Welcome to the ROC!

Lutheran Hour Ministries’Regional Outreach Conference

Rev. Dr. Reed Lessing

Associate Professor, Exegetical TheologyConcordia Seminary, St. Louis

JONAH

On a Tough Mission for a Tender God

Jonah 1:1

“And the word of YAHWEH came to…”

Used in Old Testament only when contexts and circumstances regarding the prophet and his mission are already established in previous statements.

Story of Jonah actually begins in another place; i.e. 2 Kings 14:25.

Jonah 1:1

“And the word of YAHWEH came to…”

Anchors Jonah in the 8th century B.C. as a court-prophet of the Israelite king Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.).

“He [Jeroboam II] restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath [i.e. Aram/Syria] as far as the Sea of the Arabah [i.e. the Gulf of Aqabah], according to the word of Yahweh, the God of Israel, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.”

Jonah 1:2

"Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

Entire prophecy of Nahum, delivered before Nineveh’s downfall in 612 BC, gives picture of this city of bloodshed…

Jonah 1:2

"Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”

…full of lies, dead bodies without end, a city that could be likened to a shapely harlot out to seduce all nations (Nah. 3:1-4; cf. Zeph. 2:13-15).

Nineveh was truly the “chief of sinners.”

Jonah 1:2

Jonah 1:3

But Jonah ran away from Yahweh and went down to 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 Yahweh.

Jonah 1:3

Jonah’s Progressive Downhill Slide:• Goes down to Joppa (1:3)• Goes down to the ship (1:3)• Goes down into the innermost parts of the ship (1:5)• Thrown down into the depths of the sea then descends

to the realm of death or Sheol (2:3, 7)• Down, down, down, down….the inevitable path of

those who seek to avoid the mission of the church.• Going down in the OT depicts a movement toward

death (cf. Ps. 88:4-6; Prov. 5:5).

Jonah 1:3

The word “fare” actually refers to the ship. The idea here is not that Jonah paid a fare (so all of the English

versions), but rather that he hired the ship and its crew.

Jonah 1:3

1. Jonah has access to the ship’s “innermost recesses” (1:5) makes sense if he owned the boat.2. Sailors hesitate to throw Jonah overboard (1:13-14) – Understandable because he was their

“boss.”3. According to most scholars it wasn’t until Roman times that the ancient world had a specific word

for “fare” – a charge for the purchase of space in an expedition, seagoing or otherwise.

Jonah 1:4

Then Yahweh sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship

threatened to break up.

Jonah 1:4

“And as for the ship – it had a mind to break up.”

The irony is that the sailors fear disaster, the captain of the ship fears disaster, indeed, even the ship thinks it is going to break up.

The only character – animate or inanimate – that has no fear is Jonah. The pun then is this: as the ship fears wrecking she becomes a nervous wreck!

Jonah 1:5

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.

Jonah 1:5

The subsequent events will transform the sailors from shear terror, to an awe at the awareness of being in Yahweh’s presence, to finally trust, belief and worship of this great God.

Jonah 1:5

The word “deep sleep” may be the first indication that Jonah seeks to die (4:3). As a noun the word describes Abram (Gen. 15:12) and Adam (Gen. 2:21).

Like James, Peter and John (Matt. 26:40, 43), the divinely chosen prophet Jonah is sound asleep.

Jonah 1:9

He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea

and the land."

Jonah 1:9

Jonah’s confession of faith in 1:9 have been carefully placed at the midpoint of this chiastic structure.• 94 words in the Hebrew text from the scene’s beginning in 1:4 to the beginning of the speech in 1:9• 94 words in 1:10-15• Verse 16 stands outside the pattern as a conclusion• The chiastic structure and the exact balance of number of words serve to place the focus for this section on the confession in 1:9

Jonah 1:10

This terrified them and they asked, "What have you done?" (They knew he was running away from

Yahweh, because he had already told them so.)

Jonah 1:10

The sailors react in a way more indicative of an Israelite, than in a manner one would expect from unbelievers. The sailors cannot imagine anyone treating a deity in such a fashion.

Here they are revealed as having a respect for the divine that Jonah does not have. This is an ongoing theme of the book – that is, the outsiders get it, the insider doesn’t.

Jonah 1:14

Then they cried to Yahweh , "O Yahweh, please do not let us die for taking this man's life. Do not hold us accountable for

killing an innocent man, for you, O Yahweh, have done as you pleased."

Jonah 1:14

The role of prophet and people is reversed:• The sailors refuse to commit a crime after the prophet has asked them to do so• The sailors are praying the prayer Jonah should be praying.• The sailors confess that Yahweh does as he pleases (cf. Ps. 115:3; 135:6), while Jonah expresses his frustration because God does precisely that.

Jonah 1:17

But Yahweh provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days

and three nights.

Jonah 1:17

Although Jonah apparently believed that he would be able to escape Yahweh’s commission by his own death, God makes it clear that there will be no escape. Rather than kill him or let him die, he imprisons Jonah in the belly of the fish to demonstrate further that there is nowhere in the world, even death, where Jonah can flee.

Jonah 1:17

The word “provide” or direct, ordain, appoint is used the first of four times in the book here, then again in 4:6, 7, 8.

Each time:• a non-human agent is appointed• each occurrence is used with a different divine name.

Each non-human agent is different.

Jonah 1:17

What does all this mean?

Yahweh “appoints” a fish, a plant (4:6), a worm (4:7) and a wind (4:8).

These elements of nature are appointed for salvation (the fish and plant), as well for judgment (the worm and wind).

Jonah 1:17

Two observations regarding the use of this word “provide” in the book are as follows. With each use a different divine name is used as the subject of the verb:

1:17 – Yahweh4:6 – Yahweh-Elohim4:7 – Ha-Elohim4:8 – Elohim

Jonah 1:17

When the verb occurs the object of the LORD’S control belongs to a different realm in nature:1:17 – the fish (sea)4:6 – the plant (vegetation)4:7 – the worm (animals)4:8 – the wind (air)

Examples of the Psalms in Jonah 2

• “my distress” 18:6; 120:1• “Sheol” 18:4-5• “all thy waves and thy billows passed over me” 42:7• “from thy presence” 139:7• “upon thy holy temple” 5:7• “the waters closed in over me” 69:2• “my life from the Pit” 30:3• “my soul fainted within me” 142:3• “into thy holy temple” 18:6• “deliverance belongs to Yahweh” 3:8

Jonah 3:1-4

Then the word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah obeyed the

word of the LORD and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city-- a visit required three days. On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be turned over.”

Jonah 3:1-4

The approximate travel time from Jerusalem to Nineveh in antiquity would have been about 45 days. This is estimated according to caravan speed.

Jonah 3:1-4

The sermon in verse four is only five words in the original Hebrew text. At this point people are asked not to turn to their pastor and quote from Luke 10:37, “Go and do thou likewise.”

Jonah 3:1-4

“Forty days” is a term that denotes a time of testing, with a new beginning at the end.

Jonah 3:1-4

“Forty days” is a term that denotes a time of testing, with a new beginning at the end.

Examples – 40 Years:• Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan (Ex. 16:35)• Peace in Israel upon the LORD’S selection of a judge (Judg. 3:11)

Jonah 3:1-4

“Forty days” is a term that denotes a time of testing, with a new beginning at the end.

Examples – 40 Days:• Rain leading up to the flood (Gen. 7:12)• Moses at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 24:18)• Spies in Canaan (Num. 13:25)• Elijah’s fast (1 Kings 19:8)• Jesus’ fast (Matt. 4:2)• The post-resurrection Epiphanies (Acts 1:3).

Jonah 3:1-4

“Forty” takes us to the slow and merciful LORD who could have said to Nineveh, “I’ll make all new things, the old won’t do.” But instead he said, “I’ll make all things – even you – new!”

Jonah 3:9

“Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.”

Jonah 3:10

“When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.”

But does God really relent, or, as the KJV translates the Hebrew word, “repent?”

Jonah 4:1

“But it was evil for Jonah a great evil.”

A key word in the book that is repeated as a noun and a verb is “evil” occurring ten times (1:2, 7, 8: 3:8, 10a, 10b; 4:1a, 1b, 2, 6).

Jonah 4:1

There has been “evil”:• Beginning with the Ninevites (1:2)• Moving to the sailors (1:7)• Returning to the Ninevites (3:10)• Coming to Yahweh (3:10; 4:2)• And, here with Jonah.

Except in the reference to Jonah, all the evil is taken away. In v. 6 Yahweh tries, but to no avail.

Jonah 4:2

“He prayed to Yahweh, ‘O Yahweh, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee 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.’”

Jonah 4:5

Why does the author tell us where Jonah sat?

As the same verb is used here and also in 3:6 to describe the king’s actions it could be to contrast Jonah’s sitting high and the king’s sitting low.

Jonah 4:5

Nineveh was flanked on the west and north by the Tigris and the Khoser rivers; there were a few hills on the town’s remaining sides where Jonah in all likelihood perched himself to witness the city’s immanent judgment.

Jonah 4:5

The irony is exactly this – the king who is – after-all the king – is seated low. Jonah who is – after-all just a prophet – is seated high. What the king was willing to do – that is, humble himself – his Jonah is unwilling to do.

Luke 14:11, “For everyone who is exalting himself will be humbled and the one humbling himself will be exalted.”

Jonah 4:9-11

“But God said to Jonah, ‘Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?’ ‘I do,’ he said. ‘I am angry enough to die.’ But

Yahweh said, ‘You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow.’”

Jonah 4:9-11

“It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot

tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?’”

Small Group Discussion

1. Where is your Nineveh?

2. What is your response to God’s call to Nineveh?