Back to: Jonah: A Deep Dive
We finally get to start diving into the text! But first, a bit of structural context.
All About Chiasms
“A chiastic structure (also called a chiasm) is a literary technique wherein ideas, words, or themes are presented in a particular symmetric pattern and then reversed, forming the shape of the Greek letter “chi” (Χ). The typical pattern is often labeled as A-B-C … C-B-A, meaning the second half of the text reflects the first half in reverse order. As a literary device in the Bible, chiastic structures can range in size from a few verses to entire books, helping to emphasize central themes or theological focal points.”
– https://biblehub.com/q/what’s_a_chiastic_structure_in_the_bible.htm
The story of Jonah unfolds in seven episodes:
A Chiastic Structure
A. Jonah’s commissioning and flight (1:1–3)
B. Jonah and the pagan sailors (1:4–16)
C. Jonah’s grateful prayer (1:17–2:10)
D. Jonah’s lesson about compassion (4:5–11)
C′. Jonah’s angry prayer (4:1–4)
B′. Jonah and the pagan Ninevites (3:3b–10)
A′. Jonah’s recommissioning and compliance (3:1–3a)
The first three episodes of Jonah are paralleled by the second three. By this paralleling the author invites the reader to make a number of comparisons and contrasts.
The final episode is unparalleled and thus stands out as the climax of the story, ending with the penetrating question, “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”
FreyTag’s Pyramid & Story Arc
Charting a Narrative
The Exegetical Process
Take your time picking through these passages. Read the commentary notes for different Study Bibles and translations. Or reference a few different commentaries, if you have time.
The Gospel Coalition (TGC) Resources
Also, make note of repeated words or phrases and run them through a lexicon like Strong’s. Here are some examples…
great
wicked
(get) up
(went) down
appointed
mercy
grace
compassion
pray(ed)
hurled/threw
three
land
Jay Sklar Commentary: The Purpose of Jonah
The purpose of Jonah is to make clear that the Lord delights to show his mercy, grace, and love to all his creation and to challenge his people to do the same. It achieves this purpose through brilliant storytelling that makes use of literary devices such as word play, irony, and contrast. The commentary will point these out as they arise, but the following overview will show how such devices help to accomplish the book’s purpose.
In the book’s first half (Jonah 1–2), contrast is drawn between Jonah, who is an Israelite prophet who claims to fear the Lord, and pagan sailors, who worship false gods. Ironically, in chapter 1, the Israelite prophet disobeys the Lord while the pagan sailors fear the Lord greatly. Chapter 2 continues the irony: the Israelite prophet finally promises faithfulness, which he will demonstrate by making sacrifices and vows—the very things the pagan sailors already did in chapter 1! Already, the Israelite audience is challenged to see that pagans can be more spiritually sensitive than God’s people, which should humble any spiritual pride the Israelites might have.
In the book’s second half (Jonah 3–4), contrast is drawn between Jonah and the Ninevites and then between Jonah and the Lord. In chapter 3, the Ninevites respond on the first day of Jonah’s preaching—far more quickly than the three days it took Jonah to pray in chapter 2! Once more, pagans are more spiritually commendable than the Lord’s prophet; once more, spiritual pride in the Israelite audience is challenged. In chapter 4, Jonah is angry at the Lord’s forgiveness toward the Ninevites, a forgiveness the Lord was delighted to grant and that was the very reason for giving Jonah his mission. The Lord did not want the Ninevites’ death; he wanted their deliverance. Israelites should see clearly that the Lord’s heart is very different than Jonah’s and ask themselves, “Whose heart is my heart more like?”
Chapter 4 ends with a well-known object lesson that contrasts Jonah’s pity for a meaningless plant with his own lack of pity toward a city full of people for whom the Lord cares deeply. The book’s last words are a question left for us to answer: Should the Lord not pity sinful people? The implication is that if he should, we should as well.
The book thus underscores that the Lord’s mercy, grace, and love are for all people. In doing so, it also challenges the spiritual pride that has led Jonah—and can lead us—to look down his nose on those he deemed more sinful. For it is only when we remember how desperately we need the Lord’s merciful love, and how freely he has given it to us in Jesus, that we will have hearts overflowing with the same merciful love toward everyone we meet.
Charting the Narrative: Act 1
Setting The Stage
Joppa
Is Jaffa, Joppa?
Tarshish
Where is Tarshish?
Nineveh
How far is Nineveh from the Sea?
The Sea
Includes the ship and the fish
Joppa
from Cornerstone Commentary – Joppa. This port city (modern Jaffa) is known to have existed at least from the seventeenth century BC (Kaplan and Kaplan 1976:2.532-541). Known as Yapu in the fourteenth-century BC Egyptian Amarna Letters and Yappu in the neo-Assyrian inscriptions, it was likely controlled by the Philistines in the early centuries of the first millennium BC.
Because it was the only natural harbor on the south Palestinian coast, it was important as a seaport for the area (2 Chr 2:16; Ezra 3:7). In New Testament times, the apostle Peter visited there, staying at the home of Simon, a tanner (Acts 9:43). Joppa was the location of Peter’s well-known vision regarding ritual purity and from which he was sent to meet with the Roman centurion Cornelius (Acts 10:1–11:18).
Understanding the Characters
- YHWH
- Jonah (son of Amittai)
- Ninevites
- Sailors
- gods
- great fish
- King of Nineveh
- Nobles of Nineveh
- Beasts of Nineveh
- plant
- worm
- sea, sun, and wind
’the LORD’
from Cornerstone Commentary – This is Yahweh (yhwh [TH3068, ZH3378]), the name of the covenant God of Israel; it is found ten times in ch 1, five times in chs 2 and 4, and two times in ch 3. The generic term for God, ’elohim [TH430, ZH466], occurs some twelve times, while the compound designation yhwh ’elohim is found four times. The term ’el [TH410A, ZH446] occurs but once (4:2). Several expositors have commented on the careful deployment of the names. Thus Limburg (1993:45-47) thinks yhwh is used to refer to the God a Hebrew would know, but ’elohim is employed when speaking of a god known to non-Israelites. He suggests further that the compound yhwh ’elohim is a transitional name, while the single occurrence of ’el is due to traditional creedal formulations.
The opening words of the book remind all who read them that God is a God of revelation. His will and his standards have been communicated to mankind, and the Scriptures are that revelation. Therefore, even when reading a good story in the Bible, such as that of Jonah, the believer is to remember that the account has a divine purpose, both for those involved in the various episodes and for those who read them
Conflict
- YHWH: Arise and go…
- Jonah: Arose and fled
- went down to Joppa
- went down into the ship
- laid down to sleep
- down in the belly of the fish
- Sailors: wind, sea, shipwreck, murder
The Storm
from Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary – Jonah’s foolish hope of being able to escape from the Lord was disappointed. “Jehovah threw a great wind (i.e., a violent wind) upon the sea.” A mighty tempest (סער, rendered appropriately κλύδων by the lxx) arose, so that “the ship thought to be dashed to pieces,” i.e., to be wrecked (השּׁב used of inanimate things, equivalent to “was very nearly” wrecked).
In this danger the seamen (mallâch, a denom. of melach, the salt flood) cried for help, “every one to his god.” They were heathen, and probably for the most part Phoenicians, but from different places, and therefore worshippers of different gods. But as the storm did not abate, they also resorted to such means of safety as they had at command.
They “threw the waves in the ship into the sea, to procure relief to themselves” (להקל מעליהם as in Exodus 18:22 and 1 Kings 12:10). The suffix refers to the persons, not to the things. By throwing the goods overboard, they hoped to preserve the ship from sinking beneath the swelling waves, and thereby to lighten, i.e., diminish for themselves the danger of destruction which was so burdensome to them.
“But Jonah had gone down into the lower room of the ship, and had there fallen fast asleep;” not, however, just at the time of the greatest danger, but before the wind had risen into a dangerous storm. The sentence is to be rendered as a circumstantial one in the pluperfect. Yarkethē hassephı̄nâh (analogous to harkethē habbayith in Amos 6:10) is the innermost part of the vessel, i.e., the lower room of the ship. Sephı̄nâh, which only occurs here, and is used in the place of אניּה, is the usual word for a ship in Arabic and Aramaean. Nirdam: used for deep sleep, as in Judges 4:21.
This act of Jonah’s is regarded by most commentators as a sign of an evil conscience. Marck supposes that he had lain down to sleep, hoping the better to escape either the dangers of sea and air, or the hand of God; others, that he had thrown himself down in despair, and being utterly exhausted and giving himself up for lost, had fallen asleep; or as Theodoret expresses it, being troubled with the gnawings of conscience and overpowered with mourning, he had sought comfort in sleep and fallen into a deep sleep. Jerome, on the other hand, expresses the idea that the words indicate “security of mind” on the part of the prophet: “he is not disturbed by the storm and the surrounding dangers, but has the same composed mind in the calm, or with shipwreck at hand;” and whilst the rest are calling upon their gods, and casting their things overboard, “he is so calm, and feels so safe with his tranquil mind, that he goes down to the interior of the ship and enjoys a most placid sleep.”
The truth probably lies between these two views. It was not an evil conscience, or despair occasioned by the threatening danger, which induced him to lie down to sleep; nor was it his fearless composure in the midst of the dangers of the storm, but the careless self-security with which he had embarked on the ship to flee from God, without considering that the hand of God could reach him even on the sea, and punish him for his disobedience. This security is apparent in his subsequent conduct.
Crisis
- Sailors: Sacrifice or Shipwreck?
- Jonah: Rebellion or Repentance?
- YHWH: Plan A, B, or C?
The Sailors’ Dilemma
from CSB Study Bible – Rather than submitting to God, Jonah asked these men to kill him by throwing him overboard. Yet despite Jonah’s confession of guilt, these pagan Gentiles had moral scruples about sending a man to his death and tried to row ashore instead. Only after they saw no other option and had prayed that the Lord would not hold them accountable for taking a human life did they throw Jonah into the sea.
The integrity and spiritual sensitivity of these Gentiles would have shocked Israelite readers of this book, confronting their belief that non-Hebrews were unworthy of God’s mercy. Certainly this is a lesson Jonah himself needed
from Cornerstone Commentary – The third portion of this section (1:13-16) indicates that, although the sailors attempted to avoid so disastrous a solution as throwing a man overboard, the worsening storm forced them to comply with Jonah’s advice. Therefore, they picked him up and threw him into the sea.
When this was done, the storm instantly abated and the sea became calm. This miracle caused the sailors to acknowledge the power of Yahweh and to worship him. Whether the sailors merely added Jonah’s God to the other deities they worshiped or became exclusive worshipers of the Lord cannot be determined with certainty. Their response in both sacrifice and vows, however, indicates at least that they genuinely believed in God’s might so greatly that they would henceforth acknowledge and serve him.
One cannot but admire the humanity and magnanimity of the crew. When disaster struck, they prayed. They even challenged God’s prophet to do likewise. After they learned that Jonah was the reason for the storm, they nonetheless further endangered their lives despite the increasing severity of the storm by trying to put Jonah safely ashore. Because they were conscious of the high ethical standard of not shedding innocent blood, they did not want to have a charge of murder added to their already impossible predicament.
Climax
- Sailors: Bye Jonah
- Fish: Hi Jonah
Into the sea
from the Pulpit Commentary – They took up, with a certain reverence. Ceased from her raging; literally, stood from its anger; Septuagint, ἔστη ἐκ τοῦ σάλου αὐτῆς, “stood from its tossing.” The sudden cessation of the storm showed that it had been sent on Jonah’s account, and that the crew had not sinned by executing the sentence upon him. Usually it takes some time for the swell to cease after the wind has sunk: here there was suddenly a great calm (Matthew 8:26). Jonah 1:15
At last, when all human effort to right the circumstances failed and their casting Jonah overboard resulted in the miraculous calming of the sea, they worshiped the Lord. They were convinced by the sufficiency of the evidence. Oh, that all people everywhere would respond to the established facts of the gospel message (e.g., 1 Cor 15:20, 56-57).
from Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary – After they had prayed thus, they cast Jonah into the sea, and “the sea stood still (ceased) from its raging.” The sudden cessation of the storm showed that the bad weather had come entirely on Jonah’s account, and that the sailors had not shed innocent blood by casting him into the sea. In this sudden change in the weather, the arm of the holy God was so suddenly manifested, that the sailors “feared Jehovah with great fear, and offered sacrifice to Jehovah” – not after they landed, but immediately, on board the ship – “and vowed vows,” i.e., vowed that they would offer Him still further sacrifices on their safe arrival at their destination.
– https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jonah/1-15.htm
from the Cambridge Bible for Schools & Colleges – [feared the Lord exceedingly] They had feared exceedingly before (Jonah 1:10, where the Heb. expression is the same as here), but their fear then was vague and indefinite, now it recognised as its object Jehovah, the God of Jonah.
[offered a sacrifice] It would certainly seem to be implied, that immediately on the ceasing of the storm the sailors offered a sacrifice to Jonah’s God, in acknowledgment of what He had already done, and at the same time vowed that they would present to Him other gifts and offerings when He should have brought them safe to land. We know but little of the ships of the ancients, but some of them were of considerable size, and there is no difficulty in supposing that there may have been one or more live animals suitable for sacrifice on board Jonah’s ship.
Into the Fish (‘appointed’, ‘great fish’)
from the ESV Study Bible – This is the first of four uses of “appoint” that underscore God’s sovereign control over creation (cf. 4:6–8). Fish (Hb. dag) is not limited to what is called “fish” today (generally cold-blooded vertebrate sea creatures with fins and gills) but is a general word for an aquatic beast, which cannot be identified further. However, a large whale such as a sperm whale could easily swallow a man whole. three days and three nights. Though this may be a symbolic expression for a time of dying and rising (cf. Hos. 6:2), it more likely describes the actual number of days, or parts of three days, according to accepted reckoning of days at that time (cf. 1 Sam. 30:12; 2 Kings 20:5,8). In either case it has associations with return from death or near-death—which perhaps is why Jesus likened the time between his own death and resurrection to Jonah’s time in the fish (Matt. 12:40).
from the Cambridge Bible for Schoools & Colleges – [had prepared] Rather: assigned, or appointed. (LXX. προσέταξε.) The same word and tense are used of the gourd, the worm, and the East wind, ch. Jonah 4:6-8. They do not necessarily imply any previous or special preparation, much less the creation of these various agents for the purpose to which they were put; but merely that they were appointed to it by Him, whom “all things serve.” He sent the fish there to do His bidding. The word is rendered “appointed” in Job 7:3, Daniel 1:5; Daniel 1:10; and “set” in Daniel 1:11.
“By God’s immediate direction it was so arranged that the very moment when Jonah was thrown into the waves, the ‘great fish’ was on the spot to receive him; God charged the animal to perform this function, as He afterwards ‘spoke to’ it (Jonah 1:10), or commanded it, to vomit out the prophet on the dry land.”—Kalisch.
– https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jonah/1-17.htm
from Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers – [Had prepared.]—The pluperfect is misleading. Render appointed, and comp. Jonah 4:6-8, where the same word is used of the gourd, the worm, and the east wind. The Authorised version renders the word accurately in Job 7:3; Daniel 1:5-10. Previous special preparation is not implied, still less creation for the particular purpose. God employs existing agents to do His bidding.
[A great fish.]—The Hebrew dag is derived from the prolific character of fish, and a great fish might stand for any one of the sea monsters. The notion that it was a whale rests on the LXX. and Matthew 12:40. But κῆτος was a term for any large fish, such as dolphins, sharks, &c. (See Hom. Od. xii. 97.) And unless we have previously determined the question, whether the Book of Jonah is intended by the sacred writer to be a literal history, or an apologue founded on a history or a parable pure and simple, tota hœc de pisce Jonœ disquisitio, as an old commentator observes, vana videtur atque inutilis. The explanations given by commentators divide themselves into those of a strictly præternatural kind, as that a fish was created for the occasion; or into the natural or semi-natural, as that it was a ship, or an inn bearing the sign of the whale; or that it was a white shark. (For the last hypothesis see all that can be collected in Dr. Pusey’s commentary on Jonah.) In early Christian paintings the monster appears as a huge dragon.
Resolution
- YHWH: Keep calm and Nineveh
- 3 Days/3 Nights of repentance (Discourse Analysis: Jonah’s Prayer)
Assignment – Go Fish!
This is your opportunity to dig through some Study Bibles and Commentaries and analyze the narrative for Jonah 2-4 We will discuss discourse analysis in our next session.
What did you find?
Write it down.
Following Action
- Mercy and Grace through fish vomit
When you find the crisis & resolution of a drama, you usually find the main point, too
Charting the Narrative: Act 2
- YHWH: Arise and go
- Jonah: Arose and went
- 3 Days Journey & Ministry: Repent!
- Repented = Relented
- That didn’t last long!
- The plant & the worm
- Jonah’s repentance
- Assyrians’ repentance
Jonah vs Paul
From Cornerstone Commentary – One is reminded of another story in the Bible in which a believer was cast together with a group of men sailing on the Mediterranean Sea (Acts 27).
The apostle Paul was among a group of prisoners that had been entrusted to a Roman centurion. Their destination was Rome. Despite Paul’s warning, the ship set sail only to be overtaken by a tempestuous northeaster. The sailors on this occasion likewise threw the cargo overboard, but to no avail. All aboard gave up hope of survival—all, that is, except Paul. Although we are not specifically told that Paul had prayed, it is obvious that he did, for he kept close to the Lord through it all and moreover was visited by an angel who assured him that none would perish, despite the impending shipwreck (cf. 2 Cor 11:25-26).
Instructive comparisons can be drawn between the two incidents. Both Paul and Jonah were aboard pagan ships on the Mediterranean Sea. Both were involved in a tumultuous storm that resulted in the sailors’ efforts to save the ship by jettisoning the cargo. By way of contrast, however, one may note that although the crew on Jonah’s ship addressed their gods, such was not the case on Paul’s ship. While Paul obviously trusted the Lord through the terrible storm and even received an angelic visitation, Jonah could only resign himself to being cast into the sea. Thus, whereas Paul’s presence could be a source of encouragement to his companions, Jonah could merely cause them trouble—trouble that could only be alleviated by his expulsion.
There was a basic difference in the two occasions. Despite the unhappy circumstances, Paul went in the assurance that God wanted him to minister in Rome (Acts 23:11). Because Jonah was abandoning his commission to preach in Nineveh, however, he caused the disastrous circumstances. How important, then, it is for us to be responsive to the call of God in our lives and to serve him faithfully. In doing so, we will accomplish his wise and holy purposes and be a source of blessing to others (Pss 1:1-3; 118:26; Prov 3:5-7; 31:10-12, 28-31; Jer 17:7-8).