Commentary on Jonah

One quick insight into Jonah is that he lived and prophesied during the time of Amaziah, King of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam, King of Israel.

During that time, he told Jeroboam to restore his borders. The King of Israel did so, according to the word of Yehowah through Jonah. Here is what the Scriptures say:

2 Kings 14

23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in Samaria, and reigned forty and one years.

24 And he did that which was evil in the sight of Yehowah: he departed not from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, wherewith he made Israel to sin.

25 He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath unto the sea of the Arabah (this is the Dead Sea) , according to the word of Yehowah, the God of Israel, which he spake by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher.

Jonah 1

1 Now the word of Yehowah came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of Yehowah; and he went down to Joppa, and 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 Yehowah.

4 But Yehowah sent out a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god; and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it unto them. But, Jonah was gone down into the innermost parts of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

6 So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon your gods, it may be that the gods will think upon us, that we perish not.

7 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. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; what is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?

9 And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear Yehowah, the God of heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land.

10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, What is this that thou hast done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of Yehowah, because he had told them.

11 Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea grew more and more tempestuous.

12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not: for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them.

14 Wherefore they cried unto Yehowah, and said, We beseech Thee, O Yehowah, we beseech Thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood; for Thou, O Yehowah, hast done as it pleased Thee.

15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging.

16 Then the men feared Yehowah exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice unto Yehowah, and made vows.

17 And Yehowah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Tarshish is an island within the Mediterranean Sea and most scholars do not know where Tarshish is, but some of them ignorantly think it is beyond Yemen.........MORE

Joppa is an ancient port city of Israel. Joppa is now called Tel-Aviv.

found a ship... It is clear that the people of Tarshish were already there conducting business and Jonah knew where to meet them. Thus, Joppa was known to the people of Tarshish as a trade port.

so he paid.... Here we can see that Jonah and the people of Tarshish were able to communicate, at least enough to pay their fee. We see this again in v. 6 when the people talk with Jonah.

v.4 Here we see that Yehowah was greatly angered and was ready to destroy Jonah for rebelling. But, yet, He was not willing to destroy him so quickly, but to first, threaten him mightily.

v.5 by this verse we see that the 'mariners' were heathen Gentiles, and not Jewish.

wares... They threw over their cargo in order to lighten up the ship so that it would have better chances of surviving. For these people were experts in sea travel, yet, this time they really dreaded their fate.

v.6 With this verse, many trinitarian bible translators translate the

Hebrew word 'elohim' as 'God' here. This would seem to mean that the mariners already knew there is just one God. The fact of the matter is that these people are heathens, therefore, the correct rendering for the word 'elohim' in the Hebrew text would be 'gods', for they were calling on their own pagan dieties that do not exist.

lots... This is a form of divination that is approved by Yehowah for answers.

fell upon Jonah... Here we see that Yehowah answered the men so that they would soon know who the only real God of all the earth is. This will be proven in verse 15.

v.9 By this point, Yehowah told Jonah what to say so that a sign would be given to the mariners to prove that he was Yehowah's prophet, and that his God is the only God. That sign was that the sea would become calm. Thus, also, Yehowah had already prepared a great fish to take him back to the beach of either Israel or Lebanon, whichever was closer to Nineveh. For according to the map I gave in the above comments of "Tarshish", Tarshish is over 1,000 miles away from Israel [by assuming it is Sardinia] and a great fish would be able to travel more quickly in such a distance than by boat.

v.13 These people did not want to harm Jonah by throwing him into the pounding and rolling sea.

rowed hard... By these words it seems they did not have a sail boat, if they did have a sail boat their sails were down or shreaded by the strong wind. We know their boat was somewhat big, because there was a lower 2nd level and there were several men on board as well as cargo.

to get them back to the land... How far off were they from the land to even give themselves a chance for survival? The fish had Jonah for 3 days, not just for an hour; therefore, they had to be far from Joppa, or the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea.

v.16 Because of the prophet's sign, the people converted to the only existing God, and so made vows to Hm.

v.17 It is here that it is proven that Yehowah 'prepared' a great

fish to take Jonah back to the eastern Mediterranean Sea

This blue section of the webpage is strictly for the purposes in catching anyone using a search engine to lead them to this website and this commentary of Jonah the prophet. If you would like to continue to read the commentaries to the remaining chapters, please click the "chapter" links above this blue section.

1. Commentary on Jonah - This page gives complete commentary of this amazing prophet, on every

verse!

2. Commentary of Jonah chapter 4 - a complete commentary to Jonah chapter four

3. Jonah the Prophet - a complete commentary to the book of Jonah

4. The book of Jonah - Read the complete book of Jonah with a complete commentary

5. Who is Jonah? Jonah was a mighty Jewish prophet - read his book with a complete commentary.

6. Where is Tarshish? Click here to see a map of Tarshish

7. Map of Tarshish.

8. Where is Joppa? Click Here for map.

9. When did Jonah go to Nineveh? Click here to find out

10. Where is Ninevah? Click Here to find out.