Jonah the Prophet (יוֹנָה בֶן־אֲמִתַּי, yonah ven-amittay). The main figure in the book of Jonah. Jonah son of Amittai the prophet (יוֹנָה בֶן־אֲמִתַּי הַנָּבִיא, yonah ven-amittay hannavi') was from Gath-Hepher, a town in Galilee about 2 miles northeast of Nazareth. Gath Hepher was in the territory allotted to the tribe of Zebulun (see Josh 19:10, 13), so it is likely Jonah was a member of that tribe. He is mentioned in connection with the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel (793–753 bc) in 2 Kgs 14:23–25. Jeroboam’s success in extending Israel’s northern border to the Syro-Hittite city of Hamath on the Orontes River, its greatest extent since the time of David and Solomon (1 Kgs 8:65; 1 Chr 13:5), is said to have happened “according to the word of Yahweh, the God of Israel, which he spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah the son of Amittai the prophet, who was from Gath-Hepher” (2 Kings 14:25). Jonah’s message is assumed to have been delivered during Jeroboam’s reign, dating the prophet’s ministry to the mid-8th century bc.

The prophet Jonah is best known from the book of Jonah, which records that after he tried to run away from God’s call to preach to the people of Nineveh, he was swallowed by a big fish and spit out safely on dry ground. Jonah’s name means “dove” which may factor in to the symbolism of the book of Jonah (Hauser, “Jonah,” 22n3). Historically the name of the prophet may be incidental, but Hauser argues that the author of the book of Jonah uses the dove symbolism for its overtones of flight and passivity (Hauser, “Jonah,” 22). However, Bolin cautions against attaching too much significance to the etymology of Jonah’s name in interpreting the book (Freedom, 72–73). Stuart also questions whether the meaning of Jonah’s name has any symbolic relevance for understanding the book of Jonah (Hosea—Jonah, 431).

Jonah’s patronymic is also sometimes held to be symbolic with “son of Amittai (אֲמִתַּי, amittay)” interpreted to mean “son of truth” (אֱמֶת, emeth). This interpretation is attested as far back as rabbinic literature where the rabbis speculate that Jonah is the unnamed son of the widow of Zarephath, raised from the dead by Elijah (1 Kgs 17:17–24), linking the “son of Amittai” with the widow’s statement that Elijah’s word was “truth” (Bolin, Freedom, 18).

Stuart notes that knowing more details about Jonah’s life is unnecessary for following the story in the book of Jonah: “The story is thus self-contained. It is not necessary to know much of anything about Jonah’s life otherwise to appreciate the story. His past and future are not essential to the book’s development” (Hosea—Jonah, 431).