The Remarkable Journey of Jonah by Henry Morris Master Books, 2003 £8 135 pages
ISBN 978 0 890 514 078
There are some who believe that the book of Jonah in the Old Testament is a fairy story rather than real history. Henry Morris does not subscribe to this view. He takes it to have happened, really. He quotes the words of Jesus (Matthew 12 v41; Luke 11 v32) to underline his conviction that the story of Jonah is not just a myth or parable, invented for whatever reason, but serves a much more significant purpose. He draws a parallel between Jesus and Jonah in the same way that Jesus did.
At sea in a great storm, Jonah is thrown off a ship and is swallowed by a great fish. After spending 3 days in the belly of the fish Jonah is disgorged by the great fish on to dry land. There is a fairly clear similarity to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus – a similarity to which Jesus himself draws attention. Henry Morris makes much of the similarity.
In a book of only 4 chapters and 48 verses, Henry Morris gives some perceptive insights into the historical background of this Old Testament book which he has researched with profit to the reader.
The author takes us verse by verse through the short book with apt historical as well as spiritual comment.
The lack of much collateral evidence for the events recorded in Jonah does give rise to a degree of speculation by this author, evidenced by many statements such as ‘it is possible that..’. ‘It could well be that…’ ‘it is reasonable to suppose that…’ and so on. This honest approach does weaken the case for reliability somewhat and the result is that you are left with the decision either to believe or to reject the authenticity of Jonah as a canonical work. However, it is worth noting that Jewish tradition certainly accepts the book of Jonah as an authoritative part of God’s word.
Henry Morris’s work would be as much appreciated by preachers preparing a sermon as by those doing their own Bible study of this Old Testament prophet.
Raymond Wilson