The Book of Jonah

n II Kings 14:25, we areintroduced to a prophet

named Jonah, who was fromGath-hepher. The name Jonahmeans “dove.” He lived in thesame time period as did theprophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiahand Joel (the 8th century B.C.).He was most likely an elderlyman at the time we read of himin the book of Jonah.

The Kingdom of Israel

After King Solomon’s death,Israel and Judah divided intotwo separate kingdoms, eachwith their own king. In I and IIKings, the Bible gives us somehistory of the leaders overthese two kingdoms.

Throughout history, thepeople of Israel would prosperin peace and plenty as long asthey had a righteous leader.When their king was obedientto the laws of God, he wouldlead Israel away from idolatryand pagan practices. But once

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TheBook of Jonah

1 CHILDREN’S BIBLE LESSONIllustrations by Paula Rondeau

the righteous leader died, and a wicked onetook his place, the people would drift awayfrom obedience to God. Over and over inthe books of Kings, when speaking of a par-ticular leader of God’s people, the scripturesstate, “And he did what was evil in the sightof the Lord.” This is especially true whendescribing those who ruled over the king-dom of Israel, which stretched north fromJerusalem to Galilee.

Without strong faithful kings whoobeyed God, it was not long before the peo-ple of Israel turned to copy the wickedbehavior of their leaders. They fell intoimmorality, worshipping false gods andcopying the pagan customs of the nationssurrounding them, instead of worshippingthe one true God.

God used Assyria throughout varioustimes in history to punish the people ofIsrael for their disobedience. When Israelwould stray from obeying God, He wouldsend them into captivity. God would allowAssyria to invade Israel and carry off Hispeople into other lands as slaves.

Brief History of Assyria

The country of Assyria covered approxi-mately 82,000 square miles and was locatedin what today is the northern part of Iraq.Nomadic tribes occupied the western regionof Assyria, but the fertile eastern regionthrived with wheat and barley farms thatalso contained cattle, pigs, goats and sheep.

Assyria’s national power depended onthe victories of its army. Assyrian soldierswere known for their severe cruelty in bat-tle. The army of spearmen, archers, chario-teers and cavalry was equipped with pikes,bows and short swords. Only part of theinfantry wore armor. Cavalrymen rode

without saddles, and chariots had three-mancrews. They used siege towers and batteringrams to break down walls and defenses ofcities they attacked. They were known as“city-smashers” who slaughtered or carriedoff whole populations in order to break theircaptives’ sense of national identity. Thedefeated cities were looted, and then oftenleveled in the aftermath of battle. TheAssyrians’ fierceness kept neighboringlands trembling in fear. You may want toread through the book of Nahum to seeGod’s description of these people.

The capital city of Assyria was Nineveh.It is first mentioned in the Bible in Genesis10:11. The next time it is mentioned is inthe book of Jonah. Described as a great anddensely populated city, it is also identifiedas the capital of the Assyrian empire in IIKings 19:36 and Isaiah 37:37.

Nineveh was a mighty, thriving city sur-rounded by three moats and five walls, thetallest of which rose up 100 feet andstretched for 60 miles around the city.Nineveh was known for its wide avenuesand squares, its extensive public and privatelibraries, and the beauty of its temples,parks and gardens. Water was brought infrom a reservoir located approximately 30miles away through a system of aqueducts.Language, religion and culture united thepeople. Merchants dealt in textiles, gold,silver, copper and tin, and craftsmen wereknown for the excellence and design of theirpottery.

It was to this city that God sent hisprophet, Jonah.

Jonah Runs Away

The prophet Jonah served as an advisor toKing Jeroboam II, the fourteenth king of

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Israel (II Kings 14:23-25), who reigned fromapproximately 792-753 BC. He reignedfrom Israel’s capital city of Samaria. WhileAssyria was busy conquering other nations,Israel fortified their cities, built up theirarmy, and worked to develop internationalrelations. Jonah was well-known as a diplo-mat and statesman of Israel.

Jonah prophesied God would restoreIsrael’s boundaries in the reign of King

Jeroboam II “from the coast ofHamath as far as the DeadSea” (II Kings 14:25). UnderJeroboam II’s reign, Israel notonly rose to the height ofwealth and luxury, but its peo-ple sank to the depths ofimmorality and idolatry, for-getting the lessons of the past.

The book of Jonah, writtenaround 770-760 BC, openswith God instructing Jonah,“Go to Nineveh, that great city,and prophesy its destruction,for I have seen their disgustingwickedness” (Jonah 1:1-2).

Jonah was well acquaintedwith the cruelty of the Assyrianarmies and the sinful environ-ment of Nineveh. While hemust have been encouragedthat God planned to punish thelong-standing enemy of Israel,he was not pleased with theidea of being sent personally tothe capital city of the warriorpeople to deliver the bad newsthat they were about to bedestroyed. He was also awarethat because of Israel’s disobe-dience to God, Amos hadprophesied that God was going

to send them into captivity (Amos 9:1-4). If God did not destroy Nineveh, Jonah

knew that, at some time in the future, theAssyrians would be used by God to punishthe rebellious kingdom of Israel.

Deciding that God’s assignment was notto his liking, Jonah ran in the oppositedirection to the port city of Joppa, on thecoast of the Mediterranean Sea. There hebought passage on a ship headed for

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Tarshish (modern day Spain) hoping toavoid the task that God had given him. Heknew Hebrew tradition said that God couldnot use someone if they were no longer inthe land of Israel, where God was present.So Jonah thought if he went to the Gentilenation of Tarshish, he would have a legiti-mate excuse to avoid performing the dutyGod had given him (Jonah 1:3).

Perhaps Jonah hoped that by taking thisroute, he would be able to elude God. Psalm139:7 asks of God, “Where shall I hide fromyour presence?” Read verses 8 through 12,which explain that God is everywhere andsees everything. It is impossible to hidefrom God!

Jonah should have known better.However, sometimes when we want to getout of doing something we are told to do,we do not think clearly. We may concentrateso hard on avoiding what we should do thatour thinking becomes clouded and we actfoolishly.

A Storm From God

Once aboard the ship bound for Tarshish,Jonah went below deck and fell asleep. Hefelt no pangs of guilt or conscience aboutrunning away. While he was asleep, Godbrought a great wind and mighty turbulenceto the sea. The storm was so violent that thewaves beating over the ship threatened tobreak it apart and sink it. The sailors hadnever seen a storm like it. They grew veryafraid, and cried out to their false gods tosave them, but the storm continued. Hopingto keep the ship from sinking, they began tothrow their cargo into the sea to lighten theirload.

Meanwhile, the ship’s captain wentbelow to shake Jonah awake. “How can you

sleep? We’re about to sink! Get up and prayto your God. Maybe He will hear and saveus!” the captain exclaimed.

Blinking sleep from his eyes, Jonahmade his way up to the violently pitchingship’s deck. The sailors were casting lots tosee who on board was at fault for bringingthis terrible storm upon them. Finally, thelot pointed to Jonah.

“Why have you brought this evil uponus?” they demanded of Jonah. “What’s youroccupation? What country do you comefrom? Of what people are you?”

Jonah responded, “I am a Hebrew, and Ifear the Lord, the God of heaven who madeboth the sea and the dry land.”

This made the frightened sailors evenmore afraid, “What have you done to angeryour God and bring this destruction downon all of us?”

“I was given an assignment by God thatI don’t want to do, so I boarded your ship toavoid it, thinking maybe God would sendsomeone else to do it,” Jonah admitted.

Jonah is Thrown Overboard

“What do we have to do to quiet down thisstormy sea?” the sailors asked. Even whilethey had been talking to Jonah, the stormwas growing ever more violent. Hugewaves came crashing over the deck, andstrong winds were beating it so that the shipreeled from side to side, almost tippingover.

Jonah took a deep breath, realizing thiswas no ordinary squall. It could only meanthat God was unhappy with his decision notto go to Nineveh. But rather than do as Godhad commanded, he decided he wouldrather drown. “Throw me overboard intothe sea,” Jonah demanded. “Then God will

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quiet the storm for you. I know it is my faultthat this storm has come upon your ship.”

The men believed if they threw Jonahoverboard, he would certainly drown in thechurning waters. Because they did not wantthat to happen, they tried to row the shipback toward land, but the storm just keptgrowing more and more violent. Finally,they knew they had no other choice but toget rid of Jonah. They cried out to Jonah’sGod, “Please, O Lord, don’t cause us to per-ish for this man’s life, and don’t place hisdeath on our heads, for You have done whatYou pleased.” Then they reluctantly pickedJonah up and tossed him into the roaring sea.

Immediately, the sea grew calm. And allthe sailors feared and respected the God ofJonah who had shown them He was morepowerful than all their false gods. Theyoffered a sacrifice to God and made vows.

Now God had prepared a huge fish toswallow Jonah, and for three days andnights Jonah lived in the belly of the greatfish. Imagine the dark, damp, stinking sur-roundings that Jonah had been brought intoas he lay in the cramped confines of thisfish’s stomach. Rotting fish, stringy sea-weed and slimy algae must have been inthere with Jonah. It probably smelledawful!

And, of course, it was wet. Jonah wascompletely soaked from being thrown intothe sea, and there was no possibility hisclothes were going to dry out while he livedin this fish’s belly. No doubt, he did nothave much room for movement, so therewas no way he could stretch his limbs orfind a comfortable position to lay in. He hadnothing to eat, unless he chose to munch onremnants of half-digested fish, soggy sea-

weed and whatever else the great fish hadswallowed. We know from the Bibleaccount that he stayed in the belly of thegreat fish for three days and nights. Butwhile Jonah was inside the fish, he had noidea how long God would make him staythere. He had plenty of time to rethink hisfoolish idea of trying to run away from thejob that God had given him to do!

And Jonah had plenty of time to pray.

Jonah’s Prayer

The book of Jonah, chapter 2, recordsJonah’s prayer: “I called to the Lord out ofmy misery, and He answered me; out of thebelly of the grave I cried, and You heard myvoice. For You had cast me into the deep, inthe midst of the seas; and the waters wereall around me: all the wild and stormywaves covered me. Then I said, I have been

cast out of Your sight; yet I will look againtoward Your Holy Temple. I sank beneaththe waves, and death was near: the watersclosed me round about; seaweed waswrapped about my head.

“I sank down to the bottoms of themountains that rise up from the ocean floor;the earth with her bars imprisoned me incertain death: yet You brought up my lifefrom jaws of death, O Lord my God. Whenmy soul fainted within me and I lost allhope, I remembered the Lord: and I prayedto You in Your Holy Temple.

“They that worship false gods haveturned their backs on all Your mercies. ButI will worship You with the voice of thanks-giving; I will perform all promises that Ihave made You. Salvation and deliverancecomes only from the Lord.”

God heard Jonah’s prayer and spoke tothe fish; it threw up Jonah onto dry land

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(Jonah 2:10). What a mess he must havebeen!

Test Your Memory:

1) Jonah’s name means _______________.2) What would happen when Israel wouldstray from obeying God? _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3) What did Jonah do when God told him togo to Nineveh? ____________________________________________________________________________________________4) When the sailors found out that Jonahwas the cause of the storm that threatened tosink their ship, what did they do to him?______________________________________________________________________5) Jonah was in the belly of the great fishfor __________ days and ______________nights.

Go to Nineveh!

Once again, God spoke to Jonah, “Go toNineveh, that great city, and proclaim themessage that I tell you.”

This time, Jonah did not run away fromhis duty. He headed straight for Nineveh asGod had commanded. We do not knowexactly where the fish deposited Jonah onthe shore, but he probably had a several-dayjourney to get to the city. Nineveh was sucha big city that it took three days to travel itswidth. Jonah went a day’s journey into thecity and began to deliver the message fromGod.

“Forty days from now, Nineveh will becompletely destroyed,” Jonah warned theNinevites.

The people of Nineveh knew who Jonahwas. No doubt, they heard about the stormand Jonah being thrown overboard threedays ago. He should have drowned; but herehe was, in their midst, prophesying thedestruction of their city. It must have beenclear to them that the God of Israel had per-formed a mighty miracle for Jonah to still bealive. They believed the message from God,and proclaimed a fast. They all put onsackcloth—from the mightiest of them to themost insignificant. Sackcloth was a thick,prickly cloth made of black goat’s hair, andwas not at all comfortable against the skin.

When news reached the king ofNineveh, he took off his royal robes, put onsackcloth, and sat in ashes. He had anannouncement made throughout the city,“By the decree of the king and his nobles,no person nor animal, no herd nor flock,shall eat food or drink water. Don’t let theanimals graze or drink water. Every personand animal will be covered with sackcloth.Every person will cry out to God, and turnfrom his evil ways and from violence.Maybe God will change His mind and turnaway from His fierce anger toward us, sothat we do not die.”

When God saw their fast, and how theysincerely repented and turned from theirevil ways, God changed His mind concern-ing the destruction He planned to bring onNineveh. He did not destroy the city (Jonah3:10).

Jonah’s Childish Behavior

However, Jonah was not happy that God’swarning had changed the lives of those inNineveh. He was very angry that this capi-tal city of the ancient enemy of Israel wasgoing to be spared.

He complained to God, “Didn’t I saywhen You ordered me to come to this citythat they might listen to Your warning, OGod, and turn from their evil ways? That’swhy I ran away. I knew that You are a gra-cious God and merciful, slow to anger,abounding in steadfast love, and that Youwould change your mind about destroying

them. So just let me die, O Lord, for it isbetter to die than to live knowing You havespared the enemy of Your people.”

God asked Jonah, “Should you be soangry?”

Jonah gave a big sigh, and with his headhung down, he went out from the city to the

east of Nineveh and constructed a smallrickety booth made of a gourd vine. He satunder the makeshift shelter and watchedfrom a distance to see what would becomeof the city. He was angry with himself, atGod, and at the people of Nineveh.

Jonah’s reasoning may have been thefollowing: He had tried to avoid giving

Nineveh the warning, but God did not lethim get away with that. God had left him inthe stink and slime of the fish’s belly—cold,wet and miserable for three long days andnights. Then when he had done what Godcommanded, and delivered the message ofcoming destruction, the Ninevites listened!

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They fasted and repented from their wickedand violent ways. And just as Jonah thoughtHe would, God changed His mind andspared their lives. It did not seem fair thatthey had managed to avoid getting whatJonah felt they deserved for all the crueltythe Israelites had suffered in the past at thehands of the Assyrians. And Jonah knewthey would suffer at their hands in thefuture!

Underneath it all, perhaps Jonah alsohoped the people of Nineveh would soontire of not doing their normal sinful dailyroutines and quickly turn back to their evilways. As he sat under the hot sun, withalmost no shade, Jonah must have hopedthat God would destroy the city.

He watched, and he waited.

God Shows Mercy

God saw Jonah’s slumped posture andgloomy countenance, so He caused a largeplant to grow up overnight. Its wide leavesshaded Jonah from the intense heat and sun.Jonah was grateful for the cool shade of theplant.

But the next morning at dawn, God senta worm to attack the plant, so that it with-ered and died. When the sun came up, Godsent a scorching east wind. The sun andwind were so hot that Jonah became faint.He mourned that the plant that had offeredhim shade was dead. So he told God, “It isbetter for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:8).

God asked him, “Are you angry over thedeath of that plant?”

“Yes, I am angry, and I just want to die,”Jonah grumbled to God.

God replied, “You pity that plant, forwhich you did not labor, nor did you makeit grow. But it grew up in one night, and

then died the next night. Should I not pityNineveh, a great city, in which there aremore than 120,000 people who don’t knowtheir right hand from their left? And thereare animals, too” (Jonah 4:10-11).

Here we see that God reminded JonahHe will show mercy to all of creation, andcan show mercy to whomever He pleases inany nation—even a wicked one, just as Hehad often extended mercy to Israel in spiteof the people’s disobedience.

Jonah is one of the twelve minorprophets of the Old Testament, but this doesnot mean that what we can learn from thebook of Jonah is of lesser importance.Every scripture in the Bible is inspired byGod, and literally “God-breathed” (IITimothy 3:16).

The story of Jonah teaches us a valuablelesson about God’s mercy. Even thoughJonah did not want God to show mercy tothe people of Nineveh, God showed greatmercy to both Jonah and the Ninevites. Hepunished Jonah for running away from hisresponsibilities; yet rather than let Jonahdrown, God prepared a safe place in thebelly of the fish to give Jonah time torethink his decision. Although the peopleof Nineveh had behaved so wickedly thatGod wanted to destroy them, when theyfasted, admitted their wrongdoing andchanged their lives, God showed themmercy and spared them. History showsthey remained repentant for about 35years.

Christ Gave a Sign

Centuries after Jonah lived, when JesusChrist walked the earth, He taught God’sprinciple of mercy, “Blessed are the merciful:for they shall obtain mercy” (Matthew 5:7).

Jesus also spoke of Jonah. The scribesand Pharisees asked Him to give them asign proving that He was the Messiah.Christ’s answer to them was, “A wicked andadulterous generation seeks after a sign; andthere shall no sign be given unto it, but thesign of the prophet Jonah. And He left them,and departed” (Matthew 16:4).

The book of Luke adds a few moredetails about Christ’s response to those ask-ing for proof that He was the Messiah: “Andwhen the people were crowded around, hebegan to say, ‘This is an evil generation:they seek a sign; and there shall no sign begiven it, but the sign of Jonah the prophet.For as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites,so shall also the Son of man be to this gen-eration’” (Luke 11:29-30).

As Jonah was three days and three nightsin the belly of the great fish, Christ wouldbe three days and three nights in the grave(Matthew 12:40). Christ meant a total of 72hours, and we can know this because Heindicated in John 11:9-10 that there aretwelve hours in the day, then likewise thereare 12 hours in the night, totaling 24 hours.

A future Day of Judgment is comingwhen the scribes and Pharisees, as well asthe people of Nineveh, will be resurrected.Christ told the scribes and Pharisees, “Themen of Nineveh shall rise in judgment withthis generation, and shall condemn it:because they repented at the preaching ofJonah; and, behold, one greater than Jonahis here” (Matthew 12:41).

Test Your Memory:

1) The people of Nineveh responded toGod’s warning of coming destruction bydoing what? ___________________________________________________________

2) Why did Jonah say it was better to diethan to live? __________________________________________________________ 3) With whom was Jonah angry? ________

__________________________________4) In Matthew 5:7, what did Christ teach us about mercy? ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5) The scribes and Pharisees wanted a signproving that Christ was the Messiah. Whatdid Christ tell them was the only sign theywould be given? ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Below: A tomb in Jerusalem that is thought to be Jesus Christ’s.

<#> CHILDREN’S BIBLE

BIBLE MEMORY:

Published by The Restored Church of God.Printed in the USA; All Rights ReservedCopyright © 2006

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The name of the man Godcalled to go to Nineveh.

The city he came from.The city he was sent to.The country that city was

in.Those people were known

for great _ _ _ _ _ _ _.Assyria was Isreal’s _ _ _

_ _.Someday they would take

Israel into _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.The ship Jonah was on

encountered a _ _ _ _ _ onits way to Tarshish.

When thrown overboard,Jonah was swallowed by a_ _ _ _ _ _ _.

While in the _ _ _ _ _ ofthe creature…

Jonah made a _ _ _ _ _ _to God.

He was inside the creaturefor _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ and _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

It was a _ _ _ _ _ _ _when he was cast on shorealive.

Nineveh was told it wouldbe destroyed in _ _ _ _ _days.

The people _ _ _ _ _ _ in __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

They obtained _ _ _ _ _, but

Jonah 2:10

WORD SEARCH

Jonah was _ _ _ _ _.He sat on a hill under a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ waiting to see what God would do.Jonah wanted to _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ when God sent the _ _ _ _ to kill the vine.The _ _ _ _ of Jonah was to prove _ _ _ _ _ was the son of God when he

remained in the grave a full _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.

CLUES