The book of Jonah contains one of the best-known stories in the Old Testament. Many people know of only one incident in the book—the fish swallowing Jonah—especially since that incident is singled out in the teaching of Jesus and reproduced in traditional Christian art.
But the reference in Matthew to Jonah’s three-day stay in the big fish is immediately followed by a reminder that the people of Nineveh repented when they heard Jonah’s message (Matt 12.40,41). The message of the book may be summed up as “What is likely to happen when people repent.” Two things happen, according to this book. In the first place, God responded to the repentance of the people of Nineveh by changing his mind and sparing them. In the second place, Jonah, who at first had been unwilling to give them an opportunity for repentance and had only preached to them because he was forced to, was highly annoyed.
So here among the “Minor Prophets” is a book about a prophet and his reaction to those who listened to him. It differs from all the other books in this section of the Old Testament, which contain God’s word to Israel and the nations through his prophets. Instead this book contains God’s word to a prophet through other people, all of whom are non-Israelites, but who are able to teach him something that he did not fully appreciate before about the God of Israel, who is “a loving and merciful God, always patient, always kind,” even to those least deserving of his grace, and even to a stubborn prophet.