Jonah was the son of Amittai, of Gath-hepher in Galilee. It was probably because of the Gentile mission to which Jonah was separated that led the ecclesiastical heads of Israel in Christ's day to a convenient forgetfulness that a prophet had arisen out of Galilee (John 7:5252They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet. (John 7:52)). This book is one of the earliest among the prophetic writings. We may not be able to determine with certainty that Jonah was contemporary with Elisha, the prophet of grace to guilty Israel; but we are safe in affirming that he must have nearly succeeded him. This we gather in an incidental way from 2 Kings 14:2525He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gath-hepher. (2 Kings 14:25), in which we are told that Jeroboam II recovered from the Syrians certain territory bordering on the Mediterranean, formerly belonging to Israel. This was in accordance with a prediction uttered by Jonah some time before.
Jonah's unwillingness to undertake the mission of judgment to the great Gentile metropolis, reminds us of Peter's unwillingness to bear a message of grace to the Gentiles in his day (Acts 10;11). Both the prophet and the apostle were thoroughly Jewish, and both had to be taught the lesson (and we through them) that God is sovereign in His actions, and that when it pleaseth Him to go out of the ordinary ways and channels in the exercise of a wisdom altogether His own, neither saint nor servant must say unto Him "What doest thou?" The mission of the prophet Jonah was certainly an extraordinary one. Assyria was at that time the mistress of the world, and Nineveh, her proud, wicked, and exceedingly strong and large city, was to be destroyed in 40 days, which would, of course, involve the destruction of the empire. Such was the Divine threat. But when God threatens, it is with a view to repentance. The king to the meanest of his subjects humbled themselves before God; proclaimed a fast; cried mightily to God and turned from their wickedness. On the repentance of the people, God graciously turned from His purpose, and Nineveh was spared for about a century and a half, when Nahum was commissioned to announce its total destruction. God's ways with the Ninevites afford us valuable insight into His public and governmental dealings.
The personal history of the prophet too—which occupies the greater part of the book—is exceedingly instructive to the servant of the grace and glory of God. Jonah's disappointment at the sparing of the city and people of Nineveh, because his credit as a prophet was at stake, is a lesson worth pondering by all serving the master. Jonah, away from God, was the source of trouble to all in the ship; on his account, Jehovah caused a "mighty tempest in the sea," and the destruction of the poor ignorant Gentile mariners was imminent. This will be remarkably verified in the coming crisis. The Jew will be the occasion of judgment to the Gentiles in the latter days of their history. "The Eastern Question" will have to be solved and settled in connection with Judah's land and people (Zech. 14); and while, in the first place, the Jew will be the occasion of judgment to the nations, when received into Divine favor and blessing, she will become the source and channel of universal blessing, "And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Jonah is also in some respects a type of the blessed Lord, first in death, then in resurrection, and then, as now, in testimony to the world (compare Jonah 2 with Matt. 12:39-4139But 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: 40For 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. 41The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. (Matthew 12:39‑41))
GENERAL DIVISIONS.
1.-The Divine commission to destroy Nineveh. The prophet, instead of going eastward to execute the Divine command, went westward to flee from the presence of the Lord. Jonah turns from himself in the fish's belly to the Lord, saying, "Salvation is of the Lord." Jonah 1, 2.
2.-The second commission to destroy the city. The people's repentance and the prophet's great disappointment at the exceeding grace of God in averting the threatened judgment, because his word apparently comes to naught, and his credit as a prophet seriously imperiled. Jonah 3, 4.
NOTE.
What is the moral value to the Christian in discussing the capabilities of existing aquatic animals of swallowing a man? The pen of Divine inspiration has written these words: " Now the Lord had PREPARED a great fish to swallow up Jonah " Whether by immediate creation or by an existing species we are not informed, but surely the word of the Lord is enough, and as if to rebuke the daring unbelief of this century, Jesus Himself reaffirms the statement of the fact (Matt. 12:4040For 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. (Matthew 12:40)).