FRAMEWORKS:
Jonah 1-4
(The
objective of these ‘Frameworks' is to provide an easy-to-read
layout of the text in order then to use these individual verses
for meditation. To focus verses we have also added in a description
of what is happening)
[Introduction
to Jonah: The story of Jonah is one of those that used
to appear in Sunday Schools often, simply because it is so graphic
and simple. Part 1 ends up with Jonah inside
a big fish. Part 2 sees Jonah praying some remarkable
things while there. Part 3 is Jonah prophesying
in Nineveh and, remarkably, the city repenting. Part 4
is an amusing little episode afterwards where Jonah complains
that he looks an idiot because God hadn't judged the city, and
God having to explain in a very graphic way why He didn't.
Nineveh
is in what we might call the north-east corner of the ‘Fertile
Crescen' that extended round from Israel to Babylonia. It was
the capital of the Assyrian empire. Jonah went there in 770BC
and about 150 years later Nahum prophesied against it and it was
destroyed in 612BC. Within this short book we will see well over
a dozen incidents or activities attributed to God. Once we can
accept that God is a God of miracles for whom nothing is impossible,
none of these things seem improbable. Take God out of this book
it is merely a book of coincidences and superstition.
The
big lesson at the beginning is all about the sovereignty and holiness
of God. The big lessons at the end are all about the God of mercy
and grace who is more concerned for salvation of people than their
destruction.]
GO
TO Chapter 1 /
Chapter 2 / Chapter
3 / Chapter 4
FRAMEWORKS:
Jonah 1: Jonah's Disobedience & Disappearance
[Introductory
Comments: Chapter 1 (or Part 1) tells how Jonah has
the rather dubious distinction of having been swallowed by a fish
– later to tell the tale!]
v.1-3
God calls Jonah who runs away
v.4-6
The Lord threatens the ship
v.7-10
When the sailors seek the reason for the storm, Jonah is revealed
v.11-13
Jonah asks to be thrown overboard but they resist
v.14,15
When they eventually do the storm calms
v.16,17
The crew turn to God and God has a big fish swallow Jonah
v.1-3
God calls Jonah who runs away
v.1
The
word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai:
v.2
“Go
to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its
wickedness has come up before me.”
v.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.
[Notes:
Jonah
is clearly a prophet who hears God speak to him. [Activity No.1
of God] He hears God tell him to go to Nineveh and preach against
its sin. The size of the task almost overwhelms Jonah and so he
decides to run away to Spain via Joppa.]
v.4-6
The Lord threatens the ship
v.4
Then
the LORD sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm
arose that the ship threatened to break up.
v.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.
v.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.”
[Notes:
The
storm that arises is no accident and is attributed to God. [Activity
No.2 of God]. The superstitious sailors call on their gods but
to no avail. Jonah is completely at peace and asleep! The sailors
wake him and tell him to call on his god.]
v.7-10
When the sailors seek the reason for the storm, Jonah is revealed
v.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.
v.8
So
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?”
v.9
He
answered, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven,
who made the sea and the dry land.”
v.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.)
[Notes:
As
the storm continues, they do what we so often do, look round for
someone to blame, and so draw lots to find out who it is. Amazingly
the lots falls to Jonah. [Activity No.3 of God?] Jonah testifies
about the Lord and they question him further.]
v.11-13
Jonah asks to be thrown overboard but they resist
v.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?”
v.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.”
v.13
Instead,
the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not,
for the sea grew even wilder than before.
[Notes:
They
appeal to him and so this phlegmatic prophetic says it is his
fault and the only way to deal with the problem is to throw him
overboard. They don't like that thought and try to row ashore
– to no avail.]
v.14,15
When they eventually do the storm calms
v.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.”
v.15
Then
they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew
calm.
[Notes:
They
appeal to Yahweh for forgiveness but throw Jonah overboard and
immediately it becomes calm. [Activity No.4 of God.]
v.16,17
The crew turn to God and God has a big fish swallow Jonah
v.16
At
this the men greatly feared the LORD, and they offered a sacrifice
to the LORD and made vows to him.
v.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.
[Notes:
The
crew acknowledge the Lord but meanwhile the Lord provides a large
fish [it may have been a whale] to swallow him where he
remains for three days and nights. [Activity No.5 of God] NB.
There have been reports of such things happening and the people
surviving.]
GO
TO Chapter 1 /
Chapter 2 / Chapter
3 / Chapter 4
FRAMEWORKS:
Jonah 2: Jonah's Prayer
v.1,2
Jonah prays in faith – God heard his call
v.1
From
inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his
God.
v.2
He
said: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.
From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you
listened to my cry.
v.3,4
He acknowledges this is God's word but prays with hope
v.3
You hurled
me into the depths, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents
swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me.
v.4
I
said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will
look again toward your holy temple.'
v.5,6
Everything about this was life-terminating
v.5
The engulfing
waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped
around my head.
v.6
To
the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred
me in forever. But you, LORD my God, brought my life up from the
pit.
v.7,8
As he lost hope he cried out to the Lord
v.7
“When
my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer
rose to you, to your holy temple.
v.8
“Those
who cling to worthless idols turn away from God's love for them.
v.9,10
He prays in faith and God answers – he is delivered from the fish
v.9
But
I, with shouts of grateful praise, will sacrifice to you. What
I have vowed I will make good. I will say, ‘Salvation comes from
the LORD.' ”
v.10
And
the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.
[Notes:
Verse
1 tells us Jonah prayed but verse 2 confirms that and is the first
sign of his prayer being answered. Verse 3 confirms he believes
it is an act of God that he is there but whether verse 4 is a
statement of faith inside the fish or an addition after he is
expelled from the fish is unclear. Verses 5 & 6 explain that
as he went down into the depths he concluded this was the end.
Yet even there – verse 7 – he prays for help. Unlike pagans, he
will praise the Lord – verses 8 & 9 – and the Lord [v.10]
gets the fish to spew him out. [Activity No.6 of God]
GO
TO Chapter 1 /
Chapter 2 / Chapter
3 / Chapter 4
FRAMEWORKS:
Jonah 3: Nineveh hears and repents
v.1-3
God calls again and Jonah obeys
v.4,5
Jonah preaches and collectively Nineveh respond
v.6-9
The kings calls on the city to repent
v.10
The Lord Relents
v.1-3
God calls again and Jonah obeys
v.1
Then
the word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
v.2
“Go
to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I
give you.”
v.3
Jonah
obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was
a very large city; it took three days to go through it.
[Notes:
The
Lord speaks again to Jonah [Activity No.7 of God] telling him
to go to Nineveh and this time he goes, taking three days to work
his way through this large city. We might note in passing that
having been living in the acids in the inside of the fish for
three days, Jonah is almost certainly a horribly bleached apparition
which may have been used by the Lord to bring conviction to all
who saw and heard him throughout this massive city!]
v.4,5
Jonah preaches and collectively Nineveh respond
v.4
Jonah
began by going a day's journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty
more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.”
v.5
The Ninevites
believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the
greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
[Notes:
As
he prophesies their destruction they believe and repent. [as we
belief repentance and conviction only comes from the Lord we see
this as Activity No.8 of God]
v.6-9
The kings calls on the city to repent
v.6
When
Jonah's warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his
throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth
and sat down in the dust.
v.7
This
is the proclamation he issued in Nineveh: “By the decree of the
king and his nobles: Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks,
taste anything; do not let them eat or drink.
v.8
But
let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone
call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their
violence.
v.9
Who
knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce
anger so that we will not perish.”
[Notes:
This
conviction goes all the way to the royal palace and the king issues
a decree that the whole city must repent.]
v.10
The Lord Relents
v.10
When
God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways,
he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.
[Notes:
The
outcome is that God does not destroy them. [Activity No.9 of God]
GO
TO Chapter 1 /
Chapter 2 / Chapter
3 / Chapter 4
FRAMEWORKS:
Jonah 4: God gives Joan a lesson in Mercy
v.1-4
Jonah complains
v.5-8
The Lord lays on a practical example
v.9-11
God explains to Jonah
v.1-4
Jonah complains
v.1
But
to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry.
v.2
He
prayed to the LORD, “Isn't this what I said, LORD, when I was
still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to
Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God,
slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending
calamity.
v.3
Now,
LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to
live.”
v.4
But
the LORD replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
[Notes:
Jonah
embarks on a complaining session with the Lord saying he knew
that God would forgive them so his going was a waste of time.
Our course God not judging them was dependent on their repentance
and that could only come once they heard Jonah preaching. His
grumpy, “I wish I was dead!” simply evokes a question from the
Lord. [Activity No.10 of God]
v.5-8
The Lord lays on a practical example
v.5
Jonah had gone
out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself
a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen
to the city.
v.6
Then
the LORD God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah
to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was
very happy about the plant.
v.7
But
at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant
so that it withered.
v.8
When
the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun
blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die,
and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”
[Notes:
Jonah
isn't sure about what might yet happen to Nineveh so goes outside
the city, and settles down to watch. Now the Lord makes a leafy
plant grow up while Jonah is there [Activity No.11 of God] and
Jonah is blessed by the shade. However the next day the Lord has
a worm chew the plant to make it wither and remove his shade.
[Activity No.11 of God] and then sends a hot wind to make Jonah
even more uncomfortable. [Activity No.12 of God].
v.9-11
God explains to Jonah
v.9
But
God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the
plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I'm so angry I wish I were dead.”
v.10
But
the LORD said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though
you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and
died overnight.
v.11
And
should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which
there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot
tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”
[Notes:
The
Lord then questions Jonah about feeling angry [Activity No.13
of God] and Jonah simply reiterates – yet again! – that he wished
he was dead. A seriously unhappy prophet! But God doesn't leave
him there, He explains what He feels about Nineveh which makes
Jonah's petulance appear what it is – petty by comparison! [Activity
No.14 of God].
Additional
Comment:
The fact that there are clearly a number of what can only be described
as miraculous elements to this story should not make us be distracted
from the big lesson of this book, a lesson declared prophetically
three times by Ezekiel: “Do
I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign
Lord .
Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?”
(Ezek 18:23 – see also 18:32 &
33:11) This
little book shows the lengths to which God will go to help that
come about!
The
book is presented in style as factual historical record and twice
Jesus referred to it as such – Mt 12:39-41 & 16:4.]