Overview – Sefer Yonah/0
Overview – Sefer Yonah
Structure of the Book
Sefer Yonah is a neatly structured book, dividing into two halves which are to some extent symmetrical in content, as illustrated in the Table in the pane to the right.
- Chapters 1-2 detail Yonah's flight from his mission and its consequences, while Chapters 3-4 detail his fulfillment of his mission and its aftermath.
- Each unit opens with Hashem's call and the prophet's disobedience or compliance.
- This is followed by a description of people in danger of destruction whose ensuing actions and cries to God lead to their salvation.
- Both units end with a focus on the prophet Yonah who prays (in one case for salvation, and in the other for death) and is answered with miraculous messages.
For further discussion of the book's structure, see Structure – Sefer Yonah.
Historical Background
Sefer Yonah itself does not provide enough information to allow the reader to place it within a larger historical framework.1 However, many commentators2 associate him with the Yonah b. Amitai mentioned in Melakhim II 14:25 who prophesied during the reign of Yerovam II. If so, he prophesied at a time when Assyria was one of the strongest powers in the Ancient Near East. (Within just a few years of Yerovam's death, Israel is paying tribute to the Assyrian Kings, and not long after they are exiled.) ספר יונה, though, makes no mention of any of this. It never even draws a connection between Nineveh and Assyria, suggesting that these facts are perhaps not crucial for a proper understanding of the book's main messages..
