[Jonah, 1:1–4:11]
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai” [1:1]. The Holy One said to Jonah the prophet that he should go to the city of Nineveh, which was completely gentile, that they should repent. The story was written because, even though they were gentiles, as soon as the prophet punished them they did a great act of repentance. Israel, who have a great many prophets among them, yet they do not want to listen and repent. This informs us of the great miracle that the prophet was in the fish for three days and remained alive. Afterwards, the fish spat him out on the dry land. It also informs us that the Holy One forgives the whole world, whether it is Israel or the other nations. The Holy One said to Jonah the prophet: go and announce in the great city of Nineveh and tell them that they have committed great sins.
“Jonah set out” [1:3]. Jonah set out and ran away to the city of Tarshish, to flee before the Holy One. That is, he thought to himself. I will run outside the land of Israel and the Shekhinah will no longer rest on me. This, I will no longer have to go and punish the city of Nineveh. Jonah said: were I to punish the gentiles, they would immediately repent. The Holy One would say: the gentile serpent immediately and my people Israel, I let them be punished every day and they do not turn back, though they have many prophets. The Holy One will, heaven forbid, punish Israel with troubles because of that. Therefore, Jonah did not want to punish the gentiles of the city of Nineveh.1Rashi, Jonah, 1:3.
“He went down to Joppa” [1:3]. He came to a city called Joppa and found there a ship that was going to the city of Tarshish. He paid the crew their fee that they took from all the merchants. He said: don’t wait for the other merchants. I will pay what the merchants would give you.2Rashi, Jonah, 1:3. He was very rich. When they were in the middle of the sea, a great wind arose and the ship’s crew thought that the ship would break up. The crew searched the ship and they were very afraid. Each one called loudly to his god. There were seventy nations on the ship and each one called to his god.3Rashi, Jonah, 1:5. They threw the cargo from the ship into the sea to make the ship lighter. The captain of the ship came to Jonah and said: why are you sleeping? Get up and call to your god. Perhaps God will remember us and we will not be lost. They said to each other. We will throw lots to see what causes this that our ship is about to sink and other ships near us are traveling smoothly on the sea.4Rashi, Jonah, 1:7. There must be a sinful person among us. Therefore, we will cast lots to see on whom it falls and we will throw that one into the sea. The lot fell on Jonah. They said: what kind of work do you do? Perhaps you worked with deceit toward the people?5Radak, Jonah, 1:8. From what city are you? Perhaps there is a decree over the people of your city to be destroyed and you are included in that decree?6Radak, Jonah, 1:8. From what nation are you? He answered: I am a Jew from the land of Israel and I am a God fearer. The ship’s crew was very afraid and said to him. Why are you fleeing your God? He said to them: I am a prophet and the Holy One wants that I should punish the people of Nineveh. Therefore, I have fled outside the land of Israel, where there is no prophecy.7Radak, Jonah, 1:10. They said to Jonah: what should we do to calm the sea? Jonah said: throw me into the sea and it will become calm. This is because of me and because of my sin. They tried to reach the port, but they could not find it. They called again to God, a great outcry, and said, let us not be destroyed because of this person. They took Jonah and threw him into the sea. The sea ceased to storm.
“The Lord provided a huge fish” [2:1]. The Holy One had prepared a huge fish to swallow Jonah. The fish had been prepared since the six days of creation. He went into the fish like one goes through the large gate of a synagogue. The mouth of the fish glowed with a light. Rabbi Meir said that there was a precious stone in the fish that provided illumination for Jonah who saw everything that was in the sea. The fish said to Jonah: do you not know that my day is coming that the great fish, the Leviathan who is the king over all fish, will eat me? Every day the Leviathan eats up fish. Jonah said: take me to the Leviathan and I will save you and me from death. The fish took him to the Leviathan. He came to the Leviathan and said to him. I have come to you and want to see your home in the sea. Know that in the days of the Messiah, I am the one who will catch you with a large fishhook to make a large banquet out of you for the righteous. He showed him the seal of Abraham our Patriarch, which is the circumcision. Immediately, the Leviathan fell back several miles from the fish in which Jonah lay. Jonah said: I have protected you from death. Show me everything that is found in the sea. He showed him the great sea Oceanus that surrounds the whole world and also showed him the place where the sea had split when the Israelites had left Egypt. He also showed him the pillars on which the world stands. He showed him Gehenna and showed him the place where the children of Korah stood. They were swal- lowed up by the earth and they prayed. Jonah spent three days and three nights in the fish and he did not pray. The Holy One said: because I have put him into a spacious fish, therefore he does not pray. I will send him into a fish that is female and carries within her bowels many thousands of small fish. It will be tight for him and he will pray to the Holy One. He desires that we should pray to Him, particularly the prayers of the righteous, which He keeps. The Holy One immediately sent a pregnant fish to the fish and let it say: the prophet that is within you, give him into my bowels. Thus has the Holy One commanded: if you want to give him over with good will, then it is good. If you do not want to, I will swallow both of you. The fish responded: who says that the Holy One commanded this? The female responded: the Leviathan knows this well. They went to the Leviathan. The female fish said to the Leviathan: do you not know that the Holy One sent to the fish where Jonah is and I should take Jonah within me? The Leviathan responded affirmatively. Then the fish in whom Jonah was, asked: in which hour did the Holy One command this? The Leviathan responded: in the last three hours of the day when the Holy One would play with me. I heard the Holy One say this. The fish immediately spit out Jonah and the female fish swallowed him. It was very tight for the prophet and it stank greatly. He immediately began to pray and said: Lord of the Universe, where should I go or to where should I flee? Your throne is in heaven and You are king over all the angels and the earth is Your footstool under Your feet. All the works of the world are open to You. You examine the footsteps of man. I ask you, answer me out of the belly of the abyss and help me in the depths. You God, You sit far from me. Answer me soon, You kill and bring to life. The Holy One immediately told the fish to spit out the prophet. The fish spit out the prophet a distance of nine hundred and sixty-five miles to the dry land. The ship’s crew saw the great wonder that the Holy One had done with the prophet. They immediately converted and went to Jerusalem and became Jews. Their wives and children also converted. Concerning this, the verse says, “and for the righteous converts.”8This “verse” is not found in the Bible. It is a continuation of Psalms, 75:11, quoted in B. Hagigah, 17b. The whole paragraph is from Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, chap. 10.
“The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time” [3:1]. God said to Jonah a second time. Go to the great city of Nineveh and tell them that they should repent before they will be destroyed in forty days. The city of Nineveh was as large as a three days walk. Jonah went one day’s journey in the city and called out, repent or you will be destroyed in forty days if you do not repent. They immediately believed the prophet. There were people in the city similar to those in the ship with Jonah. They fasted and each one clothed themselves only in sack, from great to small. The king learned of this and he stood up from his throne and took off his robes, put on a sack and sat on the ashes. He asked that nobody should eat and the animals not be fed. The king was Pharaoh, who remained alive in the sea and was not drowned with his people. He became king in the city of Nineveh. The Holy One allowed him to live so that he would tell the wonders that the Holy One did for Israel in Egypt and at the sea. The city of Nineveh was very evil. They committed robbery and engaged in homosexuality. Therefore, the king announced that they should fast for three days and he separated the men and women. He also had the animals separated, and the calves were also separated. The children saw their mothers and cried that they wanted to be suckled. The mothers also cried, all one hundred and twenty-three thousand and they lifted their children heavenward. They said: Lord of the universe, do this for the sake of the children who have not sinned. On the third day, they did a great act of repentance. Whoever had stolen something from his friend returned it to his friend. Even someone else’s beam from their house, was broken out and returned it to the original owner. Similarly, they broke out a stone from their wall and returned it.9Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, chap. 43; Yalkut Shimoni, Jonah, Remez, 550.
“Who knows but that God may turn and relent?” [3:9]. Whoever knows how we should repent should come and tell us and we will gladly learn. Then the Holy One will have mercy on us so that we will not be destroyed. Soon, God saw their good deeds, had mercy and they remained alive. The prophet Jonah was very despondent that his prophecy did not continue, that he remained a false prophet.10Rashi, Jonah, 3:9. He said to the Holy One: that is why I did not want to go. I know well that You are a God who is compassionate and will forgive them. I have remained a false prophet. Therefore, Lord of the Universe let me rather not see the suffering of Israel because they did not repent and the gentiles did repent. The Holy One responded: the good is more in your eyes than the evil. I have done good to have mercy on the people. Jonah went out of the city and made himself a booth to live in, at a distance. He wanted to see what would happen with the city. What did the Holy One do? He caused a large gourd to grow over his head to protect him from the heat and the flies, since the trees and branches had withered. The heat hurt him very much and therefore the Holy One caused a large gourd to grow overnight. He was very happy about the gourd and the Holy One sent a worm to the gourd and caused the gourd to wither. The sun beat down on Jonah and he was very anguished. He cried and was faint. Jonah asked the Holy One to kill him. The Holy One said to the prophet. You are anguished over the gourd, that it was destroyed. You care for the gourd, since you were saved from the sun by the gourd. So too, I, even though the city of Nineveh was full of gentiles, yet I have created them and all of creation is My glory. Therefore, I desired that they should repent and remain alive. Jonah, you had compassion on the gourd that you did not exert yourself to make. You did not plow and did not sow it. It is customary that when a person exerts himself with something and it disappears, the he misses it. The gourd grew in one night and existed for one day. You are anguished about it, so how should I not be anguished over the great city of Nineveh with many thousands of people that I created. There are many thousands of children who committed no sins. Should they suffer because of the sins of their parents? However, now the parents have repented and the children have no sins over them.