An overview of the book of Jonah in the historical context of the history of salvation. Also, the many ways in which Jonah foreshadows our Lord both in his resurrection and also in the preaching of the Gospel of Salvation to the Gentiles.
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Outline of the Prophetic Books of the Old
Testament
Ignorance
of Scripture is Ignorance of Christ. –St Jerome
I. Key Historical Notes
A. Divided Kingdom from after
Solomon (around 930 BC)
1. The Northern Kingdom of Israel
was commonly tempted with idolatry
2. The Southern Kingdom of Judah
worshipped at the Temple, but still immoral
B. The Fall of the Northern
Kingdom to the Assyrians (about 722 BC)
1. The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel
2. The Assyrians rose up to
become a great nation for just a small period of history
3. Assyrian capital was Nineveh
C. The Fall of the Southern
Kingdom to the Babylonians (about 587 BC)
1. The destruction of the Temple
2. The near destruction of all
the people (as found in the book of Esther)
D. The Return of the Jews to
Judea (about 539 BC)
1. The Fall of the Babylonian
Empire to the great King Cyrus of Persia.
2. The Jews were permitted to
return to Judea
3. The Temple rebuilding was
completed in 515 BC
II. Four Major Prophets
A. Isaiah
Isaiah was among the earlier of
the prophetic books, written around 730 BC. However, the prophet foresees the
exile and even the return of the Jewish people which will not occur for over
150 years! [modern scholars do not think
Isaiah could have written the whole book of Isaiah, but we hold to the
traditional view that the prophet could have foreseen all these things and
written in varying styles in order to relate to the Jews at different points of
their history]
Isaiah is a prophet of the
Southern Kingdom, before the time of the Assyrian invasion of the North.
The Fathers of the Church say
that Isaiah is like an Evangelist, because his book so clearly speaks of the
mysteries of our Lord’s life.
B. Jeremiah (Lamentations,
Baruch)
Jeremiah preached and wrote
around the time of the 600 BC, but had the longest ministry of any of the
prophets (called in his young years [maybe as young as 14] and ministering into
old age)! He preached against the sins of the southern kingdom and warned against
the Babylonian invasion. He told the people to accept God’s punishment and not
fight the Babylonians – but they people refused. Thus the Temple was destroyed.
Tradition tells us that Jeremiah was taken captive by his own people and
brought to Egypt where he was killed.
Jeremiah represents to us the
Lord Jesus in his sufferings.
The book of Jeremiah is the
longest book in the Bible.
C. Ezekiel
Ezekiel was called as a prophet
while the people were in exile in Babylon. He is a prophet of hope, to encourage
the people in their great suffering – to tell them that God will redeem them.
Ezekiel also explains that the
Temple wasn’t destroyed by the power of false gods, but only because the True
God allowed it as a chastisement to call the Chosen People to conversion.
Ezekiel is most famous for
speaking of the resurrection, and also of the Temple of God.
D. Daniel
Daniel is a prophet of the time
of Exile and also encourages the people to be faithful in the midst of
trials. Daniel is apocalyptic – pointing
to the end of time.
In some ways, Daniel also
foretells the future sufferings of the Jewish people during the time of the
Maccabees when Antiochus Epiphanies will attack Judea and defile the Temple and
kill many of the people (about 160 BC).
III. The 12 Minor Prophets: “Minor”
only because their books are much shorter.
A. Northern Kingdom (all before
Assyrian Invasion): Amos, Jonah, Hosea.
B. Southern Kingdom
1. Before the fall of the
Northern Kingdom: Joel, Micah
2. After the fall of the Northern
but before the fall of the Southern Kingdom: Obadiah
3. After the fall of the Southern
Kingdom: Zephaniah, Nahum, Habakkuk
4. After the return from Exile:
Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
C. The prophets who preach before
an invasion generally call the people to repentance and give warning of
destruction for the sins of the people. The prophets who preach during a time
of exile generally speak words of encouragement so that the people will not
lose hope. The prophets after the return
from exile preach most explicitly the New Covenant which will be established
and how all the gentile nations will find salvation through the Jews, since the
Messiah will come through the Jewish people.
