Jonah 7

Although there are dozens of other great literary features in the book of Jonah (like chapter 4's affinity with the book of Exodus) I will end this series with a discussion of how the Ninevites are portrayed in the book. The book makes it sound as though the Ninevites are no better than cattle.

Now, oftentimes, the Old Testament will call people animals. For instance, Amos rails against some foreign wives and says, "Hear this word, you cows of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy!" But there in Jonah the comparison between the foreigners and cattle is a little more subtle.

This idea is seen in Jonah 3:7-8 and 4:11. In 3:7-8 the author lumps man and beast together in the proclamation of the king of Nineveh who says:

"Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste anything. Do no let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth and let them call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and the violence which is in their hands." So both man and animal (what a strange idea) must be covered with sackcloth (a traditional Hebrew rite for mourning) and let them (another strange idea) call on God.

Then in 4:11 he also lumps them together although the connection is not as explicit:
"Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?"

Jonah 6

Old Testament thoughts is a weekly post where we'll be looking at some interesting aspects of some Scripture from the Hebrew Bible (what Christians call the Old Testament). Right now, we are looking at the literary aspects of the book of Jonah.

Chapter 3 begins the way you would have expected the entire story would have (see the first post below). YHWH tells Jonah to "arise" and he does "arise" to go to Ninevah, instead of "arising" to "go down" to run away from YHWH.

Then he goes to Nineveh and says this, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be haphak."

I will, for the sake of space and focus, not deal with how unlikely it would have been for the Ninevites to understand Hebrew, the language the Scriptures are written in. That is, what did Jonah really say? And did he say it in Hebrew? Or is what we have a translation? Ah...for another day...

But I do want to simply point out the ambiguity of the term haphak. If God (via Jonah) wanted to proclaim that in 40 days Nineveh would be destroyed there are several other words that would be unambigious. Instead, he uses the ambigious haphak, which could mean either "turned" or "overthrown." We obviously know which of those Jonah meant, he wanted Nineveh to be "overthrown."

Instead, verse 5 shows us that the Ninevites "turned" or "were changed," that is, they repented. Is that what God meant when he said, "40 days and Nineveh will be haphak"?

The interesting thing is that Nineveh wasn't destroyed. If you remember, in Deuteronomy, the mark of a true prophet is that his/her prophecy comes true. But Nineveh wasn't destroyed. So if Jonah took haphak to mean "destroy" then he is a false prophet. But as it is, and against Jonah's own wishes, Nineveh "turns," so maybe he wasn't a false prophet after all...

N.B.: Even the people of Nineveh thought (whatever language Jonah used) that God was planning on destroying them - see 3:9.

Jonah 5

Old Testament thoughts is a weekly post where we'll be looking at some interesting aspects of some Scripture from the Hebrew Bible (what Christians call the Old Testament). Right now, we are looking at the literary aspects of the book of Jonah.

The Psalms in ancient Israel are everywhere. They seem to be what the Israelites continue to go back to in order to explain where they are in life. David prays for deliverance in 2 Samuel 22 quoting extensively from Psalm 18, Jesus uses Psalm 22 to describe his current pain and abandonment.

In Jonah 2, the Psalms are used the same way Beatles songs are used in the movie Across the Universe. There is a pastiche of quotes from the psalms all stitched together to make a coherent prayer for Jonah in the belly of the fish. Here is a list* of verbatim uses of the Psalms in Jonah 2:

Jonah 2:3a=Psalm 18:7; 30:3; 118:5; 120:1

Jonah 2:3b=Psalm 130:2

Jonah 2:4b=Psalm 42:8b

Jonah 2:5a=Psalm 31:23a

Jonah 2:6a=Psalm 18:5; 69:2

Jonah 2:8a=Psalm 142:4; 143:4

Jonah 2:8b=Psalm 5:8b; 18:7

Jonah 2:9a=Psalm 31:7a

Jonah 2:10a=Psalm 42:5b; 50:14; 66:13

Jonah 2:10b=Psalm 3:9

The rhetorical effect of this is in providing a structure that lends itself to introspection, as many of the Psalms are, but also of identifying with Israel as a whole. Why else might the writer of Jonah use all these Psalms in the prayer of Jonah?

*List taken from A Poetics of Jonah: Art in the Service of Ideology by Kenneth M. Craig

Jonah 4

Old Testament thoughts is a weekly post where we'll be looking at some interesting aspects of some Scripture from the Hebrew Bible (what Christians call the Old Testament). Right now, we are looking at the literary aspects of the book of Jonah.

A shorter post this time we'll continue the theme from last time - who really is a God-fearer in the story of Jonah? The writer makes another contrast between Jonah and the "pagan" boat crew. Here it is:

When the folks from Ninevah sin, Jonah has no interest in mercy or in trying to save them from their impending doom.

When Jonah sins, the "pagan" boat crew do everything they can, even against their best interest, to save Jonah.

Even after Jonah told them that the only way to calm the storm was to throw him into the sea they still "rowed desperately to return to land but they could not."

This may give some evidence as to when and why Jonah was written, although such a question is a little off topic from the purpose of these posts. However, many think that Jonah was written around the time of the exile of 586 BCE, either just prior (pre-exilic), during (exilic) or just after (post-exilic) This is important because later in the life of Israel, around the time of the exile, they became unhealthily ethno-centric. This rhetorical effect (or maybe even the whole book) may be one example of the writer of Jonah trying to correct how ingrown Israel had become. God cares about and yearns to have compassion on all the nations, not just Israel. Israel had forgotten that. So here, to make the "pagan" boat crew more God-like than the prophet of God, Jonah, is a slap in the face to the Israelites...but a much needed slap.

Jonah 3

Today we'll look at the contrast of character between Jonah and the "pagan" boat crew.

The first contrast comes in the form of "fear." When the sailors cast lots to see who was responsible for this great storm and the lot fell on Jonah, they asked him who he was. He replied, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear (yare) YHWH." But does he really? He has just run away from YHWH and has disobeyed him.

But the sailors, on the other hand, go through a "conversion experience" so to speak here in the first chapter of Jonah. When the storm first came about the sailors became afraid (yare) and each one cried to their own god.

Secondly, after Jonah tells the men that he is running away from YHWH, the one who made the heavens and the earth, they become "extremely afraid" (yare).

Then, to complete the conversion experience, in verse 16, after they have thrown Jonah overboard and the sea stops its raging, they "fear YHWH greatly" (yare), so much that they offer sacrifices and make vows.

Oh the irony, the true "prophet of God" who is a "fearer of YHWH" doesn't fear him at all. Instead we have a whole boat full of pagans who see God for who he really is. They are appropriately afraid of the storm, then they become extremely afraid when they find out Jonah is running from "YHWH, the one who made the heavens and earth." You ran away from who? That God? Are you crazy? Then finally, when the storm suddenly stops, the pagan sailors become true God-fearers, ironically unlike Jonah.

Who is the true follower of God in this story?

Jonah 2

Still in Chapter 1, there are a few other nice literary features in the text to consider.

A Children's Story?

I had a professor tell me once that Jonah would've made a wonderful story for children (and maybe it was?). And he didn't say this after the VeggieTales got hold of it, but because of the personification and the hyperbole (do you remember your 9th grade English class?)

Personification - is when you give animate qualities to inanimate objects, such as emotions, willful actions, etc.

1:5 - The ship "reckoned that it was about to break" or "thought it was about to break"
1:15 - The sea "stopped its rage (or indignation)"

Hyperbole - exaggeration or a use of "extreme terms"

Look at all these:

1:2 - Ninevah the great city
1:4 - YHWH hurled a great wind
1:4 - there was a great storm
1:5 - the men hurled the cargo
1:10 - the men were extremely frightened
1:12 - the great storm
1:12 - pick me up and hurl me into the sea
1:15 - so they picked Jonah up, hurled him into the sea
1:16 - the men feared YHWH greatly
1:17 - YHWH appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah
3:2 - Ninevah the great city
3:3 - a great city, a three day's journey

Jonah 1

I have been posting about the literary aspects of Jonah over at the Encounter blog and thought they would be good to reproduce here. Comments, critiques, and questions are helpful.

For today:

Jonah's "going down"

The very first word in the Hebrew after the introductory verse is the word "Arise" (Qum) followed by "Go" (Lekh). It is God speaking to Jonah and they are not requests but commands (or imperatives)

"Arise and Go." That is how the book of Jonah begins.

How does Jonah react? He "arises" alright, but he arises to flee. So when you are reading it you would expect it to say "So Jonah arose and went," obeying God. But instead you have "But Jonah arose to flee."

But that's just the beginning. Jonah's disobedience leads him down the wrong path, literally. Instead of "arising" Jonah begins to "go down" to escape from God.

Verse 3: Jonah went down (yared) to Joppa
Verse 3: Jonah went down (yared) into the ship
Verse 5: Jonah went down (yared) to the hold of the ship
Verse 5: Jonah was asleep in the hold of the ship

As we'll see later, Jonah "went down" to escape from God, but could not. Instead God takes Jonah even further down than even he wanted to go.

1:15 - Jonah was thrown into the sea, even further down than the hold of the ship
1:17 - Jonah went into the belly of the fish
2:2 - In this poem Jonah tells God that the fish has metaphorically taken him all the way down to the "depths of Sheol (hell)."
2:3 - It was God who cast Jonah into "the primeval deep," into the "heart of the seas"
2:5-6 - Jonah "goes down" all the way to the bottom of the earth until he is "shut out" of creation, the ultimate "going down"

Then comes the climax. After Jonah, by his own disobedience goes down to Joppa, down to the ship, down to the hold of the ship, down to the ocean, down to the belly of the fish, down to the bottom of the ocean and the "great deep," down until he is shut out of creation, then we have the climactic statement in verse 6:

"But You have brought my life up from the pit, O YHWH, my God."

Talk about a powerful few chapters. No wonder Jesus alludes to it when he talks about his own suffering.

It seems as though the writer of Jonah knew what s/he was doing...