The only Old Testament reference to Jonah outside of the book bearing his name is found in 2 Kings 14:25 (read 14:23-29).  From this passage one finds that Jonah was an actively involved prophet during the time of Jeroboam II, king of Israel from approximately 793 to 753 B.C.  His father’s name was Amittai.  He was from the city of Gath-hepher, which is located about four miles north of Nazareth.

There are several things unique to the book of Jonah.  Some examples would include (1) that the setting is mostly outside of Palestine, in Nineveh and on the Mediterranean Sea. Interestingly, (2) Jonah is the only Old Testament character who is mentioned as sailing on the Mediterranean.  (3) His preaching is to non-Jews.  (4) A significant amount of the book deals with miraculous events such as the storm, the ceasing of the storm, the great fish, keeping Jonah alive in the belly of the fish for three days and nights, vomiting Jonah onto the shore and the plant growing overnight.

The city of Nineveh plays an important role in the book. It served as capitol of Assyria for several kings and is located along the east bank of the Tigris River about 500 miles northeast of Palestine.  The location is across the river from present day Mosul, Iraq and about 250 miles north of Baghdad.  It was an ancient city.  It is mentioned in Genesis 10:7-11 as one of the cities built by the grandson of Ham (Nimrod).  It was a large city.  Jonah describes it as taking three days to walk across it (Jonah 3:3).  God said it contained “more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left” (Jonah 4:11).  This is usually taken to mean infants and young children.  Many estimate its population would have been upwards of a half million people.

The city of Tarshish was the city that Jonah was attempting to reach when he was thrown overboard.  It is mentioned in 1 Kings 10:22 as the source of much of the gold, silver and Ivory which King Solomon had.  Most scholars believe that it was located in Spain.  If so, Jonah was headed 2000 miles in the opposite direction from where Jehovah had instructed him to go. 

A great deal has been made of what swallowed Jonah.  Jonah calls it “a great fish” (Jonah 1:17) and just plain “fish” (Jonah 2:1 and 10).  It is mentioned in Matthew 12:40 and was translated as “whale” by the King James, American Standard and Revised Standard Bibles.  Comparisons with other translations will show “great fish” (ESV, NKJV and others), “huge fish” (NIV and others) and “sea monster” (NASB).  The Hebrew word that is used (dag) signifies “fish” and the Greek word used (Kvvvhtous) signifies “sea monster.”  Whatever it was, it was “appointed” and specifically prepared by Jehovah for the purpose of swallowing Jonah and keeping him alive for a period of three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17).  This must be seen as one of the miracles found in the book of Jonah.