18 May (Jonah 1)

Who is Jonah?

To many unbelievers and skeptics of the Bible, the book of Jonah is one of the first places they will go to when debating the validity of the Bible. They don't believe the book is factual, but rather, it's metaphorical. Even though they don't know what the whale/fish is supposed to represent, they insist that it never really happened, and the book is just a story.

Early in my Christian walk, I didn't have a response to these claims, and I didn't offer a rebuttal...that bothered me, since I believe that the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible, and if it's in there, then it happened, and there is a good reason it's in the Bible for us to learn from.

I spent some time listening to Bible scholars I respect, and did my own research, and I discovered a wonderful message, and a definitive confirmation that the events actually happened!

I came to be convinced that the book of Jonah was true, and I refer to Jesus Himself, who validated it in Matt 12:40 and Luke 11:30. That should be enough for any born-again Christian, but we still need to know the facts in order to retort when faced with the skeptics' accusations.

Jonah in Hebrew means Dove. Whenever a dove is mentioned in the Bible, God is at work:

After the flood, Noah sent out a dove, and it brought back an olive leaf, signifying that the earth was inhabitable again. Gen 8:11

The Holy Spirit came upon Jesus after He was baptized in the form of a dove. Luke 3:22

Jonah's father was named Amittai, which means Truthful in Hebrew.

Jonah ministered in the Northern Kingdom in the eighth century B.C. and was born in the area of Galilee. This is funny since some skeptics during Jesus' time said when they heard Jesus was from Galilee: No prophet has come from Galilee John 7:52 In fact, the prophet Nahum also came from Galilee, so the skeptics didn't know their facts!

So here is this dove whom God told to go to the most feared place on earth at that time...Nineveh!

What was Nineveh?

Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian Empire, and was the largest city on earth at that time. Nimrod, who built the Tower of Babel, made this city, and brought with him many of the pagan practices of the peoples.

To get a good picture of how big this city was, here are some facts about Nineveh:

~ It was 60 miles in circumference, which was a three-day journey to span by foot

~ The entire city was enclosed by huge walls and watchtowers

~ The walls were 100 feet high, and deep enough to have three chariots ride side-by-side on top

~ The population is believed to have 600,000 to one million people in it

Nineveh had a terrible reputation for cruelty, and they were known for their sadistic treatment of slaves, women and even children. They were known to torture captives until death, striking fear in all the area.

This was a port city, so fishing was the trade of commerce. Because of this, it makes sense that the god they worshipped, Dagon, was part man and fish. They believe that Dagon came out of the Erythaean Sea, and archaeologists have found artifacts and writings that show their worship of Dagon.

Dagon is mentioned in the Bible seven times, but the most telling part was in 1 Sam 5:12 where the Assyrians brought the Ark of the Covenant to Dagon. The next morning, Dagon was lying face down in front of the Ark! The next night, it was face down again, with its head and hands broken off! They had good reason to fear the God of Israel, and this may be one reason they listened to Jonah when he finally preached in Nineveh!

Jonah 1

(v.3) Like all of us have done at some times in our lives, Jonah doesn't want to do the hard thing of following God, and he thinks he can escape God!

(v.5) God created a mighty storm, so violent, that the seasoned sailors thought they were going to die! Ironically, Jonah was down in the boat sleeping! This reminds us of Jesus, when the storm on the Sea of Galilee had the seasoned fishermen turned disciples scared for their lives. Matt 8:24

This is the first sign that Jonah was a type of Christ...if we put Jesus in his place, we will see why this book is so wonderful!

(v.12) Why did Jonah tell the men to throw him into the sea? Why didn't he just jump? If we put Christ in his place, we see that Christ willingly went to His death, but the people had to do the dirty work.

(v.14) The answer to why didn't Jonah jump is answered here...they thought Jonah was innocent! Much like our Creator and Savior, Jonah was innocent, but was willing to die to save the lives of the crew.

(v.15) Much like when Jesus calmed the sea by His voice, right when Jonah hit the water, the storm stopped dead cold. Matt 8:26

(v.16) Just as the disciples knew that Jesus was the Son of God and had the Almighty's power to calm the sea, the men on the ship worshipped God and gave sacrifices! They were converted!