Jensens survey of the old testament adam 235

B. THE BOOK OF JONAH

1. Author. The traditional view is that
Jonah wrote this book about himself. The
fact that the narrative does not use the rstperson pronoun does not preclude this.
Hebrew authors (e.g., Moses) often wrote
autobiography in the style of third-person
biography.
2. Date. The book was written toward the
end of Jonah’s career, around 770 B.C.

3. Type of writing. The style of Jonah is
biographical narrative, similar to the stories


of Elijah and Elisha (1,2 Kings), whom Jonah
succeeded as prophet.4 Hidden in the
historical account is a predictive, typical
purpose. The main type concerns Jonah and
the whale, which pre gured Christ’s burial
and resurrection (read Matt 12:39-41).
Jonah’s deliverance from the belly of the
whale was also a sign to the Ninevites. What
did it signify, according to Jesus (Luke
11:29-30)?
4. Purposes. Three main purposes of the
book of Jonah are:
a) To teach God’s people their responsibility
to deliver the message of salvation to all
people—Jew and Gentile.5
b) To demonstrate that God honors

repentance for sin, whoever the person
(cf. Jer 18:7-10). Read Romans 1:16;
2:9-10; 3:29; 2 Peter 3:9; Mark 16:15.
c) To show to people of the Christian era


that Christ’s death and resurrection,
prefigured in Jonah’s experience, were
in the divine plan before Christ ever
walked this earth.
5 . The geography of Jonah. Map V shows
the three key geographical points in the
story of Jonah: Jonah’s homeland, Tarshish,
and Nineveh.
a) The homeland—the place where God
commissioned Jonah to go to Nineveh.
This was Israel, north of Judah. Exactly
where Jonah was when the call of 1:2
came, is not known. Shown on the map
are Gath-Hepher, Jonah’s hometown,
and Joppa, where he boarded a ship to
go to Tarshish.
b) Tarshish—the city where Jonah wanted
to flee to, to hide from the Lord’s
presence. It may have been the city of
Tartessus, of southwestern Spain.


c) Nineveh—The earliest reference to
Nineveh in the Bible is at Genesis 10:1112. Read these verses and observe the

references to Rehoboth, Calah, and
Resen. It appears that these three
adjoining cities were part of the Nineveh
district of city-state, and that the whole
area, by virtue of its size, was referred to
as a “great city.” Nineveh was five
hundred miles northeast of the Sea of
Galilee, located on the banks of the
Tigris River.
II. SURVEY OF JONAH
The book of Jonah is one of the easiest
and most interesting books to read in the
Bible. One author says it is the most
beautiful story ever written in so small a
compass.
A. A SURVEY READING