Can some explain the book of Jonah to me please?

Status
Not open for further replies.

yeshuaslavejeff

simple truth, martyr, disciple of Yahshua
Jan 6, 2005
39,944
11,098
okie
✟214,996.00
Faith
Anabaptist
What is the overall message of the story?
YHWH'S (GOD'S) Sovereignty and Mercy, and regarding the sign of Jonah as the sign which Yeshua pointed out in the Gospel - Jonah died and was in the belly of the great fish 3 days and 3 nights (72 hours) as was Yeshua in the grave.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nosolostsoul
Upvote 0

vinsight4u

Contributor
Aug 8, 2003
22,147
2,685
✟21,426.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
Jonah is mentioned another place in the OT as giving a prophecy. In his own book, he knew that God has a habit of repenting when He calls forth evil on a nation/place or person. Jonah drowned and then was swallowed by the fish. He went into Nineveh as a revived man warning them. He tells us that he prayed from hell and God heard him. This is placed within another prayer after he was put back in his body inside of the fish. Jonah never says that he saw a fish approach him but instead seems to show how he drowned and then prayed from hell. Jonah had to have the men toss him overboard before, yet after this experience -he doesn't seem to be afraid to die. Nineveh saw a revived man that came as a prophet to them. The king and others humbled themselves to God and it seems that God repents of the evil because of this and the young children - those that can't tell their right hand from their left. and cattle /
Jonah was in pity as to the gourd that perished and God Almighty had pity on the people and cattle/animals -not birds.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: nosolostsoul
Upvote 0

Serving Zion

Seek First His Kingdom & Righteousness
May 7, 2016
2,335
900
Revelation 21:2
✟223,022.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
I get the part of Jonah running from his duty to God, but why did Jonah get mad and asked for death?

What was God's point/message regarding the Plant and the comparison to Nineveh?

What is the overall message of the story?
Jonah was sent to pronounce destruction upon Ninevah at God's command, but what he told them did not come about because they genuinely repented and feared God when they learned that they had been in error, and God was pleased by that.

This had an impact on Jonah's reputation, because the ones who are skeptical of his calling would then use that for an example to discredit him. This is why he was angry with God.

God rightly showed him that he should not be angry because God's mercy toward Ninevah had saved many souls and cattle, and had only cost Jonah some pride and reputation. Plus, God showed Jonah that He would shelter him, by growing the vine over him. Then by sending the worm to eat the vine, he showed that Jonah was a prideful man, and that helped him to accept God's mercy toward Ninevah.
 
Upvote 0

RDKirk

Alien, Pilgrim, and Sojourner
Supporter
Mar 3, 2013
39,119
20,158
US
✟1,440,434.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Married
Point 1: God does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23, Ezekiel 33:11).
Point 2: God has a soft heart for repentance (Jonah 4:2)
Point 3: God takes men's knowledge of Him into consideration in His judgment (Jonah 4:11, John 9:41)
Point 4: God gives every man an opportunity for repentance (2 Peter 3:9)

Jonah proves that God is not a neutral judge, but is in fact biased toward salvation, giving men every opportunity and being unwilling to destroy the ignorant.
 
Upvote 0

Kerensa

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2017
750
911
Kent
✟95,891.00
Country
United Kingdom
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
The way I read it, Jonah hated the people of Nineveh, who were Israel's enemies. He didn't want to go and preach the warning to them in the first place, which is implicitly why he fled in the opposite direction and had to go through that whole business of being thrown into the sea and swallowed by the fish. Then when he finally did obey God and he went to Nineveh and warned the people that they were about to be destroyed, and they all genuinely repented and God spared them — well, Jonah was appalled. He didn't think these people actually deserved the Lord's mercy! As we're told, he was angry enough to want to die.

That's where the little lesson of the plant comes in. God provides a plant to shade Jonah, then sends a worm to eat it and it dies away. Jonah now becomes angry that the plant has died. But as God points out to him, Jonah didn't do anything to make the plant grow, yet he feels sorry for it — so how much more should God care about the people of Nineveh? I think it shows that God's compassion ranges far wider than we imagine and we should never think anyone is unworthy of His love or incapable of turning and being saved.
 
  • Like
Reactions: nosolostsoul
Upvote 0

yeshuaslavejeff

simple truth, martyr, disciple of Yahshua
Jan 6, 2005
39,944
11,098
okie
✟214,996.00
Faith
Anabaptist
He didn't think these people actually deserved the Lord's mercy!
Look what is written:
Jonah 4 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)
4 But this was very displeasing to Yonah, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to Adonai, “Now, Adonai, didn’t I say this would happen, when I was still in my own country? That’s why I tried to get away to Tarshish ahead of time! I knew you were a God who is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in grace, and that you relent from inflicting punishment.
 
Upvote 0

Kerensa

Well-Known Member
Apr 20, 2017
750
911
Kent
✟95,891.00
Country
United Kingdom
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
Yes, exactly. He knew that God is merciful and he didn't WANT the Ninevites to have that mercy. That's why he ran away from God in the first place instead of taking the warning to Nineveh — and why he was so angry when, on hearing his prophecy, the Ninevites repented and weren't destroyed after all. ;)
 
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

vinsight4u

Contributor
Aug 8, 2003
22,147
2,685
✟21,426.00
Country
United States
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
Job 17:16

“They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.”


Jonah 2:6

“I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.”

King James Version (KJV)
 
Upvote 0

Serving Zion

Seek First His Kingdom & Righteousness
May 7, 2016
2,335
900
Revelation 21:2
✟223,022.00
Faith
Christian
Marital Status
Private
Not at all.
Did you even read it???
No I didn't read the book of Jonah in order to respond. This is what I already know of it. I wonder also whether you even read Ezekiel 33:11.. otherwise why might you say that God was not pleased by Ninevah's repentance?

Please, I am very tired. It is now midnight and I am heading to bed. Would you kindly withhold until tomorrow, and then if you still need more from me, present your case and it will have my full attention.
 
Upvote 0

yeshuaslavejeff

simple truth, martyr, disciple of Yahshua
Jan 6, 2005
39,944
11,098
okie
✟214,996.00
Faith
Anabaptist
No I didn't read the book of Jonah in order to respond. This is what I already know of it. I wonder also whether you even read Ezekiel 33:11.. otherwise why might you say that God was not pleased by Ninevah's repentance?

Please, I am very tired. It is now midnight and I am heading to bed. Would you kindly withhold until tomorrow, and then if you still need more from me, present your case and it will have my full attention.
I have no "case" to present. Ezekial 33:11 says nothing that you said or claimed. Simple.
 
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

Aryeh Jay

Gone and hopefully forgotten.
Supporter
Jul 19, 2012
15,312
14,321
MI - Michigan
✟498,114.00
Country
United States
Faith
Judaism
Marital Status
Married
Jonah died and was in the belly of the great fish 3 days and 3 nights (72 hours) as was Yeshua in the grave.

Jonah did not die in the fish.


“And the Lord caused a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was alive within the fish for three days and three nights.”
 
Upvote 0

Aryeh Jay

Gone and hopefully forgotten.
Supporter
Jul 19, 2012
15,312
14,321
MI - Michigan
✟498,114.00
Country
United States
Faith
Judaism
Marital Status
Married
You got a bad translation.

I’m sorry; I have been unable to find the correct translation that has a dead Jonah praying to God from inside the fish, a dead Jonah being vomited back in dry land and a dead Jonah being told by God to go to Nineveh. I will just stick to the original Hebrew and not worry about the correct translation.

Better let these guys know that they are misleading people.
The Story of Jonah and the Whale
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Kerensa
Upvote 0
This site stays free and accessible to all because of donations from people like you.
Consider making a one-time or monthly donation. We appreciate your support!
- Dan Doughty and Team Christian Forums

Dave-W

Welcoming grandchild #7, Arturus Waggoner!
Supporter
Jun 18, 2014
30,521
16,866
Maryland - just north of D.C.
Visit site
✟771,800.00
Country
United States
Faith
Messianic
Marital Status
Married
Politics
US-Others
Does anyone wonder how a fish (ow whale or whatever) could get from the middle of the Mediterranean Sea all the way around Africa and swim up the Tigris River (no Suez canal then) to get to Nineveh in only 3 days time?

assyrianmap.jpg
 
Upvote 0
Status
Not open for further replies.