Exegetical Outline: Jonah's Response

Exegetical Outline

Jonah’s commission from God and His Response 1:1:17

2.1.1 God Commands Jonah to go to Nineveh……………...……………………………1:1-2

2.1.2 Jonah disobeys God’s command and flees……………………………….………….1:3

2.1.3 The storm brings out Jonah’s confession…………………………………………1:4-10

2.1.4 God calms the storm…………...………………………………………..…….…1:11-16

2.1.5 Jonah is swallowed by the great fish ………………..…………………..…………1:17

2.2 Jonah prays from the belly of the fish………………………………………………2:1-10

2.2.1 God hears Jonah’s prayer and Jonah vows…………………………………………2:1-9

2.2.2 God causes the fish to leave Jonah……………………………………………...…..2:10

2.2.4 Jonah preaches the message from the Lord and Nineveh repents……….....……..3:1-10

3.3.1 God

Jonah the missionary is commissioned by the Lord, “to speak his Word” and preach to Nineveh, (vs. 1-2) however this missionary messenger “is a man with a mind of his own who may not only fail to arrive but try to start an entirely different story.” [1] With this in mind the Lord is troubled by Nineveh and their long history of being an enemy of Judah and Israel and the occupant’s behavior need to change. This brutal people are under the Lord’s eye and judgement. Jonah understands the trouble that exists between these two nations, and so Jonah refuses to follow the Lord’s command to preach His word. God with his splendor has a direct message directly to Nineveh because they have become known for their evil. The Lord was giving them an opportunity to repent [2] The purpose of this message was to encourage repentance by the Jews who are unresponsive to God’s message and to demonstrate that repentance is possible. Jonah is listening to the Lord’s message and understands that repentance is an appropriate response to Jonah’s prophetic message however Jonah has other thoughts and decides this is the job for him so instead he flees.