Minor Prophets · Chapter 1 of 4
Jonah 1
The LORD tells Jonah to preach against wicked Nineveh, but Jonah flees by ship toward Tarshish. God sends a violent storm; the terrified sailors cast lots and learn Jonah is the cause. He admits he is fleeing the God of heaven and tells them to throw him overboard. Reluctantly they do, the sea calms, and they fear the LORD. God prepares a great fish to swallow Jonah for three days.
What happens in Jonah 1
The word of the LORD sends Jonah to cry against Nineveh for its wickedness, but Jonah rises to flee the opposite direction, going down to Joppa and paying his fare to sail for Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. God hurls a great wind, and the ship is nearly broken. The pagan sailors cry each to his god and throw the cargo overboard, while Jonah sleeps below until the shipmaster wakes him to pray. Casting lots to find who is responsible, they land on Jonah, who confesses he is a Hebrew who fears the LORD, maker of sea and land, and that he flees from him.
Terrified, they ask what to do, and he tells them to throw him into the sea. They row hard toward land instead, fail, then reluctantly cry to the LORD not to hold them guilty and cast Jonah out. The sea grows calm, the men fear the LORD and sacrifice, and God prepares a great fish that swallows Jonah for three days and nights.
Jonah 1 in context
Jonah is unusual among the prophetic books, telling a narrative about a prophet rather than collecting his oracles. Jonah son of Amittai is named as a real prophet in 2 Kings, active in the northern kingdom of Israel. Nineveh was the great city of Assyria, a brutal empire Israel had every reason to fear and hate.
Tarshish lay far to the west, the opposite direction, so Jonah's flight is a deliberate rejection of God's call to Israel's enemies.
Main themes of Jonah 1
Jonah 1 (KJV)
1Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. 4But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. 5Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. 6So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. 7And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. 8Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? 9And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. 10Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. 11Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. 12And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. 13Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. 14Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee. 15So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. 16Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows. 17Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Verses to carry from Jonah 1
“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”Jonah 1:3
“And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.”Jonah 1:9
“Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”Jonah 1:17
Christian typology
How Jonah 1 points to Jesus
Jonah, sinking into the sea so that others might be spared, and swallowed into the deep for three days and nights, became for Jesus a sign of his own death and resurrection. Jesus said that as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so the Son of Man would be in the heart of the earth. There is also a quieter echo: like Jonah asleep in the storm-tossed ship, Jesus slept through a tempest on the sea, but where Jonah was the cause of the storm and had to be cast out, Jesus rose and stilled it with a word.
Jonah was thrown into the deep for his own sin; Christ willingly went down into death for the sins of others, and rose to bring salvation.
Questions about Jonah 1
Why did Jonah run away from God?
Chapter 1 shows Jonah fleeing but does not yet give his reason; that comes later, when he admits he fled because he knew God was merciful and might spare Nineveh, Israel's cruel enemy. Here we simply see a prophet who would rather sail to the ends of the earth than obey. His flight reveals that his quarrel was not with the task but with God's compassion.
What is the sign of Jonah that Jesus mentioned?
Jesus pointed to Jonah's three days and nights in the belly of the great fish as a sign of his own coming death and resurrection, when the Son of Man would spend three days in the heart of the earth. Jonah went down into the deep and came up alive, foreshadowing how Christ would go down into death and rise, the ultimate sign given to an unbelieving generation.
Reflection
Jonah's whole journey is downward: down to Joppa, down into the ship, down into sleep, down into the sea. Running from God is always a descent. Yet even in the storm of his own making, God had not finished with him. Wherever your flight is taking you, the God who made the sea can reach you there, and his pursuit is mercy, not abandonment.
A prayer from Jonah 1
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