It's one of the most famous stories in the Bible -- Jonah and the whale. It's a classic tale, right? Man gets called by God to preach repentance to his mortal enemies. Man rebels against God and runs in the opposite direction. Man gets thrown off a ship and swallowed by a whale, where he remains until he decides God may have been right in the first place. 

But hearing about one part of Jonah's story -- albeit a pretty famous part -- doesn't give you the complete picture on this important biblical figure.


So, let's go below the surface for some deeper information on this Old Testament prophet of God.

Historical Information

Jonah was an Israelite follower of God who lived during the first half of the 8th century B.C. He was officially a prophet, which meant he had been set apart to speak to his community about the words and the will of God. He served as a kind of spokesman responsible for God and was responsible to communicate whatever God commanded.

Today, we categorize Jonah as one of the Minor Prophets. This doesn't mean he was less important than the Major Prophets such as Isaiah or Jeremiah. Instead, it simply means his book -- the Book of Jonah -- is shorter than the books written by the major prophets.

Speaking of his book, you can click here to find a detailed Introduction to the Book of Jonah, complete with key facts and major themes. If you'd like to go deeper still, you can find summaries here for all four chapters:

• Chapter 1
• Chapter 2
• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4

Jonah spent most of his life in the northern portion of Israel, and much of his ministry came under the reign of King Jeroboam II.

However, Jonah is most famous for (eventually) preaching a message of repentance within the city of Nineveh. This city was the capital of the Assyrian Empire -- a brutal people who had conquered the Israelites and many other cultures during that time.

The conflict and mutual dislike between the Assyrians and the Israelites is one of the main reasons Jonah attempted to run from God.

Jonah and the Whale

Of course, Jonah is most famous for his unpleasant encounter with a whale in the middle of a terrible storm at sea -- or was it a fish? As I mentioned earlier, this remains a popular story in modern culture. However, it does raise a few common questions.

For example:

• Should we consider Jonah being swallowed by the whale as a historical event? Did it really happen?
• Was Jonah swallowed by a whale or a fish -- and does it matter?

While it's certainly an entertaining story, we should remember that Jonah's encounter with the whale is not the central element of his tail -- er, tale.

Instead, the primary theme of Jonah's story is the reality of God's grace to both individuals and cultures. Even though Jonah expressly disobeyed God and ran away to avoid obeying His command, God still took pains to rescue His prophet and restore him to the right path. In a similar way, though the Assyrians were a vicious people who worshiped false idols, God demonstrated extreme grace by pushing Jonah to preach the message of repentance in their midst -- and by turning aside from His wrath when the Ninevites accepted that message.