“Then they said
To Jonah.
‘Tell us!
Why has this calamity
Come upon us?
What is your occupation?
Where do you come from?
What is your country?
Of what people are you?’”
Now that Jonah had been chosen by lot, the other sailors began to question him. They wanted to know where this storm came from. They wanted to know why this calamity had come upon them. Then they began to ask Jonah personal questions. They wanted to know his occupation, what country he was from, and what was his nationality.
“Your country lies desolate.
Your cities are burned
With fire.
In your very presence
Aliens devour your land.
It is desolate.
It is overthrown by foreigners.”
Now we have the question as to what country is Yahweh, via Isaiah talking about. Is it Jerusalem and Judah, or the northern kingdom of Israel? In 721 BCE, the Assyrians took over the Kingdom of Israel at Samaria, as outlined in 2 Kings, chapter 17. However, Isaiah was considered a prophet of Judah. Was he implying that the Assyrians were attacking Judah about 10 years later, as in 2 Kings, chapter 18? In chapter 19, King Hezekiah consulted with this prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. That would put his oracle sometime between 721 BCE and 710 BCE. There was no doubt that the country was desolate. The cities had been burned down. Aliens were in this desolate land because these foreigners had taken over. This certainly sounds like the defeated northern kingdom of Israel that had been at Samaria.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 