Jonah
Chapter 1
On the Ship
The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai, and told him:
“Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach against it, because I have seen how wicked it is.”
But Jonah chose to run from the Lord and headed to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, found a ship headed for Tarshish, and paid the fare. Then he boarded the ship and went into its hold, setting out for Tarshish, far from the Lord.
The Lord stirred up a storm on the sea, causing a violent tempest that threatened to destroy the ship.
The sailors became frightened and each cried out to his own god. To lighten the ship, they threw its cargo into the sea.
Meanwhile, Jonah had gone into the ship’s hold, where he was fast asleep. The captain found him and said: “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god. Maybe he will notice us and keep us from dying here.”
The sailors said to each other: “Let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this disaster.” So they did, and the lot fell on Jonah.
They questioned him: “So you are responsible for this evil that has come upon us? Tell us where you are from. What is your country, your nationality?”
And Jonah told them his story: “I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, God of heaven who made the sea and the land….”
Since they knew he was fleeing from the Lord, the sailors were filled with great fear and said to him: “What a terrible thing have you done!”
Thay asked:“What shall we do with you now, to make the sea calm down?” The sea was becoming increasingly agitated.
He told them: “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. It will calm down, for I know it is because of me that this storm has come.”
The sailors, however, still did their best to row back to land. But they could not, because the sea had become much rougher than before.
Then they called on the Lord: “O Lord, do not let us perish for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood. For you, Lord, have done this as you have thought right.”
They took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea immediately calmed down.
At this, the men were overwhelmed with great fear of the Lord. They offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.
Commentaries
On the Ship.
The author of this book drew on the name of the prophet Jonah, son of Amittai, who lived in the Northern Kingdom in the eighth century BC during the reign of Jeroboam II (2 Kgs 14:25), to craft this narrative as a parable. Jonah’s conflict with God introduces themes also typical of the wisdom books: divine sovereignty versus human frailty and finiteness, the relationship between the God of Israel and other peoples, and the connection between God’s mercy and His justice.
Faced with the surprising divine command to go and prophesy to “the great city” of Nineveh, the capital of his cruel Assyrian enemies, Jonah disobeys and sails in the opposite direction to the ends of the earth, to Tarshish, a Phoenician colony on the Iberian Peninsula. God sends a violent wind that causes the ship to nearly capsize. Jonah sleeps, once again trying to escape his responsibility before God. The outcome of this chapter demonstrates that the God of Israel is the only God who created heaven and earth. Before throwing Jonah into the sea, the pagan sailors turn to God and then offer sacrifices to Him.