Scripture Notes: The Fleeing Prophet (Jonah 1)

It was a call out of the blue. God told Jonah to get up and go to Nineveh, the great city of the Assyrians. Now Jonah was a prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and the Assyrians were the Israelites’ greatest enemies, a scary threat to their security and even their lives. This was the very last call Jonah ever wanted to receive.

So Jonah got up and fled, going in the exact opposite direction. He hurried to Joppa and caught a ship to Tarshish, which was likely far on the other side of the Mediterranean, even perhaps in Spain. Jonah wanted to get as far away from his mission as he possibly could. It did not work.

In his panic, Jonah forgot something important. No one can flee from God. God is everywhere. He sees and knows everything. There is no escape. And God made that very clear. He threw a storm at the ship Jonah was taking to Tarshish. While the sailors panicked and prayed to whichever “gods” they happened to worship, Jonah went down into the ship’s hold and fell asleep, completely oblivious to the danger.

The ship’s captain, however, would not let Jonah sleep. He woke him up and urged him to pray as the sailors cast lots to find out who was responsible for their imminent destruction. The lot, of course, fell to Jonah. Jonah knew full well that God was making a point directed solely toward him, so he told the sailors to throw him overboard and save themselves.

At this point, Jonah found himself getting gulped up by a very large fish and exploring the inside of said fish for three days and three nights before it spit him up on the shore. God certainly works in strange ways! But Jonah got the message loud and clear. Do not run away from God. Period. It will not work. Ever. So the fleeing prophet picked himself up, presumably cleaned himself off, and started to Nineveh, which he should have done in the first place.