Who wrote the book of Jonah? Who was the author of Jonah?

Apart from the inspiration of the Spirit of God, the very existence of the Book of Jonah is difficult to understand. That a highly conservative people, who were accustomed to look down with contempt upon the uncircumcised, should admit such a book as Jonah's into the Sacred Canon is proof that it was given by God. However distasteful its contents might be to their prejudiced minds. Israel regarded the book as divinely authoritative.

No one could have written the Book of Jonah but the prophet whose name it bears. Another might conceivably have told of his mission to Nineveh and its amazing results; but who but himself could have told of his conversation aboard ship, or who could have given the very words of his prayer to Jehovah in the fish's belly, and of his peevish complaints afterwards, and the gracious remonstrances of God with him? In some later period in his life, when he had learned his lesson, Jonah was guided by the Holy Spirit to write his most interesting story, which reflects the deepest discredit upon the prophet himself, while containing the most wholesome instruction for all who seek to witness for God in any age. Surely no more frank confession of grievous faults was ever published!

As to its authorship, who else could have written it but the man who had been converted by the experiences recorded in it? That he was an historical character and a prophet of God our Lord quietly asserts, giving at the same time all the august weight of His word to the two most extraordinary happenings recorded in the book.

As to Jonah himself, we know his father's name, his home, his profession, his success therein, and the times when he lived.

The question as to the reality of the person of Jonah is answered by 2 Kings 14:25. In this passage we find him mentioned as the prophet who prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II. His name means "dove," and his father's name Amittai means "the truth of the Lord." He was from "Gath-Hepher"--the winepress of the well is the meaning of these two words. Thus Jonah also belongs to the earlier prophets and the book bearing his name, written by himself, occupies the right place in the Old Testament. A Jewish tradition states that Jonah was the son of the widow at Zarephath, whom Elijah raised to life; but this is only an invention with no evidence whatever.

We may hope that Jonah humbled himself ere being used by the Spirit to write his own history — a history which shows what the heart of even a servant of God was, and the means employed by God to teach him. Jonah is once spoken of elsewhere as having prophesied of events which came to pass in the days of Jeroboam 2. This places Jonah as one of the earliest of the Minor Prophets. 2 Kings 14:25. He is called JONAS in the N.T. where a contrast is drawn between the Ninevites repenting at the preaching of Jonah, and the Jews not repenting though a greater than Jonah was then among them. Allusion is also made to Jonah being in the fish's belly as a type of the Lord's burial 'in the heart of the earth.' Matt. 12:39-41; Matt. 16:4; Luke 11:29-32.

The simple fact, that the prophet himself wrote this book, thus recording his own sin and shame, proves how thoroughly not only his will but also his heart had been broken, softened and humbled under the sense of the grace of such a God. For true as it is, that the account written by him was indited by the Holy Ghost, this in no way impairs the beautiful significance of that fact; for we may rest assured that the Spirit of God, Who might have chosen any other servant of God for penning that account, would not have employed the prophet Jonah for writing this portion of Holy Writ, so full of instruction within so small a compass, had not the prophet been in that condition of soul, which God in His own school had intended to produce in His servant.

May we too receive the instruction which God intends for us also, for the things that happened to Jonah, the prophet, "are written for our admonition."

We believe it was Jonah's own hand that wrote the little book that bears his name, for we cannot suppose it was any other: it would not be like Jonah's Master to allow another servant to so openly disclose the faults and failings of a fellow-servant. If this be so, we may see how deeply Jonah learned, before the end of his journey, to take all these things from the hand of God; and what gratitude must have risen up in his heart at the tender care of his God for him. Who else would take the trouble specially to prepare a worm on purpose for himself, to teach himself a greatly needed lesson? So, I suppose, at the end of our journey, when we reach the place our Lord is preparing for us, our hearts will rise up in gratitude, not alone for that prepared place, but for all His tender care along the way, for the worms, or what we now term the "misfortunes," as well as for the gourds, or what we now call "the blessings" — both alike, are specially prepared for us. Then we will be able to say, He led us by the skilfulness of His hands (Psalm 78:72), and with wonder and thanksgiving we will admire the things those skilful hands are preparing for us now.

If Jonah himself wrote this little Book that bears his name, we may easily understand and appreciate the absence of the title "prophet" in this Book. We can also understand and appreciate the fact that God takes care that another writer shall put upon him that honorable title that his own hand would not take. The Lord Jesus Himself delights to honor Jonah with this title. (Matt. 12:39, etc.)

Now in regard to Jonah and his sojourn in the fish's belly, we ask, "From whom have we received the story? Who is the author of it?" In reality, everything turns upon this. I could believe the most extraordinary story if it were related to me by one in whom I had full confidence; while I might be dubious concerning the simplest narrative if brought to me by a person upon whose word I could not rely. Who, then, is the author of the story, of Jonah? The answer is really very simple — the Holy Spirit of God is the author of it (whoever the penman), as of all else in Scripture. This statement may evoke a smile on the part of some in these days of widespread unbelief, but it is true, nevertheless. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God" (2 Tim. 3:16). "Men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:21). These statements, while perfectly true of the whole canon of Scripture, have special reference to the Old Testament (and, let us remember, Jonah is an Old Testament book). The 39 books which begin with Genesis and end with Malachi were in the hands of the Jewish people in their complete form long before the Son of God entered the world. They never confounded the Apocrypha nor any other writings with the sacred books. The Lord Jesus frequently endorsed the Jewish canon in its threefold division, " the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms" (Luke 24:44), and has thus made Himself personally responsible for it before all the world.

It was written by the prophet.

The book of the prophet Jonah stands alone. Its peculiarity is that it does not contain a single prophecy. There is the message to Nineveh — if that can be termed a prophecy — but beyond this there is no record of what Jonah was used to communicate. That he did fulfil his office is plain from a solitary statement in 2 Kings. There we read that Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, "restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He spake by the hand of His servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher." (2 Kings 14:25.) Nothing else has been preserved; for when we examine the book we discover that its instruction lies in Jonah's personal history, or rather in his conduct, when commissioned by Jehovah to go and cry against Nineveh, because its wickedness had come up before Him. The book therefore has, we might say, a parabolical character — Jonah, both in his unfaithfulness and when under judgment because of it, being taken up and used for typical instruction. It is this feature which has made the book in all ages so full of interest in its various applications. The facts are very simple and familiar. Sent of the Lord to preach against Nineveh, Jonah fled, and going down to Joppa, and finding a ship about to sail for Tarshish, he paid his fare, and embarked "to go with them unto Tarshish, from the presence of the Lord." Such was the vain thought of the prophet, as it is often the foolish thought still even of many of the children of God. The Lord sent out a storm upon the sea, so that the ship was nearly wrecked. Brought face to face with death, the sailors in their terror cried every man to his god, and attempted by throwing overboard their cargo to lighten the ship. All this time Jonah, on whose account this "mighty tempest" had arisen, with strange insensibility, was lying fast asleep. The captain aroused him to a sense of their danger by the solemn words, "What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not." The crew then proceeded to cast lots, having a kind of instinct — awakened, no doubt, by divine power — that the storm was occasioned by some sinner amongst their number. God was behind the scene, and, directing the lot, it fell upon Jonah. They then demanded of him the cause of the evil that had fallen upon them, his occupation, whence he came, his country and his people. Jonah told them all the truth, and even that he had fled from the presence of the Lord. They were smitten with fear when they heard that God was dealing with them on account of the prophet, and they asked what was to be done. Jonah at once replied that the only way of safety for them was to cast him overboard. With real kindliness of heart they were unwilling to do this, and laboured hard to bring the vessel to land. But it could not be; and thus, after they had prayed that they might not incur the guilt of innocent blood, they took Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea. The effect was instantaneous; the sea ceased from her raging, and they, impressed by what they had seen, feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. More than this, the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.