Jonah

Jonah son of Amittai, from Gath-hepher in Galilee, previously prophesied Israel's territorial expansion under Jeroboam II (2 Kings 14:25), establishing him as eighth-century contemporary of Amos and Hosea. When commissioned to preach repentance to Nineveh—capital of Assyria, Israel's brutal enemy—Jonah's response was immediate flight in the opposite direction toward Tarshish (possibly Spain), attempting to flee from the LORD's presence.

God pursued His reluctant prophet through a violent storm that threatened the ship, Jonah's confession and self-sacrifice, and the sailors' terrified obedience in casting him overboard. The LORD prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, preserving him three days and nights in its belly while he prayed from 'the belly of hell,' acknowledging that 'salvation is of the LORD.' Vomited onto dry land, Jonah obeyed his renewed commission, preaching Nineveh's overthrow in forty days.

The city's response—from king to cattle, all fasting in sackcloth and ashes—demonstrated repentance on an unprecedented scale, causing God to relent from promised judgment. Jonah's anger at divine mercy reveals his true motivation for fleeing: not fear, but knowledge that God's compassion would extend even to Israel's oppressors. His complaint—'I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness'—quotes the very character of God that should have brought him joy.

God's lesson through a gourd, which Jonah mourned when it withered, taught that if Jonah could pity a plant, how much more should God pity Nineveh's 120,000 people 'that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle.' Christ authenticated Jonah's account, citing his three-day entombment as a sign prefiguring His own burial and resurrection.Skeptics question the fish account, yet Christ's explicit reference validates its historicity (Matthew 12:40). The Hebrew word (dag gadol) simply means 'great fish,' not necessarily a whale. Mediterranean sperm whales and great white sharks could accommodate a man. Jonah's prayer from the fish's belly quotes and alludes to multiple Psalms, suggesting he knew Scripture intimately. The book's message extends beyond individual obedience to demonstrate God's universal compassion—Gentiles (sailors and Ninevites) respond better than God's prophet. Nineveh's repentance proved temporary; within a century, Nahum prophesied its final destruction, fulfilled in 612 BC.