Was Jesus Like Jonah? A Yom Kippur D'rash

Two Messianic Jews

What similarities and differences can we notice when comparing the story of Jonah with Jesus calming the storm in Matthew 8? How does making this comparison show that Jesus was recognized as the Messiah? Join us for this Yom Kippur D'rash!

Jonah 1:1-6 (1) And the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, (2) “Get up and go[1] to the great city of Ninevah and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.” (3) But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord and he went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish and he paid his fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, [away][2] from the presence of the Lord. (4) And the Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea, and the ship was at risk[3] to break into pieces. (5) And the sailors were afraid, and each man cried out to his god and they threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the load from upon them[4] and Jonah went down to the innermost parts[5] of the ship and he laid down and fell into a deep sleep. (6) And the captain came to him and said to him, “What are you doing sleeping? Get up! Call on your god! Perhaps your god will give a thought to us so that we do not perish.” 1 NIV and NRSV translate קוּם לֵךְ as “Go at once” and this could be translated as ‘Arise’ (BDB, 877). But I chose ‘Get up and go’ to contrast the prophetic call more clearly with the ironic remarks of Jonah ‘going down’ to Tarshish (1:3), into the ship (1:3, 5) in his disobedience. 2 I chose to insert “away” to draw out the movement of the ship going the opposite direction the Lord called Jonah to go. 3 BDB recommends translating הָאֳנִיָה חִשְּׁבָה לְּׁהִשָבֵֵֽר as “the ship was about to (minded to) be broken up” (363). Considering חִשְּׁבָה is in the piel, and thus intensive, I said “at risk” because it communicates the high stakes of the moment more effectively. NET notes that this would be translated literally as “the ship considered breaking up” but considering it is an idiom, I translated it to communicate its meaning, rather than word for word. 4 NIV translates לְּׁהָקֵל מֵֵֽעֲלֵיהֶם as “to lighten the ship.” I wanted to bring out more fully the sense of מֵֵֽעֲלֵיהֶם so I followed BDB which recommends, “make light from upon one” (886). 5 NIV translates יָרַד אֶל־יַרְּׁכְּׁתֵי הַסְּׁפִינָה as “had gone below deck” and NRSV translates it as “had gone into the hold of the ship.” I chose the more literal “went down to the innermost parts” because, once again, it emphasizes the movement downwards/away from Jonah’s call to “get up and go” (1:2). I think reminding the reader of this theme is more crucial to the message of Jonah than accurately describing the ship.

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