Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (27.2)

The Book of Jonah

Jonah Chapter 1:1-3 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

v1.  This must be one of the briefest of introductions in the Bible.  Jonah is simply introduced as the son of Ammitai. The meaning of Jonah is a dove, and his father’s name, Ammitai, means “my truth”.  Very aptly therefore the name Jonah describes what a Christian ought to be today – sons of truth, harmless as doves. To Jonah, the word of God came one day.  The casual way in which the opening verse of this book describes this divine call suggests that Jonah was used to receiving divine commands, and so it was, for Jonah is described in 2Kg 14:25 as a prophet of God.

A prophet must necessarily be well acquainted with the voice of God.  Likewise, all Christians must be able to discern when God is speaking to us today.  It is this very failure to discern God’s voice from demonic voices that leads to heresies and bondage, as in the case of cults and false religions of various kinds. Jesus said: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand (Jn 10:27-28). If therefore you have received eternal life, you must be able to hear the Lord’s voice, and recognise it as the Lord’s, and follow Him accordingly.  Hearing, knowing, and following the Lord’s voice – are you doing this?

v2.  Here is the divine command: Arise, go.   You can’t go anywhere if you do not arise. The command is the same throughout the ages to various people of God. There are approximately 40 such commands in the Bible.  For example, in the Old Testament, we see Joshua receiving such a command: Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel (Josh 1:2). In the New Testament we see another example: And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert (Acts 8:26).  Today, we have the divine command known as the Great Commission: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen. (Matt 20:19-20).  Are you obeying this command to go?

Where was Jonah to go?  God says, to Nineveh, that great city.  And where exactly was Nineveh? Historically Nineveh was located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River in northeastern Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq). It is first mentioned in the Bible back in Genesis as being founded by Nimrod (Gen 10:9-12).  From about 800 to 610 B.C. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire that conquered the Northern Kingdom of Israel and transported the people away into captivity. These became known as the "Lost Ten Tribes" of Israel.

Eventually, the Assyrian empire declined and fell. The Persian and Babylonian empires that were themselves just then on the rise overtook it. Today, Nineveh is just a vast stretch of ancient ruins, a fulfilment of a prophecy: "And He will make Nineveh a desolation . . ." (Zeph 2:13-14). 

Jonah was told to go to Nineveh and cry against it. He was to go to that great city and prophesy against it.  And what is the reason for this?  God says: for their wickedness is come up before me. What wickedness are we talking about?  The worst kind! The Assyrian policy was to deport conquered peoples to other lands within the empire, to destroy their sense of nationalism, and break any pride or hope of rebellion and replace them with strangers from far away. This was the same policy that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein did when he invaded and captured Kuwait in 1990. Assyrians were great warriors. Most nations at that time period were looters, building their state by robbing other nations. Assyria was the most ferocious of them all. Their very name became a byword for cruelty and atrocity. They skinned their prisoners alive, and cut off various body parts to inspire terror in their enemies. There are records of Assyrian officials pulling out tongues and displaying mounds of human skulls all to bring about stark horror and wealthy tribute from surrounding nations. Nowhere are the pages of history bloodier than in the records of their wars. History records Assyrian kings putting out the eyes of enemy kings and leading the officials into captivity with hooks in their lips.

The religion of the Assyrians, much like that of the Babylonians, emphasized worship of nature. They believed a spirit possessed every object of nature. The pagan worship of the Assyrians was vehemently condemned by several prophets of the Old Testament (Is. 10:5; Ezek. 16:28; Hos. 8.9). Nineveh is called a great city, and not without reason; for its land area was approximately 211 sq miles, close to the size of Singapore, and it took Jonah three whole days in going through the squares and streets of the city.

v3.  The divine command was to arise and go to Nineveh.  Jonah rose up alright, but instead of going to Nineveh, he went the opposite direction, to Tarshish instead.  Why did he do that?  Well, twice in this verse, it says that Jonah did this to flee from the presence of the Lord.  Now it is a well-known fact that among pagans, the belief is that their gods are territorial in nature.  Thus for example, their kitchen god operates in the kitchen only, or their national god operates in a particular country, or their trade gods operate within particular industries.  But Jonah was a prophet of the true God, so surely that cannot be the reason for his attempt to flee from God, for he must know that the true God is everywhere and that there is no place where he can literally hide from God.  So what does it mean to flee from the presence of the Lord?   Just as a runaway servant fleeing from the presence of his employer signifies a rejection of the control of the employer, so a Christian fleeing from the presence of the Lord signifies that he is rejecting the government of the Lord, and therefore he is not willing to obey God’s commands. In the process, he diminishes or reduces the Lord, as it were, confining God to within narrow limits so that he can exempt himself from God’s power.

The fact that Jonah’s fleeing from the presence of the Lord is mentioned twice in this verse shows that it was not a rash decision but a deliberate well thought out course of action.  We see this further illustrated by the steps Jonah took to flee from God.  First he went to Joppa, the seaport, which is a deliberate action on his part.  Then he found a ship going to Tarshish, another deliberate act.  Next he paid the fare, again a deliberate act, for he did not even seek to negotiate the fare.  Finally he boarded the ship, yet another deliberate act.  So this is altogether is premeditated act. 

Exactly why Jonah chose to disobey God is later explained in chapter 4.  But at this junction, it is interesting to note that up to that time, it was unusual for God to send prophets to prophesy outside of Israel to people who are not Jews who claim to be God’s elect. 

Another interesting point to note is that when Jonah went to Joppa in a determined effort to flee to Tarshish, he found a boat there ready to weigh anchor.  The circumstances seem to indicate that it was God’s will for Jonah to go to Tarshish, for how else could a boat be there all ready to sail at that very instant with a ticket still available for sale?  But we know it is not God’s will because Jonah was disobeying God’s command!  Nevertheless many people today still seek to determine whether it is God’s will for their intended course of actions by looking at circumstances instead of looking to God’s infallible word!  Are you guilty of doing this?