These small group studies of Jonah 1 cross-references, Bible study discussion questions, commentary, and applications. Visit our library of inductive Bible studies for more in depth inductive studies on this and other books of the Bible you can use in your small group.

Jonah 1:1-3 Bible Study – Jonah Runs from God

Background and Overview

Author: Jonah is likely the author, though it could have been written by another prophet soon afterwards. There are firsthand accounts of many unusual events, which would best be written by someone with direct knowledge of these.

An argument that Jonah was written by another is that he is usually spoken of in the third person, except in chapter 2. However, other Old Testament authors also speak of themselves in the third person sometimes, as did some New Testament authors, including Mark and John.

Date: Jonah was a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II, who was king over the northern tribes of Israel between 793 and 753 B.C.

We know this because he is mentioned in 2 Kings.

2 Kings 14:25 – He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.`

This would make Jonah a contemporary of the prophets Hosea and Amos.

History: Jonah (whose name means “dove”) was from Gath-hepher near Nazareth (according to 2 Kings 14:25), a town in the tribe of Zebulon. He was born to Ammitai (Jonah 1:1; meaning “my true one”), and lived during the long and prosperous reign of King Jeroboam II, the most powerful king of the Northern Kingdom. An unverified Jewish tradition says that he was the son of the widow of Zarephath, whom Elijah raised from the dead.

Jonah was a prophet to the 10 northern tribes of Israel during a time when they enjoyed relative peace and prosperity. Because their enemies (Assyria and Syria) were weak, they were able to expand the boundaries of their kingdom. However, during this time of material wealth, the people were spiritually poor, and their worship was increasingly ritualistic and idolatrous.

Because of this, God sent Hosea and Amos to warn the Israelites of impending judgment, but they were stubborn. Later (722 B.C.), God would have to punish Israel by allowing the Assyrians to regain strength and then destroy and exile them. Within only a few decades of Jonah’s visit to Nineveh, the Assyrians conquered the Northern Kingdom and it ceased to exist. God warned both nations of coming judgment and unlike Nineveh, Israel refused to repent.

Nineveh’s repentance might have been encouraged by two plagues (765 and 759 B.C.) and a solar eclipse (763 B.C.). Such natural occurrences were often viewed, superstitiously or rightly, as divine judgment.

Nineveh – The book of Jonah is unique in that, instead of ministering to Israelites, Jonah was ministering to Gentiles. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was perhaps the largest city in the world at that time, and was founded by Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah.

It was huge and well fortified, with a wall 50 feet wide and 100 feet tall around it. Located on the east bank of the Tigris River, about 550 miles from Samaria (capital of the Northern Kingdom), it was famous for its cruelty. Ancient inscriptions describe impalement, flaying prisoners alive, piles of severed heads, public torture, and mass deportations. They terrorized their enemies into surrender and threatened torture for those who wouldn’t.

It is no wonder that Jonah was reluctant to go and warn them of God’s judgment.

Perhaps another reason he was hesitant to go was that, as an Israelite, he felt spiritually superior to them due to the covenant God had made with the Israelites, and was then ashamed when the Ninevites repented and turned to the Lord at the teaching of a stranger, when the Israelites often would not repent for their own prophets. However, though the Ninevites repented at that time, they were destroyed about 150 years later.

General Theme: Several themes run through Jonah. One is that we cannot flee God, but are required to obey Him completely, regardless of whether we agree with the outcome or not.

Another key theme is that God is sovereign over all man and creation. We see in 1:9 that creation came into being through Him, and 1:4, 17; 2:10 and 4:6-7 show us that it obeys Him completely. The storm, the great fish, the plant, the worm, the wind…they were not coincidences, but divine acts brought about by a sovereign Lord.

God’s compassion for the lost and desire to save Gentiles is an important insight into God’s heart and also His plan to reach out to all peoples of the world, even shown in Old Testament times.

Jonah also served to teach Israel many important lessons, including their responsibility as missionaries to Gentile nations, their need to repent (which the Gentiles did readily in this case, while at the same time the Israelites were ignoring Hosea and Amos), God’s punishment of the disobedient, and His tender love in bringing the sinner back to obedience.

The book of Jonah is also a picture of Israel. Israel was also chosen and commissioned by God to be His witness, rebelled against His will, but was miraculously preserved by God through centuries of exile and dispersion to finally preach His truth.

Source Note – Many of the above points on the background of Jonah are from the MacArthur Study Bible.

Jonah 1:1-3

Jonah 1 Outline

I. Jonah flees God’s presence (1-3)
II. God sends a storm (4-6)
III. Jonah thrown into the sea (7-17)

I. Jonah flees God’s presence (1-3)

Discussion Questions

• What is unique about Jonah’s mission?
• Why did God send Jonah to a Gentile city?
• What does this reveal to us about God’s heart?
• What does this reveal to us about the Jews’ attitude toward Gentiles in this time period?
• What might have been some of the reasons Jonah refused this commission?
• Can you think of a time when you knew God wanted you to do something, but you were reluctant to obey? What made it difficult?
• Has God asked you to leave your comfort zone in His service? How did you respond?
• Did he truly think he could run away from God?
• Which direction did he flee?
• Why might he have told the crew of the boat he was fleeing God’s presence (Verse 9)?
• What are modern-day examples of how people attempt to flee God’s presence?
• Have you ever attempted to “run away” from God’s calling?

Cross-References

Amos 3:7-8 – “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?”

Isaiah 49:6 – I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.

Exodus 4:13 – But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.

1 Kings 10:22 – For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1. God’s commission to Jonah –

Jonah 1:1-2 – Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

God called Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn the residents to turn away from their evil. While many prophets in the Old Testament prophesy God’s judgment on Gentile nations, this is the only example of God specifically sending a prophet to a foreign nation.

God’s plan to save Gentiles

It is a reminder that God desires all people to be saved. His end vision for the world is that people from all tribes, nations, and tongues will be gathered in worship before His throne.

The Gentiles were not an afterthought. From the book of Genesis, God revealed His plan to save Gentiles. He said that in Abraham, all the families of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 12:3). Many other verses depict God’s plan to save Gentiles (Psalm 67:1-4, Isaiah 49:6, 1 Chronicles 16:23, Psalm 96:3, Ezekiel 5:5).

The Lord desired to use Israel as a light to the nations. If Israel obeyed its calling, the nations of the world would see their example and God’s blessings upon them and many would desire that same relationship with God.

God’s plan to use Israel to shine the light

Deuteronomy 4:5-6 – See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

Yet Israel failed its mission to be a light. On this point, John MacArthur said this, ““God had said you’re My people, you are to proclaim My truth, you are to tell people what I am and who I am and what My will is, but instead… they violated God’s principles, they disobeyed his ordinances, they kept closed mouth about His commandments and failed in the thing that God had called them to do.”

As Jonah was reluctant to fulfill this commission and had to be forced, kicking and screaming, to do it, so Israel as a whole failed in this task.

This was not a surprise to God. The whole Old Testament shows how they failed, just like we would have in their position. The point is to show that from the beginning God had a plan for the whole world, not only the Jews. The Jews were to be His witnesses to the rest of the nations. They failed in their responsibility, but God did not fail. He sent His Son to become a Jew to fulfil His plan to redeem the world and to use Jews to reach this world so that one day the end vision could finally be fulfilled so that “My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”

Ultimately, Jesus came to do what the Jewish nation did not. Through Him, the light of God has gone and is going to the ends of the earth. Thus, Jesus filled up everything that was lacking in God’s people. He picked up the broken and extinguished torch, lit it, and sent it through the world.

As we go through the book of Jonah, we see many of his negative characteristics, not least his refusal to obey God’s commission. Yet we shouldn’t be too hard on him. One could argue he went further to fulfill this mission of salvation to the Gentiles than almost anyone else in the Old Testament. He did go, albeit unwillingly. Yet his disobedience and refusal, even when directly commanded by God, still represent Israel’s failure in this area.

God’s ultimate plan will be fulfilled.

Many people ask, “What about those who live on an island and never have a chance to hear the gospel?” The fact that God sent Jonah to the people of Nineveh reminds us that nothing restrains Him from saving people. Even though most would not have expected it, they were willing to repent, so God sent them a messenger. If there are people in other locations or time periods that are seeking Him and want to believe, God can find ways to get the message to them, even in ways outside of the box we may try to put Him in.

God is going to see this plan of reaching the world fulfilled. Even if we fail or refuse, He is going to find a way.

Revelation 7:9-12 – After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

This is exciting. The world is not just random chance. God is working in the midst of all of this evil and suffering around us. He is going to save a great multitude, too innumerable to count! There will be representatives from every people group on earth. But do you know what? That is not quite the end goal. Look a bit closer and see what all of these people are doing.

They are not just sitting or standing there. They are worshiping God. This is the chief end of man, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. What an exciting thing! God is sovereign. He is on His throne. He is orchestrating all of history to fulfill His perfect plans.

But there is still work to be done.

Of the 16,350 people groups by country, 6,642 are still considered unreached. This is about 40% of the world’s population. Unreached means that there is no indigenous church or movement. In other words, someone from one of these groups does not have access to the gospel within their own culture. Something over 100,000 souls who don’t know Christ die each day. That is over one per second.

Application – Jonah is not the only one with a mission. God has given us the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). What is your role in this? How can you work harder to help fulfill this mission?

2. Jonah refused and fled –

Jonah 1:3 – But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

Some other prophets were reluctant. Moses had multiple reasons for not going back to Egypt and finally asked God to send someone else (Exodus 4:13). Elijah was terrified of Jezebel and fled to the desert. Gideon initially was skeptical and needed multiple signs before agreeing (Judges 6:11-16). Jeremiah felt young and inadequate (Jeremiah 1:4-8).

We see that not all prophets eagerly embraced God’s calling. Yet even among these, Jonah stands out. He was the only one who directly disobeyed God’s prophetic call. More than that, he literally tried to run away from the place God sent him. Nineveh was around 500 miles east of Samaria. Jonah instead took a boat into the Mediterranean toward Tarshish. This city is generally associated with southern Spain. That would make it almost the furthest location in Jonah’s known world from Nineveh, and exactly the opposite direction. Tarshish was around 2500 miles west. This is about the same distance as the US coast of North Carolina to the coast of California.

Jonah Map Source

In those days, sailing across the Mediterranean was a huge and dangerous undertaking. A typical journey might take from several weeks to three months. We cannot know the exact expense, but a reasonable estimate is that this was significant, possibly costing between 2-6 months wages. Consider also that there was no air travel, cars, or the infrastructure for video calls or messaging. Neither is there any indication Jonah paid for a round trip.

Essentially, Jonah purchased a one-way ticket to the other side of the world, leaving behind, possibly forever, his country, family, friends, and calling. It was a drastic step, showing the depth of Jonah’s rebellion and his disdain for the Assyrians.

It was a downward journey. Jonah went down to Joppa, down into the ship, down into the inner part of the ship, and finally down into the ocean, all in a desperate attempt to get away from God’s call.

Reflect – Why did Jonah do this? What was he afraid of?

Jonah 4:2 gives us the answer from Jonah’s own words.

Jonah 4:2 – And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.

Jonah’s biggest fear was not that they would reject his preaching. It was that they would actually repent and be saved. He did not want that. The Assyrians were enemies of his people. They were cruel and violent. He wanted them to receive God’s judgment. Jonah was not interested in taking them an olive branch.

Reflect – Do we ever act like Jonah?

Application – Jonah highlights the fact that our compassion is nothing next to God’s. It is difficult for us to forgive. It is difficult for us to desire blessings for our enemies. But let us remember that God does not task us with justice or vengeance. “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” (Romans 12:19)

Instead, we are commanded to love our enemies and return good for evil. Mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2:13).

Is there someone in your life that you want to see judged by God? Is there someone that is difficult for you to forgive? Is there someone who is difficult for you to seek their well-being? Or is there a mission or calling that you are running from?

Pray and ask God to change your heart. Ask Him to give you a heart of compassion like His. Ask Him to fill you with love toward that person.

But don’t wait to show kindness until you feel like it. Christian love is not primarily a feeling of affection. It is a decision to seek another person’s good because God has done that for us.

CS Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity that Christian charity is not about liking people.

“Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbour; act as if you did.” – CS Lewis

Lewis taught that love is not an affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good.

When you act in love toward people, it is likely that more affectionate feelings will follow.

Jonah did not like the Ninevites and God didn’t tell him to either. But he was still required to show God’s love to them.

When we act in love toward people, God often changes our hearts in the process.