Jonah was a prophet in the Old Testament era. He was active during the reign of Jeroboam II, king of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. This period was when the Northern Kingdom of Israel experienced its greatest territorial expansion.
This territorial expansion is the only content that mentions Jeroboam II, who is not extensively covered in the Bible.
During this time, Jonah received a command from God to go to Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, and proclaim a message of repentance.
At that time, Assyria had not yet invaded Israel, but Jonah, who held a chosen people ideology towards foreign nations, defied this command from God and fled to Tarshish.
However, while on his way, he encountered a great storm, and when the ship was in danger of sinking, he asked to be thrown into the sea himself. As Jonah was thrown into the sea, the storm subsided, and Jonah was trapped in the belly of a large fish for three days.
Afterward, he came out of the fish's belly and went to Nineveh to proclaim a message of repentance. Although it was a place that should have taken three days to traverse, he only walked for one day and proclaimed the message, but even that message was used by God, and all the people of Nineveh repented.
He was the first prophet to receive the mission to preach the gospel to foreign nations, but he was also a person who defied God due to his fiery and rebellious nature.
He only obeyed God after being trapped in the fish's belly, but it was not complete obedience, and as a result, he complained to God upon seeing the foreign city of Nineveh repent.
However, God did not react strongly to Jonah's rebellion but rather showed how great and wide His love is.