Tyndale Open Study Notes

Verse 1

1:1–2:10 Jonah initially rejected the Lord’s commission to warn Nineveh of the judgment it had incurred because of its wickedness.

1:1 Jonah son of Amittai was from Gath-hepher, a town located on the border of the tribal areas of Naphtali and Zebulun. He ministered to the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (793–753 BC; see 2 Kgs 14:25).

Verse 2

1:2 By Jonah’s day, Nineveh already had quite a long history (see Gen 10:12). It was a key city in the Assyrian Empire until its destruction in 612 BC (see Nah 1–3). Nineveh’s ruins are located across the Tigris River from the modern city of Mosul, Iraq. • great city: See study note on 3:3.

Verse 3

1:3 Jonah’s attempt to get away from the Lord was futile. One cannot escape God (Ps 139:7-10) or disobey his will without consequence (Deut 8:5). Jonah’s reluctance to go to Nineveh is understandable, however. Assyria was an enemy of Israel known for its violence (Jon 3:8; see also Nah 3:1-4). Jonah did not want these non-Israelites to have the opportunity to repent and be saved (Jon 4:2). • Joppa was a key port city on the Mediterranean coast (2 Chr 2:16; Ezra 3:7); it is now a suburb of modern Tel-Aviv. • Tarshish was possibly the port city of Tartessos in Spain, in which case Jonah was attempting to flee as far as imaginable in the opposite direction from Nineveh. Tarsus in Asia Minor is another possibility. Some think Tarshish is a general reference to the sea or to any destination accessible by sea.

Verse 4

1:4 God’s power over nature is a prominent theme throughout Jonah (see Jon 1:4, 9, 13-16, 17; 2:3, 10; 4:6-7).

Verse 5

1:5-6 Jonah’s ongoing sleep was perhaps induced by God to advance the crisis to a point where it was clear that the sailors’ gods could not help (1:6).

Verse 7

1:7-8 Use of lots was permitted by God for certain purposes (see Lev 16:8; Josh 18:6; 1 Chr 26:12-16; Acts 1:26); however, divination in general, as practiced in the wider ancient world, was displeasing to the Lord (Deut 18:9-13). • to see which of them had offended the gods: It was fairly common in the ancient Near East to assume that bad fortune was the result of a god’s taking offense.

Verse 9

1:9 a Hebrew: See also Gen 41:12; Exod 1:15; 2:11. • Jonah worshiped the Lord, who in contrast to the sailors’ false gods made the sea and the land, and thus controlled them. Many gods were believed to have jurisdiction over specific realms and functions. The designation God of heaven likely conveyed the superiority of that deity over all others, as heaven is the highest realm. The Old Testament consistently proclaims that the Lord alone is the one true God (see, e.g., Deut 6:4), while at times adopting language that reflects his superiority to the false gods that occupied the imaginations of pagan peoples (see Ps 95:3-5).

Verse 12

1:12 Throw me: Jonah’s calmness in giving this direction is surprising. But he was willing to face death with equanimity rather than give the hated Assyrians a chance to repent.

Verse 13

1:13-14 Instead, the sailors rowed even harder: It was now clear that Jonah was the one who had offended the Lord, but the sailors were apparently concerned that the Lord would be more offended if they killed one of his prophets.

Verse 16

1:16 awestruck: God’s display of power over the storm-tossed sea moved the sailors to worship. Although sacrifices and vows were aspects of Israelite worship (e.g., Ps 116:17-18), it is unlikely that the sailors were completely converted from the worship of false gods; they probably added Israel’s god to their list. It is ironic that pagan sailors honored the Lord while the Lord’s prophet, having dishonored him, apparently plunged to his death (cp. study note on Jon 2:8-9).

Verse 17

1:17 Some critics consider it impossible that Jonah could be delivered from death in the belly of a great fish. In making this judgment, they oppose themselves to one of the book’s main theological themes—that God is supremely sovereign over nature. If God exists, and he created and controls nature (1:9, 16; see also Gen 1:21), a miraculous event of this magnitude is not unfathomable. The book presents the fish episode as a historical event. • No indication is given as to the species of the fish, nor is identifying a species crucial to validating the significance of the account. Granted God’s creative power, the fish that swallowed Jonah might well have been specially formed and appointed by the Lord for this particular event. If God exists and can work miracles, Jonah’s need for oxygen and protection from digestive processes poses no problem (cp. Dan 3:14-27). On the other hand, certain species are large enough to have served the purpose (e.g., the whale shark), and similar incidents have been recorded in modern times. • Jesus later referred to Jonah’s stay in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights in predicting the duration of his time in the grave (Matt 12:39-41). • Arranged for is the first of four occurrences of the same Hebrew word in the book (see Jon 4:6, 7, 8). All four occurrences speak of God’s effortless control over the forces of nature.