Jonah

A Redirected Journey

By John Hopkins
 Jonah
A Redirected Journey
By John Hopkins

Copyright © 2003, 2008 John Hopkins

1551 West Third Street,
Santa Rosa, CA 95401
All Rights Reserved

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Prologue
It may seem almost not worth saying that the book of Jonah is about a journey. At first glance it may seem that
it is about an interrupted journey to Tarshish, probably on the Southwest Coast of Spain. It is really a story about the
journey of a man from the bitterness and fear of his own heart to the compassion of the heart of God. J. Vernon
McGee1 beautifully puts it this way:
Leave Destination Arrive
Chapter 1 Israel Nineveh Fish
(Samaria or Gath-hepher)
Chapter 2 Fish Nineveh Dry Land
Chapter 3 Dry Land Nineveh Nineveh
Chapter 4 Nineveh Gourd Vine Heart of God

I use the term “story” carefully. My use of the term does not mean that I consider it to be fiction. We will
discuss that a little later on. I use the term story because the writer builds line on line to form a plot to engage and
influence the reader. The result is quite beautiful, and if the reader will use some imagination can be quite fun to
read. As you read the text try to hear the emotion in the voices of those involved.
Try to imagine the voices of the sailors as they shout at Jonah, first for sleeping when they were all in danger,
and even more when they find that it had been he who had caused all this to befall them.
Imagine the look on Jonah’s face when he complains so bitterly to God in 4:2ff. Imagine his voice when he tries
to impress God with his anger, and then the contrast of God’s response.
Time and again God reaches out to the petulant prophet with a light touch only to have him bat that touch away
and continue to pout.
How often have we done the something similar? Some of us do not have the temperament to shout or visibly
pout, but most of us have been where Jonah is in terms of the will of God. That is reason enough for us to take the
time and trouble to try to understand the book of Jonah.
Watch for “Consider: (then a discussion question)” These questions are intended to facilitate discussion in a
group setting.
The principle text used here is the Net Bible. Unless otherwise stated any quotes will be from it.
Before we get into the actual text we should consider some things about it.

Who Was Jonah?

He was a prophet. He was influential enough that King Jeroboam II of Israel expanded Israel’s borders on his
prophetic word speaking for God (2 Kings 14:25). He is mentioned only this one time apart from the book of Jonah.
He is described as the son of Amittai of whom nothing further is known.
Jonah is a man of determination. When he determines to frustrate the will of God for his life he sets off to what
is, effectively, the other side of the world. When he finally gives in to God, he walks hundreds of miles to carry out
His will.
Jonah is a man of strong emotion. Proof of that has previously been referenced in Jonah 4:2ff (ff = and
following).
The name Jonah means Dove. Jonah was God’s means for reaching out to those who needed Him. The Holy
Spirit has a role in drawing a person to Christ. The dove is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. Is there a connection
there? We don’t know, but it is an interesting thought.

Is Jonah Fact or Fiction?

We know that Jonah was a real person. We know that the places described are real. The known nature of the
Assyrians was consistent with Jonah’s reaction to God’s instruction. We know that the Assyrians were making
incursions around that time into the area where Jonah lived. Jesus uses the story in a matter of fact manner. Matthew
and Luke cite it as though it is historical.
There are arguments against it being historical. They include:
How did Jonah know what the sailors do after Jonah was thrown over the side?
I have no idea. God is capable of telling an author anything He wants. Did that information come from God or a
Human source? All we can say is that we don’t know.
Why is there no mention in the Assyrian records of the repentance described in Jonah 3:7ff.
This argument sounds good on the surface until you consider the Rape of Nanking in China. Between December
of 1937 and March of 1938 the Japanese killed nearly 370,000 people and nearly 80,000 women and girls were
raped. Many of those were killed afterward. Virtually no one denies that that event took place. Nevertheless it is
almost entirely missing from Japanese history books. It is getting harder to find all the time.

1
J. Vernon McGee, Through the Bible With J. Vernon McGee, Volume III, Thru the Bible Radio, Pasadena
CA., 1982, p 741
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 Even in the United States, the history of the founding fathers is rapidly disappearing from the textbooks. This is
mere political correctness.
The lack of mention in contemporary records of a society in which one would almost certainly be killed for
saying anything embarrassing is hardly surprising.

How can a man live for three days inside a creature of any sort?
It was a miracle. It was only one several.
 The beginning of the storm
 The ending of the storm
 The swallowing of Jonah
 The survival of Jonah
 The gourd vine growing in a night and dying in one night
 The worm which killed the vine

Miracles are impossible.

Is that a surprise? Something that is contrary to the laws of nature and yet happens is the very definition of a
miracle. All that science can say is that virgins don’t usually have babies by themselves or people don’t usually rise
from the dead, or that men cannot usually survive for three days in the belly of a sea creature. We don’t need
science to tell us that.
When Jonah went over the side of the ship, he had every reason to believe the he was about to die.
When Mary was approached by the Gabriel with the word that she was about to have a baby she responded
“How can this be, since I am a Virgin?”
When Joseph got the news he decided to put her away quietly. One commentator put it this way “Joseph’s first
words were probably ‘Gabriel who?’”
When Mary Magdalene came to the disciples in the upper room to tell them that Jesus had risen, their response
was that she was crazy; that she had been driven to that belief by grief.
These people knew what science knows. They knew that these things were impossible. In the end, they knew
too that these things had happened. It took time, but eventually, they got over it and said ‘it was a miracle.’
We need to do the same. We need to get over trying to make miracles scientifically plausible.
In Romans 1:18ff Paul makes the point that those who deny God as creator know that He is their creator. They
just don’t want to admit it. If God created us then we are responsible to Him. For we, who are not holy, to be
responsible to a God who is holy is just too scary to accept. Therefore God must not be the creator.
Those who deny the acts of God are in the same place. We will never convince them that the events described in
the book of Jonah can happen apart from a miracle. Our role is to be faithful with the word/Word.

Who Wrote Jonah and When?

There is no mention in the text about who wrote the book. There is no indication that Jonah himself wrote it. He
is referred to in the third person in all but a few cases 1:9, 2:2-9, 4:2, 8b & 9b. In the cases listed he is being quoted.
To insist that he wrote it because it bears his name is to insist that Moby Dick was written by a huge white whale.
Jonah’s ministry took place during the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel (786-746 B.C.) It took place at about the
same time as the ministry of Isaiah (in Judah) which began in 742 B.C.. Even without divine communication Jonah
could have, and probably did, foresee the crisis in Isaiah in Isaiah chapters 7&8.
Nineveh is referred to in the past tense in 3:3. It was destroyed in 612 B.C. The grammar and emphasis on
God’s universal concern for mankind are consistent with a later period.
Ecclesiasticus which was written between 195 and 170 B.C., lists Jonah among the Prophets. Most Protestants
do not consider Ecclesiasticus to be inspired or authoritative, but it does show that Jonah was generally accepted by
the Jewish people in that time.
Most scholars place the writing of Jonah at about 400 B.C.. An authorship date some 350 years after the events
described need not cast any doubt about the truth or accuracy of the story/account. The latest date that anyone has
seriously proposed for the creation of the universe is that of Bishop James Ussher. He proposes a date of 4004 B.C..
Moses wrote Genesis about 1400 B.C. That is far more time between event and writing than in the case of Jonah. It
is generally not seen, among Christians, as reason to doubt the Genesis account.

In Conclusion
I conclude that the Book of Jonah is the account of an historical event penned by an unknown author at a time
which is unknown, but likely in the fifth century B.C. It was considered authoritative long before the time of Christ.
It is a marvelous little book written in short story style through which its ultimate author (God) has much to
teach us.
The Text
Chapter 1
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1:1-4
1:1The LORD said to Jonah son of Amittai, 1:2 “Go immediately to Nineveh, that
large capital city, and announce judgment against its people because their
wickedness has come to my attention.” 1:3 Instead, Jonah immediately headed off
to Tarshish to escape from the commission of the LORD. He traveled to Joppa and
found a merchant ship heading to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went aboard it
to go with them to Tarshish far away from the LORD. 1:4 But the LORD hurled a
powerful wind on the sea. Such a violent tempest arose on the sea that the ship
threatened to break up!

v. 1 “The LORD said to Jonah son of Amittai…” Here we find the essence of a
prophet. The role of the prophet is not to foretell the future. The role of the prophet is to
be God’s voice to the people. Sometimes what God says will involve the future,
sometimes not.

v. 2 “Go immediately….” Or “Arise, and go…” NASB God says this over and over to
His people. His work is active. Often the challenge is not to get us to do great and
glorious things, but to get us to do anything.

Consider: Why is it so difficult for God to get His people to do anything?

“…that large capital city…” Nineveh had been inhabited from the earliest recorded times.
King Sennacherib of Assyria (705-681 BC) made it the capital of the empire. The walled
city itself was only about 2.6 square miles in that time. The “…exceedingly great city,
three days journey in breadth…” Jonah 3:3 (RSV) probably refers not simply to the city
proper, but to the whole associated complex of occupied land including Calah and
Nimrud. The whole area is a single administrative and military region administered from
Nineveh. 2

“…their wickedness is come to my attention.” The wickedness to which God refers is not
specified, but their brutality to conquered peoples is legendary.

v.3 Jonah went, but not to where he was told. He fled to Tashish. There were several
places that were referred to as Tarshish in the ancient world at various times. The one
likely meant here is on the southwest coast of what is now Spain. It was, essentially, the
Western edge of the world.

He fled “from the presence of the Lord.” (1:3) (NASB, KJV) The prophet Amos wrote at about the same time as
Jonah and Isaiah. In chapter 9 of Amos he makes it clear that the Jews of the time understood God’s rule to be
universal. He could not get away from God
Consider: Then why flee to Tarshish? (Hint: see Jonah 4)
v. 4 “But the Lord hurled a powerful wind on the sea…” Hurled is a strong word here. It
is the same Hebrew word as when the sailors threw their cargo overboard to lighten the
ship in v. 5 and when they threw Jonah overboard in v. 15. This was strong action on the
part of a determined God.

There were seasons for travel and seasons not to travel because of known periods of
increased likelihood of storms. Acts 27: 9 includes a reference to that fact. The fact that
2
The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Atlas, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1972, p. 353
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Jonah’s ship sailed indicated that it was in a period thought to be relatively safe. Storms
happen. They are natural. The supernatural aspect here is the timing and ferocity of the
storm.

1:1-7
1:5The sailors were so afraid that each cried out to his own god and they flung the
ship’s cargo overboard to make the ship lighter. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone
down into the hold below deck, had lain down, and was sound asleep. 1:6 The
ship’s captain approached him and said, “What are you doing asleep? Get up! Cry
out to your god! Perhaps your god might take notice of us so that we might not
die!” 1:7 The sailors said to one another, “Come on, let’s cast lots to find out
whose fault it is that this disaster has overtaken us.” So they cast lots, and Jonah
was singled out.

v. 5-7 “The sailors were so afraid that each cried out to his own god…” These are men
who have seen storms before. One did not go out in times when the storms were
especially severe but, storms were a fact of life for seamen. They had not seen a storm
like this one.

They took the practical step of lightening the ship to try to ride higher in the water. Each man called out to his
own god to try to find out which one had brought the storm on them. They expected Jonah to do the same. When
they looked for him they found him asleep. They were incensed to say the least.
Interestingly when the captain approaches Jonah his first word is exactly the same in Hebrew as that of God.
“Get up!”
v. 7 The crew cast lots to see who was responsible. The lot fell on Jonah.
Consider: Are lots a good way of seeking the will of God? Why did God communicate in that way?
1:8-10

1:8They said to him, “Tell us, whose fault is it that this disaster has overtaken us?
What’s your occupation? Where do you come from? What’s your country? And
who are your people?” 1:9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew! And I worship the
LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” 1:10 Hearing this,
the men became even more afraid and said to him, “What have you done?” (The
men said this because they knew that he was trying to escape from the LORD,
because he had previously told them.)

v. 8 Jonah had not told his shipmates who he was and what his mission was.

Consider: Why not?

v. 9-10a “I am a Hebrew!” The men were terrified. It was not the storm that terrified them this time. It was the
fact that he served the God of the Hebrews. They knew about the power of the God of the Hebrews.
Consider: In view of this passage and of Romans 1:18-25 what is the difference between knowing about
God and knowing God?
v. 10 “For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.” NASB One
way or the other God will not allow us to be silent about our relationship with Him. Even if we refuse to speak we
still communicate by how we behave about how we see our relationship with God.
Consider: What did Jonah’s flight tell those men about his relationship with his God? What does your
behavior tell those who know you about your relationship with God?
1:11-16
Because the storm was growing worse and worse, they said to him, “What
1:11
should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” 1:12 He said to them,
“Pick me up and throw me into the sea to make the sea quiet down, because I
know it’s my fault you are in this severe storm.” 1:13 Instead, they tried to row

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 back to land, but they were not able to do so because the storm kept growing
worse and worse. 1:14 So they cried out to the LORD, “Oh, please, LORD, don’t let
us die on account of this man! Don’t hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood.
After all, you, LORD, have done just as you pleased.” 1:15 So they picked Jonah up
and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. 1:16 The men feared the
LORD greatly, and earnestly vowed to offer lavish sacrifices to the LORD.

v. 11-12 “What should we do to make the sea calm down for us?” They knew about God
even though they had not worshiped Him. God had shown them power. They recognized
that their lives were in His hands. Now they ask the one who was supposed to speak for
God to do so now. Finally Jonah finally found his prophetic voice. “Pick me up and
throw me into the sea to make the sea quiet down, because I know it’s my fault you are in
this severe storm.”

v.13 “Instead, they tried to row back to land …” 3 Here are pagans who behave like the
man of God should have, but would not.

Consider: How were they behaving the way the prophet of God should have?

Consider: What is the effect on God’s purposes when our behavior, as the body of
Christ, falls so short of what it should be?

They risk their own lives to save Jonah’s. Their nobility and courage are real and magnify
Jonah’s failure before God. In Romans 2:14, Paul talks about Gentiles doing “by nature”
the things contained in the law.

Doing good things is not enough. The next three verses show a process.

v. 14 “So they cried out to the Lord…” Whether on their side of the cross or ours,
man’s first step is the same. God had already taken His first step of drawing them. The
storm had accomplished that. More on that later. Man’s first step is to cry out.

v. 15-16 They cast Jonah into the sea. “The men feared the LORD greatly, and earnestly
vowed to offer lavish sacrifices to the LORD.” NB or “At this the men greatly feared the
LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows to him.” NIV. We don’t
know exactly what their vows were or the nature of the sacrifice, but it appears that they
vowed to give themselves to the Lord.

If so then they would have been saved in the same way as you or I. Their salvation would
have been through faith and by the blood of Christ.

They saw that they were without hope on their own.

They found that nothing that they could do to change it.
They cried out to God – not about their act for Him, but for mercy.
They acted on what God had required.
They followed through.

3
The illustration on the cover is a Phoenician ship of the period.
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 Revelation 13:8 talks about those whose names had been written in the Lamb’s book from the foundation of the
Earth. The blood of Christ is effective to all who come to God broken and in faith asking only for mercy.
I have to ask the question for myself as to why God allowed Jonah to board the ship in the first place.
Remember Numbers 22:31-33. Another prophet had ignored what God had commanded.
22:31Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord
standing in the way with his sword drawn in his hand; so he bowed his head and
threw himself down with his face to the ground.  22:32 The angel of the Lord said
to him, “Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? Look, I came out
to oppose you because what you are doing is perverse before me. 22:33 The donkey
saw me and turned from me these three times. If she had not turned from me, I
would have killed you but saved her alive.”

Consider: God could have stopped Jonah at any time. Why didn’t He? Could it be that God, in his
sovereignty, set out to redeem that ship’s crew?
1:17
1:17 The LORD sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of
the fish three days and three nights.

v. 17 God “sent a hug fish…”(NB) “prepared a great fish” (KJV), “appointed a great fish” (NASB) to swallow
Jonah. The well known Lexicon Brown, Driver, Briggs defines the Hebrew word translated prepared or appointed:
1. to count, reckon, number, assign, tell, appoint, prepare

The New International Version says that God “provided” a great fish. I find provided rather weak. God is
working as actively here as He did in “hurling” (RSV) the storm in the first place.
Much has been said and written about what the creature was. It doesn’t matter. Every creature in the sea was
created by God. Brown, Driver, Briggs defines the term pronounced dawg as simply “fish”. Interestingly enough the
term is used three times in its masculine form (twice in 1:17, and once in 2:10), but is used in the feminine form in
2:1. It is almost as if the fish is pregnant with Jonah. Strong’s Concordance points out that dawg derives from the
term for “squirm”. In New Testament references the Greek word is transliterated ketos means “sea monster”.
There are known to be several species in the Mediterranean Sea physically capable of swallowing a man whole.
Finding such a creature does not remove the need for a miracle. The creature being in that place at that time is one.
The ‘depositing’ of Jonah onto the beach is another. Remember that the fish did so at God’s direct command.
Commentators differ on whether Jonah survived for three days and three nights in the belly of the fish or whether
God raised him from death afterward. Either way it is another miracle. No miracle is any more difficult for God than
any other.
In Gen. 5:24 God took Enoch from the Earth, apparently supernaturally. It simply says that “…he was not, for
God took him.” In Acts 8:39 when Philip had finished baptizing the Ethiopian Eunuch the Spirit of the Lord
“snatched” Philip away (NASB), “caught” Philip away (KJV). God could have simply transported Jonah from
either Gath-hepher or Joppa to Nineveh.
Consider: Why did God instruct him to go and have him do so by usual means?
Chapter 2
2:1-9
2:1 Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish 2:2 and said,

“I called out to the LORD from my distress,

and he answered me;
from the belly of Sheol I cried out for help,
and you heard my prayer.
2:3 You threw me into the deep waters,
into the middle of the sea;
the ocean current engulfed me;
all the mighty waves you sent swept over me.
2:4 I thought I had been banished from your sight,
that I would never again see your holy temple!
2:5 Water engulfed me up to my neck;
the deep ocean surrounded me;
seaweed was wrapped around my head.
2:6 I went down to the very bottoms of

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 the mountains;
the gates of the netherworld barred me in forever;
but you brought me up from the Pit, O LORD, my God.
2:7 When my life was ebbing away, I called out to the LORD,
and my prayer came to your holy temple.
2:8 Those who worship worthless idols forfeit the mercy that could be theirs.
2:9 But as for me, I promise to offer a sacrifice to you with a public declaration of
praise;
I will surely do what I have promised.
Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

v. 1 “Jonah prayed…” while the pagan sailors in the ship prayed in the storm, Jonah, the man of God did not.
Now he prays.
Consider: Could that be part of the reason God had Jonah travel this way?

v.2 “I called to the Lord out of my distress and He answered me; from the belly of Sheol I
cried out for help.”

Consider: How did God answer him?

It is distress and his presence in Sheol that brings him to his knees. The Old Testament
concept of Sheol is not quite the same as the New Testament concept of the place of
torment. Sheol is more “the place of the dead” it is more like being nowhere at all. If he
remained alive then the reference to Sheol was figurative.

The formal, even flowery wording of the prayer seems to be at odds with the situation. It
does not seem like the prayer a man would offer in that setting. Matthew Henry likens the
situation of Jonah to that of Paul and Silas imprisoned at Philippi. Imprisoned and
chained they offered hymns as praise to God. I can see Jonah repeating a hymn, written
before, but offered, or perhaps adapted, as heartfelt and individual as anything he could
have composed on the spot. Compare his prayer here to Ps. 30:2-3.

v. 3 “You threw me into the deep waters…” It had been the physical hands of Phoenician
sailors who had thrown Jonah over the side, but he knew who had ultimately cast him
into the deep. God did what was required to fulfill His will.

v. 4 “I thought I had been banished from your sight, ...”

We saw in Amos that a Jew of the period would have seen God as omnipresent.

Consider: How then, could Jonah have been out of God’s sight?

Even at the point of death, there was hope. Even at his lowest point he knew God from
experience. It was that knowledge which yielded hope.

v. 7 That reason for hope is reiterated here. “When my life was ebbing away, I called out
to the LORD, and my prayer came to your holy temple.”

Consider: How do we get the kind of memories to give us the same effect?

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v. 9b “I will surely do what I have promised.
Salvation belongs to the LORD!”

God had finally gotten through to him. The roadblocks Jonah had thrown up in his own
mind and heart had all been destroyed. He had nothing to say anymore. God had shown
him again that “the LORD God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land” would not
be thwarted. God had shown him mercy when he had deserved to drown.

2:10

2:10 “Then the Lord commanded the fish and it disgorged Jonah on dry land.”

I find it interesting that the fish shows no hesitation in obeying the command of the Lord,
even though the prophet of God does.

The bible does not say where Jonah was returned to the land. I think it would be an
interesting irony if God had Jonah deposited right back at Joppa. The closest point of the
Mediterranean Sea is several hundred miles from Nineveh.

Consider: What all did God accomplish with the “fish”?

Chapter 3

3:1-4

3:1The LORD said to Jonah a second time, 3:2 “Go immediately to Nineveh, that
large city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” 3:3 So Jonah went
immediately to Nineveh, as the LORD had said. (Now Nineveh was an enormous
city – it required three days to walk through it!) 3:4 When Jonah began to enter the
city one day’s walk, he announced, “At the end of forty days, Nineveh will be
overthrown!”

v. 1 God speaks to Jonah a second time. God is unfailingly patient with us. We will
reflect back to this verse in our consideration of 4:1.

v. 2 “Go immediately…” (NB) “Arise and go…” (NASB, KJV) What is so stunning
about this verse is what is not here. God does not say to him ‘You sorry excuse for a
prophet! You don’t deserve it, but I am going to give you one more chance.’ He simply
says “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am
going to tell you.”

Consider: What does this aspect of God’s character which allowed Jonah a second
chance mean to us?

In the beginning God had given him already what he was to say. Now he is to wait for the message. Jonah had
an even more daunting task, but he would do it. He had changed, even if temporarily.
v. 3 Jonah did not just say he was going to do it. He actually got up and walked. We must not understate the
importance of this.

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Consider: What is the main reason we fail actually get things done?

It seems to be the fact that there is nothing said between Jonah’s arrival on the beach and his arrival at Nineveh
that causes people to think that he was immediately there. In fact it must have required weeks, at a minimum, for the
trip. We can only imagine what that trip was like for a man who had gone through what he had.
v. 4 One day’s walk into the city he cried “At the end of forty days, Nineveh will be
overthrown!” Sometimes we consider Jonah to be a bigot, or a nationalist because he did
not want to go to Nineveh. We have to consider too the possibility that he was simply a
patriot. He knew that unless something happened, Assyria would devastate his beloved
Israel. God had reminded him of His power and given him hope that the enemy of his
people was about to be destroyed. He must have done his job with great enthusiasm.

The lack of detail here may be a literary device to focus attention on other areas of the
story or it may be that there is no other detail. My own imagination conjures up a picture
of the prophet shouting gleefully about the impending destruction. Commentator A.J.
Glaze presents a different picture. He presents the picture of a single phrase repeated over
and over flatly. He says “This would be extremely impressive in the Oriental
environment with its simplicity and audacity; a foreigner with ringing monotonous accent
predicting destruction.”4

3:5-9

3:5The people of Nineveh believed in God, and they declared a fast and put on
sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 3:6 When the news reached the
king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on
sackcloth, and sat on ashes. 3:7 He issued a proclamation and said, “In Nineveh,
by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep, is
to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water. 3:8 Every
person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly to God, and
everyone must turn from their evil way of living and from the violence that they
do. 3:9 Who knows? Perhaps God might be willing to change his mind and relent
and turn from his fierce anger so that we might not die.”

v. 5 “The people of Nineveh believed God; …”(KJV) or “believed in God” (NB, NASB).
In terms of translation, the difference between these two is a matter of interpretation of
grammar. The Hebrew literally says “believed in God”

We are often asked if we believe in this or that, such as UFOs, Bigfoot, Ghosts or some
such. In most cases the person asking the question uses the term differently than a person
of faith would.

Consider: What is that difference? How does it manifest itself in the way we live our lives? How should
it?
Sackcloth is the traditional garb of mourning in the ancient near east. For the people “from the greatest down to
the least” to put it on gives a graphic sign of their change of heart.
v. 6 That ancient oriental kings were all powerful was a fiction that no one really
believed, but had to affirm. Whether it was the ministry of Jonah or some action directly
by God which accomplished, it the king himself had to face that fiction. For the king
itself to admit that he gave up much of what kept him in power. Perhaps it was that act

4
A.J. Glaze, The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 7, Broadman Press, Nashville, 1972 p.173
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which was, for a society, what that final point of surrender is for an individual which
allowed God to forgive.

v. 7-9 Emotion was not enough. Action was required and was taken. “Who knows,
God may relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish. (9). The king
seems to have understood that this is no quid pro quo. He seemed to have understood that
their actions did not obligate God. He hoped for mercy. That is the turning point.

3:10
3:10When God saw their actions – they turned from their evil way of living! –
God relented concerning the judgment he had threatened them with and he did not
destroy them.

On the surface this is a disturbing verse. It is even more so in the King James Version
where it says that “God repented of the evil that he had said that he would do unto them;
and He did it not.”

God repent? Of evil? Or even relent? Does this mean that God was wrong in his original
intent? No. It is a failure not of God, but a limitation of language and human
understanding. That is what God is talking about in Is. 55:6-9:

55:6 Seek the Lord while he makes himself available;

call to him while he is nearby!
55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans.
They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, 
and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. 
55:8 “Indeed, my plans are not like your plans,
and my deeds  are not like  your deeds,
55:9 for just as the sky is higher than the earth,
so my deeds  are superior to  your deeds
and my plans superior to your plans.

Usually this passage is only quoted as 8-9, but 6 and 7 make it even more clear with
regard to this passage. It makes the point that the area where God’s thoughts are not
understandable by us especially with regard to His mercy.

In Job 38:4ff He raises the question “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the
Earth? Tell me if you have understanding.” His point is not that the men he addresses are
stupid, but that they are human. With that comes inherent limitation.

Remember that Jesus is the lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. Saving
man and having compassion on him has been God’s purpose from before he created the
universe. In sparing the people of Nineveh He is doing His original will. The turning of
the people allows Him to do that, consistent with His original will.

Ezekiel 33:10-20 talks about this. Verse 11 summarizes this very well. He says “”Say to
them, ‘ As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked,
but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil
ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’” (NASB)
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God had accomplished exactly what He had set out to do. What he had set out to do was
not to destroy them, but to save them. Had he wanted to destroy them he could simply
have done so. II Kings 19:29-37 shows that. God killed 185,000 soldiers in a night when
King Sennacherib defied God. Afterwards Sennacherib went home – to Nineveh.

Chapter 4

4:1-4

4:1This displeased Jonah terribly and he became very angry. 4:2 He prayed to the
LORD and said, “Oh, LORD, this is just what I thought would happen when I was
in my own country. This is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to
Tarshish! – because I knew that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to
anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened
judgment. 4:3 So now, LORD, kill me instead, because I would rather die than
live!” 4:4 The LORD said, “Are you really so very angry?”

For me chapter 4 is the real crux of the story. Jonah is not a story about travel, or even
about the repentance of Nineveh. It is about God’s man doing what God wants, and what
it takes to accomplish that.

v. 1 “This displeased Jonah terribly and he became very angry.” The English here misses
the real heart of this verse.

The term translated angry in NB, NASB and KJV is used ninety three times in the Old
Testament. In the NASB it is translated “burn” five times, “burned” twenty nine times
and “burns” once. It is from a Hebrew root meaning “charred”.

Consider: Why was he angry? Is there any redeeming aspect of his anger?

v. 2 “He prayed to the LORD and said,…” At least he prayed. He was talking to the right
person.

“Oh, LORD, this is just what I thought would happen when I was in my own country. This
is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to Tarshish! – because I knew that you
are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who
relents concerning threatened judgment..”

Here is the answer to the question related to 1:3 as to why Jonah did not want to go to
Nineveh. He was afraid that they would repent.

There is a certain irony here that the reason Jonah so spectacularly defied God was that
he knew Him so well. As mentioned before could it be that Jonah was a patriot. He saw a
threat heading for his country and his people and wanted that threat destroyed.

v. 3 This verse is at the same time outrageous and so typically human. He lists off the
central relevant characteristics of God in verse two. “I knew that you are a gracious and
compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness, and one who relents
concerning calamity”
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Remember that verse numbers were added centuries after Jonah was written. Jonah
continues without any indication of a break “So now, LORD, kill me instead, because I
would rather die than live!”

It is difficult not to laugh because of the mental picture here. I can picture Jonah throwing
a tantrum. Imagine him finishing his description of God, with sort of downcast look,
thinking briefly about what those characteristics had just done to him. I can see him then
looking up at the sky, perhaps throwing up his arms and shouting at God. “Therefore…”

v. 4 I can almost hear God responding to Jonah with the calm that comes from being
infinite in all ways, including infinitely powerful: “Do you have good reason to be
angry?” (NASB) “Are you really so very angry?” (NB)

We, whether as individuals or as nations, tend to respond to anger with anger because
anger from another implies a possible danger. There was nothing Jonah could do to injure
God. The same loving-kindness God had shown to Nineveh was now extended to his own
prophet.

4:5-8

4:5 Jonah left the city and sat down east of it. He made a shelter for himself there
and sat down under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city. 4:6 The
LORD God appointed a little plant and caused it to grow up over Jonah to be a
shade over his head to rescue him from his misery. Now Jonah was very delighted
about the little plant.
4:7 So God sent a worm at dawn the next day, and it attacked the little plant so that
it dried up. 4:8 When the sun began to shine, God sent a hot east wind. So the sun
beat down on Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. So he despaired of life, and said, “I
would rather die than live!”

v. 5 There were mountains to the East of Nineveh. Jonah went the direction that would
give him the best view of the destruction which he still hoped for. He made a shelter for
himself, and he sat.

v. 6 There is a lesson in God’s action here. It is a lesson about what God desires from us.
More on that in connection with verse seven. There is a lesson too about human desires.
“Now Jonah was very delighted about the little plant.”

The plant was a convenience and a comfort, but only briefly and only on the surface. He
could use it to say that it was God’s desire for him to sit.

v. 7 “So God sent a worm at dawn the next day, and it attacked the little plant so that it
dried up” God uses what He wants to use. He uses supernovas to make dust. (I am
struggling to resist doing two pages here on that.) He used the fish to transport and
preserve Jonah. He uses a talking donkey to chastise Baalam (Numbers 22). In that same
verse He uses an angel with a flaming sword. There is a message there. He uses a plant
and a worm and an east wind.

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Don Francisco is a wonderful singer and songwriter. One of his songs is about Balaam.
He says:

The Lord’s the one who makes the choice of the instrument He’s usin’. We don’t know
the reasons or the plans behind his choosin’

So when the Lord starts usin’ you don’t you pay it any mind.

He could have used the dog next door if He’d been so inclined”5

Or a worm?

Consider: We would tend to look at things that go well as a sign that we are in the
will of God and things that go badly as though we are not. What do the plant and
the worm tell us about such events?

Consider: Why would God destroy the plant He just grew?

v. 8 “When the sun began to shine, God sent a hot east wind. So the sun beat down on
Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. So he despaired of life, and said, “I would rather die
than live!”

Consider: Why did God bring the wind?

“I would rather die than live!” Given all that Jonah has been through doesn’t this seem a
little silly to respond to this situation this way? Could it be less this situation than the
aggregate of the whole. Could it be just habit?

Jonah’s attitude, and God’s response to it is not unique to Jonah. In I Kings 18 Elijah,
speaking and acting for God, wins a stunning victory over the forces of evil. Evil then
strikes back and Elijah flees. He asks that he might die. An angel comes to him and
brings him food and water. A second day the angel comes and brings food and water.
Then it is time to move on, for a while. Again he stops and falls into despair. God comes
to him and says “Why are you here, Elijah?” (I Kings 19:9). In the verses which follow
Elijah is told to go out to the mountain and watch. A wind that rends mountains, and
breaks rocks, blew and after the wind and earthquake and after the earthquake a fire, but
God was not in those things. After that came a gentle blowing. It was then, in the context
of the gentle blowing that God said to Elijah again “Why are you here Elijah?”

The shade which God provided Jonah and the food and water for Elijah show us that He
will allow us to sit and pout for a little while. Afterward comes the time, and if necessary,
the command to move on.

4:9-11

“4:9 God said to Jonah, “Are you really so very angry about the little
plant?” And he said, “I am as angry as I could possibly be!”4:10 The Lord said,
“You were upset about this little plant, something for which you have not worked
5
Don Francisco, Balaam, New Pax Press. Used by permission.
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 nor did you do anything to make it grow. It grew up overnight and died the next
day. 4:11 Should I not be even more concerned about Nineveh, this enormous
city? There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not
know right from wrong, as well as many animals!”

v. 9 Again we have God raising the question about being angry. Jonah’s answer is
typically human.

v. 10-11 God draws a stark contrast between the plant for which Jonah did nothing and
“this enormous city” with “…more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not
know right from wrong.” (NB) NASB, KJV and NIV refer to that one hundred twenty
thousand people as not knowing their right hand from their left. Is this a figure of speech
that we do not really understand? Could it refer to small children? We don’t know, but it
is clear that it refers to people who cannot make moral and ethical judgments for
whatever reason. “…as well as many animals!”

Jesus often surprised his disciples by caring for people for whom they did not, and had
assumed He would not. He cared for a Samaritan woman at a well in John 4. He cared for
a hated tax collector named Zaccheaus in Luke 19. He cared for a servant in a garden in
John 18. He cared for a thief on a cross in Luke 23.

Sometimes it is easier to care when it is heroic to do so. Jesus did not restrict himself to
that. He cared about children in Matthew 19. They were not hated, they were just
considered a bother.

We must care for those whom God cares for.

We must care about who God cares fore need to do that is that He does.

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