Jonah

[Augustine3]

I’m trying to match the puzzle. Jesus said His generation will receive the sign of Jonah. Besides Jonah being in the belly of the fish for the 3 days, didn’t the Assyrians conquer the land of Israel some 40 years after Jonah’s preaching just as the Romans did in Jesus generational time?

What year did Jonah preach in Nineveh?
I think the Assyrians conquered northern Israel around 721 B.C. correct?
What year did the Assyrians conquer Judah?

Please give references to your answers. Thanks heaps!

Brother in Christ,

 

[patg]

Since there is no evidence to support the story of Jonah as being a historical account and plenty of evidence (in the opinion of many) that it is a work of didactic fiction, asking questions specific to its historicity is probably not going to net much useful information.

There is an extensive discussion of Jonah in this thread.

 

[bogeydogg]

I’m trying to match the puzzle. Jesus said His generation will receive the sign of Jonah. Besides Jonah being in the belly of the fish for the 3 days, didn’t the Assyrians conquer the land of Israel some 40 years after Jonah’s preaching just as the Romans did in Jesus generational time?

What year did Jonah preach in Nineveh?
I think the Assyrians conquered northern Israel around 721 B.C. correct?
What year did the Assyrians conquer Judah?

Please give references to your answers. Thanks heaps!

Brother in Christ,

My Bible dates Jonah to about 762 BC dating based on the destruction of Assyria in 622 BC by Babylon. Jonah is thought to have preached about 150 years before the destruction of Israel so the forty years dating is possible.

Israel was conquered in 722 BC according to Jewish virtual library

The Assyrian did not conquer Judah. Judah was conquered by Babylon in 597 BC and was made a vassal state but a further rebellion resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BC.

If you mean the “sign of Jonah” to be a warning about the forty years time period I suppose that is possible.

I would however be very wary of arguing against the historicity of the events described, even if the book was written later, because it is pretty clear from the NT that Jesus believed Jonah to be a true and historical narrative, and no matter how much scholars may argue the point, when the Lord has spoken we must tread lightly in disagreeing with Him.

God Bless

 

[Augustine3]

My Bible dates Jonah to about 762 BC dating based on the destruction of Assyria in 622 BC by Babylon. Jonah is thought to have preached about 150 years before the destruction of Israel so the forty years dating is possible.

Israel was conquered in 722 BC according to Jewish virtual library

The Assyrian did not conquer Judah. Judah was conquered by Babylon in 597 BC and was made a vassal state but a further rebellion resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BC.

If you mean the “sign of Jonah” to be a warning about the forty years time period I suppose that is possible.

I would however be very wary of arguing against the historicity of the events described, even if the book was written later, because it is pretty clear from the NT that Jesus believed Jonah to be a true and historical narrative, and no matter how much scholars may argue the point, when the Lord has spoken we must tread lightly in disagreeing with Him.

God Bless

Thanks brother,

Which bible edition are you using?

Brother in Christ,

 

[bogeydogg]

Thanks brother,

Which bible edition are you using?

Brother in Christ,

One is the Reformation study Bible (whose footnotes oddly enough caused me to give up on Reformed thinking) and the New Jerusalem Bible.

God Bless

 

[bogeydogg]

Sorry in my first post I said 150 years before the destruction of Israel, I meant Assyria. Israel was destroyed about forty years after Jonah.

God Bless