Jonah 1:1–2:1-2, 11
Chapter 1
1
On the Ship
The word of the Lord came to Jonah, son of Amittai, and told him:2
“Go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach against it, because I have seen how wicked it is.”
11
Thay asked:“What shall we do with you now, to make the sea calm down?” The sea was becoming increasingly agitated.
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.