Bible Men: Jonah, Part 3 - Jonah Obeys God

Jonah - Part 3

Jonah obeys God, goes to Nineveh and learns more lessons.

For previous studies on Jonah 1 go here, for Jonah 2 go here.

In Jonah 2 we learned how Jonah was swallowed by the great fish, whom the Lord Jesus called a whale, that the LORD had prepared for this task.  We learned how Jonah came to the end of himself, and prayed to the LORD his God.  We learned how Jonah made that great statement "Salvation is of the LORD." and how the LORD spoke to the fish, and Jonah was vomited onto dry land.  We don't know if Jonah's appearance was altered or not,  the bible is silent on this point, so I will not speculate.

And so again  3:1 "the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time saying Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee." This time Jonah is obedient.  He went to Nineveh "according to the word of the LORD"  V3 also tells us that Nineveh "was an exceeding great city of three days' journey."   This does not mean that Nineveh was three days away from Jonah, for the next verse tells us "And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said,  V4 "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown."  It took three days to walk through the city of Nineveh, so great a city was it, it was filled with wickedness, and for three days Jonah walked through the city preaching God's message V4 "yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown..

Jonah - Part 1- Chosen by God to go to Nineveh, and His Attempt to Flee

Jonah - Part 1

chosen by God to go to Nineveh, and his attempt to flee

Jonah 1:1-16

Jonah is one of my favorite Bible men, probably because I have a flight response like Jonah, and can relate to him.

Jonah was a prophet,  inspired and instructed to announce future events.  But Jonah was a reluctant prophet, or at least in this instance he was.  He was the son of Amittai, from Gathhepher (2 Kings 14:25) which was in Galilee.  Jonah was chosen by God to go to Nineveh to cry against it, and tell them that in 40 days, the city would be overthrown (3:4) This was a great city that was filled with wickedness.  Jonah was not willing to go to a heathen city, he did not understand why the LORD would want to show mercy to a gentile city  1 Chronicles 16:34 “O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.” Psalm 86:15 “But thou , O LORD, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.”  Psalm 103:8 “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.”

 Jonah 1:2  the Lord tells Jonah to “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it for their wickedness is come up before me." Jonah does not want to go to Nineveh, and he desires to run from the presence of the LORD, an impossible task. "Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence?" (Psalm 139:7) And so V3 "Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD".

But V4 "the LORD sent o ut a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken." This might wind was much like Euroclydon  in  Acts 27:14 “But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.”, or the great wind on the sea of Galilee when the Lord Jesus was sleeping in the boat. Matthew 8:24 “and, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he was asleep”.  Jonah is sleeping too, not aware that the great storm was near to destroying the boat.  But we know that the LORD holds everything in His hands, and He had a plan for Jonah.