else to do what He is asking. You are the one He singled out and appointed as His partner for that particular ministry opportunity.

Some changes we’re delighted with. Others disappoint us and leave us buried in questions. Without a firm belief in the goodness and the care of ADONAI, we can spend years mad at ourselves, mad at others, or even mad at God because we didn’t get to accomplish what we originally set out to do. The importance and priority we’ve placed on our plans cause us to frown on new assignments the Lord may send our way. What other challenges might you face that will make it difficult for you to see God’s interruptions in a positive light?²⁴

Dear Heavenly Father, How wonderful You are! Praise You for Your great love for all the world, so they may know, from the rising to the setting of the sun, that there is no one besides Me. I am ADONAI – there is no other (Isaiah 45:6). You are an awesome father! For you are all sons of God through trusting in Messiah Yeshua.  For all of you who were immersed in Messiah have clothed yourselves with Messiah. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female – for you are all one in Messiah Yeshua (Galatians 3:26-28). We desire to please You by our loving obedience even when You break into our lives with instructions that upset what we want to do, for we know that You love us and You know and want what is best for us. We look forward to praising Your great name in heaven for all eternity. In Yeshua’sholy name and power of His resurrection. Amen