Introduction to the Book of Jonah-Authorship, Date, Historical Setting, Authenticity and Historicity
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday August 31, 2010
Jonah: Introduction to the Book of Jonah-Authorship, Date, Genre, Historical Setting, Authenticity and Historicity
Lesson # 1
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 1:1.
This evening we will present an introduction to the book of Jonah.
First of all, the book of Jonah is a “prophetic narrative” with a didactic purpose, i.e. it intends to teach and its story is developed in two parallel cycles, which call attention to a series of comparisons and contrasts.
It is not an allegory.
Stuart writes that an allegory is a “kind of extended analogy, sometimes including extended metaphors, in which the meaning of the story is not to be found in the concepts and actions presented, but in concepts and actions outside the story, to which the story points analogically. It would be an unusual allegory indeed that waited to the end (the fourth chapter in the case of Jonah) to reveal the point of its hero’s actions. Allegories are distinctly constructed so as to point beyond themselves at each stage. The figures in an allegory are patently symbolic and fictional, and the audience must realize this at once if the allegory is to be effective. Jonah does not fit this pattern, either.” (Word Biblical Commentary, volume 31, page 436).
The book of Jonah teaches that God is a God of deliverance and that He is omnipotent, sovereign, gracious and compassionate who loves both Jew and Gentiles.
The Teacher’s Bible Commentary, “The book of Jonah was written to teach readers of all times that the universal God is impartial in his dealings, patient with the worst offenders, and ready to grant forgiveness to all who repent. It provides an Old Testament foundation for Christian missions.” (Page 556)
Jonah 1:1, “The word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2 ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.’ 3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. 4 The Lord hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up. 5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep. 6 So the captain approached him and said, ‘How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps your god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.’ 7 Each man said to his mate, ‘Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity has struck us.’ So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, ‘Tell us, now! On whose account has this calamity struck us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?’ 9 He said to them, ‘I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.’ 10 Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, ‘How could you do this?’ For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11 So they said to him, ‘What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?’—for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy. 12 He said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm has come upon you.’ 13 However, the men rowed desperately to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming even stormier against them. 14 Then they called on the Lord and said, ‘We earnestly pray, O Lord, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O Lord, have done as You have pleased.’ 15 So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging. 16 Then the men feared the Lord greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. 17 And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.”
Jonah 2:1, “Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish, 2 and he said, ‘I called out of my distress to the Lord, and He answered me. I cried for help from the depth of Sheol; You heard my voice. 3 ‘For You had cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current engulfed me. All Your breakers and billows passed over me. 4 So I said, ‘I have been expelled from Your sight. Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’ 5 Water encompassed me to the point of death. The great deep engulfed me, weeds were wrapped around my head. 6 I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars was around me forever, but You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple. 8 Those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness, 9 but I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.’ 10 Then the Lord commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.”
Jonah 3:1, “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 ‘Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.’ 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk. 4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, ‘Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.’ 5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. 6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. 7 He issued a proclamation and it said, ‘In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. 8 But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. 9 Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.’ 10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.”
Jonah 4:1, “But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.’ 4 The Lord said, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry?’ 5 Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city. 6 So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant. 7 But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. 8 When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, ‘Death is better to me than life.’ 9 Then God said to Jonah, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?’ And he said, ‘I have good reason to be angry, even to death.’ 10 Then the Lord said, ‘You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. 11 Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?’”
The book of Jonah is the fifth book of the Minor Prophets, which are called the Book of the Twelve in the Hebrew Bible.
Traditionally, the authorship of the book of Jonah has been ascribed to the prophet himself but some modern scholars have rejected this for several reasons.
First of all, they claim that the book itself does not claim that Jonah is the author but this can be rejected since the introductory formula in Jonah 1:1 is parallel to that used in Hosea, Joel, Micah and Zephaniah and closing that is used in other prophetic books of whose authorship there is little or no debate.
Another reason put forth by modern scholars in rejection of Jonah as the author of the book that bears his name is that the book refers to the prophet in the third person.
However, again the introductory formula demonstrates this to be common practice that is found in the works attributed to Moses, Xenophon and Julius Caesar.
In the Torah, Moses always refers to himself in the third person and Xenophon in his Anabasis and Julius Caesar in his Gallic Wars does so as well.
Some modern scholars reject Jonah as the author of the book that bears his name contending that it is later than the eighth century and thus it cannot be by Jonah ben Amittai.
So to accept Jonah as the author would necessitate a date in the eighth century.
However, 2 Kings 14:25 relates Jonah to the reign of Jeroboam II, thus making the events in the book of Jonah as taking place during Jeroboam’s reign (793-753 B.C.), thus refuting the idea that the book of Jonah was composed later than the eighth century.
This would make the date of the book of Jonah somewhere in the mid-eighth century B.C. perhaps around 760 B.C.
Some like Stuart contend that it is “highly unlikely” that Jonah was the author of the book that bears his name “in that the story is so consistently critical of Jonah.” (Douglas Stuart, Word Biblical Commentary, volume 31, page 432).
However, in Exodus, Moses records himself murdering an Egyptian and in Numbers, he records himself as disobeying the Lord.
The gospel of Mark, which is attributed to Peter, records the latter denying the Lord three times and Paul calls himself the chief of all sinners in 1 Timothy 1:15.
“Jonah” is the Hebrew proper name yônâ (יוֹנָה), which means “dove.”
Jonah does not live up to his name since with respect to Nineveh, he was a “hawk” in that he wanted God to make war against Nineveh and not peace and for good reason.
The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary, “The Assyrians were known to impale their enemies on stakes in front of their towns and hang their heads from trees in the king’s gardens. They also tortured their captives—men, women, or children—by hacking off noses, ears, or fingers, gouging out their eyes, or tearing off their lips and hands. They reportedly covered the city wall with the skins of their victims. Rebellious subjects would be massacred by the hundreds, sometimes burned at the stake. Then their skulls would be placed in great piles by the roadside as a warning to others. Jonah decided that he would rather quit the prophetic ministry than preach to such people. Nineveh was about 500 miles to the east, so he headed for Tarshish, probably what is now Spain, the farthest western location he knew, about 2,000 miles.” (Page 942)
Gerald B. Stanton writes, “Jonah lived and ministered in some of the darker days of Israel’s history. Assyria was the world empire, and Nineveh, built on the river Tigris and grown rich from the loot of scores of conquests among the lesser nations, its capital. The power of Assyria lay in its cruelty, while the brutality ascribed to the nation by the Bible has been confirmed abundantly by archeology. Assurbanipal, one of its rulers, was accustomed to tear off the hands and the lips of his victims. Tiglathpileser flayed them alive and made great piles of their skulls.” (The Prophet Jonah and His Message, part 1, Bibliotheca Sacra, volume 108, number 430, page 239).
Jonah 1:1 and 2 Kings 14:25 identified Jonah as “the son of Amittai” (בֶן־אֲמִתַּ֖י), whose name means “truthful.”
The prophet’s home was in Gath-hepher, which is in Zebulun (Joshua 19:13) situated 2.5 miles northeast of Nazareth in Galilee (Note the error of the enemies of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 7:52).
He was a prophet of the northern kingdom of Israel, whose predecessors were Elijah and Elisha.
The Gospels record the Lord Jesus Christ making mention of the prophet Jonah in Matthew 12:29-41; 16:4 and Luke 11:28-32, which indicates that Jonah was a much revered prophet in the days of our Lord.
2 Kings 14:25 records that Jonah lived during the reign of Jeroboam II in approximately 793-753 B.C.
2 Kings 14:23-25, “In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and reigned forty-one years. He did evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin. He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which He spoke through His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher.”
So according to 2 Kings 14:23-25 Jonah lived when Jeroboam II of the northern kingdom of Israel was king.
The Prophet Jonah’s prediction that Israel’s boundaries would extend under Jeroboam II came true and so Jonah was the most prestigious prophet of his day.
Now, our Lord’s statements recorded in Matthew 12:29-41; 16:4 and Luke 11:28-32 and the historical statement in 2 Kings 14:23-25 make clear that the book of Jonah was about an historical character and events.
A.C. Gaebelein writes, “There is no middle ground possible; either this book of Jonah is true, relates the truth and miraculous history of this Prophet, or the Lord Jesus Christ is not the infallible Son of God. His Person and His Work stand and fall together with the authenticity of Jonah.” (The Annotated Bible: The Holy Scriptures Analysed and Annotated, volume V: Daniel to Malachi, pages 156-157).
Outline
I. The Disobedience of Jonah (1-2)
A. The divine commission of the prophet (1:1-2)
B. The disobedience of the prophet (1:3)
C. The consequences of the prophet’s disobedience (1:4-2:10)
1. The storm (1:4-16)
2. The great fish (1:17)
3. Jonah’s prayer for deliverance and of thanksgiving (2:1-9)
4. God delivers Jonah (2:10)
II. The Obedience of Jonah (3-4)
A. The recomissioning of the prophet (3:1-2)
B. The obedience of the prophet (3:3-4)
C. The conversion of the Ninevites (3:5-10)
1. The action of the people (3:5)
2. The action of the king (3:6-9)
3. The action of God (3:10)
D. The sorrow of the prophet (4)
1. The displeasure of Jonah (4:1-5)
2. The explanation of the Lord (4:6-11)