Now the word of the LORD came to 1aJonah the son of Amittai, saying,Jonah, the only prophet known to attempt to run away from a divinely appointed mission, lived during the time when Jeroboam II ruled Israel (the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom). He was from the town of Gath-Hepher in Galilee.2 Kin 14:25; Matt 12:39-41; 16:4; Luke 11:29, 30, 32 2 “Go to 1aNineveh, that great city, and bproclaim judgment against it, for their cwickedness has come up before Me.” Gen 10:11, 12The city of Nineveh was the magnificent capital of the Assyrian Empire. The great palace of Sennacherib was without rival and contained seventy or more rooms. The city was home to more than 120,000 residents (at least twice the size of Babylon) and had no less than fifteen gates in the wall surrounding the city. During this period of time it was probably the largest city in the known world. Built near the juncture of the Tigris River and its tributary the Khoser, it was served by an elaborate water system of eighteen canals. Nineveh had many suburbs, three are mentioned along with Nineveh in Gen 10:11, 12. Nineveh’s extensive ruins are located near the modern city of Mosul, Iraq.Gen 10:11; 2 Kin 19:36; Is 37:37; Nah 1:1; Zeph 2:13Is 58:1Gen 18:20; Hos 7:2 3 But Jonah ran away to aTarshish to escape bfrom the presence of the LORD and his duty as His prophet. He went down to 1cJoppa and found a ship going to 2Tarshish the most remote of the Phoenician trading cities. So he paid the fare and went down into the ship to go with them to Tarshish away from the presence of the LORD. Gen 4:16; Job 1:12; 2:7The natural harbor of the city of Joppa (modern Jaffa, Israel) has been in use since the Bronze Age. It was the port of entry for the cedars of Lebanon for Solomon’s temple (2 Chr 2:16), and again for the second temple of Jerusalem (Ezra 3:7). It is located just south of Tel Aviv.Possibly Tartessos in southwest Spain.Is 23:1, 6, 10; Jer 10:9Gen 4:16; Ps 139:7, 9, 10Josh 19:46; 2 Chr 2:16; Ezra 3:7; Acts 9:36, 43
4 But the aLORD hurled a great wind toward the sea, and there was a violent tempest on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. Ps 107:23-27Ps 107:23-28; 135:6, 7 5 Then the sailors were afraid, and each man cried out to ahis god; and to lighten the ship and diminish the danger they bthrew the ship’s cargo into the sea. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship and had lain down and was sound asleep.1 Kin 18:26Acts 27:18, 19, 38 6 So the captain came up to him and said, “How can you stay asleep? Get up! aCall on your god! Perhaps your bgod will give a thought to us so that we will not perish.”Ps 107:282 Sam 12:22; Amos 5:15; Jon 3:9
7 And they said to another, “Come, 1let us acast lots, so we may learn who is to blame for this disaster.” So they cast lots and the blot fell on Jonah.To these sailors, who undoubtedly believed in their own pagan gods, the casting of lots was a way to allow the gods to express themselves since only they could control how a lot fell. In this case, it is possible that God intervened to identify Jonah as the guilty party.Josh 7:14-18; 1 Sam 10:20, 21; 14:41, 42; Acts 1:23-26Num 32:23; Prov 16:33 8 Then they said to him, “aNow tell us! 1Who is to blame for this disaster? What is your boccupation? Where do you come from? What is your country?”The questions asked indicate that the sailors were afraid of Jonah even before he confessed his worship of the LORD (v 9). The lot had already confirmed that he was responsible, but instead of acting on that they gave him the option of blaming someone else. The other questions are typical of what one would ask any stranger.Josh 7:19; 1 Sam 14:43Gen 47:3; 1 Sam 30:13 9 So he said to them, “I am a aHebrew, and I reverently bfear and worship the LORD, the cGod of heaven, 1who dmade the sea and the dry land.”This was an important addition to Jonah’s description of God, because most people who believed in pagan gods had different deities for different regions of the created world, and often they also worshiped deities of their own localities. Jonah was affirming that there is only one true God.Gen 14:13; Ex 1:15; 2:132 Kin 17:25, 28, 32, 33Ezra 1:2; Neh 1:4; Ps 136:26; Dan 2:18Neh 9:6; Ps 95:5; 146:6
10 Then the men became extremely frightened and said to him, “How could you do this?” For the men knew that he was arunning from the presence of the LORD, 1because he had told them.Jonah probably had informed them when he first boarded (cf v 3) but they may not have taken him seriously, or perhaps they were just indifferent to his reason for the voyage. Now that they were in mortal danger, they believed him.Job 27:22; Jon 1:3 11 Then they said to him, “What should we do to you, so that the sea will become calm for us?”—for the sea was becoming more and more violent. 12 Jonah said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that it is abecause of me that this great storm has come upon you.”2 Sam 24:17; 1 Chr 21:17 13 Nevertheless, the men rowed hard breaking through the waves to return to land, but they could not, because the sea became even more violent surging higher against them. 14 Then they called on the aLORD and said, “Please, O LORD, do not let us perish because of taking this man’s life, and do not make us accountable for innocent blood; for bYou, O LORD, have done as You pleased.”Ps 107:28; Jon 1:16Ps 115:3; 135:6; Dan 4:34, 35
15 So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea astopped its raging.Ps 65:7; 93:3, 4; 107:29 16 Then the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made avows.Ps 50:14; 66:13, 14
17 Now the LORD had prepared a great 1fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the astomach of the fish 2three days and three nights. Matt 12:40The ancient Hebrew term “fish” did not make a distinction between fish and marine mammals. There are no marine creatures known today which would be capable of swallowing a man, either because of their anatomy or because of their observed behavior. It is possible that the creature that swallowed Jonah has long since been extinct, or even that it was uniquely created by God for this one purpose.Jesus cited Jonah’s experience as a sign of His resurrection (Matt 12:40).Matt 12:40; 16:4