Jonah's Jonah: The Book Of Jonah

3.1. Where is the passage set? Jonah preceded Amos and ministered under Jeroboam II, Israel’s most powerful King (793-753 B.C.; 2 Kings 14:23-25). Assyria was Israel’s great enemy; it conquered Israel in 722 B.C. Nineveh’s repentance must have been short- lived, for it was destroyed in 612 B.C.

In all reality, it most likely written by a third party. Much like the parables that Jesus taught, Jonah was left “incomplete,” if you will. Meaning that we simply do not know how Jonah responds; the Bible left that part out. As if God leaves that part to us to reflect on our own lives and decide how we would act in Jonah’s place. It is written as a prophetic narrative, but the “hero” is portrayed in a negative light. Furthermore, the book of Jonah is sensational literature, meaning it is designed to arouse the imagery in the audience’s mind and use that imagery to produce emotion. The time period is also not very clear. “The actual composition of the book is not datable except within the broadest boundaries (ca. 750b.c.-250b.c.) simply because there are no certain indicators in it of date (Stuart 432). However, it was obviously between the time when Nineveh was a strong power in the known world; and most likely between the time when Assyria had taken Israel into exile. However, it is most plausible that Jonah took place closer to the 750

In the book of Jonah we see the vast amount of tension between both God and Jonah. He is one of the prophets who also believes in tolerance of non-Jews opposite to Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s stress of an unadulterated blood race of Jews under a restrictive Jewish God. Jonah is one of a vast line of important people in the bible who argues with God. As you see in past books of the bible everyone has stood their own against the Lord. Jonah though decides to try and run from God. The Lord called to Jonah and said “Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry against it,” but Jonah flees to Joppa, setting sail on a ship duty-bound for Tarshish, assuming he can evade the Lord. Jonah views the Lord as sort of a indigenous God of restrained power that his hand would not reach as

It is only when Jonah finds himself in the pit of darkness that he prays for God’s deliverance and carries out the mission God has called him to. Even after God’s grace is given to the people of Nineveh, Jonah runs once again to create his own shelter in which God must save him once again and impart reason of His grace onto Jonah.

Jonah was given the task of delivering God’s message of impending judgment to a society that Jonah despised.

John Walton’s The Object Lesson on Jonah 4:5-7 and the Purpose of the Book of Jonah is a very enlightening work of research. In this article, Walton seeks to reveal to us that Jonah chapter four and particularly the object lesson in verses 5-7, holds the key to our understanding of the purpose of the book of Jonah. He highlights Jonah’s anger which is caused by how God responds to Nineveh’s repentance. Walton also reveals to us the significance of the author’s intended purpose for including this incidence in the book. He concludes that the message of Jonah is a theological message. Before reading this article, I must admit that my understanding of Jonah has always been from a missiological perspective. I had never considered the fact that the

Before he went to the island of San Lorenzo, Jonah was floating on a cloud, not really paying attention to too much detail. However, as he met more people on the island things started to click for him, and he was able to make sense out of some of the puzzle that would eventually become his book. Jonah also makes some dumb mistakes, just like humans do. I don't think that his agreeing to become the president of San Lorenzo was a smart move, but at the time all he could think about was marrying Mona, and that in itself was enough motivation for him. "Love is blind" is a very popular saying, and it rings true in most humans, and in this case, Jonah.

But Jonah is not humbled and reverent as Job is. Instead, “Jonah prayed to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster’ (Jonah 4:2). Jonah refuses to simply accept God’s message, and instead challenges God to explain why he even had to go through his journey in the first place.

He spoke about Jonah whom had an assignment from God. Jonah did not want this assignment because he felt like Nineveh did not deserve to be saved. Jonah knew that if he delivered the word of God that God would deliver the Ninevites. Jonah had a hatred for Nineveh because of what Nineveh had done to his people. Jonah did not want God to deliver them.

From Jonah’s perspective, chapter one deals with Jonah’s rejection of God’s plan. Chapter two is about Jonah’s reflection on what’s happened to him as he is sitting in the bottom of a whale trying to figure this out. Chapter three deals with Jonah’s correction as he begins to understand that he needs to change things. In the end, chapter four deals with Jonah’s objection. Jonah gets mad because the people he hated got saved. He just doesn’t get what God is trying to show him.

He spoke of how Jonah was very determined to disobey God. Jonah said, “He would rather die, than do what God told him to do.” Stowell explained that God does not let one get away with that type of thinking. The story of Jonah described how he planned to disobey God and not follow His instructions. Jonah was so committed to not follow

The disciple walked into the room. Maxwell was shocked to see that the man was pale with no color. His clothes were colorless as well. This man’s appearance was indescribable. He also had no words. Maxwell asked, “His name” and he replied with how he did everything opposite of what God told him to do. He went on to say, “I thought I knew better than God” (Maxwell, 2014, p. 94). After his statement he identified himself as Jonah and went on to inform Maxwell that “God always give us a second chance” (Maxwell, 2014, p. 94). Jonah was a witness to that statement. Every task God assigned Jonah, he disobeyed. After all he had done, God gave him a second chance by calling on him to preach to the people of Nineveh. Jonah took a ship to Tarshish, to

2. Background and Introduction: Jonah was instructed by God to go to Nineveh and preach the message of repentance to them.

I think the sunday school lesson is discussing about The lots showed that the troubles came to them because of Jonah. Then the men said to Jonah, “It is your fault that this terrible thing is happening to us. Tell us, what have you done? What is your job? Where do you come from? What is your country? Who are your people?”Jonah said to them, I am a Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the land and the sea. Jonah told the men he was running away from the Lord. The men became very afraid when they learned this. They asked Jonah,What

We often read stories in the Bible without taking the historical context into consideration. As a result, we become unaware of the story’s historical validity. In some cases, stories are used to share a moral concept, or used as a tool to teach a lesson. The Book of Jonah is an example that will be used to determine if this particular story describes an accurate recount of history, or if it teaches the readers a lesson. In the Book of Jonah, Jonah (the prophet) is instructed to go to a pagan city (Nineveh) to preach to the Ninevites, hoping that they will repent for their sins. However, he challenges God and travels to Tarshish instead. Jonah receives consequences for his actions and Nineveh is eventually forgiven by God. Although the