Jonah is like Narnia

from an interview w/ Mark Futato, who wrote ESV study bible notes on Jonah:

How long have you been interested in studying the book of Jonah, and what led to your interest in this particular book?

I first read the book of Jonah in Hebrew in the summer of 1974. As a college student I had just finished my first year of elementary Hebrew and read the book of Jonah with Willem VanGemeren, my first Hebrew professor. That was the beginning of my fascination with the book. I started teaching Hebrew at the seminary level in the fall of 1988 and have read the book of Jonah with Hebrew students every year since.

We might be tempted to think that you do not get much out of Jonah since you have been teaching it so long. How would you respond to that type of idea? Do you still see new insights in Jonah?

I have often likened the book of Jonah to the Narnia Chronicles by C. S. Lewis. On one level the storyline is very simple, so that young children can enjoy the book and understand its message. On another level the book of Jonah is a highly sophisticated piece of literature that continues to yield new gems with each read. I continue to learn from the scholarly writings of colleagues in the field, and I also learn much from the fresh questions that students bring to the text each year.