SOURCE: Limburg, James. “Introduction.” In Jonah: A Commentary, pp. 19-36. New York: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1993.

In the following excerpt, Limburg discusses Jonah's themes and its place among other books of the Bible, also considering some problems of its genre and date of composition.

Jonah Among the Prophetic Books

It is not immediately apparent that the story of Jonah should be grouped with the prophetic writings of the Old Testament. Jonah is never called “prophet” in the book that bears his name. Since the Jonah material is a story about a prophet rather than a collection of prophetic sayings, it could have fit well in the books of Kings, where there are a number of stories about prophets. In fact, many phrases from Jonah find their closest biblical parallels in the narratives about Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17-2 Kings 9).¹ An account involving a huge fish (and a...