Alfred Edersheim, Bible History Old Testament, Book 7, Chapter 5, pp.874,875 (Hendrickson Reprint)
Lastly, as yet another prophet of that period, we have again to refer to Jonah, the son of Amittai, a native of Gath-hepher, in the tribal possession of Zebulun, and therefore in the northern part of Israel.
Without entering on the critical questions connected with the story which forms the burden of the Book of Jonah, or discussing the precise date of its publication in its present form, a deep significance surely attaches to its association with the prophet contemporary of Jeroboam II.
It is not only that it points to a preaching of repentance to the Gentiles also, and to their ingathering with believing Israel into the family of God, but the circumstances of the time give it a special meaning. From apostate, morally sunken Israel, such as we have learned to know it from the descriptions of the prophets, Jonah, the very messenger who had announced coming deliverance to Jeroboam, turns by Divine commission to the Gentiles: to that great world-empire which was representative of them. And from this comes to us a fresh and deeper meaning in regard to the application of this history by our Lord (Matthew 12:39-41; 16:4; Luke 11:29-32). It had been “a wicked and adulterous generation” of old that had heard the prophecy of Jonah, and understood not the sign; nor was other sign to be given to it. So would it be to those who heard and saw the Christ, yet craved after other “sign” suited to their unbelief. None other than the sign of Jonah would be theirs – yet even this, “a sign” sufficient in itself (Matthew 12:40), a sign also not only of judgment, but of wider mercy (Matthew 12:41).
While I do not entirely see my way clear to accepting his remarks concerning the sign of the prophet Jonah, it is impossible not to see the historical echo of the Apostle Paul in the prophet Jonah.