Jonah

Jonah is unique among the Minor Prophets: instead of a collection of oracles, it is a story about the prophet himself. Jonah the son of Amittai, a prophet from Gath-hepher in Israel mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25, ministered in the days of Jeroboam II. Traditionally the book has been attributed to Jonah himself. God commands him to go to Nineveh, the great capital of Assyria and enemy of Israel, and cry against its wickedness. Jonah instead boards a ship for Tarshish, fleeing in the opposite direction from the presence of the LORD.

The famous chain of events follows: a great storm, Jonah cast into the sea, and a great fish prepared by the LORD to swallow him for three days and three nights. From the fish's belly Jonah prays, and the fish vomits him onto dry land. Given his commission a second time, Jonah preaches to Nineveh, and the whole city, from the king down, repents in sackcloth. God spares the city, and Jonah is angry, sitting outside the city under a gourd that God grows and then withers to teach him a lesson.

Jonah's message is that God's compassion is wider than His people's prejudices. The prophet knew God was gracious, merciful, and slow to anger, and resented that mercy being shown to Assyrians. The book closes on God's question about pitying Nineveh's thousands. Jesus pointed to Jonah's three days in the fish as the sign of His own death and resurrection.