A Private Commentary on the Bible: Jonah

By James D. Quiggle

Revised with the Author’s translation of the book of Jonah. A thoroughly exegetical and explanatory commentary. Jonah’s actions and motives, as well as God’s actions and motives, are discussed with a constant eye on the book’s main theme.

• Language: English
• Publisher: James D. Quiggle
• Release date: May 24, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476037981

James D. Quiggle

James D. Quiggle was born in 1952 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He grew up in Kansas and the Texas Panhandle. In the early 1970s he joined the United States Air Force. At his first permanent assignment in Indian Springs, Nevada in a small Baptist church, the pastor introduced him to Jesus and soon after he was saved. Over the next ten years those he met in churches from the East Coast to the West Coast, mature Christian men, poured themselves into mentoring him. In the 1970s he was gifted with the Scofield Bible Course from Moody Bible Institute. As he completed his studies his spiritual gift of teaching became even more apparent. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Bethany Bible College during the 1980s while still in the Air Force. Between 2006–2008, after his career in the Air Force and with his children grown up, he decided to continue his education. He enrolled in Bethany Divinity College and Seminary and earned a Master of Arts in Religion and a Master of Theological Studies.As an extension of his spiritual gift of teaching, he was prompted by the Holy Spirit to begin writing books. James Quiggle is now a Christian author with over fifty commentaries on Bible books and doctrines. He is an editor for the Evangelical Dispensational Quarterly Journal published by Scofield Biblical Institute and Theological Seminary.He continues to write and has a vibrant teaching ministry through social media.

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Jonah

A Private Commentary on the Bible

Jonah

James D. Quiggle

Copyright Page

A Private Commentary on the Bible: Jonah

Copyright© 2012, 2018, James D. Quiggle.

Revised in 2018 to replace the NKJV text of Jonah with the Author’s translation of Jonah. Commentary text has been lightly revised to conform to Author’s translation. Minor formatting changes were also made. Additional discussion has been added.

Translation of the Book of Jonah by James D. Quiggle

Bible versions that may be cited or quoted are listed below. The ASV, ESV, KJV, HCSB, NASB, NKJV, and NIV were sourced from PC Study Bible®, version 5, release 5.2. Copyright © 1988–2008, by BibleSoft, Inc.

American Standard Version (ASV). Public Domain.

Authorized (King James) Version (KJV). Public Domain.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB), Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, by Holman Bible Publishers. Scripture quotations marked HCSB are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Holman CSB®, and HCSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

New American Standard Bible©. (NASB) The Lockman Foundation, 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, All rights reserved. Used by Permission.

New King James Version® (NKJV). Copyright © 1982, 1983 by Thomas Nelson Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Holy Bible: New International Version (NIV), Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT) ® Copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

The Jerusalem Bible © (JEB) 1966 by Darton Longman & Todd Ltd and Doubleday and Company Ltd.

This digital edition of A Private Commentary on the Bible: Jonah contains the same content as the print edition of this work.

Content

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Jonah One

Jonah Two

Jonah Three

Jonah Four

Sources

Preface

The Private Commentary on the Old and New Testaments is my interpretation of the Bible, neither more nor less. I am responsible for the use made of all quoted and cited material.

The scope of the Private Commentary series is to bring the reader to a practical understanding of the scriptures. I explain and discuss each verse, idea, theme, and biblical truth as discovered in turn during the course of the exposition. My target audience is the Bible college/seminary student, Bible study/small group leader, Sunday School teacher, and local church Pastor. My point of view is a conservative theology. Other opinions concerning the Scripture are presented and discussed as I believe will profit the target audience. Bible students who desire to understand and apply the scriptures are invited to study the book with me and come to their own conclusions.

This material is copyrighted to prevent misuse or abuse. Those persons using this material in their teaching/preaching ministry may copy and distribute individual pages (e.g., an excursus, a table/list, or an appendix) for distribution to one’s students or auditors. The entire book may not be copied and/or distributed, nor large portions of the book, such as a chapter or extended comments on Scripture passages. The cost of this work has been kept as low as possible so every interested teacher, preacher, and student may afford a personal copy.

Abbreviations

AD Anno Domini (In the year of the Lord [since Christ was born])

ANF Ante-Nicene Fathers

ASV American Standard Version

BC Bello Christo (Before Christ [was born])

BDT Baker’s Dictionary of Theology

ca. about (an approximate date) (Latin: circa)

cf. compare (Latin: confer)

EDT Evangelical Dictionary of Theology

e.g. for example (Latin: exempli gratia)

etc. and so forth, and so on (Latin: et cetera)

HCSB Holman Christian Standard Bible

Ibid in the same place (referring to the source cited in the previous entry) (Latin: ibidem)

i.e. that is (Latin: id est)

JDQT Author’s translation

KJV King James Version

NASB New American Standard Bible 1995 edition.

NIDNTT The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology

NIV New International Version

NKJV New King James Version

NPNF Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers

LXX Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament completed ca. 130 BC)

n. note (referring to a footnote or endnote in the work cited)

s. v. under the word (Latin: sub verbo)

TWOT Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament

v. verse

vv. verses

WSDNT Complete Word Study Dictionary New Testament

Introduction

This commentary accepts the historic position of the Jews and Christian church that the book of the prophet Jonah is an historical account of the events experienced by the historical person Jonah. Whether or not Jonah was the person who put ink on paper to write the book is not essential to its historicity, or to its place as accurate, authentic, and credible Scripture. Certainly, if we accept the events of Jonah as history, then the book was composed by Jonah or by someone who had access to the prophet, had access to original source materials, e.g., Jonah, the sailors, the Ninevites, or access to an account written by Jonah. We also cannot discount the sovereign guidance of the Holy Spirit in creating this word of Scripture (2 Peter 1:21).

I believe the book was written by Jonah, i.e., he narrates his own story, which dates the book to somewhere between 793–753 BC (Jonah 1:1 with 2 Kings 14:25). Just because the subject matter was embarrassing does not prevent him telling his story for the benefit of his spiritual descendants. Moses wrote of his failure at the rock (Numbers 20:10–12) and David of his sin with Bathsheba (Psalm 51). The Spirit guides men to write Scripture for our learning (Romans 15:4). The book of Jonah presents an eyewitness account of the events concerning the prophet Jonah. The book is unique among the prophets in that we hear very little of the prophet’s message. Rather, the book is about God’s message to Jonah and Jonah’s response. The book falls more into the historical narrative genre than the prophetic. Looking ahead, here is an Old Testament example of the parable of the sheep that has gone astray, Matthew 18:12–14.

An Old Testament prophet was first and foremost a patriot of YHWH (God’s personal name) and Israel. When God sent a prophet to the people, he was sent to declaim their sins and exhort them to repentance and righteousness. A prophet was first and foremost a preacher: he passionately proclaimed YHWH’s right to his people’s exclusive worship, and just as passionately declared their obligation to live according to YHWH’s laws and values. Only when his message of holiness and righteousness was rejected did begin to warn of judgment. And if the warning was also rejected, then the prophet’s message moved away from the present into the future, declaring a far future judgment and deliverance in which God’s people would worship and live for YHWH alone. Jonah the prophet was sent to Nineveh as a preacher of righteousness, to warn them of judgment to come.

In the sense of a message of God to Jonah and through Jonah to Israel, the book has been called a didactic prophetic narrative. Didactic simply means teaching. The historical events of Jonah’s life teach an important spiritual lesson to its hearers, which might be summed up as Don’t be like Jonah, although much may be learned about the workings and character of God. The narrative indicates the events, words, and even the chronological arrangement have been selected and structured to teach the lesson. In the case of the book of Jonah, the narrator has carefully shaped the story by selectivity, summarization, and even minor chronological rearrangement for an obviously didactic purpose. There is a flashback (4:5–11) and a ‘flash forward’ (1:16). Large blocks of time are passed over rapidly (the long trip from Palestine to Nineveh) while brief moments (Jonah’s prayer in chapter 2; the conversation between God and Jonah in chapter 4) are given detailed attention. The focus shifts from Jonah onto others (to the sailors in chapter 1; to the Ninevites, including the king, in chapter 3) and back again. And so on [Stuart, Jonah, 435].

There is a tendency in modern authors to discount the historicity of biblical narrative as non-essential to the lessons to be learned from the Bible. Limburg states, Jonah should be understood alongside the story about the trees told by Jotham (Judges 9:7–15) or the story about the lamb that Nathan told David (2 Samuel 12) or the parables that Jesus told. None of these stories ever ‘happened,’ but each of them carried—and continues to carry—a powerful message. The book of Jonah may be described as a fictional story developed around a historical figure for didactic purposes [Limburg, Jonah, 24]. Page, who disagrees, explains that Limburg agrees with the statement of B. Childs that ‘by determining that the book of Jonah functions in its canonical context as a parable-like story, the older impasse regarding the historicity of the story is by-passed as a theological issue.’ While Jonah, like the parable of the good Samaritan, has ‘historical features,’ it is ‘theologically irrelevant’ whether the events occurred [Limburg, Jonah, 24].

The historicity of Jonah is not theologically irrelevant. Parables and stories, such as the parable of the good Samaritan or the fable of the trees, are not presented as historical events. Jonah, however, is presented as a historically-based series of events happening to a real person. At issue here, as with all historical accounts in Scripture, is the truthfulness of God. If the events narrated in Jonah really happened, it is really serious. If this is the way God works in history, then a less narrow attitude toward our enemies is not just an ‘ought,’ it is a must; it is not simply a narrator’s desire, it is God’s enforceable revelation [Stuart, Jonah, 440]. To this must be added Peter’s comment in his second epistle: We did not follow cunningly devised fables . . . but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. If the historicity of Jonah is a fable then the message is as irrelevant to Christianity as the fables of Aesop, or the Greek and Roman stories of their gods. I believe the book of Jonah is historical and therefore theologically relevant to every believer. The book can be viewed in several ways.

As an object lesson to Israel regarding their mission to mediate YHWH to Gentiles.

As a statement of Israel’s spiritual condition, i.e., they had failed in their mission.

As a prophecy against Nineveh.

As an illustration of the true character of God.

To the Christian church as an illustration of Matthew 28:19, i.e., in its evangelistic mission, go everywhere.

The book may be divided into four parts.

Jonah flees from the Lord.

Jonah cries out to the Lord.

Jonah cries out for the Lord.

The Lord cries out to Jonah.

From what we do know about Jonah, he appears as a man of many contrasts and contradictions. From a psychological viewpoint, it would be most interesting to know more of the man personally. Perhaps that very reason undergirds the absence of personal information on Jonah. Perhaps the Lord, knowing our hearts, understood that we would tend to focus on the man too much, and miss the heart of what the prophecy of Jonah is teaching [Comment, David R. Hollingsworth, a friend of the author]. One need look no further than himself and his fellow human beings to understand Jonah. All we like sheep have gone astray; the experience of running away from the Lord is common to all, sinner and saint alike.

The book of Jonah is a vivid reminder to God’s people that they must not resist or dispute his sovereign decisions to bestow grace on whom he wills. When God calls his servants to carry out these decisions and be instruments of his grace to sinful men, they must obey, realizing that they too have experienced his mercy both corporately and individually [Zuck, A Biblical Theology, 433].

Jonah One

Translation Jonah 1:1

1 And the word of YHWH came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying,

EXPOSITION

As many commentators have noted, the book of Jonah is about Jonah. The form of the book is that of a narration about Jonah, some events of his life, how he feels about those events, and his interaction with God regarding those events. I believe Jonah is the source of the book; that in the book we hear the voice of Jonah narrating these events to the reader. (However, because the book is a report of events concerning Jonah, I may from time to time refer to the voice of the story as the Narrator.)

Everything known about Jonah is found in this book and in a single reference in 2 Kings 14:25, He restored the territory of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he had spoken through his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet who was from Gath Hepher. As noted in the introduction, this reference places Jonah somewhere during 793–753 BC. From the reference in 2 Kings we learn Jonah was a prophet of the Lord; that he lived and ministered in the northern kingdom of Israel; his father’s name was Amittai; he lived in a city called Gath Hepher. The city of Gath Hepher was in the territory assigned to the tribe of Zebulun, Joshua 19:13. The city lay in the area Christians know as Galilee, about twelve miles west of the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee, and about three miles northeast of Nazareth.

The king of the northern kingdom of Israel in the time of Jonah was Jereboam II. The king of the southern kingdom of Judah was Uzziah (aka: Azariah). The prophet Amos ministered during the same time, but primarily in the southern kingdom of Judah. The following will help the reader understand the historical relationships (years of reign or during which active ministry occurred).

Elisha (852–795), ministered to Israel

King Jereboam II (793–753), Israel

Jonah (793–753), ministered to Israel

King Uzziah (790–739), Judah

Amos (765–755), ministered to Judah & Israel

Hosea (753–710), ministered to Judah & Israel

Isaiah (739–690), ministered to Judah

Micah (735–700), ministered to Judah

It is impossible to know how old Jonah was during his ministry to Nineveh. The dates proposed, 793–753 BC, cover the entire reign of Jereboam II. If the mention of Amittai is made to help historically contemporaneous readers identify Jonah, then his mission to Nineveh probably came after the prophecy and fulfillment of 2 Kings 14:25. Since Jeroboam’s victory as prophesied by Jonah is assumed to have come early in his reign (Jeroboam was completing the war begun by his father Jehoash [Joash]) then Jonah may have been a very old man when he went to Nineveh [Keil, Jonah, 256].

The word that begins the book, translated and is hāyâ, equivalent to the English to be. Many books of the Bible begin with this word, such as Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, Kings, and Ezekiel. This was the standing formula with which historical events were linked one to one another, inasmuch as every occurrence follows another in chronological sequence; so that the ‘and’ simply attaches to a series of events, which are assumed as well known, and by no means warrants the assumption that the narrative which follows is merely a fragment of a larger work [Keil, Jonah, 263]. However, we should not make too much of it, as though the meaning of and is regulated by its use in our English language. Every verse in this chapter, with the exception of the second, commences in the same way. . . It is obviously an idiom of the language in which the Book was written, and one to which the writer much inclined, that is thus employed [Burn, Jonah, 37].

On the other hand, we should not discount the frequent use of this word as merely idiomatic. The word and expresses the idea of connection. The separate events of Jonah’s life were intimately connected, and the author of the book does not want us to lose sight of that fact. Believers inhabit a spiritual environment where accountability closely follows responsibility. In the providence of God there are relationships between things, persons, and events. If we would serve the Lord and minister to others, we must be aware that what we do today affects our availability and usefulness to God today and tomorrow.

And the word of YHWH came to

This is a typical introduction, occurring over one hundred times in the Old Testament to introduce God’s communication to a prophet. What usually follows is the message which the prophet is to deliver. Sometimes, however, it introduces specific instructions for the prophet. Such is the case here [Alexander, Jonah, 97]. The Scriptures rarely, if ever, indicate just how the Word of the Lord came to a prophet. A similar passage is Acts 13:2 where it is written, As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them’ (NKJV). Just how did this Word come to the assembled pastor, elders, and teachers at the Church in Antioch? Was there an audible voice; or perhaps they heard the Spirit speaking in that inaudible voice heard only in the mind? Perhaps it was a matter of conviction following prayer for the propagation of the gospel; or something as simple as a verse or two impressed upon the mind and heart? All these are means whereby the Spirit may address the believer’s soul. The boy Samuel was awakened by the voice of the Lord; the voice of the Lord came to Elijah, suddenly; Paul and Barnabas were called to ministry when the Holy Spirit said. So too, the Word of YHWH has come to Jonah, in some fashion, not mysterious, but suitable to the man and his mission. One is reminded of John 10:4: sheep know the voice of their master and follow him, for they know his voice.

came to Jonah son of Amittai

The name Jonah means dove or pigeon in Hebrew but the name doesn’t appear to have any significance to the story. From the book of Jonah itself it is evident that Jonah was an ardent nationalist, pro-Israel and anti-foreign; at least, anti-Assyrian. The book also reveals, implicitly, that he was a dedicated, disciplined, strong-willed prophet; a poet . . . and also capable of being peevish and stubborn, even against God [Stuart, Jonah, 431].

Translation Jonah 1:2

2 Get up! Go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim against it, because their evil has come up before me.

The account of Jonah’s commission regarding Nineveh may have been fuller than this brief statement indicates (e.g., what was the content of that Word Jonah was to proclaim against Nineveh?). There is no prologue to Jonah’s call to service, indicating the Narrator’s concept of the relationship between God and his servant. Whatever Jonah may have been doing he was now commanded to stop and go to Nineveh. The Lord’s call to serve is a call to action. In the Gospel of the