The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV, page 425
1:17 8 Or salvation
1:18 x Is. 5:24; 9:18, 19; Zech. 12:6
1:19 y Is. 11:14; Amos 9:12
1:19 z Zeph. 2:7
1:19 9 Heb. Negev
1:20 a 1 Kin. 17:9; Luke 4:26
1:20 b Jer. 32:44
1:20 10 Heb. Negev
1:21 c (James 5:20)
1:21 d Ps. 22:28; (Dan. 2:44; 7:14; Zech. 14:9; Rev. 11:15)
1:21 11 deliverers
Introduction to Jonah
Title
Following the lead of the Hebrew Masoretic text (MT), the title of the book is derived from the principal character, Jonah (meaning “dove”), the son of Amittai (1:1). Both the Septuagint (LXX) and the Latin Vulgate (Vg.) ascribe the same name.
Author and Date
The book makes no direct claim regarding authorship. Throughout the book, Jonah is repeatedly referred to in the third person, causing some to search for another author. It was not an uncommon OT practice, however, to write in the third person (e.g., Ex. 11:3; 1 Sam. 12:11). Furthermore, the autobiographical information revealed within its pages clearly points to Jonah as the author. The firsthand accounts of such unusual events and experiences would be best recounted from the hand of Jonah himself. Nor should the introductory verse suggest otherwise, since other prophets such as Hosea, Joel, Micah, Zephaniah, Haggai, and Zechariah have similar openings.
According to 2 Kin. 14:25, Jonah came from Gath-hepher near Nazareth. The context places him during the long and prosperous reign of Jeroboam II (ca. 793–753 B.C.), making him a prophet to the northern tribes just prior to Amos during the first half of the eighth century B.C., ca. 760 B.C. The Pharisees were wrong when they said “no prophet has arisen out of Galilee” (John 7:52), because Jonah was a Galilean. An unverifiable Jewish tradition says Jonah was the son of the widow of Zarephath whom Elijah raised from the dead (1 Kin. 17:8–24).
Background and Setting
As a prophet to the 10 northern tribes of Israel, Jonah shares a background and setting with Amos. The nation enjoyed a time of relative peace and prosperity. Both Syria and Assyria were weak, allowing Jeroboam II to enlarge the northern borders of Israel to where they had been in the days of David and Solomon (2 Kin. 14:23–27). Spiritually, however, it was a time of poverty; religion was ritualistic and increasingly idolatrous, and justice had become perverted. Peacetime and wealth had made her bankrupt spiritually, morally, and ethically (cf. 2 Kin. 14:24; Amos 4:1ff.; 5:10–13). As a result, God was to punish her by bringing destruction and captivity from the Assyrians in 722 B.C. Nineveh’s repentance may have been aided by the two plagues (765 and 759 B.C.) and a solar eclipse (763 B.C.), preparing them for Jonah’s judgment message.
Historical and Theological Themes
Jonah, though a prophet of Israel, is not remembered for his ministry in Israel which could explain why the Pharisees erringly claimed in Jesus’ day that no prophet had come from Galilee (cf. John 7:52). Rather, the book relates the account of his call to preach repentance to Nineveh and his refusal to go. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria and infamous for its cruelty, was a historical nemesis of Israel and Judah. The focus of this book is on that Gentile city, which was founded by Nimrod, great-grandson of Noah (Gen. 10:6–12). Perhaps the largest city in the ancient world (1:2; 3:2, 3; 4:11), it was nevertheless destroyed about 150 years after the repentance of the generation in the time of Jonah’s visit (612 B.C.), as Nahum prophesied (Nah. 1:1ff.). Israel’s political distaste for Assyria, coupled with a sense of spiritual superiority as the recipient of God’s covenant blessing, produced a recalcitrant attitude in Jonah toward God’s request for missionary service. Jonah was sent to Nineveh in part to shame Israel by the fact that a pagan city repented at the preaching of a stranger, whereas Israel would not repent though preached to by many prophets. He was soon to learn that God’s love and mercy extends to all of His creatures (4:2, 10, 11), not just His covenant people (cf. Gen. 9:27; 12:3; Lev. 19:33, 34; 1 Sam. 2:10; Is. 2:2; Joel 2:28–32).
The book of Jonah reveals God’s sovereign rule over man and all creation. Creation came into being through Him (1:9) and responds to His every command (1:4, 17; 2:10; 4:6, 7; cf. Mark 4:41). Jesus employed the repentance of the Ninevites to rebuke the Pharisees, thereby illustrating the hardness of the Pharisees’ hearts and their unwillingness to repent (Matt. 12:38-41; Luke 11:29-32). The heathen city of Nineveh repented at the preaching of a reluctant prophet, but the Pharisees would not repent at the preaching of the greatest of all prophets, in spite of overwhelming evidence that He was actually their Lord and Messiah. Jonah is a picture of Israel, who was chosen and commissioned by God to be His witness (Is. 43:10-12; 44:8), who rebelled against His will (Ex. 32:1-4; Judg. 2:11-19; Ezek. 6:1-5; Mark 7:6-9), but who has been miraculously preserved by God through centuries of exile and dispersion to finally preach His truth (Jer. 30:11; 31:35-37; Hos. 3:3-5; Rev. 7:1-8; 14:1-3).
Interpretive Challenges
The primary challenge is whether the book is to be interpreted as historical narrative or as allegory/parable. The grand scale of the miracles, such as being kept alive 3 days and nights in a big fish, has led some skeptics and critics to deny their historical validity and substitute spiritual lessons, either to the constituent parts (allegory) or to the book as a whole (parable). But however grandiose and miraculous the events may have been, the narrative must be viewed as historical. Centered on a historically identifiable OT prophet who lived in the eighth century B.C., the account of whom has been recorded in narrative form, there is no alternative but to understand Jonah as historical. Furthermore, Jesus did not teach the story of Jonah as a parable but as an actual account firmly rooted in history (Matt. 12:38–41; 16:4; Luke 11:29–32).
Outline
I. Running from God’s Will (1:1-17)
A. The Commission of Jonah (1:1, 2)
B. The Flight of Jonah (1:3)
C. The Pursuit of Jonah (1:4-16)
D. The Preservation of Jonah (1:17)
II. Submitting to God’s Will (2:1-10)
A. The Helplessness of Jonah (2:1-3)
B. The Prayer of Jonah (2:4-7)
C. The Repentance of Jonah (2:8, 9)
D. The Deliverance of Jonah (2:10)
III. Fulfilling God’s Will (3:1-10)
A. The Commission Renewed (3:1, 2)
B. The Prophet Obeys (3:3, 4)
C. The City Repents (3:5-9)
D. The Lord Relents (3:10)
IV. Questioning God’s Will (4:1-11)
A. The Prophet Displeased (4:1-5)
B. The Prophet Rebuked (4:6-11)
The Book of
JONAH
Jonah 1
Jonah’s Disobedience
1Now the word of the LORD came to aJonah the son of Amittai, saying,
2“Arise, go to bNineveh, that cgreat city, and cry out against it; for dtheir wickedness has come up before Me.”
3But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to eJoppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to fTarshish gfrom the presence of the LORD.
The Storm at Sea
4But hthe LORD 1sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was about to be broken up.
5Then the mariners were afraid; and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten 2the load. But Jonah had gone down iinto the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep.
6So the captain came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, jcall on your God; kperhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish.”
7And they said to one another, “Come, let us lcast lots, that we may know for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
8Then they said to him, m“Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?”
9So he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear 3the LORD, the God of heaven, nwho made the sea and the dry land.” Ten Miracles in Jonah
Jonah Thrown into the Sea
10Then the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
11Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?”—for the sea was growing more tempestuous.
12And he said to them, o“Pick me up and 4throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.”
13Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, pbut they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them.
14Therefore they cried out to the LORD and said, “We pray, O LORD, please do not let us perish for this man’s life, and qdo not charge us with innocent blood; for You, O LORD, rhave done as it pleased You.”
15So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, sand the sea ceased from its raging.
16Then the men tfeared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to the LORD and took vows.
Jonah’s Prayer and Deliverance
17Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And uJonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jonah 2
Jonah’s Prayer and God’s Answer
1Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly.
2And he said:
“I acried out to the LORD because of my affliction,
b And He answered me.
“Out of the belly of Sheol I cried,
And You heard my voice.
3c For You cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the floods surrounded me;
d All Your billows and Your waves passed over me.
4e Then I said, ‘I have been cast out of Your sight;
Yet I will look again ftoward Your holy temple.’
5The gwaters surrounded me, even to my soul;
The deep closed around me;
Weeds were wrapped around my head.
6I went down to the 1moorings of the mountains;
The earth with its bars closed behind me forever;
Yet You have brought up my hlife from the pit,
O LORD, my God.
7“When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the LORD;
i And my prayer went up to You,
Into Your holy temple.
8“Those who regard jworthless idols
Forsake their own 2Mercy.
9But I will ksacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay what I have lvowed.
m Salvation is of the nLORD.”
10So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
Jonah 3
Jonah Preaches at Nineveh
1Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,
2“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”
3So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, 1a three-day journey in extent.
4And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then ahe cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
The People of Nineveh Believe
5So the bpeople of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
6Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth cand sat in ashes.
7dAnd he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his 2nobles, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.
8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, elet every one turn from his evil way and from fthe violence that is in his hands.
9gWho can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
10hThen God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
Jonah 4
Jonah’s Anger and God’s Kindness
1But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.
2So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I afled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a bgracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
3c“Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for dit is better for me to die than to live!”
4Then the LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city. There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.
6And the LORD God prepared a 1plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah 2was very grateful for the plant.
7But as morning dawned the next day God prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered.
8And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, e“It is better for me to die than to live.”
9Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death!”
10But the LORD said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which 3came up in a night and perished in a night.
11“And should I not pity Nineveh, fthat great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons gwho cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?”
Jonah Commentaries
Jonah 1
1:1 Jonah the son of Amittai. Jonah’s name is Heb. for “dove,” while that of his father means “truthful” or “loyal.”
1:2 Arise, go to Nineveh. While other prophets prophesied against Gentile nations, this is the only case of a prophet actually being sent to a foreign nation to deliver God’s message against them. This was for the salvation of that city and for the shame and jealousy of Israel, as well as a rebuke to the reluctance of the Jews to bring Gentiles to the true God. Nineveh, which dates back to Nimrod (Gen. 10:11), was located on the banks of the Tigris River approximately 500 mi. NE of Israel. It was always one of Assyria’s royal cities and for many years served as the capital. The name Nineveh, is thought to derive from “ninus,” i.e., Nimrod, and means the residence of Nimrod or “nunu” (Akkadian for “fish”). The people worshiped the fish goddess Nanshe (the daughter of Ea, the goddess of fresh water) and Dagon the fish god who was represented as half man and half fish. that great city. Nineveh was great both in size (3:3) and in power, exerting significant influence over the Middle East until her destruction by Nebuchadnezzar in 612 B.C. It was possibly the largest city in the world at this time. According to historians, magnificent walls almost 8 mi. long enveloped the inner city, with the rest of the city/district occupying an area with a circumference of some 60 miles. Its population could have approached 600,000 (cf. 4:11). their wickedness has come up before Me. Nineveh was the center of idolatrous worship of Assur and Ishtar. A century later, Nahum pronounced doom upon Assyria for her evil ways and cruelty (Nah. 3), which was carried out by Nebuchadnezzar in 612 B.C.
1:3 But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish. This is the only recorded instance of a prophet refusing God’s commission (cf. Jer. 20:7–9). The location of Tarshish, known for its wealth (Ps. 72:10; Jer. 10:9; Ezek. 27:12, 25), is uncertain. The Gr. historian Herodotus identified it with Tartessus, a merchant city in southern Spain. The prophet went as far W in the opposite direction as possible, showing his reluctance to bring salvation blessing to Gentiles. from the presence of the LORD. While no one can escape from the LORD’s omnipresence (Ps. 139:7–12), it is thought that the prophet was attempting to flee His manifest presence in the temple at Jerusalem (cf. Gen. 4:16; Jon. 2:4). Joppa. Joppa (today Jaffa), located on the Mediterranean coast near the border of Judah and Samaria, was also the location of Peter’s vision in preparation for his visit to Cornelius, a Gentile (Acts 10).
1:4 a great wind. This is not an ordinary storm, but an extreme one sent (lit. “hurled”) from God. Sailors, accustomed to storms, were afraid of this one (v. 5), a fear which served God’s purpose (cf. Ps. 104:4).
1:7 cast lots. The last resort is to ascertain whose guilt has caused such divine anger. God could reveal His will by controlling the lots, which He did. This method of discernment by casting lots, the exact procedure of which is not known, was not forbidden in Israel (cf. Prov. 16:33; Josh. 7:14ff.; 15:1; 1 Sam. 14:36–45; Acts 1:26).
1:9 I am a Hebrew. Jonah identified himself by the name that Israelites used among Gentiles (cf. 1 Sam. 4:6, 9; 14:11). the God of heaven. This title, in use from earliest times (Gen. 24:3, 7), may have been specifically chosen by Jonah to express the sovereignty of the LORD in contrast to Baal, who was a sky god (cf. 1 Kin. 18:24). Spoken to sailors who were most likely from Phoenicia, the center of Baal worship, the title bears significant weight, especially when coupled with the phrase “who made the sea and the dry land.” This was the appropriate identification when introducing the true and living God to pagans who didn’t have Scripture, but whose reason led them to recognize the fact that there had to be a Creator (cf. Rom. 1:18–23). To begin with creation, as in Acts 14:14–17 and 17:23b–29, was the proper starting point. To evangelize Jews, one can begin with the OT Scripture.
