Back to 2 Kings, we’re entering the period leading up to Israel (the Northern Kingdom) being scattered in 2 Kings 17. The text mentions a lot of kings of both Israel and Judah but not much detail about each. (We’ll get some additional detail about pivotal kings of Judah when we go through 2 Chronicles.)

However, there is this interesting aside in the story of Jeroboam II (no relation to the first king of Israel):

In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Jehoash became king of Israel in Samaria. He ruled for forty-one years. As far as GOD was concerned he lived an evil life, never deviating an inch from all the sin of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who led Israel into a life of sin. But he did restore the borders of Israel to Lebo Hamath in the far north and to the Dead Sea in the south, matching what GOD, the God of Israel, had pronounced through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher. (2 Kings 14.23 – 25, MSG)

It’s the only mention of Jonah outside the book of Jonah, and it confirms he’s a real guy from a real place, Gath Hepher, a town near Nazareth:

Today the site, at latitude 32° 44′ 30″ N and longitude 35° 19′ 30″ E in the Galilee, is a small set of ruins on a hilltop near the Arab village of Mashad five kilometers north of Nazareth and one kilometer from Kafr Kanna. – Wikipedia

And where is Gath Hepher? Galilee! Which gives one pause when reading about one of the attacks against Jesus:

The Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been deceived? Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.” (John 7.47 – 52, ESV, emphasis mine)

But there was a prophet from Galilee: Jonah!

Don’t confuse me with facts; my mind is made up!

And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” (Matthew 21.9 – 11, ESV)