Jonah 1

About God

Jonah 1

Jonah 1:1

Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, (use)

2 Kings 14:25

He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher. (use)

Long before the world was made, You loved me and You called me by my name,

Citizens Worship. 2019. Out of the Darkness.
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Jonah 1:2

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. (use)

Genesis 18:25

Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” (use)

Genesis 19:24

Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. (use)

In one of our more recent studies, we acknowledged the fact from Sunday school of old that the whole Bible is a book about Jesus. And in the Old Testament we have Jesus predicted; and in the Gospels, we have Jesus revealed; and then, in the Acts of the Apostles, we have Jesus preached; and in the Epistles, we have Jesus explained; and then, in the book of Revelation, we have Jesus expected.

Begg, A., 1997. It is Finished.
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This is a personification of evil. It ascends from earth to heaven; and stands before the Supreme Judge, to bear witness against its own delinquency, and that of the persons whom it has seduced.

Clarke, A., 1831. Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible.
clarke-1831-com~jon1a

There seems no sufficient reason for doubting the historical reality of Jonah's mission to Nineveh; for we know that intercourse was not infrequent, and the silence of other records is, in their fragmentary condition, nothing wonderful. But the fact that a prophet of Israel was sent to a heathen city, and that not to denounce destruction except as a means of winning to repentance, declared emphatically God’s care for the world, and rebuked the exclusiveness which claimed Him for Israel alone. The same spirit haunts the Christian Church, and we have all need to ponder the opposite truth, till our sympathies are widened to the width of God's universal love, and we discern that we are bound to care for all men, since He does so.

Maclaren, A., 1904. Expositions of Holy Scripture.
maclaren-1904-exp~jon1a

Jonah 1:3

But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. (use)

Jonah 1:4

But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. (use)

Psalm 107:25

For he commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. (use)

God, I say, so changes empires, and times, and seasons, that we should learn to look up to him.

Calvin, J., 1571. Commentary on the Prophet Daniel.
calvin-1571-comdan~a1

Psalm 148:7

Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, (use)

Psalm 148:8

fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word! (use)

Jonah 1:6

So the captain came and said to him, "What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish." (use)

The polytheism of the Pagans is to be condemned, and shows the great uncertainty of their religion; yet this appears to be agreeable to the light of nature that there is a God, and that God is to be prayed unto, and called upon, especially in time of trouble.

Gills, J., 1748. Exposition of the Bible Commentary.
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And holding people in your prayers is not wishful thinking.

Fraser, G., 2017. Prayer is not wishful nonsense.
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Genesis 18:24

Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city {Sodom}. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? (use)

Psalm 8:4

what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? (use)

Casting Lots

Jonah 1:8

Then they said to him, "Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?" (use)

This wind was sent after Jonah, to fetch him back again to God and to his duty; and it is a great mercy to be reclaimed and called home when we go astray, though it be by a tempest.

Henry, M., 1896. Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible. UK. Jonah
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Jonah could not see that deep within the terror of the storm God's mercy was at work, drawing him back to change his heart. It's not surprising that Jonah missed this initially. He did not know how God would come into the world to save us.

Keller, T., 2018. The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God's Mercy.
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Jonah 1:9

And he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." (use)

We need the biblical knowledge of the outside God to complete our knowledge of who God is, and we will find that this knowledge often serves as a corrective to the corruptions to which our sense of the inside God is often prone.[pg.124]

Wells, D.F., 2008. The Courage to be Protestant.
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Jonah 1:10

Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, "What is this that you have done!" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. (use)

Jonah 1:12

He said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you, for I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you." (use)

Jonah 1:13

Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. (use)

We must pray and believe, when we are in a storm, and study to answer the end for which it was sent, and then the storm shall become a calm. But especially we must consider what is to be done to the sin that raised the storm; that must be discovered, and penitently confessed; that must be detested, disclaimed, and utterly forsaken. What have I to do any more with it? Crucify it, crucify it, for this evil it has done.

Henry, M., 1896. Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary on the Whole Bible. UK. Jonah
mhcom-jonah~1v11

Jonah 1:14

Therefore they called out to the LORD, "O LORD, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not on us innocent blood, for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you." (use)

Jonah 1:15

So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. (use)

Jonah 1:16

Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows. (use)

Now I know us plain folks don't see all the story.

Brady, P., 1985. The Island.
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Jonah 1:17

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. (use)

The main argument against the book being historical is Jonah's surviving three days and nights in the fish's belly.

Constable, T., 2022. Expository Notes.
constable-2022-expository~jonah-1-17

This could not have been a whale, for the throat of that animal can scarcely admit a man's leg; but it might have been a shark, which abounds in the Mediterranean, and whose mouth and stomach are exceedingly capacious. In several cases they have been known to swallow a man when thrown overboard.

Clarke, A., 1831. Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible.
clarke-1831-com~jon1b

But the miracle was not that such a fish came up from the depths of the sea and swallowed the prophet, but that Jonah was miraculously preserved in the fish.

Gaebelein, A., 1922. Arno Gaebelein Annotated Bible.
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God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm.

Cowper, W. 1773. Light Shining out of Darkness.
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Psalm 115:3

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases. (use)

Matthew 12:40

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (use)

Topics and Themes

About God

Miracles

Key Verse

Jonah 1:2

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me. (use)