The Book of Jonah

The book of Jonah is different than the other prophetic books. Jonah is unique among the Minor Prophets in that it is a narrative and it incorporates a psalm (Clarkee 208). This book is in the second section of the Hebrew Old Testament, numbered fifth in the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. This book is a story about a prophet, instead of a book of prophecy. In The Anchor Bible Dictionary, it states that the story about Jonah is one of the most familiar and popular in the Bible, yet it contains many puzzles. It is difficult to classify and to date. Its precise message is hard to determine.

This book starts off with the Lord commanding Jonah to go to the great city, Nineveh because "its wickedness has come up before me," says the Lord. Jonah responds to this by running away from the Lord. He goes down to Joppa, where he finds a ship that is on its way toTarshish, which is far away and in the opposite direction of Nineveh, pays his fare, and boards the ship. In response to this, the Lord sent a great wind on the sea and a violent storm arose which threatened the ship to break. The sailors had become terrified and started throwing cargo into the water to lighten the ship. Meanwhile, Jonah is completely unaware of this because he is below the deck fast asleep. The captain of the ship then comes down and asks him, "How can you sleep? Get up and call to your God! Maybe he will take notice of us and we will not perish". Then the sailors decide to cast lots to see who is responsible for this great misfortune. The lot falls on Jonah. At this, the sailors became terrified because Jonah reveals who he is and who the God is that he worships. Jonah says, "I am Hebrew. I worship the Lord, the God of Heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.