Jonah, the son of Amittai, was a Galilean, a native of Gath-hepher, which is believed to be the same as Jotapata, celebrated for the siege which Josephus, the historian, there maintained against the Roman army, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem. Gath-hepher was situated in the land of Zebulon. St. Jerome places it two miles from Sepphoris, in the way towards Tiberias.

What we know with certainty of Jonah is that, God having commanded him to go to Nineveh, and there proclaim that the cry of the inhabitants� sins was come up to heaven, and they were threatened with approaching ruin; instead of obeying these orders, he resolved to flee away. For this purpose he embarked at Joppa. But the Lord having sent a violent tempest while he was upon the sea, the mariners, with great fear, cried each of them to his god. In the meantime Jonah slept in the hold; whereupon the pilot wakened him, and they who were in the ship cast lots to know how this tempest was occasioned. The lot falling upon Jonah, they asked him who he was, and what he had done to bring upon them such a storm. He told them he was a Hebrew; that he worshipped the God of heaven, was one of His prophets, and fled from His presence to avoid going to Nineveh, whither he was sent. They asked him what was to be done to secure them from shipwreck? He replied: "Throw me into the sea, and the tempest will cease."

God prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. The prophet continued in the fish three days and three nights. He cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard him, and commanded the fish to cast him upon the shore.

After this the word of the Lord came a second time to Jonah, and directed him to go to Nineveh. When he came into the city, which was three days' journey in extent, about twenty-five leagues in circumference, Jonah walked up and down a whole day, crying out, "In forty days Nineveh shall be destroyed.� The Ninevites believed his word; they appointed a public fast to be observed; and, from the meanest of the people to the greatest, covered themselves with sackcloth. The king of Nineveh descended from his throne, and covered himself with sackcloth. and sat down upon ashes. God suffered himself to be moved with their repentance, and did not execute the sentence which He had pronounced against them.

Jonah was afflicted at this; and complained to God, saying, that he had always questioned whether, as being a God of clemency and mercy, He would not be flexible to their prayers. After this, in all probability, Jonah returned from Nineveh into Judæa.

We do not know when it was that Jonah foretold how Jeroboam II., king of Israel, should restore the kingdom of Samaria to its former extent, from the entrance of Hamath to the Dead Sea. Whether this was before or after his going to Nineveh, we cannot tell.

Our Savior makes mention of Jonah in the Gospels. He says that the Ninevites shall one day rise in judgment against the Jews, and condemn them, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and the Jews would not hearken to Him who was greater than Jonah. And when the Pharisees required a sign of Him to prove His mission, He said He would give them no other than that of the prophet Jonah, that is to say, of His resurrection.

Jonah 1:1. Where and When Did Jonah Live?

"We know little of the life of Jonah, but that little is more than we know about some of the other prophets discussed in this volume. In the first verse of the book under his name he is said to be 'the son of Amittai.' But the Book of Jonah is not the only Old Testament book in which he is mentioned. In 2 Kings 14:25 we are told that Jeroboam II, king of Israel, '... restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath unto the sea of Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by the hand of His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher.'

"There can be little doubt, therefore, that Jonah was a historical person and was engaged in prophetic activities. The prophet's home, Gath-hepher, according to Joshua 19:10-13, was located in the territory of the tribe of Zebulun. According to monastic tradition it was the same as the present Arab village of El-Meshed, some three miles northeast of Nazareth, where one of the many Moslem tombs of Nebi Yunus, the Prophet Jonah, is pointed out. St. Jerome (circa 400 AD) also speaks of Gath-hepher as being situated two Roman miles from Sepphoris towards Tiberias.

"Jonah's name means 'dove' and that of his father 'truthful.'

"Since Jonah lived during the reign of Jeroboam, it is possible to date him at approximately 788 BC." (The Voice of Israel's Prophets, p. 326)

Both Jonah and Jesus were from the Galilee area. That Jonah's story is a true one, and not an allegory as some scholars maintain, is evidenced by 2 Kings 14:25 and three New Testament references. 'The story of Jonah was referred to by our Lord on two occasions when he was asked for a sign from heaven. In each case he gave 'the sign of the prophet Jonah,' the event in that prophet's life being a foreshadowing of Jesus' own death and resurrection (Matt. 12:39-41; 16:4; Luke 11:29-30)." (Bible Dictionary, s.v. "Jonah.")

Jonah 1:2. What was Jonah sent to do?

Jonah 1:2-3. Why Did Jonah Flee to Tarshish?

"Jonah was torn between his loyalty to God and the whip of his emotions. The latter were at a fever pitch and in the end determined his actions. Because he couldn't face the mission call, he determined to flee the country and get away from the unpleasant responsibility. He did not intend to lay down his prophetic office; he merely wanted to absent himself without leave for a time until an unpleasant situation adjusted itself." (Sperry, Voice of Israel's Prophets, pp. 328-29)

The exact location of Tarshish is unknown, but it is supposed by Adam Clarke and others that it is the same place as Tartessus in Spain, near the Straits of Gibraltar (see The Holy Bible ... with a Commentary and Critical Notes, 4:700). Whether it was there that Jonah fled or some other port on the Mediterranean, it is certain that Tarshish was in the opposite direction of Nineveh. Joppa was a significant seaport on Israel's coast in Jonah's day. From there ships sailed to points throughout the Mediterranean. Joppa is the same as the present-day city of Jaffa, beside which the modern city of Tel Aviv has grown.

Jonah 1:3. "Jonah Rose Up to Flee unto Tarshish"

Jonah was a type of Christ in that he was in the belly of the whale -- in "hell," in his own words (Jonah 2:2) -- just as Jesus was in the grave for three days, and then came forth again. C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch showed that the significance of Jonah's story is broader than that:

"The mission of Jonah was a fact of symbolical and typical importance, which was intended not only to enlighten Israel as to the position of the Gentile world in relation to the kingdom of God, but also to typify the future adoption of such of the heathen, as should observe the word of God, into the fellowship of the salvation prepared in Israel for all nations.

"As the time drew nigh when Israel was to be given up into the power of the Gentiles, and trodden down by them, on account of its stiff-necked apostasy from the Lord its God, it was very natural for the self-righteous mind of Israel to regard the Gentiles as simply enemies of the people and kingdom of God, and not only to deny their capacity for salvation, but also to interpret the prophetic announcement of the judgment coming upon the Gentiles as signifying that they were destined to utter destruction. The object of Jonah's mission to Nineveh was to combat in the most energetic manner, and practically to overthrow, a delusion which had a seeming support in the election of Israel to be the vehicle of salvation, and which stimulated the inclination to pharisaical reliance upon an outward connection with the chosen nation and a lineal descent from Abraham ... The attitude of Israel towards the design of God to show mercy to the Gentiles and grant them salvation, is depicted in the way in which Jonah acts, when he receives the divine command, and when he goes to carry it out. Jonah tries to escape from the command to proclaim the word of God in Nineveh by flight to Tarshish, because he is displeased with the display of divine mercy to the great heathen world, and because, according to ch. iv. 2, he is afraid lest the preaching of repentance should avert from Nineveh the destruction with which it is threatened. In this state of mind on the part of the prophet, there are reflected the feelings and the general state of mind of the Israelitish nation towards the Gentiles. According to his natural man, Jonah shares in this, and is thereby fitted to be the representative of Israel in its pride at its own election ... The infliction of this punishment, which falls upon him on account of his obstinate resistance to the will of God, typifies that rejection and banishment from the face of God which Israel will assuredly bring upon itself by its obstinate resistance to the divine call. But Jonah, when cast into the sea, is swallowed up by a great fish; and when he prays to the Lord in the fish's belly, he is vomited upon the land unhurt. This miracle has also a symbolical meaning for Israel. It shows that if the carnal nation, with its ungodly mind, should turn to the Lord even in the last extremity, it will be raised up again by a divine miracle from destruction to newness of life. And lastly, the manner in which God reproves the prophet, when he is angry because Nineveh has been spared (ch. iv.), is intended to set forth as in a mirror before all Israel the greatness of the divine compassion, which embraces all mankind, in order that it may reflect upon it and lay it to heart." (Commentary on the Old Testament, 10:1:383-85)

Jonah 1:4-7. What Was the Practice of Casting Lots?

Jonah 1:8-10. The Greatness of Jonah's God

Jonah 1:11-16. Jonah Suggested His Own Fate

Jonah 1:17. What happened to Jonah when he fled by ship?

Jonah 1:17. "Now the Lord Had Prepared a Great Fish"

"Are we to reject it as being an impossibility and say that the Lord could not prepare a fish, or whale, to swallow Jonah? ... Surely the Lord sits in the heavens and laughs at the wisdom of the scoffer, and then on a sudden answers his folly by a repetition of the miracle in dispute, or by the presentation of one still greater ...

"I believe, as did Mr. William J. Bryan, the story of Jonah. My chief reason for so believing is not in the fact that it is recorded in the Bible, or that the incident has been duplicated in our day, but in the fact that Jesus Christ, our Lord, believed it. The Jews sought him for a sign of his divinity. He gave them one, but not what they expected. The scoffers of his day, notwithstanding his mighty works, were incapable, because of sin, of believing.

"'He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the Prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.'" (Doctrines of Salvation, 2:314-15)

The Hebrew word taneen used in Jonah and the Greek word katos used in the New Testament describe any sea creature of immense proportion. Sharks are common to the Mediterranean and have throats sufficiently large to admit the body of a man. Of course, the miraculous nature of this event lies in the fact that Jonah could survive in the digestive tract of a large fish for three days as much as in the fact that he could be swallowed whole.

Jonah 2. Jonah Prayed to the Lord and Was Saved

Jonah 2:10. What happened when Jonah prayed to the Lord?

Jonah 3:1-3. Why Is Nineveh Called "the Great City?"

Jonah 3:4. What did Jonah prophesy?

Jonah 3:5. Why was the city saved?

Jonah 3:5-9. What Is Signified by Sackcloth and Ashes?

"A coarse, dark cloth made of hair of camels and goats and used anciently for making sacks and bags was called sackcloth. It was also used for making the rough garments worn by mourners, and so it became fixed in the prophetic mind as a symbol for sorrow and mourning. It was the custom for mourners, garbed in sackcloth, either to sprinkle ashes upon themselves or to sit in piles of ashes, thereby showing their joy had perished or been destroyed. (Gen. 37:34; Esther 4:1-3; Isa. 61:3; Jer. 6:26)

"The use of sackcloth and ashes anciently was also a token of humility and penitence. When righteous persons used the covering of sackcloth and the sprinkling of ashes to aid them in attaining the spiritual strength to commune with Deity, their usage was always accompanied by fasting and prayer. Daniel, for instance, prefaced the record of one of his great petitions to the throne of grace with this explanation: 'I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession.' (Dan. 9:3-4; Isa. 58:5; 1 Kings 21:17-29)

"Sackcloth and ashes (accompanied by the fasting, prayer, and turning to the Lord that attended their use) became a symbol of the most sincere and humble repentance." (Mormon Doctrine, p. 659)

Jonah 3:10. Does God Need to Repent?

Jonah 4:1-2. Why was Jonah displeased with the Lord?

Jonah 4:1-11. Jonah Was Displeased with the Lord

The Lord taught Jonah in a way that he could understand that all things are in His hand -- the gourd, the worm, even life itself. First, the Lord sent the dreaded east wind, which was very destructive, for it blew off the hot, dry Arabian Desert. Then the Lord caused the sun to beat upon Jonah, making him so uncomfortable that he wished for death. Once Jonah was in that position, the Lord was able to teach him the worth of souls in Nineveh. Because the thousands who lived in Nineveh were ignorant of the saving gospel principles, they could not fully "discern between their right hand and their left hand" (Jonah 4:11). Surely the Lord felt more pity for them than Jonah felt for the gourd (see Alma 26:27, 37). By means of this simple plant, the Lord taught Jonah about the way in which God loves all of His children.

Jonah 4:4-11. What did the Lord do?