The Book Of Jonah

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

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

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.

Jonah was a faithful servant of God, living among his own people and sharing God’s words for them. Then God suddenly asks him to do something that was a little outside the norm.

God’s angel says that his descendants will follow God and bless all nations. Jesus is born, God’s love starts to affect us. It shows Abraham's faith to us, and that God loves everyone. Jonah Lord People of Nineveh The book of Jonah God tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah ran away from God, God sends a large storm, sailors threw Jonah at the sea, Jonah got eaten by a Giant fish, Jonah gets thrown up, Jonah goes to Nineveh and tells them to stop being wicked and they do.

God called Jonah to “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and cry aginst it; for their wickedness is come up before me.” (Jon 1:2) Jonah fled Gods calling to Tarshish. During his escape a great storm came upon the boat that he was on. So the crew cast him into the sea where “the lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” In Matthew 12:40 Jesus refrences this as “Jonah being in a whales belly for three days.” While in the belly of the fish Jonah prayed to God to let him out. “the Lord spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land”.(Jon 2:10) Jonah then went to Ninevah “and cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”( Jon 3:4). Ninevah repented and turned back to God and he showed mercy. Jonah was still angry because God showed this savage nation mercy. God then explained to Jonah that everyone needs mercy even your greatest

Those that lived in the East believed the story of Jonah but didn’t believe that Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead. One major thing that they could never see their God do was “ allow His prophet to undergo such humiliation” (The Importance of the Book of Jonah).Those that lived in the West disagreed that Jonah was swallowed by a fish and spit back out in three days. “ If miracles cannot take place then the story of Jonah must be false” ( The importance of the book of Jonah). However both cities are incorrect because the two situations cannot coincide without each other.

Later in Jonah 3:4 it would seem that Jonah was delivering a message he would have gleefully delivered.

Jonah and the Whale The “Jonah and the Whale” bible reference is Jonah 1-4. While Jonah was praying, God ordered Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh to tell them about God as they did not follow the teachings of God, were enemies of Israel and were evil. If Jonah had not told Nineveh about the teachings of God, the city would be destroyed in 40 days. When Jonah heard this, he was scared, so he disregarded God’s order and tried to escape Nineveh by boat.

6-7 then part of this message of grace must be the sovereignty of God. Jonah thinks that God should show him grace because he is a Hebrew (as is made most evident in chapter 2). God think Nineveh should not receive grace because

However, he felt that if he sacrificed his life, Assyria would be destroyed and his nation, Israel, would be spared. Jonah’s motive in disobeying God was not rebellion. Jonah disobeyed God in order to offer himself as a sacrifice for his entire nation. Jonah’s attitude was one of willing self-sacrifice for the good of others. In this he signified the attitude of Jesus

16 At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. 17 Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

The Book of Jonah tells the story of a prophet who did not want to carry out God’s will. The Lord had instructed Jonah to warn the town of Nineveh that their wickedness had enraged Him. Instead of responding obediently, Jonah ran away from his responsibilities and got on a ship headed to Tarshish. “He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD.” The struggle Jonah went through when completing his task prefigures the apprehensions Jesus had concerning his sacrificial death. When Jesus was to be crucified, he went to the Garden of Gethsemane admitting his worries about his future. “Abba, Father,” he said, “Everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” This event in Jesus’s life shows he has uncertainties when carrying out God’s requests. These doubts are like those of the earlier prophet. In both cases, the two men put their trust in God and were

Jonah is one of the books of the minor prophets in the Old Testament. The main character Jonah was called by God to prophesy against wickedness in the great city of Nineveh. The themes are obedience, compassion, love, mercy, and salvation. Jonah refused God’s calling, boarding a ship to Tarshish in an attempt to flee from the presence of God. A fierce storm tossed the ship causing Jonah to be thrown overboard. Jonah was swallowed by a great fish where he cried unto the Lord. Graciously, God heard his cry and delivered him. When Jonah spent three days and nights in the belly of the fish, he served as a symbol of Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Jonah quickly obeyed God by prophesying to Nineveh. Although the city’s inhabitants

In addition, the city of Nineveh is described in Nahum as “bloody, full of deceit, and full of plunder” (Bolin 117). The Ninevites’ actions therefore justified Jonah’s decision to disobey God’s command because of how ruthless they were. The nature of the great city disgusted Jonah and made him believe that the Ninevites were not worthy of God’s forgiveness. Although Jonah’s intuition to ignore God’s command seems admissible, we later learn that it is not up to Jonah to determine the Ninevites’ fate.