Jonah 1:1-17

 “The Lord said to Jonah son of Amittai, “Go immediately to Nineveh, that large capital city, and announce judgment against its people because their wickedness has come to my attention.” 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. 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! The 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. 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!” 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. They 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?” 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.” 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.) Because the storm was growing worse and worse, they said to him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” 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.” Instead, they tried to row back to land, but they were not able to do so because the storm kept growing worse and worse. 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.” So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. The men feared the Lord greatly, and earnestly vowed to offer lavish sacrifices to the Lord.” 17 (2:1) The Lord sent a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

— ‭‭Jonah‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬-‭17

The story of Jonah is so fascinating, and it’s really the OT equivalent of the Prodigal Son (or Luke 15). Because the point of both passages is whether God’s people will rejoice or sulk when God offers mercy to the worst of sinners. Yet, the grand emotion and shock factor is often restricted in conversation because people first want to debate whether this is historical or not. Or rather, they want to make sure everyone knows Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale/large fish. If you believe otherwise, then you are the worst of sinners and need to repent.

Of course, there are arguments on both sides, and there are counterpoints on both sides. Just because Jesus talked about Jonah in the fish’s belly, this is not a slam dunk argument. It’s a good argument, but it doesn’t seal the deal. Both sides talk about genre and contextual clues about how to read the book, so it depends on who you like to read and who’s more convincing. If you want to believe that it must absolutely be historical or else the Bible is a bunch of lies, that’s fine. If not, have at it. When it comes to intense debates like this, yes, I have thoughts, but when I see scholars—and not just their academic work, but also good, solid Christian men and women—disagree in conclusions, I say, “Ok, let’s move this down the hierarchy of important things to seize doctrinally.” It’s ok to disagree here.

Another important debate is the date of Jonah, or for that matter authorship. Most conservative dating/writings will have this during the life of the prophet, sometime around the reign of Jeroboam II (the key is before Nahum). Others will find this odd, because Nahum is not too long after Jonah lived, and the mercy of God in Jonah then “disappears” or “runs out” and the promised judgment comes in full force. Nahum promises and delivers some serious destruction on Nineveh.

The more progressive/liberal (I honestly don’t know what the point is of using terms like this anymore, because it just seems like enemy markers) approach is to date Jonah much later, like in the exile/post exile period. Then when God promised judgment in Nahum, it happens. But when Israel is wrestling with the character of God post exile (see Malachi), and how they should interact with their surrounding nations, and how God’s sovereignty is still intact, the book of Jonah was written.

Assyria was long gone by then, but they were known as the most ruthless empire when they were around. Sticking hooks up noses. Parading through streets naked. Perhaps I’ll post articles sometimes about their tactics. This is precisely why Jonah would say “Umm, I don’t think my going there would be a great idea. Hard pass.”

Whether the story happened in time of Jonah, or the story was created makes the same point. God is the type of God that offers forgiveness to the most cruel enemy the Jews ever faced in their history to that point. Would His people be willing to continue their mission of being a light to the surrounding nations? 

Some more points from this first chapter: Chapters 1-2 use the word “down” multiple times for Jonah. Hebrew has it more visibly than English. He goes down to Joppa. He goes down into the ship. He sinks into the sea. Pretty soon seaweed is around his head (whether metaphorical or real). It’s fantastic imagery of his rebellion against God.

Multiple times throughout the book, God appoints things: the storm, the fish, the plant, the worm (ch 4). And all these things are way more obedient than Jonah. In fact, whenever we read “the word of the Lord came to a prophet” in the OT, we always hear of the prophet speaking some terrible judgment against someone or doing some crazy stunt. Not Jonah. He runs away. This is absurd, and we want to stay engaged with the text to see what happens and why he has done this.

These sailors would have been somewhat used to storms but nothing like this. Their superstitions led them to Jonah, and even they had more faith at this point. Jonah’s speech is such a lie. I worship YHWH. Yeah. At least, he confessed that much. 

Small debate whether his willingness to be thrown overboard was contrition or more running. It was better to drown than go to Nineveh. 

NET has vowed to offer sacrifices. Not sure these sailors converted to Judaism or anything, and hopefully they waited to reach land before building a fire. But God’s power over the storm clearly showed them whom to fear.

This opening chapter sets the stage for everyone responding to YHWH correctly (even creation), except Jonah. And if I knew the Ninevites, I would probably be in the sea with Jonah,  too. But hopefully by ch 4, I wouldn’t be complaining as much. Hopefully.