The name Jonah, in Hebrew, means "dove". It's not surprising that this fact has been almost completely lost, at least to the great majority of us. Also not surprising is the fact that his name has also come to mean "destroyer", and "he that oppresses". I have a feeling that a man named Jonah would not be allowed on the crew of a ship, since, to sailors, the name has come to mean someone who brings bad luck.
How we tend to confuse things. Usually, just as the book of Revelation has come to be the personification of the apocalyptic, we make something good and beautiful to signify something terrifying and ugly.
I can imagine God holding the book of Jonah lovingly and tenderly in his hands, then giving it a gentle push, so it could fly to us and alight on our lives in the form of a dove. It's a message of peace. Even the dead can be redeemed. Even the wicked may have a second chance. Paul speaks very briefly, but clearly, of baptism for the dead, in 1 Corinthians, chapter 15. The book of Jonah speaks more fully, but in a much more literary way, which can tend to make it more enigmatic, about the redemption of the dead. But if we search it, and seek, and listen, and hear, we will catch the spirit of this beautiful message.
