“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy” (Ps. 103:8). Poignantly, succinctly, this is the message of Jonah.
To read this book is to see the world through God's eyes. All men in every land, of every color appear as persons, individual souls, each with an eternal destiny. Each is precious in God's sight, one as precious as the other.
“The book of Jonah,” says W. W. Sloan, “comes closer to New Testament teachings than any other book in the Hebrew Scriptures. Its central theme is that God is interested in all people whatever their nationality or race and expects those who know him to dedicate themselves to sharing that knowledge.”1
Never in history has the Book of Jonah had greater relevance than now. There is tremendous urgency for every Christian to feel and heed this message, to involve himself in the Church's world mission.
The message comes through to us as we watch Jonah—narrow, vindictive, nationalistic, bitterly exclusive—clutching his faith to his bosom while God seeks to get him to share it in His broader purpose of redemption. Jonah, struggling under the divine dealings, reminds us at times of the prodigal's despicable elder brother. And like the forgiving, rejoicing father, the Lord finally entreats Jonah to leave his withered gourd and sun-beaten booth to come and share the joy of the spared city. Again, Jonah reminds us of the unmerciful servant in another of Jesus' parables. We can almost hear the Lord pleading with the prophet: “O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion … even as I had pity on thee?” (Matt. 18:32-33)
The historicity of Jonah's prophecy was not questioned Until quite recently, when incredulous scholars refused to “swallow the whale.” Since then other miraculous factors in the account have also come in for discussion. By some it is looked upon as a myth. Others see it as an allegory of the Exile and mission of Israel based upon Jer. 51:34. Still others look upon it as a parable. But there are good reasons why we accept it as a historical narrative.
The prophet Jonah was without question a historical figure. He was a resident of Gath-hepher, the son of Amittai, and ministered as a true prophet of the Lord in the northern kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam II about 786-746 B.C. (II Kings 14:25). He was, therefore, an early contemporary of Hosea and Amos. What Jonah did after preaching in Nineveh the Bible does not relate. The tradition that he was buried in Nineveh on a site now marked by a mosque lacks historical support.
Jesus speaks of Jonah's three-day experience in the “belly of the whale,” as prefiguring His own experience between His crucifixion and His resurrection. And our Lord seems to regard the repentance of the Ninevites as a historical fact. Jonah, in fact, is the only Old Testament prophet with whom Jesus compared himself and that in respect to His resurrection (Matt. 12: 39-41; Luke 11:29-32).
Jonah's mission to Nineveh with its miraculous features was not unique. It is paralleled by those of Elijah and Elisha to Sidon and Syria (I Kings 17:8-24; 19:15; II Kings 8:7-15). Nor was the perilous voyage of the Apostle Paul to Rome in New Testament times unlike Jonah's in its miraculous implications (Acts 27:1-28:14).
The Book of Jonah is in the form of a straightforward historical narrative and contains no indication that it is to be interpreted otherwise. Both Jews and Christians generally have, until the last century, regarded the book as a factual account.
As Robinson suggests: “It may be urged that the whole force of Jehovah's self-vindication to Jonah demands an actual mission to a heathen city with an actual repentance and ‘sparing’ of it. It is not easy to believe that the challenge, ‘Should not I spare Nineveh?’ was presented to the people of Israel through the inspired writer as a purely hypothetical consideration.”2
Authorship and the dating of the Book of Jonah are uncertain. The book is about Jonah, but not necessarily by him. We have no information as to who made the record. Neither are we told when the story was first written. It would seem probable, however, that the writing occurred before the fall of the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C. or at latest before the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C. It may well be that the book was not put into its present form until after the latter date. This conclusion is sometimes drawn from the fact that the past tense “was” is used in describing Nineveh (3:3).
It would seem that in Jonah's lifetime Assyria (see map 1), of which Nineveh was the capital, was in a period of decline. A succession of three weak kings had lowered its prestige and power in the world. Babylon, in the lower Tigris-Euphrates valley, was again gaining strength and was a threat to be reckoned with. To the northwest, Urartu—ancient Armenia—also threatened Assyrian supremacy. Western dependencies were aware of Assyria's decline, and the success of Damascus and Arpad in resisting the Assyrian monarchs encouraged others. There resulted a succession of calamities that left the empire greatly impoverished.
It appeared to be an appropriate time for the Spirit of God to move upon the capital. The mood of the people was one of uncertainty and insecurity, which provided a ripened harvest. The Lord sought a reaper in the person of Jonah.
The importance of the circumstances is suggested by S. C. Yoder when he writes of fleeing Jonah: “Here was a man running away from an opportunity that comes perhaps once in a lifetime and more rarely yet in the history of a nation, to bring a people to repentance, and now the messenger who was called to represent God in this mission is unwilling to face the issues, whatever they may have been, and assume the responsibility which the opportunity afforded.”3
Outline
I. Jonah Commissioned but Disobeys, 1:1-3
B. Jonah Cast Overboard, 1:15-17
III. Jonah Recommissioned and Obeys, 3:1-10