Page 50 - The Minor Prophets - Student textbook
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Study Section 9:  The Book of Jonah


                9.1 Connect

                           Of all the stories in the Old Testament, the story of Jonah is probably the most criticized by
                           skeptics.  They say the story is too much like a fairy tale with whales and storms and
                           instantly growing gourds.   They saw if someone was swallowed by a huge fish, he certainly
                           could not survive for three days in the stomach of a whale with all the digestive juices and
                           no air.   Yet Jesus Christ cited the story of Jonah being in the belly of a great fish as an
                           illustration of what he would endure in death, then three days later come alive again.  Jesus
                shared the story as a factual historical event.  So today, we are going to look at Jonah’s story and
                experience the grace of God for our sins, as did the Ninevites did in Jonah’s day.


                9.2 Objectives

                        1.  The student should be able to describe the purpose of the writing of Jonah.

                        2. The student should be able to state the audience to whom the book was written.


                        3.  The student should be able to answer the key questions presented in the lesson.

                 9.3 The Book of Jonah


                          From
                          https://www.gotquestions.org/Bo
                          ok-of-Jonah.html

                          Author: Jonah 1:1 identifies the
                          book as telling the story of the
                prophet Jonah. Although the book is written
                in the third person, the traditional view is
                that Jonah is the author of the book, and
                there is no persuasive reason to theorize
                about an unknown author.

                Date of Writing: The Book of Jonah was likely written between 793 and 758 B.C.

                Purpose of Writing: Disobedience and revival are the key themes in this book. Jonah’s experience in
                the belly of the great fish provides him with a unique opportunity to seek a unique deliverance, as he
                repents during this equally unique retreat. His initial disobedience leads not only to his personal revival,
                but to that of the Ninevites as well. Many classify the revival which Jonah brings to Nineveh as one of
                the greatest evangelistic efforts of all time.

                Key Verses:

                Jonah 1:3, "But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish..."


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