Bible Character Explorer
Divided Monarchy • c. 8th century BC
Jonah
The Reluctant ProphetThe prophet who fled from God's call and resented God's mercy toward Nineveh
"But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord... I know that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness."
Jonah 1:3; 4:2 (KJV)
Overview
Jonah was a prophet of Israel sent by God to warn Nineveh, the brutal capital of Assyria, Israel's enemy, of coming judgment. Rather than obey, Jonah fled in the opposite direction by ship, was swallowed by a great fish after being thrown overboard, and was given a second chance to obey. When Nineveh repented and God relented from judgment, Jonah responded not with joy but with bitter anger, revealing a heart resistant to God's mercy toward those he considered undeserving.
Gospel Connection
Jesus explicitly identified Jonah's three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish as the sign of his own coming death, burial, and resurrection after three days. Jesus also noted that the men of Nineveh repented at Jonah's preaching, yet 'a greater than Jonah is here,' pointing to himself as one whose message and person demand a far greater response than Nineveh's. Jonah's resentment of God's mercy toward Gentiles anticipates the later tension in the early church over including Gentiles in the gospel, a tension Paul addressed at length, insisting that God's mercy was always intended to reach every nation.
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See how this life points to Christ in the Gospel Connection section above.
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