Theme - This book's prophetic elements are largely symbolized in Jonah's attitude toward the Gentile world: his unwillingness to testify to a heathen city, his anger that God spared it, and his reactions to the experiences through which God dealt with him. Typically, Jonah foreshadows the nation of Israel dispersed from its own land among the nations of the world: a trouble to the Gentiles, and yet witnessing to them; a byword and an outcast among them, but miraculously preserved; and a turning to their Jehovah-Saviour in their ultimate distress, finding deliverance, and afterwards becoming missionaries to the Gentiles.

In his personal ministry and experiences, Jonah exemplifies Christ as the Sent One, raised from the dead, and carrying salvation to the Gentile world. Jonah belonged to the Northern Kingdom of Israel and is once referred to as the prophet who predicted to Jeroboam II his triumph over Syria (2 Kings 14:25). He belongs, therefore, among the earlier prophets of the Old Testament. The historicity of Jonah's life and experiences are vouched for by Jesus Christ himself, and his preservation in the great fish is given as a sign of Christ's own entombment and resurrection (Matt. 12:39-41).

Outline - The chapter divisions form an excellent basis of analysis: I. The Prophet's Commission, Disobedience, and Punishment (1) II. The Prophet's Prayer and Rescue (2) III. Jonah's Second Commission (3) IV. Jonah's Anger at Nineveh's Salvation and God's Mercy to Him (4)