Book Of Jonah Analysis

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The book of Jonah is an adventurous story of a prophet chosen by God to go preach denouncement to a heathen nation. With the exception of stating that Jonah is the son of Amittai, the book itself fails to reveal any background information. Nevertheless, a plorthea of scholars have attempted to provide us with some insight to the, who, when, where, and what of the book. This paper will utilize four scholarly commentaries in a quest to determine the author or authors of the book, the time when it was written, the original audience it spoke to, the occasion, the historical, social and cultural context in which it was written. It will also address the historical, social and cultural context of the book and that of the pericope of 3:1 – 10. …show more content…

There are those of the thought that Jonah is postexilic period literature. One reason for this theory is the assumption that Jonah depends on Jeremiah and Joel. Jonah and Jeremiah share similar concepts. Jonah and Joel use similar words. Garland and Longman does not mention this theory. Sasson, Stuart, and Trible reject this theory. Similar concepts do not constitute “dependency of concepts.” There are similar concepts throughout the Old Testament. Likewise, the use of similar words is not an indication of Jonah’s dependency on Joel. There are a few scholars who propose Jonah was a source for …show more content…

Even attempts to locate the book within the pre-exilic, exilic or postexilic period by various scholars have beenen to be a xxxxxx. With the exception of placing the writing between the eight century and third century BCE, none of the commentaries voice their opinions on the possible dating. Therefore, neither will we speculate on this topic. There seem to be no known method that has conclusively proven the date.
AUDIENCE
It is impossible to determine the intended audience of the book of Jonah without knowing when the book was written. This is evident by the fact that none of the commentaries directly discusses the topic. However, the intended audience is alluded to or assumed based on the proposed purpose for the writing. Hence, where applicable, the intended audience will be noted in the next section.

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