The book of Jonah is a Prophetic oracle. It can also be classified as narrative history. This book is believed to have been written by Jonah around 785-760 B.C just before Israel was conquered by the Assyria (Spier, 2015). Some of the key personalities in this book include Jonah, the people of Nineveh, the ship’s captain and crew.
The main purpose of this book is to demonstrate God’s mercy and grace to mankind. The people of Nineveh were wicked and deserved God’s wrath (Spier, 2015). However, God was patient and tolerant with them. Jonah, a reluctant prophet, had initially run away when he received God’s call to send a repentance message to the individuals living in Nineveh.
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In Chapter one of this book, God issued a directive to Jonah to head to Nineveh and deliver a repentance message to the individuals. However, Jonah disobeyed God, boarded a ship and left for Tarshish (Muraoka, 2012). The sailors of the ship raised concerns because of a great storm which was brewing and making the sailing difficult. Jonah explained that it was God who was bringing judgment upon him because of his disobedience. The sailors threw him into the sea where Jonah was swallowed by a big fish.
In Chapter two and three, after Jonah was coughed up by the fish, three days later, he decided to obey God and went to preach the repentance message to the individuals living in Nineveh as he was directed by God. The sinful city of Nineveh repented and started obeying god’s commandments (Muraoka, 2012).
In Chapter four, God teaches Jonah about compassion and love. The repentance of Nineveh was, however, short-lived as it was destroyed in 612B.C.
There are many important Christian lessons that can be learned from this book. Perhaps the most significant one is the importance of obeying God’s call. Another significant lesson is the merciful nature of God and His compassion demonstrated by his willingness to forgive sins whenever they are repented.
The book of Jonah just like other religious texts demonstrates the significance of God’s mercy to mankind (Spier, 2015). The similarity in concept is quite evident with other religious texts which have also demonstrated God’s grace. However, there exist some notable differences with the other religious texts. For example, the disobedience of Jonah to God’s calling is quite different from other texts where we have seen men called by God demonstrate total obedience and submission to God’s calling.
References
Spier, P. E. (2015). The book of Jonah . Doubleday Books for Young Readers.
Muraoka, T. (2012). A case of diglossia in the book of Jonah? Vetus Testamentum , 62 (1), 129-131.
