The book of Jonah is probably one of the most watered down books of the Bible, and usually the message goes like this: Jonah was a prophet who ran away from God, but after spending some time in a whale, he learned to be brave and do what God asked him to do. So be brave like Jonah! Then we go to bed feeling great about ourselves.

While the sentiment is admirable, it doesn't even scratch the surface of what this amazing, hilarious, compelling, and profoundly deep book is all about. From now until December, we will be tearing Jonah apart and putting it back to the way it was supposed to be! This is the first lesson in our Jonah series, where we do the important work of setting up enough of the historical context of the book to ground us in the world of the original hearers. To do that, we must answer four questions:

Who wrote Jonah?

What is Jonah?

When was Jonah written?

Why was Jonah written?

I hope this is helpful as you come with us to explore one of my favorite books of the Bible. Let's get into it!