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| Sperm whale (Physeter microcephalus) illustration by Uko Gorter |
Now
the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying
Now…came
An important question arises; where was Jonah when the word of the LORD
came to
him the second time? And when did this happen? Some believe that after
the whale vomited Jonah out in or around Joppa; then Jonah would return to his
home in Gath Hepher and wait on the LORD there until further instructions. It
makes sense given the logistics. But if the sperm whale upJonah on an Assyrian
beach as I hypothesized in Jonah 2:10, then I think there was a better chance
of him not backing out and going forward with the mission while being in-country (Assyria). And there is a good reason to believe this to be true.
If
Jonah was back home in Gath Hepher when the word of the LORD came to him the second time,
there was a greater possibility of him having a relapse of doubt and
disobedience while feeling comfy in his hometown. Bear in mind, we do not read
anywhere in Jonah’s prayer in chapter two of him asking forgiveness for his ill feelings toward the Assyrians! He thanked Yahweh for deliverance from the
Sea and would honor his vow.
Chapter
four will reveal he felt the same way as when he took off from Jerusalem and
went down to the coastal town of Joppa. He boarded a ship to Tarshish, slept
during a storm, went overboard and scooped up by a sperm whale, and
vomited on some Assyrian beach. Through all of this, his attitude toward the
Assyrians had not changed, and there is no further evidence in his book
under inspiration to suggest he ever had a change of heart towards the
Assyrians (cf. Jon 4:1, 11)! Yes, I think it was better to whale-dump Jonah in
Assyria than Joppa or someplace nearby.
The when-factor of it all was probably brief. It is unnecessary to assume Yahweh offered
Jonah a sabbatical to get his act together; though I won’t so easily dismiss
being in the whale’s innards had to be nothing less than traumatic on a PTS
level. For the rest of his life, Jonah may think everything tastes like squid or seaweed! Who
knows? The Scriptures are silent on the matter, as if inconsequential to the
story.
If
Jonah was mistaken as a messenger of Dagon initially, and I believe that he
was; I would think he would be treated respectfully to the point of being
pampered? If Yahweh could protect him from a raging sea, and time at
the Whale’s Way Inn, He would take care of His prophet in a hostile country. By
way of reminder, Jonah was the only OT prophet of God we know of sent to
foreign soil to preach a message from Yahweh. And on a similar note, I should
remind the reader of general revelation,
(Psa 19:1) The heavens declare the glory of God;
and the firmament shows His handiwork.
(Psa 19:2) Day unto day utters speech, and night
unto night reveals knowledge.
(Psa 19:3) There is no speech nor language where
their voice is not heard.
(Psa 19:4) Their line has gone out through all the
earth, and their words to the end of the world….
That
awe-inspiring preaching had been going on since creation (cf. Rom 1:20)! That alone
condemns the sin of unbelief, not to mention the conscience (Rom 1:18-19)…
the word of the LORD came to Jonah…saying
As
with Jon 1:1, 3:1 verse does not provide the method on how the word (LXX, logos) was delivered to the prophet, except for the verb came…saying, whether by a vision,
dream, a bodiless voice, or a visible messenger; Jonah was passive in the
matter – the
word…came to.
The 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 the will of
Yahweh in a matter. Whether it is Yahweh Himself or an angel delivering the
communique, the word carries the weight of absolute authority because it is the word (logos) of the LORD.
Jonah
Did
you notice what was omitted in this second commission? His father, the son of Amittai (truthful or loyal) in
Jon 1:1. Is this because it was already notated in Jon 1:1, or could there be
something suggestive by the omittance? If the latter is true, it is just
another illustration that the Bible does not pull any punches and tells it like
it is, good or bad; I love this feature of the Scriptures. The truth is, Jonah
was anything but loyal to Yahweh, right out of the gate, and like a dove, he
took to flight.
Incidentally,
Jonah’s Hebrew name is Yonah (dove). It appears 19 times in the OT, all verses are referring to our OT prophet in the book of Jonah, the first
mention of Jonah is found in 2 Kgs 14:25. In the NT, His Hebrew name as
transliterated in Greek is Ionas (KJV/NKJV). His name is referenced
9 times in the NT, exclusively by Jesus which points to the historicity of
Jonah as a real person, not a character in some fable! The apostle Peter’s
father went by the name Jonah (Jn 1:42; 21:15-17, NKJV).1
the
second time
Do
you think Jonah had any second thoughts the second time in doing Yahweh’s will?
It is the same command; same people; same prophet? He still hates the
Assyrians, but he is probably sporting a new look from enzymes and digestive
acids seeping from the main stomach of the sperm whale into the forestomach and
playing havoc with Jonah’s skin, memorabilia of rebellion!
This
phrase, the
second time,
is descriptive of an act of grace; I am a recipient of such. However, I say
that to my shame because it only came about because of rebellion. I thank God
for His mercy that endures forever! I noted my unworthiness to blog for
Jesus on my Contact/About page. Allow me to give some words of caution about
second chances.
This
expression, the
second time,
in no way suggests that we can be careless about God’s will for our lives. You
can continue to bank on God as a God of love (and He is) to the exclusion of
His other attributes (and many do today) in order to justify reckless, ungodly behavior, but I
strongly suggest stopping that and considering the next three points with no
self-righteousness attached to them. Please take time out to reflect upon these.
One,
some do not get a second chance; it is not a guarantee (cf. Moses smiting the
rock and not being allowed in the Promised land, Num 20:12-13), or those
refusing to enter the Promised land after hearing the report of the spies (Num
14:29-30); see also 1 Kg 13:26).
Two,
look at all Jonah went through not taking advantage of the opportunity to do
Yahweh’s will and failing to keep his vow! The law of the harvest is that a man will reap what he sows.
Three,
there is always this matter of loving God with all of the heart, soul, and
strength (Deut 6:5, Mt 22:37; Mk 12:30; Lk
10:27).2 Rebellion is a love problem. I like the Latin expression, Facta non-Verba, meaning deeds, not words.
saying
Saying emphasizes a form of
communication – verbal, the word, not imagery.
This was not just any word; it was the word of the LORD or Yahweh
showing grace and love to Jonah to give him a second shot at fulfilling his vow
to Him. Yahweh did not have to do this. Why He chose Jonah is beyond me since
He knew from before His word came to Jonah what he would do and how he would
react once most of the Ninevites repented. I might ask, “Why did Jesus save
me?” He saw all my faults and failures and loved me enough to save me anyway!
I
am of the opinion that one of the best things we can do when we are personally
hurting is to reach out in service to help others for the glory of God. We can
see Jonah is hurting; why else would he be feeling and acting the way he does
about the Assyrians. However, we will see that his service to the Ninevites is getting
under his skin, and he is a pitiful soul most miserable seeing the results of
his highly successful 3-day preaching tour! You can’t make this stuff up!
A Greek translation of the Old Testament is commonly referred to as the
Septuagint, meaning seventy for the seventy-plus scholars who labored on the project, symbolized by the Roman numerals LXX, translating the OT into koine (common
as opposed to classical) Greek. It was the Bible in Jesus’ day. The Hebrew word
translated word (dabar) in Jonah 1:1; 3:1 was transliterated in the LXX
as logos. This should be a familiar term to most believers. Jesus is the
Logos or the Word,
In
the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God (Jn 1:1), yes!
Oh,
the eternality and divinity of Jesus the Messiah! As I mentioned earlier, Jesus
referring to Jonah nine times indicated that Jesus considered Jonah a real,
flesh and blood person, not some make-believe character by interpreters of
Belial. Why would He do that?
Because
when Jonah received the word of Yahweh, it was Jesus who was giving the
assignment to him! This was a manifestation of Jesus Christ or what is known in
theological circles as a Christophany. The sign (Jonah) was looking at the Sign
of the prophet Jonah to come! Why did Jesus treat Jonah as a literal historical person? Because he was! He was a living eyewitness of Jonah who can testify that He was there with Jonah! The Word who
watched over Jonah watches over us. He was the sign of the prophet Jonah (Mt
12:38-42). Glory! The Word of God is living because its Author is life eternal.
He
who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have
life (1 Jn
5:12). <><
Now
the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying.
________________
1.
In the world of textual criticism, there is a difference in the proper noun
between RT and MT concerning the name of Peter’s father. The Received Text
identifies him as Jonah; the Majority Text refers to him as John. It is
traditional that Peter’s father once said, “Go ahead and call me Jonah, John,
or whatever; just don’t call me late to dinner!”
2. Note: the heart is the seat of the intellect (Prov
10:8; 15:14, 28), the emotions (Prov 12:25; 13:12; 14:10, 13), and the will
(Prov 5:12), Deut 6:5). This kind of love (Deut 6:5, LXX, Greek trans. of the
OT, agapao) seizes upon the will of God (cf. Mt 6:10b). Since the heart
is the same throughout the ages, Jonah had a love problem, not a lost problem
(cf. Jn 14:15)! He allowed his ill feelings to supersede his love for Yahweh to
disobey Him. Within his heart remained an area not fully surrendered to the
will of God. Jonah is like most of us, not totally surrendered. How else could
we interpret his actions, our own? Falling short of full surrender exacerbates
the prime directive of all of Scripture (Mk 12:30-31, one and two go hand in
hand). Why Yahweh provided salvation for sinners like me still remains a great mystery to me!
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