Jonah

Introduction to Jonah

Jonah himself was most likely the author of this book, writing it towards the end of his life. If this is the case, then Jonah would be writing in the third person, just as Moses did (see comments on Exodus 6:26-27). If Jonah did write it, then he must have understood God’s rhetorical question at the end of the book, which summarizes the entire book, “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” (Jonah 4:11)

Date

Jonah is mentioned only once in the OT in the book of 2 Kings (2 Kings 14:25). There we learn that Jonah is from Gath-Hepher (in Zebulan) and that he was likely a contemporary of Jeroboam II (782-753 BC). Therefore, Jonah might fit into the period between the reigns of Adad-Nirari II (810-783 BC) and Tiglath-Pileser II (745 BC). So, we might date the book somewhere between 800 and 750 BC.

The Assyrians

The Assyrians were a particularly wicked people, and God called Jonah to preach judgment against these people in their own country! This would be like Gandalf asking Frodo to criticize Sauron’s foreign policy in Mordor! This must have scared Jonah to death. Jonah only mentions the violence of Nineveh once (3:8), but Nahum explains that the Ninevites plotted evil against the Lord (Nah. 1:11), committed continual cruelty (Nah. 2:13; 3:1; 19), committed prostitution and witchcraft (Nah. 3:4), and engaged in commercial exploitation (Nah. 3:16).

We have drawings of Assyrians holding the severed heads of the nations that they conquered. OT scholar and archaeologist James Hoffmeier writes,

The size of the Assyrian army is reported to have been just over 70,000 in Tiglath-Pileser’s day, and over 200,000 during Sennacherib’s reign (705-681 BC), if their figures are reliable.

This area represents the largest empire in the ancient Near East up to this time.

As battles rage, the brutality of the Assyrians is on display. Soldiers are shown beheading enemy troops, while others hold up the decapitated heads of the enemy for all to see. Further victims are impaled—the Assyrian mode of capital punishment. These inhumane practices were designed to intimidate the opposition and shake the confidence of those trying to fend off the Assyrian attack… It was this Assyrian war machine that demolished and deported the Israelites and seriously debilitated Judah in the late eighth and seventh centuries BC.

This is comparable to footage of the Nazi’s during World War 11 or Saddam Hussein’s torture videos. The Assyrians boasted in their evil to intimidate others. It makes sense why Jonah was reluctant to preach forgiveness to these people! When he arrived home after preaching, what would his people think? (“You just allowed Assyria to get off the hook?!”) And yet, God promised to forgive these people if they repented (Jer. 18:7-8).

Themes of Jonah

Jonah shows how even the most depraved people will respond to the words of a prophet. We see this in other portions of Scripture. For instance, Nebuchadnezzar took care of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 39) and Daniel (Dan. 1-4).

Jonah shows that Jonah (Israel) is insensitive to God’s word and will. Here the prophet Jonah serves as a microcosm for the nation of Israel as a whole. By this we do not mean that Jonah is an allegory (see comments on Jonah 1:1). However, Jonah—like Israel—didn’t want to be a light to the Gentiles. He reverses the promises about God’s character (Jon. 4:2-3). The Abrahamic Covenant is at the heart of this story. God wants to bless all the nations through the election of Israel (Ps. 145:9). Ultimately, it is God’s mercy that is so offensive to Jonah.

Jonah is unique because it is the story of a prophet who doesn’t want to follow God. This is a unique book among the prophets, because it is not a collection of prophetic oracles. Instead, it is a story about a prophet’s reluctance to do God’s will. It touches a different nerve than the regular prophetic messages. But notice that God gets the first and last word in the book.