For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: Jonah 1:1-5

1 The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.’

3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

4 Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea, and such a violent storm arose that the ship threatened to break up. 5 All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone below deck, where he lay down and fell into a deep sleep. 

A. Find Out:

1. What came to whom to go where? v.1,2a
2. What was he to do and why? v.2b
3. But what did he do instead? v.3
4. So what did the Lord do? v.4
5. What effect did it have on the sailors? v.5a,b
6. Yet what did Jonah do? v.5c

B. Think:

1. Why do you think Jonah ran away?
2. What does his ability to sleep in a storm indicate?
3. What indications are there of the severity of the storm?

C. Comment:

      For those who have been told the story of Jonah in Sunday School, it’s familiarity may mean we miss important principles. We need, therefore, to take it slowly. We all assume Jonah was a prophet because he received a word from God (v.1). How it came we don’t know. Perhaps it was just a growing sense that this is what God wanted. The detail of it was quite clear: go to Nineveh and preach against its wickedness. Nineveh was a big city, so it was probably like the equivalent of saying go and preach against London , New York , Paris, Sydney or Hong Kong. This task, although appearing clear to Jonah also seemed overwhelming and so he did a silly thing: he tried to run away from God.

       Don’t despise Jonah for this, because we all do it in some way or other. We all hear something from God, possibly preached, and then go away and justify why it doesn’t apply to us. That’s as good as running away. That’s what the old sinful nature does. It doesn’t like being told what to do and it doesn’t believe God will be there to help us through with it, so we ‘run away’ from it and pretend we hadn’t heard it. But God doesn’t give up on us, because He loves us and knows what we’re capable of with a bit of encouragement, so He sends along a difficulty to catch our attention, something just big enough that we’ll respond – even if we’re exhausted from struggling against Him!

D. Application:

1. Be honest. How do you ‘run away’ from God?
2. Realise that the belief that God won’t respond is ill-founded!

Passage: Jonah 1:6-15

6 The captain went to him and said, ‘How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not perish.’

7 Then the sailors said to each other, ‘Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this calamity.’ They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 So they asked him, ‘Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What kind of work do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?’

9 He answered, ‘I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.’

10 This terrified them and they asked, ‘What have you done?’ (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so.)

11 The sea was getting rougher and rougher. So they asked him, ‘What should we do to you to make the sea calm down for us?’

12 ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea,’ he replied, ‘and it will become calm. I know that it is my fault that this great storm has come upon you.’ 13 Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. 14 Then they cried out to the Lord, ‘Please, Lord, do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, Lord, have done as you pleased.’ 15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 

A. Find Out:    

1. Who called on Jonah to do what? v.6
2. What did the sailors do? v.7,8
3. What was Jonah’s reply and what response did it evoke? v.9,10
4. What did they ask and what did Jonah reply? v.11,12
5. But what did they try to do instead? v.13
6. What did they have to do in the end and with what effect? v.14,15

B. Think:

1. How are the sailors shown to be superstitious?
2. How is Jonah fatalistic?
3. What might have been an alternative course of action?

C. Comment:

     Again we have to say that for many this story is so familiar that we risk missing vital truths. Here is Jonah, running away from God, exhausted by it, asleep on a ship that looks like it might sink in a storm. The captain wakes him and tells him to join in their superstitious rites of calling on their gods – one of them might turn up for them! By drawing lots (!!!) they conclude Jonah is the cause, so he tells them that he’s running away from the “I AM”, the LORD, the God of Israel who is the Maker of all things – including storms. Something of this has a ring of truth and they are terrified. They are doomed! Is there any way to pacify Him, is really what they ask.

     Now it is at this point that we casually read what took place without a great deal of thought. What would have been a simple solution? Simply, “Turn the boat around, I’ve got to go back and go to Nineveh.” That was all that was needed, but Jonah has a very limited understanding of the Lord. He believes only his death will satisfy God so He will make the storm abate and the sailors be saved. Do you see this? Jonah is of the “Sin should be punished” clan and the result of that is judgement and death. He has yet to find the God of mercy, grace and salvation, the God who doesn’t delight in the death of any man (Ezek 18:32) but who would rather they turn and be saved!

D. Application:

1. God is looking for obedience, not judgement.
2. How do we see the Lord?

Passage: Jonah 1:15 – 2:1

15 Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm. 16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him.

17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. 

A. Find Out:

1. What happened when Jonah went overboard? v.15
2. What effect did this have on the sailors? v.16
3. But what did the Lord do? v.17a
4. How long was Jonah there? v.17b
5. What did Jonah do there? v.1

B. Think:

1. How did the Lord make use of Jonah’s exit?
2. What is the twofold end result of God’s rescue plan?

C. Comment:

      Depending on what you feel about God, you will analyse what takes place here. If you think God is hard and tough, you will see the episode of the fish as a judgement on Jonah. The reality is that the fish is God’s rescue plan to save Jonah from his fatalistic belief in the judgement of God that we noted yesterday. Let’s note what happened.

     Jonah has said he needs to be sacrificed to save the sailors. Eventually, in their desperation, they do throw him overboard, although that goes against everything they believe in. To their surprise the storm immediately abates. There is no question, this is cause and effect. They recognise the reality of the Lord and immediately sacrifice and surrender to him. A whole load of sailors have encountered the Lord. Good stuff!

     But here is Jonah now in the water having committed this act of sacrifice – dying. There is no doubt about this; he will drown. This means God has to act quickly to save His foolish prophet, so He prompts a passing large fish to swallow him whole. Amazing, a fish big enough to swallow him and big enough to swallow him without harming him further! He’s alive! More than that, he’s talking to God! In the hell that is the inside of this fish, Jonah prays. Very often all God wants is His children to talk to Him. For three days Jonah remains there, a picture of what will happen to Jesus (Mt 12:39-41). Inside the fish Jonah is as good as dead, a picture of hell possibly. In three days he will be spat out, a clear picture of resurrection. It’s a work of God without doubt!

D. Application:

1. God constantly acts to save us from our own foolishness.
2. Our wrong beliefs often lead us into difficult circumstances.