Jonah ben Amittai was a prophet of Israel from Gath Hepher, a village near Nazareth. His book is unique among the Prophets in that it is almost entirely narrative. It recounts how Jonah learned that God was much bigger than he had thought, especially in the extent of His power and His compassion. The major power in the middle East at that time was Assyria, whose capital was Nineveh. Since the ninth century B.C. the Assyrians had been sending savage military expeditions west into Syria-Palestine