And the Lord Delivered Jonah

Title: And the Lord Delivered Jonah

Artist: Ruth Starr Rose

Date: 1938

Size: 14″ x 19″

Medium: Print

Technique: Lithograph

Credit: Gift of the Harmon Foundation

Description: A whale, nearly washed up onto a beach, takes up the top left quadrant of the image. Its mouth is wide open revealing a man sitting on its tongue praying with a light colored glow behind his head. In the background, the sun is setting beyond the skyline. On the shore, in the bottom left are two angels: one adult and one child. In the bottom right, also on the shore, are five people (four adults and one child) with their arms outstretched towards the sky in praise.

Beyond the Image

Ruth Star Rose’s And the Lord Delivered Jonah portrays the Biblical story of Jonah and the Whale. The story is told in Jonah 1-4 (NIV) of the Bible and recounts a prophet named Jonah. God commands Jonah to travel to Nineveh and preach there, as it has become a wicked place. Instead, Jonah runs away and hops onto a ship to try and flee from his mission. God creates a storm that threatens to capsize the ship and Jonah tells the sailors to throw him overboard since he knew that the storm only came upon them because of his attempt to flee from his mission bestowed on him by God. As he is thrown overboard, Jonah is swallowed by a huge fish that is sent by God.

Jonah spends three days and nights in the belly of the whale, and during this time, Jonah prays to God, apologizing for his attempt to flee and promising to do as God asked him to do in Nineveh. Thus, God commands the whale to spit Jonah out on dry land, as depicted in Rose’s And the Lord Delivered Jonah.

Requesting Images

For questions regarding high-resolution digital images, please contact our director, Dr. Vanessa Thaxton-Ward. For more information on image use, please see our FAQ under “Can I request an image?”

And the Lord Delivered Jonah

Beyond the Image

Requesting Images

Follow us on Social Media!

Hours of Operation

Mailing Address