"Jonah" is translated "Dove."

This translation indicates that Jonah was the Herald of God's Word, the Messenger of Peace, the reconciliation of man to God.

Jonah was a Messenger of God, a Prophet, who was encouraged by God to preach His Will to a morally and spiritually corrupt people, in the midst of a sinful civilization, figuratively represented by the "City" called "Nineveh.

"Jonah" is also an image of a prophet in whose life there was disobedience to God, for which he expected God's physical vengeance, i.e., the destruction of the wicked people of Nineveh, but his expectations of God's punishment of sinners were not fulfilled.

Jonah is the prophet who became the prototype of those religious people who also, like Jonah, expect the physical destruction of all sinners as God's punishment.