When Jonah heads out to Tarshish, God does not confront him directly with a theological argument. Rather, like a good dramatist, he works behind the scenes, setting the stage for the salvation of Nineveh.

While Jonah sleeps, God hurls a great wind upon the sea. Elie Wiesel describes the scene like this:

The wind is howling, the waves are roaring, the ship is about to break up into a thousand pieces; everybody is busy, everybody tries to help, some work, others pray, all efforts, all energies are being mobilized; everybody is trying to be useful except Jonah. What is his contribution to the collective rescue operation? Incredible but true: in that hour of crisis and mortal danger, when the world is upside down, when creation is in turmoil, the prophet—who should, by definition, be more sensitive, more alert, more tense than the common mortal—is asleep! Instead of sounding the alarm and leading the rescue activities, he goes on sleeping!1

God’s windstorm gets everyone’s attention. The sailors want to know what it means and seek their own gods for the answer. The prophet, who knows the answer, is asleep. The pagan captain must wake him to do his duty: "Arise, call upon your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we do not perish" (Jonah 1:6).

Jonah’s response to the sailors is a confession of faith. He tells them that he fears the Lord, "the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land" (Jonah 1:9). What would his tone of voice be like? Is it the reverent awe of a believer who sees anew the power of God? Or is it the monotone of a creed once meaningful but now routine—thegodwhomadetheseaandthedryland?

It doesn’t really matter. What does matter is that the sailors now know God. Our reluctant prophet is marvelously successful. He recites his creed, and his entire audience turns to worship the Creator. God makes use of the natural world to carry out his purposes in this story. He hurls winds and appoints fish and plants and worms. Yet God needs his prophets to interpret the meaning of such actions.

Jonah introduces God to the sailors as the god who made the seas, but his very presence on the ship belies his testimony. In the Psalms, the seas were often a symbol of the world of chaos, the world outside of God’s creation.2 Maybe Jonah had thought to escape God there. Maybe God won’t be able to find him in the deep waters. The sailors know better. They are horrified at Jonah’s answer. Who would run to sea to escape the Maker of the ocean?

Jonah has a choice. He could repent. If God would have mercy on Nineveh, he would certainly have mercy on Jonah. But this answer is too simple for Jonah. He chooses rather to be thrown into the sea. Why such a drastic measure? Maybe he thinks of himself as a sacrifice for the sailors. With him out of the way, he explains, "the sea will quiet down for you" (Jonah 1:12). For Jonah it is a matter of pure and simple justice.

Jonah’s situation is just like Nineveh’s. He has been wicked, and he deserves to die. While Jonah is silent, the heathen sailors assume the prophetic role and plead with God to save his life. They pray for him. They intercede for him. They fight to save him. They refuse to take the last drastic step until they are absolutely sure that there is no other way.

What are the sailors thinking as they see Jonah bobbing in the water and finally sinking slowly out of sight? Do they think, "This is one tough god. Offend him once and look what happens?" No wonder they offer sacrifices and make vows. Perhaps later they will learn more about this god they met on the high seas. Perhaps they will learn more than Jonah was able to teach them at that moment.

What are Jonah’s thoughts as he sinks into the cold black waters? Perhaps he is feeling slightly smug. After all, he is not going to Nineveh. What has happened is what ought to have happened. He may be saying, "See, God, this is justice. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Take note: This is the way to run the universe."

But God has his own ideas about how to run the universe. He breaks into Jonah’s neat and tidy little scheme with the most famous character in the book. Talk about a scene stealer. The big fish swoops in from backstage and gulps down Jonah and practically turns away with the show.

Jonah has had center stage long enough. Now it is God’s turn to act. He acts "quite apart from the question of justice" to deliver Jonah from the depths of the sea.3

Jonah sings from the belly of the fish a song of praise. He may still argue with God; he may still try to tell God how to run the universe, but he does know how to give thanks. And here, surrounded by fleshy walls and sitting in a semi-digested pool of fishy delights, Jonah praises God for his great grace.

God is the God of all creation, and everything in the natural world works with him for Jonah’s salvation. Even in the midst of the sea, this chaotic world supposedly outside of God’s created, even there God works, and the chaos monster himself turns out to be servant of the Most High.

But has Jonah changed? "Deliverance belongs to the Lord," he says in his psalm (Jonah 2:9). Now that he has received the great mercy of God, is he willing to extend that same mercy to others?

Notes and References

1. Five Biblical Portraits (South Bend, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1981), pp. 144–45.
2.Hans Walter Wolff, Obadiah and Jonah: A Commentary, trans. Margaret Kohl (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986), pp. 131–37.
3.Terence E. Fretheim, The Message of Jonah: A Theological Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1977), p. 93.

This essay has been adapted from an article by Beverly Beem, "See Jonah Run: Comic Narrative in the Book of Jonah, " published in Spectrum 17.4 (May 1987): 38–44.

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