Answer: Jonah heads off in the exact opposite direction from Nineveh.
Jonah buys passage aboard a ship sailing to Tarshish. Though scholars aren't sure exactly where Tarshish was (theories range from Tarsus in present-day Turkey, to Carthage on the northern coast of Africa), everyone agrees it lay to the west, across at least part of the Mediterranean.
Nineveh, by contrast, was the capital city of the Assyrian empire. It lay to the east, in present-day Iraq.
Jonah doesn't argue with God at the beginning of the story, and even if he had, that wouldn't be unusual in the Bible.
From Quiz: The Prophet Who Ran Away From God
Answer: sleeping
Jonah 1:5 "Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep."
Jonah knew that he was not obeying God and knew that God was angry, but at that point he did not care because he did not agree with what God wanted him to do.
From Quiz: Jonah Doesn't Want to Obey
Answer: sleeping
Jonah was asleep even though there was a storm raging around him. The experienced seaman were afraid for their lives and Jonah was able to rest through it all.
From Quiz: The Story of Jonah
Answer: they offered a sacrifice to the Lord
When they saw the sea grow calm so dramatically, they 'greatly feared the Lord'.
Jonah's God, they could see, was Somebody not to be trifled with, as Jonah had done. They offered a sacrifice and made vows to Him (Jonah 1:16), doing their best to keep on His good side.
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Jonah
Answer: God
After throwing Jonah into the stormy sea, the sailors cry out to God (1:14), "Do not hold us guilty of killing an innocent person! For You, O Lord, by Your will, have brought this about."
The story of Jonah is, I believe, ultimately about the tension between God's justice and God's mercy (or love). This early statement of belief that God is responsible for what happens here on earth sets the stage for the book's theological message. After all, if God wasn't responsible for any human suffering, how could we even ask if God should be merciful or just with us?
From Quiz: The Prophet Who Ran Away From God
Answer: prayed
Jonah 2:1 "Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly."
Jonah realized at this point that he had disobeyed God.
From Quiz: Jonah Doesn't Want to Obey
Answer: casting lots
It is interesting that the way the crew came to a understanding of Elohim (God) was through a disobedient prophet and the casting of lots.
From Quiz: The Story of Jonah
Answer: He was swallowed by a big fish
Ask anyone about Jonah, and this event from verse 17 is the most likely thing they know about him - he got swallowed by a whale. The Bible isn't clear on exactly what it was that swallowed Jonah. I mean, maybe it was a whale. Maybe not. Scripture really just says "great fish" or "big fish", which could have been anything large in the sea. What swallowed Jonah isn't as important to the story as one might think.
While the Bible doesn't name the fish as a whale, the Quran does. Jonah is the only one of the Biblical twelve minor prophets mentioned in the Islamic book of faith. It records he was swallowed by a whale in its 37th chapter.
From Quiz: The Adventures of Jonah
Answer: God wanted it to
"Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah." (Jonah 1:17, NKJV) It was God's purpose that the fish should swallow Jonah. We also see in Jonah 2:10 that God "spoke to the fish" and, it is clearly implied, told it to spit Jonah up again.
From Quiz: BBB Bible Series: Jonah
Answer: Great Fish
Jesus does refer to the 'great fish' as a whale, thus the story Jonah and the Whale. In Jonah, however, it is simply referred to as a great fish.
From Quiz: The Story of Jonah
