Bible Version: New International Version (NIV)
Application Notes: Life Application Study Bible (NIV)
JONAH 1
Jonah Flees From the Lord
1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
3 But 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.
4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 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.
But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 6 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.”
7 Then the sailors said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8So they asked him, “Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?”
9 He answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
10 This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)
11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?”
12 “Pick me up and throw me into the sea,” he replied, “and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.”
13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, “Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.” 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
Jonah’s Prayer
17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Application Notes
1:1-2 Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25. He prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II, the king of Israel from 793 to 753 BC. Jonah may have been a member of the company of prophets mentioned in connection with Elisha's ministry (2 Kings 2:3). He is also mentioned in Matthew 12:39-41; 16:4; and Luke 11:29-32.
God told Jonah to preach to Nineveh, the most important city in Assyria, which was the rising world power of the day. Within 50 years, Nineveh would become the capital of the vast Assyrian Empire. Jonah doesn't say much about Nineveh's wickedness, but the prophet Nahum gives us more insight. Nahum says that Nineveh was guilty of (1) evil plots against God (Nahum 1:9); (2) exploitation of the helpless (Nahum 2:12); (3) cruelty in war (Nahum 2:12-13); and (4) idolatry, prostitution, and witchcraft (Nahum 3:4). God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, about 500 miles northeast of Israel, to warn of judgment and to declare that the people could receive God's mercy and forgiveness if they repented.
1:3 Nineveh was a powerful and wicked city. Jonah, like all Israelites, had grown up hating the Assyrians and fearing their atrocities. His hatred was so strong that he didn't believe that God should show them any mercy. He was actually afraid the people would repent and that they might then be recipients of God's mercy and restoration (4:2-3). Jonah's attitude reflected the Israelites' reluctance to share God's love and mercy with others, even though this was their God-given mission (Genesis 12:3). They, like Jonah, did not want Gentiles (non-Israelites) to obtain God's favor. They believed they were the only ones capable of receiving it.
1:3 Jonah knew that God had a specific job for him, but he didn't want to do it. Tarshish was one of Phoenicia's western ports; Nineveh was to the northeast. Jonah was trying to get as far away from God's assignment as possible. When God gives us directions through his Word, sometimes we go the opposite way, often running in fear or procrastinating in stubbornness, and perhaps even claiming that God is asking too much. It may have been fear, but it was more likely anger at the wideness of God's mercy that made Jonah run. But running from God got him into worse trouble. In the end, Jonah accepted that to do what God asks in the first place is far better. But by then he had paid a costly price for running.
1:4-5 While the storm raged, Jonah was sound asleep below deck. Even as he ran from God, Jonah's actions apparently didn't bother his conscience. But the absence of guilt isn't always a barometer of whether we are doing what is right. Because we can shut out God and deny reality, we cannot measure obedience by our feelings. Instead, we must compare what we do with God's standards for living.
1:4 Before settling in the Promised Land, the Israelites had been nomads, wandering from place to place, seeking good pastureland for their flocks. Although they were not a seafaring people, their location along the Mediterranean Sea and near the neighboring maritime powers of Phoenicia and Philistia allowed much contact with ships and sailors. The ship Jonah sailed on was probably a large trading vessel with a deck.
1:4 Jonah's disobedience to God endangered the lives of the ship's crew. We have a great responsibility to obey God's Word because our sin and disobedience not only affect us but also can hurt others around us.
1:7 The crew cast lots to find the guilty person, relying on their superstition to give them the answer. Their system worked, but only because God used it to intervene, letting Jonah know that he couldn't run away.
1:9-12 You cannot seek God's love and run from him at the same time. Jonah soon realized that no matter where he went, he couldn't get away from God. But before Jonah could return to God, he first had to stop going in the opposite direction. What has God told you to do? If you want more of God's love and power, you must be willing to carry out the assignments and responsibilities he gives you. You cannot say that you truly believe in God if you don't do what he says (1 John 2:3-6).
1:12 Jonah knew that he had disobeyed God and that the storm was his fault, but he didn't say anything until the crew cast lots and the lot fell on him (1:7). Then Jonah decided he would rather die to save the sailors than do anything to save the people of Nineveh. Jonah's hatred for the Assyrians and resentment toward God for loving them had poisoned his perspective.
1:13 By trying to save Jonah's life, the pagan sailors showed more compassion than Jonah, who did not want to warn the Ninevites of the coming judgment of God. Believers should be embarrassed when unbelievers show more concern and compassion than they do. God wants us to be concerned for all his people lost and saved.
1:14-16 In the middle of the storm, Jonah came to his senses and realized that it was impossible to run away from God. So he submitted to God and was ready to accept whatever God wanted to do with him next, giving the crew an honest explanation of what was happening and what needed to happen next (1:12). As a result, the ship's crew began to worship God when they followed Jonah's instructions and then watched the storm immediately quiet down. They were awestruck at God's great power. The sailors repented, but Jonah did not. Jonah became God's missionary even though he didn't want to. God uses even our mistakes to help others come to know him. The experience may be painful, but admitting our sins can be a powerful example to those who don't know God. Ironically, the pagan sailors did what the entire nation of Israel would not do—prayed to God and vowed to serve him.
1:17 Many have tried to dismiss this miraculous event as fiction, but the Bible does not describe it as a dream or a legend. We should not try to explain away this miracle as if we can pick and choose which miracles in the Bible to believe. That kind of attitude leads to our devaluing the Bible as God's true and reliable Word. Jonah's experience was used by Jesus himself as an illustration of his own death and resurrection (Matthew 12:39-40).
1:17 Commissioned by God to go to the Assyrians, Jonah ran from his assigned task and was swallowed by a great fish. The Bible tells us that he “was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Then he was delivered and went to Nineveh, where the people surprisingly repented. These events in Jonah's life were recalled by Jesus. When the religious leaders demanded that Jesus give them a sign to prove his authority, Jesus said the only sign they would receive was the sign of Jonah; in other words, they would see Jesus swallowed by death and delivered after three days (Matthew 12:39-41; 16:4).
Jesus was making it very clear to the religious leaders of the day that their stubbornness about not believing in him would be judged. The people of Nineveh responded to God's word spoken by Jonah, but the religious leaders of Jesus' day refused to believe either God's word spoken by his very own Son or the miracles they saw him do. People of our day may demand proof that Jesus is God, but like Jesus said to the religious leaders, his death and resurrection proclaim the truth of his identity.
Taken from Life Application Study Bible - Third Edition - (NIV)