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Jonah was a prophet of God during the reign of King Jeroboam II. Though the nation was successful militarily, spiritually they were in a bad shape. Jonah was one of the prophets chosen of God to speak to His chosen people (2 Kings 14:25). However, Jonah’s message was likely to be similar to his contemporary, Hosea and Amos – a message of impending judgement because of the idolatry and sin of the people.
It was in this backdrop that Jonah was called to be a prophet to the Assyrians (Jonah 1:1). The Assyrians truly repented upon the preaching of Jonah, that even Jesus attested to this (Matthew 12:41, Luke 11:32). Ironically, God used the Assyrians to conquer the Israelites due to the Israelites’ persistent refusal to repent.