Who wrote Jonah, and when?
Unnamed; the story is about Jonah son of Amittai. Jonah lived in the 700s BC; the book was written then or later.
The book does not name its author, and it is written about Jonah rather than by him, in the third person. Jonah son of Amittai was a real prophet from Gath-hepher in Galilee who served in the northern kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam II, in the first half of the 700s BC (see 2 Kings 14:25). Tradition has often assumed Jonah wrote his own story. Many scholars think the book was written later, some after the exile, pointing to its language and its reflective tone about Israel's attitude to foreigners. Christians also differ on whether it records history or is a parable built around a historical figure; Jesus referred to Jonah's three days in the fish and to Nineveh's repentance (see Matthew 12:39-41).
Who was Jonah written to?
Israel, tempted to keep God’s compassion for itself and resent his mercy to outsiders.
Jonah was written for Israel, God's own people, at a time when they were tempted to keep his compassion for themselves. Assyria was the cruellest empire they knew, and Nineveh was its great city. Israelites would have found the idea of God sparing Nineveh offensive, and they would have felt the sting when a pagan crew and a pagan city respond to God faster than his own prophet. Whether the first readers lived in Jonah's day or after the exile, they needed to face the question the book ends with: does God have the right to pity people we consider enemies? Readers today, who find it easy to want mercy for themselves and judgment for others, are the same audience.
What was happening at the time?
Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, the cruel empire that would destroy Israel. God sends Jonah there, and Jonah sails the other way. A storm, a great fish, a reluctant sermon and a citywide repentance follow. The book ends with Jonah sulking under a withered plant while God asks whether he should not pity a great city.
Why was Jonah written?
To confront Israel’s narrowness with God’s compassion for all peoples, even its enemies.
Jonah is a story with a question at the end rather than a sermon with a conclusion. It shows a prophet who knows God is gracious and slow to anger and resents it, because he wants that grace kept for Israel. Through a storm, a fish, a reluctant sermon and a withered plant, God teaches Jonah, and the reader, that his compassion reaches every people, even Nineveh. The book wants readers to stop running from God's calling, to repent as readily as the sailors and the Ninevites did, and to examine their own prejudices. In the wider story of the Bible, it anticipates the gospel going to the nations, and Jesus used Jonah as a sign of his own death and resurrection.
How to read Jonah today
Read the whole book in one sitting; it takes about ten minutes. Watch the contrasts: the pagan sailors pray while the prophet sleeps, and the wicked city repents at once while the prophet sulks. Notice that the fish is a rescue rather than a punishment, and that chapter 2 is a psalm of thanks from inside it. Do not get stuck on the fish; the book spends far more words on Jonah's heart than on the sea creature. Pay attention to chapter 4, where the real argument happens, and let the final question land on you. As you read, pray for people or groups you find hard to love, and ask God to give you his pity for them.
The key verse in Jonah
So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
Passages worth knowing in Jonah
- Jonah 1
Jonah flees
Pagan sailors fear the LORD more than his prophet does.
- Jonah 2
Prayer from the fish
Salvation is of the LORD; Jesus points to the sign of Jonah.
- Jonah 3
Nineveh repents
The greatest revival in the Bible, in a pagan city.
- Jonah 4
Jonah’s anger and the plant
Should I not pity Nineveh? The unanswered question.
The main themes of Jonah
- God’s compassion for the nations
- Running from God
- Repentance
- Prejudice
- God’s sovereignty over creation
An outline of Jonah
| Section | Chapters |
|---|---|
| Jonah runs | 1–2 |
| Jonah preaches | 3–4 |