THE BOOK OF JONAH – Chapter 1 – 4

We have a lot to learn from the story of Jonah and how we should always obey the Lord instead of doing things our own way.

One day the Lord spoke these words to Jonah:

“Get up, go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it. I see the evil things they do.”

The city of Nineveh was a long ways from where Jonah was and he did not want to go there. So Jonah got up and ran away from the Lord and instead of going to Nineveh he went to the city of Joppa. 

There he found a ship that was going to the city of Tarshish. Jonah paid for the trip and went aboard. He was disobeying God and was going to Tarshish instead to run away from the Lord. 

I think that that was quite foolish of Jonah since God always knows everything. He knows where we are and what we are doing wherever it might be and we cannot hide from Him.

So the Lord sent a great wind on the sea. This wind made the sea very rough, so the ship was in danger of breaking apart. The sailors were afraid and each man cried to his own god. The men began throwing the cargo into the sea since this would make the ship lighter so it would not sink.

But Jonah had gone down inside the ship to lie down where he had fallen fast asleep. The captain of the ship came and said, “How can you sleep at a time like this?” he shouted. “Get up and pray to your god! Maybe He will pay attention to us and spare our lives.” 

Then the men said to each other, “Let’s throw lots to see who caused these troubles to happen to us.” So the men threw lots. The lot showed that the trouble had happened because of Jonah. Then the men said to Jonah, “Tell us what you have done. Why has this terrible thing happened to us? What is your job? Where do you come from? What is your country? Who are your people?” 

Then Jonah said to them, “I am a Hebrew. I fear the Lord, the God of heaven. He is the God who made the sea and the land.” 

Then the men were very afraid. They asked Jonah, “What terrible thing did you do?” They knew Jonah was running away from the Lord because Jonah had told them. 

By now the wind and the waves of the sea were becoming much stronger. So the men said to Jonah, “What should we do to you to make the sea calm down?”

Jonah said to them, “Pick me up, and throw me into the sea. Then it will calm down. I know it is my fault that this great storm has come on you.” 

The men were afraid to do that and instead tried to row the ship back to the land. But they could not. The wind and the waves of the sea were becoming stronger and stronger. 

So the men cried to the Lord, “Lord, please don’t let us die because of taking this man’s life. Please don’t think we are guilty of killing an innocent man. Lord, you have caused all this to happen. You wanted it this way.” So the men picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea. 

At once the sea became calm and then they began to fear the Lord very much. They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and they also made promises to Him. 

And the Lord caused a very big fish to swallow Jonah and he was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights. 

While Jonah was in the stomach of the fish, he prayed to the Lord his God. Jonah said, “I was in danger. So I called to the Lord, and He answered me. I was about to die.  So I cried to you, and you heard my voice. You threw me into the sea. I went down, down into the deep sea. The water was all around me. Your powerful waves flowed over me. I said, ‘I was driven out of your presence. But I hope to see your Holy Temple again.’ The waters of the sea closed over me. I was about to die as the deep sea was all around me. Seaweed wrapped around my head. I went down to the very bottom and thought I was locked in this prison forever. But you saved me from death, Lord my God. 

Then the Lord spoke to the fish. And the fish spit Jonah out of its stomach onto the dry land. 

Then the Lord spoke to Jonah again and said, “Get up. Go to the great city Nineveh. Preach against it what I tell you.” So Jonah obeyed the Lord. He got up and went to Nineveh. 

It was a very large city. It took a person three days just to walk across it. So Jonah entered the city. 

When he had walked for one day, he preached to the people. He said, “After 40 days, Nineveh will be destroyed!” 

The people of Nineveh believed in God. They announced they would stop eating for a while. They put on rough cloth to show how sad they were. All the people in the city wore the cloth. People from the most important to the least important did this. 

 

When the king of Nineveh heard this news, he got up from his throne. He took off his robe. He covered himself with rough cloth and sat in ashes to show how sorry he was for his wicked life. 

He made an announcement and sent it through the city. The announcement said: 

By command of the king and his important men: No person or animal should eat anything. No herd or flock will be allowed to taste anything. Do not let them eat food or drink water. But every person and animal should be covered with rough cloth. People should cry loudly to God. Everyone must turn away from his evil life. Everyone must stop doing bad things and maybe God will change his mind. Maybe He will stop being angry at us and we will not die. 

God saw what the people did. He saw that they stopped doing evil things. So God changed His mind and did not do what He had warned that He would do, which was to severely punish them. 

But Jonah was very unhappy that God did not destroy the city. He was angry. He complained to the Lord and said, “I knew this would happen. I knew it when I was still in my own country. It is why I quickly ran away to Tarshish. I knew that you are a God who is kind and shows mercy. You don’t become angry quickly. You have great love. I knew you would rather forgive than punish them. So now I ask you, Lord, please kill me. It is better for me to die than to live.” 

Then the Lord asked Jonah, “Do you think it is right for you to be angry?” 

But Jonah went out and sat down east of the city. There he made a shelter for himself. And he sat there in the shade. He was waiting to see what would happen to the city. 

Meanwhile, the Lord made a plant grow quickly up over Jonah. This made a cool place for him to sit. And it helped him to be more comfortable. Jonah was very pleased to have the plant for shade. 

The next day the sun rose and God sent a worm to attack the plant. Then the plant died. 

When the sun was high in the sky, God sent a hot east wind to blow. The sun became very hot on Jonah’s head. And he became very weak. He wished he were dead. Jonah said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 

But God said this to Jonah: “Do you think it is right for you to be angry because of the plant?” 

Jonah answered, “It is right for me to be angry! I am angry enough to die!” 

And the Lord said, “You showed concern for that plant. But you did not plant it or make it grow. It appeared in the night, and the next day it died. Then surely I can show concern for the great city Nineveh. There are many animals in that city. And there are more than 120,000 people living there. Those people simply did not know right from wrong!” 

The lesson learned is that we need to obey God and be thankful to Him when He saves people that we do not like – before it is too late. God says that vengeance is His and we should never judge others because that is God’s work (Deuteronomy 32:35; Romans 12:19). 

Jonah learned that men, and women, and little children, are all precious in the sight of the Lord, even though they know not God. He always gives everyone an opportunity to get right with Him; therefore, it is up to us to do so or not. What are you going to do? Are you going to start obeying Him, we hope so. 

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 Goodbye, until next time. Until then, remember to say your prayers obey your mom and dad and do not forget to go to church and Sunday school next week. 

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Acknowledgments: Thank you Roberta M. Rivera for the beautiful painting of Jonah and the fish – God bless you.