Is Jonah Historical Fact or Fictional Narrative?

When did Jonah live?
8th century, during the reign of Jeroboam II (786-746 BC). His ministry took place just prior to Hosea.

Who was Jonah?
Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher in Gallilee.

Nineveh
Nineveh was not the capital of Assyria at the time of Jonah, but it may have been a royal estate. This gives some credibility to the title ‘King of Nineveh’ instead of ‘King of Assyria.’ It is important to note that it was Nineveh which was called to repentance, not the entire nation of Assyria, but the King of Assyria was no less the King of Nineveh.

It is also possible that Nineveh is used in place of Assyria due to political unrest. Assyria was not the largest world power yet even though Nineveh was likely one of the largest cities. So in times of international unrest, it is reasonable to suggest that the King established a stronghold in Nineveh and the surrounding areas and was addressed according to the area he was currently overseeing, regardless of his reach. This is backed up by the fact that a visit would take three days. Being that historical Nineveh is only about seven miles across, it’s more reasonable to believe that a visit to the stronghold of Nineveh required that much time to get across, but there are other reasons to believe that it would require three days. Perhaps due to the large amount of people who resided there, it took three days to get them all to hear the message, regardless of the mileage.

Addressing the Supernatural
One of the arguments against the historical accuracy of Jonah is the supernatural events. The reality of the situation is that ‘God can.’ If we don’t question the miracles of Jesus or of the Mosaic period, then why would we question it in this case? The quick answer is that the majority of the prophets as recorded in cannon did not perform miracles, save for Moses and Elijah (arguably Daniel). Still, there is little known about the prophets themselves according to cannon. There are, on the other hand, a number of extra-biblical Hebrew texts which do describe miracles as done by many prophets including Jonah. We have to be careful with these sources because they are not ordained by God as part of biblical cannon, however they can contain historical data which can give insight into the cannon; in this case, a suggestion that the supernatural was more commonplace in the latter days of Israel than otherwise presumed.

Hosea vs. Jonah
If we can come to grips with the supernatural events and provide a semantic explanation for the use of Nineveh versus Assyria, we still have one problem. How do we explain the idol worship in Assyria during the times of Hosea, post Jonah, if they repented from their wicked ways? There are enough logical explanations, that there is no reason to discount the historicity of Jonah based on this paradox. One or both of the following is likely,

• Short term repentance. They may have returned to their ways in the very next generation.

• Since Assyria did become a world power by Hosea’s time, the expansion of the Assyrian empire caused the people of Nineveh s to lose religious influence, since they were only a part of the larger kingdom.

More support to the historicity of Jonah is that Hosea focuses most of his efforts on Ephraim, who’s capital is Samaria. In Jonah’s time, King Jeroboam II resided in Samaria. The Samaritans are the ones who mixed with the Assyrians. This gives additional depth to Jonah’s frustration with God. Jonah is frustrated in chapter four, because the same message he preached at home, in Israel, did not cause anyone to repent, but it did in Nineveh (Assyria).

Image Credits: Brent Nelson, flickr.com