In modern biblical scholarship, the story of Jonah is generally classed among parables whose meaning matters more than the factual...
In modern biblical scholarship, the story of Jonah is generally classed among parables whose meaning matters more than the factual accuracy of the events and circumstances they mention. Yet the details of the narrative are not accidental: they matter no less for understanding the parable's meaning than the details of an actual event would.
It is difficult to understand why a prophet called by God evades His command unless we remember that, in Jonah's eyes, the Ninevites were not ordinary pagans and sinners. They inhabited the capital of a hostile state that its neighbours regarded as a concentrated embodiment of the world's evil, like the Third Reich at the height of the Second World War. Jonah both fears and hates the Ninevites, and therefore wants to evade this unexpected commission.
We are not told why the Lord chose Jonah for such a mission; presumably this is not the most important point. What matters more is that the Lord can address a person at a moment when they not only do not expect it, but consider themselves unfit to fulfil the calling revealed to them. Usually a person can choose whether to follow God or turn aside. Sometimes, however, as in Jonah's story, the Lord insists that the commission be fulfilled by the very person He has chosen, for He sees that person's abilities and possibilities better than they do themselves.
During the storm, Jonah sleeps. It is difficult to say which plays the greater part in his calm: confidence that events will turn out well, or sheer carelessness. Only the captain's request for prayer makes us wonder: has Jonah withdrawn from God in his heart, if it takes an outsider, perhaps a pagan, to remind him of the need to pray?…
1 Jonah disobeys the command of God, Jon 1:1-3.
Is arrested by a storm, Jon 1:4-6.
Discovered to be the cause of the storm, Jon 1:7-10.
Cast into the sea and swallowed by a fish, Jon 1:11-17.
1:2 That great city - It is said to have been one hundred and fifty furlongs in length, that is eighteen miles and three quarters, and eleven miles and one quarter in breadth.
1:3 From the presence - From the place where God usually had shewed himself present, by revealing his word and will to his prophets.Perhaps he might think God would not put him upon this work, when he was got into a strange country.
1:5 Into the sides - ln some cabin or other, whither he went before the storm arose.
1:6 Will think upon us - With pity and favour.
1:7 Cast lots - "Lots are an appeal to heaven in doubtful cases, and therefore not to be used but where the matter is undeterminable in any other way."