Word of Truth Fellowship

Praise Him!

Today we began a brand-new journey through one of the most misunderstood, most preached-on, and (sadly) most cartoon-ified books in the entire Bible: the book of Jonah (or Yona — יוֹנָה — with a Y).

Let’s clear the water right from the start: this is not a fairy tale.
This is not “VeggieTales theology.”
This is not some ancient Jewish version of Pinocchio.

Jonah is real history, real geography, real people — and most importantly, a real picture of the relentless mercy of God toward the very last people we think deserve it (which, spoiler alert, includes you and me).

1. Who Was Jonah, Really?

• His full name appears twice in Scripture: Jonah ben Amittai (Jonah son of Amittai).
• 2 Kings 14:25 identifies him as a real, functioning prophet in the northern kingdom during the reign of Jeroboam II (around 780–750 BC), contemporary with Hosea and Amos.
• He is from Gath-Hepher, a town only about 3 miles north of Nazareth — yes, the same area Messiah grew up in. Coincidence? Hardly. The One who spent three days in the heart of the earth grew up just down the road from the prophet who spent three days in the belly of the fish.

An ancient Jewish tradition (found in the Lives of the Prophets, a work that goes back at least to the Second Temple period) actually claims Jonah was none other than the widow’s son whom Elijah raised from the dead in 1 Kings 17. We can’t prove it, but the fact is, we don’t know — but it’s fascinating that the boy who was raised from the dead becomes the prophet who preaches resurrection-level repentance to the Gentiles.

2. His Name Means “Dove”

In Hebrew, יוֹנָה (Yonah) = dove.
Same word used for:

• The dove Noah sent out (Genesis 8)
• The dove that symbolizes the Holy Spirit at Yeshua’s baptism
• The “eyes like doves” in Song of Solomon
• The psalmist’s cry in Psalm 55:6 — “Oh that I had wings like a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.”

Irony alert: Jonah the “dove” tries to fly away — but in exactly the wrong direction.

3. Is Jonah Just a Children’s Story?

People dismiss it because:

• A man survives three days in a great fish — too bizarre!
• A plant grows overnight and dies the next day — impossible!
• A Hebrew prophet is sent to preach to wicked Gentiles — unprecedented!

Yet every single location in the book is archaeologically attested: Nineveh, Joppa (Jaffa), Tarshish (likely in Spain or Sardinia).
And yes, by the way, there are documented cases (one as recent as the 1890s) of men surviving inside large sea creatures for days.
More importantly, Messiah Himself treated Jonah as historical fact:

“For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matthew 12:40)

If Yeshua believed it was real, that settles it for me.

4. The First Two Verses — And Already Everything Is Upside-Down

Jonah 1:1–2 (NET)
“The word of YHVH came to Jonah son of Amittai: ‘Go immediately to Nineveh, that great city, and announce judgment against it, for their **wickedness has come up before Me.’”

Notice the shock factor:

• No other prophet in the Hebrew Bible is ever commanded to go to a foreign capital and preach repentance. Prophets pronounce judgment against Gentile nations, but they don’t pack their bags and go to them.
• Nineveh wasn’t just any city. It was the capital of Assyria — the brutal empire that would later wipe out the northern kingdom of Israel. To an Israelite, Nineveh was literally the capital of terrorism.

God’s heart, even in the Old Testament, beats for the nations.

5. Verse 3 — The Great Escape (That Wasn’t)

“Instead, Jonah immediately headed the opposite direction toward Tarshish to escape from the commission of YHVH.”

He doesn’t argue like Moses (“I stutter!”).
He doesn’t negotiate like Jeremiah (“I’m too young!”).
He just runs.

He goes down to Joppa, pays the fare, and boards a ship heading as far west as you could sail in the ancient world — probably southern Spain. Nineveh was northeast. Jonah goes the exact opposite direction.

And the text says he was trying to flee “from the presence (literally “the face”) of YHVH.”
Did Jonah really think he could outrun an omnipresent God? Probably not. More likely he was trying to get as far away from the land of Israel, the temple, and the prophetic calling as possible.

6. A Violent, Personal Storm (v. 4)

“But YHVH hurled a great wind on the sea…”

Notice the wording: YHVH hurled (literally “threw”) a violent storm.
The Hebrew is almost comical — the ship itself “thought” it was about to break apart (the ship has more sense than the prophet!).

The pagan sailors are about to teach the prophet a lesson in the fear of the Lord.

Closing Thought for This Week

The book of Jonah is only 48 verses long. You can read the whole thing in ten minutes.
I challenge you: read it slowly this week. Ask the journalist questions:

• Who is speaking?
• Who is seeing?
• What perspective are we given at this moment?
• Why does the author keep using the word “great” (great city, great wind, great fish…)?

You’ll discover one of the most beautifully crafted short stories in all of world literature — and, more importantly, a piercing revelation of the heart of God who loves the unlovely, pursues the runner, and uses even our rebellion to display His relentless mercy.

Next week we’ll pick up right where the sailors start crying out to their gods and discover a sleeping prophet who needs a wake-up call of biblical proportions.

Until then — may we all learn to run toward Nineveh, not away from it.

Many Blessings,
Javier Holguin Jr.