On January 1, 1929, a young man named Roy Riegels was playing football for Georgia Tech against UCLA in the Rose Bowl. In the second half of that game UCLA fumbled or lost the ball and Roy picked it up. He quickly ran down the field as fast as he could, all the way to the goal line for a touch down. There was just one problem. He had been running the wrong way and it was the UCLA goal line and not that of Georgia Tech. The game ended with UCLA being the winner because Roy Riegels ran the wrong way.[1]
The Lord Commanded, but Jonah Disobeyed
In Jonah 1:1-10, the Lord commanded Jonah to proclaim against the people of Nineveh. However, instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah attempted to run away from God’s presence. He boarded a ship to Tarshish, which is the opposite direction of Nineveh.
In Jonah 1:1, the word יְהוָ֔ה (Yahweh) is genitive because it comes after the construct noun and is classified as a genitive of subject because the Lord is the source of the word that is given here. God calls Jonah to proclaim judgment over Nineveh because the Ninevites had become so wicked (1:1-2). In verse 2, Youngblood conveys that the imperative קוּם (“arise, stand up”) indicates “the need for haste in carrying out the following two commands.”[2] Although a timely response is needed, it does not mean that Jonah is being commanded to get up, but he is “instructed not to delay his departure for Nineveh,” according to Alexander, Baker, and Watke.[3]
Jonah responded by rising to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh (1:3). The lemma of the Hebrew verb לִבְרֹ֣חַ in Jonah 1:3 is בָּרַח, which means “go through, flee.”[4] The action which Jonah did according to this verb is the opposite of what was expected. Since Jonah וַיָּ֤קָם, he was supposed to follow the instructions of the Lord. However, he decided לִבְרֹ֣חַ (“to flee”) from God. This is the purpose/result clause to the main verb, וַיָּ֤קָם. As Youngblood states, “Jonah does not get up to carry out his commission; rather, he gets up ‘to flee’ (librōaḥ).”[5] Jonah went down into the ship to go with the people there to Tarshish.
The Lord’s Sovereignty over His Creation and Jonah’s Consequence
Since God is sovereign over the sea, He created a mighty storm on the sea that the ship was about to break up (1:4). The Hebrew verb טוּל means “hurl” (send violently), which is “of י׳ sending furious wind” in Jonah 1:4.[6] It pictures a whirlwind forming a huge hurricane and the ship was “about to go” or “break up.” According to Youngblood, “In the case of Jonah 1:4c the personification of the ship may serve to add the vessel to the list of YHWH’s accomplices in thwarting Jonah’s flight.”[7]
The mariners became afraid that every man cried out to his god, while Jonah just slept (1:5). אִישׁ is another word for “man.” To state the urgency of the prayer due to the violent storm, Price and Nida explains, “It may be appropriate to translate ‘each of the sailors shouted to his god in prayer, Help us.’”[8] While the mariners were frantic and tried to do some action due to the violent storm, Jonah decided to go down into the ship’s cargo bay and sleep. According to Youngblood, “Jonah’s descent places him in what the author calls “the bowels” (yarkĕtê)… The deepest part of the ship may serve as an image of Sheol itself, foreshadowing Jonah’s near-death experience in the sea.”[9]
The captain approached Jonah (1:6). The captain was hoping that the God of Jonah will consider them and allow them not to perish if only Jonah will get up and pray to God. According to Youngblood, “The helmsman thus echoed YHWH’s commission, and Jonah woke up to the sound of the same two commands from which he had been hiding.”[10]
God caused the mariners to realize that it was Jonah’s fault, and Jonah finally proclaimed that he feared the Lord God, who made the sea and dry land (1:7-10). The sailors cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah (verse 7). The mariners questioned Jonah and Jonah told them who he was and that he was a prophet of Yahweh (verses 8–9). When Jonah was introducing himself to them, he was distinguishing himself from them. As Gesenius states that “in the Old Testament Hebrews are only spoken of either when the name is employed by themselves as contrasted with foreigners.”[11]
וְאֶת־יְהוָ֞ה (Yahweh or “the LORD”) in verse 9 is in the accusative case and functions as a direct object of which Jonah fears or worships. The word order of noun in relationship to the verb reflects the significance of Yahweh as God and Creator. Jonah tells the mariners at the end of verse 9 that he fears Yahweh.
The mariners became greatly terrified and asked him, “Why have you done this?” (1:10). Youngblood explains that this type of question “always expresses moral outrage at what the speaker perceives as foolish behavior” since they can be found in other Old Testament verses, such as Genesis 3:13; 12:18; 26:10; 29:25; Exodus 14:11.[12] However, Smith and Page clarify that their question was “not a question about the nature of Jonah’s sin but an exclamation of horror. They were frightened to the depths of their beings.”[13]
We read in Jonah 1:3 and 10 that Jonah attempted to flee from the “presence of YHWH”. Jonah was theologically aware enough as an Israelite prophet that YHWH’s presence was everywhere. What about God’s presence? How does He manifest His presence in the Old Testament?
One of the attributes of God is His omnipresence. In fact, according to Elwell, an evangelical theological academic, and Beitzel, an Old Testament scholar and Bible translator, the immensity and omnipresence of God convey His transcendence over space.[14] God fills the heavens and the earth (Jeremiah 23:23-24). Heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool; thus, He is not confined to temples (Isaiah 66:1; Acts 7:48-49; 17:24). 2 Chronicles 2:6 declares: “But who is able to build a house for Him, for the heavens and the highest heavens cannot contain Him? So who am I, that I should build a house for Him, except to burn incense before Him?” Elwell and Beitzel also stated, “Yet God is immanent in the world and is actively at work in it to establish his kingdom. No one can hide from the omnipresent God (Psalm 139:6–12).”[15]
In the New Testament, Jesus promised in Matthew 28:20: “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Since the Pentecost in Acts 2, the Holy Spirit resides within the bodies of believers (1 Corinthians 6:19). Other passages that speak about the omnipresence of God are found in Genesis 28:16 and 1 Kings 8:27.
In Jonah 1:2, when God was instructing Jonah what to do and explaining the wickedness of the Ninevites, God is telling Jonah that He is observing from heaven what is taking place on earth.[16] What exactly Jonah was trying to flee from in Jonah 1? Terence Fretheim, an Old Testament scholar, explains that Jonah’s reluctance to travel to Nineveh may have been due to the infamous violence of the Ninevites.[17] Jonah did say to the Lord in 4:2: “Oh, I ask You, Yahweh, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore, I previously fled to Tarshish for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and One who relents concerning harm.”[18] Thus, when God commanded Jonah to proclaim His judgment upon Nineveh, Jonah disobeyed and ran away instead.
Let’s Obey the Lord
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are commanded by the Lord to proclaim the gospel to other people and to make disciples of all nations. Sadly, in today’s culture, many of us Christians disobey God by not sharing the message of repentance or the name of Jesus to others in fear of offending someone. This is why I agree with what Dr. Robert Jeffress said in his sermon last Sunday, October 17, 2021, that the most loving thing we could do to others is to tell them that the only way for them to be saved is to repent and believe (πιστεύω) in Jesus Christ as Savior, Lord, and God. No one can be saved in any other name, but the name of Jesus.
O Lord, You commanded us to proclaim the gospel to other people and to disciple them. Please give us the grace and boldness to obey You by proclaiming the gospel to others, especially to those who haven’t heard of You or the gospel yet, and to disciple them. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
The featured image is taken from https-//pixabay.com/photos/distress-storm-ship-sea-ocean-3605822/.jpeg
[1] Bobby Murr, “Roy Riegels Running The Wrong Way,” Family-times.net, https://www.family-times.net/illustration/Disobedience/201562/
[2] Youngblood, Jonah, 53.
[3] Donald J. Wiseman, T. Desmond Alexander, and Bruce K. Waltke, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 26, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 108.
[4] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Enhanced, 137.
[5] Youngblood, Jonah, 56.
[6] Brown, Driver, and Briggs, Enhanced, 376.
[7] Youngblood, Jonah, 73.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Youngblood, Jonah, 75.
[10] Youngblood, Jonah, 76.
[11] Friedrich Wilhelm Gesenius, Gesenius’ Hebrew Grammar, ed. E. Kautzsch and Sir Arthur Ernest Cowley, 2d English ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910), 8.
[12] Youngblood, Jonah, 79.
[13] Smith and Page, Jonah, 235.
[14] Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “God, Being and Attributes Of,” Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 878.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Price and Nida, Jonah, 51.
[17] Fretheim, Jonah, 22.
[18] The English biblical translation is mine.
Theology on Worship 