Through a study of the book of Jonah we can receive a better understanding of God’s purpose for sending out messengers and His loving mercy for the world to know and receive Him, not just Israel. God used several figures though out the Old Testament to reach a world of sin and turn their hearts back towards Him. The book of Jonah is named after its main character, Jonah. The traditional view of authorship is that Jonah himself wrote this book but some Bible scholars seem to think it was written by an anonymous author at a later time. Jonah prophesied during the reign of King Jeroboam II. This would put the events of the book in the middle of the 8th century BC and makes Jonah an up to date version of the prophets Amos and Hosea. Some scholars believe the book was written shortly after the events, while others believe the book was written as late as the 6th century BC by a Judean author. The book of Jonah was most likely written to the people of Israel during the reign of King Jeroboam II. Under Jeroboam, Israel achieved its most prosperous time since Solomon. They regained territory lost to the Arameans under King Jehu and also regained economic prosperity as well. The structure of this book is unique because it uses three chapters of narrative and one chapter of poetry. Some people refer to the story of Jonah as merely a story with no historical value because of the events from a man being swallowed by a fish and living to a heathen cities miraculous repentance. However, to deny the validity of the book of Jonah is to deny the very words of Christ. "₁The ability or inability to accept a miracle depends on whether or not one spells his God with a capital 'G'". Christ refers to Jonah in Matthew 12:40, “for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” And although the book tells about the prophet Jonah going to the city of Nineveh, it was written to show...