A Sunday School Lesson On Jonah And The Whale

Here is a Sunday school lesson or Bible study about Jonah and the whale.

Jonah’s Call

Jonah 1:3 “But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.”

I can recall several men I know who were called into the ministry at an early age only to run away from that call much like Jonah ran from his calling by God but the fact is, there is nowhere to run and no place to hide for as the psalmist wrote, “If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me” (Psalm 139:8-10). In other words Jonah, forget about it. You’re not getting away from an effectual call by God.

Do you feel called into some ministry?

How do you know for sure?

Why did Jonah try to run away from God?

Jonah’s Flight

Jonah 1:7 “And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.”

When Jonah walked away from God’s calling, He could not walk away from God because as Jonah was on the ship, “the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up” (Jonah 1:4) and then “the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep” (Jonah 1:5) so when all the other so-called gods couldn’t help, they decided by lot that it was Jonah and “So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging” (Jonah 1:15).

Who sent the storm Jonah’s way?

Why was Jonah asleep in the ship?

Why did the sea cease from its raging when Jonah was tossed overboard?

Jonah’s Plight

Jonah 1:17 “And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

Apparently, God sent the storm and now God sends a great fish. There is no evidence that this was a whale for a different Hebrew word is used for that and the word for “fish” is from the Hebrew word “dagah” and simply means fish. It was a “great” fish or in the Hebrew (“gadowl”) “large in magnitude and extent” so this was a very large fish, capable of swallowing a man whole and some of which are known to exist in the oceans of the world. Was it one of the large sea reptiles called the leviathan which is referred to in the Book of Psalms and Job? What we know for sure is that “Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish. And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land” (Jonah 2:1, 10).

What does it mean God “appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah?”

Did Jonah believe he was going to die (John 2:5-7)?

What must that environment been like?

Jonah’s Witness

Jonah 3:3-4 “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

This was no small city and it was more than just a city. It was a city-state and these were the Assyrians who were archenemies of Israel, so maybe you can understand Jonah’s reluctance to help Nineveh be saved from God’s judgment but that’s what happened. The King of Nineveh declared a fast and the whole city repented and God withheld His judgment upon them but this angered Jonah. When God caused a plant to grow over and shade Jonah from the scorching sun, Jonah was pleased but then became anger after the plant died, so “the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle” (Jonah 4:10-11)?

Would this be like Christians trying to witness to ISIS?

Would that make you reluctant to be God’s witness?

Can you sympathize with how Jonah felt?

Conclusion

I urge you in your study to look at all of the Bible verses and read them aloud in the class so that you can get the most out of this lesson on Jonah and the Great Fish. Jesus referred to Jonah as an actual, historical account when “some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you” (Matt 12:38) “But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah” (Matt 12:39) and that sign was “just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt 12:40). Jesus went even further in telling the scribes and Pharisees that “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here” (Matt 12:41) and He Who is “greater than Jonah is” Jesus Christ so just “as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.” (Luke 11:30).

Why did the scribes and Pharisees seek a sign from Jesus?

Why is it evil to seek a sign from God?

What has changed in your understanding of Jonah and the Great Fish after this study?

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.