Bible Dictionary
Jonah, Book of
The Book of Jonah records the prophet’s commission to Nineveh, his flight, miraculous preservation, preaching, and the city’s repentance. It also records Jonah’s struggle with God’s mercy, and is treated in the New Testament as a historical sign pointing to Christ’s burial and resurrection.
Definition
The Book of Jonah presents the prophet’s commission to preach against Nineveh, his flight, punishment, prayer, miraculous deliverance, renewed obedience, and the repentance of the Ninevites. It concludes with Jonah’s displeasure over God’s mercy and God’s rebuke of the prophet. The book presents these events as an actual history, not merely as a parable or allegory.
Biblical Usage
The Lord Jesus referred to Jonah and his experience in connection with the sign given to His generation. The book therefore has recognized significance in the New Testament as a historical account used by Christ.
Historical Background
Nineveh was spared after Jonah’s preaching for more than a century. The book is commonly regarded as having been written by Jonah himself.
Scripture References
Related Figures
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
This book professes to give an account of what actually took place in the experience of the prophet. Some critics have sought to interpret the book as a parable or allegory, and not as a history. They have done so for various reasons. Thus (1) some reject it on the ground that the miraculous element enters so largely into it, and that it is not prophetical but narrative in its form; (2) others, denying the possibility of miracles altogether, hold that therefore it cannot be true history. Jonah and his story is referred to by our Lord (Matt. 12:39, 40; Luke 11:29), a fact to which the greatest weight must be attached. It is impossible to interpret this reference on any other theory. This one argument is of sufficient importance to settle the whole question. No theories devised for the purpose of getting rid of difficulties can stand against such a proof that the book is a veritable history. There is every reason to believe that this book was written by Jonah himself. It gives an account of (1) his divine commission to go to Nineveh, his disobedience, and the punishment following (1:1-17); (2) his prayer and miraculous deliverance (1:17-2:10); (3) the second commission given to him, and his prompt obedience in delivering the message from God, and its results in the repentance of the Ninevites, and God’s long-sparing mercy toward them (ch. 3); (4) Jonah’s displeasure at God’s merciful decision, and the rebuke tendered to the impatient prophet (ch. 4). Nineveh was spared after Jonah’s mission for more than a century. The history of Jonah may well be regarded “as a part of that great onward movement which was before the Law and under the Law; which gained strength and volume as the fulness of the times drew near.”, Perowne’s Jonah.