In the book of Jonah, the prophet is commanded by God to go to Nineveh, but he chooses to flee in the opposite direction. As a result, he faces a storm at sea and is swallowed by a great fish, symbolizing a form of divine intervention or correction. Eventually, he fulfills his mission. Can some of the difficulties or losses that believers experience in life be attributed to them having strayed from the specific purpose or calling God has placed on their lives, similar to Jonah’s situation? - Are there theological or denominational views that support or reject this idea? - How does the New Testament handle this concept, especially in the context of grace and free will? - Are there examples besides Jonah where people faced hardship because of ignoring God’s will?

Were the Pharisees being sarcastic in John 7:52, when they claimed that "no prophet ever came out of Galilee"? It is written that Jonah came from Gath-hepher, in Galilee (2 Kings 14:25).

There are two mentions of Jonah prophesying in the Bible, once in 2 Kings and once in Jonah. Were those two seperate prophecies for two seperate kings? I am curious if both passages refer too the same prophecy or if there were two seperate prophecies which did not come to pass. I have always been told that Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh because he despised Nineveh and wanted to see it destroyed. I am wondering if it could be accurate to theorize that part of the reason Jonah fled is because his pride was hurt as a result of unfulfilled prophesy and he did not want to be proven wrong again? Jonah 4:2

If this is true, then Jonah prophesied that which did not come to pass, good favor from the Lord to Jeroboam. Then Amos 6:13-14 reverses this word of favor upon the evil king. So does this give us some insight to Jonah's character or is this another Jonah?

The prophet Jonah is a recognized saint in the Catholic Church and venerated as a saint among other denominations, too. In scripture, when Old Testament figures sin mortally and then repent and are later blessed, we get a very clear picture of the repentance in the text itself. For instance, Jude repents of his affair with his daughter in law and later receives his father's blessing. He was fourth in line. He receives his father's blessing because his three elder brothers committed sins for which they did not repent (at least, they do not repent in scripture, and presumably not before Israel passes on his blessing). David's repentance in his story is also evident in the text. Jonah is a different case. Jonah does repent of one sin. After he refuses God's call and faces a chastisement from God for that, he repents and does what God is calling him to. But, after he sees Nineveh repent, he lashes out at God and goes off to sulk in his hatred for the Ninevites. God tries to teach him another lesson with a plant, but this one seems to go unlearned. Jonah responds to this lesson by telling God that his own (Jonah's) anger is justified, and indeed that he is angry enough to die. God explains the point of the lesson to Jonah, and the text ends there. So Jonah has very clearly committed two grave sins that he hasn't repented of by the end of the text: he has hated his neighbor (he wants to see Ninevites face the wrath of God, even though they repented) and he has willed his own death out of anger, even if he doesn't take his own life. Alternatively, he has been prideful with God, if you read him as exaggerating to make a "point" to God and not actually wanting to die. In light of this, I want to know if there is any tradition that would support the idea that Jonah repented (besides merely his veneration as a Saint). Apocryphal texts, pre-christian Jewish traditions, anything that would hint at his re-conversion.

I've heard from a friend a theory claiming Jonah died in the whale's belly and then he was raised from the dead to preach to the Ninevites. He told me it is based on those verses: > "He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, > and he answered me. From **deep in the realm of the dead** I called for help, > and you listened to my cry." > *([Jonah 2:2](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=jonah+2%3A2&version=NIV) , NIV)* > "He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But > none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as > Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so > the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the > earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this > generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of > Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here." > *([Matthew 12:39:41](https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mat+12%3A39-41&version=NIV) , NIV)* I told him I don't agree with his theory because Jonah prayed inside the whale, but he was inflexible. Also, here is an answer to raise this issue: https://christianity.stackexchange.com/questions/4868/jonah-and-the-whale-is-there-any-scientific-proof-that-it-is-possible-to-survi/4876#4876 I would especially like to hear answers from a Pentecostal perspective.

We read at Jonah 1: 5-6: > Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. The captain came and said to him, “What are you doing sound asleep? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.” We also read at Mtt 8:23-25: > And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” Elsewhere, we see Jesus comparing himself with Jonah, at Mtt 12: 39-40: > But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so for three days and three nights the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth." One sees a strange similarity between the sleep of Jonah on board the ship and that of the Lord in the boat in that both are fast asleep when the world around is in trouble, and both are woken up by the ones in trouble. My question therefore is: **Has the Catholic Church drawn a parallel between the sleep of Jonah on board the ship and that of Jesus in the boat?**

I came across an article on the FAIR Mormon wiki that discusses the prophetic test (Deut. 18) . It applies the test on some Biblical prophets, and shows how someone could claim these prophets fail the test. The one I find interesting is Jonah's prophecy against Nineveh: > [**Jonah 3 (ESV)**](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%203&version=ESV) > 1 Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you." 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" What did happen was that the people of Nineveh repented and God did not destroy the city: > 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. I'm interested in the Protestant answers to the following questions: - How does this fit with Deut. 18, where God says that if the word of a prophet doesn't come to pass, it's not from the Lord? - Should the inhabitants of Nineveh have considered Jonah as a false prophet? - Should we consider Jonah as a false prophet? For reference, the passage from Deuteronomy: > [**Deuteronomy 18:20-22 (ESV)**](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%2018:20-22&version=ESV) > 20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.' 21 And if you say in your heart, 'How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?'— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

>The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” 3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord. (Jonah 1:1-3. NIV) It does not say in the text how the word was delivered to Jonah. Can someone explain to me how he received the word. Was it through a vision, dream or direcly from mouth of God? Are there any Christian Traditions that explore this subject.

I was reading the book of Nahum and it was speaking about Nineveh. Is the book of Nahum foretelling the destruction of Nineveh, for which the people of Nineveh averted by repenting of their sins, or is Nahum talking about an event that happened after Jonah's time?

I'm reading through the book of Jonah, and in an historical context it doesn't make much sense to me. Nineveh was part of Assyrian empire. It practised Ashurism focused on worship of of Ashur and Inanna. When God sent Jonah to Nineveh I expected the response to be something like: > "Who is the LORD, that I should obey him ..." Exodus 5:2 Assyrians are also said to have practised homosexuality, which was contrary to Judaism. To me it seems unlikely that an entire city would abandon their religion and established customs instantly on the words of an unknown man calling himself a prophet of some foreign religion. Is the book of Jonah describing a historical event?

Studying about "sleep" in the Bible I came across some passages and found out that the story of Jonah and Jesus in boats are quite similar. > And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the ship was covered with the waves: but he [Jesus] was asleep. (Matthew 8:24 ) And > But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. [...] But Jonah [...] was fast asleep. (Jonah 1:4-5 ) I wonder if: - Are there published commentaries that relates this two stories? - If so, what is the commentator insight on relating those two? (Specially devotional insights) ------------------ A answer quality will be measured by the quantity of commentaries with a *contundent insight* from the part of the commentator. *A contundent insight, for this question, is a relation between the two texts that goes beyond the obvious: "the passages are similar".*

In Jonah 4:9 we read a dialog between God and Jonah: > But God said to Jonah, Do you have a right to be angry about the vine? > I do, he said. I am angry enough to die. But the LORD said, You have > been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it > grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more > than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right > hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be > concerned about that great city? How did the author of this passage know the exact conversation?

> The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great > city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come > up before me.” But **Jonah ran away from the Lord** and headed for > Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that > port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and **sailed for Tarshish to > flee from the Lord**. (Jonah 1:3 , NIV) Was Jonah **stupid** enough to think that God(YHWH) doesn't exist beyond the boundaries of Israel? What exactly was Jonah trying to do when he sailed away from Israel?

The book of Jonah records that Jonah spent three days in the belly of a great fish (possibly a whale). > And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was > in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Jonah 1:17 ESV Is there any scientific evidence that suggests it is possible for a person to survive in the belly of a whale, or are we left to conclude that this was part of the miracle?