Look Up: 35 Days to Finding Hope in Dark Placesಮಾದರಿ

The book of Jonah is the fifth of 12 Old Testament books that bear the names of the Minor Prophets. Unlike other Old Testament prophetic books, Jonah is not a collection of the prophet’s oracles but primarily a narrative about the man.

Jonah, son of Amittai, is an uncooperative prophet who flees from God’s call to prophesy against the wickedness of the city of Nineveh. 

Fun fact: His lineage identifies him with the Jonah mentioned in II Kings 14:25 who prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II, about 785 BC. 

Jonah, like many Jews of the day, abhors even the idea of salvation for the Gentiles. God chastises him for his attitude, and the book affirms that God’s mercy extends even to the inhabitants of a hated foreign city. Jonah feels about Nineveh the same way the author of the Book of Nahum does—that the city must inevitably fall because of God’s judgment against it. Aka Jonah does not want to prophesy, because Nineveh might repent and thereby be saved. 

This week, we're going to spend time studying the life of Jonah and the "pit" of failure.