1 Name and family The name Jonah (Heb., Yonah) means “dove.” According to Kings 14:25, he was the son of Amittai,1 and his hometown was Gath-hepher This tillage was located about three miles northeast of Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown.2 Recall that the great prophet Jeremiah was also from a small, little-known town, Anathoth (Jer 1:1) Ministry as a prophet Jonah probably had the same general quali cations for the o ce of prophet as the other prophets had Most of his character traits, revealed in the narrative of his book, are not commendable (e.g., disobedience and pouting) The story of Jonah’s service to God underscores God’s patience and willingness to work through men despite their frailties The main purpose of the book of Jonah is to show God’s gracious dealings with the heathen Gentile city of Nineveh God chose Jonah to be His channel of communication to them Jonah’s contemporaries Chart 98 shows Jonah and some of his contemporaries Note the following on the chart: a) Elisha was Jonah’s predecessor In fact, Jonah may have been one of Elisha’s disciples, learning much from this “man of God.” Read Kings 13:14-20 for the account of Elisha’s death Amos and Hosea were Jonah’s successors b) Even though the book of Jonah is about the prophet’s ministry to the foreign city of Nineveh, Jonah was primarily a prophet of Israel to Israel However, God did not choose to record in Scripture any details of his homeland ministry beyond what we learn from a passage in Kings (see below) c) Jeroboam II, the most powerful king of Israel, reigned during all of Jonah’s public ministry Read Kings 14:23-29 for a summary of Jeroboam’s evil reign Note the reference to Jonah’s prophecy that Jeroboam would regain Israel’s northern boundaries from Syria “God gave Israel a last chance of repentance [14:26-27], seeing whether prosperity would accomplish what a iction had not.”3 When we study Amos and Hosea we will see that Israel chose not to return to God d) In a way, Jonah was an intermediary between the Jewish world and the Gentile world Assyria was Israel’s main military threat during Jonah’s ministry, although the worst threat was yet to come ( fty years later) Spiritually, Assyria was as idolatrous as Israel In light of this information, why would Jonah not want to preach the message of repentance to the Assyrian Ninevites? e) Only God knows what the relationship between Assyria and Israel would have been after Jonah’s preaching to Nineveh (chap 3) if Israel herself were right with God f) Note that Israel fell to Assyria only about fty years after the close of Jonah’s ministry Do you think Jonah might have had foreknowledge of this imminent captivity? ... been one of Elisha’s disciples, learning much from this “man of God.” Read Kings 13:14-20 for the account of Elisha’s death Amos and Hosea were Jonah’s successors b) Even though the book of Jonah...Jonah to be His channel of communication to them Jonah’s contemporaries Chart 98 shows Jonah and some of his contemporaries Note the following on the chart: a) Elisha was Jonah’s predecessor... Jonah is about the prophet’s ministry to the foreign city of Nineveh, Jonah was primarily a prophet of Israel to Israel However, God did not choose to record in Scripture any details of his homeland