The Adventures of Jonah Trivia Quiz

Answer: Hopped the first boat outta there

Jonah ran, of course. It's kinda what he's known for (well, one of the things).

God asked Jonah to preach against Ninevah. Ninevah was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, the world power of Jonah's day. The Assyrians were known for their ruthless ways, and the idea of going to their capital to preach against them must have seemed incredibly dangerous to Jonah.

So he fled. Specifically, he hopped a boat at the port of Joppa, probably the closest place for him. The Bible says he was headed to Tarshish. It's unclear exactly where that was, but some Biblical scholars think it was a place on the southwest coast of Spain. In other words, Jonah (who knew nothing of the New World) was going to the furthest place away from Ninevah he knew!

Jonah 1:1-3

Answer: sleeping

The Old Testament often uses the word "down" not only as a physical location but also a spiritual reference; people going "down" are said to be sinking spiritually away from God. The King James Version uses the word three times in referring to Jonah's escape: he went "down" to Joppa, "down" into the boat and "down" into the sides of the boat. (Jonah 1:3,5).

Here, Jonah has so deadened himself to God that he is sleeping through a storm. And bear in mind, this is obviously not just any storm. These are presumably experienced sailors aboard this ship, and scripture makes it clear they are frightened (Jonah 1:5), to the point where "each cried out to his own god". They were tossing cargo overboard in an effort to save themselves.

One can only imagine the captain's mood when he went below deck and found Jonah, sleeping away! The captain castigates Jonah (1:6), telling him to get up and go above deck. God frequently uses non-believers to chastise his people.

Answer: Toss me overboard

Jonah matter-of-factly told them to toss him overboard (Jonah 1:12) and the sea would calm. Perhaps he was now resigned to his fate, having attempted to run and seeing it wasn't going to work.

The sailors, as implied in verse 5, are not believers in God, but do have their own religions. The wording implies that they have a mix of what Christians might call heathen or pagan beliefs. The idea of a God that created Heaven and Earth must have been mystifying to them, and one can imagine they greatly feared Jonah and his God, since they clearly believed that God was responsible for their predicament, and that their own gods had not helped them out of it.

Jonah 1:7-12

Answer: No

Jonah 1:13 makes it clear they did not, at least at first, toss him overboard. They seemed to fear Jonah's God, and perhaps feared laying any hand on Jonah, lest they offend the God they believed had sent this storm. Instead of following his directions, they pushed hard to row the boat back to shore, but they failed. They then did something very incredible: they prayed.

And Jonah 1:14 makes it very clear they didn't pray to their own gods. They prayed to Jonah's God, asking his forgiveness. Only then did they (one imagines very gently) pick up Jonah and throw him overboard... and just as Jonah had said in verse 12, the sea immediately calmed. Verse 16 indicates the sailors then became believers in Jonah's God.

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.

Answer: The fish spit Jonah up

Chapter 2 of the book of Jonah is, almost entirely, a recitation of Jonah's prayer to God, which carries the theme of God hearing even the doomed and desperate of the world. Even those that have turned away from God can be heard by God, and if repentant, can be picked back up and saved by God. Jonah no doubt hopes for salvation, and has pinned all his hope on God. There are echoes of several Psalms in Jonah's prayer.

At the end of the chapter, it's stated (verse 10) that God commanded the fish to spit up Jonah onto dry land. Probably also an unpleasant experience, but Jonah must have seen it as a wonderful thing, after spending three days and nights (!) inside the fish.

Non-believers sometimes point at this story to explain their disbelief in the Bible. Admittedly, it could be hard to believe a man could survive inside a large fish for three days. However, there are stories of it happening found outside the Bible, so it's not as unbelievable as one might think - though it undoubtably is a memorable experience for anyone who has to go through it.

Answer: Yes

Jonah 3:2 shows God giving the same command to Jonah, almost word-for-word. What I love about this verse is what isn't there - any hint of scolding, any "you'd better do it this time". Perhaps, after all Jonah had been through, God felt no need to scold, but somehow I don't think that's it.

It's just my belief that this is a beautiful example of God's forgiveness, of starting over on square one with a perfectly blank slate. The Bible says in several places (example, Isaiah 43:25) that when God forgives transgression, he also forgets it.

Answer: they repented and were forgiven

Jonah went to Ninevah, which the Bible says was a huge city (3:3), which took three days to walk across. Ninevah had over a hundred thousand people, and in an era before high-rises, we have to imagine how big a space all those people would have needed. (The ruins of Ninevah can still be found today, on the Tigris River, across from the city of Mosul in Iraq.)

Jonah 3:4 (NIV) says that Jonah proceeded into the city with a day's journey of proclaiming God's warning, that Ninevah would be overthrown in 40 days if it did not repent. When word reached the king, he believed it, and proclaimed a fast for the entire city, and ordered everyone to dress in sackcloth, even himself, and even the animals of Ninevah (Jonah 3:6-8). The Bible implies the king put his faith solely in God's mercy, since the king seemed in verse 9 to have no expectation of God's forgiveness.

Some scholars suggest that the king of Assyria may have been at this time Adad-Nirari III, who turned to monotheism. Francis Nicole, for instance, suggests the possibility in his book "The Ancient World From c. 1400 to 586 B.C." in which he co-relates Adad-Nirari III's reign to the time Jonah is believed to have been alive and active. Merrill Unger, in his "Bible Handbook", also suggests Adad-Nirari III as the possible king when Jonah visited. Unger says Jonah may have come near the close of his reign, from 810-782 B.C.

Answer: angered

One idea expressed in Jonah is God's forgiveness versus man's. Jonah was (implicitly) forgiven by God for running away, and (implicitly) forgiven by the sailors for putting them in mortal danger. Yet, when God easily forgives the Assyrians, Jonah is incensed, in maybe the most bonkers moment of a bonkers book! So much so, that he asks God to take his life (verse 3) and then retires to a spot outside the city, hopeful that God would destroy Ninevah after all (verse 5). Let's remember that Jonah seemed so fearful of God's command to go to Ninevah in the first place that he ran away. Only after going through the difficult experiences he did, did he resign himself to take on this difficult mission, and now that it's succeeded, he's upset. Seems crazy, right?

Jonah claims to have known God would do this, to explain his anger (4:2). Jonah claims this as the reason for his flight. He really did not fear Ninevah, but rather God's willingness to forgive Ninevah. Jonah has a human's idea of justice, a desire to see wrongdoers get what's coming to them, even though he's been granted mercy himself many times. But God doesn't have this sense of justice. Christians believe God's justice is tempered by his love. While love and justice seem like parallel lines that never meet in humans, God is found at their intersection, as a being with perfect justice and perfect love.

Answer: It was bitten by a worm and withered

God sent a plant in Jonah chapter 4 to provide shade to ease Jonah's discomfort (verse 6). However, he also had a worm bite the plant and cause it to wither and die (verse 7). When the sun came out hot, Jonah complained to God.

God answered, as he frequently does in the Bible when questioned by man, by questioning man's right to accuse God of anything. Jonah did nothing to earn the plant; God had provided it as a gift. God also points out Jonah has no cause to complain about God's judgement, or lack of judgement, against Ninevah.

God asks Jonah why he should not feel compassion for all the Assyrians who would have been destroyed if God had done as Jonah seemed to want. But God also mentions he has compassion for the animals living in the city. This last verse is heartwarming to anyone who has lost a loved pet or animal, by providing a picture of a God who is concerned even over the welfare of animals.