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Profile:
Name: Book of Jonah
Author: unknown, but attributed to the Prophet Jonah
Dating: c. 350 BCE
Book of Jonah:
The book of Jonah, one of the "minor" prophets, presents a satirical series of events
involving the prophet Jonah and apparently for the purpose of offering interpretations
of various other traditional scriptures. Jonah is portrayed as resisting the will of
God, but throughout his efforts to go his own way he suffers from one calamity after
another.
The events described in this book are supposed to have happened during the reign of Jeroboam II (786-746) and when the Assyrians threatened Israel from their captial of Nineveh, the actual text itself was written much later. Most scholars date it to around 350 BCE.
Jonah is ordered by God to go to Nineveh in order to tell the Assyrians that God disapproves of the wicked ways and that they should repent in order to avoid his wrath. Jonah, however, believes that this would be suicide and instead flees. It is at this time that God shows his power by having Jonah swallowed by a "great fish," popularly depicted as a whale. Jonah is in the fish's belly for three days and three nights, after which time he is released and he agrees to do as he is told.
Less well known about the story is the ending, where God explains to Jonah that he does not rain fire and brimstone down on Nineveh because he cares about the humans and other creatures which live there. This is an important departure from the God of Vengeance which typified earlier stories of the Old Testament. For both Jews and Christians, this served to illustrate God's quality of mercy. But Christians have made even greater use of the story, reading the portion about the "great fish" as a foreshadowing of what would happen to Jesus.
Also Known As: none
Alternate Spellings: none
Common Misspellings: none
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