Who Was Jonah In The Hebrew Bible?

Jonah basically was a prophet in the Hebrew Bible and according to the Muslim Qur'an he had been gulped by a huge fish.

Jonah was said to be the son of Amittai, coming from the Galilean village of Gath-hepher, close to Nazareth. Like quite a few other biblical individuals, Jonah is also essential in Islam as a prophet who is truthful to Allah and conveys his messages to the people. He is known as Yunus to the Muslim people. The Sura 10 of the Islamic holy book Qur'an has been named "Sura Yunus" after him, but he has been only addressed once in the entire sura, in stanza 98.

Jesus indicated towards Jonah when he was asked to show a extraordinary sign by the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law.

In the Hebrew Bible, Jonah, son of Amittai, wa sent by God to preach repentance to the citizens of Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria.  He did not fancy the idea, so took ship to Tarshish (Spain) instead, in order to get as far away as he possibly could from the direction in which God wanted him to go.

God sent a great storm, and the sailors cast lots to see who amongst them had offended his gods.  The lot fell to Jonah who admitted his guilt and told them to throw him into the sea.  As soon as they had done this the storm miraculously ceased.

The Bible states that God had prepared a large fish to swallow Jonah.  He was inside the fish for three days and nights after which, the Bible says, God instructed the fish to spit him up on dry land.

He then obeyed God by going to Nineveh and preaching that they would be overtaken by disaster if they did not repent.  They did from the king right down, and showed their repentance by wearing sackcloth and ashes.

So God spared them, which rather upset Jonah, as it looked as if his prophecy had not come true.  God had to give him an object lesson about mercy, using a very hot sun and a rather transient desert plant.

Jesus is also recorded in the New Testament as saying that he would be buried for three days before rising again in the same way as Jonah spent three days inside the fish.