When I was young, we often heard the story of Jonah and the whale. We even sang a chorus about it. Singing always helps us to remember Bible stories. However, there is more to this account than Jonah and a big fish. The book shows us that God controls everything. He not only prepared a fish and gave it instructions, but a wind, a storm, the heat of the sun, a plant, another wind, a worm and so on.
His name, Yonah in Hebrew is the word for ‘dove’. Jewish tradition says he was the son of the widow of Zarephath, whom Elijah raised from the dead (see 1 Kings 17). Jonah was a contemporary of Jeroboam II (782-753 BC) after Elisha and just before the time of Amos and Hosea. By the time of Jonah, Assyrian cruelty had become well-known. Someone has observed that the story of Jonah is the clearest demonstration of God’s love and mercy in the Scriptures, and perhaps the greatest revival in that the entire city of Nineveh, a Gentile nation, cried out to God. It is interesting that everything obeys God except Jonah.
