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.
