Zephaniah) predicted Nineveh's downfall for "endless cruelty" (Nahum 3:19), and in 612 B.C. that city was destroyed, never to be inhabited again. A Bible dictionary can summarize Nineveh's long history as a world power; look under "Assyria."
Is Jonah a "fish story"? Interpreters differ over whether it should be read as a parable (not necessarily factual) or as historical fact. At least one reliable account exists of a man swallowed by a sperm whale and later found, alive, in the whale's stomach. Jonah's historical basis cannot be dismissed simply because of the "great fish."
More to the point, Jesus compared himself to Jonah, and the people of his time to Nineveh (Matthew 12:39-41; Luke 11:29-32). He predicted that "the men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here." It is hard to see how fictional characters could stand up at an event Jesus evidently believed would be historical. |
