Three Galileans

“Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet” (John 7:52).

— Carl Hagensick (Adapted from a 1997 Herald article)

Scribes and Pharisees, the religious hierarchy of Jesus’ day, looked down with great scorn on the people of Galilee. Many Galileans were not Hebrews. From the days of Joshua, many Canaanites continued to live there (Judges 1:30-33), and the people spoke with a distinct accent (Matthew 26:69, 73). The area was popularly known as “Galilee of the nations” (Isaiah 9:1, Matthew 4:15).

While no future prophet was predicted to arise from Galilee, two noted Old Testament prophets were identified with that area, Nahum and Jonah. Not only did they come from Galilee, but their cities were closely connected to the life of Jesus.

Nahum was from the small village of Elkosh (Nahum 1:1), a small fishing village at the northeastern corner of the Sea of Galilee. However, his preaching ministry may have been in the larger city, some six miles to the west, a city that still bears his name: Capernaum, or Kfar Naum (“City of Nahum”).

Jonah was from another small village, Gath-Hepher (2 Kings 14:25). By the time of the first advent, this village had been replaced by another only three miles distant, Nazareth. Thus, we see the linkage between these three Galileans. Jonah was from the area of Jesus’ boyhood home, and Nahum preached in Capernaum, where Jesus also preached.

Both Jonah and Nahum shared two other things in common. They were both prophets to the northern kingdom of Israel and were the only minor prophets to address their messages to Nineveh, the capital city of the Assyrian Empire.

Nahum contented himself with remaining in Israel while prophesying the doom of Nineveh, whereas his predecessor Jonah was sent from Israel to Assyria to preach his message of destruction which succeeded in producing repentance.

The books bearing the names of these two prophets also show another striking difference. The book of Nahum contains a detailed message from God, instructing Israel not to fear its enemy, Nineveh. The book of Jonah, on the other hand, describes a message of repentance sent to Nineveh, the same enemy of Israel.

This article will focus on Jonah and that other Galilean he so aptly prefigured, Jesus of Nazareth.

Jonah, the Prophet

Jonah was a reluctant prophet and, in many ways, an enigma. He was the only Hebrew prophet specifically sent to a heathen city with a message of repentance. He then disobeyed his assigned mission and fled. However, his mission ultimately succeeded, and he achieved in Nineveh what few prophets ever achieved even in Israel — repentance. His dire prediction of Nineveh’s destruction failed to come true.

The meaning of the names of the two Galilean prophets, Nahum and Jonah, sharply contrast with their messages of doom and destruction. The name Nahum means “compassionate.” The name Jonah means “dove,” a symbol of peace.

Jonah, the Story

The story of the book that bears the name of Jonah is a simple one. Jonah, a prophet of God, was sent on a mission to Nineveh. Rather than accept his assignment, he fled in the opposite direction by taking a ship from Joppa, heading for far-off Tarshish (western Europe). A storm later developed, and after all attempts to save the ship appeared to fail, Jonah was chosen by lot to be thrown overboard. A giant fish then swallowed him and, after three days, spewed him out on dry land. Chastened, Jonah made the journey to Nineveh, where he preached a message of impending destruction. After hearing Jonah, the inhabitants of the city repented, and the destruction was averted.

Frustrated by the fact that his predictions went unfulfilled, the reluctant prophet retreated to a nearby hillside to brood and wait for further developments. There, Jonah received a lesson from God about compassion through the provision of a gourd, that sheltered him from the hot sun.

The four chapters of his book unfold like a four-act drama, each requiring a different setting. The first chapter takes place in the seaport of Joppa, and later in a boat on the Mediterranean. Chapter Two occurs entirely within the belly of a great fish. In Chapter Three the scene shifts to Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria. The final scene, described in Chapter Four, happens on a nearby hillside.

Jonah, the Interpretation

There are two clues to the interpretation of this prophecy. Jesus gives the first in Matthew 12:39-41: “But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here.” This passage now provides a direct link between Jonah and Jesus.

The second clue lies in the meaning of Jonah’s name, “dove.” The dove is a symbol of the holy Spirit of God. It is with this significance that we see it lighting upon Jesus at his baptism (Matthew 3:16) and flying forth from Noah’s ark to bring the good news that it was safe to disembark (Genesis 8:8-12). The symbolism of a dove offers a meaningful insight into the meaning of the Book of Jonah. The message of the prophecy relates to the work of the holy Spirit.

These two clues suggest that Jonah represents the action of those through whom the holy Spirit operates at various times.

Ancient Israel received a mission from God. As the natural seed of Abraham, they were to “bless all the families of the earth” (Genesis 22:18, Exodus 19:5, 6), and their prophets were led by the holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). But, like Jonah, they fled their mission, focusing their efforts on simply preserving their “place and nation” (John 11:48-50).

In the second act of the drama, the correspondence between Jonah and Jesus is most striking. The parallels are clearly outlined in Notes by Wordsworth: “As Jonah went from the wood of the ship into the depth of the sea, so Christ went from the wood of the cross into the depth of the earth. As Jonah gave himself to death for those who were tossed by the storm in the Mediterranean Sea, so Christ gave himself to death for those who are tossed by the storm in the seas of this world. As Jonah rose from the whale’s belly and the depth of the sea, so Christ rose from the dead … The reality of the antitype confirms the historical truth of the type. Jonah is proved by Christ” (Volume Six, Section II, page 66).

In a larger sense, Jonah symbolizes not only Jesus but also his followers. In a parallel illustration to the three days Jonah spent in the belly of the fish, Jesus spoke of the great temple of Herod being destroyed and that he would rebuild it in three days. John informs us that his listeners did not understand that he “spake of the temple of his body” (John 2:21). While Jesus did receive a new spiritual body when raised from the grave, the larger meaning of Jesus’ words relates to “the body of Christ,” the Church, which would also be given spiritual bodies (1 Corinthians 12:27, Ephesians 5:30, Colossians 1:24). Just as Jesus spent parts of three literal days in “the belly of the earth,” so his Church has spent a part of three thousand-year days in the same condition (2 Peter 3:8). As Jesus willingly let men throw him overboard into death, so those who follow him willingly surrender their lives even unto death, reckoning that “if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him” (2 Timothy 2:11).

The third act of this outstanding drama is yet to unfold. It will occur in the Millennial Kingdom of Christ that a message will be given to all nations, and repentance will follow. We are assured of this in the words of Isaiah 11:9, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

The final scene conveys a principle that always applies: that our God is a God of compassion. Another prophet describes the same precious characteristic. “At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them” (Jeremiah 18:7-10).

Why Did Jonah Run?

The motive of Jonah in fleeing is clearly stated in Jonah 4:2, “And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, ‘I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore, I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.’”

Jonah did not flee because of the perils of the journey to Nineveh. Nor did he flee out of fear of what the Assyrians might do to him as a Hebrew prophet proclaiming the destruction of their city. Jonah fled because of the grace of God! He had no desire to save the Ninevites. They were the enemies of his people, of Israel. They had been rapacious in their attacks (2 Kings 8:12). Jonah wanted them destroyed. Yet he knew Jehovah was a God of compassion and infinite grace.

The closing words of Jonah’s book are the words of God. “And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:11). The population of Nineveh proper has been estimated at 600,000, and up to two million including the surrounding areas. God described the people saying they “cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand.” This was an idiom describing children who were yet too young to discern between good and evil. They could not be held accountable for the crimes of their parents. Could not Jonah have compassion on these? And, if not on the children, what had the cattle done to merit their destruction?

The Great Fish

Being swallowed by a large fish and surviving for three days has been questioned by some. However, Jonah’s experience was not totally unique. Similar accounts have been recorded in New York newspapers as recently as 1911. A very detailed account appears in the August 25, 1891, edition of the French Journal des Debats of a similar experience happening to a sailor by the name of James Bartley. A. O. Hudson, in “The Mission of Jonah,” carefully reconstructs the story from the ancient secular historians Pliny, Strabo, Ovid, and Herodotus.

Three Days and Three Nights

Jesus said that “the sign of Jonah” would be that “the Son of man [shall] be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Critics have pointed out that if Jesus was buried at sundown on Friday and raised on Sunday morning near sunrise, he would have been in the tomb for only two night time periods (Friday and Saturday) and one daytime period (Saturday), totaling about 36 to 38 hours.

Some commentators point out that “three days and three nights is a current Hebrew expression which does not describe with chronological exactness the space of seventy-two hours but corresponds to our mode of designating time by such phrases as ‘the day after tomorrow’ or ‘the day before yesterday’ (1 Samuel 30:1, compare verse 12, Esther 4:16, 5:1, Matthew 12:40)” (Lange, Commentary on Jonah, page 25).

In the New Testament, the term “the third day” appears about eleven times. For example, the three- day period includes the betrayal in Gethsemane, the trial and scourging, as well as the actual crucifixion and burial (Matthew 16:21). These events did not cover a full 72 hours.

The phrase “in the heart of the earth” is also not meant to be taken literally. Jesus was not buried in the “heart” of the earth but laid in a cave that was dug into the face of a hill. Unlike Jesus’ time in the tomb, Jonah was not dead while in “the belly of the fish.” However, Jonah was no longer in control of his movements. Where the fish went, Jonah went. Similarly, when Jesus was arrested in the garden, he exclaimed, “This is your hour, and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53). From that point onward, the fate of Jesus was in the hands of others. Where they went, he went.

In this case, then, dating the three days and three nights from his arrest to his resurrection lengthens the period of being “in the heart of the earth” by nearly 24 hours. The period still does not equal a full 72 hours, but it does include portions of three calendar days (the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth of Nisan, by Jewish reckoning).

The Size of Nineveh

Jonah 3:3 describes Nineveh as a city of “three days’ journey.” The first century historian Diodorus Siculus in his Bibliotheca Historica describes Nineveh’s walls as being “150 furlongs long and 90 broad, and 480 in compass; the walls 100 feet high, and so thick that three chariots might go abreast upon them; on them were 1500 towers, each of them 200 feet high.” Four hundred eighty Greek furlongs would be about 60 miles in circumference. However, recent archaeological digs have uncovered the city’s walls and found them to be only 7.5 miles in circumference. The harmony between the two views appears to be that there were inner city walls, followed by a second set of walls around the suburban area, including fields for crops to withstand any potential siege (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, “Nineveh”).

The Conversion of Nineveh

Surprisingly, a heathen city, especially one with its own gods and not recognizing Jehovah, repented after just a few days of preaching. However, the worship of these other gods may have made them receptive to Jonah’s preaching.

Camel caravans often traveled the trade routes between Egypt and Assyria. These routes passed through the city of Joppa, where 26 The Herald of Christ’s Kingdom God’s desired repentance was achieved, so Nineveh was spared. Jonah lived. Undoubtedly, the miraculous deliverance of Jonah from a great fish would have become common gossip. The caravan drivers in Assyria would have likely reported this to the people there.

One of the chief gods in the Assyrian pantheon was Ramman, also known as Rimmon. Rimmon, the storm god, was believed to control cyclones, tempests, and rain. The fact that Jonah had been delivered from the midst of Rimmon’s domain would have certainly increased his reputation. Therefore, there is an ironic twist to the story of this prophet. Running from the grace of God, followed by his deliverance from the sea, may well have contributed to the success of his mission.

In Jonah 3:7, we read that even the cattle were to fast as a sign of the city’s repentance. The Biblical Encyclopedia of McClintock and Strong notes that “the compulsory mourning of the brute creation has at least one analogy in the lamentation made over the Persian general Masistius: ‘The horses and beasts of burden were shaved’ (Herodotus, ix, 24). According to Plutarch, Alexander also commanded the observation of a similar custom on the death of Hephaestion” (Volume IV, pages 991, 992).

The Gourd and the Wind

In the final chapter, Jonah climbed a hill near Nineveh to see what God would do to the city. After the forty-day trial period, God refused to destroy the city. The heat on Jonah’s hill was nearly unbearable, and God provided a sheltering gourd that was used to teach him a lesson. The gourd is thought to be the castor oil plant, a tree that typically grows eight to ten feet in height but can reach heights of up to 40 feet in the tropics. Jonah was appreciative of its shade.

To teach Jonah a meaningful lesson, God “prepared” a worm that “withered” the gourd. In addition, God also “prepared” a violent east wind to intensify the heat. This was all to prepare the reluctant prophet for the lesson: the Lord’s primary concern is for the good of all people, not just those of Israel.

The story of Jonah, then, is bookmarked by two east winds. In the first chapter, an east wind caused the sailors to throw him overboard. In the final chapter, an east wind enforced the lesson of God’s desire to bless all people. God is a wise teacher! He repeats His lessons continuously until we learn from them. As Job wisely remarked, “Lo, all these things God worketh oftentimes with man” (Job 33:29).

Jonah boldly proclaimed, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” When forty days passed, the prophecy remained unfulfilled because God’s desired repentance had been achieved. Even after forty years had passed, Nineveh remained. But a time did come when God brought about the destruction of that great city through the invasion of the Babylonians.

God’s words are sure to be fulfilled. He may delay them for a season to allow ample time for repentance. But they will be fulfilled. As another of God’s prophets phrased it, “The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end, it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry” (Habakkuk 2:3).

A Meaningful Lesson

The message to Jonah is relevant as we consider our own sinful world. The time of trouble will see the institutions of man crumble. However, God intends to elevate the world to a higher moral standard, to teach men how to love their neighbors and worship their Creator. All of God’s actions are guided by His merciful and compassionate heart.