Jonah Lesson #02

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RETURN TO THE LIST OF LESSONS

JONAH 1
Lesson #02
THE DISOBEDIENT PROPHET AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD

• Memory Verse: Jonah 1:9

 

• Read Jon 1:1-17

 

• “The word of the Lord…”

 

(1)
• This book begins with an immediate declaration of who is in control.
  • The sovereign God controls and directs the life of a believer.
  • The sovereign God oversees every situation.
  • The sovereign God puts into position every element of an event.
• These aspects of God’s sovereignty proceed through the book of Jonah.

 

• “…Nineveh, that great city…”

 

(2)
• This city was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, opposite the current city of Mosul, Iraq, on the Tigris River.
• The name Nineveh, is based on the name of the goddess Ishtar. The logo is a fish inside a womb.
• The city was established by Asshur and Nimrod became the rebellious leader. (Gen 10:9-11 Micah 5:6)
  • At its peak of prosperity, this city was the home of 175,000 people. In the days of Jonah, about 120,000 people lived there.
  • It was considered a strong fortress because of the double wall surrounding the city.
    • The inner wall was 7 ¾ miles long.
    • Jon 3:3 tells us that it took 3 days journey to cross the city. That includes the surrounding area administered by the city, which means that the inhabited area was between 30 and 60 miles across.
  • The fall of the city of Nineveh occurred in 612 BC.
    • The fall of the city was prophesied in the books of Nahum and Zephaniah.
      • The destruction of the city occurred when the Medes, the Babylonians, and the Scythians attacked.
      • Theses armies gained entrance into the city by way of flood damaged walls.
    • The fall of the city was approximately 150 years after Jonah was there.

 

• “…their wickedness is come up before me.”

 

(2)
• The evil, unregenerate nature of man is constant through time.
  • God brings it to our attention before the flood of Noah’s day. (Gen 6:13)
  • God brings it to our attention with the tower of Babel. (Gen 11)
  • God brings it to our attention with the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. (Gen 18:20)
• Man has not changed all through human history. Therefore, we wonder why God has not brought these kinds of judgments upon man in our present day.
  • The concept of the sovereignty of God is important in understanding how God works.
    • God has all knowledge of everything in the universe.
    • God is in control of all events.
    • God is in control of people.
    • God is in control of time.
  • The concept of the sovereignty of God is based on the fact that God has a plan and a purpose.
    • Therefore, all events, people, and time come together to fulfill God’s purpose.
    • If judgment at one point in time does not fulfill God’s purpose, He delays that judgment until it fits in with His plan.
• Jonah flees from God’s command (3)
  • God called Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach against the wickedness in that city.
  • Jonah rebels against God’s command and runs in the opposite direction. Why?
    • Jonah does not give us his personal reason for rebellion.
    • Therefore, we must assume it is because of the general attitude of the Jews against the Gentiles as explained in lesson #1.
    • We can also assume it is because of the current events of Jonah’s day.
      • The capital city of Nineveh represented the great Assyrian Empire that had already threatened the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
      • The Assyrian Empire had already extracted tribute money from the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Jehu.
  • Jonah boards a ship headed for Tarshish.
    • Where was Tarshish?
      • There is some dispute over its location in the days of Jonah.
      • However, the best evidence is that this was a city/state on the coast of Spain.
        • It became an important trading colony with the Phoenicians that established a lucrative trading business throughout the Mediterranean area.
        • The Phoenicians ran a fleet of trading ships that moved people and products from one trading colony to another. Of primary interest to the Phoenician traders was the trading of metals.
    • Therefore, Jonah probably boarded one of these trading ships headed for Spain. Looking at a map you can see that this is the opposite direction from Nineveh and indicates the extremes of Jonah’s rebellion.
  • Notice that Jonah’s intention was to flee from the presence of God. (3)
    • Read Psa 139:1-11
      • Didn’t Jonah know that you cannot run from the presence of God?
      • Yes, but the nature of rebellion is self-deception. When man intends to rebel against God’s commands, he puts out of his mind the concept of God’s sovereignty that knows and sees all things.

 

• “But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea…”

 

(4)
• Severe storms in the Mediterranean Sea were very common.
  • It was considered dangerous to sail the Mediterranean after the middle of September. Then all shipping was cancelled from the middle of November until February because of the seasonal storms.
  • (We can understand the danger of sailing the Mediterranean in a storm from Acts 27-28.)
• However, in the book of Jonah, the author tells us most assuredly that this is not an ordinary storm.
  • It is a supernatural event specifically sent by God. This point is very important to our understanding of the book of Jonah later in our study.
  • Therefore, the sovereignty of God is at work in Jonah’s life. God sends a supernatural storm to deal with His rebellious prophet.

 

• “Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god…”

 

(5)
• Because of the great fear of the seasoned mariners, we are able to see that this is no ordinary storm. They knew this was a supernatural event.
• Each one called on his own god.
  • The popular gods of that time period:
  • Some of the many gods of the Phoenicians, the Assyrians, and the Egyptians:
    • Baal or Melek, the predominate household god and common in all of the Old Testament.
    • Sap, the god of the sun.
    • Keshep or Mikkal, the god of the underworld.
    • Anat, the Phoenician name for Astarte (Ashtart).
    • Adonis
    • Tammuz (Nimrod). The worship of this god comes from Assyria and from Egypt.
    • Osiris from Assyria and Egypt.
    • Eshmun (Asklepios) the god of healing.
    • Melqart, etc.
  • All of these gods were worshipped throughout the Mediterranean area and at times were known by different names even though it was the same god.
  • None of the false gods had the power to do anything to help these mariners in the severe storm.
  • They threw all the valuable cargo destined for Tarshish into the sea to lighten the ship.
• Where was Jonah during the storm?
  • Jonah was asleep at the bottom of the ship. (5)
    • Why was Jonah able to sleep through the storm?
      • Like many rebellious believers, pride makes a person rationalize and justify his rebellious behavior against God.
      • This is what the New Testament calls, quenching the Holy Spirit. (1The 5:19)
        • The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict a person of sin (Joh 16:8) so that he knows his actions do not please God. When a person does not listen to the inner voice of the Holy Spirit to repent of his sin, but instead he ignores the Spirit’s conviction, he is quenching the Holy Spirit.
        • The mental illustration is like pouring water on fire to put out or quench the fire.
    • Because of that rationalization and justification of sin, Jonah did not feel God’s anger and displeasure.
  • The captain of the ship had to awaken Jonah so that he, too, would pray to his God for salvation from the storm. (6)
    • The prayers to the false gods of the mariners had no effect.
    • The ship’s captain recognized that perhaps Jonah’s God would help.

 

• “And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us”

 

(7)
• The casting of lots:
  • In the ancient world there were many forms of spiritual activity to discern the future or to discern the will of a god.
    • Whenever this was done in relationship to a false god or an idol, it was forbidden by God. (Deu 18:9-12)
    • However, God, by His Spirit, enabled the prophets to see events in the future and to discern God’s will. Therefore it is not the discerning of the future or the discernment of the will of God that is evil.
      • Instead it is the purpose for which it is done.
      • And it is the deity from which one seeks this information that determines whether it is permissible or not.
  • The casting of lots was a common practice in the ancient world in all cultures and therefore related to every kind of deity including the God, Jehovah.
    • The mariners suggest the casting of lots. It is obvious that even though they believed in many different gods, they were familiar with the practice of the casting of lots.
    • In both the Old and the New Testaments, God used the casting of lots for His purpose and did not forbid it. The purpose was:
      • To determine the division of the Promised Land allocated to each tribe. (Jos 18, 19)
      • To determine which goat was to be designated for sacrifice on the Day of Atonement (Lev 16)
      • To determine a guilty person (Jos 7:14)
      • To determine the allocation of temple duties (1Chr 24:5)
      • To determine the disciple that would replace Judas Iscariot (Act 1:15-26)
• Of what significance is casting of lots?
  • Read Pro 16:33
  • Proverbs tells us that the results of the practice of casting lots is left in the hands of God. In other words, for a believer in Jesus Christ, it is an unbiased way of determining the will of God in choosing between two options.
    • In the early church, it was used to choose between two qualified men as to the replacement of Judas Iscariot.
    • In this respect, casting lots is better than an election by man’s determination which usually is a popularity contest.

 

• “…the lot fell upon Jonah.”

 

(7)
• Even though we see that the pagan mariners cast the lots, God decided the outcome.
• God’s sovereignty rules over other gods and man’s attempts to gain supernatural wisdom simply because He has a plan and a purpose for Jonah’s life.
  • Jonah is not following God’s plan for him. He is going in the opposite direction, doing his own thing.
  • Equally, the same is true in the life of a rebellious believer. When a believer does not listen to the conviction of the Holy Spirit inside of him, God will use even non-believers to get the attention of that believer.
• Jonah’s testimony (9)

 

• “And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven…”

 

(9)
• Jonah answered the mariners’ questions.
  • He said that he feared Jehovah.
  • However, it was not enough to be obedient in the first place. If he had the proper awesome respect for God, he would have been obedient and left for Nineveh.
• Jonah confessed that he was fleeing God’s command. (10)
• Because of Jonah’s honesty with them, the mariners left the decision to Jonah as to what to do next. (11)
• Jonah’s understanding. (12)
  • Jonah knows that this storm was a supernatural event sent by God to deal directly with him.
  • Jonah suggests they throw him into the sea, but the mariners are reluctant and try harder to reach the shore.
• Jonah in the sea and the mariners in prayer
  • Finally, as a last resort, they threw Jonah into the sea and claimed their innocence for his death. (14)
  • The mariners began to pray to Jonah’s God, Jehovah.
    • The mariners made a sacrifice to God according to the Hebrew tradition. (16)
    • They also made vows to God according to the Hebrew tradition. (16)
      • Man does this today. “God if you will just get me out of this situation, I will promise to go to church and serve you!”
      • Sometimes man keeps this type of vow, but usually not.
• What did God prepare?
  • God prepared a big fish. Notice that this is not a whale.
  • There have been times in history when men have been swallowed by a big fish and lived to tell of it.
    • National Geographic society has evidence of just such an event.
    • The big fish in that situation was a whale shark. It is an exceptionally large shark.
• Application:

• What principles do we learn in Jon 1?
  • As believers in Christ we must come to understand and recognize the sovereignty of God over our lives. Nothing occurs by accident.
  • God prepares people and events to cross our path of life for our good and for His purposes.
  • Immediate obedience is better than delayed obedience for we avoid a lot of problems and heartache when we obey in faith.

HOMEWORK
Jonah 2
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• Application of Jonah 1
  • In what ways does your response to God parallel that of Jonah?

• In what ways can you improve on your obedience to God?

• What will be the result in your life if you improve your obedience?

• Preparation for Jon 2
  • Read Jon 2:1-10
    • How did Jonah know that God heard his prayer for deliverance?

• What is the significance of verse 6?

• What are lying vanities? (8)

Memory Verse: Jonah 2:9