Study Notes for Jonah
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:1–3 Jonah’s Commissioning and Flight. This episode records Jonah’s call to prophesy and his flight from that call. Two questions drive the plot: (1) What will happen to the Ninevites? and (2) What will happen to Jonah? (See diagram.)
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:1 Jonah prophesied prosperity for Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:23–28). Jonah means “dove,” a symbol for Israel as silly and senseless (Hos. 7:11); Jonah will be true to his name. Son of Amittai means “son of my faithfulness”; Jonah will remain the object of God’s faithful love.
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:2 Nineveh sat on the east bank of the Tigris River about 220 miles (354 km) north of present-day Baghdad and over 500 miles (805 km) northeast of Israel. Great (Hb. gadol) is used 14 times in Jonah. Nineveh was an important (“great”) city (see 3:3). evil. As the esv footnote indicates, the same Hebrew term (Hb. ra‘ah; used 9 times in Jonah [see chart]) can mean “evil” or “disaster.” The Ninevites were evil, and they were in line for disaster.
Occurrences of the key word (ra‘ah; “evil”/“disaster”/“discomfort”) in Jonah
View this chart online at http://kindle.esvsb.org/c116
|
1:2
|
The Lord confronts Jonah with the evil of the city Nineveh. |
|
1:7
|
The sailors decide to cast lots to find the source of the evil they experience. |
|
1:8
|
The sailors confront Jonah, wondering why evil has come upon them. |
|
3:8
|
The Ninevite king calls for inhabitants of the city to turn from evil. |
|
3:10
|
God sees the city turn from evil, and he relents from the disaster he was sending. |
|
4:1
|
God’s gracious response to Nineveh displeased Jonah greatly. |
|
4:2
|
Jonah’s anger arises from the fact that God relents from disaster. |
|
4:6
|
The Lord appoints a plant to save Jonah from his discomfort. |
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:3 To Tarshish is repeated three times in this verse to underscore that Jonah is not going to Nineveh. Tarshish, an unknown locale associated with distant coastlands, was somewhere in the western Mediterranean—the opposite direction from Nineveh. From the presence of the LORD is repeated at the end of this verse to underscore Jonah’s purpose in going to Tarshish. Went down (twice in this verse; see also v. 5; 2:6) is also a euphemism for death (e.g., Gen. 37:35). The suggestion is that each step away from the presence of the Lord is one step closer to “going down” to death (see notes on Jonah 1:4–5; 2:6).
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:4–16 Jonah and the Pagan Sailors. This episode highlights Jonah’s encounter with pagan sailors and raises the question, Who fears the Lord—Jonah or the pagans? The key repeated word is “fear”: at the beginning and end the sailors “fear” (vv. 5, 16); in the middle Jonah claims to “fear” the Lord (v. 9) while the sailors actually fear (v. 10a).
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:4–5 Hurled is used four times in this episode (vv. 4, 5, 12, 15). Just as God hurled the great wind, the sailors hurled the cargo. cried out. The sailors pray, evidently believing that a divine being could come to their aid. had gone down. In contrast to the sailors, Jonah goes down below deck, taking yet another step closer to death (see note on v. 3).
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:6 Arise, call out echoes God’s commission in v. 2. Ironically, the Israelite prophet has to be summoned to prayer by a pagan sailor. not perish. “Perish” is repeated in v. 14; 3:9; 4:10. Ironically, a pagan, not Jonah, is concerned that people not perish.
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:7 cast lots. Casting lots was used in the ancient world to discern the divine will (e.g., Num. 26:55; Josh. 18:6). Israelites believed that God controlled the outcome (Prov. 16:33). Evil (Hb. ra‘ah) may here suggest “disaster” (see chart).
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:9–10 Hebrew is an ethnic term used to identify Israelites in international contexts (e.g., Gen. 40:15; Ex. 1:19; 1 Sam. 4:6). Jonah claims to fear the LORD, but his actions contradict his confession. God of heaven refers to the universal and supreme God (see Ezra 1:2; Neh. 2:20; Dan. 2:37). made the sea. Ironically, Jonah confesses to fear the God who controls the sea, which Jonah is crossing to escape from the presence of God (Jonah 1:3). The sailors who were “afraid” (v. 5) are now exceedingly afraid.
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:12–13 hurl. See note on vv. 4–5. rowed hard. It would have been natural for these pagans to hurl Jonah overboard immediately, but they did not. The sea grew more and more tempestuous, for God was not ready to have Jonah delivered to dry land.
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:14–15 called out. Whereas each of the sailors had prayed to his god (v. 5), they now pray to the LORD. The pagan sailors, not Jonah, are concerned that people not perish (see note on v. 6). Have done as it pleased you echoes the liturgical language of Ps. 115:3 and 135:6, and is thus the sailors’ confession of faith in the absolute sovereignty of God. The sailors’ actions are in harmony with God’s: as God had hurled the wind onto the sea (see note on Jonah 1:4–5) to start the storm, the sailors now hurl Jonah to stop the storm (see v. 12).
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:16 feared the LORD exceedingly. What started as a general fear (v. 5) grew into an intense fear (v. 10) and matured into the fear—that is, the reverent worship—of the Lord (v. 16). sacrifice … vows. The exact response expected from people who fear the Lord (2 Kings 17:32–36; Ps. 22:5; 61:5; 76:11).
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:17–2:10 Jonah’s Grateful Prayer. Jonah’s prayer (2:2b–9) is framed by an introduction (1:17–2:2a) and a conclusion (2:10), both of which mention the “fish.”
JONAH—NOTE ON 1:17 appointed. This is the first of four uses of “appoint” that underscore God’s sovereign control over creation (cf. 4:6–8). Fish (Hb. dag) is not limited to what is called “fish” today (generally cold-blooded vertebrate sea creatures with fins and gills) but is a general word for an aquatic beast, which cannot be identified further. However, a large whale such as a sperm whale could easily swallow a man whole. three days and three nights. Though this may be a symbolic expression for a time of dying and rising (cf. Hos. 6:2), it more likely describes the actual number of days, or parts of three days, according to accepted reckoning of days at that time (cf. 1 Sam. 30:12; 2 Kings 20:5, 8). In either case it has associations with return from death or near-death—which perhaps is why Jesus likened the time between his own death and resurrection to Jonah’s time in the fish (Matt. 12:40).
JONAH—NOTE ON 2:1 Finally, Jonah prayed. He did not pray for God to save the pagan sailors, but he did thank God for saving him.
JONAH—NOTE ON 2:2–9 Jonah’s prayer is not a request to be saved from the fish but is thanksgiving for being saved by the fish. Verse 2 summarizes the prayer: Jonah called for help and God answered. Verses 3–6a expand on Jonah’s call for help; vv. 6b–10 expand on God’s answer.
JONAH—NOTE ON 2:2 Sheol refers to the realm of the dead, which one would enter by going through a gate made of “bars” (see v. 6 and Job 17:16; 38:17; Ps. 9:13). Jonah did not literally pray from Sheol but describes his near-death experience (see Ps. 30:2–3).
JONAH—NOTE ON 2:3–4 you cast me. Though it was the sailors who had hurled Jonah into the sea (1:15), he knows that God was working sovereignly through them, and so he can say that God cast him into the sea. Look upon, or “look toward,” refers to the ancient practice of praying toward the temple (see 2:7; 1 Kings 8:30, 35, 38, 42; Dan. 6:10).
JONAH—NOTE ON 2:6 I went down (see notes on 1:3; 1:4–5). Jonah’s descent to death is almost complete as he reaches the roots of the mountains at the bottom of the seas, where the gates of Sheol are located. Since the bars refer to the gates of Sheol (see note on 2:2), the land refers to the realm of the dead (see Ps. 63:9; Ezek. 26:20; 32:18, 24), as does pit (see Job 33:22–24; Ps. 49:9; 103:4). you brought. Jonah had done nothing to deserve being rescued; his salvation was by grace alone.
JONAH—NOTE ON 2:8–9 Those who pay regard to vain idols refers to the pagan sailors, who prayed each to his own god (1:5), but it is also a message to Jonah’s idolatrous fellow Israelites. Ironically, these sailors ended up experiencing God’s steadfast love, while Jonah ended up in the sea. Sacrifice … vowed recalls the actions of the sailors (1:16), whom Jonah is now like. Salvation belongs to the LORD is Jonah’s confession that God is the sovereign source of salvation, though the rest of the story will show that Jonah believes God is free to save any, as long as they are “us” and not “them” (see 4:1–4).
JONAH—NOTE ON 2:10 Vomited can express disgust (Job 20:15; Prov. 23:8; 25:16), and some interpreters see here an indication that God was still displeased with the hostility toward the Ninevites that was still in Jonah’s heart (as revealed in Jonah 4), in spite of the obvious gratitude of his prayer. Nevertheless, the fish’s action brought deliverance to Jonah, an indication of God’s favor.
JONAH—NOTE ON 3:1–3a Jonah’s Recommissioning and Compliance. The fourth episode parallels the first (1:1–3) and focuses on the second question raised at the beginning of the story: “What will happen to the Ninevites?” (see note on 1:1–3).
JONAH—NOTE ON 3:1–2 The second time underscores God’s determination to get his message to the Ninevites and to use Jonah in the process. The message that I tell you replaces “for their evil has come up before me” (1:2).
JONAH—NOTE ON 3:3a Jonah went to Nineveh instead of fleeing to Tarshish. He complies with God’s will, but whether this compliance is from the heart remains to be seen.
The City of Nineveh
Nineveh, which was situated at the confluence of the Tigris and Khoser rivers (modern-day Mosul, Iraq), was first settled in the seventh millennium B.C. According to the Bible, Nimrod was the founder of the city (Gen. 10:11). Major excavations took place under the direction of Henry Layard from 1845 to 1854. The diagram pictures the results of those excavations, especially as they reflect the period of the Assyrian Empire (1420–609 B.C.). Around 1000 B.C. there occurred a great revival of Assyrian power, and Nineveh became a royal city. It was a thriving city during the first half of the first millennium, and contained such luxuries as public squares, parks, botanical gardens, and even a zoo. One of the great archaeological finds of the period is the library of King Ashurbanipal (669–627 B.C.; called Osnappar in Ezra 4:10). The size of the city was approximately 1,850 acres. The book of Jonah reflects the flourishing nature of Nineveh at this time (3:1–5). Nineveh eventually fell to the Medes and Babylonians in 612 B.C. The invading armies dammed the rivers that supplied water to the city, causing a flood that broke through one of the perimeter walls, giving the foreign armies access to the city.
JONAH—NOTE ON 3:3b–10 Jonah and the Pagan Ninevites. The fifth episode parallels the second (1:4–16) and focuses on how responsive the pagan Ninevites—like the pagan sailors—are to God’s word. The structure follows the pattern of corporate repentance found elsewhere in the OT (cf. 1 Sam. 7:3–14; Joel 1–2): (1) message of divine judgment (Jonah 3:3a–5); (2) account of human repenting (vv. 6–9); and (3) record of divine relenting (v. 10).
JONAH—NOTE ON 3:3b an exceedingly great city (cf. esv footnote, “a great city to God”; see 1:2; 3:2). Nineveh is important to God and will be the recipient of his great compassion. three days’ journey in breadth (cf. esv footnote, “a visit was a three days’ journey”). In Jonah’s day neither the circumference nor the diameter of the walled city of Nineveh (see plan) was a three-day walk. The phrase may refer to the time it would take Jonah to walk throughout the city, preaching his message. (Nineveh could also refer to the much larger administrative area including the city and the outlying villages, which was 30–56 miles/48–90 km across.)
JONAH—NOTE ON 3:4 Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown! “Overthrown” is the same verb used for God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 19:21, 25, 29). Although the threat sounds unconditional, a condition was implied: If people repent, God will relent (see Jer. 18:7–8). Jonah knows this condition is included (see Jonah 4:2), and the king of Nineveh will hope that it is (see 3:9).
JONAH—NOTE ON 3:5 Believed is the first word in the Hebrew text of the sentence, and the grammar underscores the immediacy of Nineveh’s repentance. To fast and wear sackcloth were ancient demonstrations of mourning (Neh. 9:1; Est. 4:3; Dan. 9:3).
JONAH—NOTE ON 3:6 The word that reached the king of Nineveh was the “word” of the Lord (see 1:1; 3:1, 3). The “king of Nineveh” was probably not the king of Assyria, since Nineveh was not an Assyrian capital in Jonah’s day; he may have been a provincial governor who ruled from Nineveh.
JONAH—NOTE ON 3:7–8 issued a proclamation. It seems odd that the king would tell everyone to fast and put on sackcloth when they had already done so (v. 5). Therefore it is more likely that v. 5 and vv. 6–9 are in topical rather than chronological order. First the king issued the proclamation, and then the people carried it out (see a similar summons to repentance in Joel 1:13–14). By putting the people’s response ahead of the king’s proclamation, the author underscores the immediacy of the people’s response and that they are responding to Jonah’s message, not just to the king’s command. The Ninevites each turn from his evil way, whereas the Israelites did not (cf. 2 Kings 17:13–14).
JONAH—NOTE ON 3:9 Who knows? expresses hope (see 2 Sam. 12:22) that God may turn and relent—the exact hope of the prophet Joel for the people of Judah (Joel 2:14). we may not perish. This is the third time a pagan has been concerned that people not perish (see Jonah 1:14 and note on 1:6); ironically, Jonah has not expressed any such concern.
JONAH—NOTE ON 3:10 evil … disaster. Both terms translate Hebrew ra‘ah (see note on 1:2). The use of the same word underscores the close connection between human action and divine response. God did not carry out the threatened disaster because the Ninevites repented of their evil (see note on 3:4). From a temporal perspective, God responds to human action; from an eternal perspective, God chooses the means (human repenting) as well as the end (divine relenting). The repentance of Gentiles contrasts with the repeated lack of repentance on the part of Israel (see note on vv. 7–8).
JONAH—NOTE ON 4:1–4 Jonah’s Angry Prayer. The sixth episode parallels the third (1:17–2:10) and focuses on Jonah’s self-centeredness and hypocrisy. Both episodes have the same structure: (1) Jonah “prayed to the LORD” (1:17–2:1a; 4:1–2a); (2) Jonah’s prayer (2:1b–9; 4:2b–3); and (3) “the LORD spoke/said” (2:10; 4:4).
JONAH—NOTE ON 4:1 it displeased Jonah exceedingly (cf. the esv footnote, “it was exceedingly evil to Jonah”). In the previous episode (see 3:10) the pagans got rid of their “evil” and God got rid of the “disaster” he had threatened (both Hb. ra‘ah). The pagans are in harmony with God, but Jonah is not, as he alone is now characterized by “displeasure” (or “evil”; Hb. ra‘ah).
JONAH—NOTE ON 4:2 This is Jonah’s second prayer; the repetition of prayed to the LORD (see 2:1) invites the reader to compare the two. gracious God … relenting from disaster. These same words occur in Joel 2:13 as the basis for hope (see Ex. 34:6–7; Neh. 9:17; Ps. 145:8). Ironically, this standard confession of the compassionate character of God is the root of Jonah’s anger. Steadfast love, when extended to Jonah, filled him with thanksgiving (Jonah 2:8), but when extended to the Ninevites, filled him with anger.
JONAH—NOTE ON 4:3 My life translates Hebrew napshi (“my soul”), and to live translates Hebrew khayyay (“my life”). These two expressions occur in Jonah’s first prayer, where he is grateful that his “life” was brought up from the pit (2:6) and his fainting “life/soul” was revived (2:7). Ironically, when God extends the same mercy to the Ninevites, Jonah wishes his “life” and “soul” to be taken.
JONAH—NOTE ON 4:5–11 Jonah’s Lesson about Compassion. The seventh and final episode has no parallel and thus stands out as the climax of the story.
JONAH—NOTE ON 4:5 Jonah went out … till he should see. Apparently, Jonah hopes that God still will not relent but will destroy the city after all. sat under it in the shade. Jonah is hot—both emotionally (i.e., angry) and physically.
JONAH—NOTE ON 4:6 the LORD God appointed. This is the second use of the verb “appoint” (see 1:17). The kind of plant appointed is not known; the term (Hb. qiqayon) occurs nowhere else in the Bible, but a castor oil plant or a gourd plant, both of which have large leaves, are the most common suggestions. Discomfort (or “evil,” Hb. ra‘ah; see esv footnote and note on 1:2) refers both to Jonah’s outer “discomfort” and to his inner “evil.” Jonah was exceedingly glad. The grammar of this phrase is identical to that at the beginning of 4:1 (“It displeased Jonah exceedingly”) and underscores the contrast between Jonah’s anger at the salvation of the Ninevites and his joy at his own salvation.
JONAH—NOTE ON 4:7–8 God appointed a worm … God appointed a scorching east wind. These are the third and fourth uses of the verb “appoint” (see note on v. 6). The “east wind” is a drying wind from the desert.
JONAH—NOTE ON 4:9 angry for the plant. As God had questioned the justice of Jonah’s anger over the salvation of the Ninevites (v. 4), he now questions the justice of Jonah’s anger over the destruction of the plant.
JONAH—NOTE ON 4:10–11 perished. Finally Jonah expresses concern over something perishing (see note on 3:9), but ironically it is a plant, not the 120,000 people who do not know their right hand from their left, an idiom for being morally and spiritually unaware, that probably refers to the entire population. Jonah’s compassion for the plant explains the rather odd expression that translates the final words in the Hebrew text, and also much cattle. The ironic question raised by these words is: If Jonah will not allow God to have compassion on Nineveh for the sake of the 120,000 people whom God created and cares for, will Jonah not allow God to have compassion on Nineveh for the sake of the animals, since after all, Jonah was willing to have compassion on a plant? The question is left unanswered so that the readers of the book may answer it for themselves.