Jonah

Jonah tries to run from Yahweh’s presence and discovers that God is still present on his journey to Tarshish, and in the belly of the huge fish. Yahweh’s sovereignty is shown in the form of a storm and quieting its rage. God controls the lot to locate the sinner and provide a way for His prophet to save pagan sailors. He creates a fish to swallow the fugitive and to punish Jonah for his disobedience. In the end, God is always in control and uses Jonah in amazing ways even though he tries to escapes God’s plan.
Historical

The Book of Jonah is short in both theme through the book and the style of writing. It is clear that Jonah was written by a single, unknown author. M. Burrows argued that like the Pentateuch, the book of Jonah had a history of composite authorship and editing. It is uncertain who the author is. It is assumed that the author is someone who lived after the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C. because of the past tense language in Jonah 3:3. Jonah is often referred to in third person throughout the book, causing people to search for other authors. This is a common Old Testament practice. The firsthand account of such unusual events would be best told from Jonah himself.
Jonah prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II which took place between 793 and 753 B.C. The reference to Nineveh in 3:3 seems to imply that the city was only a new memory in the author’s head. The way the city was spoken of seems to reflect the time when Nineveh was capital of Assyria. The reference to the “king of Nineveh” instead of “ king of Assyria”helps us to determine the actual time period and the location. The Assyrian annals never used this title.
In the half century during the ministry of the prophet Jonah (800-750BC), an important event struck the northern kingdom of Israel.   King Jeroboam II (793-753) restored Israel’s traditional boarders. This ended about a century of tension between Israel and Damascus. Jeroboam capitalized on Assyria’s defeat of Damascus which...