Jonah 3:2

Arise, go. Because of the repetition of these words (see ch. 1:2) some Bible scholars believe it is likely that when Jonah was delivered from the “great fish” he went to Jerusalem to “sacrifice” and pay the vows alluded to in his prayer of thanksgiving (ch. 2:9). This is pure conjecture.

In ancient times a ship going from Joppa to Tarshish would probably follow the coast line of Palestine northward. If the incident with the whale occurred early in the voyage, Jonah may have found himself much closer to Nineveh than when he embarked (see on ch. 1:13; see The Ministry of Jonah).

Preach. Heb. qara’, the word translated “cry” in ch. 1:2.

That I bid thee. The charge to Jonah is that given to every preacher of the word. Only the word of God is to be proclaimed from the pulpit, and not the word of man (see 2 Tim. 4:1, 2). Anxious and perplexed souls in our troubled world today long to receive the counsel of God and not the uncertain and vain reasonings and philosophies of men fallible like themselves. They prefer a “Thus saith the Lord” to a “Thus saith a man.”