Jonah

Posted : 5 Oct, 2011 05:32 PM

Approximately 760 BC Jonah prophesied during the reign of Israel's King Jeroboam II (see 2 Kiings 14:23-25), who ruled from about 793 to 753 BC.



Reluctant prophet, running from God, is swallowed by giant fish.



God tells Jonah to preach repentance in Nineveh, capital of the brutal Assyrian Empire. Jonah disobeys, sailing in the opposite direction toward a rendezvous with literary immortality. A storm rocks Jonah's ship, and he spends three days in a giant fish's belly before deciding to obey God after all. When Jonah preaches, Nineveh repents and God spares the city from the destruction He'd threatened. But the prejudiced Jonah pouts. The story ends with God proclaiming his concern even for vicious pagans.



God loves everyone even the enemies of His chosen people. As Romans 5:8 says, "God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

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