NOTES for Jon 1:11-12

The Book of Jonah is unique in its own way. It is unique not because, as some biblical scholars suppose, it was written when Nineveh already lay in ruins: anachronisms occur in other biblical books as well. The mention of Nineveh as the center of world evil testifies, if not directly then indirectly, to the pre-exilic origin of the book. In those times Nineveh was the symbol of man's opposition to God. Later Babylon would become such a symbol.

The uniqueness of the book lies elsewhere: it is not a collection of prophetic sermons, as the other prophetic books are, but a book about a prophet, about how difficult it is to follow God's will even for someone who, it would seem, has already made his choice. Jonah knows perfectly well what God wants from him: he heard His voice quite clearly. The problem is not spiritual deafness, but unwillingness to go where Jonah is sure nothing good awaits him.

Jonah himself offers to be thrown overboard at the critical moment, and this only proves that he understands perfectly well that what is happening is not accidental: it is God's hand, from which one cannot run away. He is so unwilling to go to Nineveh that to the very end he tests the firmness of His hand. He says: throw me into the sea.

To end up in a stormy sea, even on a board or raft, means certain death. One can be saved in such a situation only if God directly intervenes. Jonah as it were provokes God to such intervention. He shows Him: if You do not want to free me from the task entrusted to me, then here, I throw myself into the sea, and if You need me, You will not let me drown and will deliver me wherever You Yourself want.

It is not immediately clear which there is more of here: challenge, trust, or both at the same time. Only one thing is clear: such an act presupposes strong and sufficiently trusting relations with God, which, for all their trust, can at times be quite ambiguous. As between close people, all kinds of things happen: quarrels, stubbornness, misunderstanding. But, as between people, all this does not cancel the fact of closeness and trust.

In the end God nevertheless delivers His servant to the place. True, in a very unusual and even fabulous way: in the belly of a giant sea animal. In translation it is sometimes called a whale, sometimes a fish, while in the original the matter is a sea monster. The prophet still has to do what God assigns him.

When Jonah declared that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, the people aboard the ship were greatly afraid. They do not know what has happened or what reasons prompted Jonah to act this way, but the very fact that a person could be capable of such a thing fills them with horror. Even those who do not yet know God perceive the very desire to escape from Him as something monstrous.

But now we see that Jonah is ready to sacrifice himself, and in his readiness we can discern more than a desire to stop the storm and atone for his guilt by accepting punishment for the sin of resisting God. We can now see hope in God in Jonah's calmness; it is no longer the calmness of carelessness. Jonah has overcome fear and is ready to go wherever the Lord may send him.

As a result of these events, Jonah's companions, confronted with the reality of the consequences of opposing God, turned to the Lord and made vows to Him. The Lord is able not only to correct even the consequences of our sinfulness, but also to turn them to good.