What is most notable about Jonah is not his remarkable experience in the belly of a whale—although this is the event that has sparked the imagination of artists and children for centuries. Rather, it is the fact that of all the prophets, Jonah alone succeeded. Unlike his highly esteemed colleagues Isaiah and Jeremiah, Jonah actually convinces the people to repent. When the Lord sends Jonah to preach in the vast Assyrian capital of Nineveh, the people listen. As he walks the streets, he proclaims merely one sentence—“Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4)—and that is sufficient: […]
