THE BOOK OF
JONAH
Jonah is well-known and loved for the amazing and ironic events it recounts. Although Jonah is the main character, the book’s main purpose is not to teach us about him but to teach us about God. Through Jonah’s experience, God, the all-powerful Creator, reveals that though he is a God who will pour out his wrath on the wicked, he is also one who eagerly pours out his mercy on those who repent—including those we would too quickly deem to be beyond mercy.
Jonah was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel during the politically prosperous but spiritually dark reign of Jeroboam II (793–753 BC). Despite Jeroboam’s spiritual failures (see 2 Kgs 14:23-24), God allowed him to continue the expansion of territory begun under his father, King Jehoash. This expansion, predicted by God through Jonah (2 Kgs 14:25, 28), eventually brought Israel’s territory back to approximately what it had been in the glory days of David and Solomon (see 1 Kgs 8:65). When Jonah prophesied, nationalistic zeal was running high.
The book of Jonah records the prophet’s visit to Nineveh, a key city in the Assyrian empire. Assyria’s power had swelled in previous decades. During that time, Shalmaneser III of Assyria (858–824 BC) extended the influence of the empire well into Palestine. Assyrian annals from that period record Shalmaneser confronting the Israelite king Ahab (1 Kgs 17:1–22:53), among others, at the famous battle of Qarqar (853 BC). But during the reigns of Jehoash (798–782 BC) and Jeroboam II (793–753 BC) in Israel, Assyria’s dominance in the region waned because of failed leadership and continued resistance on the frontiers. Jonah preached in Nineveh when the Assyrian empire was at this low point, probably around 755 BC.
Some years following Jonah’s visit to Nineveh, Assyria began reasserting itself throughout the Near East during the reign of Tiglath-pileser III (744–727 BC). In 722 BC, a few decades after Jonah, Assyria sacked Samaria and brought the northern kingdom of Israel to an end. A century later, the prophet Nahum of Judah announced the imminent destruction of Nineveh and the Assyrian empire for its pervasive wickedness. Nineveh was destroyed by the Babylonians in 612 BC. The repentance brought about through Jonah’s preaching evidently took no lasting root.
The book of Jonah falls naturally into two parts. Jon 1–2 recount Jonah’s initial rejection of the Lord’s commission to warn Nineveh of the judgment it had incurred because of its wickedness. Instead of heading for Nineveh, Jonah set out by ship in the opposite direction (Jon 1:3). The Lord sent a raging storm to chasten the prophet. After a frantic attempt by the pagan sailors to appease whatever god had been offended, Jonah was “discovered” and was cast overboard. God showed his power by calming the storm, and in a twist of irony, the pagan sailors worshiped God while his prophet presumably plunged to a shameful death. But God had other plans and showed his power to save Jonah. Jonah was swallowed by a “great fish,” within which he apparently repented (Jon 2). After three days and nights, the fish spit Jonah out onto dry land.
In Jon 3–4, God renews his commission of the prophet to preach to Nineveh. This time Jonah obeys, leading to yet another irony. Nineveh repented en masse upon hearing Jonah’s warnings (Jon 3), and God refrained from executing the judgment that Jonah had warned was coming (Jon 3:10). Jonah, not able to accept God’s outpouring of mercy toward Israel’s pagan enemies, moved from selfish anger to suicidal despair (Jon 4). God once more deployed his power over nature to chasten Jonah, this time through the rapid growth and demise of a plant that shaded the pouting prophet from the sun. The book ends rather abruptly, leaving Jonah and the reader pondering God’s final question to the prophet: Should God (and his people) not desire sinners to receive God’s mercy rather than his wrath?
The book of Jonah does not identify its author. The title derives from the name of the main character. Jonah may have written the book, though whether he wrote it or not does not affect its integrity as Scripture. If someone other than Jonah wrote the book, it was probably a prophetic associate of his.
Unlike other prophetic books, Jonah is almost entirely narrative rather than a collection of prophetic messages. But is it a historical narrative? Many have insisted that the book is fictional because it describes miraculous events, and diverse attempts have been made to classify the book according to some non-historical literary genre, the most popular choices being parable and “didactic story.” Although the author of Jonah did utilize certain literary devices to make his point (the use of poetry, irony, and language common to parables is clear), the book presents itself as a historical account (see Jon 1:1), and it is best understood as a historical narrative whose purpose includes communicating the theological and moral significance of the events that occurred.
Jonah is unique among the prophetic books. It narrates God’s sending of a prophet to Assyria, an enemy of Israel, and the widespread repentance that resulted. The lesson Jonah learned was evidently one that the entire nation of Israel needed. That lesson may be summed up in the last line of Jonah’s psalm-prayer, “my salvation comes from the LORD alone” (Jon 2:9, literally salvation belongs to the LORD). Salvation is the Lord’s to give to whomever he pleases, and those who have received God’s mercy must not try to restrict the flow of God’s mercy to others, even their enemies (see Jon 4).
Salvation, then, whether from the threat of physical harm or from judgment, is directly related to God’s sovereignty. The sailors were saved after God calmed the storm. Jonah was saved from drowning when God sent the fish to swallow him. There is no domain, even in the depths of the ocean, from which God cannot deliver and protect human life. Likewise, there is no nation that God cannot judge (Jon 3:4, 9) or save from judgment (Jon 3:10; see Jer 18:7-10).
The book of Jonah reveals that even in the OT God was eager to bring salvation beyond the borders of Israel. Israel was his covenant people, and from the beginning his desire was to bless the nations through Israel (see Gen 12:3). Jonah fled because he was well aware of God’s desire to see wicked Gentiles repent and be saved from judgment (Jon 4:2; cp. Exod 34:6-7). Jonah did not have God’s heart for the nations, or he would have eagerly desired that they turn from idols to know the God of heaven, who created the world (Jon 1:9; see 2 Pet 3:9).