Holy Prophet Jonah (8th Century Before the Nativity of Christ)
The holy Prophet Jonah, one of the Minor Prophets, was active in the time of Jeroboam II, king of Israel. God sent Jonah to the Assyrians, the enemies of Israel, in the city of Nineveh, and commanded him to announce to them that they would perish unless they repented of their sins. Jonah did not want to preach to the enemies of Israel and resolved to flee; he boarded a ship and went in another direction, towards Tarshish. At God’s command a terrible storm suddenly arose. Those on board were very much afraid and prayed to their gods, but the storm did not abate. Then they cast lots to find out on whose account this misfortune had come upon them. The lot fell on Jonah. The prophet confessed his sin before God and said to them: “Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you” (Jonah 1:12). Jonah was thrown into the sea, and the storm abated. The Lord’s chosen one was swallowed by a whale; he was in its belly three days and three nights and besought God for deliverance. At last, at God’s command, the whale cast him up on the shore. Jonah again received a command from on high to go to Nineveh and preach repentance. This time the saint did God’s will; he went to the enemies’ city and began to preach: “Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). When the Ninevites heard this, they fell into repentance, put on sackcloth and kept a fast, and even gave their beasts no food or water. And the Lord accepted their repentance, forgave them their sins, and the city was saved.
The Prophet Jonah’s three days in the belly of the whale and his deliverance foreshadowed the three days of our Lord Jesus Christ in the tomb and His glorious Resurrection. The Saviour said to the scribes and Pharisees who asked Him for a sign: “An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas” (Matthew 12:39).
