Lesson 17

Jonah 862 BC

Open with prayer.

Background: In the Biblical verses after Noah in lesson 3, the descendents of Noah are listed -
descendents of Noah’s son Ham looks toward the might man named Nimrod who built the city of
Nineveh, the city which became the main city of Assyria, the city where Jonah was called by
God to go. Genesis 10: 8-11 (Nimrod). You may choose to mention this or not.

Introduce and show the video

Bible reading:

Chapters 1-3 Jonah running from God’s command for him to go to Nineveh, then swallowed by
the big fish, and finally on to Nineveh.

This reading takes 7 minutes. And for Bible numbers, Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly
of the big fish. The Bible books up to now have been in order. Some books are skipped now
through the remainder of the Old Testament.

Specific questions:
 1. What was the name of the prophet this story was about? Jonah
2. What was the name of the city God told Jonah to go to? Nineveh
3. What was the name of the country Nineveh was the capital of? Assyria
4. Name a body of water where Jonah was swallowed by the big fish? Mediterranean Sea
5. How long was Jonah inside the belly of the big fish? 3 days

Open ended questions:

1. Did anyone see any difference between what was in the video and what we read in the
Bible? (On the first and second class, tell the kids that this question is coming as we start the
video.)
2. What was the best thing you saw from either the video or the Bible reading?
3. Why do you think Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh? Assyria had conquered the Northern
half of Israel
4. Like last week, where do you see God’s love for the enemy of the Hebrew nation, Assyria,
through capitol, Nineveh?