Jonah 1:1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai.
Jonah was a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century BC (2 Kings 14:25). The book doesn’t identify its author but may’ve been written by Jonah himself around 750 BC. It’s the story of God’s concern for Assyria, and Jonah’s reluctance to preach to them. God wanted Israel to know about his love for others so they’d become a greater witness to the world.
Jonah 1:2 Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.
Nineveh was an important city in Assyria with a population of over a hundred twenty thousand (Jonah 4:11). Jonah mentioned violence as one of her sins (Jonah 3:8), and the prophet Amos identified others including witchcraft (Nahum 3:4) and cruelty (Nahum 3:19). Assyria’s military acts included ripping open pregnant women, and skinning their captives alive.
A monument from the ninth century BC has this inscription from an Assyrian king. I built a pillar over against his gate, and I flayed all the chief men . . . and I covered the pillar with their skins . . . Many captives . . . I burned with fire . . . From some I cut off their hands and their fingers, and from others I cut off their noses [and] ears . . . of many I put out the eyes. Since Assyria was a major threat to Israel, it was probably the last place on earth Jonah wanted to go.
Jonah 1:3 Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
The prophet should’ve known that he couldn’t run from God but, apparently, he was desperate. He was willing to leave family, friends and country, just to flee God’s presence. He probably enjoyed serving God most of the time, but now God was asking too much.
Obeying God is usually easy, but sometimes it’s not. Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:30). But he also said, whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:27). Sometimes following Christ is an easy yoke, other times it’ a heavy cross. When Christianity becomes difficult, some people run away by closing their Bibles and avoiding church. But the long arm of God’s grace is always able to reach us.
Jonah 1:4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.
Jonah’s mistake was thinking that by running away from God he’d be safe. But there’s no where in the world that we can hide from God. Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them (Amos 9:3), wrote Amos. Since God is unavoidable, it’s foolish to ignore him.
Jonah 1:5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
To keep the ship from being submerged, the cargo was thrown overboard. It was truly worth a fortune, but was wasted because of Jonah’s sin. If Jonah hadn’t run from God, God wouldn’t have sent the storm, and the cargo wouldn’t have been lost. Because of Jonah’s sin, a vast fortune was thrown away.
Sin is always more expensive than we think. How many careers have been lost to sin? How many families have been lost to sin? How many fortunes have been lost to sin? Sin will take us further than we want to go, keep us longer than we want to stay, and cost us more than we want to pay. Sadly, the price of our sin is often paid by those around us.
Jonah 1:5b-6 But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.
Everyone on the boat was praying except for the only one who knew God. Prayer is awkward when you’re living in sin, because God only wants to talk about one thing. You might want to talk about your hopes, dreams or fears, but God only wants to talk about your sin. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened (Psalm 66:18), wrote David.
Jonah 1:7 Then the sailors said to each other, Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.
Providentially, the lot fell to Jonah. Jonah knew he was guilty, of course, but now his guilt was revealed to others. The sea was growing rougher and the sailers asked Jonah what they should do. Pick me up and throw me into the sea, he replied, and it will become calm (Jonah 1:12).
The sailors tried to row to shore because they didn’t want to kill Jonah. But the sea grew even rougher so, reluctantly, they tossed him overboard. Then the sea became calm. At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him (Jonah 1:16). Jonah should’ve been a good example but, instead, he became a terrible warning.
Reflection and Review
Why did Jonah run from God?
How do people run from God today?
Why does sin make it hard to pray?
Jonah was a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel in the eighth century BC (2 Kings 14:25). The book doesn’t identify its author but may’ve been written by Jonah himself around 750 BC. It’s the story of God’s concern for Assyria, and Jonah’s reluctance to preach to them. God wanted Israel to know about his love for others so they’d become a greater witness to the world.
Jonah 1:2 Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.
Nineveh was an important city in Assyria with a population of over a hundred twenty thousand (Jonah 4:11). Jonah mentioned violence as one of her sins (Jonah 3:8), and the prophet Amos identified others including witchcraft (Nahum 3:4) and cruelty (Nahum 3:19). Assyria’s military acts included ripping open pregnant women, and skinning their captives alive.
A monument from the ninth century BC has this inscription from an Assyrian king. I built a pillar over against his gate, and I flayed all the chief men . . . and I covered the pillar with their skins . . . Many captives . . . I burned with fire . . . From some I cut off their hands and their fingers, and from others I cut off their noses [and] ears . . . of many I put out the eyes. Since Assyria was a major threat to Israel, it was probably the last place on earth Jonah wanted to go.
Jonah 1:3 Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.
The prophet should’ve known that he couldn’t run from God but, apparently, he was desperate. He was willing to leave family, friends and country, just to flee God’s presence. He probably enjoyed serving God most of the time, but now God was asking too much.
Obeying God is usually easy, but sometimes it’s not. Jesus said, my yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:30). But he also said, whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple (Luke 14:27). Sometimes following Christ is an easy yoke, other times it’ a heavy cross. When Christianity becomes difficult, some people run away by closing their Bibles and avoiding church. But the long arm of God’s grace is always able to reach us.
Jonah 1:4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up.
Jonah’s mistake was thinking that by running away from God he’d be safe. But there’s no where in the world that we can hide from God. Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them (Amos 9:3), wrote Amos. Since God is unavoidable, it’s foolish to ignore him.
Jonah 1:5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
To keep the ship from being submerged, the cargo was thrown overboard. It was truly worth a fortune, but was wasted because of Jonah’s sin. If Jonah hadn’t run from God, God wouldn’t have sent the storm, and the cargo wouldn’t have been lost. Because of Jonah’s sin, a vast fortune was thrown away.
Sin is always more expensive than we think. How many careers have been lost to sin? How many families have been lost to sin? How many fortunes have been lost to sin? Sin will take us further than we want to go, keep us longer than we want to stay, and cost us more than we want to pay. Sadly, the price of our sin is often paid by those around us.
Jonah 1:5b-6 But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.
Everyone on the boat was praying except for the only one who knew God. Prayer is awkward when you’re living in sin, because God only wants to talk about one thing. You might want to talk about your hopes, dreams or fears, but God only wants to talk about your sin. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened (Psalm 66:18), wrote David.
Jonah 1:7 Then the sailors said to each other, Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.
Providentially, the lot fell to Jonah. Jonah knew he was guilty, of course, but now his guilt was revealed to others. The sea was growing rougher and the sailers asked Jonah what they should do. Pick me up and throw me into the sea, he replied, and it will become calm (Jonah 1:12).
The sailors tried to row to shore because they didn’t want to kill Jonah. But the sea grew even rougher so, reluctantly, they tossed him overboard. Then the sea became calm. At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him (Jonah 1:16). Jonah should’ve been a good example but, instead, he became a terrible warning.
Reflection and Review
Why did Jonah run from God?
How do people run from God today?
Why does sin make it hard to pray?