Jonah: A Prophet
This minor prophetic book is unique among all the books of God’s Prophets in that the theme of the book is more about the Prophet, the man than it is about the message that God gives to that man.
Because this small book tells of a man being swallowed by a great fish, many scholars have dismissed the book of Jonah as a myth … as fiction. Unfortunately, one traditional way to study this book of prophecy is as an allegory or even a parable. The Book of Job has been studied this way as a piece of great ancient literature.
But I think the best way to study the book of Jonah is:
First from history. We must acknowledge that Jonah was a historical biblical figure, not a mythical character. This story is set in real cities with real names and it is set at a specific time in history.
The second is from the Christological & Soteriological message. Intellectual honesty demands that we view Jesus’ treatment of this story of Jonah as historical [Matthew 12:40-41 & Luke 11:30-32] If Jesus took this small book of prophecy seriously, should we not do the same? He mentioned the ‘sign of Jonah’ as the key truth of HIS salvation.
