Jonah lived during the reign of Jeroboam II, for we read in the account of what Jeroboam did that: "He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He spoke by the hand of His servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-Hepher." (2 Kings 14:25)
As was related in our last lesson, "Hazael, king of Syria, oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz;" (2 Kings 13:22) and Elisha, just before his death, had prophesied to Joash, Israel's deliverance from Syria. But as Joash, in obeying the prophet's word to smite with the arrows upon the ground, had shown his lack of persistence in smiting only three times, whereas he should have smitten till directed to hold, the prophet said to him, "You should have smitten five or six times; then had you smitten Syria till you had consumed it: whereas now you shall smite Syria but thrice." (2 Kings 13:19)
Accordingly Joash smote Syria three times, and no more; and then it fell to Jeroboam II to complete the deliverance of Israel from the oppressions of Syria. "For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter: for there was not any shut up, nor any left, nor any helper for Israel. And the Lord said not that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven; but He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash." (2 Kings 14:26-27)
And it was the prophet Jonah that directed, encouraged, and strengthened Jeroboam in his appointed work, because the Lord was gracious to Israel and had compassion on them, "because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." (2 Kings 13:23)
Jeroboam, the son of Joash, reigned from 827 BC to 786, and it was in the former part of his reign that Jonah prophesied.
1. Because, as we have seen, it was at the word of Jonah that victory was given to Jeroboam, and that Israel recovered his possessions; and
2. Because of these successes Israel became exalted, and then Amos prophesied Israel's captivity and destruction. (See Amos 7:7-17)
And Amos says he prophesied "in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake." (Amos 1:1)
Uzziah began to reign in the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam, which would be in the year 800 BC; and this would leave only fourteen years of the reign of Jeroboam, so that Amos prophesied between the years 800 and 786 BC. Therefore Jonah's prophesying in the early years of Jeroboam's reign, must have been from 827 BC down to about 810 BC.
Nineveh, to which Jonah was commanded to go, was the capital of the Assyrian Empire. It was situated on the River Tigris, 36° 20' north latitude, 43° 10' east longitude, and was 600 miles from Jonah's home. Vul-lush III was king of the city of Nineveh and the empire of Assyria from 810 to 781 BC, and it is most likely that it was in his reign that Jonah was sent on this mission to Nineveh. It may have been in the reign of Vul-lush's predecessor, Shamas-Vul, who reigned from 823-810. We cannot tell yet exactly in which it was; but we may be almost certain that it was in the reign of one of these two kings that Jonah was sent to Nineveh. Vul-lush had great success in all his expeditions; he extended his dominions in almost every direction, and it is most likely that the wealth acquired from the tribute of all the nations round about had induced that state of luxury and dissipation which called for destruction unless immediate repentance was shown.
Therefore the Lord said to Jonah, "Arise go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." (Jonah 1:2)
The Lord has left no nation to itself without full opportunity to know and serve Him. Here His prophet is sent to the capital of Assyria, whose empire then ruled from Egypt and the Great Sea to Central Asia, and from the Persian Gulf to the mountains of Armenia. Before this, His prophets had spoken directly to, and had even anointed, a king of Syria. Afterward He spoke in a dream, and then by His prophet, to the great Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; and Nebuchadnezzar published a letter to all people, nations, and languages that he "thought it good to show the signs and wonders that the high God has wrought toward [him]." (Daniel 4:2)
From Jeremiah the Lord sent messages to Edom, and Moab, and Ammon, and Tyre, and Sidon. (Jeremiah 27:3-7) He spoke to Cyrus and to Alexander the Great. We repeat, God has left no nation without a knowledge of himself, and no nation has ever been left to itself without warning.
But Jonah was not willing to carry the Lord's message to this perishing city. "Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord." (Jonah 1:3)
Nineveh lay about six hundred miles to the east, and Jonah started to go about three thousand miles to the westward; for Tarshish was on the southwest coast of Spain. But Jonah was open-hearted about it; he did not pretend, as many people now do, to be obeying the Lord by going directly opposite to what the Lord told him. He was disobedient, and he intended it to be considered so.
But now, thousands of people, in effect, do just as Jonah did, and then try to convince themselves that they are obeying the Lord. The Lord says to all people, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work." (Exodus 20:10)
Thousands of people will work all day the seventh day, and then do no work on the first day, and pretend that in this they are obeying the commandment of God. But to rest on the first day of the week is no more obedience to the commandment of God to keep the Sabbath than it was obedience for Jonah to go to Tarshish when the Lord told him to go to Nineveh. If you are going to obey the Lord, do it; and if you are determined to disobey, do that; but don't try to pass off disobedience for obedience, and so deceive yourself. "And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us." (Deuteronomy 6:25) "[Jonah] ... went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind." (Jonah 1:3-4)
This was a euroclydon, such as struck the ship on which Paul was being taken a prisoner to Rome. "And there was a mighty tempest in the sea. ... Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to light it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep." (Jonah 1:4-5)
Jonah seems to have felt perfectly safe, although he knew he was disobeying God. So do many people. And, as then, innocent persons are thrown into trial and distress because of their careless disobedience. "So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, what do you mean, O sleeper? arise, call upon your God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not." (Jonah 1:6)
Then they cast lots to find whose was the fault that the storm was upon them, and the lot fell upon Jonah. "Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray you, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is your occupation? and whence come you? what is your country? and of what people are you? And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which has made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid." (Jonah 1:8-10)
They knew that the God who made the sea and the dry land must be above all gods, and so when they heard of Him, they were "exceedingly afraid."
Then, knowing that Jonah was the cause of all their trouble, "They said unto him, What shall we do unto you, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea grew more and more tempestuous [margin]. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea...for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not." (Jonah 1:11-13)
Even against the evidence of the lot, and the convincing word of Jonah, the men labored hard to deliver themselves rather than pitch him into the sea; but it was all no use; overboard he had to go. So the men "cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech You, O Lord, we beseech You, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for You, O Lord, have done as it pleased You. So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows." (Jonah 1:14-15)
So the Lord turned Jonah's rebellion into good for those who knew not the Lord, and taught them of himself. "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." (Jonah 1:17)
This part of the story is just as true as is any other. Jesus makes mention of this very verse of Jonah, in His preaching. And, having the endorsement of Christ, we know that it is as true as any other of His words, and they are all absolutely true; although the translation in the New Testament, which gives the word "whale," is not justifiable. The original says, "The Lord had prepared a great fish." (Jonah 1:17)
And a great fish was what it was. But because a whale is a great fish, it does not follow at all that this was a whale. There are great fish in the Mediterranean that can swallow not only a man, but a horse or a buffalo. In one such was found the whole body of a man in complete armor. In one was found a whole horse. In one was found the skin of a whole buffalo, which had been thrown overboard from the very ship which caught the fish. (See Smith's Dictionary, Art. "Whale.")
It was nothing strange or wonderful at all that such a great fish should swallow Jonah; and that the Lord should preserve him unhurt, and was no more wonderful than to preserve the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, or Daniel in the den of hungry lions.--Signs of the Times, October 29, 1885--Notes on the International Lesson, November 8--Jonah 1:1-17
A.T. Jones