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THE BOOK OF JONAH
You may select one of the studies below by clicking on the blue link. After this table of contents we have supplied a preface study, which has some facts about the book of Jonah that should give you a good foundation to begin your study of the book.
Jonah study #1 [1:1 - 1:17] In this first chapter we see God's calling Jonah to service. We also see that Jonah was a 'type' of Jesus Christ who was to come. We discover that there is so much more to the story of Jonah in the "whales" belly than we have been taught.
Jonah study #2 [2:1 - 2:10] Here, Jonah having been cast into the sea, and swallowed up by the great fish, we see Jonah both die and resurrect, once again fulfilling a 'type' of Christ. In this chapter we learn from Jonah's plight many things that we can apply to our lives today.
Jonah study #3 [3:1 - 3:10] After Jonah's ordeal, he obeys God and delivers the message to Nineveh. We see Nineveh's reaction, and through it, we see how God expects us to repent in our daily lives.
Jonah study #4 [4:1 - 4:11] (End of book) In this final chapter, we see Jonah's reaction to God's mercy upon Nineveh. It certainly isn't what it should be. God teaches Jonah a lesson that we can all learn from.
A preface to the Book Of Jonah
The book of Jonah is prophecy from the year 690 BC. Jonah is spoken of in [2nd Kings 14:25] as well as by Christ in the New Testament [Matt 12:39-41, Matt 16:1-4, & Luke 11:27-30]. Jonah in the Hebrew tongue means: 'Dove,' and in the Bible, the Dove is always symbolic of the Holy Spirit. Jonah is what is called a 'type' of Christ; meaning that there was an example and a sign in the three days that Jonah spent in the fishes belly, with the three days Christ spent in the tomb before being resurrected.
There is so much symbology in the book of Jonah, which when fully understood should profit all your Bible studies. Within Jonah going under the water (and dying) in the whales belly for three days, and then resurrecting as the fish spit him out onto the dry land, you have a 'type' of Christ dying on the cross, being buried in the tomb for three days, and then being resurrected. And in both of these you have a 'type' of the Baptism service, where you go under the water and then rise up out of the water, Baptized in the Lord.
You will also remember that when Jesus was Baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him "like a Dove" [Matt 3:16 & Lk 3:22]. Also, when Noah was seeking a sign that the Waters had abated off of the earth, he sent forth a Dove who returned with an Olive leave in her mouth [Gen 8:10-11]. Through this you should see an interrelation within the individual books of the Bible.
The book of Jonah is in the Minor Prophets section of the Old Testament. And as we will learn through our study of the book of Jonah; the Old Testament is a hint to come of the New Testament, and most certainly is not replaced by it. The Old Testament is prophecy fulfilled by the New Testament. For some helpful information on how to beter understand how to study prophecy, see the: INTRODUCTION TO PARABLES AND PROPHECIES In-depth Bible Study.
It is evident that the tendency of the Twentieth Century Christian is to, in essence, disregard the Old Testament as a collection of Books superceded by the New Testament. What a 'fatal error' this is in regards to understanding the complete plan and Word of God!
The Old Testament and the New Testament are combined the one great story of one man's family (Adam), his descendants (including The Messiah), and the peoples and events that they encounter down through the history of the world. Did not Apostle Paul tell us of the first man Adam (Adam from the Garden), and the second Man Adam (The Messiah Jesus Christ):
1 Cor 15:45-47
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. (KJV)
We can no more separate the first man Adam, who brought sin and death into the world, from the second Man Adam, whom upon living thirty-three years without even one sin, defeated death on the cross for the sins of all of mankind, than we can separate the Old Testament from the New.
If the New Testament is the birth of God's plan of salvation for His world, then the Old Testament is it's labor pangs; you can no more erase the Old Testament after the New Testament came about, than you can erase your own conception after your birth. Without the first, the second has no existence or animation, without the beginning, the end makes no sense nor has any order.
This is the spirit in which the Old Testament should be regarded and studied. And actually the terms 'Old Testament' and 'New Testament' really mean 'Old Covenant' and 'New Covenant'. In the Old Covenant, we were to offer the blood of sacrificial animals to the Lord for the forgiveness of sin; in the New Covenant, Jesus Christ became a one time for all sacrifice and offering to Almighty God for the sins of the World; for all whom would believe upon and accept Him that is.
The Old Testament order of books which our modern day English Bible follows is taken from the Latin Vulgate, whose order was copied from from the Greek Septuagint (Known by the abbreviation LXX). LXX is the number 70 in Roman numerals. The title 'Septuagint' refers to the 70 Scholars and Translators who worked on it. In this ancient Greek Version of the Hebrew Old Testament many of the names of the individual books were changed and their order of appearance was re-arranged instead of following the order of the original Hebrew Cannon. There was no authority to do this. The books of the Old testament are classified into four groups, and are divided as such:
While they did not change the books themselves, they did disrupt the Devine Order in which the Holy Spirit had intended the books to be presented. No one can tell us why or exactly when this re-arrangement was made.
In our Study Aids section we review a great work on this subject titled The Names and Order of the Books of the Old Testament by E.W. Bullinger, written in the late 1800's and faithfully reprinted. We therefore will go no further into the Order of the Old Testament Books other than as it relates to our study of the Book of Jonah.
In the Old Testament there are sixteen Prophetical Books, four are called: 'The Major Prophets' and twelve are called the: 'Minor Prophets'. The Minor Prophets are called such because of the brievety of them and has nothing to do with their importance. There is however, no Manuscript authority for grouping them as such. In fact the book that we are studying here (Jonah) is actually chronologically the first Prophetical Book given by the Holy Spirit. And you must understand that the all of books of the Bible are given not by the men's words, but words written under the Divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit of Almighty God. Without such understanding all fruitful scripture study is futile.
2 Pet 1:19-21
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (KJV)
The Book of Jonah, while being placed in order as the ninth out of the sixteen Prophetical books, actually is prophecy given by the Holy Spirit first before all others. The scripture of the Book of Jonah represents prophecy given in the year 690 BC, and predates all other Prophetical books both of the Major Prophets and the Minor Prophets (only called 'Minor Prophets' because of the brevity of the books).
The Book of Jonah - the Prophet quoted by our Lord Jesus Christ as the 'sign' of His own resurrection in: [Matt 12:39-41], whose three days in the belly of the fish and his subsequent resurrection were a 'type of our own Messiah's death, three days in the tomb and resurrection. In the scripture below, 'Jonas' is the Greek New Testament spelling of the Hebrew name 'Jonah,' and it is speaking of the same Prophet.
Matt 12:39-41 (Jesus speaking) See also: [Matt 16:1-4] & [Luke 11:27-30]
39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:
40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here. (KJV)
Modern heathen critics are practically unanimous in declaring that the Book Of Jonah as being "A combination of allegory and myth," but the fact that Jonah the Prophet was himself a historical personage as seen in [2nd Kings 14:25], and even more reassuring is the fact that as we saw in the scripture of [Matt 12:39-41] above, Jesus Christ Himself stated that Jonah was a 'type' of Himself, should settle all questions in the heart of a believer that Jonah and his Prophetical Book are indeed Holy Spirit Inspired Scripture to be accepted and absorbed.
Why it is so difficult to believe that The God that created the Universe and raised the Christ from the tomb, could not create a large fish to swallow Jonah and then resurrect him also on the third day, is beyond rational conclusion. But then, a heathen is a heathen, and an unbeliever will never believe that which he can not himself see and touch.
But any Christian who believes his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, will have to believe that the Prophecies in the Book of Jonah are Holy Spirit Inspired, God breathed Words. For Jesus Himself gave credibility to the Book of Jonah by comparing Jonah as a 'type' of Himself. In the Gospel of John, Jesus seven times states that His Words were the Words of Almighty God. And don't lose sight of the fact that in the Bible, the number Seven represents Spiritual Completeness:
Yes it is no small thing that they do when they deny the Words of the Lord. And those who strike at these Word's of Jesus Christ are striking at Almighty God Himself; and are making the whole of Devine Revelation of none effect. Perhaps we are best to leave this subject at the Words of Almighty God Himself, in the Book of Deuteronomy below, and let the reader decide for himself where he stands on the validity of the Words of the Messiah, and His acceptation as reliable Gospel, the Book of Jonah:
Deut 18:18-19 (God speaking)
18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. (KJV)
God bless your study of the Book of Jonah, and may God open your understanding to the Prophetic utterances of the Holy Spirit through the Prophet Jonah. This we ask in the precious name of Jesus Christ.
The reason that you are to ask things of God in the name of Jesus Christ is to document to the Father that you are in fact a believer in His Only Begotten Son, the Great Messiah and all He has done and represents, this make you party to the promise. But you always pray to the Father (God Himself). Jesus Himself taught us that when He gave us the model prayer in [Mt 6:9-13]:
Matt 6:9 (Jesus speaking)
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. (KJV)
______________
Eph 5:20
20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; (KJV)
(End of study)
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