A Call to Compassion Once upon a time, there lived a prophet named Jonah. He was a real person who lived sometime around 800 BCE, but the story in the Bible that contains his name wasn’t written down until about four centuries later, and it hardly represents his life accurately. Indeed, it is a satirical tale, but it offers us a serious message. Jonah’s name means “dove.” Since the dove symbolizes Israel, we can assume that Jonah symbolizes her, as well. He was also the son of Amittai, whose own name meant “faithfulness,” but Jonah was far from faithful. When God told him to go prophesy to Nineveh, he ran…