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JONAH (Person)
Prophet of Israel; Amittai’s son (Jon 1:1) of the Zebulunite city of Gath-hepher (2 Kgs 14:25). The historian who wrote 2 Kings recorded that Jonah had a major prophetic role in the reign of King Jeroboam II (793–753 BC). Jonah had conveyed a message encouraging expansion to the king of Israel, whose reign was marked by prosperity, expansion, and unfortunately, moral decline.
In the midst of all the political corruption of Israel, Jonah remained a zealous patriot. His reluctance to go to Nineveh probably stemmed partially from his knowledge that the Assyrians would be used as God’s instrument for punishing Israel. The prophet, who had been sent to Jeroboam to assure him that his kingdom would prosper, was the same prophet God chose to send to Nineveh to forestall that city’s (and thus that nation’s) destruction until Assyria could be used to punish Israel in 722 BC. It is no wonder that the prophet reacted emotionally to his commission.
No other prophet was so strongly Jewish (cf. his classic confession, Jon 1:9), yet no other prophet’s ministry was so strongly directed to a non-Jewish nation. Jonah’s writing is also unusual among the prophets. The book is primarily historical narrative. His actual preaching is recorded in only five words in the Hebrew—eight words in most English translations (Jon 3:4b).
See also Israel, History of; Jeroboam #2; Jonah, Book of; Prophet, Prophetess.