Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 141 · May 21
The Fare Thereof
“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”
Who was Jonah before the fish?
There is one line about him outside his own book. Jeroboam the second restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai. So this is no beginner. His one recorded oracle came true and made his nation larger, under a king the same chapter calls evil in the sight of the LORD. Then the word comes again, and it sends him to Nineveh, the capital of the empire that will one day take Israel apart.
Watch the verbs, because every one goes the same way. Rose up to flee. Went down to Joppa. Found a ship. Paid the fare thereof. Went down into it. One short verse says from the presence of the LORD twice, at the start and at the end. The going down keeps going: down into the sides of the ship, asleep in a storm, and then, by his own account from the water, down to the bottoms of the mountains.
He gives his reason himself, three chapters later, and it is the last one anybody would guess. I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful. He ran because his theology was correct. He could see how the errand would end before he had finished packing.
The sailors pray, cast lots, and row hard to get the ship back to land rather than put him over the side. Afterwards they make vows. A crew who did not know the name of God came out of that night better than the man who did. What do you know about God that you have been arranging your week to avoid acting on, and how much have you paid in fares already?
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 141 is What Do You Want (Mark 10:51).