God’s sovereignty is on display in Jonah. He has control over weather, fish, plants, worms, and recalcitrant prophets. This theme supports others. Sin is another theme that sits in the background of Jonah. Sin is the problem that needs to be addressed in Nineveh—and in Jonah. Salvation is another major theme of the book. God is determined to save Nineveh, and he delivers Jonah from death in order to bring this about. God’s determination to save highlights that God is both just and merciful. God thus calls on sinners to repent and submit to him. Finally, the mission of Jonah to bring the gospel to Nineveh highlights the mission of spreading the gospel to the Gentiles. While sending out missionaries was the exception, not the rule, in the Old Testament, Exodus 19 and Deuteronomy 4 does indicate that Israel was to concern itself with the salvation of the nations.

In both Matthew (12:38-41; 16:1-4) and Luke (11:29-32) Jesus speaks of the “sign of Jonah.” In Matthew Jesus correlates Jonah’s three days and nights in the fish with his own “three days and nights in the heart of the earth.” Luke is not so specific, but (contrary to some interpreters) likely has the same meaning. Thus, just as Jonah suffered a judgment akin to death and then experienced a kind of resurrection so that others could be saved, the same would be true of Jesus. However, Jesus is clear that he is greater than Jonah. This is true in many ways, but here it is worth noting that Jesus willingly left the Father’s presence to come to earth in order to carry out the mission of salvation entrusted to him. He greatly desired the salvation of those he ministered to, even when they rejected him.

Also worth noting, Jesus’s ability to calm storms matched God’s ability to do so in Jonah 1. This testifies to the deity of Christ.

It may be that Jonah alludes to the Flood narrative by drawing on similar language throughout the book.[1] More significant, however, is Jonah’s appeal to Yhwh’s revelation of his glory to Moses in Exodus 34:6 as a reason for rejecting his prophetic mission. Notably, this places Jonah in contrast with Moses, who interceded for the people’s salvation. Jonah is hoping for Nineveh’s destruction.[2] In fact, Jonah seems instead to align himself with rebellious Israel. When Israel was trapped against the Red Sea by Pharoah, they said: ““Isn’t this what we said to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (Exod 14:12). Similarly Jonah said, “Isn’t this what I said, Yahweh, when I was still at home?… Now, Yahweh, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:2, 3).[3]

Just as Jonah contrasts with Moses, so he also contrasts with Elijah, one of the few Israelite prophets who also ministered in Gentile lands (1 Kgs 17:9) and is provided for through animals and plants (1 Kgs 17:4-6; 19:4).[4] Elijah too went into a wilderness, sat under a tree, and asked God to let him die (1 Kgs 19:4).[5] But Elijah is there because he wanted to see Israel repent and he has lost hope that it will. Jonah is there because Nineveh repented and Jonah is disappointed that God is not destroying them. A further contrast is that Elijah stood in the presence of Yhwh (1 Kgs17:1; 18:15) whereas Jonah fled from Yhwh’s presence.

In the prayer in chapter 2, Jonah drew extensively on the Psalms.[6] This highlights that a knowledge of Scripture does not necessarily entail submission to God or his word. The king of Nineveh’s statement, “Who knows? God may turn and relent” (Jonah 3:9) echoes Joel’s similar statement, “Who knows whether he will not turn and relent” (Joel 2:14).[7] Joel made this statement in awareness of Exodus 34:6 (cf. Joel 2:13) whereas the king of Nineveh was ignorant of that description of God. (Jonah was very aware of that text, and it motivated his flight.)

---

[1] Lessing, CC, 44-46.

[2] Schnittjer, OTUOT, 403-4; Youngblood, ZECOT, 41-42.

[3] Translations, bold, and italics from Schnittjer, OTUOT, 406.

[4] Lessing, CC, 4950

[5] Schnittjer, OTUOT, 407-8; Lessing, CC, 50.

[6] Young, Introduction to the Old Testament, 258; Bell, TMOTB, 410-11; Schnittjer, OTUOT, 408.

[7] See Köstenberger and Goswell, Biblical Theology, 238-39; Schnittjer, OTUOT, 404, 406. Note, however, that I think Jonah is drawing on Exodus and Joel whereas Schnittjer thinks that Jonah is borrowing from Joel.

Jonah falls into two major sections, each marked with the statement, “Now the word of Yahweh came to Jonah … saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and call out against it” (1:1; 3:1, lsb).[1] (This division has been recognized since the time of the Masoretes.)[2] Each major subsection has three parallel subsections: Yhwh called Jonah and Jonah responded (1:1-3; 3:1-3), Jonah was with the Gentiles and told them of God (1:4-16; 3:4-10); Jonah responded to Yhwh’s provision of deliverance (1:17-2:10; 4:1-4). The second section of the book concludes with a final subsection, that does not stand in parallel, in which Yhwh responded to Jonah’s complaint (4:5-11).[3]

The first three verses of Jonah identify the prophet and his commission from Yhwh. He was called to go to Nineveh and preach against its evil. He was told “Arise, go,” and Jonah arose and went—in the opposite direction. (Tarshish may have been located in what is today Spain).[4] Yhwh told Jonah that the evil of Nineveh had come up “to my face” or “into my presence,” and Jonah’s response to this commission was to flee from the face or presence of Yhwh (1:2, 3).

In 1:4-16 the futility of fleeing from the presence of the omnipresent Yhwh is made clear. Yhwh hurled a storm upon the sea, and this resulted in the mariners hurling their cargo overboard. It also led them to cry out to their gods. Jonah, meanwhile, was in oblivious sleep. When Jonah was awakened and the lots identified him as the cause of the storm, he identified himself as one who feared Yhwh, “the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land” (1:9). The statement is full of irony. If Jonah feared Yhwh, why was he fleeing from his presence instead of carrying out his commission?[5] If he knew that Yhwh is the God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land, why did he think it was possible to flee from the presence of God? More fundamentally, if God is the God of all creation, then he is the God of all mankind—and Jonah should not have sought to avoid taking God’s message to the Gentiles.[6] When the sailors asked Jonah what must be done to calm the sea, Jonah did not respond, “I must repent”—even though the book reveals that Jonah did know that repentance would result in God relenting from judgment (4:2). Instead, Jonah called for his own death; he would rather die than take God’s message to the Gentiles (1:12; cf. 4:3). The pagan sailors showed themselves more righteous than the prophet Jonah. They first sought to save his life by rowing him to safety (1:13). Then they asked Yhwh not to kill them because of Jonah or to judge them for throwing him overboard to what they (and he) thought was certain death (1:15). In the end, these Gentile sailors came to fear Yhwh—what Jonah claimed for himself but did not demonstrate.

The next section of the book recounts Yhwh’s salvation of Jonah and his response (1:17-2:10). Yhwh appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah. Evidently, Jonah had expected to drown when he was thrown overboard, and he understood that Yhwh had miraculously saved him. While in the belly of the fish, Jonah prays this psalm. Some might question the ability of the prophet to compose a psalm while in the belly of a fish, but the wording of the psalm is largely drawn from the book of Psalms. In other words, this is a Scripture saturated person praying God’s words back to him. And yet, something is wrong with this prayer. It is all about Jonah’s physical deliverance and his thanksgiving for physical deliverance.[7] There is no mention of his sin or of repentance.[8] Furthermore, Jonah’s characterization of events is not entirely accurate. He said, “I am driven away from your sight” (2:4), but chapter 1 tells us that he was running from God’s presence. He also claimed, “you cast me into the deep” (2:3), when it seems that Jonah’s repentance could have averted that from happening.[9] There is also an irony in Jonah’s statement, “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay.” Chapter 1 closes with the Gentile sailors sacrificing to Yhwh and making vows to him. Jonah, by contrast, had not repented of his sin, and he will quarrel with God to the end of the book.[10] Jonah was correct that “Salvation belongs to Yhwh.” The book is clear that God saves the undeserving; those in need of salvation do not save themselves. Nonetheless, Yhwh’s command for the fish to vomit Jonah out may be an indication of what Yhwh thought of this self-righteous prayer.[11]

Jonah 3:1-3 once again identifies the prophet and his commission. This time Jonah obeys. Furthermore, Nineveh is described as “a great city to God” (3:3, esv, mg). Though Gentiles, these people have significance to Israel’s God, who is God over all people.

In Jonah 3:4-10, Jonah’s message and the response of those in Nineveh is recounted. Jonah declared a message of judgment: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (3:4). Israel often rejected the prophets’ messages, but “the people of Nineveh believed God” and responded with repentance (3:5). The king of Nineveh raised the possibility that if they repented, God might relent and not destroy the city. That is precisely how God responded.

Jonah then responded to the deliverance Yhwh provided (4:1-4). Unlike chapter 2, where Jonah extoled his deliverance, Yhwh’s relenting toward Nineveh “was a great evil to Jonah” (lsb). Thus, ironically, Jonah was less concerned about Nineveh repenting of its evil; it is a greater evil to him that Yhwh relented. Jonah revealed why he fled to Tarshish: it was precisely because he knew the character of God as revealed in God’s great statement to Moses of his glory (4:2; cf. Ex. 34:6). Once again, Jonah sought death over life because he was angry about God showing grace to Nineveh. Yhwh responded to Jonah with a probing question: “Do you well to be angry?”

Jonah 4:5-11 concludes the book. Jonah made a booth and waited to see what would happen to Nineveh. Perhaps he thought that Nineveh would lapse back into sin and come under judgment.[12] In any event, just as God had appointed a great fish to save Jonah, so here he appointed a plant to save Jonah from “his evil,” or his “discomfort” (4:6; see esv mg). Once again, Jonah was “exceedingly glad” for his own deliverance. Then God appointed the destruction of the plant along with a “scorching east wind” and a hot sun. And once again, Jonah sought death from God. God then brought the object lesson home by again asking Jonah if he did well to be angry. When Jonah justified his anger, God pointed out how foolish it was for Jonah to be angry over the destruction of the plant and not be sympathetic to the great number of people for whom God had shown compassion. The book closes here without any reference to Jonah’s response because it is calling every reader to examine himself.

---

[1] Lessing, CC, 30; Youngblood, ZECOT, 38; Timmer, TOTC, 42; cf. Tully Reading the Prophets as Christian Scripture.

[2] Goldingay, BCOT, 375.

[3] Youngblood, ZECOT; 38-39; Timmer, TOTC, 45-46; cf. Lessing, CC, 34; Tully, Reading the Prophets as Christian Scripture, 300.

[4] Hoyt, EEC, 349-50.

[5] Timmer, A Gracious and Compassionate God: Mission, Salvation and Spirituality in the Book of Jonah, NSBT, 70-71.

[6] Timmer, NSBT, 71.

[7] Timmer, NSBT, 81.

[8] Timmer, NSBT, 81-82; Tully, Reading the Prophets as Christian Scripture, 303.

[9] Tully, Reading the Prophets as Christian Scripture, 303.

[10] Timmer, NSBT, 87-88; Tully, Reading the Prophets as Christian Scripture, 303.

[11] Hoyt, EEC, 381; Tully, Reading the Prophets as Christian Scripture, 303.

[12] Timmer, NSBT, 126-27.