The Book of Jonah has delighted, inspired and perplexed readers for thousands of years. Jonah is considered an anomaly among the twelve Minor Prophets because it contains many astonishing miracles and its structure is narrative rather than oracle.
In modern times, the Book of Jonah has been on the receiving end of particularly vicious and widespread attacks from critics of many faiths who reject the sensational miracles, opting instead to interpret the work as fiction, specifically satire, parable or allegory.
However loud and unified these voices of opposition cry, it is a great time in history to embrace Jonah as factual record. While critics want the public to believe the debate is over, great theological, scientific and archaeological minds are quietly demonstrating the opposite. Here are five reasons we can trust the Book of Jonah’s historical narrative.
Reason #1: Jesus believed it was true. Matt 12:39-41, Matt 16:4 and Luke 11:29-30 describe Jesus’ response to the scribes’ and Pharisees’ demand for a sign. Jesus refuses to give them a sign other than the Sign of Jonah, declaring the men of Nineveh will stand in judgment against them for rejecting a greater witness than Jonah. The lives and missions of Jesus and Jonah are intimately linked, according to Jesus’ own words. The Sign of Jonah passages in Matthew and Luke provide critical evidence that Jesus Christ himself regarded the Book of Jonah as factual and the prophet Jonah as a real person in history.
Reason #2: Ninevite Mythology. There are many indications that God prepared the hearts of the Ninevites to receive His words. Ancient Nineveh, founded by Nimrod, can trace its name back to the Akkadian word for “fish.” Nineveh literally means, “fish town.” This pagan society worshipped a so-called divine and wise fish-man called Oannes, a fact supported by archeological evidence discovered by Austen Layard.
Interestingly, the names Jonah and Oannes sound remarkably similar. When someone with a name sounding like Oannes staggered into Nineveh claiming to have a word from God—with the testimony, appearance, and odor of one who had spent three days inside a fish—the citizens of Fishtown were listening.
The Assyrian Empire is famous for its unusual cruelty, mercilessness, and unchecked power. Bill Cooper describes the Assyrians as unmatched in viciousness, with Germany’s Third Reich being a possible exception. Following the first pinnacle of its regional domination, circa 800 BC, the kingdom began to experience the telltale fissures of an empire stretched too thin. A decline ensued and with it, the proud Assyrians began to experience their first taste of humility and weakness.
During this decline, on June 15, 763 BC, a total solar eclipse darkened the empire and terrified the Ninevites, along with the devastation caused by several plagues and a famine. Plagues and eclipses were regarded as ominous signs of divine judgment by Assyrians and others in the region. With the empire declining and so-called bad omens circling, the people of the fish god were scared and listening.
Reason #3: Marine fossils. The Lord prepared a fish for Jonah (1:17) without revealing it’s nature; it could have been an existing species of fish, whale or shark, or it could have been a unique species created for this special mission. Our Creator is free to suspend natural law and design a creature for this singular purpose. But if
He chose to use an existing species of marine animal, scientists point to several options today. Archaeologists have found fossil evidence for two possibilities, the fish Dunkleosteus terrelli and Leedsichthys problematicus.
Dunkleosteus fossils indicate a body length of 5m, and Leedsichthys, a staggering 30m in body length, is the largest fish in the known marine world. Leedsichthys’s anatomy and eating habits indicate that it could easily swallow a human whole. Furthermore, a shark, with some species’ ability to voluntarily delay digestion for days and disgorge stomach contents at will, cannot be ruled out. Ironically, an Assyrian king, Tiglath-pileser I, documents his own sightings of gigantic fish near Phoenicia in approximately 1100 BC.
Reason #4: Hebrew-Assyrian Archaeological Agreement. Both the Assyrians and the Hebrews kept excellent records of their histories, and archaeologists confirm that names, places and events are referenced by both. In fact, the historicity of most of the latter kings of Israel and Judah is confirmed by Assyrian records. For example, the famed Black Obelisk portrays, among other events, a representative of Israel’s King Jehu (2 Kgs 9-10) bowing before and paying tribute to Assyrian King Shalmaneser III.
Another brilliant discovery in Assyrian archaeology was made by Henry Layar in 1849 in Nineveh. The Taylor Prism recounts the clash between the Assyrian king, Sennacherib, and King Hezekiah of Judah. The Assyrian siege of Jerusalem in 701 BC is also recorded in 2 Kgs 18-19, 2 Chr:32 and Isa 37. The discoveries of these ancient Assyrian monuments and tablets in the nineteenth century reaffirm the Bible as a reliable, historical work to both the Christian and the Jew.
Reason #5: Assyria’s Quiet Years. The revival in Nineveh coincides with a period of peace, prosperity and stability; civil wars, enemy threats and economic woes vanished. Many credit this turnaround to the brilliant leadership of Tiglath-pileser III, but historians argue that the depth and speed at which the reversal took place can only be attributed to the Lord’s intervention.
Meanwhile, King Jeroboam II of Israel also enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous reign following Jonah’s mission and Nineveh’s revival. Assyria’s period of rest from their conquests meant Israel was given a reprieve from this terrifying enemy to the north. This quiet and fruitful time in Assyria’s history is evidence that one or two generations of Ninevites took the empire in a different direction than its former ways of bloodshed, cruelty and conquest.
The Book of Jonah, when read as historical narrative, puts the sovereign power, justice, and mercy of God on display and proclaims His infinite care of peoples of all nations. To read Jonah any other way destroys its true message. Modern readers of Jonah have every reason to embrace and celebrate Jonah’s historical account and its message, both from internal, biblical proofs and extrabiblical evidence presented by scientists and archaeologists. Jonah, in spite of the attacks against him, “enjoys the support of more factual historical evidence than most other characters of the ancient world,” says Dr. Bill Cooper (“The Historic Jonah,” TJ 2 (1986):105).
The apostle Paul writes in Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.” Christians can boldly apply this truth to the reading of Jonah, including its many stunning miracles, and give God the glory due His name.
Looking for references? Email Nancy for full research and references at babernk@ebcbryan.org.