Jonah יוֹנָה
Prophet swallowed by fish, preached to Nineveh
Biography
Jonah was a prophet from Gath-hepher during the reign of Jeroboam II, king of Israel (2Ki.14.25). God called Jonah to preach against the wickedness of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria (Jon.1.1-2). Jonah fled by ship in the opposite direction to Tarshish (Jon.1.3). A storm arose and the sailors, discovering it was Jonah's fault, threw him overboard (Jon.1.4-15). God provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and he was in its belly for three days and nights (Jon.1.17). Jonah prayed, and the fish vomited him onto dry land (Jon.2.1-10). God again told Jonah to preach to Nineveh (Jon.3.1-2). Jonah obeyed, and the people repented (Jon.3.3-9). God relented of the disaster he had threatened (Jon.3.10). Jonah was angry that God spared the city (Jon.4.1-3). God caused a plant to shade Jonah, then made it wither (Jon.4.5-8). God used this to rebuke Jonah's lack of pity for Nineveh (Jon.4.9-11). Jesus compared his future burial and resurrection to Jonah's time in the fish (Mat.12.39-41, 16:4; Luk.11.29-32).
Family
In Scripture
4 biblical books ; 2 with study content2 Kings 1 verse
- 2 Kings 14:25
"He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of the Arabah, according to Yahweh, the God of Israel’s word, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath Hepher."
Jonah 5 verses
- Jonah 1:1
"Now Yahweh’s word came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,"
- Jonah 1:3
"But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh."
- Jonah 1:5
"Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down, and was fast asleep."
- Jonah 1:7
"They all said to each other, “Come! Let’s cast lots, that we may know who is responsible for this evil that is on us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah."
- Jonah 1:15
"So they took up Jonah, and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging."
Matthew 4 verses
- Matthew 12:39
"But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet."
Study Matthew → - Matthew 12:40
"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth."
Study Matthew → - Matthew 12:41
"The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here."
Study Matthew → - Matthew 16:4
"An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” He left them, and departed."
Study Matthew →
Luke 3 verses
- Luke 11:29
"When the multitudes were gathering together to him, he began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks after a sign. No sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah, the prophet."
Study Luke → - Luke 11:30
"For even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so the Son of Man will also be to this generation."
Study Luke → - Luke 11:32
"The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, one greater than Jonah is here."
Study Luke →
Names & Aliases
| Form | Language | Script | Strong's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Named | Hebrew | יוֹנָה | H3124 |
| Greek | Greek | Ἰωνᾶς | G2495H |
Jonah
f Israel to its ancient boundaries through the efforts of Jeroboam II. The prophet lived and labored either in the early part of the reign of Jeroboam (790-750 BC), or during the preceding generation. He may with great probability be placed at 800-780 BC. His early ministry must have made him popular in Israel; for he prophesied of victory and expansion of territory. His native village of Gath-hepher was located in the territory of Zebulun (Jos 19:13).
(2) According to the book bearing his name, Jonah the son of Amittai received a command to preach to Nineveh; but he fled in the opposite direction to escape from the task of proclaiming Yahweh's message to the great heathen city; was arrested by a storm, and at his own request was hurled into the sea, where he was swallowed by a great fish, remaining alive in the belly of the fish for three days. When on his release from the body of the fish the command to go to Nineveh was renewed, Jonah obeyed and announced the overthrow of the wicked city. When the men of Nineveh repented at the preaching of the prophet, God repented of the evil He had threatened to bring upon them. Jonah was grieved that the oppressing city should be spared, and waited in the vicinity to see what would be the final outcome. An intense patriot, Jonah wished for the destruction of the people that threatened to swallow up Israel. He thought that Yahweh was too merciful to the heathen oppressors. By the lesson of the gourd he was taught the value of the heathen in the sight of Yahweh.
It is the fashion now in scholarly circles to treat the Book of Jonah as fiction. The story is said to be an allegory or a parable or a symbolic narrative. Why then did the author fasten upon a true and worthy prophet of Yahweh the stigma of rebellion and narrowness? On theory that the narrative is an allegory, J. Kennedy well says that "the man who wrote it was guilty of a gratuitous insult to the memory of a prophet, and could not have been inspired by the prophet's Master thus to dishonor a faithful servant."
(3) our Lord referred on two different occasions to the sign of Jonah the prophet (Mt 12:38-41; Lu 11:29-32; Mt 16:4). He speaks of Jonah's experience in the belly of the fish as parallel with His own approaching entombment for three days, and cites the repentance of the Ninevites as a rebuke to the unbelieving men of his own generation. Our Lord thus speaks both of the physical miracle of the preservation of Jonah in the body of the fish and of the moral miracle of the repentance of the Ninevites, and without the slightest hint that He regarded the story as an allegory.
John Richard Sampey
This little roll of four short chapters has given rise to almost as much discussion and difference of opinion as the first four chapters of Genesis. It would be presumptuous to think that one could, in a br