JONAH PART 1

Background of Jonah

Jonah’s name meant “dove”, which is a reminder that God’s prophets ought to be harmless as doves, and to mourn as doves for the sins and calamities of the land. His father’s name was Amittai, which meant “truth” or “truth-telling”, for God's prophets should be sons of truth.

2 Kings 14:23-25-

Gath-hepher was a town in the territory of Zebulun and was near Nazareth. The Pharisees were incorrect in, John 7:52 “They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”” Jonah was, in fact, a Galilean.

Matthew 12:38-41 “Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.”

See also (Matthew 16:1-4)

Jonah was one of four Old Testament prophets whose ministries were referred to by Christ (cf. Matt. 12:41; Luke 11:32). The others were Elijah (Matt. 17:11–12), Elisha (Luke 4:27), and Isaiah (Matt. 15:7).

Jonah was a contemporary of Amos and Hosea.

Background of Israel

Discuss the division of the kingdom.

Saul, David, and Solomon reigned approximately 1050 BC – 930 BC.

Because of Solomon’s disobedience, the kingdom was split in two after his death. His son Rehoboam ruled the Southern Kingdom (Judah), while Jeroboam ruled the Northern Kingdom (Israel).

Jereboam II was king over Israel during the ministry of Jonah. He was the 13th king of the Northern Kingdom. There would end up being 19. He was the most powerful king in the Northern Kingdom and reigned for 41 years between 793 and 753 BC.

2 Kings 14:23-29-

Discuss the affliction of Israel.

2 Kings 10:32-33 “In those days the Lord began to cut off parts of Israel. Hazael defeated them throughout the territory of Israel: from the Jordan eastward, all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, and the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the Valley of the Arnon, that is, Gilead and Bashan.”

2 Kings 13:3 “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael.”

2 Kings 13:7 “For there was not left to Jehoahaz an army of more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen, for the king of Syria had destroyed them and made them like the dust at threshing.”

Archaeologists have found a stone carving that shows King Jehu of Israel paying tribute to Shalmaneser III, king of Assyria. Known as the Black Obelisk, it depicts Jehu bowing to the ground in front of Shalmaneser.

Deuteronomy 28:25 ““The Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them. And you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.”

Deuteronomy 28:36-37 ““The Lord will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the Lord will lead you away.”

Amos 5:27 “and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.”

Hosea 11:5 “They shall not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria shall be their king, because they have refused to return to me.”

Background of Nineveh

Genesis 10:8-12 “Cush fathered Nimrod; he was the first on earth to be a mighty man. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord. Therefore it is said, “Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the Lord.” The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city.”

In the ninth, eighth and seventh centuries B.C. the Assyrian Empire became strong and repeatedly attacked nations to the east, north, and west, including Israel.

Shalmaneser III (859–824 B.C.) made the city of Nineveh a base for military operations. During his reign Israel came into contact with Nineveh. He wrote that he fought a coalition of kings of Aram and others including “Ahab the Israelite” (in 853 B.C.). Later he wrote that he received tribute from “Jehu, son of Omri,” who is pictured in the Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser. Neither of these events is mentioned in the Bible. Azariah, king of Judah (790–739), paid tribute to Tiglath-Pileser III (745–727). Menahem, king of Israel (752–742), did the same (2 Kings 15:14–23). It was in the reign of Ashur-dan III (772–754) that Jonah preached to the Ninevites.

In 731 B.C. Ahaz, king of Judah (732–715), became a vassal of Tiglath-Pileser III, and Assyria invaded Damascus in the Syro-Ephraimite war. Shalmaneser V (727–722) besieged Samaria and defeated it in 722 B.C., thus defeating the Northern Kingdom (2 Kings 17:3–6; 18:9–10).

Nineveh was the capital of one of the cruelest, vilest, most powerful, and most idolatrous empires in the world. Here are some boasts of their kings. One bragged that he dyed the mountains red with the blood of his enemies. He cut the heads of the enemies off and used them to form a pillar over against their city. He burned their young men and women in the fire. He also mentioned that he flayed a captured leader and spread his skin on the wall of the city. He also bragged of mutilating the bodies of live captives and killing so many that they had to stack the bodies in piles.

Another king bragged that he made a pyramid of heads in front of the enemy city, as well as burning their youths and maidens up in fire. He also wrote that he cut their throats like lambs, and that he cut off their precious lives as one cuts a string. He also said that he made the contents of their gullets and entrails run down upon the earth like rain. And he cut their hands off.

Another king said that he pierced the chin of a captured leader with his dagger. Then he ran a rope through the hole, put a dog chain on him, and locked him in a kennel. He also bragged of hanging Egyptian corpses on stakes, skinning them, and covering the city walls with their skin.

No wonder Nahum called Nineveh “the city of blood” (3:1), a city noted for its “cruelty”! (3:19)

Ashurbanipal was egotistic: “I [am] Ashurbanipal, the great [king], the mighty king, king of the universe, king of Assyria.… The great gods … magnified my name; they made my rule powerful” (ibid., 2:323–4). Esarhaddon was even more boastful. “I am powerful, I am all powerful, I am a hero, I am gigantic, I am colossal, I am honored, I am magnified, I am without equal among all kings, the chosen one of Asshur, Nabu, and Marduk” (ibid., 2:226).

Gross idolatry was practiced in Nineveh and throughout the Assyrian Empire. The religion of Assyria was Babylonian in origin but in Assyria the national god was Assur, whose high priest and representative was the king.

During the ministry of Jonah, the Assyrians had suffered a temporary decline because of internal dissension.

Nineveh was located on the east bank of the Tigris River, about 550 miles from Samaria, capital of the Northern Kingdom. Nineveh was large and, like Babylon, was protected by an outer wall and an inner wall. The inner wall was 50 feet wide and 100 feet high and 8 miles in circumference. The outer wall encompassed fields and smaller towns, all of which had a circumference of about 60 miles. Before Jonah arrived at this seemingly impregnable fortress-city, two plagues had erupted there (in 765 and 759 B.C.) and a total eclipse of the sun occurred on June 15, 763. These were considered signs of divine anger and may help explain why the Ninevites responded so readily to Jonah’s message, around 759.

Themes of Jonah

Repentance

God’s Concern for All People, Including Pagan Gentiles

God’s Sovereignty Over All Things in Accomplishing His Purposes

A Contrast Between the Responses of the Jews and Gentiles to the Call of Repentance and Also Their Concern for Others.

Though Israel Was to Be a Blessing to the Nations, We See Their Indifference to the Plight of the Gentiles