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5 minute Bible
Jonah part 2 chapter 1 verse 3
What's going on?
So we've been introduced to Jonah who's doubly a prophet
he is Jonah ben Amitai, the same one that we read about in Kings
a true prophet in the time of King Jeroboam of Israel
and his book is introduced
with words that suggest a prophetic story
vayhi devar hashem el-yonah ben amitai - the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amitai
So, this doubly prophetic Jonah now in verse 2
receives the command of his God
"Go at once to Nineveh that great city
and cry out against it for their wickedness has come up before me."
A fairly straightforward command and so will not tarry on verse 2
verse 3: But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish
from the presence of the Lord, he went down to Joppa and found a ship going to
Tarshish
so he paid his fare went on board to go with them to Tarshish
away from the presence of the Lord." Now we have a problem!
Jonah, the twice-prophetic Jonah
has received his command from God and promptly disobeyed it
Jonah's response could hardly be more opposite to God's command
back in verse 2 which I will return to another post don't worry
back in verse 2 God commanded:
qum lekh - get up and go! In verse 3 we read
vayaqum yona livoah tarshisha
Jonah got up and set out for Tarshish
Not "to go to Nineveh" but to set out for Tarshish
and just to make sure that you get the point that this is exactly the opposite
what God has commanded verse 2 ended with
ki-alahta raatam lifnay -
"their wickedness has come up into my presence" as the reason
why Jonah is to preach against Nineveh
verse 3 ends
milifnay hashem - "away from the presence of the Lord"
Our problem couldn't be more stark, we have a prophet
who we know twice know to be a true prophet
we know him to be a true prophet because we read about him in Kings
and we know him to be a true prophet because
the introduction tells us that God's word came to him
and yet no sooner has God's word come to him
than we find him disobeying it totally and completely
What is going on? The book of Jonah isn't a whodunit
the book of Jonah is a why'd-he-do-it
why is Jonah fleeing from the presence of the Lord
why is Jenna not
doing what he was told?
and for the next two and a half chapters
we aren't told
So, now we've got three genres for Jonah
it's evidently a narrative - it recounts a series of events the connections
between them
its evidently a prophetic text -
it begins: "the word of the Lord came to Jonah
son of Amitai" and now we discover it's a
"what's he doing?"
a book with a question mark hanging over it. Well, if you want to find out more
listen to the next installment. Bye for now