Jon 1:1-4 | KingComments | STEP | Jonah is the fifth in the row of the twelve minor prophets. In the four chapters of his book, we get to know a prophet who values his own importance more than the importance of God. But more than the prophet, we get to know the God of this prophet. Although Jonah is not obedient, God does not put him aside. Jonah gets a second chance from God. Jonah finally does what God has asked him to do, although still not wholeheartedly. His selfishness continues to prevail. Still God does not push Jonah aside, but teaches him new lessons. We are allowed to listen, not as spectators, but as persons concerned, because Jonah is in all of us. The message that the book of the prophet Jonah contains for us is not only the content of his preaching to Nineveh, but also the patience of God with our unwillingness too, to do obediently what He tells us. In this book of the Bible God shares with us His considerations to make us willing witnesses to His Name. Middelburg, March 2006 – revised in 2018 – translated 2020 Who was Jonah? Of the ‘minor prophets’, Jonah is undoubtedly the best known. In addition to what we find out about him in this book, we read the following in 2 Kings: “He [King Jeroboam] restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher” ( ). We can conclude from this that he acts as a prophet in Israel shortly before or during the reign of Jeroboam II (793-753 BC). Further we read here about him that he is a “servant” of the LORD God and “prophet”. The Lord Jesus also speaks of him as “Jonah the prophet” ( ). Most probably Jonah is the author of the book of the same name. Only he can tell about what is happening on the ship (Jonah 1), about his stay in the fish (Jonah 2), about his dissatisfaction and his expressions about it against God (Jonah 4). His name means ‘dove’. He must go with a message that leads to peace – of which the dove is a symbol – to a city over which God’s judgment must come. But Jonah does not act according to his name. He does not seek the peace of the city. Why he doesn’t do that, we will see later. The name of his father, Amittai, means ‘reliable’ or ‘the truth of the LORD’. Jonah does not honor that name either. He is not reliable as a servant of the LORD. He flees his mission. But no one can escape from God. God forces him to proclaim “the truth of the LORD” to Nineveh. He comes from Gath-hepher in Zebulon ( ), north of Nazareth in Galilee. The remark made by the enemies of the Lord Jesus, that no prophet arises from Galilee (Jh 7:52), is therefore clearly an error. The book of Jonah, the target of Bible criticism The great importance that the Jews attach to the book of Jonah is shown by the fact that they read this book during the Day of Atonement. Bible critics have always had a great interest in this book. But this interest is expressed in the many attacks that have been made on the book. It has been claimed that Jonah never lived. Others have said that Jonah’s history is the product of an imaginative spirit or based on a legend. But, as someone has said, less faith is needed to accept this simple history than the many foolish assumptions made to deprive it of its supernatural character. Every attack on the book is in fact an attack on the Lord Jesus, Who completely confirms the historicity of this book by referring to it. He does this twice ( ). In the same way He refers to many more events in the Old Testament that are called into question, such as the creation of heaven and earth in six days of 24 hours, the institution of marriage, the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. To faith, both references by the Lord Jesus are sufficient to consider the book of Jonah as belonging to the inspired Scriptures. Anyone who does not believe, or argues away His reference to it and thus questions the authority of His statement about Jonah, brutally denies His Godhead. A compromise is not possible. Jonah – James The fact that the book of Jonah has a place in the Old Testament is just as special as the letter of James in the New Testament. 1. The Old Testament is especially dedicated to the history of God’s gracious intentions with Israel. Yet in the book of Jonah we find a history of God’s gracious dealings with Gentiles. 2. The New Testament unfolds God’s counsels for the church. Yet in the letter of James we find a letter which is addressed to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad ( ), that is the whole people of Israel. Through the book of Jonah we learn that, in the time when Israel is at the center of God’s dealings, God also has a heart full of compassion for the nations outside the chosen people. The book testifies that God is also the God of the Gentiles and not only of the Jews ( ). It is the great missionary book of the Old Testament. As far as we know Jonah is the only prophet who has been sent to the Gentiles with a message especially for the Gentiles. From the letter of James we learn that although God now forms a totally new, heavenly people, the church, from the believers of Israel and the nations, He does not forget His old earthly people Israel. The lesson of Jonah This book uncovers the workings of the heart of a man who is a believer and also a servant of God. The reason Jonah does not want to go to Nineveh is not because he is afraid of the city, but because he knows God. In this book God’s heart is also exposed. But although Jonah knows God, he is not lined up with God’s thoughts. He does not share in God’s mercy. The thought of his own importance overshadows everything. Because he does not know God’s heart, he does not really know God. The book gives us a lot of insight into the character and life of the much discussed and often despised prophet. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he writes about himself in a way that man naturally does not. Without any excuse Jonah shows his own wrong mind and wrong behavior. Would anyone have ever published such an honest account as Jonah did? Everyone in the book obtains a status better off than Jonah. Jonah is not just anyone. Just to him the Lord has entrusted His testimony. And it is precisely in this person with such a high calling that the very low character of human nature is exposed. That low character is that he wants to be important because of the important message he has to deliver. He only wants to carry out the task he receives if he can shine through it himself. As a result of this vainness and pride, he cannot accept the fact that God is showing grace to others. Disciples of the Lord People with an attitude like Jonah cannot accept God revealing His thoughts or Being through anyone else. They themselves have to do the things, they have to have the honor of it. All their thoughts about God are limited to their own viewpoint. That viewpoint is that the message is entrusted to them and nobody else. The same attitude is found with a few disciples of the Lord Jesus ( ). When they come with the Lord in a village of the Samaritans, they are refused! That cannot be the case. Fire must come down from heaven! That is the only appropriate response to this gross insult, they are convinced of. Well, they ask the Lord because of decency. But in the meantime they have given room to the natural feelings of their hearts. It seems as if they stand up for the Lord, but essentially they want to take revenge for this treatment because they themselves feel rejected. And executing revenge is the revelation of power. In this way they want to show that they are important, that power lies with them and not with those who refuse to receive the Lord. Jonah: That’s me If we do not recognize anything of ourselves in Jonah and the disciples, there is no need to continue reading. Then this prophetical book contains no message for us. This book makes it clear that those who are connected with God Himself must submit to His power and bow to His grace. If that submission is not there, the awareness of God’s favor leads to unfaithfulness and self-glorification. Just like Jonah, we are able to misuse the privileges God has given us to show off. If that happens, we ourselves are often blind to it. In that case, through our behavior we darken or hide the knowledge of Who God is in Himself. An additional effect of dealing in this way with the possession of these privileges is the rise of a harsh party spirit. Just look at the Pharisees as we see them in Scripture. Then we look in a mirror again. What do we see? Anyone who knows himself a little and is honest, will admit that he encounters or finds something of the Pharisee in his own heart too. If we read on because we want to discover something of ourselves in Jonah, and in the disciples and in the Pharisees, we will make another great discovery. Above all, we will see God showing Himself in His grace, both for Nineveh, including children and animals, and for His straying servant Jonah. Then we can apply that to ourselves as well. The result will be that we praise God for His great grace in which He has taken care of us. A prophetic book? It may be surprising that there is no prophecy in the book. We could say there is only one prophecy, in Jonah 3 ( ). And that one is pronounced, that it would not be fulfilled. The rest of the book describes the prophet’s attitude towards God and the way God goes with him. Now the special thing about this book is that the story itself is prophecy. The story gives prophetic truths in historical form, in the form of events. The prophecy is depicted here. Jonah is a picture of Israel. An ancient orthodox Jew answered the question why Jonah is read every Day of Atonement in the synagogue: ‘We are Jonah.’ In the person Jonah the whole history of Israel is told. The Lord Jesus applies what happens to Jonah to Himself in His death and resurrection ( ). When He explains the sign of Jonah, He first points to His death ( ), which He connects to Jonah’s stay in the fish. Then He points to his preaching and its consequence in Nineveh ( ). The sign of Jonah about which the Lord speaks means that after His death and resurrection the preaching will go to the Gentiles. This is a serious reproach for those to whom the Lord speaks, but who do not listen to Him. The Lord uses the history of Jonah in the fish and his subsequent preaching as a sign of what awaits the people of Israel. They will not listen to Him Who is more than Jonah. The men of Nineveh do listen to Jonah. In the judgment, the men of Nineveh will rise up to condemn the rebellious generation to whom the Lord Jesus came. Thus the Lord gives, in relation to what happened to Jonah, a prophetic message. The second time the Lord Jesus refers to Jonah ( ), He does so with the intention of showing His opponents that judgment was imminent. The sign of Jonah here means that Israel was about to be thrown into the sea of nations. Matthew adds meaningfully: “And he left them and went away.” Jonah as a picture of Israel Israel, like Jonah, was chosen by God to be His witness to the nations around them ( ). But Israel has used the truth of God which it should have proclaimed for themselves. We like the truth of God when we can cloth ourselves with it, in order to increase our own importance. This was the case with Israel. The people of Israel were the vessel of God’s witness in the world and boasted in it because it clothed them with honor. For this reason they could not accept that grace was given to the Gentiles. Like Jonah, Israel was unwilling to carry out its task as a witness and was always disobedient ( ). By fleeing, Jonah wants to escape the task of proclamation. He begrudges the great heathen world Divine mercy because he fears that the preaching of penance will save Nineveh from imminent destruction ( ). That is precisely what he does not want. He wants those pagans to die. In this Jonah reflects the attitude of Israel toward the nations ( ). But Jonah cannot be compared with a false prophet who prophesies from his own heart. Just as Jonah disappeared into the sea, so Israel is scattered among the nations. As a result, the nations have come to know God ( ). Jonah is miraculously kept in the fish. Thus God has kept Israel through all the ages and they will return to their land ( ; ). Jonah had to learn that he is as dependent on the grace of God as Nineveh is. Israel must also learn this ( ). Division of the book I The disobedient prophet (Jonah 1:1-2:10) 1. The flee (Jonah 1:1-3) 2. The storm (Jonah 1:4-6) 3. The responsibility of Jonah (Jonah 1:7-10) 4. Jonah rejected (Jonah 1:11-16) 5. The protection of Jonah (Jonah 1:17-2:1) 6. A psalm of thanksgiving (Jonah 2:2-9) 7. The liberation (Jonah 2:10) II The aggrieved Prophet (Jonah 3:1-4:11) 1. The preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:1-4) 2. The conversion of Nineveh (Jonah 3:5-10) 3. Displeasure of Jonah (Jonah 4:1-4) 4. God reprimands Jonah (Jonah 4:5-9) 5. The Mercy of God (Jonah 4:10-11) Jonah wants to escape the LORD’s command to preach against Nineveh. That is why he wants to flee to Tarshish. For this he finds a ship in Joppa ( ). But the LORD sends a heavy storm. The ship is in danger of perishing. Jonah is forced to acknowledge that the storm has risen because of him ( ). At the request of the crew, he indicates what needs to be done to stop the storm. When he is thrown into the sea, the sea becomes calm ( ). The LORD takes care of him further by sending a big fish that swallows him. This is not the first time that the word of the LORD comes to Jonah. He is no newcomer so to speak; he knew the voice of the LORD. As has already been said, he is a prophet in the time that Jeroboam II is or will soon be king. He has prophesied that lost territory of Israel will be recaptured ( ). He would have had no trouble bringing that message. That must have been a great pleasure to him. It was of course also for this Israelite in heart and soul an enormously beautiful prophecy that he was allowed to proclaim. With such a message you like to go to your peers. He will not have had the name of ‘prophet of doom’, as several of his fellow prophets must have had. How the word of the LORD comes to him now is not told. That is not strange, by the way. There are many prophets who do not mention this. Somehow Jonah has become aware that the LORD wants him to go to Nineveh to preach. Also today the Lord wants to make clear to each of His own what they should do, where they should go, what they should say. He speaks through the Word we have in our hands. If we read that prayerfully, we will hear what He tells us. Not only do we then understand in a general sense how He wants us to live. We will also hear His specific mission that He has for each of us personally. This is not done by hearing supernatural voices, it is not a vague, emotional affair. Whoever is truly and submissive focused on the Lord when reading His Word, will understandably and clearly hear from Him through His Word what He wants.

‏ Jonah 1:1-4

Introduction

Jonah is the fifth in the row of the twelve minor prophets. In the four chapters of his book, we get to know a prophet who values his own importance more than the importance of God.

But more than the prophet, we get to know the God of this prophet. Although Jonah is not obedient, God does not put him aside. Jonah gets a second chance from God. Jonah finally does what God has asked him to do, although still not wholeheartedly. His selfishness continues to prevail. Still God does not push Jonah aside, but teaches him new lessons.

We are allowed to listen, not as spectators, but as persons concerned, because Jonah is in all of us. The message that the book of the prophet Jonah contains for us is not only the content of his preaching to Nineveh, but also the patience of God with our unwillingness too, to do obediently what He tells us. In this book of the Bible God shares with us His considerations to make us willing witnesses to His Name.

Middelburg, March 2006 – revised in 2018 – translated 2020

Who was Jonah?

Of the ‘minor prophets’, Jonah is undoubtedly the best known. In addition to what we find out about him in this book, we read the following in 2 Kings: “He [King Jeroboam] restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher” (2Kgs 14:25). We can conclude from this that he acts as a prophet in Israel shortly before or during the reign of Jeroboam II (793-753 BC). Further we read here about him that he is a “servant” of the LORD God and “prophet”. The Lord Jesus also speaks of him as “Jonah the prophet” (Mt 12:39).

Most probably Jonah is the author of the book of the same name. Only he can tell about what is happening on the ship (Jonah 1), about his stay in the fish (Jonah 2), about his dissatisfaction and his expressions about it against God (Jonah 4).

His name means ‘dove’. He must go with a message that leads to peace – of which the dove is a symbol – to a city over which God’s judgment must come. But Jonah does not act according to his name. He does not seek the peace of the city. Why he doesn’t do that, we will see later.

The name of his father, Amittai, means ‘reliable’ or ‘the truth of the LORD’. Jonah does not honor that name either. He is not reliable as a servant of the LORD. He flees his mission. But no one can escape from God. God forces him to proclaim “the truth of the LORD” to Nineveh.

He comes from Gath-hepher in Zebulon (Jos 19:13), north of Nazareth in Galilee. The remark made by the enemies of the Lord Jesus, that no prophet arises from Galilee (Jh 7:52), is therefore clearly an error.

The book of Jonah, the target of Bible criticism

The great importance that the Jews attach to the book of Jonah is shown by the fact that they read this book during the Day of Atonement. Bible critics have always had a great interest in this book. But this interest is expressed in the many attacks that have been made on the book.

It has been claimed that Jonah never lived. Others have said that Jonah’s history is the product of an imaginative spirit or based on a legend. But, as someone has said, less faith is needed to accept this simple history than the many foolish assumptions made to deprive it of its supernatural character.

Every attack on the book is in fact an attack on the Lord Jesus, Who completely confirms the historicity of this book by referring to it. He does this twice (Mt 12:40-41 ; Mt 16:4). In the same way He refers to many more events in the Old Testament that are called into question, such as the creation of heaven and earth in six days of 24 hours, the institution of marriage, the flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.

To faith, both references by the Lord Jesus are sufficient to consider the book of Jonah as belonging to the inspired Scriptures. Anyone who does not believe, or argues away His reference to it and thus questions the authority of His statement about Jonah, brutally denies His Godhead. A compromise is not possible.

Jonah – James

The fact that the book of Jonah has a place in the Old Testament is just as special as the letter of James in the New Testament.

1. The Old Testament is especially dedicated to the history of God’s gracious intentions with Israel. Yet in the book of Jonah we find a history of God’s gracious dealings with Gentiles.

2. The New Testament unfolds God’s counsels for the church. Yet in the letter of James we find a letter which is addressed to the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad (Jam 1:1b), that is the whole people of Israel.

Through the book of Jonah we learn that, in the time when Israel is at the center of God’s dealings, God also has a heart full of compassion for the nations outside the chosen people. The book testifies that God is also the God of the Gentiles and not only of the Jews (Rom 3:29). It is the great missionary book of the Old Testament. As far as we know Jonah is the only prophet who has been sent to the Gentiles with a message especially for the Gentiles. From the letter of James we learn that although God now forms a totally new, heavenly people, the church, from the believers of Israel and the nations, He does not forget His old earthly people Israel.

The lesson of Jonah

This book uncovers the workings of the heart of a man who is a believer and also a servant of God. The reason Jonah does not want to go to Nineveh is not because he is afraid of the city, but because he knows God. In this book God’s heart is also exposed. But although Jonah knows God, he is not lined up with God’s thoughts. He does not share in God’s mercy. The thought of his own importance overshadows everything. Because he does not know God’s heart, he does not really know God.

The book gives us a lot of insight into the character and life of the much discussed and often despised prophet. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, he writes about himself in a way that man naturally does not. Without any excuse Jonah shows his own wrong mind and wrong behavior. Would anyone have ever published such an honest account as Jonah did? Everyone in the book obtains a status better off than Jonah.

Jonah is not just anyone. Just to him the Lord has entrusted His testimony. And it is precisely in this person with such a high calling that the very low character of human nature is exposed. That low character is that he wants to be important because of the important message he has to deliver. He only wants to carry out the task he receives if he can shine through it himself. As a result of this vainness and pride, he cannot accept the fact that God is showing grace to others.

Disciples of the Lord

People with an attitude like Jonah cannot accept God revealing His thoughts or Being through anyone else. They themselves have to do the things, they have to have the honor of it. All their thoughts about God are limited to their own viewpoint. That viewpoint is that the message is entrusted to them and nobody else.

The same attitude is found with a few disciples of the Lord Jesus (Lk 9:54). When they come with the Lord in a village of the Samaritans, they are refused! That cannot be the case. Fire must come down from heaven! That is the only appropriate response to this gross insult, they are convinced of. Well, they ask the Lord because of decency. But in the meantime they have given room to the natural feelings of their hearts.

It seems as if they stand up for the Lord, but essentially they want to take revenge for this treatment because they themselves feel rejected. And executing revenge is the revelation of power. In this way they want to show that they are important, that power lies with them and not with those who refuse to receive the Lord.

Jonah: That’s me

If we do not recognize anything of ourselves in Jonah and the disciples, there is no need to continue reading. Then this prophetical book contains no message for us. This book makes it clear that those who are connected with God Himself must submit to His power and bow to His grace. If that submission is not there, the awareness of God’s favor leads to unfaithfulness and self-glorification.

Just like Jonah, we are able to misuse the privileges God has given us to show off. If that happens, we ourselves are often blind to it. In that case, through our behavior we darken or hide the knowledge of Who God is in Himself. An additional effect of dealing in this way with the possession of these privileges is the rise of a harsh party spirit. Just look at the Pharisees as we see them in Scripture. Then we look in a mirror again. What do we see? Anyone who knows himself a little and is honest, will admit that he encounters or finds something of the Pharisee in his own heart too.

If we read on because we want to discover something of ourselves in Jonah, and in the disciples and in the Pharisees, we will make another great discovery. Above all, we will see God showing Himself in His grace, both for Nineveh, including children and animals, and for His straying servant Jonah. Then we can apply that to ourselves as well. The result will be that we praise God for His great grace in which He has taken care of us.

A prophetic book?

It may be surprising that there is no prophecy in the book. We could say there is only one prophecy, in Jonah 3 (Jona 3:4). And that one is pronounced, that it would not be fulfilled. The rest of the book describes the prophet’s attitude towards God and the way God goes with him.

Now the special thing about this book is that the story itself is prophecy. The story gives prophetic truths in historical form, in the form of events. The prophecy is depicted here. Jonah is a picture of Israel. An ancient orthodox Jew answered the question why Jonah is read every Day of Atonement in the synagogue: ‘We are Jonah.’ In the person Jonah the whole history of Israel is told.

The Lord Jesus applies what happens to Jonah to Himself in His death and resurrection (Mt 12:39-41). When He explains the sign of Jonah, He first points to His death (Mt 12:40), which He connects to Jonah’s stay in the fish. Then He points to his preaching and its consequence in Nineveh (Mt 12:41). The sign of Jonah about which the Lord speaks means that after His death and resurrection the preaching will go to the Gentiles. This is a serious reproach for those to whom the Lord speaks, but who do not listen to Him.

The Lord uses the history of Jonah in the fish and his subsequent preaching as a sign of what awaits the people of Israel. They will not listen to Him Who is more than Jonah. The men of Nineveh do listen to Jonah. In the judgment, the men of Nineveh will rise up to condemn the rebellious generation to whom the Lord Jesus came. Thus the Lord gives, in relation to what happened to Jonah, a prophetic message.

The second time the Lord Jesus refers to Jonah (Mt 16:4), He does so with the intention of showing His opponents that judgment was imminent. The sign of Jonah here means that Israel was about to be thrown into the sea of nations. Matthew adds meaningfully: “And he left them and went away.”

Jonah as a picture of Israel

Israel, like Jonah, was chosen by God to be His witness to the nations around them (Isa 43:10-12 ; Isa 44:8). But Israel has used the truth of God which it should have proclaimed for themselves. We like the truth of God when we can cloth ourselves with it, in order to increase our own importance. This was the case with Israel. The people of Israel were the vessel of God’s witness in the world and boasted in it because it clothed them with honor. For this reason they could not accept that grace was given to the Gentiles. Like Jonah, Israel was unwilling to carry out its task as a witness and was always disobedient (Jdg 2:11-19).

By fleeing, Jonah wants to escape the task of proclamation. He begrudges the great heathen world Divine mercy because he fears that the preaching of penance will save Nineveh from imminent destruction (Jona 4:2). That is precisely what he does not want. He wants those pagans to die. In this Jonah reflects the attitude of Israel toward the nations (1Thes 2:14-16).

But Jonah cannot be compared with a false prophet who prophesies from his own heart. Just as Jonah disappeared into the sea, so Israel is scattered among the nations. As a result, the nations have come to know God (Rom 11:11).

Jonah is miraculously kept in the fish. Thus God has kept Israel through all the ages and they will return to their land (Hos 3:5; Jer 30:11 ; Jer 31:35-37). Jonah had to learn that he is as dependent on the grace of God as Nineveh is. Israel must also learn this (Rom 11:32).

Division of the book

I The disobedient prophet (Jonah 1:1-2:10)

1. The flee (Jonah 1:1-3)

2. The storm (Jonah 1:4-6)

3. The responsibility of Jonah (Jonah 1:7-10)

4. Jonah rejected (Jonah 1:11-16)

5. The protection of Jonah (Jonah 1:17-2:1)

6. A psalm of thanksgiving (Jonah 2:2-9)

7. The liberation (Jonah 2:10)

II The aggrieved Prophet (Jonah 3:1-4:11)

1. The preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:1-4)

2. The conversion of Nineveh (Jonah 3:5-10)

3. Displeasure of Jonah (Jonah 4:1-4)

4. God reprimands Jonah (Jonah 4:5-9)

5. The Mercy of God (Jonah 4:10-11)

Introduction

Jonah wants to escape the LORD’s command to preach against Nineveh. That is why he wants to flee to Tarshish. For this he finds a ship in Joppa (Jona 1:1-3). But the LORD sends a heavy storm. The ship is in danger of perishing. Jonah is forced to acknowledge that the storm has risen because of him (Jona 1:4-10). At the request of the crew, he indicates what needs to be done to stop the storm. When he is thrown into the sea, the sea becomes calm (Jona 1:11-16). The LORD takes care of him further by sending a big fish that swallows him.

The LORD Speaks

This is not the first time that the word of the LORD comes to Jonah. He is no newcomer so to speak; he knew the voice of the LORD. As has already been said, he is a prophet in the time that Jeroboam II is or will soon be king. He has prophesied that lost territory of Israel will be recaptured (2Kgs 14:25).

He would have had no trouble bringing that message. That must have been a great pleasure to him. It was of course also for this Israelite in heart and soul an enormously beautiful prophecy that he was allowed to proclaim. With such a message you like to go to your peers. He will not have had the name of ‘prophet of doom’, as several of his fellow prophets must have had.

How the word of the LORD comes to him now is not told. That is not strange, by the way. There are many prophets who do not mention this. Somehow Jonah has become aware that the LORD wants him to go to Nineveh to preach.

Also today the Lord wants to make clear to each of His own what they should do, where they should go, what they should say. He speaks through the Word we have in our hands. If we read that prayerfully, we will hear what He tells us. Not only do we then understand in a general sense how He wants us to live. We will also hear His specific mission that He has for each of us personally. This is not done by hearing supernatural voices, it is not a vague, emotional affair. Whoever is truly and submissive focused on the Lord when reading His Word, will understandably and clearly hear from Him through His Word what He wants.

The Command

The command Jonah is now given is different from the one we read about in 2 Kings 14 (2Kgs 14:25). This time it is not a message that a person likes to take with him to the streets, it is not a message that people are waiting for and that makes the preacher an appreciated man. He must now preach doom.

That would not be pleasant if it he had to go to his own people. But he is not sent to his own people. He must go to Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire. That is an ancient city. It is first mentioned in Genesis 10 (Gen 10:11). Sennacherib made the city the capital. The Medes and Persians destroyed her in 612 BC.

The fact that Jonah has to go there is certainly unique. It has not happened before, at least according to what we read in Scripture, that a prophet with a message from God has been sent to the Gentiles. But it is not for a servant of God to determine the place of his service, nor what he should preach.

The LORD makes him a partner in His motives, in order to send him to Nineveh. He tells Jonah that the wickedness of the city has come up before Him in heaven (cf. Gen 18:21; 1Sam 5:12). The good is completely missing in there. The city is corrupted through and through. For Nineveh, there is nothing left but judgment.

It is a great city because there are so many inhabitants. It is also a city with enormous wealth (Nah 2:9). The number of inhabitants and the great wealth ensure that also its power and influence on the empire, of which it is the capital, is great. Large in size is the evil of its many inhabitants who live in revolt against God. God can no longer bear it. Judgment must be announced.

Jonah Flees

Jonah does not like his task. This is not in itself a shocking or new phenomenon. Moses also had his objections when God called him (Exo 3:10-14 ; Exo 4:1-17) and also Gideon did not jump for joy when God called him (Jdg 6:11-24). But there were other things present with them than with Jonah.

Servants of the LORD, prophets, are not machines. They can resist the will of God. With Moses and Gideon it was a feeling of inability. They did not feel able to carry out the great task they were given. In Jonah’s case, it is clear unwillingness, based on pride. This gives Jonah the doubtful honor of being the only prophet who pertinently disobeys God, a prophet who simply refuses to follow His command.

The LORD could have stopped Jonah. Yet He lets him go, but without losing sight of him. He lets him go, as far as He finds necessary. Whoever leaves the way of obedience inevitably also leaves the presence of the Lord. Not that the Lord no longer exists for such a person, but the heart loses consciousness of His presence. Of course, it cannot be else. The Lord never goes along on a path of unfaithfulness.

Jonah’s aim is certain. He doesn’t go to Nineveh, but completely in the other direction, to Tarshish. It is not exactly clear where Tarshish was located. It is believed to be in Spain, in the west, while Nineveh was in the east. Why he wants exactly to go to Tarshish, is not mentioned.

He “found a ship”, as we read. This indicates that he has consciously worked in his search for a means that could bring him to his willfully chosen goal. He must have seen it as a confirmation that in Joppa – that is the present Jaffa, which in the New Testament is called Joppa (Acts 9:36 ; 43) –, he finds a ship that is about to leave for Tarshish. He has, so to speak, the wind behind, the circumstances are favorable.

Such ‘pieces of luck’ give a person who stubbornly plans to map out his own way, while he is against the Lord’s will, a wonderful feeling. We are all masters in justifying a self-willed way of doing things that we know go against the Word of God by lucky circumstances. This camouflages our disobedience to the Word of God. The fact that circumstances seem positive while on a path of disobedience is never proof of the Lord’s blessing.

The road of Jonah is the road down. He goes down to Joppa and he goes down into the ship (Jona 1:5) and later he goes down even deeper into the sea (Jona 2:6). Joppa is said to mean ‘beauty’ or ‘submission’. ‘Beauty’ seems to be a suitable starting point, but it leads to ‘submission’, bondage. The ship that leaves there will take you while you sleep to your destination, if God does not intervene. That easy do you get out of the Lord’s presence.

The leaving of the presence of the LORD is a conscious act and therefore sin. It places Jonah in the dark company of Cain, who also left the presence of the LORD (Gen 4:16).

Maybe we shouldn’t think that Jonah wanted to hide from God. Presumably, he knew Psalm 139 well, so he knew that this was impossible (Psa 139:1-12). But on someone who consciously disobeys, the Word of God loses its powerful impact. Jonah did not want to do what God had told him to do. Therefore he left the land where God dwells. “Away from the presence of the LORD” also means “away from the land of the LORD”.

Jonah does not flee out of fear for difficulties he would face during his service, but because he is afraid that the LORD is showing grace to the city of Nineveh. As a Jew, he begrudges grace to the Gentiles. This begrudging of grace to the Gentiles we regularly encounter in the Gospels and in the book of Acts. The Pharisees become furious when the Lord Jesus in His parables refers to grace for the Gentiles (Mt 21:33-46). The Jews become furious when Paul speaks about it (Acts 22:17-22).

But it is not only the unbelieving Pharisees and Jews who show their displeasure when there is talk of grace for the Gentiles. It took effort for the Lord Jesus to convince Peter to go to a heathen (Acts 10:1-16). Fortunately, Peter was persuaded and fulfilled the calling (Acts 10:17-23). But the background is always the same: if Gentiles would accept salvation, it would have been the end of the privileged position of Israel, to whom the LORD had, according to their conviction, revealed Himself exclusively.

As a Jew, Jonah cannot bear to see a pagan city so favored in this way and share in the mercy and salvation of God. As a prophet he can’t bear that his word doesn’t come true and that even before the eyes of these uncircumcised people. He must preach that God will turn the city upside down after forty days. But that will not happen if they repent. Jonah knows that. But he does not want to be seen as a false prophet. That will be the case if the city repents. His words will not come true. The city will not be turned upside down even though he preached it.

In 2 Kings 14, Jonah was chosen as the messenger to make known the mercy of God in the days when Israel sighed under the terrible yoke of the enemy (2Kgs 14:25). He was then the bringer of good news for his people. He liked to do that. But in his pride, he cannot accept a task intended only for the nations, through which they also will share in the mercy of God. For he knows that God is merciful (Jona 4:2).

Jonah pays the price for the crossing. There is always a price tag attached to the road that leads away from God. The price is the loss of self-respect, the robbery of God’s presence and the violation of conscience. Nevertheless, the full price is paid. But if we have paid for everything and lost everything, we will not succeed in achieving our goal. We are thrown out of our own chosen ship into the ocean.

Then God brings us back ashore at His expense and in a ship of His making. The morning of departure can look sunny and beautiful, there is no cloud in the sky. But God can send a storm after the runaway to bring him back to Himself.

The LORD Intervenes

Of course, the LORD could have encountered Jonah earlier on. But He lets Jonah go as far as He deems right. It doesn’t get out of His hand. He never loses control of a case He has begun. He has given Jonah a task and He wants Jonah to carry it out.

The beginning of the journey must have been very smooth. So smooth, that the gentle swaying of the ship has swayed Jonah asleep. Then it is God’s time to intervene. He knows exactly when to intervene. He also has the appropriate means to do so. God sends an obedient servant to follow His disobedient servant. That obedient servant is the wind. From His treasuries God sends this servant in favor of His runaway servant (Psa 135:7c; Pro 30:4).

At first sight, a storm does not seem to be favorable. The ship is in danger of being broken up. Jonah and the other persons on board face destruction. But if God uses a storm in the life of His own, we can be sure that the storm will not get out of His hand and that it is a blessing.

It is the grace of God Who seeks His servant and does not let him go in a way of sin for a long time. Sin always brings storms to a person’s life or family or to the church; sin never brings rest. It is beneficial to recognize in these storms the call of God by which He wants to awaken us, so that we may do His will again.