9. Jonah – between
537 and 428
Jonah may have been written any time
between 537 and 428 BC. It goes against
the exclusive approach of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Along with Ruth, the story of Jonah would put Gentiles in a relatively
positive light. It is very possible that 3:2 suggests that Nineveh is no longer
in existence. If that is the case, it
would have to be written after 612 BC.
Also, the similarities of the language in 3:5-9 with Jeremiah 26:3 and
its context suggest a date after that story, which took place in September 609
to April 608. Yet, it would have to be
after the book was written and circulated.
The affinity it has with older biblical material does not demand that
the story be later than this. However,
the story may well have its origins very early, even into the eighth century,
even if the written document did not have its completion until, say, 537-428
BC.
It is different from other prophetic
literature in that it is prophetic legend.
It would be like the story of I Kings 13 and the man of God there, and
like the story of Balaam in Numbers 22-24.
It would also be similar to the Elijah and Elisha cycle.
Barth[1]
notes that an impatient God would be a petty, human, weak, and false god. Only
a patient God is great, divine, strong, and true. He sees this truth emerging
with clarity in this book. He invites us to notice the relation between the two
parts of the book. Chapters 1-2 we have the disobedience of Jonah to his
prophetic mission, the punishment of the disobedience, and the gracious and
miraculous deliverance from the belly of the fish as he pleads for it and
celebrates it in advance. There then follows in Chapters 3-4 the apparent
obedience of the prophet. However, the same man who was the object of the
patience of God is slow to understand it. He shows crass ignorance in
consideration of the message read to him. If the Ninevites repent, God will
repent. He acknowledges that God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of
great kindness. He justifies running away from God because this is true. The
prophet shows impatience by asking God to take his life. The patient God has
the final word. We do not know if Jonah learned his lesson. However, we as
readers have a lesson to learn of who God is. As Barth sees it, then, the truth
of the patience of God with Nineveh and with Jonah for their salvation is the
ultimate message of this scripture.
The message of Jonah radiates a
message of inclusion of foreigners at a time when voices like Ezra and Nehemiah
were calling for their ouster. It makes a mockery of those who feel YHWH's
interest in humanity is confined to only one people and one nation. While
Nineveh never actually converted, the book seems to ask longingly, "What
if it had?" What if the whole world knew the mercy of YHWH and converted
to his worship? Would that not be a good thing? Most of the people in the
Restoration period seemed to be saying just the opposite. They were striving
for an unrealistic and theologically indefensible ideal of religious
"purity." Jonah, then, by lampooning the incredible narrowness of
that view through humor, has forever given us a priceless lesson on God's mercy
and compassion for the whole creation. If God has such compassion, asks the
book of Jonah, should not we?
Bar none, Jonah has to be the
funniest book in the Hebrew Bible. One of the things that makes Jonah such a
hilarious book is the fact that it is not actually a book of classical
Israelite prophecy, but rather a lampoon of classical prophecy employing the
farcical caricature of a classical prophet in the character of Jonah son of
Amittai. Anyone who doubts that Jonah is intended to be funny should refer to
chapter 3 verses 7-8 where the repentant king of Assyria commands that even the
animals in the kingdom fast and wear sackcloth along with the humans as a sign
of repentance. The visual image of cows and sheep and goats wearing sackcloth
is quite ridiculous.
The humor in the book of Jonah,
however, exists alongside definite historical realities. There actually was a
Jonah son of Amittai who served as Israel's prophet in the days of Jeroboam II
of the Northern Kingdom (II Kings 14:25). In addition, in those days the great
enemy of Israel was the Assyrian Empire headquartered in Nineveh.
The book of Jonah is not a book of
any prophet's oracles. Most likely, with the possible exception of the psalm in
chapter 2, the book does not date to the original prophet's era. One might ask,
in this case, if the purpose of the book of Jonah was not to preserve and
communicate the oracles of a prophet by that name, what did the author intend
it to do?
A noted literary critic of the Old Testament, James
Ackerman, calls the book of Jonah a satire, a deli-berate farce with serious
intent. Like any satire, here is literature meant to disestablish the establishment,
to destabilize present, conventional understandings.
Jonah is a prophet, but we are surprised and intrigued by
the divine command. Prophets had pronounced judgment on enemy nations within
the safe confines of Israelite territory. But commanding a prophet to enter a
foreign city with a word of judgment from the Lord - given the mistreatment and
misunderstanding the prophets suffered when they spoke to God's own people
Israel - is, to say the least, an expansion of the prophetic vocation!...
Nineveh and Tarshish are geographic antipoles. Nineveh,
to the east, is the later capital of Assyria, the very nation that would
destroy and carry off Jonah's people...sixty years later. The Assyrians were
renowned for their power and gross cruelty... Thus we know Nineveh as a city
whose power is a threat to Israel's existence and whose evil is antithetical to
God's will. Tarshish, on the other hand, lies somewhere far to the west and is
a place where YHWH is not known (Isaiah 66:19). Jonah, a servant fleeing his
master's sovereignty, also sees Tarshish as a refuge beyond YHWH's domain.
Since the story depicts YHWH as the almighty creator God, it has placed
Tarshish at the ends of the earth, where death and chaos begin.[2]
"Given the divine
compassion to save all who repent, repentance is easier for the most wicked
non-Israelite metropolis imaginable than for one Israelite who has been treated
mercifully. The author [of Jonah] seeks to underline the difficulty some
Israelites have in bringing any change in attitude toward what Yahweh wants of
them. Thus the purpose is not to remind the Israelites of their mission to
foreigners but to get them to see how incongruous their conduct is, and, it is
hoped, to elicit a more favorable response."[3]
From what Jonah said, it is hard to imagine that anybody
would be changed, let alone a whole city! Just goes to show you, the power
belongs to God and not with us. On his own, Jonah would not have probably moved
a soul. Nevertheless, with God, all things are possible.
Whom was God trying to convert in this story? The words
proclaimed by Jonah were not very poetic or powerful (Jonah was no Isaiah). God
takes Jonah's words and gives them power to convert. However, after their
conversion, Jonah is angry with God. Why? Because the prophecy was effective.
If God could use Jonah to say a few words and have the whole city convert, God
could have used anybody. Therefore, perhaps, the people God was trying to
convert were not the Ninivites, but Jonah. Maybe God was trying to convert the
prophet himself. Of course, the author could also use Jonah as a symbol for the
people of Israel. Nevertheless, how many times in our lives has God used us as
ministers/prophets not mainly for the benefit or conversion of others, but more
for the benefit or conversion of ourselves.
Jonah may be the funniest book of the Bible, a parody of
prophesies. Everyone (storm, fish, plant, worm, even Ninevites) obey God,
except God's prophet. The rest of the prophets were fabulous failures--no one
much paid attention to their words except a few scribes who preserved them for
the canon--but Jonah is the most successful prophet in the scriptures.
Moreover, nothing irritates him more than his own success. The Ninevites
repent. Even the animals are dressed out in sackcloth! Little puppy dogs in
sackcloth chasing little kitty cats in sackcloth chasing mice in sackcloth!
Nineveh repents, and it is the last thing Jonah wanted. The story is hilarious,
written by some precursor to Neil Simon or Woody Allen.
Jonah spends half of the book on the
ship and half of the book in Nineveh. In both cases, the writer presents the
Gentile in a better light than he does the prophet. The story has become
didactic material. Jonah was very kind to Gentile sailors and he was on his way
to another Gentile city, Tarshish.
First, note that God never takes
Jonah into his confidence. Jonah must guess from events how to interpret the
motives and purpose of God. Second, Jonah does want to allow heaven to dictate
moves on earth in disregard to his dignity. Third, wherever Jonah goes, he
brings bedlam and calamity. Fourth, Jonah remains aloof from other human
beings. Fifth, Jonah keeps his distance from God. There is not an easy relationship or an
intimate rapport that might be suspected with other prophets. Sixth, Jonah and
God have a conflict of wills. Seventh, whether he resists or obeys the will of
God, he finds no satisfaction.
Second, note what the story says
about God. God shows readiness to toy with human beings, and in particular with
Jonah. God also shows concern for those in terrible straits. The doctrine in
the 700's BC that human repentance brings divine repentance is one Jonah does
not accept. Jonah believes evil must receive divine punishment.
These two points suggest that the issue
is how merciful God can be. That is the
scandal to Jonah. By the end of the
book, we discover the real reason for the disobedience of Jonah. He had
foreseen that God would ensure the triumph of grace, and so he casts back the
gracious words with which Israel had from of ancient time made its confession
in worship. In fact, the whole issue of the possibility of God destroying
Nineveh may have been for show. Even at
the end of the book, the people do not know their right hand from their
left. They revert to their old
ways. However, God was determined to
forgive the people their wickedness anyway. Why? Because God has the right to
show mercy upon humanity. God has a right to feel sorry for them. That was the
scandal that Jonah found so hard to accept. God receives glory, not through the
prophet, but in spite of the prophet. Jonah is in fact shocked into silence at
the mercy of God. In fact, God reproaches Jonah for showing concern for a
plant, while not allowing God to show compassion upon Nineveh.
The purpose of the book appears to
be contrasting narrow religious nationalism with the theological doctrine of
God's universal love for all humanity.
Throughout
the book, virtually everyone has more faith in Yahweh than Jonah does!
God
calls Jonah to travel to the easternmost edge of the known world of that time,
and in response to that call he hops a ship headed to the westernmost edge of
the known world, Tarshish (which is the biblical name for Spain). While on the
ship in direct defiance of YHWH's command, Jonah sleeps through the storm that
even the pagan sailors assume is sent by God to catch their attention. They
must rouse Jonah from a deep sleep to get his opinion on the cause of their
trouble and are flabbergasted when he confesses that his God, from whom he has
previously told them he was fleeing, made the very sea that was currently
attacking them. It was a no-brainer on their parts to deduce, as does Jonah
eventually, that the storm is raging because of him.
At this point Jonah urges the sailors
to throw him overboard, but even though they are not Israelites, they seem to
know that the shedding of innocent blood will further anger YHWH, so they
attempt to save Jonah by rowing for shore. When this fails they pray to YHWH.
Jonah never does this. The sailors do. They ask YHWH's forgiveness for throwing
Jonah into the sea. When the storm dies down after he is off the boat they
convert to the worship of YHWH and offer sacrifices. Therefore, the book begins
by contrasting the lack of obedience of God's so-called servant with the
stunning reverence offered to YHWH by those who were not even Israelites.
In
Jonah 2 the humor returns as we are asked to imagine the prophet, no doubt cold
and wet and shivering, INSIDE a big fish, formulating a psalm of praise to God,
whereupon the fish vomits him up on dry ground.
In Jonah 3, once Jonah arrives in
Nineveh, the author presents us with this recalcitrant individual becoming the
most wildly successful prophet in Israelite history. This is because Nineveh
was the capital of the Assyrian Empire - the largest empire ever to rule the
Middle East in ancient times. At its largest extent it stretched from Iran to
Egypt and as far north as the Caucasus Mountains. In short, Nineveh and its
king were the most powerful political and military force in the known world of
the time.
According to 3:3, Nineveh was three
days journey across, meaning it would take a person three days to walk across
town. Jonah, we are told (3:4), has only gone one day's journey when he
delivers the shortest prophetic oracle in the Bible, consisting of only five
words in Hebrew. In English it is only slightly longer - "In forty days
Nineveh will be overthrown." What is fantastical to the point of farce is
that after uttering these few words, which presumably only one-third of the
city could have heard, the whole town, its ruler, its livestock and presumably
the entire Assyrian Empire from Iran to Egypt, converts to the worship of YHWH.
Never has a prophet been so outrageously successful! However, the true lampoon
begins here, because in spite of his outrageous success, Jonah is not happy. On
the contrary, he is miserable. The theological heart of the book rests on this
reaction of Jonah's.
In Jonah 4, the prophet reveals why
he was reluctant to go to Nineveh. He knows that God has commanded him to
preach destruction. However, he also knows that YHWH is a God of mercy who
forgives those who repent. Therefore, under the rules of classical prophecy, if
Jonah fails and no one repents, God will destroy Nineveh. Yet, under these same
rules, which declare that any prophet whose words do not come true is a false
prophet (Deuteronomy 18:20-22), even if Jonah succeeds as a preacher, he fails
by becoming a false prophet. He thinks he cannot win, and he cares more about
his own reputation as a prophet than he cares about presenting the true,
merciful nature of YHWH to a sinful nation. The irony of the story comes from
the fact that Jonah's oracle could also be translated "In forty days
Nineveh will turn over," meaning, "Nineveh will convert!" Therefore,
if Jonah had not been wedded to only one narrow understanding of his own
prophecy he could have seen that his prophecy actually did come true,
specifically because of God's mercy.
NRS Jonah 1:1 Now the word
of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying, 2 "Go at once to
Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come
up before me." 3 But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence
of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he
paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the
presence of the LORD. 4 But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and such
a mighty storm came upon the sea that the ship threatened to break up. 5 Then
the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his god. They threw the cargo that
was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had
gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down, and was fast asleep. 6
The captain came and said to him, "What are you doing sound asleep? Get
up, call on your god! Perhaps the god will spare us a thought so that we do not
perish." 7 The sailors said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots,
so that we may know on whose account this calamity has come upon us." So
they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. 8 Then they said to him, "Tell
us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you
come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?" 9 "I am
a Hebrew," he replied. "I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who
made the sea and the dry land." 10 Then the men were even more afraid, and
said to him, "What is this that you have done!" For the men knew that
he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them so. 11
Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you, that the sea may quiet
down for us?" For the sea was growing more and more tempestuous. 12 He
said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will
quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has
come upon you." 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring the ship back
to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against
them. 14 Then they cried out to the LORD, "Please, O LORD, we pray, do not
let us perish on account of this man's life. Do not make us guilty of innocent
blood; for you, O LORD, have done as it pleased you." 15 So they picked
Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. 16
Then the men feared the LORD even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the
LORD and made vows. 17 But the LORD provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah;
and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
The theme in Chapter 1 is flight
from God. We are exposed to a conflict
of wills, that of God on the one hand and the prophet on the other.
J. D.
Watts, in his commentary on the book, offers a helpful analysis of the books in
terms of acts and scenes, as if in a play.
1:1-3 is Act One, Scene One. Verse 1 refers to a real prophet in 786 to
740 BC. The name means "Dove, son
of truth." The reader is prepared
to hear a word from God. The implication
is that people already know Jonah. This
is not the first time the word of the Lord came to him. Verse 2 is a hint that this prophecy will be
different. He is to go to Nineveh. Oracles against nations were common. However, prophets do not go to the nation to
deliver them. He would have responded negatively if he had been called to an
Israelite city. Nineveh was destroyed in
612 BC. Diadorus in First century BC
reports a religious revival in 810-782 of monotheistic proportions. In Jonah, the city is a symbol of great
evil. It represents "the
nations." In verse 3, Tarshish,
possibly Spain, would have been the opposite direction. It is a symbol of all flight from God, to be
out of the reach of the Lord. Of course,
he knew God's presence was not limited to Palestine, but it was a gut
reaction. These few verses present the
issues of the book in the disobedience of the people of God, the universal
geographic scope, and the high moral calling. In 4:2 Jonah states what he
thought at this time. However, to be let
in on this insight at the beginning of the story would have lessened the tension
of the story. Jonah does not do what a
prophet is supposed to do, namely, give unquestioning obedience.
Note that the adventures of the prophet will be more
important than the message given to him.
Readers are to draw lessons from the way God deals with the prophet
rather than from the messages he preached.
In 1:4-6 we find Act One, Scene Two. God is also present on the open sea. In verse 5, the sailors mix cursing and
prayer. A heathen captain reminds the
prophet of his responsibility. People of ancient time believed themselves to be
graced by the gods if they survived a storm.
Others saw their survival as a sign of divine calling. Those who did not survive were paying for
past sins.
We might find it instructive that that the sea and hurricane
obey God, even if the prophet does not.
In 1:7-13 we find Act One, Scene Three. In verse 7, the sailors want to discover who
is to blame. In v. 8, the prophet gives
an unwilling testimony. In verse 9, the
storm is judgment from God, not just bad luck.
He acknowledges he cannot leave God's presence. In verse 11, Jonah does not take the
lead. He is responder. In verse 12, a prophet, Jonah tells them of
the ways of God. In verse 13, the
sailors try to avoid Jonah's suggestion. The sailors have much to learn about
Israel's God.
This portion of the text suggests that Jonah has nothing
against Gentiles. Jonah, when he is the
one designated by the casting of lots, now knows that he cannot escape from
God. Casting lots was a way to force
heaven to give a clear answer.
In
1:14-16, we find Act One, Scene Four. In
verse 14, they do not want to protect Jonah from God's wrath, but nor do they
want to murder him. They support their
action by saying God's will has made it necessary. In verse 15, the sea subsides after throwing
Jonah over. In verse 16, the sailors may
have become worshippers of Yahweh.
Non-Israelites respond when confronted by God's mighty acts. Jonah's illusion ends. He cannot escape God.
The sailors must have had doubts about the counsel they
were receiving. After all, it came from
the very person who did not volunteer information, but confessed his guilt only
when singled out be the lots! Their plan
of going ashore goes against nautical common sense, for they could shipwreck on
the shoreline. They may have been
demonstrating to Jonah's God their own compassion and willingness to risk their
own lives. However, even they discover
that what is going on here has nothing to do with that. God is the one who apportions death and can
grant life and that unconditional submission to divine will can turn fate
around.
In 1:17 we find Act Two, Scene One. "Ordained" means the way the Lord
uses something to accomplish God's will.
Later, it will be used of the gourd vine and the worm. Even nature cooperates with God's
purpose. There are several myths that
relate a sea monster swallowing a hero.
To enter the realm of death for three days was to be lost, except for
divine intervention. The author was
probably aware of these ancient stories. Again, even the great fish obeys God
in swallowing Jonah, even while Jonah has disobeyed God. Further, the scene now
shifts from the sailors who had much to learn about Israel's God to the Hebrew
who knew much about God but needed to learn what it means to be committed to
God.
NRS Jonah 2:1 Then Jonah
prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, "I called
to the LORD out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I
cried, and you heard my voice. 3 You cast me into the deep, into the heart of
the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed
over me. 4 Then I said, 'I am driven away from your sight; how shall I look
again upon your holy temple?' 5 The waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded
me; weeds were wrapped around my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went
down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life
from the Pit, O LORD my God. 7 As my life was ebbing away, I remembered the
LORD; and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who worship
vain idols forsake their true loyalty. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the
LORD!" 10 Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon
the dry land.
The theme of chapter 2 is that the action of the previous
chapter gives way to a time when Jonah can be alone with his God.
In 2:1-9, we find Act Two, Scene Two. Verse 1 connects the psalm to the previous
story. The prayer is a thanksgiving for
salvation. It contrasts sharply with
Jonah's flight. The author quotes Psalm
fragments appropriate for the story.
Drowning is described as being separated from God. He pictures the abyss and God restoring him
to life. Here is Israel in exile. Jonah spewed out on dry land is like the
post-exilic community. Verses 2-9 reveal
no progression in the Psalm, but rather four recurring cycles at v. 2, v. 3-4,
v. 5-6, and v. 7. All verses use
pictures of death. Verses 8-9 contain a
vow to fulfill his duty. It stresses
God's rescue from death. The Psalms with
which there are the closes parallels are from the pre-exilic period.
In 2:10, we find Act Two, Scene Three. The Lord acts to bring the prophet back to life. The great fish obeys God once again in
surrendering Jonah back to reality.
NRS Jonah 3:1 The word of
the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 "Get up, go to Nineveh,
that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." 3 So
Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now
Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. 4 Jonah began
to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days
more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" 5 And the people of Nineveh
believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on
sackcloth. 6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his
throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7
Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and
his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything.
They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water. 8 Human beings and animals
shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall
turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. 9 Who
knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger,
so that we do not perish." 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned
from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said
he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
The theme of Chapter 3 is that Jonah is now ready to
follow God's will.
In 3:1-3a, we find Act Three, Scene One. Verse 1 is a
reminder of 1:1. Verse 2 uses the
messenger formula. We need to be sure to
catch the barbed humor in saying the word of the Lord came a second time. The
prophet had tried futilely to flee from the presence of the Lord (see Psalm
139:7 ff.) when God told him to go to Nineveh the first time (1:3). He had
booked ship’s passage to Tarshish (we would say “Timbuktu”), but God still
wanted him to fulfill his mission, even though the pagan sailors had been more
devout than Jonah, the Lord’s prophet! Finally, in verse 3a, he acts in a way a
prophet is expected to act.
In 3:3b-4, we find Act Three, Scene Two. It refers to
Jonah's preaching. He goes one third of
the way into the city and begins preaching.
There is no call to repentance and no qualification. 40 days is often used for special retreat and
fasting. The phrase "great before
God," the strongest superlative in Hebrew.
Taking three days to cross it is also hyperbole, emphasizing its great
size. "Forty days" suggests
the days of the flood or the period in the wilderness of forty years.
Interestingly, the word "overthrown" is ambiguous. Jonah interprets as purely predicting the
destruction of the city. The same Hebrew
root word for “overthrow”/”destroy” is used for the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah in Genesis 19:24-25 (and see Deuteronomy 29:23). However, there would
be dramatic change if the city were to repent as well.
The reference to Jonah preaching one day's journey into
the city may be sign of hesitancy according to some. It may also mean he is in a hurry to get the
message out. As will be seen, however,
whether he rejects or embraces God's commands, Jonah finds no release or
gratification.
In 3:5-10, we find Act Three, Scene Three. In verse 5,
the exemplary conversion of the Ninevites is contrasted with the incredulity of
the Jews. This is exactly the opposite
of the response of the Jewish people to the prophecy of Jeremiah in Sept. 609 -
April 608, in Jeremiah 26.
The scenario for
this delightful story is that God's calling of a Jewish prophet to warn the
wicked capital of the Babylonian Empire, which had conquered Israel and dragged
its people into captivity. Jonah wants
this cruel foreign city to get what it has coming to it with no warnings and no
mercy. He speaks five words in Hebrew
announcing the impending doom; "Forty days--Nineveh will
perish." The story is rife with
satire meant to reveal the readers to themselves. God is God of all the world
and not just Israel; God cares about others nations as much as Israel should
want others to have God's mercy as they have; God is merciful and will repent
in response to repentance; Israel should repent as the Ninevites did; and much
more.
The tale of Jonah is a study in God's capacity for
judgment and God's freedom in forgiveness.
The text says they believed God, not the prophet or the message. Verses 6-9 detail the public procedure of
repentance, and verse 9 shows the capacity of the king for reflection. In verse 6, the king's response is typical of
the people. In verse 7, everyone is
included in the fast. In verse 8,
mourning and fasting are an urgent appeal for God to have a change of mind. Wickedness and violence are given up for good
and peace. In verse 9, they are the
generic term for God, and not Yahweh.
Different from the sailors, they do not know Yahweh. "Repent" means a change of
mind. Wrath is turned to mercy. The story does not tell how this change of
mind was communicated to Nineveh. Verse 10 shows the king was right. It is this freedom on God's part that lets
God be responsively gracious, thus avoiding the terrible judgment that had been
announced. God's freedom and
responsiveness create important possibilities for God's partners. The people react to the gloomy message of the
reluctant prophet. This turn away from evil by the Lord, this repentance, exemplifies a surprisingly frequent concept
in the OT, that of the Lord’s relenting (having a change of mind) from
punishing a people’s evil/wickedness with corresponding “evil” (the same word ra’ah
in Hebrew, often translated calamity, disaster, destruction or punishment). For
examples, one can see Exodus 32:14; 2 Samuel 24:16 (= 1 Chronicles 21:15);
Jeremiah 18:8-10; Jeremiah 26:3, 13, 19; Joel 2:11-14. It may offend our
sensibilities to think that God would bring “evil” upon evildoers, but that is
what the biblical texts say, even though such divine “evil” is generally
understood clearly not to be moral evil. Should it not matter to God what a
people (or individual persons) do against God or against other peoples/persons?
Should the Lord God just give a jovial “timeout” instead of something stronger?
Nevertheless, God did respond favorably to genuine repentance (turning
away from sinful behavior and toward God) by relenting/”changing his mind.”
(The Hebrew verb naham is translated as metanoew in the LXX Greek; this same word in NT Greek
is frequently translated into English as “to repent,” “to feel remorse,” or “to
change one’s mind,” depending on the context.)
Jesus uses the message of Jonah to call upon his contemporaries (and us)
to repent, just as the Ninevites did (see Luke 11:29-32 and Matthew 12:41).
NRS Jonah 4:1 But this was
very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD and
said, "O LORD! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own
country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you
are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast
love, and ready to relent from punishing. 3 And now, O LORD, please take my
life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." 4 And the LORD
said, "Is it right for you to be angry?" 5 Then Jonah went out of the
city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat
under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city. 6 The LORD
God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his
head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush.
7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the
bush, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east
wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked
that he might die. He said, "It is better for me to die than to
live." 9 But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry
about the bush?" And he said, "Yes, angry enough to die." 10
Then the LORD said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did
not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and
perished in a night. 11 And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great
city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do
not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?"
The
theme of Chapter 4 is a change from a focus on a wicked city and the message to
it to a focus on human pride, freedom, and God's mercy.
In 4:1-4, we find Act Three, Scene
Four. In verse 1, God's mercy on Nineveh
was an evil to Jonah. He feels
betrayed. v. 2, this is not like the
prayer of Chapter 2, which was formal and correct. It is a complaint against God. He thinks he was right to avoid God's call in
the first place. "I knew,"
Jonah knew what God was like, but he did not like it. Jonah is very close to Joel at this
point. Only they say God is always ready
to repent of disaster. There is a
tension between a God of justice and a God of mercy. Jonah did not want God's mercy for
Nineveh. He tries to give his original
avoiding of God's call a theological rationale.
It would appear that Jonah's sense of justice is offended. At this point, Jonah, who had been stuck in
schadenfreude -- malicious joy at another person's misfortune -- is reduced to
sorrow because of Nineveh's good fortune. He is angry that the Ninevites have
turned from their evil ways and that God has proved himself once more to be
gracious and merciful, "slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
and ready to relent from punishing" (4:2). There is a very close quote of
Exodus 34:6-7, a product of the "J" document. Yet, that text goes on to stress that God
does not overlook sin, but punishes sin.
Jonah stops at this point. In
addition, this is very close to the theology of Joel 2:13, which would appear
to have been written between 445 and 343 BC.
Jonah shows himself again to be out of step with the divine agenda. In
verse 3, he would rather not live in a world with a gracious God. Other prophets pleaded for people to repent
to arrest punishment. In verse 4, the
facade of anger is pierced. "Is it
good to be angry?" After all, Nineveh's
repentance and God's mercy are givens.
Jonah is unwilling to accept God's mercy for Gentiles. However, is he justified in believing this
way?
In 4:5-6, we find Act Three, Scene
Five. Verse 5, You do not sit in the sun
in the east. It would be a fragile
booth. In verse 6, note the name for God
here. The bad mood becomes a good mood
just because he received more shade than he already had.
In 4:7-11, we find Act Three, Scene 6.
In verse 7, the source of Jonah's joy grew in a few hours but is destroyed in a
few minutes. In verse 8, the wind blew
away even Jonah's shelter. It is not
surprising that he would grow faint. His
mood changes to despair. He again prays
for death. In verse 9, see v. 4, the
same basic questions. Jonah responds
with his anger being justified. Jonah is
shown to be unstable. He is to be pitied
for his immaturity. In verse 10, Jonah
cared so much for trivial things! It is
Jonah's failure to grasp this analogy that deserves God's censure. The plant has the same characteristics as
human beings do. Jonah's lack of concern
for the plant is symptomatic of a problem with the human race. It tends not to care for one another. See Psalm 144:3-4, 90:5-6. In verse 11,
should God not care for people? God has
a right to care about the masses of the people.
We
find the point of the story in this last incident. This repentance business was just a
charade. They still do not know their
right hand from the left. They cannot be
trusted. Regardless of their repentance,
God would have saved them. Why? Just because God has pity and compassion upon
God's children. God has a right to feel
sorry for them and not destroy them.
Jonah has no answer. He was
undoubtedly shocked.
Could
it be that everything has happened thus far in order to educate the
prophet? Here is the individual's
complaint before God. It is well and
good for God to save a city. However,
what about one person's dignity. It is
as if Jonah knows that God is merciful, that if given the choice between
extending life and ending life, God will extend it. However, why is Jonah not given the message
of cheer that Nineveh is spared? It is
not necessary, for the ambiguity of the message God gives to Jonah must be
upheld, and Jonah is not allowed in on it.
Jonah might have said, “Evil should be paid back
fully, by God! Why should a quickie ‘repentance’ change anything?” Indeed, we
learn in Jonah 4:2-3 the reason for Jonah’s wishing to avoid God’s mission to
begin with — he knew the Lord to be a “gracious God and merciful, slow to
anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.”
Jonah was right about the evil/wickedness of Nineveh. But he argued with God
about God’s response to its repentance.
The prophet had forgotten that God had rescued him
from the full consequences of his own rebellion, even without his
repentance! And while the nation of Judah had suffered time in Babylon as a
consequence of their own repeated unrepentant acts of rebellion, God had
restored them to Judah. The book of Jonah invited them to be open to God’s
often surprising ways of delivering peoples/persons whom they might have been
shocked to discover as recipients of God’s mercy. Judah (among other peoples)
had tendencies toward exclusivity, based on nationalism or religion; but God
invited them to see that God’s care went beyond their own people. Other
biblical passages appealed to them to hear God’s call to be a blessing and a
light to the other nations of the world (e.g., Genesis 12:1-3; Isaiah 49:6).
Do we, too, at first try to flee from God’s call to
pass on God’s warning and delivering message through Jesus Christ to all
people of all nations, even the ones we consider most vile? (See Matthew
28:18-20; Acts 1:8). Do we forget God’s unexplainable compassion, even on unexpectedly
repentant people?
[1] Church Dogmatics II.1 [30.3] 413-4.
[2] (James S. Ackerman, The
Literary Guide to the Bible, Alter and Kermode, eds. [Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, 1987], pp. 234-235.)
[3] - G. M. Landes, The Interpreter's Dictionary
of the Bible, Supplementary Volume, Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1976, p. 490
