Summary of the book of jonah the story of the bible. The chapter divisions mark the natural divisions of the book. Fifth in the canonical order of the minor prophets. Jonah speaks of weeds wrapped about his head, which does not fit the description of being inside a fish. Between 2007 and 2012 lehrer published three nonfiction books that became best. The prayer of terror, and the sleep of sorrow, in the storm. Weaving together scientific studies from clinical psychologists, longitudinal studies of health and happiness, historical accounts and literary depictions, childrearing manuals, and the.
However, jonah tries to escape his mission and sails for tarshish. Its earcatching title and intriguing cover do it for me. Book of jonah, the fifth of 12 old testament books that bear the names of the minor prophets, embraced in a single book, the twelve, in the jewish canon. One of the greatest prophets during the time of jeroboam ii was jonah the son of amitai, who, as a prophet disciple, had anointed jehu and who, therefore, enjoyed the kings benevolence. Although often classified with the prophets, the book of jonah is not a prophetic book. The book is replete with irony, wherein much of its humor lies. Jonah richard lehrer born june 25, 1981 is an american author who fabricated and misused quotations and facts. Jonah, the book of definition and meaning bible dictionary. While there was a king of assyria, there was no king of nineveh, as suggested in the book. Cooper followed was simply the thencommon greek word the lord jesus used in matthew 12. In the book, jonah is called upon by god to prophesy the judgment of nineveh. It differs from them in that while they for the most part contain prophetic discourses, with a minimum of narrative material, the book of jonah is mainly occupied with a narrative, and the prophetic message in it is almost incidental.
Book of jonah, also spelled jonas, the fifth of 12 old testament books that bear the names of the minor prophets, embraced in a single book, the twelve, in the jewish canon. The book of jonah can be divided down the middle to show two short episodes. The 1589 morality play by thomas lodge and robert greene, a looking glass for london and england, retells the book of jonah with a lengthy description of ninevehs sinfulness, complete with evil kings, usurers, demons, murderers, and forced incest. With title like your voice is all i hear, i have no doubt that many people would get. The book of hosea consists of fourteen chapters, which was the record for a minor prophet until zechariah tied it a couple centuries later. Lehrer studied neuroscience at columbia university and was a rhodes scholar. The second is jonahs inability to reconcile yhwhs justice with his mercy. Description in all you do uses affiliate links within its posts. Jonah is commanded to go east to nineveh but flees toward the westernmost possible point 1. He has a nonadopted sister who is a year younger than him, named katherine. This was a time when the assyrian empire was reaching its most powerful. Jonah, ruth, and esther cliffsnotes study guides book. If thats the case, he must have had a moment of clarity after the events took place. Although the book is written in the third person, the traditional view is that jonah is the author of the book, and there is no persuasive reason to theorize about an unknown author.
Jonah is the central character in the book of jonah, in which god commands him to go to the city of nineveh to prophesy against it for their great wickedness is come up before me, but jonah instead attempts to flee from the presence of the lord by going to jaffa and sailing to tarshish. It tells of a hebrew prophet named jonah son of amittai who is sent by god to prophesy the destruction of nineveh but tries to escape the divine mission. Jonahs displeasure at gods merciful decision, and the rebuke tendered to the impatient prophet. The story of a fish swallowing a man and the man living sounds impossible, and since most liberal scholars deny the possibility of the supernatural, they reject the book of jonah as anything but a fairy tale. They were the great tyrants of the middle east, the persecutors of israel, an ungodly mob fully deserving of his gods wrath. During the time of the minor prophets, the nation of israel had divided into two separate countries, each with its own government. Disobedience and revival are the key themes in this book. Jonah is identified as a prophet and servant of god during the reign of king jeroboam ii of israel 2 kings 14. The bible says that jonah walked for 3 days just to get to the center of the city. Hiking atlantas hidden forests introduced me to some really good new trails that are close to the city. Firstly, jonah had every good reason he thought to wish gods judgment on the ninevites. He is thirteen years old and is the adopted son of linda and michael skidmore. Readers also added detail to jonahs vague depiction of nineveh.
In the book of jonah, two problems keep the prophet from fully enjoying and freely sharing divine mercy. But jonah still holds to his hope that god will blast the city. Jonah synonyms, jonah pronunciation, jonah translation, english dictionary definition of jonah. This makes jonah one of the few prophets who hailed from the northern kingdom of israel. T he book of jonah is an old testament story which tells about how the prophet jonah refused to follow the lord. He spoke of a god free from any partners, sons, daughters or co equals and implored the people to stop worshipping idols and engaging. Based around 780 bc, the book of jonah is written during the time of reign of jeroboam 11. Some critics have sought to interpret the book as a parable or allegory, and not as a history. Through some supernatural events, god convinced him to obey and carry out the lords plan. Listen to chuck swindolls overview of jonah in his audio message from the classic series gods masterwork. I also like that the author describes the trail and its details well enough to choose a hike.
Jonah skidmore is playing basketball with his best friend, chip winston, when he receives a mysterious letter saying that he is one of the missing. Your voice is all i hear by leah scheier goodreads. The purpose of this book is to show that god is a merciful and gracious god. The book is named after its principal character, whose name means dove. Historical background and summary of the book of jonah in easy to study bible survey format. Historian bill cooper recently helped answer this question in his 2012 book the authenticity of the book of jonah. Normally when i post ragey goodreads updates, that means im just about ready to dnf a book. This book of jonah, though it be placed here in the midst of the prophetical books of scripture, is yet rather a history than a prophecy. Your voice is all i hear is a book that beautifully and realistically portrays schizophrenia. The story of jonah being swallowed by a whale and living has been pointed to by skeptics of the bibl. Watch our overview video on the book of jonah, which breaks down the literary design of the book and its flow of thought.
The main theme of the book of jonah is gods sovereignty over all people and his divine plan to extend his gift of mercy and salvation beyond israel to include the gentile nations. During jonahs years as a prophet, israel stood tall. May 03, 2016 jonah berger is a marketing professor at the wharton school at the university of pennsylvania and internationally bestselling author of contagious, invisible influence, and the catalyst. The story of the prophet jonah is recorded in the book of jonah, which is part of the bible, and is read in the synagogue every year on the day of atonement.
Jonah has only four chapters, which makes it easy to outline the book chapterbychapter. The book of jonah is unique among the books of the prophets. Unlike other old testament prophetic books, jonah is not a collection of the prophets oracles but primarily a narrative about the man. Yonah is a strange prophet, and sefer yonah the book of jonah a strange book. Your voice is all i hear is that kind of book that successfully catches my attention at the first sight. In the new testament, no other old testament prophet is named by jesus more than the prophet jonah. As is the case with all the prophets of god jonah came to nineveh to call the people to worship one god. The language, style, and theology of the book of jonah suggest that it was most likely written between 450 and 300 bc. The writer of this article has attempted to do this in stades zeitschrift, 1892, pp. Hes a worldrenowned expert on social influence, word of mouth, and why products, ideas, and behaviors catch on and has published over 50 papers in toptier. Did a fish, whale, or something else swallow the prophet jonah.
The book of jonah is a book of the neviim prophets in the hebrew bible. Most prophetic books record the messages of the prophet, but in jonah the only prophetic message is five words in 3. This book professes to give an account of what actually took place in the experience of the prophet. Biblical jonah visits nineveh the evil city ancient pages. Product description in jonah, superbook takes joy, chris, and gizmo to meet jonah, who is swallowed by a great fish as he resists gods plan to show mercy to wicked people. Whereas neither kings nor the book of jonah ever applies the title prophet to jonah, josephus does so a total of. The book of jonah, written primarily in the third person, does not explicitly name the prophet as the author of his own account, but we have no reason to doubt either the inspiration or the historical veracity of the book.
He is the central figure of the book of jonah, in which he is called upon by god to travel to nineveh and warn its residents of impending divine wrath. This discovery puts it at odds with the biblical description found in the book of jonah. The book of jonah was likely written between 793 and 758 b. Jonah is the central character in the book of jonah, in which god commands him to go to the city of nineveh to prophesy against it for their great wickedness is come up before me, but jonah instead attempts to flee from the presence of the lord by going to jaffa sometimes transliterated as joppa or joppe, and sailing to tarshish.
The history of jonah may well be regarded as a part of that great onward movement which was before the law and under the law. This summary of the book of jonah provides information about the title, author s, date of writing, chronology, theme, theology, outline, a brief overview, and the chapters of the book of jonah. The old testament book of jonah, contains four chapters, and fortyeight verses. The book of jonah reveals, among other things, that god is more willing to forgive others than we o. Unknown except that his father was a man named amittai when and where he lived. The children learn to show gods forgiveness even to those who dont deserve it. It is one of trei asar the twelve prophets in the tanakh, and in christian tradition as oi dodeka prophetai or ton dodekapropheton, greek for the twelve prophets. In this final study of the book of jonah, you will learn what the book of jonah is all about. Zondervan exegetical commentary on the old testament.
But god told jonah that god cares about the people from every nation. Key personalities include jonah, the captain and the ships crew and the people of nineveh. The book tells the story of the prophet jonah, who was called by god to go to the heathen city of nineveh, which god would soon destroy if they did not repent. In the midst of the obscure prophecies before and after this book, wherein. Jonah or jonas, in the hebrew bible tanakhold testament, is a prophet of the northern kingdom of israel in about the 8th century bce. Unlike other old testament prophetic books, jonah is not a collection of the prophets oracles but primarily a.
In jonah, superbook takes joy, chris, and gizmo to meet jonah, who is swallowed by a great fish as he resists gods plan to show mercy to wicked people. Nineveh was the main city of the assyrians who were the enemies of jonahs country of israel. This book has an almost entirely narrative content. Israel, the northern country consisting of ten tribes, and judah, the remaining two tribes in the south. It is an important book to both religious traditions christianity and jewish. Though many question the veracity of the story of jonah being swallowed by a whale and living, the b. So instead, jonah ran away from god and went in a ship towards. Jonahs experience in the belly of the whale provides him with a unique opportunity.
It would be presumptuous to think that one could, in a brief article, speak the final word on the questions in debate. Jonah a book in the old testament that tells the story of jonah and the whale. Jonah, book of webbible encyclopedia christiananswers. Nov 09, 2018 so far, archaeology has uncovered about 1700 acres of this once great city and has shown that the citys circumference was about 7. The theme of repentance nominates it for being read on. The book of jonah the new english translation net jonah tries to run from the lord 1. He knows the lord has been faithful to the israelites and to him as an individual. The narratives conclusion reveals an even deeper problem. If youre big on mental illness in ya, definitely give this book a shot. He is eventually thrown away by the ships crew in the. Introduction jonah is one of the most ridiculed books by liberal scholars. Thereafter, he built a media career that integrated science and humanities content to address broad aspects of human behaviour. Caught in a storm, he orders the ships crew to cast him overboard.
Jonah character bible study background and lessons name. Nineveh was spared after jonahs mission for more than a century. While jonah eventually did what he was asked to do, the book closes with showing jonah as a bitter man. It is possible that jonah, like job, was written andor expanded by a sage to teach a theological truth i. Set in the reign of jeroboam ii 786746 bc, it was probably written in the postexilic period, some time between the late 5th to early 4th century bc. Jonah is traditionally credited as the author of the book named after him. The name jonah means dove in hebrew, but jonahs character is anything but dovelike. Jonah skidmore is the main protagonist in the missing series. So he goes a safe distance outside of town and pulls up his lawn chair to watch the fireworks 4. This little roll of four short chapters has given rise to almost as much discussion and difference of opinion as the first four chapters of genesis. The book of jonah is an old testament story which tells about how the prophet jonah refused to follow the lord. The story, about a prophet named jonah, was written to criticize and rebuke the narrow spirit of nationalism that jonah observed among so many of the jewish people. Book of jonah overview insight for living ministries. The descriptions are helpful and i like that he points out notable trees.
The book of jonah is the fifth book in the christian canons and the jewish tanakh. In the bible, a prophet who was swallowed by a great fish and disgorged unharmed three days later. The first is jonahs inability to reconcile yhwhs concern for nations hostile to israel with his election of israel. The book of jonah is narrative history and a prophetic oracle. Jonah understands the lords character, his merciful history.