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Day 181: Jonah and the Whale
2 Kings 15
Chapter 15: The Long Reign of Uzziah of Judah and the Continued Decline of Israel
2 Kings 15:1-7 ~ The reign of Uzziah (Azariah) in Judah
See the parallel account of Uzziah's reign in 2 Chronicles 26:1-23. He is also known as Amaziah (2 Kng 15:1-2). As always, the inspired writer names the mother of the new Davidic king. You will recall that Uzziah's father, Amaziah, had been assassinated and the people of Judah chose Uzziah to succeed his father (14:19-21). Uzziah had some military successes over Judah's local enemies including the Philistines, Ammonites and Meunites (2 Chr 26:6-8). He was one of Judah's longest reigning kings. He was king for 52 years as the ancient's counted, although for part of that time his son acted as the nation's co-ruler because God punished Uzziah (2 Chr 26:3).
Amos was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom during the reign of Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel. Hosea was a contemporary of Amos during the reigns of King Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah and of Jeroboam II of Israel but he was sent to the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
2 Kings 15:8-12 ~ The short reign of Zechariah in Israel
The kings of Israel are consistently judged for repeating the sins of Jeroboam who introduced idol worship into the Northern Kingdom (1 Kng 12:28-13:8). The kings of Judah please Yahweh in that they do not promote idol worship in the Southern Kingdom with the exception of Jehoram who "followed the example of the kings of Israel" and "did what is displeasing to Yahweh" by establishing Baal worship in Judah (2 Kng 8:18).
2 Kings 15:13-16 ~ The very short reign of Shallum in Israel
Tirzah was the original capital of the Northern Kingdom. Menahem assassinated Shallum who had assassinated his own predecessor a month earlier. Menahem was a bloodthirsty man who destroyed an entire city because the people refused to surrender.
2 Kings 15:17-22 ~ The reign of Menahem in Israel
Israel and Judah had been able to enjoy a period of peace and prosperity mostly because of the weakness of Assyria's leaders. But, as Menahem soon learned, that period of weakness had come to an end. Assyria was now led by Pul/Pulu. According to Assyrian/Babylonian documents it was the coronation name taken by Tiglath-Pileser III, king of Assyria (745-727 BC) when he conquered Babylon. After conquering Babylon, he turned his attention to the west and was about to carve out an empire larger than anything the Ancient Near East had ever known.
2 Kings 15:23-26 ~ The reign of Pekahiah in Israel
Pekah is actually the same name as Pekahiah but without the theophoric suffix. The king was assassinated by a man with his same name. This is the third assassination of a king of Israel since 743 BC. He was joined in his revolt by Israelites from the Transjordan.
2 Kings 15:27-31 ~ The reign of Pekah in Israel
In the last year of Uzziah's life, Pekah became king of Israel and followed the path of the previous kings of Israel. It was during his reign that Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria took possession of northern Israel, including the Galilean territories of the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. The Assyrians deported the entire population into Assyrian lands to the east. This is the first of two deportations and it is this event that the prophet Isaiah will write about in his famous prophecy of restoration in Isaiah 8:23-9:6. The Assyrians appear to be the first empire to employ removing entire populations of conquered peoples and resettling them. Deportation was more effective than mass execution of a conquered people since they continued to pay taxes and were less likely to be drawn to a revolt based on nationalistic fervor if they were removed from their homelands.
Question: What is the promise in Isaiah's prophecy?
Answer: It is Isaiah's prophecy that this region of Northern Israel that was conquered and occupied by the pagan Gentiles will experience a full restoration from the "seaward road" that leads out of Damascus across southern Galilee to the Mediterranean Sea. These people will see a "great light" in the Lord's messenger. He will be the promised Messiah to come forth from God's covenant people, the child promised in Isaiah 7:14 from the lineage of David who will establish His kingdom in judgment and justice.
2 Kings 15:32-38 ~ The reign of Jotham in Judah
Jotham was a co-ruler with his father Uzziah after he was struck down with leprosy toward the end of his life and succeeded as sole ruler when Uzziah died. The familiar summary is provided for his reign as in the reigns of all good Davidic kings: "he did what was right in regards to Yahweh," but he failed to remove illicit worship in Judah outside of the Temple.
Chapter 1: Jonah's Mission and His Attempt to Avoid It
Ancient Nineveh as it might have looked in the 8-7th century BC based on archaeological evidence. Artist's interpretation of Assyrian palaces from 'The Monuments of Nineveh' by Sir Austen Henry Layard, 1853.
Jonah 1:1-2 ~ Yahweh calls Jonah to his prophetic Mission
Question: What three commands does God give Jonah in his prophetic call in verse 1?
Answer: God tells him to get up = "Arise", to "go", and to "proclaim" or literally "cry out."
It was God's intention to send Jonah on a mission to Nineveh to call the Assyrians to repentance. God never condemned a people without sending a prophet to give a warning that the wrath of Yahweh was at hand, and they were going to pay the price for their sins against humanity unless they repented.
Jonah 1:3-9 ~ Jonah attempts to avoid his mission
Nineveh was to the northeast, but Jonah attempted to go west to Tarshish, in exactly the opposite direction and as far from Nineveh as he could travel. Tarshish was the literal "end of the world" in Jonah's time. It was the region of southern Spain on the Mediterranean Sea within the straights of Gibraltar. Beyond the Straights of Gibraltar was the great unknown. Jonah left from the seaport of Jaffa (Joppa). It was an important harbor in ancient Israel, and today it is a suburb of modern Tel Aviv. It was the port through which the cedars of Lebanon came for the construction of the Temple Solomon built for Yahweh (2 Chr 2:15/16).
Question: What do verses 5-6 tell us about the sailors on Jonah's ship?
Answer: They were pagans from different counties who worshipped different gods of their own peoples but also respected the gods of other nationalities.
The captain of the ship called upon Jonah to join them in petitioning his god as the others were doing to save the ship and the lives of those onboard. The sailors are pagans but they are also religious men who believe in a higher power.
The sailors suspect that the sudden storm is the result of having a person on board who is guilty of some crime, and so they cast lots to determine who might be the guilty party. Such beliefs were common in antiquity. It is not fate but God's will that the lot fell to Jonah.
Question: What is ironic about the situation?
Answer: The sailors are motivated by pagan superstition but they are religious men and ironically they are correct because it is Jonah who is responsible for the storm.
Jonah 1:10-16 ~ Jonah suggests a remedy for calming the storm
The sailors are pious men and are astonished that Jonah would dare to attempt to run away from his God. They believe in false gods but that does not mean they weren't trying to live moral lives, and they were seeking a higher power to give their lives meaning in the only way they understood.
Finally, when all hope is gone, they decide to throw Jonah into the sea but they pray to Jonah's God, using His Divine Name, and they ask Yahweh to save them and absolve them of responsibility for Jonah's death.
Question: Why do you think Jonah attempted to run away and to not go to Nineveh? See Jonah 4:1-2.
Answer: It is unlikely that Jonah was a coward, but it is more likely that he was a patriot. He did not want the people of the Assyrian capital city to repent. He wanted them to be utterly destroyed so the Assyrians would not destroy his own people and his own nation.
Jonah did not know it since he was cast into the sea, but the Gentile sailors' confession of faith in Yahweh foreshadows not only his mission to Nineveh but the future conversion of Gentiles in the New Age of man in the New Covenant in Christ Jesus.
Chapter 2: God's Judgment on Jonah and His Mercy
Jonah 2:1-11 ~ Jonah prayers to God from within the tomb of the great fish
Chapter 1 has shown God's divine providence at work for Jonah and for the sailors. Now that providence focuses on Jonah, saving him from the sea in the reoccurring Biblical theme of salvation in the midst of judgment (i.e., the Great Flood judgment on a sinful humanity but saving Noah and his family, the judgment of the Red Sea on the Egyptians but saving the Israelites, etc.). While the storm was a judgment against Jonah, being swallowed by the great fish was not a punishment for Jonah; it was his salvation (2:2, 6, 9). The Hebrew word for the beast is dagah, meaning "fish" feminine and not the Hebrew word for sea mammal.
Jonah's prayer is not the lament that might be expected but is instead a typical "todah" "thanksgiving psalm" in which past afflictions are remembered (verses 3-7), an account of how the person kept his faith and was rescued (verse 8), and ending in praise of Yahweh with a promise to offer sacrifices and to keep vows made to the Lord (verses 9-10). Confident that the Lord is with him, Jonah is being grateful and thanking God in advance for his salvation.
Question: What was the result of Jonah's todah psalms? What comparison can you make to Jesus, as Jesus does in Matthew 12:38-41 and Luke 11:29-32 and the todah Psalm Jesus begins by quoting the first line from Psalm 22 from the Cross.
Answer: At God's command, , the fish spit out his body and Jonah is resurrected from death on the third day. Jesus was entombed and resurrected on the third day. This is part of the "sign of Jonah" that Jesus prophesizes will be given to the world.
It is possible that the storm and the fish had traveled up the coast and deposited Jonah on dry land due west of Nineveh. It still would have been a long journey for Jonah to travel from the coast to the heart of Mesopotamia on the east bank of the Tigris River. The earliest mention of Nineveh in the Bible is in the Table of Nations in Genesis 10:11. The last mention of Nineveh in the Bible is in Matthew 12:41 and Luke 11:30-32 where Jesus says in the Last Judgment the men of Nineveh will arise to condemn Jesus' generation for their failure to believe in Him.
Chapter 3: The Repentance of the Assyrians of Nineveh and God's Mercy
Jonah 3:1-10 ~ The repentance of the Ninevites and God's merciful pardon
God repeated the call to Jonah's prophetic mission with the same three words: arise, go and cry out. This time Jonah accepted his mission.
The "three days" is probably hyperbole to emphasis the size and importance of the city. It might also be symbolic as the three days in the belly of the great fish is probably symbolic.
Jonah walked to the middle of the city and courageously proclaimed in 40 days the destruction of the city.
Question: What are the two responses to Jonah's pronouncement of divine judgment and destruction for the city of Nineveh?
Answer: The people of the city believe him and declare their repentance through fasting and wearing sackcloth, a sign of mourning.
Chapter 4: Jonah's Grievance and God's Rebuke
Jonah 4:1-3 ~ Jonah's anger and his prayer to God to let him die
Question: Why was Jonah angry?
Answer: He was angry with God because his mission was successful and God spared the Gentile Ninevites.
We also learn for the first time that Jonah's motive for refusing the mission was because he was afraid God would be merciful to the Assyrians and their king. Jonah asks to die because he knows that the prophecy that the Assyrians will destroy his nation will now come to pass.
Jonah 4:4-11 ~ Yahweh's response to Jonah
Notice the parallels between chapters 1 and 2 and chapters 3 and 4:
| Chapter 1 | Chapter 3 |
| Call = arise, go, cry out (verse 2) | Call = arise, go, cry out (verse 2) |
| Jonah arises and flees to Tarshish (verse 3) | Jonah arises and goes to Nineveh (verse 3) |
| God acts = destructive storm (verse 4) | Jonah acts = preaches destruction (verse 4) |
| Sailors call to their gods (verse 5) | Ninevites repent, fast, wear sackcloth (verse 5) |
| Gentile captain proclaims 'Elohim's power behind the storm (verse 6) | Gentile king repents, fasts, wears sackcloth (verse 6) |
| Sailors seek YHWH's will (verses 7-13) | King seeks 'Elohim's will (verses 7-8) |
| Sailors pray to YHWH: "let us not perish" (verse 14) | King orders Ninevites to pray to 'Elohim" "Let us not perish" (verse 9) |
| Storm ceases and the sailors are spared (verse 15) | God spares Nineveh (verse 10) |
| Chapter 2 | Chapter 4 |
| Jonah is saved (verse 1) | Jonah is angry (verse 1) |
| Jonah prays (verses 2-10) | Jonah prays (verse 2-3) |
| God responds (verse 11) | God responds (verses 4-11) |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2015 | |
Both the ship captain and the Assyrian king acknowledge that there is a single divine power to which they must turn for their salvation. Notice that two different terms for God are used in the narrative concerning the response of the Gentile sailors and the Gentile Assyrians of Nineveh: 'Elohim and Yahweh. At the time of their conversion, the Gentile sailors and their captain appeal to God by His Divine Name, Yahweh, but the Ninevites and their king do not. The parallels between the sailors and their captain and the Ninevites and their king indicate that this is not merely an accidental background against the story of Jonah. The sailors and their captain, like the Ninevites and their king, are representative of the pagan world and their leaders. The sailors and their captain pray to and acknowledge Israel's God, calling on Him by His Divine Name which God told Moses "is the name by which I am to be invoked for all generations to come" (Ex 3:15b). The Church Fathers interpreted the use of the Divine Name as evidence of their conversion experience. The Ninevites and their king also recognize the hand of God in the world but they go no further in identifying the universal God through whom salvation is possible beyond the temporal salvation they experienced through His divine mercy in sparing them. They do not acknowledge God by His divine covenant name YHWH. It is the Gentile's sailors acknowledgment of the God of Israel by His covenant name that lead most scholars, both Jewish and Christian, to see their calling on God by His Divine Name, Yahweh, as a true conversion experience.
Jonah's mission has been successful. The Ninevites have repented and God refrains from destroying the city and its people. The book could end here, if its message was simply that God's salvation extends to the Gentiles. But the last part of the book presents a dialogue between God and His prophet that gives an unexpected twist to the entire story showing the full extent of God's patience and mercy and enriches the story from a doctrinal point of view.
God asks Jonah if he has any right to be angry. It is a question God will ask twice (verses 4 and 9). Jonah does not answer God's question but withdraws to the east of the city (verse 5) and the "scorching wind" came from the east (verse 8). In the Bible movement to the "east" is often symbolic of moving away from God and godly influence (for example Cain in Gen 4:16 and Lot in Gen 13:11), and an "east wind" is a sign of destruction or divine judgment (Ps 48:7; Is 27:8; Jer 18:17; Ez 17:10; 19:12; 27:26; Hosea 12:1/2; 13:15; Hab 1:9). Jonah is distressed both spiritually and physically as he sits in the sun. In Jonah's anger he has moved spiritually away from God and God will chastise His prophet with an east wind.
There is some justification for Jonah's anger (verses 1-4, 8-9). In Deuteronomy 18:22 a true prophet is to be identified by his prophecy being fulfilled. For Jonah God's announcement that He will punish Nineveh and then His reversal of the judgment reflects badly on Jonah. The point is that everyone who sins deserved judgment, but mercy is always God's response to true repentance. When Jonah first tried to run away from his mission, he knew that mercy and compassion were essential attributes of Yahweh (see Ex 34:6-7). He understands this now intellectually (verse 4), but he is unwilling to admit that the same patience, mercy, and compassion God has extended repeatedly to the Northern Kingdom of Israel when the people and their kings repented of their sins in violating the covenant with Yahweh and worshipping false gods should be extended to the pagan Gentiles.
Using a castor-oil plant, God gives Jonah a lesson about mercy. It is both a practical and a theoretical lesson:
- The plant is additional proof of God's mercy because it makes Jonah comfortable and soothes his anger (verse 6).
- The destruction of the plant He created emphasizes the point that God has sovereignty over all of creation (verse 7).
The plant becomes a kind of parable for Jonah. If Jonah pities the plant why should God not take pity on the Ninevites?
Jonah's counter argument to God's mercy could be that a show of penance cannot disguise the fact that the Assyrian Ninevites have performed wicked acts and will do so again. It is at this point that God gives further justification for His acceptance of their penance and the forgiveness of their sins.
Question: What justification does God offer for His mercy to the Ninevites despite their sins in verse 11?
Answer: He says they did evil acts because they did not know any better.
The story of Jonah ends with God asking Jonah a question and making a challenge.
Question: What is the question and what is the challenge?
Answer: God asked why Jonah felt pity for the plant that gave him shade that was destroyed by the worm but could not understand why God had pity on the city of Nineveh with its large population of citizens who never had the opportunity to know the One True God and animals who were also spared. The challenge is for Jonah to accept the will of God in directing the lives of humans in both judgment and in mercy.
Question: What is ironic about Jonah's role in the story?
Answer: Although the Israelite Jonah is a reluctant missionary in God's Divine Plan, he is successful in spreading knowledge about the God of Israel to both the Gentile sailors and their captain and the Ninevites and their king.
The Book of Jonah focuses on the theology of conversion, penance, and forgiveness that is conditional on turning one's heart back to Yahweh and making Him the Lord of one's life. The theme of the Book of Jonah is revealed in God's answer to Jonah in chapter 4 which is that God has dominion over all nations and not just Israel.
What is the Prophetic Message of Jonah's Story for the New Covenant Christians?
No prophet is mentioned more times by Jesus than the Prophet Jonah who, like Jesus, also came from the Galilee. Jesus spoke of the inclusion of the Gentiles into the covenant when He visited His Galilean home town of Nazareth at the beginning of His ministry in Luke 4:25-27, giving the example of the prophets Elijah and Elisha being sent by God to Gentiles. Jesus also mentioned the prophet Jonah more than any other Old Testament prophet. He announced that the "sign of Jonah" would be the sign that His authority was from God; that "sign" was His death, burial in a tomb, and His resurrection on the third day that was prefigured in Jonah. He will also call St. Simon-Peter symbolically the "son of Jonah" in the mission he would fulfill in "arising" and "going" to "proclaim" the Gospel of salvation to Rome to establish the headquarters of the Church in the capital city of the Roman Empire; it was a regional superpower and Gentile empire that was to be called to repentance and conquered by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
| 1. Matthew 12:39 | The only sign it will be given is the sign of the prophet Jonah. |
| 2. Matthew 12:40 | For Jonah remained in the belly of the sea-monster for 3 days and three nights, so will the Son of man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. |
| 3. & 4. Matthew 12:41 (twice) | On judgment day the men of Nineveh will appear against this generation and they will be its condemnation, because when Jonah preached they repented; and look, there is something greater than Jonah here. |
| 5. Matthew 16:4 | It is an evil and unfaithful generation, and the only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah. |
| 6. Matthew 16:17 | Jesus replied, "Simon son of Jonah*, you are a blessed man because it was no human agency who revealed this to you but my Father in heaven." |
| 1. Luke 11:29 | The crowds got even bigger and he addressed them, "is an evil generation, it is asking for a sign. The only sign it will be given is the sign of Jonah." |
| 2. Luke 11:30 | For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of man be a sign to this generation. |
| 3. & 4. Luke 11:32 | On judgment day the men of Nineveh will appear against this generation and be its condemnation, because when Jonah preached they repented, and look, there is something greater than Jonah here. |
| Michal E. Hunt Copyright © 2004 | |
*In all the New Testament passages except one, Jonah's entombment in the great fish for three days and his release become a symbol of Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection on the third day that is the "sign" that His authority to preach as He does comes from God. The exception is that St. Peter is symbolically called "son of Jonah" because his mission, like Jonah, will be to go to the Gentile superpower of the world in his time and to call the Gentiles of the Roman Empire to conversion and faith in the God of Israel. He will establish Jesus' Kingdom of the Church in Rome and will use the Roman Empire as the Church's vehicle of salvation to the other Gentile nations.
Passages from the Book of Jonah are read in the Jewish liturgical readings on the Feast of Yom Kippur, the Feast of Atonement. In the Catholic Church, the text of Jonah is read during Lent and is used in baptismal liturgy. Jesus compares Jonah's Sheol-like entombment in the watery depths within the great fish and Jonah's release three days later to His descent into Sheol where the kingdom of death had no power over Him and had to release Him to Resurrection in three days. The role of water in the Jonah story explains why the text is used in baptismal liturgy. In the Sacrament of Baptism, the Christian experiences a form of burial in the baptismal waters only to be raised up and reborn to a new form of life in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Question: What did the success of Jonah's mission prefigure? See Is 66:18-24 (8th century BC prophet); Lk 2:29-32 (prophet who held Jesus at His Temple dedication); Mt 28:19-20 and Acts 1:8 (Jesus' command to His disciples).
Answer: It prefigured God's desire that His message of eternal salvation be carried by those Israelites/Jews who were Jesus' disciples to the Gentiles of the world. Their success in answering the call, in arising and in going out to the Gentile nations to proclaim the Gospel of salvation and promised an equal share in the New Covenant in Christ Jesus is fulfillment of the prophecies of Isaiah and Simeon.
Jonah is a figure of Christ, the "Son of man," in three ways:
- He is a sign prefiguring Christ's death, burial, and descent into Sheol (like all mankind prior to the opening of the gates of Heaven; 1 Pt 3:18-19—Sheol referred to as "prison").
- He is a sign prefiguring Jesus' resurrection on the third day (Mt 12:39-41; Lk 11:29-32).
- He is a sign of repentance and conversion that will lead to Jesus' Gospel of salvation being preached to the Gentiles and leading to their repentance and conversion as prophesied by the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 66:18-24.
| The Sign of Jonah | The Sign of the Son of Man (Jesus) |
| Death and descent into Sheol. | Death and descent into Sheol. |
| Resurrection after three days. | Resurrection after three days. |
| The repentance of the Gentile people of Nineveh in response to his preaching. | The repentance of the Gentiles in response to Jesus' Gospel of salvation. |
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CHALLENGE: “The book of Judith cannot be true. It says in its very first verse that Nebuchadnezzar was king of the Assyrians, but we know from history that he was really the king of the Babylonians.”
DEFENSE: The alleged error is itself a cue to the audience, telling them what kind of book they are reading.
The book is about a devout woman named Judith, which means “Lady Jew.” She battles a general sent by Nebuchadnezzar—the greatest single individual enemy of Israel. He is depicted as the leader of the Assyrians—the other great enemy of Israel.
Let’s transpose this into a modern context: In the twentieth century, Adolf Hitler was regarded as the greatest individual enemy of America, while the Soviet Union was the other great enemy of America. Beginning in the 1940s, there were also comic book superheroines such as Miss America and Liberty Belle, who were personifications of America’s fighting spirit.
Suppose you read a story about Miss America battling a general sent to conquer America by Adolf Hitler, leader of the Soviet Union. You would know immediately that what you were reading was not intended as a historical account but as some kind of parable.
Similarly, Jews in the ancient world would recognize that Judith is a parabolic rather than a historical work. People then knew Nebuchadnezzar was the king of the Babylonians, not the Assyrians, just as people today know Adolf Hitler was the leader of Germany, not the Soviet Union. This is why Nebuchadnezzar is pictured as king of the Assyrians right at the beginning—so the reader will know he is reading a parable. The book shouts “Parable!” from its first verse.
People today may not recognize this because they are less familiar with the ancient world and the sophistication of ancient literature, but it would have been clear to the original audience.
Thus John Paul II stated: “The Books of Tobit, Judith, and Esther, although dealing with the history of the Chosen People, have the character of allegorical and moral narrative rather than history properly so called” (General Audience, May 8, 1985).
Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist
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