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| Sperm whale (Physeter microcephalus) illustration by Uko Gorter |
Think what a blessing and an
honor it would be that the Creator God of the universe approached us personally
to do something for Him (cf. Psa 8:3, 4)! To read this formula in Jonah, the word of the LORD came, or something equivalent to it is common among the prophets that we quickly gloss over it. Imagine the honor
it must have been to be visited by the LORD when we read that clause! It normally
is a prelude to the LORD disclosing future events to His prophets, and they subsequently
fulfill their prophetic office, but in Jonah’s case, it was more of
commissioning than a revealing of things for the outcome was conditional.
Jonah would be personally
challenged to fulfill Yahweh’s charge as well as to go outside the norm for a
prophet in Israel or Judah. Jonah’s response to the divine visitation was not
the reaction we would expect from a true prophet of God or a believer in
performing God’s will. V1 does not provide the method
of how the word was delivered to the prophet, whether by a vision, dream,
a bodiless voice, a visible messenger, or a manifestation of God (theophany).
This clause, the word of the LORD came, is found 102x in the OT. The bulk of this
expression is found in Ezekiel (50x) and Jeremiah (21x) for the purpose of
disclosing something future. Whether it is Yahweh Himself or an angel
delivering the communique, the word carries the weight of absolute authority for it is the word of the LORD [Yahweh].
Jonah, his name means dove; it occurs 19 times in the OT (18x
in Jonah). What his father, Amittai (truthful or loyal), didn’t know (provided he was
alive), was that his son was about to fly the coop like a dove! Both son and father are
mentioned only one other time outside of the book of Jonah in the Old Testament
(2 Kgs 14:25).
Jonah was not a fictionalized
Bible character, except by a liberal’s stretch of the imagination. This son of
Amittai was a Galilean prophet of God of the tribe of Zebulon (Josh 19:13) to the northern
kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II (793-753 B.C.) noted for his
wickedness and the expansion of his empire (2 Kgs 14:23-25). This passage helps
to pinpoint Jonah’s time in biblical history but not his lifespan. The prophets
Amos and Hosea were also contemporary with Jeroboam.
There is a fuss about
the historicity of Jonah, but suffice it to say at this juncture, he was as real
as Jeroboam II. Do you know who has ever challenged the existence of Jeroboam II lately?
Of course not, there was no fantastic element in his story, like with Jonah's a great fish (Jon 1:17); though I would have to say, Jeroboam II was a fishy character. Liberal interpreters quickly jumped on this incredulous story of a whale swallowing Jonah to press their allegorical interpretations of this account. I believe it is true simply because Jonah's story is under the inspiration of Scripture (cf. 2 Tim 3:16). Inspiration encompasses Genesis to Malachi and Matthew to Revelation (the LXVI).
Speaking of Jeroboam II, there
is no record of what Jonah prophesied to him. This wicked but talented monarch
extended his territories, practically rivaling that during Solomonic time, save
for the territories of the southern kingdom belonging to Judah and Benjamin.
Jeroboam II illustrates the truth that prosperity does not necessarily equate
to being right with God, yes?
Where was Jonah when the Word of
the LORD came to him? V1 does not disclose the whereabouts of Jonah. He
could have been in (1) Gath-Hepher (his hometown, a few miles northeast of
Nazareth, 2 Kgs 14:25), (2) Samaria (the capital city of the northern kingdom
of Israel), (3) Jerusalem (the capital city of the southern kingdom of Judah),
or (4) at an undisclosed location.
I am inclined to think that the
word of the LORD came to Jonah while he was in Jerusalem; why there? Well, we
could ask that question with any of the options concerning his location.
Jerusalem makes more sense and appears to be the most logical choice; I will
comment on that in v3. It brings up something very interesting, theologically
and practically.
Actually, the location of
Jonah’s launch point into disobedience is really a moot point for his response
would have been the same wherever the word of the LORD came to him. It wasn’t
the idea of the Word of the LORD coming to Jonah that was upsetting to him but
the content, but I’m jumping ahead just a pinch.
In some sense, every time we
open up the Bible, the word of the LORD comes to us saying…. What is your response
to God’s will? <><
PS: I just wanted to say for the
record that this series on Some Observations in Jonah is not intended to
cover every verse and everything that could be said, hence, “some,” to state
the obvious.
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