Jonah ch. 1-4 Star Chart: Since there are twelve daylight hours in a day (John 11:9), there must be 36 daylight hours in "three days and three nights" (Jonah 1:17). Therefore, clockwise from when "they cast him forth into the sea" (1:15) and "Jonah was in the belly of the fish (Cetus -- an amphibious fish -- Greek word "Cetos" used by Matt. 12:40) three days and three nights" (1:17) till "the fish ... (solar yellow) vomited out Jonah (Orion) upon the dry land" (after transporting him, perhaps amphibiously or through a subterranean passage, from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, around to the Persian Gulf and then up the Tigris River very near the city) is 36° hours. From the Mediterranean Sea to Nineveh by the shortest land route is over 400 miles. Then "Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey" (3:3) which is 36° hours more. "And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey (12° more which enters Cancer-Ear), and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the (Gemini) people of Nineveh believed God (because of the strange amphibious fish?), and proclaimed a fast (red radius bars forbade lunar water or solar bread), and put on (black Zodiac) sackcloth, from the greatest of them (Ursa Major, Canis Major) even to the least of them" (Ursa Minor, Canis Minor)(3:4-5). But how did we derive the dates for this star chart? When our Lord returns in glory on Tishri 10, Yom Kippur, the whole world will repent. Jonah typified this glorious second coming by having his skin bleached white inside the belly of a fish. Just as the Ninevites worshipped the fish god and so repented at the preaching of a man who came out of a fish after three days, so also the world now worships a living resurrected God and so will repent at the preaching of our Lord Yeshua who came out of the grave after three days, when he returns from heaven. The beached FISH vomited Jonah onto dry land, and then probably DIED, pointing forward to how the GRAVE was DESTROYED by our Lord’s resurrection. Here is an "AWESOME" SEVEN-DAY period which ends in a solemn FAST of REPENTANCE. Every year it is a Jewish custom to fast, pray and repent on the "SEVEN DAYS of AWE" between Tishri 1-2 and Tishri 10. The tenth day is a solemn FAST -- Yom Kippur. Then Jews BUILD BOOTHS to celebrate the Feast of Sukkot just as Jonah "MADE him a BOOTH, and sat under it" (4:5) indicating preparations for the Festival of Sukkot. Notice Jonah's booth made from four red radius branches each having fruit on it. The SAILORS who threw Jonah to his figurative 'death' must represent, not only PILATE and the JEWS, but all HUMANITY who are guilty of His innocent blood (Jon. 1:14). "The (SEA)WEEDS were wrapped about my head" (2:5) just as Jesus had a crown of THORNS on his head. On the first day in the city, Jonah told them that in 40 DAYS God would destroy Nineveh (3:4), just as Jesus told the Jews that in 40 YEARS God would destroy Jerusalem (Matt. 16:4). |
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Jonah Coming to Nineveh
Typified Our Lord's Second Coming to Earth
1:1 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,
That the prophet is identical with the Jonah of 2Kings 14:25, the statement of his parentage, “son of Amittai,” leaves no doubt. A native of Gath-hepher, of the tribe of Zebulun, Jonah the son of Amittai prophesied at the commencement of the reign of Jeroboam II., i.e., in the latter part of the ninth century B.C. His prophecies, we gather from the same passage, had reference to the victories of Jeroboam.
2 Arise, go to (Cancer) Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.
3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship (Argo) going to Tarshish: so he paid the (solar golden) fare thereof, and went down into it (Argo), to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.
was an ancient merchant city of Spain, once proverbial for its wealth (Psalm 72:10. Strabo iii. 2. 14),
He foresaw the repentance of the city, and the mercy which would be displayed towards it, and was either jealous of his prophetic reputation, or had a patriotic dislike of becoming a messenger of good to a heathen foe so formidable to his own country.
4 But the Lord sent out a great (Milky Way) wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the (Argo) sea, so that the (Argo) ship was like to be (red radius line) broken.
5 Then the (Argo) mariners were afraid, and (lunar open mouth) cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the (lunar and solar) wares that were in the (Argo) ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he (Auriga) lay, and was fast asleep.
6 So the (Argo) shipmaster (Orion) came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O (Auriga) sleeper? arise, (lunar open mouth) call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.
7 And they (red radius line) said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast (lunar and solar) lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast (lunar and solar) lots, and the (solar) lot fell upon Jonah.
8 Then (red radius line) said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
9 And he (red radius line) said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.
10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and (red radius line) said unto him. Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had (red radius line) told them.
11 Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the (Argo) sea wrought, and was tempestuous.
12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and (red radius line) cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
13 Nevertheless the (Argo) men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the (Argo) sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.
14 Wherefore they (red radius line) cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us (red radius line) innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.
15 So they took up (Auriga) Jonah, and (red radius line) cast him forth into the (Argo) sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.
16 Then the (Gemini) men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a (solar) sacrifice unto the Lord, and made (red radius line) vows.
| "Let no one be willing to act unjustly; neither let him sail with the perjured." (Euripid. Electr. 1354) "Diagoras, the atheist, being in a storm at sea, the sailors being greatly alarmed, told him they justly deserved that misfortune for admitting him into their ship." (Cic. de nat. deor. 3:37) |
"Cyras accounted the piety of those about him an advantage to himself; reckoning as they do who choose to undertake a voyage in company with men of piety, rather than with such as appear to have been guilty of anything impious." (Xen. Cyrop. 8:1) |
"The timid man, when making a voyage, as soon as the waves begin to rise, enquires whether there be not some profane person on board." (Theophr. Charact. 29.) |
17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish (Cetus) to swallow up (Auriga) Jonah. And (Auriga) Jonah was in the belly of the fish (Cetus) three days and three nights.
“A natural historian of repute relates, ‘In 1758, in stormy weather, a sailor fell overboard from a frigate in the Mediterranean. A shark was close by, which, as he was swimming and crying for help, took him in his wide throat, so that he forthwith disappeared. Other sailors had leaped into the sloop, to help their comrade, while yet swimming; the captain had a gun which stood on the deck discharged at the fish, which struck it so, that it cast out the sailor which it had in its throat, who was taken up, alive and little injured, by the sloop which had now come up. The fish was harpooned, taken up on the frigate and dried. The captain made a present of the fish to the sailor who, by God’s Providence, had been so wonderfully preserved. The sailor went round Europe exhibiting it. He came to Franconia, and it was publicly exhibited here in Erlangen, as also at Nurnberg and other places. The dried fish was delineated. It was 20 feet long, and, with expanded fins, nine feet wide, and weighed 3924 pounds. From all this, it is probable that this was the fish of Jonah.’ ” (See Dr Pusey’s Commentary on Jonah, Introd., pp. 257, 258; Smith’s Bible Dict., Art. Whale, where other instances are given.)
2:1 Then Jonah (Orion) prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's (Cetus) belly,
2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he (Cancer-Ear) heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou (Cancer-Ear) heardest my voice.
3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy (Argo) billows and thy waves passed over me.
4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy (lunar eye) sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the (red radius sea) weeds were wrapped about my head.
6 I went down to the bottoms of the (red radius) mountains; the earth with her (red radius) bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.
7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
9 But I will (solar) sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have (lunar open mouth) vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.
10 And the Lord spake unto the (Cetus) fish, and it (solar yellow) vomited out Jonah (Orion) upon the dry land (southern shore of Black Sea?).
3:1 And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah (Auriga) the second time, saying,
2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.
3 So Jonah (Orion) arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.
See Diodor. Sic. Bib. 50:2. And as we find, from the lowest computation, that it was at least fifty-four or sixty English miles in circumference, it would take the prophet three days to walk round upon the walls, and announce from them the terrible message, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be destroyed!"
Herodotus variously reckons a day’s journey at about eighteen or twenty-three miles (v. 53, iv. 101), and the circuit of the irregular quadrangle composed of the mounds of Koujunjik, Nimrud, Karamless, and Khorsabad, now generally allowed to represent ancient Nineveh, is about sixty miles. This agrees sufficiently with the obviously vague and general statement of the text.
of three days' journey; in compass, being sixty miles, as Diodorus Siculus (n) relates; and allowing twenty miles for a day's journey on foot, as this was, and which is as much as a man can ordinarily do to hold it, was just three days journey; and so Herodotus (o) reckons a day's journey at an hundred fifty furlongs, which make about nineteen miles; (n) Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 92. (o) Terpsichore, sive l. 5. c. 53.
Jonah's statement is confirmed by heathen writers, who describe Nineveh as four hundred eighty stadia in circumference [Diodorus Siculus, 2.3]. Herodotus defines a day's journey to be one hundred fifty stadia; so three days' journey will not be much below Diodorus' estimate. The parallelogram in Central Assyria covered with remains of buildings has Khorsabad northeast; Koyunjik and Nebbi Yunus near the Tigris, northwest; Nimroud, between the Tigris and the Zab, southwest; and Karamless, at a distance inward from the Zab, southeast. From Koyunjik to Nimroud is about eighteen miles; from Khorsabad to Karamless, the same; from Koyunjik to Khorsabad, thirteen or fourteen miles; from Nimroud to Karamless, fourteen miles. The length thus was greater than the breadth; compare Jon 3:4, "a day's journey," which is confirmed by heathen writers and by modern measurements. The walls were a hundred feet high, and broad enough to allow three chariots abreast, and had moreover fifteen hundred lofty towers.
4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he (lunar open mouth) cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
5 So the (Gemini) people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on (black Zodiac) sackcloth, from the greatest of them (Ursa Major, Canis Major) even to the least of them ((Ursa Minor, Canis Minor).
6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh(Cepheus), and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with (black Zodiac) sackcloth, and sat in (black zodiac) ashes.
7 And he caused it to be (red radius line) proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the (Cepheus) king and his (Gemini) nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not (red radius bar preventing solar) feed, nor (red radius bar preventing lunar) drink water:
8 But let man (Orion and Auriga) and beast (Taurus and Aries, etc.) be covered with (black Zodiac) sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their (Cetus, Perseus, Auriga) hands.
9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce (solar) anger, that we perish not?
10 And God saw their works, that they (red radius line) turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
2 And he (lunar open mouth) prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
3 Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
4 Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?
5 So Jonah went out of the city, and (Auriga) sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a (red radius line) booth, and (Auriga) sat under it in the (black Zodiac) shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
6 And the Lord God prepared a (lunar) gourd, and made it to come up over (Orion) Jonah, that it might be a (black lunar) shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the (black lunar) gourd.
7 But God prepared a (red radius) worm when the (solar) morning (red radius horizon) rose the next day, and it (red radius) smote the (black lunar) gourd that it withered.
8 And it came to pass, when the (solar) sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement (Milky Way) east wind; and the (solar) sun beat upon the head of (Orion) Jonah, that he (Orion) fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the (black lunar) gourd? And he (Orion) said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
10 Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the (black lunar) gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand (Gemini and Milky Way) persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much (Taurus) cattle?