‘Arise … Go … Cry’ "Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me" (Jonah 1:2). I summarize the word of God that came to Jonah in three words: The first word is "Arise". God commanded the prophet Jonah to "Arise" (v. 2). According to this command, the prophet Jonah “rose up” (v. 3). But he did not go to Nineveh, but ran away to Tarshish. He ‘went down’ to Joppa, 'went down' into the ship (v. 3), ‘went down’ into the hold of the ship, “lain down and fallen sound asleep” (v. 5). To Jonah who fell into a deep sleep, the Gentile captain of the ship went to him and said: "How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish" (v. 6). God used the captain to remind the disobedient Jonah his command “Arise” (v. 2). In other words, the captain’s word "Get up" (v. 6) was an echo of God's "...
