JONAH

The following comments are from Navigator's and Quiet Time Diary journals. One verse will be entered, then the comment, then the date.

1:2-3a    "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me." 3But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish form the presence of the LORD.

    When God clearly tells me to do something that I don't want to do - what do I naturally want to do? Avoid it! Negotiate another way around it - then I give in and do what I am told. In these beginning verses, Jonah was like us and wanted to avoid what He knew God wanted him to do. As always, God will get His work accomplished. (DRM 8/22/04)

1:6    So the captain approached him [Jonah] and said, "How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish."

    When the storm came, the sailors on the ship prayed to their gods and didn't get any results. Like in Paul's time, there were many gods and many choices. (We have that today also.) So our God is one of many in their eyes.
    In later verses, when they see the results of praying to Jonah's God, they vow to and worship Him. (v. 16) (DRM 11/19/11)

1:7    Each man said to his mate, "Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us." So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

    The sailors on this boat had to be God-fearing men. I can't imagine this happening today, as they would say it was a "freak storm," or "mother nature." When a hurricane comes today, who thinks that God has anything to do with its course?
    We think we have advanced technology today, but these sailors truly knew the cause of their situation. (DRM 8/22/10)

2:5    "Water encompassed me to the point of death.
          The great deep engulfed me,
          Weeds were wrapped around my head."

    This is part of Jonah's prayer from the belly of the "fish." The first two lines seem to relate to the time before the fish arrived, then the weeds seem to me to be a possible cause (besides God's direction) that Jonah was swallowed. I would think it would be easier to do God's will than to go through the ordeal that Jonah went through! (DRM 8/23/10)

2:6b    But you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God.

    Jonah was inside the whale and was asking for forgiveness. We all know that we are sinners and are undeserving of God's grace. It is good to keep yourself humble and ask for God's forgiveness as we need Him in all parts of our life. (DRM 12/18/86)

2:9    But I will sacrifice to Thee
        With the voice of thanksgiving.
        That which I have vowed I will pay.

    This is the end of Jonah's prayer from the inside of the "fish." Jonah confessed here that he would do as he vowed - thus admitting that he should have done it before. I think the last sentence indicates that he will proclaim to the city as he originally was asked to do. I should learn that God will always be right - if I listen. (DRM 8/23/04)

3:1, 2    Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, ²"Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you."

    Clearly God gives people second chances. The first time Jonah ran in the other direction, but after the whale, he clearly was willing to do as God directed.
    When we (I) go through a trial, I am more likely to listen more carefully to what God wants - and to do His will, as my direction/failure was obviously wrong. (8/24/10)

3:10    When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

    God wants us to repent and turn from our sins. Jonah in verse 3 did as he was told - he learned from the fish not to refuse - and the King humbled himself in verse 6. God saw the obedience of all the people in this verse [10]. and relented. The people truly did as He asked and received His grace. I should do this, when convicted. (DRM 8/24/04)

4:4    The LORD said, "Do you have good reason to be angry?"

    Jonah was angry because the Lord had compassion on Nineveh. God's question above should have been responded, "NO", but Jonah didn't have the same compassion on the city.
    This reminds me to have more compassion on the needs and eternal fate of others who don't know the Lord Jesus. (DRM 8/25/10)

4:11    (God said) "And should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"