Book of Jonah
God’s mercy shown to Nineveh through Jonah’s reluctant mission.
About the Book of Jonah
Jonah is unique among the prophetic books — it is not primarily a collection of oracles but a biographical narrative about a prophet who ran away from God. Called to preach repentance to Nineveh, the brutal capital of Assyria (Israel's great enemy), Jonah boards a ship going in the opposite direction. The storm, the lot cast on the sailors, Jonah's voluntary sacrifice, the great fish, and the miraculous delivery to shore are among the most famous events in the entire Bible.
Jonah preaches in Nineveh — the most begrudging sermon in Scripture, just eight words in Hebrew — and the entire city repents from the king down to the cattle. God relents from the judgment He had planned. This ought to be the story's triumphant conclusion. Instead, the book's most surprising chapter is the last: Jonah is angry. He knew all along that God was "gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love" — which is exactly why he ran. He didn't want Nineveh saved.
The book ends with a question left hanging in the air, addressed to Jonah and to every reader: "Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people?" It is one of the most radical theological statements in the Old Testament — God's grace is not limited to Israel. The story Jesus told about a loving father and a prodigal son bears a striking structural resemblance to Jonah. The elder brother, like Jonah, is the real subject of examination.