‘Now the word of YHWH came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,' As a prophet of YHWH Jonah received ‘the word of YHWH'. We are rarely given any explanation of how the word of YHWH was given and we are not justified in most cases in assuming that the prophet went into a state of ecstasy. Indeed it c... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me.' YHWH's command was that Jonah should go to Nineveh to proclaim His word there, because He was aware of their ‘wickedness', or alternatively ‘the evil that had come upon them'. In fact both meaning... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of YHWH, and he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of YHWH.' But Jonah was unwilling to go to Nineveh and sought to evade YHWH's ca... [ Continue Reading ]
‘But YHWH sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was likely to be broken.' But YHWH was not going to let Jonah off so easily. Jonah was His servant and He never just cast off His servants however badly they behaved. He was as concerned to show... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god, and they cast overboard the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he lay, and was fast asleep.' It may well be that Jonah was the only passen... [ Continue Reading ]
‘So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, O sleeper? Arise, call on your God, if so be that God will think on us, so that we perish not.” ' The shipmaster was concerned to see that while his mariners were doing all that they could to persuade their gods to rescue the ship,... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And they said every one to his fellow, “Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is on us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.” Then in desperation, when things did not improve, the mariners decided to cast lots in order to find out who among them had anger... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then they said to him, “Tell us, we pray you, for whose cause this evil is on us. What is your occupation, and from where do you come? What is your country, and of what people are you?” Convinced that they had now found the culprit they asked him to explain why this evil had come upon them, and in... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew; and I fear YHWH, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.” ' Jonah answered in terms that they could understand. ‘Hebrew' was the description used by outsiders of Israelites. It had originally arisen because they were a nomadic people with no p... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then the men were hugely afraid, and said to him, “What is this that you have done?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of YHWH, because he had told them.' When the men heard that YHWH was a God of the sea they were terrified, and knowing from what he had said earlier that he w... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm for us?” For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.' Then they asked him, as one who would know his God's requirements, what they could do to pacify Him so that the sea would become calm, for the storm was getting worse and... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And he said to them, “Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea, so will the sea be calm for you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is on you.” ' As a prophet his reply was that, recognising that this great storm had arisen because of him (for his sake), they must throw him into the... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get themselves back to the land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.' However, to the men's credit, they were loath to offer him as a human sacrifice, and began to put in every effort to row the ship to the shoreline, prob... [ Continue Reading ]
‘For which reason they cried to YHWH, and said, “We beseech you, O YHWH, we beseech you, do not let us perish for this man's life, and do not lay on us innocent blood, for you, O YHWH, have done as it pleased you.” ' When all proved vain they recognised that they were left with little alternative,... [ Continue Reading ]
‘So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging.' Then they took up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and no doubt to their great astonishment, discovered that the sea immediately began to quieten down and eventually ceased from its raging. Here was evid... [ Continue Reading ]
‘Then the men feared YHWH greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to YHWH, and made vows.' And the result was that the men recognised in YHWH a God Who had to be taken into account, and they paid Him due awed reverence, and offered a sacrifice to Him, and made vows, presumably vowing to continue to h... [ Continue Reading ]
‘And YHWH prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly (innards) of the fish three days and three nights.' Meanwhile YHWH had not forgotten YHWH and as God of land and sea had already made provision for Jonah by arranging for a large fish to be in the area, so that as Jonah... [ Continue Reading ]