Jonah 1 · NIVAC

Original Meaning

A Reluctant Prophet and Yahweh (1:1–3)

THESE THREE VERSES are full of detailed action, drawing us into the story. The word of Yahweh comes to Jonah in verse 1 (and will come to him a second time in 3:1). Yahweh tells him to preach against the wicked city of Nineveh, but Jonah runs in the opposite direction, heading for Tarshish. He goes down to Joppa, finds a ship, pays the fare, goes aboard, and sets sail. The detail gives readers the sense of being on board with him when Yahweh’s great windstorm hits and threatens to break the ship apart.

“The word of the LORD came to …” (1:1) is a formulaic phrase used when Yahweh speaks directly to a prophet or to someone asked to participate in Yahweh’s mission in a special way. When the phrase is used again in 3:1, Yahweh repeats his instructions in more detail.1

“Jonah” means “dove.” In Genesis 8:10–11 the dove Noah sent out from the ark returned with the branch of an olive tree—an enduring symbol of peace and compassion. Thus, the “dove” may symbolically imply Yahweh’s attempt to rescue Nineveh from destruction and judgment through forgiveness and mercy. The “Dove” (Jonah) of peace will be his agent.

In the Old Testament doves also moan and lament (Isa. 38:14; 59:11) as Jonah does in Jonah 4. Furthermore, they are birds of sacrifice (Lev. 5:7, 11), just as Jonah is in chapter 1 to save the sailors. Finally, the psalmist longs to be a dove (“a jonah”) to flee from the terrors of death (Ps. 55:4–8).2 Jonah flees like a dove in Jonah 1 from the terror of Nineveh.

Jonah’s command is to preach in Nineveh, a “great” city as well as a wicked one. In fact, the phrase “great city” occurs three other times in the book: 3:2, 3; 4:11.3 The implication is that such a “great,” important, and large city (albeit wicked) is worth Yahweh’s trouble to save.4

Nineveh was on the east bank of the Tigris River (near Al Mawsil or Mosul), about 550 miles northeast of Jerusalem (220 miles north of Baghdad). It was not a great city until the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727 B.C.). In 701 B.C. Sennacherib (705–681 B.C.) made it the capital of Assyria and the most powerful city in the ancient Near East, with an urban perimeter of seven and one-half miles. In the same year he attacked Jerusalem. Nineveh fell to the Babylonians and Medes dramatically in 612 B.C. Its overwhelming greatness lasted about 150 years.

Jonah’s word from Yahweh regarding Nineveh is to “preach against it, because [of] its wickedness” (1:2). The following is a summary of the references to Nineveh’s character as demonstrated in the text, preceded by the name of the speaker.

God:	“Preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me” (1:2).
God:	“Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you” (3:2).
Jonah:	“Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned” (3:4b).
Assyrian king:	“Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence” (3:8b).
Narrator:	When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion (3:10a).

Jonah, however, chooses to flee in the opposite direction (1:3). The first words of the phrase “Jonah ran away” and the first words in 1:2 (“Go”) echo each other in Hebrew (lit., “rise and go”/Jonah “rose and fled”). The original language, in other words, more sharply contrasts what Yahweh asks Jonah to do with what he does immediately. Jonah knows that this call from Yahweh will not simply go away. He immediately grasps the radical and pressing nature of the call (4:2, “that is why I was so quick to flee”) and thinks that only radical and immediate action will save him from God’s call on his life.5

The reasons for Jonah’s running are not explained until 4:2 and cannot be understood without historical background. Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria, was Israel’s worst enemy and the bane of the ancient world. They were a powerful and well-developed civilization, known for their brutal and grisly treatment of their enemies. Jonah’s response to Yahweh’s directive can be understood as fear, rebellion, or moral opposition to Yahweh’s mercy (as Jonah alludes to in 4:2). Jonah is not interested in participating in the redemption of this particular enemy.

It is, of course, impossible to run away from Yahweh. The expression in 1:3 means “away from the presence [millipne] of the LORD [in the temple]” (see 2:4, 7)—an expression used twice in this verse for emphasis. It is a common experience among people of faith to physically leave a place that reminds them of Yahweh in order to avoid the message they have heard in that place.

Verse 3 gives rise to two common questions: “Why Tarshish?” and “Why is Tarshish mentioned three times in one verse?” (“headed for Tarshish … that port … sailed for Tarshish”).6 Tarshish was a Phoenician city in southern Spain, just west of Gibraltar.7 Tyre (north of Israel’s coast) depended on the large merchant ships of Tarshish for shipments of silver, iron, tin, and lead (Isa. 23:1–14; Ezek. 27:12, 25). It was known as the westernmost place in the Mediterranean world (Ps. 72:10; Isa. 60:9; 66:19; Ezek. 38:13).8

Interestingly, the narrative includes that Jonah “paid the fare.” This is detailed and economic story-telling, which moves the action along. The description of Jonah’s energy and action in fleeing, especially in verse 3, masterfully takes the reader for a ride with Jonah. It conveys more than information. By the time the sailors cry out, the reader has a sense of being on the ship with them, wondering what will happen next.

The Sailors and the Reluctant Prophet in Yahweh’s Storm (1:4–12)

Bridging Contexts

THE DIVERSE AND rich tradition in the interpretation of Jonah 1:1–17 has offered many timeless themes, including: “The Lord is God of all creation”; “running away from Yahweh is foolish”; and “God calls his people to preach to those of distant cultures” (sailors, Ninevites). Modern readers have sometimes seen a theme informed by a single verse (1:17): “God can make a large fish, in which a man can survive” (i.e., God can do miracles).

For an interpretation to endure with integrity, it should reflect the whole chapter (in the context of the book) and not simply a portion. The evidence in chapter 1 points to the centrality of Yahweh’s pursuing love in the storm and the unanticipated deliverance of Jonah and the sailors. God’s astoundingly persistent and unrelenting grace pursues the fleeing prophet, unexpectedly delivers him from drowning, and returns him to the dry land of his calling. (It also causes the conversion of the sailors and will redirect Jonah to his original mission to Nineveh.) These actions declare God’s tenacious commitment to reconciliation with humanity. The concluding warrants for this interpretation are found in Jesus’ own words concerning Jonah.

Why Jonah ran. A common theme for teaching and preaching on Jonah 1 is that he ran because of his personal depravity, in spite of his knowledge of God’s sovereignty. He is described as “going down” and “bottoming out,” as he slides down a “slippery slope” of sin. Jonah’s flight is certainly an example of the larger biblical theme of running from God. “Going down” is the refrain by which the life of anyone fleeing from God may be interpreted. In the case of Jonah, it is also important to ask why he ran and what he learned along the way.

“Going down” is indeed a metaphor used in each of Jonah’s actions as well as in the inevitable consequences of “going down” that he cannot escape. He goes down to Joppa, down to the port, down below the deck of the ship, and lying down, falls into a deep sleep. But Yahweh “sent a great wind … a violent storm … the ship threatened to break up.” Yahweh will bring him down even further, and even the pagan sailors know he is in trouble. He needs to “get up”! Finally, thrown overboard, he goes down into the water.

This downward slide of Jonah’s decisions and circumstances are marked in the Hebrew by the verbs yarad and radam (see comments on 1:3–5). This same downward motion in Jonah’s sinking continues in chapter 2 in his description of sinking in the sea: “From the depths of the grave I called for help.… You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas … the deep surrounded me.… To the roots of the mountains I sank down.… But you brought my life up from the pit” (2:2–6).

When Jonah’s “going down” in his flight from Yahweh is preached, the good news is that God pursues him. God does not let him go but finds him out in order to rescue him. But from what kind of depravity is God rescuing Jonah? It is true that God rescues humanity from depravity by seeking our salvation in all times and places. Jonah 1 presents an occasion to teach this truth, but is it reflected by the whole text? Jonah is certainly in rebellion against God’s call to him. He does sink to the depths. Yet in spite of his rebellion, his firm faith and integrity are demonstrated in three ways: He is a true prophet of God (2 Kings 14:25); Yahweh entrusts him with an extremely difficult assignment (Jonah 1:2, which is surely a sign of God’s favor); and he boldly confesses his faith to the sailors (1:9, “I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.”).

Jonah maintains his integrity in confessing his sin to the sailors and is willing to die so that they may live (1:12). His brief rebellion is between his being entrusted with the assignment and his confessing his faith to the sailors. If this truth is expounded, it must resonate with the themes that follow: He believes, confesses his sin, submits to going overboard for the sake of the sailors’ lives, and is then “rescued” by the grace of God by residing in the belly of the fish. Jonah’s integrity and faith, when faced with God’s judgment (the drowning) and grace (in the belly of the fish), nuance the truth of the text beyond rebellion and repentance.

Why did Jonah run? Jonah’s running was a refusal to obey God’s call to “go to Nineveh,” but it was more than simple disobedience. His running demonstrates his basic disagreement with God’s way of dealing with people in the world. Jonah runs because he does not want to go to Nineveh and preach God’s message of repentance (see Bridging Contexts section of ch. 3). Why not? A variety of creative answers are given as to the reason for this dislike, some with more basis in the text than others.

(1) Jonah ran because the Ninevites were not Jews. But the distinction between Gentiles and Jews is never indicated in any way either in this text or in New Testament references to Jonah. The distinction is between violent wickedness and repentance of evil (1:2; 3:8, 10), not Jonah’s cultural selfishness with God’s forgiveness. This “Semitic” reason has been used historically to fuel the isolation of Jewish people, without textual warrant.

(2) Jonah ran because he did not want to be known as a false prophet. Jonah does say that “he knew” the Ninevites would repent (4:2). Commentators also point to the “test” of a prophet in Deuteronomy 18:22a: “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken.” But this “career” reason has no support in the text. It misses the important historical reality that prophecies of doom always contained the possibility of repentance because of God’s reputation for forgiving (Ex. 34:7a).

(3) Jonah ran because he feared the wicked Ninevites. That they were wicked is supported in the text by God (Jonah 1:2) and by the king himself (3:8). It appears, however, that Jonah was not afraid to die. He does not seem to fear the storm and readily offers himself to be tossed overboard (1:12).

(4) Jonah ran from his call in protest against God’s move toward the violently wicked. This is the true reason for Jonah’s running. It is a theological reason. He wants God to be consistent: to destroy those who are violently wicked and to prosper the righteous. He believes God is making an inconsistent and dangerous theological move by offering to forgive the Ninevites (see 4:2). God’s action to save the wicked redefines what God means. It is a new move to convert and rehabilitate habitual and flagrant perpetrators of heinous crimes. To Jonah, God is taking an unbelievable risk in sparing the Ninevites, a risk that is bad for the victims of the world and for God’s reputation. He wants nothing to do with such a strategy (see Bridging Contexts of ch. 4).

“Go to Nineveh” declares a primary theme and timeless call of the book of Jonah. God’s call to Jonah to “go” establishes an enduring revelation and problem for all believers: God wants his prophet to go to his heinous enemies with a message of doom, but one that also includes (as Jonah knows, see Jonah 4:2) the possibility of forgiveness. The Old Testament has another narrative that suggests this possibility. In 2 Kings 5 the commander of the oppressing Syrian army brought a troop into Israel seeking healing from Elisha. Yahweh led the prophet to heal him and send him home in peace (2 Kings 5:19). He did this in spite of the fact that Naaman had routinely raided Israel for loot and slaves. Again in 2 Kings 6:20–23 Elisha demonstrated compassion toward the Syrian enemies whom he healed, fed, and released when they were in his power.

Jonah is running from the visions of God he received in the temple (the typical place of Jonah’s prophetic work; see Jonah 2:4, 7). Jonah is not fleeing the God of heaven, sea, and dry land; he knows that this is impossible (1:9; see below). He is running from God’s specific call on his life to preach to his enemies. He heads for Tarshish and away from the temple, where he was accustomed to hearing the word of Yahweh. He hopes, at least, that God will stop calling him to speak if he can separate himself from that place of hearing God’s voice.

What is timeless? God still calls believers to participate in the risky task of preaching repentance and forgiveness. This double-edged theme of God’s active mercy toward enemies and the call for God’s people to trust God enough to proclaim this (sometimes offensive) mercy has its beginning in Jonah.

This theme comes to full blossom in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus crosses all the social boundaries, reaching out to violent outcasts (e.g., the demoniac in the graveyard), even a zealot (Simon, who was called “the zealot,” Acts 1:13), Roman centurions, and the thief on the cross. The ministry of the Holy Spirit in the early church was plainly extended to outsiders and enemies (e.g., Cornelius and the Ethiopian). Jesus calls his disciples to love their enemies and to pray for those who persecute them (Matt. 5:44). “Jonah” means “dove.” His name represents God’s mission of peace to all people of the world, even God’s chosen people’s enemies.

Where is God in Jonah? (The sovereignty of God). In the last two centuries, interpreters have tended to see Jonah 1 as a treatise on the sovereignty of God. This theme is often summarized in sermons that expound the theme: “You cannot run from God.” P. Kleinert’s early development of this theme is representative of the tradition.

There is no escape from Almighty God. For: 1) He has so arranged the world that the work of every individual is counted upon; and his work is not allowed to stand still, but must be accomplished (Verses 1, 2). 2) Distance is no protection against Him; for to Him belong heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land (Verses 3ff, 9). 3) To Him the winds and waves are subject; for he has made all things (Verses 4, 9). 4) To Him also are subject every where, in involuntary fear, the erring hearts of men (Verses 5, 6); whoever, then, expects to find in them a refuge against God, is deceived. 5) Even things seemingly accidental must obey Him, whenever He intends to carry out his purpose (Verse 7). 6) Everything, however far from, or near to Him it may be, must finally become an instrument in his hand (Verses 11–15), and cooperate for the glorifying of his name (Verse 16).15

That God is almighty is a timeless truth of Jonah. Certainly the futility of Jonah’s running from the God of the sea upon the sea represents this truth. Jonah is a convenient occasion for this theme. Is this sovereignty of God, a theme that is found, to some degree, in every book of the Scripture, the main theme of the chapter? Does Jonah 1:1–17 present a more specific truth? Jonah knew God was the sovereign of the land and sea (1:9) and ran in spite of that fact.

Jonah flees from Yahweh. What does it mean that Jonah flees “from the LORD”? (1:3, lit., “from the LORD’s presence”). The prophet’s main perspective is the one he has inherited by faith: that Yahweh’s presence is, at least most powerfully and assuredly, in the temple (2:4, 7). Technically to “flee from the presence of the LORD” means to flee from the temple. In the temple he stood before Yahweh to listen for a word (2:4). The mistake of the concept that “the presence of the LORD” is only in formal places of worship or limited by them, however, is evident as early as 1:4: “The LORD sent a great wind on the sea.” If Yahweh’s residence is in the temple, he is certainly not limited by it. Where is God in Jonah? He acts in the wind (1:4), the casting of lots (1:7), the fish (1:17; 2:10), the vine (4:6), the worm (4:7), and the temple (2:4). In each case, he is present, and his intentions are revealed in the nonhuman creation.

Jonah is not ignorant of the presence of Yahweh in the whole creation. His confession of faith to the sailors includes Yahweh, “who made the sea and the land” (Jonah 1:9). As a good temple prophet he would have known Psalm 139:7–10.

Where can I go from your Spirit?

Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn,

if I settle on the far side of the sea,

even there your hand will guide me,

your right hand will hold me fast.

He also likely knows the more ominous warning of Amos 9:2–3. “Though they dig down to the depths of the grave, from there my hand will take them.… Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them.”16 So what is Jonah doing “fleeing” from Yahweh, who is known to be present everywhere? He is fleeing to Tarshish. What is Tarshish, and what difference can that make to someone seeking to escape Yahweh? Tarshish is the farthest point west known in his day, where Yahweh is not honored or known. Jonah knows he cannot really escape the God of the universe, but he can try to forget him in the midst of another culture. Jonah, however, does not receive an opportunity to see whether this strategy will work.

More specifically than the general sovereignty of God, this chapter shows the specific concern of a sovereign God for the whole creation. God is God of all creation, and he loves and works in and through what he has created (see Bridging Contexts section of Jonah 4).

The sailors and Jonah. When Jonah first meets the sailors, they do not know Yahweh. They are in the midst of a storm that threatens to kill them, yet they are positive examples in their responses to Jonah and to Yahweh. They are open toward Jonah’s God, asking him to pray for their deliverance (1:6). When they discover by lots that Jonah is responsible for the storm, they are eager to learn about him and his God (1:8). Jonah’s confession of faith (1:9, “the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land”) is in itself noteworthy. In the midst of a storm at sea, however, Jonah’s faith appears murky and his God, fearsome. It is not a strong witness, but it is a faithful one.

Jonah’s witness (and the end of the storm) leads the sailors to faith in Yahweh. When Jonah suggests that they throw him overboard, they resist killing him and row harder. Finally out of options, they pray to Yahweh for forgiveness before tossing him in the water. When the storm is over, they offer thanks to Yahweh for their deliverance and make vows to be faithful to him. Their strong character and open faith demonstrate to Jonah (as well as to the reader) that the world is not necessarily closed to the witness of faith, even a weak witness. Especially in crisis, the world that God loves is open to hearing a witness of the truth. The sailors are not looking for this witness or for the God of the sea and dry land. Through Jonah’s willingness to be thrown overboard, however, they encounter Yahweh and his unanticipated deliverance from the storm.

The miraculous sign of the big fish. The first Jonah text that has a direct reference to the miracle of the fish is Jonah 1:17: “But the LORD provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.” It is mentioned again at the end of chapter 2 “And the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land” (2:10). This part of Jonah is echoed in the New Testament in three places.

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”

He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt. 12:38–40; cf. Luke 11:29–32)

“A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away. (Matt. 16:4)

… that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures.” (1 Cor. 15:4, italics added in all passages)

The miracle of the big fish is threefold: Jonah is rescued from drowning in the sea (esp. Jonah 2); Jonah is inside the fish (1:17); and Jonah is vomited onto dry land to be called again to his mission (2:10; chs. 3–4). The point of the miracle is twofold: to rescue Jonah from drowning and to call him again to his mission. Jonah’s survival inside the fish for three days (mentioned only in 1:17b) has unfortunately become the modern trademark of the story.17

The significance of the big fish is that the reader is asked to believe the “unbelievable.” What is unbelievable? For many modern readers the answer stops with: “the physical impossibility of the fish swallowing Jonah.” The text, however, offers another answer to the question (the physical possibility is not an issue in the biblical text). The “big fish” swallowing the rebellious and drowning prophet is a sign of Yahweh’s pursuing and extraordinary mercy. Jonah’s prayer of thanks in chapter 2 develops this meaning.

Even more, the fish represents Yahweh’s forgiveness of Jonah’s rebellion against his call to the Ninevites. The fish’s swallowing Jonah is a sign that Yahweh will not be dissuaded from his intention to present the possibility of repentance and forgiveness to Israel’s enemy. It demonstrates the astounding lengths to which God will go to reconcile Jonah and the violent Ninevites to himself through Jonah. The fish represents an “unbelievable” theology: Yahweh wants to save the rebellious and the violent. Through the agency of the big fish, Jonah is forgiven and saved. Also unbelievable, the storm is stilled and the sailors worship the true God, and the Ninevites receive the message from Jonah, repent, and are saved. In this way the bigness of the unbelievable fish is finally about God’s saving way in the world. The big fish makes a specific point of God’s extravagant, unrelenting, pursuing, and saving love.

When Jesus responds in his typically cryptic way to the Pharisees’ request for a miraculous sign, he speaks of the “belly of the huge fish.” This reference to his descent to death (“three days and three nights in heart of the earth”) is an allusion to the miracle of his resurrection. The sign of Jonah is not the belly of the fish but the rescue from death in the process of the fish’s swallowing and vomiting. The miraculous sign is his deliverance from death, not his residence in the fish. This may seem like a too subtle point, but in teaching and preaching, the shift in emphasis may be catastrophic.

The common distraction. Modern readers are so fascinated with Jonah in the belly of the fish that the fish is often referred to as a whale (which apparently makes it more likely, although less of a miracle).18 The scientific possibility of a man surviving in a whale has refocused interpretation of the miracle in such a way that we miss the point of the text and of Jesus’ meaning. Rather than focusing on the miracle of Jonah’s forgiveness and deliverance by the action of God (the content of chs. 1–2), too many today have focused on the swallowing and Jonah’s wallowing in the “pit” of the fish’s belly.

More recent interpreters (from the nineteenth century to the present) have aggravated this situation by making the “truth” of the account a litmus test for Christian faith. Using belief in Jonah’s residence in the belly of a fish (or whale) as a test for a general faith in miracles tends to silence the message of God in the book itself. When the subject of Jonah is raised in conversation, the first and often only question concerning the text is: “Could the prophet really have been swallowed by a whale?” In this way the book of Jonah is reduced to a single question, and its amazing message of God’s pursuing love is muted. For many, once the question of miracle/no miracle is answered, the conversation about Jonah is over. Consider, however, a legacy that begins with the question, “What does Jonah’s expulsion from the fish mean?”

What miracle made all the difference to Jonah? It is not the amazing dimensions of the fish. Rather, it is Jonah’s rescue from drowning (ch. 2) and later, the dry land. What miracle makes all the difference to Christians? Is it the dimensions of the grave? No, it is our deliverance from death through Jesus’ death. It is Jesus’ being raised by the Father in a victory over sin, death, and the devil. It is our hope secured through his resurrection. The important miraculous sign of Jonah is that he is raised from the depths, not that he survives in the air sac or the wide pharynx of a whale. As a parallel, Jesus’ time in the grave is not the focus of our wonder, but the empty tomb is. Jesus’ mention of Jonah’s three days was to quiet the Pharisees with a cryptic reference. It was not an elevation of that part of the miracle.

The timeless truth of Jonah 1 is that the inclination of every person (even a true prophet of God) is to flee from the radical grace of God. The idea that God loves and seeks reconciliation with the violent people of Nineveh puts Jonah and anyone who understands what God is suggesting, initially, to flight.

Contemporary Significance

WHEN JONAH RUNS to Tarshish, it is the beginning of a serious theological argument with God. God’s word commands Jonah to preach against the wicked Ninevites, and Jonah suspects (as he states in ch. 4) that Yahweh wants to save Israel’s archenemy and to reconcile them to himself. Although Jonah believes God is serious, he cannot swallow this theology. Yahweh, in a countermove, decides that Jonah should be swallowed by it.

Jonah runs in the same two ways we run from God’s message of forgiveness. We run from God’s forgiveness for us and from our participation in proclaiming that message of forgiveness to others. Jonah, a “prophet of doom,” is sent to bear a message that may result in forgiveness for Nineveh. His own rescue is a by-product of God’s pursuit of his obedience. We are not prophets of doom but Christians with a call to accept for ourselves and to proclaim a similar message. In Christ, God offers an enduring call to repentance and forgiveness to the unlikeliest of people. This call begins with our own salvation. The tendency of all persons in our lost world is to run from this call, attempting to lead self-authenticating lives. God must seek after each one of us. We also run from the call to proclaim repentance and reconciliation with God to our families and friends, let alone those we do not like, or our mortal enemies.

In Jonah the difficult mercy of Yahweh finds Jonah in a dramatic storm. It also finds sailors, not looking for trouble, whose lives are imminently threatened. Hearing Jonah’s witness, and receiving his self-sacrifice, they are delivered and turn to his Lord in prayer, commitment (vows), and worship.

Running to Tarshish. Jonah runs by sea toward Tarshish in spite of his knowledge that Yahweh is the God of all the sea and dry land. He runs to avoid the two places associated with Yahweh’s word to him: the temple (where he heard it) and Nineveh. He heads to Tarshish, hoping to escape the sound of Yahweh’s voice. He knows Yahweh is present everywhere, but he flees to a place he hopes will drown out the sound of God’s word to him.

Jonah seeks a culture where he will not hear about God’s faithfulness to his people, God’s commandments, or any reference to God. He wants a sui generis (“self-referring”) existence. Many people attempt a similar flight into the “culture” of secularity. They hope that if they are preoccupied with other values and commitments, they can forget God’s Word. They hope that if they are surrounded by a crowd that has not heard the instruction, prophets, wisdom, or the gospel of the Lord, they too may be able to ignore it. They also believe, superseding belief in the Great Commission, that we can live sui generis lives.19

“Self-referring” lives can be sinful in two general ways.20 (1) We may pretend not to be limited and overestimate our capacities as fallen creatures of a Creator. In this case, we do not refer to God in praise or worship because we assume we don’t need him. We are self-sufficient. (2) We may pretend not to be created creatures in God’s creation. We may curve inward toward the created world, underestimating our capacities in relation to God, or we may lose ourselves in some aspect of the creation that controls our lives in various idolatries. Both of these sinful postures are forms of running from God.

We should not run from God, but we do. Even our piety, as in Jonah’s righteous indignation with God’s mercy, can cause us to run. Until we admit we are on the run, we are lost. But when, with Jonah, we admit our true situation (1:10), we have real hope. God in his mercy does more than call us back to himself. Yahweh pursues us as he pursued Jonah, with a storm, sailors’ questions, and the great fish of death. This pursuit is our only hope. Apart from it, we are still running from God and from the message of Jonah. Note Paul’s question in Romans 7

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin. (Rom 7:22–25

Running from the call to witness to the ends of the earth. God’s call to be a witness of grace to our enemies is also something we share with Jonah. Jonah’s running is not ordinary running from God. It is a protest against the call to be a witness to his enemies. He runs from the temple (to avoid Yahweh’s voice) and from Nineveh. Jonah believes the sovereignty of God in this calling, he simply does not want to obey it. In a similar way, we claim to believe Jesus’ words: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matt. 5:44), but we find it difficult to practice them. We also believe the Great Commission and Jesus’ parting words that include our enemies, near and far: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8b). Still, believers often avoid bearing witness.

As armchair prophets, we judge Jonah harshly, yet Jonah was a true and faithful prophet of God (2 Kings 14:25). He was chosen by Yahweh above all the other prophets of his day for a difficult task. Yahweh did not ask the great prophets Isaiah, Amos, or Hosea to go to the Assyrians. He called Jonah, not only to speak against Israel’s enemy Assyria (like Nahum) but to go into the mouth of the Assyrian lion. Daniel is later captured with his friends and deported to Babylon and its lions’ den, but Jonah is told to go on his own. He is not afraid to die when he runs from God’s command. He is ready to die (“Throw me into the sea,” Jonah 1:12). Rather, in his real-life struggle, Jonah concludes that God has gone too far with grace, and he doesn’t care to participate in this foolishness (see 4:2). He would have preferred Nahum’s assignment, to speak an irrevocable judgment of exacting retribution for Nineveh’s crimes:

An oracle concerning Nineveh.…

The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;

the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.

The LORD takes vengeance on his foes

and maintains his wrath against his enemies. (Nah. 1:1a, 2)

There are many ways to run from God’s call to be a witness of grace to our enemies. We may not physically run, but we negotiate our participation in the gospel. We may prefer Nahum’s commission of condemnation to Jesus’ Great Commission: “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations” (Matt. 28:19a). Mission to the unreached is the first and essential command of the risen Christ (“Go and tell”). Without mission, Christianity has no commission. In spite of this, many congregations struggle to support missionaries and evangelism. At the beginning of the twenty-first century more than 144 million persons in 815 ethnic people groups have virtually no access to the gospel message.21

In spite of these facts, the most affluent churches in the world often dedicate only small parts of their budget to mission projects outside of their locality. The judgment of Jonah is that those who resist participation in proclaiming the gospel of repentance and forgiveness have only one real hope. Those who do not go or give support, as well as those who actively or passively resist their own calls locally, regionally, and globally, can only hope to suffer the same severe mercy as Jonah.22 They may hope that the miracle of deliverance becomes so personal that they can no longer withhold the message of rescue and life from others. To many it sounds inefficient or even foolish to send missionaries. It is as foolish as sending one prophet from Israel to preach in the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, or as sending a baby to occupied Palestine to bring good news to the world. It is the foolishness of the cross (1 Cor. 1:18–25).

Even in his reluctance, Jonah eventually does go to Nineveh. The book tells the truth about what the most difficult mission assignments are like for missionaries. In order to have integrity, a constant conversation with Yahweh must ensue, in which all the fears, disputes, and anxieties of the calling can be spoken to Yahweh. Jonah is an inspiration to anyone who has embarked on such a calling. Protest is a human reality of struggling with a call to one’s enemies. The crucial question is whether or not the ambassador of Yahweh finally is given the grace to go. Jonah goes and speaks the word he is given, and thousands are saved. His first flight to Tarshish is a significant protest. But even there his calling from God is confirmed when he speaks the word of witness and the sailors are converted. Jonah is, despite his rebellious protest, a faithful witness, used by God.

A caution against anti-Semitism. Jonah must not be typecast as a faithless representative of a stingy Israel. Jonah is a person called to a seemingly impossible task, with whom Jesus identifies (Matt. 12:39–41; see below). Within the last hundred years, some Christian interpreters have controverted and flattened the message of the book of Jonah in an irresponsible and anti-Semitic explanation of its meaning. Jonah has been called “a salutary lesson to the Jews … renowned for their stubbornness and lack of faith.”23

Jonah is said to be a “type of the narrow, blind, prejudiced, and fanatic Jews.”24 The transference of the prophet’s struggle with a difficult word from Yahweh to the Jewish people in general has no warrant in the text. Such references are indeed a current and ongoing concern as anti-Semitism continues to rear its ugly head.25 Anti-Semitic assertions subvert the text of Scripture by ignoring Jonah’s historical setting and by failing to understand the actual life-experience of those called to such prophetic tasks.26

How can we hold out hope that anyone will call on the name of the Lord if they are the object of anti-Semitic hate? The apostle Paul develops an argument for Christian humility in relation to Judaism. “I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew” (Rom. 11:1–2a). He continues, “If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root, do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you” (Rom. 11:17–18).

If the root of Judaism supports the branch of Christianity, on what basis does a Christian interpreter stand and strike the root? Paul issues a stern warning “Do not be arrogant, but be afraid” (Rom. 11:20b). As he draws his argument to a close, he states the case unmistakably. “But as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable” (Rom. 11:28b–29).

The “Jonah as reluctant Israel” typology is unfaithful to Paul’s struggle in Romans 9–11 with God’s promises to the chosen people and the reality of Jesus’ call for his followers to be a witness to all people. In light of the Christian record in Europe in the last century, any reading that maintains this kind of interpretation wittingly or unwittingly participates in a hateful error. At the very least, Christians are called to love and bear witness, not to hate.

Jonah as a Christ figure. In biblical typology Jonah is a Christ figure, not as an antithesis of Christ. Jesus himself is the source of this typology, developed by the teaching of the early church fathers. Jesus’ positive appraisal of the meaning of Jonah is solid ground for interpreting the prophet in a favorable light. Jesus held Jonah up as a sign of his own willingness to be “buried” for three days to save others (see above, Bridging Contexts). Jesus also lifted Jonah up as a sign of a faithful preaching prophet (Luke 11:29–32; Matt. 12:41) similar to himself, though not as great. Jesus’ own identification with Jonah is a positive one. When Jesus gives Simon the name Peter, at his great confession of Jesus as the Christ, he calls him by his surname “Simon son of Jonah” (Matt. 16:17). This reference, in the same chapter as his reference to Jonah’s three days, may be more than coincidental, considering Peter’s later effective preaching for repentance and forgiveness in Jerusalem (Acts 2:14–42).

The church fathers favored Jonah in their sermons and anti-Marcionite tracts. Following in Jesus’ interpretive footsteps, they revered Jonah as a positive example of effective preaching and victory over death and the devil. Jerome even considered Jonah’s flight from Jerusalem to be like Jesus’ “flight” from heaven in the Incarnation. Both fled, not in rebellion but as an attempt to save Israel. Jonah’s flight would save Israel by ensuring its enemy Nineveh’s destruction. Jesus’ flight to earth would save the world by his death and resurrection. Like Jonah, Jesus fled the heavens for Tarshish, which is “the sea of this world.”27

Jonah and Jesus can be compared favorably in many ways: Jesus did perfectly what Jonah also (if temporarily) accomplished; both were from Galilee; Jonah struggled with his call to preach, Jesus struggled to do the will of the Father (in the desert, at Gethsemane); both preached God’s message of judgment and reconciliation to the marginalized and to sinners; both chose death willingly when the time came, for the sake of others; both went to death forsaken by others; both bore and removed the consequences of sin from others; both caused the storm to cease after sleeping through it (Jonah through repentance, Jesus through his divinity); Jonah entered the jaws of the fish, Jesus entered the jaws of the grave; both were kept for three days; both were raised up again by the Father; Jonah’s obedience in preaching led to the conversion of a great city, and Jesus’ obedience led to the conversion of many cultures of the world.

The ultimate victory over death is the most enduring comparison of Jonah and Jesus. The stained glass of the cathedral in Cologne, Germany, depicts Jonah emerging from the mouth of the fish/serpent with a sign of blessing mirrored by Jesus, who does the same, emerging from the tomb. If any typology is to be applied to Jonah in Christian interpretation, let us follow in the faithful footsteps of the early church, which relied on Jesus’ words about the enduring meaning of Jonah for his followers. Jonah is, despite himself, a faithful witness.

As Jonah does to the sailors, we should be ready in season and out of season (2 Tim. 4:2) to give a witness concerning Yahweh to the world. We should pray for and support missionaries in difficult places. Yet, who can love their enemy, or even their neighbor, enough to go to them with the word of life? Who will interrupt their life and their schedule to support mission work? We do not do what we ought or as much as we could. But God in his mercy calls us back from our self-centered flight. He calls us back to the center of our calling by delivering us again from our patterns of escape, our shallow excuses, and our thin arrogance of busyness. He delivers us from ourselves to be ambassadors of God. Even when our witness is hollow-sounding, like Jonah’s in the storm at sea, God honors us with faithfulness to his Word and delivers us all by it. In the end we are all Jonah, resisting the grace of God, even to ourselves. We are in need of deliverance and rescue.

Rowing and the surrender of the sailors. The sailors anxiously worked to fix the problem of the storm. They had not been in the presence of Yahweh’s speaking in the temple and were not on the way to witness in Nineveh, but they were making their way by their knowledge, intelligence, strength, and wits. What they did in the midst of their fear of the storm was admirable: They prayed to their gods. When their gods proved helpless, the sailors jettisoned cargo to lighten the load. They assessed all their assets, including the sleeping Jonah. Discovering his culpability in the trouble, they researched his history, actions, and role to discover the best damage control strategy. The sailors’ questions for Jonah are still relevant and incisive for us today. They are motivated by fear and are desperate to solve the danger they face.

As the sailors urgently ask, with the ship pitching to and fro on the violent waves, we are drawn into the narrative. How might we answer in a similar situation, as we or those around us are about to perish “in the storm”? Jonah’s faithful response establishes a bond of sympathy with the reader who is a believer in Yahweh. He confesses his identity and faith, and the sailors believe him.

Sailors:	“How can you sleep?” … “What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?” (Jonah 1:6, 8).
Jonah:	“I am a Hebrew and I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land” (1:9).
Terrified Sailors:	“What have you done?… What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?” (1:10a, 11b).
Jonah:	“Pick me up and throw me into the sea and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you” (1:12).

Jonah is the key player, the one on whose account their present danger exists, and the sailors ask his advice. He suggests that they must toss him into the sea, and yet the risk and downside of tossing him over with the cargo seems too steep. Perhaps it will only anger Jonah’s God. Or perhaps they are unwilling to toss Jonah overboard, even to save themselves. So first of all, they row. Only when that fails do they reluctantly follow Jonah’s direction.

The sailors provide us an excellent example by their readiness to acknowledge their helplessness, hear Jonah’s witness, act on it, and worship the true God. They hear Jonah’s witness to Yahweh and believe his witness. They, like Jonah, run from the difficult action required of them (throwing Jonah overboard) but realize the futility of rowing against Yahweh’s storm. They surrender, believing a seemingly impossible word from Yahweh, that Yahweh’s appointed man will die for their salvation. They believe and worship Yahweh.

Who can surrender to such difficult demands in faith? We cannot. But God in his mercy calls us by his Holy Spirit. Martin Luther’s explanation of the third article of the Apostles’ Creed states: “I believe that I cannot, by my own understanding or effort, believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.…”28

Jonah’s integrity, a positive example. Jesus’ celebration of Jonah as a positive example of death and resurrection works for Christian preaching precisely when it deconstructs the spirituality of the hearer. Jonah’s integrity is his admission that he can neither remain standing in God’s presence nor do what God requires. He flees in protest. He does not deserve God’s mercy. Even though he knows God is merciful (4:2), he cannot claim it, because he cannot fulfill God’s command. His fleeing has integrity because he recognizes his situation. If Jonah is to be saved, only God can deliver him.

By contrast, many “good” Christians cultivate their spirituality in order to establish that they are basically good people, deserving of God’s favor. Whether their project is based on comparison (“I am better than those sinners”) or on accomplishment (“I have committed myself to this good work”) or on the absence of evil (“I have never really hurt anyone”), it is a kind of “constructed spirituality.” This kind of thinking denies the truth that only God can deliver us and that our righteousness is, in fact, “alien.” Righteousness projects are present in everyone who thinks of God. They are the most elaborate in the most religious Christians, lay and clergy (author included) alike. Jesus’ celebration of Jonah as a positive example of his own death and resurrection works to deconstruct our projects and truly turn us to Yahweh when both Jonah’s integrity and his fault in fleeing are recognized.

Jesus compares Jonah to himself. Jesus does not deserve human judgment or death. Even though he knows his innocence, he does not claim it. Only God the Father can deliver him. Jonah and Jesus represent two sides of the same coin of judgment/grace. Jonah’s integrity is in knowing he is not righteous. Jesus’ integrity is that he does not claim his own righteousness as the basis of his deliverance. God the Father brings both back to life. Both are positive models of hope for our own deliverance from death.

We cannot match Jesus’ righteousness or his complete reliance on the Father. We can only confess our need of Jonah’s integrity by fleeing from our spirituality projects and righteous arguments. Jesus calls us to the example of the sign of Jonah: to flee from the presence of our false holiness into God’s storm, to his questioning sailors, and into the mouth of the great fish. In the celebration of Jonah, Jesus calls us to be transformed by his unexpected deliverance and grace.29 Only then may we know the absolute mercy of our salvation and the pure gift of dry land. Only then may we be prepared with integrity to do what God calls us to do. Only then will we know our need to run from a self-constructed righteousness and turn toward God and his difficult calling.

God’s mercy. The storm is God’s severe mercy for Jonah and the sailors; it is necessary in order to deliver them from their sui generis lives. It is the wind of the Spirit that shakes the ship’s beams and opens our ears and hearts to the words of God. The sailors’ conversion is God’s faithfulness to his word of witness, even in the form of a weak witness from Jonah. As in Christ’s death, God turns our condemnation (the crowds’ betrayal, Jonah’s sinking) into our salvation (resurrection/great fish).

God’s mercy toward our enemies and the call for God’s people to trust him enough to proclaim this mercy from the double theme of Jonah. God’s mercy pursues Jonah. God called his prophet to speak to a people who were about to be destroyed for their violent crimes against humanity. He sent Jonah so that they might repent and be saved. God does not let Jonah go or leave him to wallow in his rebellion, but he quickly brings him to repentance. He pursues him through the storm and gives him an opportunity to fulfill his prophetic calling before the sailors, to good effect. God assigns a fish to rescue Jonah from drowning, saving both Jonah and his aborted mission. In spite of his rebellion, Jonah is “God’s dear child.”30

Jonah begins in protest by running away from God’s call. His faith in God, however, is a real-life example and source of hope for believers. His honest faith, in spite of his failing trust of his calling, may serve as an encouragement to those who are called to ministry. All who are called to difficult work struggle with trust in God (including the apostle Paul). While the storm rages, Jonah declares his faith boldly to the sailors. He calmly confesses his guilt and offers himself as the means of their deliverance from the storm. This example of renewal of faith and trust in God is an example for all who would welcome God’s mercy in the midst of trouble, even when we are, ourselves, the source of the trouble.31

Original Meaning

The Sailors and the Reluctant Prophet in Yahweh’s Storm (1:4–12)

VERSE 4 TURNS our attention to the sailors and captain of the storm-bound ship and their situation in relation to Yahweh and Jonah. They are afraid because of the storm and cry out to their gods, and they then proceed to throw their cargo overboard (a radical action for freight haulers). The captain wakes Jonah to enlist him to pray, and the men cast lots and discover Jonah’s sin.

They interrogate him, hear his witness to Yahweh, and become even more terrified, since Jonah’s God is “the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” They chastise him for his foolishness in trying to run away from Yahweh (“What have you done?” 1:10). The pagan sailors seem to know the rules of relationship to gods better than Jonah. It is on account of this fleeing prophet that Yahweh is making the sea “rougher and rougher.”

In the end the sailors desperately ask Jonah what they should do to him “to make the sea calm down for us.” The sailors’ questioning and the urgency of Yahweh’s storm finally pry from Jonah a confession of guilt (v. 12), just as they had pried a confession of faith. He has, albeit under duress, fulfilled his calling as a true prophet of Yahweh by witnessing to the God of heaven, confessing his sin, and instructing the sailors to act. He has also taken a vital step toward his specific and difficult calling in that he offers himself as a sure sacrifice for their safety.

In verse 4, one can almost hear the creaking timbers as the stress of the pounding on the hull increases. The root twl (“hurl, send, throw”) is first used in this verse and three additional times in chapter 1, increasing the sense of power and danger in the situation:

1:4: Yahweh sent a great wind on the sea.

1:5: [The sailors] threw the cargo into the sea.

1:12: “Throw me into the sea,” he replied.

1:15: [The sailors] threw him overboard.

Jonah is passive in verses 5–7. Exhausted from his struggle and decision to flee, he sleeps. He has temporarily escaped the pressure of God’s word, but by fleeing he has also turned from the possibility of calling on his God.

The captain is puzzled how Jonah can sleep through the storm (1:6). All of those on board are searching for every possible means to end their deadly predicament, including the expectation that each one must call on his gods. Jonah’s decision to run from God is now a matter of life and death for the sailors and their captain. His action has endangered them. This web of interrelationships is one of the lessons of the book. All of life is related before the Lord of life (who made the sea and the land). The prophet of Israel, pagan sailors, Ninevites, and in later verses, a fish, vine, worm, and cattle are all interconnected under God’s caring purposes.

Jonah’s deep sleep in the recesses of the ship reveals his indifference to his own life and the lives of others. To see such callousness so early in the development of the narrative distances many readers from Jonah. Jonah’s aversion to the evil Ninevites is understandable, but his indifference to the life of his shipmates seems callous. The pagan captain speaks of their agitation: “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god!” (1:6). Telling the story in this way converts even the pious reader to the perspective of the impious captain.

Jonah’s deep sleep is the bottom of a quick slide from “a prophet in the presence of the LORD in Israel” to “deadly indifference in the hull of a sinking ship.” The Hebrew uses the same word root to describe how Jonah “went down to Joppa” (1:3, yarad), “went aboard [the ship]” (1:3, yarad), and “had gone below deck” (1:5, yarad). When he falls into a “deep sleep” (1:5, yeradam), the Hebrew words are a play on similar sounds (yarad/yeradam). The second root (radam) is repeated by the captain, who says, “How can you sleep [nireddam]?” Jonah’s sleeping is the bottom of his flight from Yahweh (see further comments at 2:7). The captain tells Jonah to “Get up!”—in essence, to reverse his direction from “down” to “up.” The captain uses the same word (qum) that Yahweh spoke to Jonah at the beginning (1:2; lit., “Get up and go”).

Everyone in this book eventually calls on God: the sailors, Jonah, and the Ninevites. The Hebrew qaraʾ is translated as both “call” and “cry out”:

1:6: 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, and we will not perish.”

1:14: Then they cried to the LORD, “O LORD, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life.”

2:2: He said: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.”

3:8: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence.

The captain hopes what Jonah already knows, that his God is compassionate (see Bridging Contexts section of ch. 4). In the sailors’ circumstance, they are not in a position to be particular. For them, one god is as good as another as long as it is a god that saves. The captain’s request for Jonah to pray to his god is an incredible opportunity for Jonah to give witness to and demonstrate the power of the Lord of life, but he remains silent.

The captain implies a preliminary understanding of the existence of Jonah’s God when he says, “Maybe he will take notice of us.” The contrast is more striking in Hebrew because a more literal rendition is: “It may be that haelohim9 will take notice.” The verb “will take notice” is singular (as the NIV translates correctly); what is lost in translation is the plural subject haelohim (NIV simply “he”). The captain acknowledges the possibility that Jonah’s God, the God of the Hebrews (haelohim), is the true God.

The sailors continue to take charge of the situation by casting lots to find the source of their calamity (1:7). As Yahweh has used the storm, he uses the lot-casting to expose Jonah to the sailors and bring him to face his calling as a prophet. The wind, the sailors, and the lots are each the agents of God for this purpose (see further comments at 1:17).

Although it is not seen in English, the interplay of Hebrew and Aramaic in the conversation shows that the sailors and Jonah are doing the best they can to communicate with each other. When speaking to each other, the sailors use an Aramaic expression: “Then the sailors said to each other, ‘Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for [bešellemi] this calamity.’ They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.” But when the sailors speak to Jonah, they say the same thing in full Hebrew: “So they asked him, ‘Tell us, who is responsible for [baʾašer lemi] making all this trouble for us?’” (1:8a). When Jonah uses the same expression to admit his fault, he uses the sailors’ Aramaic: “I know that it is my fault [bešelli] that this great storm has come upon you” (1:12b).

When Jonah tells them who his God is (1:9), the sailors are terrified. Immediately they understand the cause of the storm and ask the equivalent of “Are you crazy?” (“What have you done?”). The tremendous storm is the primary evidence that Jonah’s God is powerful. When he says that “the LORD [is] God of heaven, who made the sea and the land,” they know they are in trouble. Who runs away from the God of the sea on a ship?

The sailors’ five rapid-fire questions (1:8) continue the energy of their desperate work against the storm (praying to gods, jettisoned cargo, lots cast). They have discovered Jonah by lot and now need to know more, quickly. They seek a confession and confirmation, but Jonah doesn’t give them a confession yet. He ignores this part, although he knows he is cornered.

Next they ask, “What do you do?” The question about occupation means, “Whom do you represent?”10 Knowing this should help them know whom to appease. The following three questions: “Where do you come from?” “What is your country?” and “From what people are you?” Jonah can answer in a single phrase: “I am a Hebrew.”

The second question is the most difficult question for Jonah. Is he a messenger of God? It is this question that has driven him to this ship. It is the question that he doesn’t want to answer. When Yahweh called him to Nineveh, he didn’t want to be a prophet any longer. Now the sailors want to know. In the midst of this storm, what are his commitments? What are his allegiances?

The irony of Jonah’s decision is that he will die in either case. If he says nothing, the storm will kill them all. If he confesses, he knows he alone will die. God has reduced his decision to the question, “Will your life/death save the lives of others, or will it be an ordinary death at sea in a storm with pagan sailors?” This is the essence of his call to be a prophet. In the case of Nineveh, Jonah’s decision was for a meaningless life and death that he could, nonetheless, choose. Now the decision is put to him again, so close that Jonah cannot fail to see the difference.

Jonah’s answer to the second and vital question implies his decision (in 1:12) to have a meaningful death: “I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land” (1:9b). His “worship” (yaraʾ, “fear”) is meaningful in fulfilling his calling. This confession itself is a fulfillment of his calling as prophet. He witnesses to the reality of Yahweh, declaring that he is the Creator, the God of heaven, sea, and land. Jonah is in the center of a traditional faith, also expressed in Psalm 95:5: “The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.”11

The question in Jonah 1:10 (“What have you done?”) also implies, “What have you done to us?” Jonah now has to consider his guilt in the potential death of the sailors in the storm. He faces a call to put himself at risk for the sake of unbelievers for the second time, now in an intense situation. He ran from his call to the Ninevites, but now he is face to face with pagan sailors. What will he do? The sailors want to know. His witness will come only in his willingness to die as he says, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea” (1:12). In this verse Jonah turns a bit further toward Yahweh (cf. 1:9 for the first turning).

The sailors’ question in 1:11 (“What should we do to you?”) probably assumes that some ritual punishment is necessary and that they must do something to Jonah, who has not been obedient to Yahweh. Again we see the sailors’ correct perception. Jonah doesn’t have the will to jump himself but asks them to “pick him up” in order to “throw him” into the sea.

The tension is now heightened by the graphic language: “The sea was getting rougher and rougher” (lit., “the sea walked and raged”). In 1:11–12 the sailors and Jonah both use the Aramaic expression “to make the sea calm down,” using the Aramaic word šataq. Jonah uses a second Aramaic expression (“it is my fault”) in this exchange as well (see comments on 1:5–7). The continued use of Aramaic implies a desire to communicate.

In verse 12, Jonah prophesies correctly for the second time in the book (that the sea will become calm; cf. 1:15). His first “prophecy” (declaration of the truth of God) was in 1:9b, when he said he worships Yahweh, the God of heaven who made the sea and the land.

Jonah does not seem to be capable of simple repentance. He could have sought forgiveness during the storm (as the Ninevites do later) and committed himself to go to Nineveh. But perhaps he believes that too much “water had passed under his ship” by this time. Perhaps he is not sure that his repentance would bring forgiveness. He prefers to believe (wants to believe?!) in a God who only judges and does not forgive. He would rather die in the sea than suggest to the sailors that they turn around and return him to Joppa to complete Yahweh’s call to Nineveh.

Yet Jonah does have compassion on the innocent sailors and does not want them to die. He will accept death for them, not in obedience to God but, nonetheless, in their place. It was a heroism born of his desperate situation. Although he is disobeying God, he still believes in Yahweh’s power and in acting justly toward others. (His repentance comes in chapter 2.)

The Sailors and Yahweh (1:13–16)