Shabbat Shalom, everyone. God bless you. Welcome to the Shabbat, Saturday meeting of the Holy Scriptures in Israel, and we are continuing together with the study of the prophet Yonah, Yonah Hanavi. I hope you have the Scripture in your hands, and we want you to open to the book of Yonah, the book of Jonah, and we are going to continue today in the first chapter, and we will read from verse 8 to the end of the chapter, to verse 17. But before we will begin with the reading, let's pray together. Let's ask the Lord to bless our meeting for today. Abba, our Father, we want to thank you for your Word.

We ask that you will bless your Word to our hearts. Thank you for the many lessons that we learned through the prophet Yonah, the prophet Yonah. Bless us, we ask in the precious name of our Lord, Yeshua, our Messiah. Amen and Amen. So please turn with me to Jonah chapter 1, and I'm reading from verse 8 for today. We'll speak about this portion. Hopefully, if we can, with the help of the Lord, conclude with chapter 1 for this meeting today. And so we read, in verse 8: "Then said they unto Him..." This is the mariners on that ship that was going through the storm that God had sent upon that ship, upon that sea.

Then they said unto him, "Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us. What is thine occupation? And whence comest thou? What is thy country? And what people are thou?" Then he said unto them, "Then he said unto them, I'm a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?

For the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. Then he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth unto the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you; for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Then he said unto the sea. Then he said unto them, and he said unto them, And he said unto them, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood. For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah, and they cast him forth into the sea; and the sea ceased from her raging.

Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. And I will stop here with the reading, beloved brothers and sisters. And dear friends, we are here studying together this amazing and very interesting prophecy of a man by the name of Jonah. His name meaning simply in Hebrew, 'dav', 'yona'. But in his character, he didn't behave as a 'yona', he behaved really differently, because he was out of the will of the Lord. We have already covered, beloved brothers and sisters, the first seven verses of this book of Jonah.

And we have already learned, beloved brothers and sisters, that God have called Jonah to go to the place that is called Nineveh, which is the capital city of Assyria. And instead of going, instead of obeying the Lord, and crying against that city because the wickedness came up before the Lord, instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah, in disobedience, went down from the north of Israel to the city of Jaffo. He found the ship, he entered into the ship, he bought the fair, and the ship was instead of going to Nineveh, the ship was going to Tarshish. And Jonah was really fleeing to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

We have already learned, beloved brothers and sisters and dear friends, that no one could flee from the presence of the Lord. Although Jonah began a journey of some 2,500 miles towards Tarshish, instead of going 550 miles towards the city of Nineveh, he would need to go mostly by land, because Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria, Ashur. Jonah disobeyed the Lord. We have already covered the reasons for that, that may be, it's not because Jonah hated the Nineveh, because the no prophet of God who has any measure of the grace and love of God would ever hate anyone. But Jonah knew very well that on the basis of the prophecy of Amos and on the basis of the prophecy of Isaiah, that God was going to bring the people of Nineveh, the people of Assyria, to judge the people of Israel, and to ultimately disperse the northern kingdom of Israel outside of the land of Israel, which actually, beloved brothers and sisters, was fulfilled according to 2 Kings 17:5-6, where ultimately, eventually, the people of Assyria came and took the northern kingdom of Israel and deported them.

As we read in 2 Kings 17:5, "Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land and went up to Samaria, to the Shomo, to the north of Israel, and besieged it for three years." In the ninth year of Hosea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Chala and in Chabor by the river of Gozan and in the cities of the Medes. Ultimately, God's punishment that was promised to Israel, against Israel because of Israel's sin, at the end, it came to fruition. And Jonah knew that and he did not want to go to Nineveh because he knew that if the Ninevites will repent, God will change his mind and he will become a vessel, ultimately, that will be used as if it were to the portion, or you might say part of the judgment of his own people.

And so, he did not go. And in this disobedience to God, he had gone on the way to Tarshish. Now, as they began their journey to Tarshish, some 2,500 miles just at the beginning of their journey from the city of Yafo, and therefore, we have learned that God brought about a storm that came against the mariners where Jonah was there in the ship with them. And so, we have already read in verse 4 that the Lord has sent a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty storm, a tempest in the sea and the ship was like to be broken. And so, naturally, the mariners were afraid.

And they knew very well that that storm was not a normal storm. That storm was a divine, you might say, an unusual storm, although they did not know the God of Israel, but they definitely understood that something unique happened here. And they began, as we have already spoken about it in verse 5 and 6 and 7, they cast out, they forced all the wares, and ultimately, they wanted to know who was that one that was guilty that the storm came upon them. And each one of them called upon their own God. Yet Jonah went down to the lowest part of the ship and he fell asleep. And it was the captain of that ship that came down and said to him in verse 6 and 7, "Arise, call upon your God, if so be that God will think upon us that we will not perish." And they said one to another, "Come and let us cast lots." And the lot fell upon you now.

And we have already established the fact that the lot is cast, but the outcome of it is of the Lord. And the Lord directed the attention of the mariners directly to this man by the name of Jonah, who went down to the lower part of the ship, sleeping. The Lord directed the chief captain and the mariners to find out Jonah and to realize that he may very well be the one that the storm came upon them. And so from here on, beloved brothers and sisters, in the verses that we have read in this meeting, verses 8 to verse 17, we now learn that they are asking questions of Jonah.

And Jonah is confessing before them that he was the cause for the storm to come against that ship in the Mediterranean Sea. And so notice what we read. First of all, in verse 8, we read of the five questions that the mariners asked Jonah. Let me read them to you in verse 8. And they said unto him, "Tell us, we pray thee, number one, for whose cause this evil is upon us? Number two, what is thine occupation? Number three, whence comest thou? Where did you come from? Number four, what is thy country? Number five, what of what people art thou? They're asking five questions, beloved brothers and sisters.

Very detailed when you think about it. For what cause? Who is the one that, for whose cause? Who is the one that is causing this storm to fall upon us? What is your job? What are you doing? Who are you? What are you doing? What is your occupation? And then where do you come from? What is your country? And what is thy people? These five questions are very important because with these five questions that they ask him, he will have to respond to them and to reveal to them who he really was. And you know, it is interesting because in the life of God's people, when God's servants or God's people are turning away from the will of the Lord, even the unbelieving world will see that there is something here that's going on.

And this person was unique, but there are certain events that took place around us and that someone was the cause for that. And they began to ask him these questions, these five questions. You notice just the final one out of the five, the final one where they ask him of what people are thou? They wanted to know what his nationality, what nation, what people does he come from? And so you notice, beloved brothers and sisters, when they ask him these five questions, and notice the first thing that Jonah is answering them, of whose people is he from? And you notice he's telling them in verse 9, in verse 9, very interesting because he's answering them, he's beginning actually answering them, not so much about what is the cause and what is his occupation, or where did he come from, or even what country he came from?

He goes, he's really answering, beginning with the answer to the last question. Of what people are you from? Who are your people? And the answer, of course, in verse 9, that Jonah began with, he says, unto them, I'm a Hebrew. In Hebrew, you say, an-no-chi-ivri, an-ni-ivri. And if you will notice, he began with this, why? Because in biblical days, every descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was reckoned as a Hebrew. In fact, if you turn with me for a moment to Genesis chapter 14, and you will notice that the first person that was called Hebrew was Abraham, the father of the Hebrews. Notice that in Genesis chapter 14, in verse 12 and 13, we read, And they took Lot, Abraham's brother's son who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

And here we find Abraham coming to his aid to deliver Lot. And we read in verse 13, And there came one that had escaped and told Abram, the Hebrew, Abraham Ha'ivri. For he dwelt in the plain of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshkol, and brother of Anir. And these were confederate with Abram. In other words, Abram was the first man that was called Ha'ivri, Abraham Ha'ivri. And the word Avri, or Hebrew, comes from the word to cross over, La'avor. Abraham, Avram that is, before his name was changed from Avram to Avraham, he crossed over to the other side. Hu'avar, as we say in Hebrew, Hu Ha'ivri, he is the crosser over.

And he came ultimately into the promised land, to the land of Israel. He was called the first Hebrew. Of course, from there on, all his descendants were known to be Hebrews. If you go just a little bit further, in Genesis chapter 39, a little bit further, you will notice when Joseph was accused by Potiphar's wife, if you notice, beloved brothers and sisters, in Genesis chapter 39, we do read in verse 14, the words concerning Yosef, Joseph. "She called unto the men of her house, and spake unto them, saying, See, he has brought an Hebrew unto us to mock us. He came in unto me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice." But you see, Joseph Yosef was accused to be a Hebrew.

Look, they brought a Hebrew unto us. And of course, as you know, Yosef was a man of God, and Yosef was the one that ultimately was a blessing to the land of Egypt, when the Lord had placed him to be second to Pharaoh. So the name Ivri was applied from generation to generation, to those who are descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In fact, if you turn the page to Genesis chapter 40, and you notice even the land of Israel is called the land of the Hebrews. In chapter 40 and verse 15, "For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews." Haaret shel ha'ivrim.

The land was known to be the land that belonged to the Hebrew people, to Abraham and his descendants. This is the land of Canaan. And beloved brothers and sisters, from there on throughout the generation, those that are descendants of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Avraham, Yitzhak, Yaakov, and the 12 tribes, all were known to be called Hebrews. You notice that even in a new covenant, in a new testament, we have a letter that was written to the Hebrew. Hebrews el ha'ivrim. Specifically, a letter that was written to meet their need because of their conditions and situation, to help them with their need as Hebrew believers in Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah.

Just let me read you one more verse in the book of Philippians. If you turn with me to Philippians chapter 3, and you notice what the apostle Shaul Paul said of himself in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 5. We do read of him and he called himself Shaul Paul. He said of himself in verse 5, I was circumcised on the eighth day. And he said I am of the stock of Israel. And I am of the tribe of Benjamin. And I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews. I belong to the Hebrews even though he was already a believer in Yeshua the Messiah. He was still a Hebrew. In fact, Paul called himself an Israeli in Romans 11.

And he called himself a man that am a Jew in Acts chapter 21 and 22. And in Philippians chapter 3, he called himself I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews. That's the way in which the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were known by. And so when Yonah is responding to the questions of the mariners, where they asked him this question, especially the fifth one, "What people are thou?" He answered. He said I am a Hebrew. I am a Hebrew. And from here on, when they heard that he was a Hebrew, he continued to tell them. The second thing, that he is also fearing Jehovah, fearing the Lord.

You notice that the word here, I fear the Lord in verse 9. The word for Lord is capital L-O-R-D, all capital. And in the Hebrew is the letter Yehovah, the word Yehovah. The word for Lord is Jehovah. I fear Jehovah. This is a covenant keeping name that God had given already to Moses in Exodus chapter 3. And then thirdly, he's mentioning that the one that I belong to is, I belong to the God of heaven which hath made the sea and the dry land. In other words, he's saying I belong to the Creator God and the one who is sovereign God. That's the one that I belong to.

They asked him for whose cause this evil came upon us. What is your occupation? He didn't tell them that he was a prophet. And when scum is down, he didn't tell them that he came from Gat Hefer. And then they say, what is your country? He didn't tell them yet the name, what country I came from, Israel. What is your people? He says, I belong to the people of the Hebrews. And I believe in the true and living God, the one that is the sovereign God and the one that is the creator of all things. And now notice, beloved brothers and sisters, once Jonah in verse 9 identified himself as the Hebrew that believe in the living God in Jehovah, the one that is believing in the true and living God of heaven, the sovereign God, who is also the one who made, notice that, he made the sea.

And he made the dry land. And they are now in the midst of the sea and the storm is raging and the ship is ready to be broken. And here is the one that belonged to the God who made the sea and made the dry land. So immediately, beloved brothers and sisters, the reaction of the sailors, we have here in verse 10, there the men were exceedingly afraid. It is very interesting that they seem to be more afraid now after Jonah told them who he is and to whom he belonged. They were more afraid now before they were afraid, but not today exceedingly afraid as we find out here in this verse.

In other words, they were more afraid now because they understood, beloved brothers and sisters, people who are living in the sea, they are fishermen, the sea is part of their lives. And now they realize that that storm is not an ordinary storm. That there was someone in their midst that was the cause of this storm. That God, the God of Yonah, whom he said that he is fearing the true and living God, the God of heaven, which has made the sea and the dry land. Then we read in verse 10 where they were exceedingly afraid. And they said unto him, and now this has always puzzled me, dear brothers and sisters, how that unbelievers can discern that the one that belonged to God have gone astray.

And they are pointing to him and asking him, why has thou done this? For the man knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord because you have told them. They asked him, why did you do this? Why have you done this by fleeing from God? He told them that he is fleeing from the presence of the Lord. And of course, again, to remind you that no one can flee from the presence of the Lord. Wherever one is, God is a sovereign God. Psalm 139 we read, where can I flee from the presence of the Lord? But he fled from the presence of the Lord, that is the local presence of the Lord in the land of Israel, where the Shekhinah, the Shekinah glory was, where the temple was in the city of Jerusalem.

And he fled from the local presence of the Lord. And he knew very well that he could never, ever flee from the sovereign God. And so notice that the question, of course, here is, why has thou done this? Why is it that you have fled from the presence of the Lord? Jonah told them that he had fled from the presence of the Lord, but they wanted to know why. And so notice that, beloved brothers and sisters, the answer that Jonah is giving them is found here in verses 11 to verse 16. There is a question and an answer and a question and an answer. In the midst of the storm, how these mariners is asking Jonah questions.

And Jonah gives them an answer. Listen to this, very interesting, because here you see how the prophet is ultimately being cast into the sea, the only way to have calmness, the sea to calm down, is when the one who was the guilty one will be taken away from that ship. And so he said unto them, When they asked him in verse 11, they said unto him, what shall we do? What shall we do unto you that the sea may be calm unto us? For the sea wrought and was tempestuous. It was stormy, in Hebrew the word is so'er, sa'ara. It was a terrible storm that came upon that sea, the Mediterranean sea.

And so they wanted to know what shall we do? How can we respond to that? Remember, they have already, earlier, everyone prayed to his own God and they cast all the whales from their ship and nothing could change. Nothing could help them because the ship was ready to be broken. So they're asking you now, what shall we do unto you that the sea may be calm unto us? You are the guilty. You are fleeing from the presence of the Lord. You are the one that believes in the Creator God. You are the one that believes in the sovereign God. And you are the guilty. You flee from the Lord.

What shall we do to you that it will be well with us? And so we find out the answer of Yonah. And you notice his answer. He says, you know what? Take me up, cast me forth into the sea. So shall the sea be calm unto you. I know, Jonah is saying to them, I know that for my sake this great tempest, this great storm is upon you. Take me up, cast me forth into the sea, so the sea will be calm. Jonah knew very well that he is guilty and he brought problem upon the mariners who were on the way to Tarshish. And I just want to emphasize here that we learn from that, that sometimes disobedience in the life of God's people bring problems to others.

And not only others such as believers, but sometimes disobedience in the life of God's people bring trouble to others who are even do not yet belong to the Lord. And that's why obedience is that which is a blessing to others. Whenever someone obeyed the Lord and lived for the Lord and be a testimony to the Lord, others are benefiting from that. That's why it's always a blessing to see a child of God living for Yeshua, living for the Messiah. Because whenever a believer lived for the Lord Jesus the Messiah, he or she are producing blessing to those that are around them. And especially when we think about the Lord Jesus the Messiah himself, who was the only one that was obedient even unto death, and that's the death of the cross.

His obedience brought about a blessing to us all. Here we have benefited from the obedience of the Messiah who said my meat and my drink is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And so the lesson is tremendous here. Disobedience brings problems. And not only problems to yourself, to myself, but problems to others. And here we have a disobedience servant, Jonah, disobeying God. Instead of going to preach the message to the people of Nineveh, he is fleeing from the presence of the Lord on the way to Tarshish. And because of his disobedience, the storm came into the life of these mariners and they are crying for help, trying to find solution to their problems.

And so he's saying to them, the best thing for you to do is simply cast me forth into the sea and so the sea will be calm to you. And I know Jonah is telling them, can you imagine? He knew very well that for my sake, this great storm or tempest is upon you. He knew very well that his wrongdoing brought about problems to the mariners that were on a journey on the sea on the way to Tarshish. So imagine now here it is again, what a lesson to learn because after Jonah answered them, the mariners were not ready to cast him into the sea.

You would think they would be so happy to say, okay, we found the person that is guilty. He confessed his wrongdoing. He confessed that he fled from his Lord. And he is the one that believes in a true God. If we cast him into the sea, everything will be over and we have a calm sea and we can continue to Tarshish. But you see, they had a measure of dignity in them. Although we read earlier that each one of them believe in a different God and every one of them cried to his own God with small g, idols, whatever gods they believe in. And yet you see that they had dignity because nevertheless, we read in verse 13, Nevertheless, the man rode hard to bring it into the land, but they could not for the sea rot and was tempestuous, stormy, soer in Hebrew against them.

They had a measure of dignity, beloved brothers and sisters. And so we learned from this that there is, we might say, goodness that man has. And goodness, it's not a matter that they are not sinners, but God's, the goodness that we all have that came from God, not sinlessness, but some good things that people do who do not even believe in the Messiah, not even believe in the true and living God. The kindness and the, and the extending grace and helping and, and many do so. It's not an issue of salvation here, but issue of a dignity that they didn't want to cast him into the sea.

They thought of the life of this man. They didn't want to throw him into the sea knowing that he's a sure death. So trying hard to get the sea, the ship into the land, they are working hard just in order that they will not cast Jonah into the stormy sea. That is really a sure death. They tried as we read here, beloved brothers and sisters. Nevertheless, the man rode hard to bring it to land, but they could not, for the sea was wrought and was tempestuous against them. They couldn't do anything. They were helpless because to remind you, beloved brothers and sisters, that we read in the word of God that the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea and there was a mighty tempest.

This is verse 4 in the sea, so that the ship was ready, like to be broken. That was not an ordinary storm. That was a storm that was sent by God. And the purpose of the storm was to bring about, to speak to his servant, Jonah, that went away in disobedience to the other way, to the other side. And God was going to bring Jonah into his wits and that ultimately Jonah will cry for help and will seek God's help and be restored unto the Lord. And so they did the best they could. Nevertheless, it says here that the sea was wrought and it was so tempestuous, so stormy that it was against them.

And nothing that they could do could change except just to throw Jonah into the sea and only then the storm will cease. So we do read in verse 14 of this prayer. Now notice what happened here, beloved brothers and sisters. We don't know the manner in which God works in the life of people. We do not know, but here is something happened to their own hearts and conscience. They are trying to save Jonah and not to cast him into the sea. After Jonah told them that he is a Hebrew and he feared the Lord, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.

After his confession, after his testimony to them, once they understood that he was the guilty one, they asked him, how can we make an end to this storm? He said, cast me into the sea. They did not want to cast him into the sea. They tried the best to maintain, to bring the ship back into land. And at the end now, before even they cast him into the sea, we find out that they began to cry into the living God, the God of Jonah. You remember, beloved brothers and sisters, earlier in this chapter 1, each one of them cried to his own God, as we have already read about it in verse 5.

But now they cried unto the Lord, again, capital L-O-R-D is the Hebrew word Jehovah, Jehovah. So now they are crying to the God of Jonah. In other words, God used even the disobedience of his servant to speak to the conscience and the hearts of these mariners that now they are crying to Jonah's God. To the God of Israel, to the God of the Hebrews, to the Lord himself. They are crying to him, and not even that, not only that, because they besieged him. He said, we besieged thee, O Lord, we besieged thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood.

Innocent blood, for thou, listen to this, beloved brothers and sisters, for thou, Lord, has done as it pleased thee. Do you notice what happened here? That right in the midst of a storm, we might say, I don't know how far they came to know the true and living God, but we can see that there is a complete change in the life of these mariners in the middle of a storm. They now pray to the God of Jonah, to the Lord, to Jehovah, they besieged Jonah's Lord, and then they said to him, don't let us perish for this man's life, we don't want to kill him, we don't want to throw him into the sea.

And not only this, they said, do not lay upon us this innocent blood. There was a change that happened. And at the end, they even recognized that he is the one that have done, you, Lord, have done as it pleased thee. How is it possible that something like that will happen? In such a difficult time on the sea, in the midst of a storm, the change that happened. You remember what we read in John chapter 3? Can you turn with me to the Gospel of John, to the third chapter? You remember when Nicodemus came before the Lord and he says, we know, Rabbi says, we know that I was a man that came from God, because no man can do the things that you are doing it, except God be with you.

And you remember what Yeshua, the Messiah, said to Naktimon? He said to him, listen to this. He said to him, Jesus answered and said unto him in verse 5, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto you, you must be born again. And notice what it says in verse 8. The divine work in the heart of a person is unique. Verse 8 says, the wind blows where it listers.

And you hear the sound thereof, but you cannot tell whence it come and whither it is going. So is everyone that is born of the spirit. In other words, just like you don't know how the wind works and where the wind comes from and going to, in the same way it is the new births that come into the life of a person. Now we don't know whether these mariners become what is known to us, born again. But one thing we do know from the context that they did no longer pray to their own gods, small g. But they turn to the true and living God, the God of Jonah.

You can see that the spirit of God worked in their hearts. And the spirit of God changed their hearts that they are now recognizing that Jonah's God, the God of the Hebrews. He is the one that have made. Notice that. We beseech thee, O Lord. We beseech thee. Let us not perish for this man's life and lay not upon us their innocent blood. For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. Amazing change. Amazing change in the life of the mariners. Well, whatever happened there, they are not praying to their own small g gods, to their idols. They are praying to the God of heaven, to the creator of the universe, to the Lord, to the God of the Hebrews, to the God of Jonah.

And then notice that. Then in verse 15, they cast Jonah into the sea. And so we read. So they took Jonah up. They took up Jonah. They cast him into, cast him forth into the sea. And notice immediately, when they cast him into the sea, that the sea ceased from her raging. The moment they cast the one who is the cause of all the problems there, they cast him into the sea. And the sea calmed and there was no longer storm. They must have realized that Jonah's God is the true and living God. And we do read, beloved brothers and sisters, in these verses, that there was a change in their lives right then and there.

Because in verse 16, we do read. Then the men feared Jehovah. They feared the Lord exceedingly. And even more, once there was calmness and the sea ceased from raging, what they do, they offered sacrifice unto Jehovah, unto the Lord, and they made vows. Now this is really speak to us of really a salvation, a change in the conscience and the heart of individuals that have turned now to believe in a true and living God. And you notice that they offer sacrifice. How did they understand the need to offer sacrifice? And to remind you, beloved brothers and sisters, whenever sacrifices were offered in days of old in the history of Israel, it always made atonement.

The blood made an atonement for the soul. It speaks of covering sin. It speaks of forgiveness. And of course, it's always pointing to the coming of the Mashiach, the Messiah, our Lord Yeshua, who came in the fullness of the time. When God sent forth his son, the Mashiach himself, made of a woman, Miriam, made under the law in order to redeem them which were under the law. In other words, it is really pointing us to the person of our Lord Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah. And so they fear the Lord. And then they are offered sacrifice unto the Lord. And they even made vows. The word for vows here, Nedarim, Nedarim, is they made promises to the Lord.

Maybe they haven't kept it, but they vowed to the Lord. They offered sacrifice, whatever sacrifice it may be. I don't know what they had there on the ship there when the storm stopped, whatever they had there, but they offered it to the Lord, to Jehovah, according to the text here. They made vows, they promised him that they may have made some promises to him. And yet they understood very well that this, the reason for the storm that they've experienced on the Mediterranean Sea, the cause was the disobedient servant by the name of Jonah. I just wanted to point to these two verses or two portions I want to read in Psalm 107, please.

In Psalm 107, verses 23 to 29, we do read: They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in the great waters, these see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For he commanded and raises the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven. They go down again to the depths. Their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distress. Notice verse 29: He maketh the storm come, so that the waves thereof are still.

He maketh the storm come, so that the waves thereof are still. Just as we have just read here, beloved brothers and sisters, they cast Yonah, they cast him forth into the sea, and the sea cease from her raging. It seemed to be that the Lord used this event that took place in Jonah's life, in this portion of his journey when he was on the way to Tarshish. It seems to be that the Lord used it to speak to the mariners, and to lead them ultimately to realize that they need to cry to him, to the true and living God, and not to the idols that they were crying to.

And the Lord is able to use even the disobedience of his own servant to lead others to himself. And we learn from this that the Lord is a creator God. He is the one that is creating all things. And as we do read here in our portion in Psalm 107, He maketh the storm. He maketh the storm, but He maketh the storm come, so that the waves thereof are still. Everything is in the hand of the Lord. And He is the one that is in full control. One more verse in the Gospel. If you turn now please to Luke chapter 8. And in Luke chapter 8 we read of God the Son, the Mashiach, the Messiah Yeshua Himself.

And in Luke chapter 8, when we read from verse 22 to verse 25, we find how the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, the eternal Son of God, He is also, according to John 1 verse 3, all things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made which was made. And so in Luke chapter 8 we read, listen to this, beloved brothers and sisters. Verse 22, now it came to pass on a certain day that He went into a ship with His disciples, and He said unto them, "Let us go over into the other side of the lake, this is the Sea of Galilee." And they launched forth. But as they sailed, He fell asleep.

And there came down a storm of wind on the lake. And they were filled with waters and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and woke Him up, saying, "Master, Master, we perish." Then He arose, and He rebuked the wind, and the raging of the water, and the seas, and there was a calm. And He said unto them, "Where is your faith?" And they, being afraid, they wondered, saying one to another, "What manner of man is this? For he commendeth even the winds and the water, and they obey Him." You know, this is fascinating. It always touches our hearts to realize that the man, Jesus the Messiah, Yeshua HaMashiach, is much more than just another man.

That He is the eternal God, the creator of the universe. He speaks. And even the wind and the storm and the seas hear Him and obey Him. And these disciples were amazed. They were speaking one to another. They were fascinated with the fact that even the wind and the storm obeyed the Lord Jesus the Messiah. Here, beloved brothers and sisters, Jonah, in disobedience, led him to Yaffo, and from Yaffo down to the ship on the way to Tarshish, but he was found. And he admitted his guilt. And telling the mariners there that he is a Hebrew, and that he feared the Lord, the God of heaven, which have made the sea and the dry land.

And somehow the Lord used us to turn their mariners to believe in Jonah's God. And so, in return, after they cast him at the sea stop, they feared the Lord exceedingly. They offered him sacrifices. And they made vows. They made vows unto the Lord. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, in actuality, this chapter is in the Hebrew text, of course. It ended here in verse 16. In the Hebrew Masoretic text, that is the end of chapter 1. But in the English, of course, it continued with verse 17. And in verse 17, we read: "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." And here we learn another thing about the fact that God is a creator.

God is intervening in the life of all of us. And here he is intervening in the life of his servant Jonah. And just as God, as we read earlier, he sent a great wind into the sea. He created that wind. That there was a mighty storm in the sea. And that the ship was ready to be broken. And until Jonah came to his end and recognized that he was the guilty one. And he told the mariners to cast him into the sea. Then they will be calm. Then we can see the Lord continues to intervene in the life of Jonah. And now that Jonah was ready to perish, to die.

God is preparing a fish to meet Jonah right there in the sea. And so we read now, beloved brothers and sisters, this very interesting verse. Notice that the Lord had prepared. The Hebrew word for prepare is the word Yaman. Vayaman Yehovah dag gadol. And the Lord had prepared a great fish. Notice it doesn't say a whale. It says dag in Hebrew, fish. In fact, God had... Yaman means that he placed in the ocean, placed in the Mediterranean sea, a great fish. Large enough to meet Jonah and to allow Jonah to be swallowed by him. So that Jonah's body can be in the fish's belly for three days and three nights.

As we read here in this passage. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish. Dag gadol, not a whale, but a fish. And it was a fish that was placed by the Lord in the Mediterranean, specifically for Jonah to be swallowed by that fish. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Now, we will speak a little bit about this verse in our next meeting together. Because this verse is very important. In fact, I just want to read one verse in the Gospel of Matthew as we are closing the meeting. In Matthew chapter 12, we do read concerning that Jonah was in the fish's belly.

Let's read what the Lord Jesus the Messiah said in Matthew chapter 12 and verse 39. Jesus, Yeshua said when the scribes in verse 38 and the Pharisees answered and they said to the Lord, to Yeshua, he said, "Master, we would see a sign from thee." But he answered and he said unto them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. And there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonah." "Here is the sign that I will give you," the Lord is saying to the Pharisees and the scribes that came to him. And he said to them, "Notice that there will be no other sign given to you except the sign of the prophet Jonah." And then verse 40, "As Jonah was three days and three nights in the fish's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Jonah, beloved brothers and sisters, being in the fish's belly became a sign to Israel, to our people, a sign of their resurrection.

And as Jonah was in the fish's belly, and by the way, and I think it is in the King James, it says in the whale's belly, but we don't read of whales here in the book of Jonah. It is a fish. "As Jonah was in the fish's belly, so shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights," according to Matthew chapter 12 and verse 40, "by the word of the Lord." By the word of the Lord. And I am repeating this verse and we are going to close with that. "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the fish's belly, so shall the Son of Man," Ben HaAdam, the Messiah himself, "so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." And Jonah being in the fish's belly for three days and three nights became a sign to Israel of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah.

And we will speak about this a little bit more on our next meeting because in our next meeting in the will of the Lord we will deal with the second chapter. But we will include, beloved brothers and sisters, verse 17 because in the Hebrew text, in the Masoretic text, Jonah chapter 2 began with this verse: "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." This is the first verse of chapter 2. And from there on we see Jonah's prayer and the Lord's answer in the remaining portion of the second chapter of the book of Jonah.

And I think we will stop here right now with these beloved brothers and sisters and in the will of the Lord in our next meeting together we will deal with verse 17 and the remaining second chapter. So we will see together what happened to Jonah when he was in the fish's belly. Did he die? Or was he alive in the fish's belly for three days and three nights? Years ago I remember when I was looking at the story of Jonah, I saw a picture of Jonah with a candlelight reading his Bible in the fish's belly. There is all kind of a human opinion of what Jonah did in the fish's belly.

Well, we will speak about it in the will of the Lord in our next meeting together on Jonah 1 verse 17 to Jonah chapter 2 verses 1 to 10. Well, let's pray together so we can close this meeting for today. Our God and our Father thank you for the lesson that you are teaching us through this book of Yonah Hanavi, Jonah the prophet. God bless the word to us all we pray. Thank you for the lessons. Thank you for leading others in spite of the failure of Yonah. You have led others, the sailors to praise thee, to turn to thee and ask thee for help. It is so wonderful to see that in spite of the servant's failures, thou, God, are working in the hearts of many even today.

Bless your word we pray for we ask it in Yeshua's name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, God bless you my dear friend. Until the next time, we want to say to you Shabbat Shalom. Shabbat Shalom. Shalom Shalom. Bye-bye. Shabbat Shalom Shalom Shalom. Bye-bye. Bye-bye.