Perhaps the most well-known of all the prophets is Jonah the man swallowed by the fish. Proverbs, songs, and stories have popularized Jonah and made his name a common household word wherever the Scriptures have gone.
About the Man
Jonah preached during the reign of Jeroboam II, king of northern Israel. Jeroboam's reign began in 782 B.C. The prophet's home was in Gath-hepher in the district of Zebulon in northern Israel (II Kings 14:25). This was just a few miles northeast of present day Nazareth. The record tells us his father was Amittai (1:1). Thus he would have been known as Jonah ben Amittai. An unproved Jewish legend says he was the son of the widow of Zarephath whom Elijah restored to life (Compare I Kings 17:17-24). His name "Jonah," meant "dove" in the Hebrew; a name strangely inappropriate for a man of his hostile temperament.
As a preacher, Jonah was powerful and successful especially in bringing men to repentance. But his greatness as a preacher was marred by his stubborn, strong will and his refusal to yield even to God. He was a fierce patriot who would rather die than be found lending aid or comfort to the enemies of his nation. In him we see revealed the worst degree of narrow Jewish exclusivism towards Gentiles.
Jonah was not the only preacher in Israel in that day. Amos and Hosea both served along with him in the Northern Kingdom, while Isaiah and Micah served in the South a little later.
There were several unique things about Jonah. He was the only one of the minor prophets who preached to a foreign nation on foreign soil. Likewise he was the only Old Testament personage reported to have traveled the Mediterranean. Of the twelve minor prophets he alone was involved in the miraculous in a substantial way. He was the only Old Testament character to which the Lord Jesus likened himself (Matt. 12:38-41). Jonah has the distinction of being the only preacher in recorded history who hoped he would fail.
The Times
The eighth century B. C. was a perilous time for the little nations of the Middle East. Mighty Assyria was the aggressor nation of day. She was an expansionist nation, willing to use aggression against weaker nations in order to expand her boundaries. Her warrior kings were casting lustful eyes toward the strategic land of Israel. Following the death of Jeroboam II, King, Menahem and the Israelites become tributaries to Pul, King of Assyria (II Kings 15:19).
The Assyrians used terror to intimidate and gain control over their neighbors. The program of King Ashur-nasir-pal II was typical. "His usual procedure after the capture of a hostile city was to burn it, and then to mutilate all the grown male prisoners by cutting off their hands and ears and putting out their eyes; after which they were piled in a great heap to perish in torture from sun, flies, their wounds and suffocation; the children both boys and girls, were all burned alive at the stake and the chief (ruler) was carried off to Assyria to be flayed (skinned ) alive for the king's delectation." (Hall's Ancient History of the Near East, p 445).
Nineveh
This great city was situated on the Tigris River, 250 miles north of Babylon, some 500 miles east of Jonah's home. She was highly fortified with five walls and three moats surrounding her. Her chief wall was 100 feet high with the top broad enough for four chariots to race around abreast. Her administrative district is thought to have been between 30 and 60 miles in diameter. Some 216 square miles were enclosed within her walls. The population in Jonah's day is estimated to have been 600-650,000 since there were 123,000 who could not discern their right hand from their left (Jonah 4:11). The center piece of the city was a grand temple built as a pyramid. Her library was said to contain some 10,000 tablets in 860 B. C.
King Ada-Nirari III ruled Nineveh from 810-783 B.C. The Urartu nation threatened Nineveh in Jonah's day. National repentance helped them survive the Urartu threat but soon they reverted to their wicked ways and in 612 A. D. God delivered the mistress of the world into the hands of Babylonians, Medes, and Scythians. So great was her overthrow that three hundred years later Alexander's Macedonian troops searched for but could not find a trace of her ruins. In fact some skeptical historians doubted there had ever been an actual Nineveh until archeologists unearthed her ruins in the nineteenth century. Today, thanks to their labors, we know a great deal about this illustrious city. No trace however of Jonah's work has been found in the Assyrian record.
About the Book
The author is not named. It is written from the view of a third person about Jonah's trials and labors. Ancient Jewish tradition ascribed it to Jonah himself, as do most contemporary conservative scholars. It was likely written following his experience, thus the date would be somewhere between 780-750 B.C. Liberal scholars prefer to date it 430-400 B.C.
Purposes
At least three purposes are easily discerned in studying Jonah.
1.) It declares God's great love for all men; Gentiles as well as Hebrews, and his desire that all be saved.
2.) It illustrates God's providential concern for all nations of the world, while rebuking the narrow intolerance of the Hebrews who thought God only cared for them.
3.) From Jesus we learn that it typified his coming and that he like Jonah would spend three days and nights in the tomb for the benefit of mankind (Matt. 12:40-41).
Jonah and the New Testament
The book has no specific Messianic promise. However, the prophet's experience with the fish was typical of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection (Matt. 12:40). The repentance of the Ninevites is cited as a condemnation of those who do not repent at the call of Christ (Matt. 12:41). The proud Pharisees in rejecting Jesus because of his Galilean background, overlooked the fact that Jonah had also come from Galilee (John 7:52).
Interesting Facts About the Book
Of the Minor Prophets, only Jonah is written in narrative form. It contains no specific predictive lessons about Israel's future or Messiah's kingdom. Jonah's powerful sermon that brought the world's mightiest nation to her knees is recorded in only eight words. Rather a history of the prophet and his ministry, this book should be styled a spiritual biography. The Jews read Jonah in their synagogues annually on the Day of Atonement.
Jonah and the Liberal Scholars
The historical truth and factuality of the book of Jonah was never questioned in Jewish Rabbinic tradition. Even Philo of Alexandria, the great allegorist, treated it as factual. It's no secret that modern liberal scholarship uniformly denies the miraculous story of Jonah. We should be reminded that "the denials of book's historicity was in the first place the results of the dominant rationalistic view of the world, in which there was no room for miracles or for divine interference in things physical" (H. L. Ellison). The testimony of Jesus in Matthew 12:40-41 fully satisfies us as to the factuality of Jonah's record. "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Those wishing to see a good defense of Jonah's record should see Gleason Archer's Survey of Old Testament Introduction. Jonah has rightly been called "the textbook of the Bible." It challenges our faith and our response reveals our attitude toward God. Whether one can believe the record of Jonah with its miracles depends on whether he spells the name of his God with a large or a small "g"!
Five Approaches to Interpretation
Perhaps here would be the best time to notice the varied attempts of men to explain the book.
Fictional. Some modernists view it as simply a religious novel, thus none of the strange events should be considered as actual history.
Parabolic. Others understand the book to be an imaginary story to illustrate a spiritual lesson to the Jews. Typical of this view, would be the approach that sees Jonah as the Jewish nation, the Babylonian Captivity as the fish's belly, the restoration as the prophet's expulsion, the mission to Nineveh as the Jews' mission to the Gentile world.
Symbolic. In this approach no specific application is offered. Each interpreter is left free to assert his own application so long as it rejects the historicity of the story.
Mythical. Some liberals have treated Jonah's story just as we would the myths of the Greeks and Romans.
Historical. With faithful believers over the ages, we accept Jonah as a historical record of what actually happened to the prophet. Since Jesus put his stamp of approval on this understanding we are on safe ground.
Supernatural Events in Jonah
The average person tends to think only of the miracle of the fish swallowing Jonah, but this is only one of several divine acts in the record. All of the following were the result of God's action:
1.) The sudden storm that threatened the ship wherein the prophet was (1:4).
2.) The lot which identified Jonah as the cause of their misery (1:7).
3). The immediate stilling of the storm when Jonah was cast overboard (1:15).
4.) The great fish which swallowed Jonah (1:17).
5.) The prophet's preservation in the fish's belly (2: 17)
6). The expelling of Jonah on the coast rather than in the depths of the sea (2:10).
7). The vine that grew up over night to shade Jonah (4:6).
8). The worm that destroyed the vine (4:6).
9). The sultry east wind that tormented the prophet (4:8).
The Fish that Swallowed Jonah
The Hebrew word is dag; the Greek is ketos. The meaning is, a monster of undefined fish-species. Our English translators gave us the word "whale" probably because it was the largest creature of the sea they knew to be capable of swallowing a man. Skeptics have ridiculed Jonah's story as a "fish tale." The facts show that such an event could easily happen. The great white shark inhabits the Mediterranean. This creature grows up to 70 feet in length and up to 50,000 lbs. in weight. Cases have been documented of these sharks with throats 12 feet wide. Specimens have been taken with men, horses, sea-calves and reindeer in their stomachs, swallowed whole. A white shark was taken off of Knight's Key in Florida in 1912. It weighted 30,000 lbs. and was 45 feet long. In its stomach was a 1500 lb. black-fish. This monster was displayed by the Smithsonian Institute.
James Bartly fell overboard and was swallowed by a large sperm whale in 1891, near the Falkland Islands. The whaling ship, Star of the East, captured the whale the following day. Bartly was found alive an fully recovered. The story was carefully researched and verified by M. deParville, scientific editor of the Journal des Debats, Paris, France.
A white shark swallowed a man in the English Channel. Forty-eight hours later the shark was killed and the man found unconscious but alive. Harry Rimmer reports an interview with the victim. (See Harmony of Science and Scripture by Rimmer p. 188-189).
Why should we doubt God's ability to prepare a sea-monster capable of swallowing and accommodating a man for three days. Even men have made sea monsters able to host 125 or more men for up to 90 days beneath the seas and then to deliver them alive on dry ground. We call them submarines!
Exposition
As we study this short record of Jonah the Runaway Prophet we will see him:
Running away from God in chapter 1;
Running back to God in chapter 2;
Running with God in chapter 3 and;
Running ahead of God in chapter 4.
Chapter I - Running Away From God
The prophet heard God say "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me" (1:2). He responded by going down to Joppa and booking passage on a ship bound for Tarshish, hoping to flee "from the presence of Jehovah" (1:3). Nineveh was 500 miles east of Galilee. Tarshish, in Spain, was at the opposite end of his world, some 2,000 miles away.
Running away from an omnipresent God is an impossible task. Two hundred years earlier David had written"
"Whether shall I go from the Spirit?
Or whether shall I flee from they presence?
If I ascend up into heaven thou are there:
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold thou art there.
If I take the wings of morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there shall thy hand lead me……" (Ps. 139:7-9).
It is not unusual for the man who runs away from God to run into a storm. And so:
"Jehovah sent out a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest so that the ship was like to be broken" (1:4).How can one resist the mighty Jehovah "who maketh the winds his messengers" (Ps. 108:4) and when "Stormy wind" fulfill his word (Ps. 148:8).
So great was the danger that the heathen "mariners were afraid and cried everyone to his god" (1:5). But Jonah had repudiated his claim on his God. The poor pagans had to urge the Hebrew prophet to call on his God for salvation (1:6). How embarrassing!
As was common in those days, they cast lots hoping to determine who was to blame for their distress. "And the lot fell on Jonah" (1:7). Solomon had noted that "The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing there-of is of Jehovah" (Prov. 16:33).
The fear-stricken sailors began to press their passenger, "For whose cause this evil is upon us; what is thine occupation? And whence comest thou? What is thy country? And of what people art thou?" (1:8).
Red-faced and humiliated the derelict man of God confessed in muffled tones: "I am a Hebrew; and I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land." (1:9).
To this they replied, "What is this that thou hast done?" (1:10).
When they asked what would he advise for their preservation, he thought of only one thing: "Take me up and cast me into the sea" (1:12). With his misconception of God as a stern Lawgiver and Judge who wanted all sinners destroyed, what else could he hope for himself?
The heathen mariners were more humane than God's prophet. Rather than sacrifice Jonah to the angry sea, "the men rowed hard to get them back to the land" (1:13). He would have let them perish in God's wrath just as he would allow the Ninevites to be destroyed. They risked their lives and labored mightily to save their Hebrew passenger. Finally it was obvious that they could not win against the elements and no option was left but to dump the offending prophet. Even then "they cried unto Jehovah, "let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood" (1:14).
To their amazement " the sea ceased from its raging." The trembling sailors "offered a sacrifice unto Jehovah and made vows" (1:16). It is remarkable that these benighted heathen showed more respect and reverence for the Lord than did his own prophet. This is surely one of the great lessons of Jonah, that honest men will worship Jehovah if only his children will share their knowledge with them!
"And Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights (1:17).
Having already discussed the possibility of there being a fish of such size as to swallow down a man whole, we will only observe that the God who "created the great sea-monster" (Gen. 1:21), would surely have no difficulty in appointing one of them to house Jonah for three days. If you spell your God's name with a capital "g" you will have no problem with this fact however, if you spell yours with a "g" I can understand your problem.
Chapter II - Running to God
When the prophet came to his senses he was in an awful situation. It was totally dark, hot and steamy. The air was foul with contents of the fish's stomach. Surely he was obsessed with thoughts of death. How could he escape such a chamber? There was nothing to do but pray. And pray he did and that mightily. As never before, he saw his undone condition and he prayed for all he was worth. "Then Jonah prayed unto Jehovah his God out of the fish's belly… When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Jehovah; ……" (2:1,7). No only did he pray for forgiveness and deliverance, he made a sacred vow to obey God in whatever he asked (1:9).
The key of chapter two is "Salvation is of Jehovah" (2:9). Jonah knew that his only hope of salvation was God's intervention on his behalf. And slowly it began to dawn on him that the same merciful God who might be moved to save a disobedient Hebrew prophet just might be willing to save a repentant Nineveh.
"And Jehovah spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land (2:10). I imagine the poor fellow lying there on the beach the slime of the fish's belly covering him, the water lapping about him, totally exhausted from his harrowing experience. Yet he was so thankful to be alive that he was ready to run in obedience to any command from the Lord.
Chapter III, The Prophet Running With God
"And the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah the second time, saying, arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee" (3:1-2). It was the same voice he had heard before but this time the prophet saw things from a different perspective.
"So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah" (3:3). No more running away, God is not to be trifled with. He must be obeyed.
The Sermon that Saved a Nation
"And Jonah…..cried and said, Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown" (3:4). We have here only a summary of Jonah's great lesson but the response of the people demonstrates how effective it was. He spoke of the great Jehovah against whom they had sinned - for they "believed God" as a result of it (3:5). He spoke of judgment for sin for he warned "Nineveh shall be overthrown" (3:4) He preached repentance "for they repented at the preaching of Jonah" (Matt. 12:41).
"And the people of Nineveh believed God and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. And the king…. laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he made proclamation…..saying, let neither man nor beast, herd, nor flock taste anything' …. and let them cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn every one from his evil ways, and from the violence that is in his hands, who knoweth whether God will not turn and repent, and turn away his fierce anger, that we perish not" (3:5-9).
Oh the power of the word of God, boldly proclaimed by a faithful preacher! Like Micah he was "full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah, and of judgment, and of might," to declare unto Assyria his transgression, and to Nineveh his sin (Micah 3:8). Then as now, "it was God's good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching that saved them that believe" (I Cor. 1:21). How many cities could be saved in our day if we had Jonahs to go and preach God's message unto them. How many millions of precious souls would gladly heed the Master's call if they could but hear it. "What the world needs most" is not "love sweet love," but God's sweet truth faithfully proclaimed from every house top and on every corner. The tragedy of our age is that many of the sermons preached from our pulpits have absolutely nothing to do with the salvation of man. As useful as lessons on social graces, friendship, parenting and self esteem may be, they will not snatch even one soul from the fires of hell (Jude 23) only the gospel of salvation will do that. Never was there a greater need to hear it than today!
"And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil which he said he would to unto them; and he did it not." (3:10). All of God's warnings of judgment are conditional. Through Jeremiah he said; "At what instant shall I speak concerning a nation…if that turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them" (Jer. 18:7-8). This tells us there is hope for our nation's future. If the people can be brought to repentance, God will yet spare us.
Chapter IV - Running Ahead of God
This is surely one of the strangest chapters in the Bible. Jonah is the only preacher in recorded history who wanted to fail! When he saw the people contrite and penitent and when he knew God's plan to forgive and spare them: "it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry." (4:1).
Finally it all came out. He didn't want the Ninevites to be saved. He wanted them destroyed one and all! They were his nations' chief enemy. How could he face the folks back home if he had been the instrument to preserve the cursed Ninevites. Oh the shame and humiliation it would bring.
"O Jehovah, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live."
Simply said, he would rather be dead than to face his fellow Hebrews under these circumstances.
"Then Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city" (4:5). No doubt he was hoping that God would change his mind and turn loose his fury on them.
The Episode of the Vine
Nineveh sat on the edge of the desert. Irrigation from the rivers made her habitable. The hot burning sun slowly baked the stubborn prophet, making his life miserable.
"And Jehovah God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head to deliver him from his evil case" (4:6). We can imagine the joy Jonah felt as the leafy vine spread its refreshing shadow over him. Thank God for gourd vines, he no doubt prayed.
"But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered" (4:7). Just when he was getting a little relief, the sorry thing died on him! We can see his disgust.
"And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die" (4:8).
He was angry, frustrated and upset about the loss of his gourd vine. Never mind the hundreds of thousands of Ninevites who were there before his eyes; let them perish but not his vine! As the worm ate the heart of the vine, so selfishness ate at the heart of Jonah. While we stand amazed at his ruthless selfishness and calloused indifference we should look at ourselves in the mirror of God's word. A world of 7 ½ billion souls is marching a straight path to judgment and we fret about our gourd vines, our houses, our careers our cars, our entertainment and our toys.
"And Jehovah said, Thou hast regard for the gourd, for which thou hast not labored, neither madest it to grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night; and should not I have regard for Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?" (4:10-11). I can see the pouting prophet melting with burning shame under the divine rebuke. How wrong he had been. How narrow was his view of God's grace. How selfish his thoughts. I like to think that he hung his head and cried out, "God, be thou merciful to me a sinner" (Luke. 18:13).
Lessons to Remember
Men have looked so long and hard at the great fish of Jonah that they have failed to see the God who made the fish and the purpose of the book.
Jonah learned that it is impossible to run away from God.
The path of self-will always leads to disaster.
It is tragic to face the storms of life without God.
We see the necessity of obedience to God's commands, no matter how distasteful.
God had sent numerous prophets to the Hebrews yet they had not repented. He sent one prophet to the heathen Ninevites and they repented en masse.
Jonah's experience impressed upon Israel the fact that God's blessings were not for them alone; they were to be shared with all nations.
We see in this record the evil and danger of a false, narrow patriotism such as possessed Jonah. Such bigotry towards other nations has always been contrary to God's will.
No man can be a true herald of God's righteousness who is not also a herald of his mercy.
Even today too many preachers are like Jonah, in that they are afraid of God's grace.
The penitent sinner will condemn the nominal professor of Christianity. "The men of Nineveh shall stand up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching Jonah; and behold, a greater than Jonah is here" (Matt. 12:41).
Conclusion
Having surveyed this remarkable book we can agree with Charles Reade that "it is the most beautiful story ever written in so small a compass."
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Chappell, Clovis, G. And the Prophets. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1976
Harrell, Costen J. The Prophets of Israel. Nashville, TN.: Cokesbury Press, 1933
Lewis, Jack P. The Minor Prophets. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House 1966
Morgan, G. Campbell. The Minor Prophets, The Men and Their Messages. Old Tappan
NJ: Fleming H. Revell Co. 1960.
Paterson, John. The Goodly Fellowship of the Prophets. New York, NY: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 1948.
Rimmer, Harry. The Harmony of Science and Scripture. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B.
Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1936
Robinson, George L. The Twelve Minor Prophets. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book
House, 1957.
Waddey, John. An Outlined Introduction to the Old Testament. Vol. 2, n.p., n.d.
Yates, Kyle M. Preaching From the Prophets. Nashville, TN.: Broadman Press, 1942.
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