Jonah 1:1

1:1 “Go!”
Chapter One

The little book of Jonah portrays for us one aspect of Christ which appears to have been overlooked by the church. Our Lord Jesus Himself said that Jonah was the sign of the Son of Man. “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign,” Jesus said, “and there shall be no sign given unto it save the sign of the prophet Jonah.” The story of Jonah and the whale is one of the very well-known stories in scripture, yet the book of Jonah is little read and too often neglected, though it can be read through in its entirety in a matter of only a few minutes. We propose here to study it chapter by chapter, verse by verse, yet before beginning to look closely at the book of Jonah it should be read from beginning to end, for memory alone may play us false. We may think we already know the story of Jonah and the whale, but do we know the story of Jonah and the gourd, or even of Jonah and the city of Nineveh? So let us first find out for ourselves what God has given us to read, and then our study of the book can be conducted with understanding. This principle applies to all the books of scripture. Before we begin detailed study of any part of scripture we should read again the entire work under consideration, for how else can we judge the value of any comment unless we know the whole sequence of events? Paul says, “Let the prophet speak and let the others judge.” How can we judge unless we have heard the prophet from beginning to end? Therefore before we judge a matter let us seek to understand it in full.

1:1

“Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.”

We shall fail to grasp the meaning of the book of Jonah unless we see who Jonah was, where he came from, and what he was sent by God to do. Jonah is the son of Amittai, which means literally the son of the great or the son of the high one. Jonah, according to our Lord in the gospel account, actually was the sign given to Israel of how Christ should die and be buried. Therefore we should have no difficulty comprehending that Jonah is painting for us a big picture of Christ. Our Lord Jesus is indeed the Son of the Highest, the only begotten Son of God. Our Lord Jesus was sent by God to Israel. Nineveh represents Israel in this book to distinguish and confine the wickedness of that place from all other places. The heathen nations of the Gentiles were wicked, no doubt, but in an entirely different sense from Israel. Our Lord Jesus is not sent to the Gentiles but only to Israel. this we see clearly from the picture painted by Jonah. Jonah is not sent to Tarshish but to Nineveh. His instructions are brief and to the point. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it,” and the reason is also given. He is to go nowhere else. He has no other message but “Repent.” He has no other instructions. His orders are clear, direct, to the point, and allow of no variation. The place is specified, the city is described so that he cannot plead ignorance, the message is given precisely and the reason for going is included. Jonah appears to have no other option.