Jonah

Jonah, a prophet from Gath-hepher, was sent to preach to Nineveh.

Jonah was a prophet from Gath-hepher during the reign of Jeroboam II, king of Israel (2Ki 14:25). God called Jonah to preach against the wickedness of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria (Jon 1:1-2). Jonah fled by ship in the opposite direction to Tarshish (Jon 1:3). A storm arose and the sailors, discovering it was Jonah's fault, threw him overboard (Jon 1:4-15). God provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and he was in its belly for three days and nights (Jon 1:17). Jonah prayed, and the fish vomited him onto dry land (Jon 2:1-10). God again told Jonah to preach to Nineveh (Jon 3:1-2). Jonah obeyed, and the people repented (Jon 3:3-9). God relented of the disaster he had threatened (Jon 3:10). Jonah was angry that God spared the city (Jon 4:1-3). God caused a plant to shade Jonah, then made it wither (Jon 4:5-8). God used this to rebuke Jonah's lack of pity for Nineveh (Jon 4:9-11). Jesus compared his future burial and resurrection to Jonah's time in the fish (Mat.12.39-41, 16:4; Luk 11:29-32).

A dove, the son of Amittai of Gath-hepher. He was a prophet of Israel, and predicted the restoration of the ancient boundaries (2 Kings 14:25-27) of the kingdom. He exercised his ministry very early in the reign of Jeroboam II., and thus was contemporary with Hosea and Amos; or possibly he preceded them, and consequently may have been the very oldest of all the prophets whose writings we possess. His personal history is mainly to be gathered from the book which bears his name. It is chiefly interesting from the two-fold character in which he appears, (1) as a missionary to heathen Nineveh, and (2) as a type of the “Son of man.”