Jonah

The "three days and three nights" of 1:17 alluded to the notion popular at that time that the journey to the land of the dead ( sheol) took that long. So Jonah's retrieval from the fish was like a retrieval from death (Matt. 12:39-40). The fish very likely dropped Jonah off at Joppa, where he had started.

Perhaps about a month later, Jonah arrived in the great city of Nineveh ("a very important city" is literally "a city great to God"). After Jonah preached for only a day rather than the expected three days, the people repented. The message God gave Jonah to preach did not explicitly call for their repentance. Rather, it told the Ninevites that they had angered Jonah's God and that punishment was on the way. The Ninevites did not presume that God could be appeased but repented in humility, hoping that "God may yet relent" (3:9; see 1:6), which He did. That God's judgment message was conditional is clear from His sending the prophet, giving them forty days' warning, and postponing Nineveh's destruction (see Jer. 18:7-10).

Jonah despised the Ninevites so much that he would rather die than live, knowing he helped them escape destruction. Still hoping God would give Nineveh what they deserved, Jonah waited and watched. Through the incident of the plant and the worm (sent by God like the wind and the fish in chap. 1), the Lord chided Jonah for his double standard. Jonah was concerned for the transitory plant that gave him shade but not for the 120,000 people of Nineveh who despite their limited knowledge had trusted God.

Theological and Ethical Significance. God is sovereign over the forces of nature and the affairs of men. God's favor is always by grace; it is never deserved. His mercy is His to give, and without it we are all corrupt and deservedly condemned. Joy is the appropriate response when God lavishes His grace on the vilest of sinners who put their trust in Him (see Acts 10:34-35). God's servants should value the human beings whom He created and seek their salvation. We should also acknowledge God's authority to do what He pleases.

Alexander, T. D. Jonah: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1988.

Ellison, H. L. "Jonah." Expositor's Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1985.

Gaebelein, F. E. Four Minor Prophets: Obadiah, Jonah, Habakkuk, and Haggai. Chicago: Moody, 1977.

Smith, B. K. and F. S. Page. Amos, Obadiah, Jonah. New American Commentary. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1995.

Walton, J. Jonah. Bible Study Commentary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982.