Another Bible Commentary: Jonah

The name Jonah means “dove”; see Genesis 8:12 for such a bird signifying the end of judgment. This prophet, a historical person, was mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25. He worked from around 793 to 753 BC, give or take. Like Christ, Jonah “died” to save others and lived again. The “moisture plus salvation and new beginnings” riff is present again. The one verse of prophetic content is found in Jonah 3:4. Elisha also prophesied to Gentiles in 2 Kings 8:7-15; Jonah’s calling was not unique. Moses and Jeremiah also resisted their callings at first. See Ezekiel 18:23 and Jeremiah 18:5-10. God’s not surprised; He could “change” His plan in response to their actions in the days of the Old Covenant. Jonah knew God to be merciful because of what He did for Israel under Jeroboam II undeservedly in 2 Kings 14. To prepare Jonah, God prepared a fish, a plant, a worm, and a wind in the days of delivery ravens (1 Kings 17:4-6) and disciplinary bears (2 Kings 2:23-25); his story fits right in.

1:1 Sounds like Elijah’s story (1 Kings 17:2,8 and 1 Kings 21:17,28); so far, so good.

1:2 Sounds like 1 Kings 17:9. This would have been at least a 600 mile trip from Samaria depending on the route. Mosul, Iraq is across the Tigris from the site of Nineveh (which was leveled by a coalition in 612 BC). Nineveh was known for oppression, torture, impalement, amputations, mutilation, flaying alive, etc.

1:3 “Tarshish” was west when God said to go east. It conveys going about as far away from Jonah’s calling as he could get. Candidates for “Tarshish” include Tartessus in Spain, Carthage (per the Septuagint), Sardinia, “open sea”, etc. Everyone but Jonah obeys in this book. See Psalm 139:1-12. As we will see later, Jonah knew his Psalms, so he should have known that resistance was futile. His story can be seen as a parody or comedic version of similar prophets of his era. Based on Ezekiel 27:25-26, Psalm 48:7, and the “ships of Tarshish” phrasing in some manuscripts of 1 Kings 22:48 and 2 Chronicles 20:35-37, the original hearers were likely thinking “Bring on the water! We know what it’s about!” like Steve Harvey watching Titanic.

1:4-5 See also Matthew 8:23-27 and Mark 4:35-41. Jesus slept because He knew the ending. This is different. Elijah looked for God in the storm and found the still, small voice (1 Kings 19:11-12) while Jonah densely slept through his weather wake-up call. Compare with 1 Kings 19. Elijah ran and got tired, but then wearied himself going toward God at Horeb. Jonah just got tired running away.

1:15 Those who sacrificed Jonah were spared, like how we killed Jesus with our sins.

1:16 These Gentiles who had each cried out to his own god in verse 5 all got on the Noahide bus thanks to Jonah’s shirking of his prophetic call. God is seeking everyone (Acts 10:34-35), and Jonah was fulfilling his calling in spite of himself. For the Christian, good deeds can be like stumbling into bowling pins (Ephesians 2:10).

1:17 “three days and three nights” like Jesus in the tomb. The Sign of Jonah (Matthew 12:38-42, Luke 11:29-32) was mentioned by Jesus. “Nineveh” means “Place of Fish”, so this had to happen, narratively speaking. Elijah was fed by ravens (1 Kings 17:4-6); Jonah was eaten by a fish. Elisha’s bears (2 Kings 2:23-25) were a covenant curse from Leviticus 26:22, so a megalodon is an amplified version of that. In the grander scheme, Israel/Judah ran from the calling to be a priestly kingdom to introduce the nations to God (Exodus 19:5-6 and Genesis 12:3), and they got exiled and returned to their land in a manner similar to how Jonah was swallowed and regurgitated.

2:1 Praying the Psalms is popular, and Jonah is familiar with Scripture.

2:2 See Psalm 120:1 and Psalm 18:5-6. Why fear death from Nineveh? It turns out Jonah didn’t, as we’ll see in Jonah 4:2.

2:3 See Psalm 42:7.

2:4 See Psalm 31:22.

2:5 See Psalm 69:2.

2:6 To those that bicker over whether Jonah could have survived three days in the belly of a fish, I say it doesn’t matter if he died. Here, he’s in “the pit”, the heart of the Earth, Sheol, the grave, the underworld whether literally or metaphorically. Resurrections happened in Elijah and Elisha’s stories, so Jonah coming back from chum and vomit wouldn’t be out of the question.

2:9 “what I have vowed” Jonah’s calling as a trained prophet.

3:1-2 Back to square one (Jonah 1:1-2).

3:3 The mission being “three days” in the Place of Fish sounds familiar. Three days of walking seems big for this city, but three days to preach your way through it seems just right.

3:4-5 Jonah went one-third of the way into his charge, said eight words, and all the Gentiles believed God. This contrasts with the usual prophetic failure to make a dent in Israel and Judah. The Gentiles being more ready to believe God carries forward into Christianity. The subtext of “will be overthrown” is an opportunity to repent as seen in verse 9.

3:9-10 like Amos 7:3 and Joel 2:14. The destruction was delayed 150 years, as we’ll read about in Nahum.

4:2 See Exodus 34:6-7. Preachers are usually happy about success, right? He didn’t want them to be saved. Jonah’s prophecy is spoken of in the past tense in 2 Kings 14. It seems that Assyria was not aggressively involved in Israel/Judah until 2 Kings 15. Ergo, some of Jonah’s attitude seems to come from hatred for Gentiles/goyim. He sounds like the older brother in Luke 15:28-32.

4:3 like 1 Kings 19:4. Jonah was thanking God for saving him a page ago.

4:4 Stay off of Dad’s throne (Romans 14:4).

4:6 like 1 Kings 19:5.

4:7 Taking the plant was a reminder of the Isaiah 32:2 admonition to provide “shade” to others.

4:8 “east wind” like Exodus 10:13 and Exodus 14:21. God judged His prophet instead of Nineveh. Deuteronomy 32:21 was always part of the plan before the Deuteronomy 30 restoration. Jonah is similar to the Jews in exile or under occupation that were mad about the conditions they found themselves in while God’s plan for the Gentiles moved forward.

4:11 “cannot tell their right hand from their left” This means that they couldn’t keep track of which hand they used to wipe themselves off with after defecating. Culturally, one hand was kept clean to interact with the world. Regarding “animals”, while humanity was given dominion, God cares for His creatures (Genesis 1:31, Psalm 145:9, and Matthew 10:29). Jesus also ate fish at the end of John; just don’t be needlessly cruel or wasteful.

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