Perhaps Jonah thought that if he were dead then God would stop punishing the ones around him. The text itself presents the story as if it is a factual account. Thanks, it will be appreciated!! To what people do you belong? But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. I am from Africa Country called Zambia. The king of Nineveh arose from his throne, and laid aside his royal robes, and covered himself with sack-cloth and sat in ashes, as a sign of his sorrow. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. The only reason to suppose the story of Jonah is not true is because of the miraculous events it contains. At this the men greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to him. glory be to GOD for the work you are doing for it’s not in vain our good GOD will definitely reward you. God chastises him for his attitude, and the book affirms that God’s mercy extends even to the inhabitants of a hated foreign city. Written by the Prophet Jonah, son of Amittai, around 785-760 B.C., the book of Jonah is different from the other prophetic books of the Bible. Salvation comes from the Lord." Let us cast lots and find who it is.". All Rights Reserved. Thus the prophet Jonah, like the Jews of the day, abhors even the idea of salvation for the Gentiles. It also constitutes a large portion of the Christian Bible. From what country do you come? Because of their repentance God did not destroy them. At once the storm ceased, and the waves became still. man of God …. This lineage identifies him with the Jonah mentioned in II Kings 14:25 who prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II, about 785 bc. A “great fish,” appointed by God, swallows Jonah, and he stays within the fish’s maw for three days and nights. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. So Jonah tried to go away from the city where God had sent him. But the storm continued to rage around the ship; and they said: "There is some man on this ship who has brought upon us this trouble. Instead, God told Jonah to evangelize in the city of Nineveh, home of Israel's cruelest enemy. A brief treatment of the Hebrew Bible follows. And Jonah went out of the city, and built a little hut on the east side of it, and sat under its roof, to see whether God would keep the word that he had spoken. Chapter nine of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is a sermon and hymn about Jonah. When God called Jonah to go and warn the violent and godless Ninevites of their impending doom, all his pride in being a Hebrew—and therefore uniquely favored by the Almighty (so he thought, no doubt along with many others of his nation)—rose up in rebellion. As the story is related in the Book of Jonah, the prophet Jonah is called by God to go to Nineveh (a great Assyrian city) and prophesy disaster because of the city’s excessive wickedness. And he walked through the city all day crying out only this: And the people of Nineveh believed the word of the Lord as spoken by Jonah. Jonah was the son of Amittai, who came from Gath-hepher in Zebulun (called Gittah-hepher in Joshua 19:10-13). The sailors agreed to throw him into the sea.eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'whatchristianswanttoknow_com-medrectangle-4','ezslot_1',116,'0','0'])); As soon as Jonah was tossed into the water the storm broke and everything was calm. I’m really glad you were beessld by this message. Jonah was in the whale’s belly for 3 days and 3 nights. Like the Book of Ruth, which was written at about the same period, it opposes the narrow Jewish nationalism characteristic of the period following the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah with their emphasis on Jewish exclusivity.