The biblical book of Jonah remains one of the most distinguished pieces of literature in the Old Testament and even the whole Bible due to its unique composition, incredulous storyline, complex themes, and baffling suppositions about the nature of God.
The book of Jonah finds itself in biblical literature among the Minor Prophets, including 11 other relatively small books that cover approximately three hundred significant years (750 BC to 450 BC) of Israel’s prophetic tradition.[1] However, it is important to note that the book of Jonah also uniquely finds itself in a genre all by itself, which has been largely categorized as satire—the exposure of human vice or folly.[2] It does not resemble other books of prophecy nor does Jonah himself act like other prophets. Contrary to other prophetic works, this book is written about Jonah in the past tense and portrays an ongoing dialogue with God, quite like the book of Job in wisdom literature.[3] This style of authorship observed in the book of Jonah significantly distinguishes it from all other biblical literature.
Moreover, concerning the book of Jonah’s authorship, scholars have deduced that it was anonymously written since there are no indicators in Scripture to identify an author. However, many assume that the main source for the book was probably Jonah’s first-hand account of the story anyways.[4] The date of authorship remains a general mystery to scholars, but many advocate for an authorship between the middle of the eighth and third centuries BC because of its canonical placement with the other eleven Minor Prophets and the fact that the prophet Jonah served under the reign of Israel’s King Jeroboam II from 782–753 BC.[5] Nevertheless, mainstream scholarship argues for a fifth-fourth century range on account of the text’s Persian syntactical influence and evidence of Aramaic spellings, words, and grammatical constructions that were common to postexilic writing.[6]
The setting of the book takes place around the mid 700s BC around the time when King Jeroboam II ruled over the northern part of Israel and Assyria reigned as the dominant empire of the ancient world. However, the grander context of the narrative is not actually found in the book of Jonah itself, but can be deduced from II Kings 14 where Jonah is cited as a premier prophet among the nation of Israel and to King Jeroboam II. In this passage, we significantly learn that God used the prophet Jonah to tell King Jeroboam II to rebuild the northern border so that God may preserve Israel from being ‘blot out’ by larger, more powerful nations (II Kings 14:27). Pastor and author Tullian Tchividjian notes that in this passage, “we read that Jonah had experienced a rare treat for a Hebrew prophet: he foretold something good for the nation of Israel, then saw it quickly happen;” indeed, “Jonah must have won lasting fame after uttering this prophesy and quickly seeing it come to fruition through King Jeroboam’s capable military leadership.”[7] Therefore, before the book of Jonah unfolds, we can know that its protagonist possessed great status, approval, and respect in his native Israelite nation. This background knowledge about the prophet Jonah critically informs and enlightens how the reader makes sense of Jonah’s character, choices, and reactions through the story.
Furthermore, the historical background concerning the city of Nineveh is also important for grasping the full gravity of the book’s overall message. Around this era in history, the nation of Assyria stood as the dominant force in the ancient near east, and its centralization of power resided in its capital city, Nineveh. Historical tradition and archaeology depicts the city of Nineveh as arguably one of the most heinous, immoral, and overzealously violent places in all of human history. Archaeology uncovers that Nineveh kept records bragging of its cruel, torturous methods that were exacted upon people of imprisoned nations. Such documents record the following wicked acts: dismembering people alive, skinning people alive, burning the young alive, covering the city walls with human skins, and placing stakes around the city with impaled heads, hands, and feet of captive peoples.[8] In fact, it is also important to note that two of the most violent kings of the history of the Assyrian empire, Ashurnasirpal II and Shalmaneser III, reigned right before the lifetime of Jonah.
Accordingly, in light of the Assyria’s shocking violence, Israel’s view of Nineveh by the time of Jonah could only be described as one of horror, contempt, and disgust. Certainly, this background information about the nature of Nineveh renders a richer meaning to the book’s plot. In fact, author James Bruckner profoundly points out, “God asked Jonah to go to his cultural enemies and proclaim judgment in the capital city. He was asked to risk his life preaching and had no guarantees that he would not, like other unwelcomed prophets, be killed. Yet, if he succeeded in his mission and Nineveh repented, he would not be welcome in Israel.”[9] Therefore, this historical knowledge of both the prophet Jonah, the nation of Assyria, and Jonah’s personal situation, one can hardly blame Jonah for wanting to flee from God’s call; indeed, obedience to God would have cost Jonah the loss of either his physical life (from the murder of his enemies, the Ninevites) or his functional life (from the rejection of his nation, the Israelites).
Finally, while several key themes run throughout the book of Jonah, the main theme of God’s compassion for the insider and the outsider, for the Jew and for the Gentile, serves as the fundamental linchpin that supports and enriches the meaning of other smaller themes in the book. Scholar Mark D. Futato notes five smaller themes, including the following: God’s sovereign control over events on the earth; God’s determination to get his message to the nations; the need for repentance from sin in general; the need for repentance from self-centeredness and hypocrisy in particular; and the full assurance that God will relent when people repent.[10] These five smaller themes contribute in part to paint a broader portrait of the main theme of God’s scandalous grace for all people.
MAIN IDEA OF TEXT: God’s grace powerfully pursues the both the self-righteous and the moral failure, the Jew and the Gentile, the insider and the outsider, the strong and the weak.
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FOOTNOTES
[1] James Bruckner, The NIV Application Commentary: Jonah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2004), 50.
[2] Mark D. Furtato, The English Standard Version (ESV) Study Bible, Larger Print: Introduction to Jonah (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2008), 1682.
[3] Bruckner, NIV, 102.
[4] Furtato, ESV, 1683.
[5] Furtato, ESV, 1683.
[6] Bruckner, NIV, 84.
[7] Tullian Tchividjian, Surprised By Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2010), 25-26.
[8] Bruckner, NIV, 94.
[9] Bruckner, NIV, 99.
[10] Furtato, ESV, 1683.
