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Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Saturday, July 29, 2017
The Word of the Lord Heals Jonah, Commentary, r0
JONAH, r0
The Word of the Lord Heals Jonah
Commentary
I.
Abbreviations and
Bibliography
Note: In
order to conserve space and simplify reading the following abbreviations are
used:
· AGL: for The Analytical
Greek Lexicon, (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, 1973: 444 pages)
· ANEP: for Pritchard, James
B., The Ancient Near East in Pictures, Relating to the Old Testament,
Second Edition with Supplement, (Princeton University Press, Princeton, New
Jersey, 1969: 396 pages)
· Beckwith: for Beckwith,
Roger T., The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church, and its
Background in Early Judaism, (Wipf and Stock, Eugene, Oregon, 2008
reprint; SPCK, London, © 1985: 528 pages)
· Calvin: Calvin’s
Commentaries, Volume XIV, Calvin, John, Twelve Minor Prophets,
“Commentaries on the Prophet Jonah”; translated by Owen, John, (Baker, Grand
Rapids, 1979 reprint: 145 pages), in loc. cit.
· Davidson: for Davidson,
Benjamin, The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon, (Zondervan,
Grand Rapids, 1972: 784 pages)
· EH: for Englishman’s
Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance of the Old Testament, (Zondervan, Grand
Rapids, 1973: 1682 pages, plus appendices)
· H&R: for Hatch, Edwin
and Henry A. Redpath, A Concordance to the Septuagint and the Other Greek
Versions of the Old Testament (Including the Apocryphal Books), (Akademische
Druck- U. Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria, 1954: three volumes, vol. 1 – 696
pages, vol. 2 – 1504 pages, vol. 3 is bound with vol. 2 – 272 more pages)
· Jellicoe: for Jellicoe,
Sidney, The Septuagint and Modern Study, (Oxford, Clarendon Press,
1968: 424 pages)
· K&D: for Keil, Carl
Friedrich (1807-1888), and F. Delitzsch (1813-1890), Biblical Commentary
on the Old Testament, Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets, 2
Volumes, (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, seventh printing, 1969: volume 1 – 515
pages, volume 2 – 475 pages) “Jonah”, volume
1, pages 379-417
· Kitchen: for Kitchen, Kenneth A., On the Reliability of
the Old Testament (Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, 2003, paperback 2006: 662
pages)
· Lisowsky: for Lisowsky, Gerhard,
Konkordanz Zum Hebräischen Alten Testament, (Württembergische
Bibelanstalt, Stuttgart, 1958: 1672 pages)
· LXX: for the Greek
Septuagint manuscript family of translations of the Old Testament as it existed
prior to 4 BC, more specifically as published in the Alfred Rahlfs edition, Septuaginta,
2 Volumes, (Württembergische Bibelanstalt, Stuttgart, © 1935, 1971: vol. 1 –
1184 pages, vol. 2 – 941 pages)
· Mandelkern: for
Mandelkern, Solomon, Veteris Testamenti Concordantiae Hebraicae Atque
Chaldaicae, (Akademische Druck- U. Verlagsanstalt, Graz, Austria, 1955:
two volumes, vol. 1 – 808 pages, vol. 2 – 1532 pages, plus appendices)
· MT: for the Hebrew
Masoretic Text manuscript family of the Old Testament, of which few surviving
manuscripts remain, especially as it is published in the Rudolf Kittel edition,
Biblia Hebraica, (Württembergische Bibelanstalt, Stuttgart, © 1937,
1968: 1433 pages)
· Orlinsky: Orlinsky, Harry
M., “Prolegomenon” (45 pages) to Ginsburg, Christian D., Introduction to
the Massoretico-Critical Edition of the Hebrew Bible, (KTAV, NY, 1966:
1028 pages)
· Taylor: for Taylor,
Bernard A., Lust, Eynikel, and Hauspie, Analytical Lexicon to the
Septuagint: Expanded Edition, (Hendrickson, Peabody, MA, and Deutsche
Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart, © 2003, third printing 2014: 591 pages)
· Thiele: for Thiele, Edwin R., The Mysterious Numbers of
the Hebrew Kings, (Kregel, Grand Rapids, original circa 1951, Zondervan
©1983: 253 pages)
Alternatively, many
computer resources are available, which are much easier to use. If you paste the link into the browser window,
be sure to remove the bullet.
· http://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/septuagint/chapter.asp?book=36
· http://newadvent.org/bible/jon001.htm
·
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%201&version=NKJV;WLC;VULGATE
II. Maps
Maps are an indispensable part of a serious
Jonah study.
A map of all Europe and Asia is necessary to
grasp the scope of Jonah’s world, which reaches at least as far as Portugal in
the west, to China or even Japan in the east.
Jonah is a cosmopolitan and sophisticated gentleman, serving at the
topmost rank as an international ambassador for his nation and for his day. Additionally, Jonah is gifted with the Holy
Spirit, which empowers him to be in the topmost rank intellectually as well:
few of his day could come close to matching Jonah’s mental prowess. Consequently, the scope of our maps must
equal the scope of Jonah’s mental and spiritual capabilities, as well as the
scope of Jonah’s cultural milieu: society itself was more sophisticated and
widely developed than we commonly realize.
In particular, we must develop a grasp for the breadth of Solomon’s
silver trade routes, and well as the precursors of what will become known as
the Silk Road. The Via Maris will
penetrate this complex of advanced civilizations deeply into Africa. We understand from a wide variety of
Assyrian, Egyptian, and other wars, that the span of this multicultural
complexity of civilizations reached far into Anatolia; it may even have reached
far north of Anatolia: yet, our ignorance limits our understanding.
Certainly, any understanding of the ancient
metroplex and/or metropolis structure of Nineveh will aid our understanding of
Jonah as well. At the very least, we
will grow in appreciation of the magnificence, magnitude, and sophistication of
Assyrian culture. We are not visiting
the middle of the nowhere desert; we stand in awe before one of the greatest
cities of all of human civilization and world history: on par with Alexandria,
London, New York, Paris, Rome, or Tokyo.
We have collected three maps of the Nineveh metroplex, as well as some
pictorial presentations: which, unfortunately, we are unable display within
this article. Even these fail to tell
the whole story of the surrounding suburbia associated with Nineveh, which
could easily have reached 30 or more miles in diameter, crossing the Tigris
River, and more.[1]
III.
Commentary
1.
Chapter 1:1-16
Chapter 1 ends at verse 16; the inclusion of
verse 17 in chapter one in English texts is unfortunate.
1.1.
Chapter 1:1-2.
Καὶ ἐγένετο Λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς Ἰωνᾶν τὸν τοῦ Ἀμαθὶ λέγων[2], “ἀνάστηθι καὶ πορεύθητι
εἰς Νινευὴ τὴν πόλιν τὴν μεγάλην καὶ κήρυξον ἐν αὐτῇ,
ὅτι ἀνέβη ἡ κραυγὴ τῆς
κακίας αὐτῆς πρὸς με.”
The Word of the
Lord presented Himself before Jonah of Amittai, “Stand up! Be rushed
to Nineveh, the great city! Cry out to
her, because the clamor of her wickedness came up before me!”
Text: We attach
no textual significance to the word son, present in MT, absent in LXX, and take
it to be nothing more than a difference of idiomatic expression: son is most
likely and rightly present in the underlying Hebrew vorlage; yet equally
rightly absent in the Greek. This is
unlikely to be a translation error; nor does it indicate any real textual
variation. Greek adds the idea of clamor;
yet, of course, God could have heard wickedness in silence; again, we see a
difference that is more idiomatic than real: the rabbis making the translation
thought that clamor was necessary to convey the full force of wickedness. Alternatively, the MT creators may have
dropped the word; yet, that is not especially important either.
Names: We place
no real significance on the meaning of names, since they seem to resemble
broken crutches and shifting sand. Jonah
may mean dove in Hebrew; yet, it is a straight transliteration in Greek, where
it has no such meaning. Had Jonah been
translated, rather than being transliterated, the Greek, περιστερά,
which means either dove or pigeon, may have resulted, so the meaning is
attenuated. The Greek, Ἀμαθὶ, may mean ignorant, stubborn,
or stupid, which is a long way from the Hebrew, truth. Since the LXX rabbis simply transliterated
these words, without making or clarifying any point, it is dubious that any
exegetical, lexical, or theological significance can be attached to these
names.
Background: 2
Kings 14:25 indicates that this is not likely to be the Word of the Lord’s
first conversation with Jonah. Rather,
we expect this to be in the context of a long and ongoing relationship in which
the two know each other very well: so the Word of the Lord is not simply
dropping in on Jonah to deliver the cold, bad news. We know that God has concern for all His
creatures, as the rest of Scripture shows: so it is safe to say that these
commands are delivered to Jonah out of the Lord’s loving concern for Jonah
personally: Jonah had been chosen to be a collaborator and co-laborer with God.
Theme: The real nature
of such loving concern and the true significance of this paragraph is
discovered from the following verse. It
is evident that this conversation did not suddenly, occur out of the blue. The Lord has been working with Jonah for some
time. The unfolding of this working
relationship gives us the theme for the book; peeking ahead we summarize these
two verses: The Word of the Lord assigns occupational therapy for Jonah.
1.2.
Chapter 1:3.
καὶ ἀνέστη Ἰωνᾶς τοῦ φυγεῖν εἰς Θαρσὶς
ἐκ προσώπου Κυρίου καὶ κατέβη εἰς Ἰόππην καὶ εὗρε πλοῖον βαδίζον εἰς Θαρσὶς καὶ ἔδωκε
τὸν ναῦλον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐνέβη εἰς αὐτὸ τοῦ πλεῦσαι μετ᾿ αὐτῶν εἰς Θαρσὶς ἐκ προσώπου
Κυρίου.
Jonah stood up
in order to disappear, to escape, to hide from the presence of the Lord, from
the Shəkinah,
in Tarshish: he went down to Joppa, found a ship proceeding to Tarshish, paid his
ship’s fare, and boarded it to sail with them to Tarshish, from the presence of
the Lord, from the Shəkinah.
Text: No significant
text variation is observed.
Translation: We
have turned the simplicity of, “flee …from the face of the Lord,” into a sort of
Amplified Bible, in order to emphasize the point being made. Jonah is not just “on the lam”; he is trying
to obliterate the long enduring relationship between best friends: consider
what it means to be a Prophet: to speak face to face with the Lord Himself. We are immediately struck with the
impossibility and irrationality of such obliteration. Jonah knows better; yet, tries to do it
anyway. Since it is impossible to run
from God, the inevitable outcome is self-destruction, which probably explains
the development of Jonah’s “death wish”.
Since Jonah is obliged to see the Lord’s face three times a year, we
wanted to include a reminder that the Lord was present in the Oracle of the
temple in Jerusalem in the pillar of smoke and fire seated on the Mercy
Seat. The Jewish call this presence the
Shəkinah.
Theme: Our
developing theme, now takes on the clear elements of futility and
irrationality. In light of these grim
realities, we now understand verses 1:1-2 as the Word of the Lord reaching out
to his troubled friend. The intensity of
this struggle is such that we already suspect that Jonah is in great pain; we
also know that extreme pain shuts down the rational thought processes, sets the
brain on fire as it were, and makes rationality impossible. What does one do with such a troubled
friend? One seeks to get them to do
something else, which will distract them from their troubles. Hence, we understand that the Word of the
Lord has led with the new assignment as a tough kind of loving occupational therapy. These first two outline points, Outline 1:1
and 1:2, form a couplet, which echo through the rest of the chapter, as well as
throughout the whole book.
1.3.
Chapter 1:4-15.
καὶ Κύριος ἐξήγειρε πνεῦμα μέγα εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν, καὶ ἐγένετο κλύδων μέγας ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ, καὶ τὸ πλοῖον ἐκινδύνευε τοῦ συντριβῆναι. καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν οἱ ναυτικοὶ καὶ ἀνεβόησαν ἕκαστος
πρὸς τὸν θεὸν
αὐτοῦ καὶ ἐκβολὴν ἐποιήσαντο τῶν σκευῶν τῶν ἐν τῷ πλοίῳ εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν τοῦ κουφισθῆναι
ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν. Ἰωνᾶς δὲ κατέβη εἰς τὴν κοίλην
τοῦ πλοίου καὶ ἐκάθευδε καὶ ἔρρεγχε. καὶ
προσῆλθε πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ πρωρεὺς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ, “τίσὺ ρέγχεις; ἀνάστα καὶ ἐπικαλοῦ
τὸν θεόν σου, ὅπως διασώσῃ ὁ θεὸς ἡμᾶς καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀπολώμεθα.” καὶ εἶπεν ἕκαστος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ, “δεῦτε
βάλωμεν κλήρους καὶ ἐπιγνῶμεν, ‘τίνος ἕνεκεν ἡ κακία αὕτη ἐστὶν ἐν ἡμῖν?’ ” καὶ
ἔβαλον κλήρους, καὶ ἔπεσεν ὁ κλῆρος ἐπὶ Ἰωνᾶν.
καὶ εἶπον πρὸς αὐτόν, “ἀπάγγειλον ἡμῖν! τίνος ἕνεκεν ἡ κακία αὕτη ἐστὶν ἐν ἡμῖν? τίς σου ἡ ἐργασία ἐστί? καὶ πόθεν ἔρχῃ, καὶ τοῦ πορεύῃ, καὶ ἐκ ποίας χώρας
καὶ ἐκ ποίου λαοῦ εἶ σύ?” καὶ εἶπε πρὸς αὐτούς,
“δοῦλος Κυρίου εἰμὶ ἐγὼ καὶ τὸν
Κύριον Θεὸν τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἐγὼ σέβομαι,
ὃς ἐποίησε τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὴν ξηράν.” καὶ
ἐφοβήθησαν οἱ ἄνδρες φόβον μέγαν καὶ εἶπον πρὸς αὐτόν, “τί τοῦτο ἐποίησας?” διότι ἔγνωσαν οἱ ἄνδρες, ὅτι ἐκ προσώπου Κυρίου ἦν φεύγων, ὅτι ἀπήγγειλεν αὐτοῖς. καὶ εἶπον πρὸς αὐτόν, “τί ποιήσομέν σοι καὶ κοπάσει ἡ θάλασσα ἀφ᾿ ἡμῶν; ὅτι ἡ θάλασσα ἐπορεύετο καὶ ἐξήγειρε μᾶλλον κλύδωνα.
καὶ εἶπεν Ἰωνᾶς πρὸς αὐτούς, “ἄρατέ με καὶ ἐμβάλετέ με εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν,
καὶ κοπάσει ἡ θάλασσα ἀφ᾿ ὑμῶν, διότι ἔγνωκα ἐγὼ ὅτι δι᾿ ἐμὲ ὁ κλύδων ὁ μέγας οὗτος
ἐφ᾿ ὑμᾶς ἐστι.” καὶ παρεβιάζοντο οἱ ἄνδρες
τοῦ ἐπιστρέψαι πρὸς τὴν γῆν καὶ οὐκ ἠδύναντο, ὅτι ἡ θάλασσα ἐπορεύετο καὶ ἐξηγείρετο
μᾶλλον ἐπ᾿ αὐτούς. καὶ ἀνεβόησαν πρὸς Κύριον καὶ εἶπαν, “μηδαμῶς, Κύριε, μὴ ἀπολώμεθα ἕνεκεν τῆς ψυχῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου τούτου, καὶ μὴ δῷς ἐφ᾿
ἡμᾶς αἷμα δίκαιον, διότι σύ, Κύριε, ὃν τρόπον ἐβούλου, πεποίηκας.” καὶ ἔλαβον τὸν Ἰωνᾶν καὶ ἐξέβαλον αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν
θάλασσαν, καὶ ἔστη ἡ θάλασσα ἐκ τοῦ σάλου αὐτῆς.
The Lord stirred up a great wind in the sea. Great waves, the perfect storm appeared in
the sea. The ship was at risk to be
crushed. The sailors were overcome with
fear, and screamed, each to his god.
They made the things in the ship expendable, to be unburdened of them in
the sea. Even so, Jonah went down into
the belly of the ship, and falling asleep, he snored. The captain confronted him. He said to him, “Why do you snore? Get up!
Call upon your own god, so that the god might spare us and we ourselves
might not completely be destroyed.” Each
man said to his shipmate, “Come! We
should cast lots and we would find out, ‘What is the cause of this evil among
us?’ ” They cast lots. The lot fell on Jonah. They said to him, “Answer us! What is the cause of this evil among us? What is your work? Where might you come from and would you be
rushed to; what nationality; what race are you?” He said to them, “I am a
servant of the Lord. I
worship the Lord God of the heaven, Who created the sea and the sere.” The men were overcome with greater fear. They said to him, “Why did you do this? (Since the men knew that he was hiding from
the presence of the Lord, from the Shəkinah: for he told them [as much].) They said to him, “What will we do with you,
so that the sea will be appeased for us?
Because, the sea rushes. It stirs
up more waves.” Jonah said to them,
“Pick me up and throw me into the sea.
So the sea will be appeased for you; since I know that
through me these great waves are upon you.”
The men struggled in vain to turn toward land; yet, they were not able,
because the sea rushed and was stirred up more against them. They screamed to the Lord, “Lord, let us not,
who are powerless, be destroyed for the soul of this man. Do not bring righteous blood upon us, since
You, Lord, have always done [as] You wish in every way.” They took Jonah, threw him out into the sea,
and the sea stopped her raging.
Text: LXX has
great waves; MT has great tempest. There
is too much room here for variations of idiomatic expression, used in
describing violent sea storms, to see any real significant difference
here. Nor do we attach great
significance to the difference in sleeping (Hebrew) and snoring (Greek). MT uses a word that suggests deep sleep,
sometimes Divinely induced sleep, as was the case with Adam when the Lord
created Eve from Adam. How else would
one communicate depth of sleep, without overemphasizing the point, if not with
snoring: the LXX rabbis evidently had a sense of humor. That Jonah is, or is not a Hebrew, appears to
be a later interpolation intended to glorify the Jews:[3] strictly speaking, Jonah
is not a Hebrew, his tribal origin is unknown.
The phrase, “who are powerless,” may have been dropped by the Masoretes,
or the LXX rabbis could have added it: it’s not a big deal either way.
Overview: It
seems futile to detail every couplet in this paragraph, which is why we have
simply interpreted it as ongoing narrative.
The potential for identifying more couplets in this section does not
especially increase our understanding of its structure. The first couplet dominates the tone of the
chapter: other couplets seem to be mere echoes. Our actions have
consequences; frequently inexorable consequences, night will follow day,
whatever we think about the matter; such consequences frequently entrap
others. Jonah is looking for trouble and
has found it.
The narrative is
brief, direct, intense. We have tried to
select words that capture the picture of futility. The ship is going down, and the sailors know
it.
No one can hear
in the howling winds: communication is barely possible by screaming at the top
of the lungs. The sailors scream to
their idols in hopes that their idols will hear above the storm. Each wave tortures the ship’s beams as the
strongest timbers groan under stress.
Everything must go overboard: tools, equipment, extra masts and sails,
personal belongings, and all the cargo.
The ship is stripped to her necessary survival minimum; only enough
ballast to keep her upright remains.
That Jonah is
able to sleep is simply amazing: God probably put him to sleep: Jonah is
comatose, or nearly so. The terrified
pagan captain demands an answer: why isn’t Jonah screaming to his idol like any
other ordinary man. The ship is already
stripped and destroyed: the captain would avoid, if he could, splintering what
is left, and death. The sailors have a
slightly different idea; we cannot condemn their actions as wicked pagan
behavior: it is too similar to the judgment of Achan.[4] The sailors are lacking a high priest and the
necessary decision making paraphernalia; nevertheless, the Word of the Lord has
put Jonah on trial, and Jonah knows it.
He pronounces upon himself the verdict of the Lord.
The sailors
demand answers; yet, Jonah has only one answer: he is the servant and
worshiper of the Word of the Lord, God of all, creator of everything. The sailors are beginning to realize that
Jonah’s God is not like their idols, local deities with limited power. Their fear increases and they have more
questions. Words pile on words in a
crashing torrent that imitates the violence of the storm.
The sailors
think that throwing Jonah overboard is cruel and inhuman, immoral, if you will;
they do not yet realize that the consequences are inexorable. Achan must be stoned and Jonah must be
drowned. Jonah seems to welcome his
fate; his “death wish” is visible. The
sailors, having met the Word of the Lord only moments before, pray to Him for
the first time in their lives; realizing the hopelessness of their case, they
finally execute the judgment that Jonah has called down upon himself.
Outcome: Jonah’s
disobedience leads to alarming and surprising consequences. The lives of innocent bystanders were put in
danger. The outcome stretches human
credulity. Jonah knows nothing of onboard events after verse 15a, “They took
Jonah, threw him out into the sea….”
1.4. Chapter 1:16.
… and the sea stopped her raging.
καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν οἱ ἄνδρες φόβῳ μεγάλῳ τὸν Κύριον καὶ ἔθυσαν θυσίαν τῷ Κυρίῳ καὶ ηὔξαντο τὰς εὐχάς.
The men were overcome with even greater fear [of]
the Lord. They offered an offering to
the Lord, and prayed [their] prayers.[5]
Text: there is
no real difference between prayers (Greek) and vows (Hebrew): for in the
context, they both clearly indicate all the ritual sacrifices of Leviticus.
Ending: Each chapter appears to draw to its own
conclusion. The raging sea may have
stopped immediately: and a good thing too, else Jonah would have certainly
died. Even the aftermath of the storm is
violent enough to take a mere man in its surging currents. It does appear that Jonah wished to die; yet,
the Lord does not intend to kill him.
Jonah knows nothing of the cessation of the storm, even the aftermath of
powerful currents is too much for a mere man to fathom sensibility. Weakened as it may be, the sea is still too
much for Jonah: he is being thrown around like a rag doll.
This vignette, beginning in verse 1:15b, is out
of sequence with the chronological record, it shows how God changes a disaster
into good. The sailors live to make
their way to Jerusalem, they learn more about the Lord, and present their
necessary prayers and sacrifices. Much
later Jonah will learn of their sincere worship. I’m sorry, this sequence of events leaves no
room for false conversion whatsoever.
The sailors have sincerely persisted in worship, long enough for Jonah
to find out about it. This is solid
proof of Jonah’s ultimate healing, as well as the genuineness of the sailors’
repentance.
2.
Chapter 1:17-2:10
Chapter 2, beginning at verse 1:17, returns to
the chronological record. We now follow
the LXX numbering. The fact that “The
LORD commanded” is the same expression as in 4:6, 7 and 8 and indicates a
continuity of God’s Fatherly efforts to correct his mad and errant child. This is no less an object lesson than the
plant and the worm: it is a firm object lesson, yet still an object
lesson. Up until now Jonah has mocked
the specter of death. It becomes a
different matter when he can no longer see the face of God. Jonah is willing to give up many things
(career, profession, converts, home, property, life); but one thing remains
which he cannot give up – the Living reality of God. Psalms flood from his memory. At last Jonah worships.
2.1.
Chapter 2:1 LXX (1:17 MT)
Καὶ προσέταξε Κύριος κήτει μεγάλῳ καταπιεῖν τὸν Ἰωνᾶν·
καὶ ἦν Ἰωνᾶς ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ τοῦ κήτους τρεῖς ἡμέρας καὶ τρεῖς νύκτας.
The Lord
commanded great creation[6] to drink down Jonah: now
Jonah was in the belly of creation three days and three nights.
Text: No
variation was observed.
Translation: Dagah does not
mean fish; its denotative or explicit meaning is abundance, fertility, increase,
multitude, or plenty; by way of connotation or implication it came to be
applied to whatever crop meant feast-or-famine in a given culture.[7] We have drawn this conclusion by the rigorous
application of least common denominators, and from Occam's razor. Hence, it applies to grain among the
Babylonians, and possibly school or shoal among the Philistines. Dagon is the god of abundance, the difference
between life and death: it may, as easily, be applied to the abundant sea
itself.[8] Similarly, κήτει or κήτους, may as easily
be applied to creation itself, as to the creature: the sea is the creation to
which we refer.[9]
Analysis: The
Lord did not throw Jonah into the sea; the sailors did so at Jonah’s command
and insistence. The Lord is commanding
tough love, shock therapy. Jonah wants
to die, seems bent on suicide; yet, the Lord will not let him die. Nevertheless, the Lord is willing to give
Jonah a good taste of death: one should be careful for what one prays. This is not unlike shock therapy for
Jonah. By the end of the chapter we will
discover that the Lord commands creation in such a way as to ultimately spare
Jonah’s life. So, the words, “The
Lord commanded great creation,” can only mean that the Lord stilled the sea in
such a way as to spare Jonah’s life; yet, not sparing Jonah from the strong
lesson in reality that he so urgently needs.
2.2.
Chapter 2:2-10
a. 2:2-6.
καὶ προσηύξατο Ἰωνᾶς πρὸς Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῆς κοιλίας τοῦ κήτους, καὶ εἶπεν, “ἐβόησα ἐν θλίψει μου πρὸς
Κύριον τὸν Θεόν μου, καὶ εἰσήκουσέ
μου; ἐκ κοιλίας ᾅδου κραυγῆς μου ἤκουσας φωνῆς μου. ἀπέρριψάς με εἰς βάθη καρδίας θαλάσσης, καὶ ποταμοὶ
ἐκύκλωσάν με· πάντες οἱ μετεωρισμοί σου καὶ τὰ κύματά σου ἐπ᾿ ἐμὲ διῆλθον.” καὶ ἐγὼ εἶπα, “ἀπῶσμαι ἐξ ὀφθαλμῶν σου; ἆρα προσθήσω
τοῦ ἐπιβλέψαι με πρὸς ναὸν τὸν ἅγιόν σου?” περιεχύθη μοι ὕδωρ ἕως ψυχῆς, ἄβυσσος ἐκύκλωσέ
με ἐσχάτη, ἔδυ ἡ κεφαλή μου εἰς σχισμὰς ὀρέων.
Jonah prayed in the Presence of the Lord his God, from the
belly of creation, “I screamed in my suffering to the Lord my God. He heard me.
From the belly of Hades You heard my clamor, my voice. You hurled
me into the depths of the heart of the sea.
Raging torrents covered me. All
Your towering surges and Your crashing billows broke through upon me.” Then I said, “I was
shoved away from your eyes; will I ever again be privileged to look toward Your
holy oracle?” Water surrounded me over [my]
soul. Immeasurable abyss covered
me. My head was plunged into mountain chasms.
Text: Instead of, “My head was plunged into mountain chasms,”
MT has, “Seaweed was clinging to my head,”[10] which seems to be
inserted before, “My head was plunged…,” which is then shifted to the next
verse. MT, though fanciful, makes little
real impact on interpretation: it is best seen as another MT interpolation.
Analysis: Jonah prays earnestly and honestly to the Lord. Strangely enough, prayer is often cluttered
with form and formality, only becoming earnest, honest, and real when we are
under extreme duress: thus, the necessity of suffering in spiritual life. Jonah screams because he seems to doubt that
the Lord can hear him: Jonah may very well be delusional; he is almost
certainly in physical pain. Then in a
flash of realization Jonah knows that the Lord hears. The Lord did not hurl Jonah into the sea;
Jonah has no one other than himself to blame for his condition; still, he
blames the Lord for his own failure: nevertheless, Jonah is beginning to
realize that what he himself intended for evil, is not without the Lord’s hand
in making into good. Jonah describes the
raging of the sea in glowing, vivid detail: these descriptions are not
consistent with the internal workings of organs in animals. Jonah now realizes that he has removed
himself from the eyes of the Lord; it does not matter to Jonah that he is about
to die; what matters is that he will never again see the Beatific Vision in the
Oracle, he will never again see the Shəkinah.
Jonah really begins to understand that he is asking that he be removed
from the presence of the Lord forever.
Jonah is truly afraid for the first time. He resumes his graphic descriptions of the
working of the sea.
b. 2:7.
κατέβην εἰς γῆν, ἧς οἱ μοχλοὶ αὐτῆς κάτοχοι αἰώνιοι καὶ ἀναβήτω
ἐκ φθορᾶς ἡ ζωή μου, πρὸς σὲ Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου.
I went down into earth, with her timeless latch bars. He went up from corruption! My life [is] before You, Lord, my God.
Text: MT has, “you brought up my life from the pit,” instead
of, “He went up…,” hence, my life is taken from the latter phrase, and absorbed
into the previous phrase. However, the
word for pit is earth, not pit at all.
Analysis: This verse was set apart to highlight its possible
implications for resurrection: if we seek resurrection themes in Jonah, here is
where we must find them. The term,
earth, is somewhat surprising: Jonah goes down into the sea; Jesus goes down
into the earth. To make the phrase read,
“He [Jesus] went down into earth, we would need to change the word, κατέβην, by
removing its last letter, which would make it into κατέβη, the third person
singular. We are reluctant to change the
text without reason: thus we reject this idea out of hand. The phrase, “He went up from corruption!” is
still enigmatic; Who is the he, she, or it?
If the imperative (emphatic) verb was written for what should have been
an indicative verb, the phrase could have read, “I went up from corruption!” in
which case the problem disappears.
Again, we refuse to tamper with the text, so the enigmatic change of
person must stand. We could continue to
play with other possible combinations of these ideas: what would be the
point. Even so, we do not see even a
hint of resurrection here. Resurrection,
is a New Testament idea, as far as Jonah is concerned: at most Jonah is a type
of the resurrection, which is exactly what Jesus proclaims.
c. 2:8-10.
ἐν τῷ ἐκλείπειν ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ τὴν ψυχήν μου τοῦ Κυρίου ἐμνήσθην, καὶ ἔλθοι πρὸς σὲ ἡ προσευχή
μου εἰς ναὸν τὸ ἅγιόν σου. φυλασσόμενοι μάταια καὶ
ψευδῆ ἔλεον αὐτῶν ἐγκατέλιπον. ἐγὼ δὲ μετὰ
φωνῆς αἰνέσεως καὶ ἐξομολογήσεως θύσω σοι, ὅσα ηὐξάμην ἀποδώσω σοι εἰς σωτηρίαν
μου τῷ Κυρίῳ.
As my soul [is about] to depart from me, I was
remembered by the Lord. Would my prayer
come before You in Your holy oracle.
Their useless guards and false mercy abandoned… [me]. Yet with praise and thanksgiving (todah) I
will sacrifice to You. All which I
vowed, I will repay to you, unto my salvation in the Lord.
Text: MT has,
“I remembered Jehovah,” rather than, “I was remembered by the
Lord.” The difference is between the
active and passive voice. Greek
expresses Jonah’s prayer as a slim possibility, or perhaps even a probability,
not as a certainty. Though verse 9 is
enigmatic, at least to me, I cannot make the expression, “vain or useless
clamor, destruction, evil, or raging,” from the Hebrew into a diatribe against
idolatry, which does not fit the rest of the discourse. Jonah does is not changed by idolatry, yet
rather by the throes of death.
Analysis: “Would
my prayer come before You in Your holy oracle.” is not interrogative, it is
either optative (a possibility) or subjunctive (a probability: thus expressing
a wish. The whole section from 2:2-10 is
the expression of Jonah’s Todah delivered in written fact much later at
Jerusalem. In parts of this prayer,
Jonah seems to be lapsing in and out of consciousness. His memory of his travail is graphic,
expressing great violence and attendant pain.
If verse 2:7 is prophetic, it expresses mysteries that cannot be known
in 800 BC. Verse 2:8a seems logically attached
to 2:11; yet, good storytellers rarely express themselves in plain logical
sequence. Verse 2:8b seems to express
the sort of dreamlike wish that might occupy Jonah’s mind after he is thrown on
the beach, or riding in a fast sedan chair on his way to Nineveh: yet, it must
be included here to be part of the Todah, explaining all of the Todah’s
aspects. Daydreamlike his thoughts break
off again, as he regains the though, “I was remembered by the Lord.” Who has
broken the useless guards of death and the grave, and disabused Jonah of the
false illusion that death is somehow or other a merciful escape from spiritual
reality and warfare: no, death just brings reality home to roost. Still, these are not ideas that Jonah is
ready to grapple with yet: for he is still nursing his “death wish” in chapter
4: they are only included here to complete the Todah. Jonah finishes the Todah with assurances and
commitments to praise, thanks, sacrifice, and vows, which are not things he
will be willing to actually do until long after verse 4:11 has concluded. The fact that Jonah has gathered such a wide
chronological scope here in one place, ranging far beyond the rest of Jonah, as
was also the specific instance of verse 1:16, emphasizes for us that this is
the core material of his report. In a
single prayer, Jonah has taken us through the transition from his raving
madness in the sea, to later musings about the Glory of God, to the final
composition of his written presentation in the Oracle. Historic details will follow.
Summary: The
positioning of this prayer here, rather than when it was delivered, suggests
that this is the theme of the book, forming the introductory precis to what
will follow. The hint of resurrection
seems unlikely, if not impossible. The
fact that we have a record of this prayer shows that the answer to Jonah’s
question is, Yes, He will again sacrifice to the Lord! This, however, will not be realized for many days. Once again, this reality of an officially
presented prayer is out of chronological sequence with the plot, proving that
Jonah is ultimately healed.
2.3.
Chapter 2:11
Καὶ προσέταξε Κύριος τῷ κήτει, καὶ ἐξέβαλε τὸν Ἰωνᾶν
ἐπὶ τὴν ξηράν.
The Lord commanded the creation and it threw Jonah out on
the sere.
Text: No
variation was observed.
Analysis: Verse
2:11 completes verse 2:1; they nest the Todah between them. Verse 2:11 makes plain to us that verse 2:1
is not a statement of cruel, abusive torture.
Jonah got himself into this mess; the Lord got him out of it. This shows that the Lord’s intention was
always to spare Jonah’s life from square one.
Following the magnificent expression of the Todah, the conclusion of the
chapter is almost anticlimactic. The
shock therapy is successful, at least in part.
3.
Chapter 3:1-10
3.1.
Chapter 3:1-2.
Καὶ ἐγένετο Λόγος Κυρίου πρὸς Ἰωνᾶν ἐκ δευτέρου λέγων, “ἀνάστηθι καὶ πορεύθητι εἰς Νινευὴ τὴν πόλιν τὴν μεγάλην καὶ κήρυξον ἐν αὐτῇ κατὰ τὸ κήρυγμα τὸ ἔμπροσθεν, ὃ ἐγὼ ἐλάλησα πρὸς σε!”
The Word of the Lord presented Himself before Jonah a second
time, “Stand
up! Be rushed to Nineveh, the great
city! Cry out to her according to the
former proclamation, which I spoke to you!”
Text: No
variation was observed: a very literal translation.
Analysis: The
Word of the Lord repeats His occupational therapy assignment for Jonah with
only minor changes in detail. Nothing
has changed about either reality or the will of the Lord. Note that the Word of the Lord has not
coerced Jonah to this decision; He has simply revealed to Jonah the outcome of
doing his own will, which is always a fatal error.
3.2.
Chapter 3:3
καὶ ἀνέστη Ἰωνᾶς καὶ ἐπορεύθη εἰς Νινευή,
καθὰ ἐλάλησε Κύριος; ἡ δὲ Νινευὴ ἦν πόλις μεγάλη τῷ Θεῷ[11] ὡσεὶ πορείας ὁδοῦ τριῶν ἡμερῶν.
Jonah stood up and was rushed to Nineveh, just as the Lord
required. Now Nineveh was a great city
to God, about a three-day’s run by road.
Text: MT has,
“journey,” in lieu of, “run by road”: an idiomatic, not a significant
difference.
Analysis: Jonah
obeys his occupational therapy assignment, however grudgingly. The three days is quite possibly a motif:[12] among other things its
brevity appears to accelerate the urgency of developments. On the other hand, a three-day’s run could be
quite a distance, as much as thirty miles or more: this would, of course,
include the suburbs, outside the city gates, moats, and walls, even on the
other side of the Tigris. Nineveh is
thought to be more magnificent than Babylon, with more glorious hanging
gardens, and great aqueducts. Jonah
begrudgingly accepts his assignment.
Chapter 4:1-3 will detail exactly how begrudging Jonah’s acceptance
is. Jonah’s madness is far from being
healed.
3.3.
Chapter 3:4-9
καὶ ἤρξατο Ἰωνᾶς τοῦ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὴν πόλιν ὡσεὶ πορείαν ἡμέρας μιᾶς καὶ ἐκήρυξε καὶ εἶπεν, “ἔτι τρεῖς ἡμέραι
καὶ Νινευὴ καταστραφήσεται.” καὶ ἐπίστευσαν
οἱ ἄνδρες Νινευὴ τῷ Θεῷ καὶ ἐκήρυξαν νηστείαν καὶ ἐνεδύσαντο σάκκους ἀπὸ μεγάλου
αὐτῶν ἕως μικροῦ αὐτῶν. καὶ ἤγγισεν ὁ λόγος πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα τῆς Νινευή, καὶ ἐξανέστη ἀπὸ τοῦ θρόνου αὐτοῦ καὶ περιείλετο τὴν
στολὴν αὐτοῦ ἀφ᾿ ἑαυτοῦ καὶ περιεβάλετο σάκκον καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἐπὶ σποδοῦ. καὶ ἐκηρύχθη καὶ ἐρρέθη ἐν τῇ Νινευὴ παρὰ τοῦ
βασιλέως καὶ παρὰ τῶν μεγιστάνων αὐτοῦ λέγων· οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ τὰ κτήνη καὶ οἱ βόες
καὶ τὰ πρόβατα μὴ γευσάσθωσαν μηδὲ νεμέσθωσαν μηδὲ ὕδωρ πιέτωσαν. καὶ περιεβάλλοντο σάκκους οἱ ἄνθρωποι καὶ τὰ κτήνη,
καὶ ἀνεβόησαν πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἐκτενῶς· καὶ ἀπέστρεψαν ἕκαστος ἀπὸ τῆς ὁδοῦ αὐτῶν τῆς
πονηρᾶς καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀδικίας τῆς ἐν χερσὶν αὐτῶν λέγοντες, “τίς οἶδεν εἰ μετανοήσει
ὁ Θεὸς καὶ ἀποστρέψει ἐξ ὀργῆς θυμοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀπολώμεθα?”
Jonah began to enter the city about one-day’s run. He proclaimed, “Three more days and Nineveh
will be overthrown.” The men of Nineveh
believed in God. They proclaimed a fast
and wore sacks, from the large among them to the small among them. The news reached the king of Nineveh. He arose from his throne; removed his robe
himself; threw a sack around himself, and sat on ashes. It was proclaimed and reported throughout
Nineveh, in the presence of the king, and in the presence of the magistrates,
“Men, animals, cattle, and sheep may neither eat nor graze nor drink water.” The men and the animals were being covered
with sacks. They called assiduously
before God, as each turned away from their wicked road, as well as from the
unrighteousness of their hands, “Who knows if God will relent and turn away
from His burning wrath and we ourselves might not completely be destroyed?”
Text: MT has
forty days for the overthrow of Nineveh, rather than the three of LXX. This is problematic for several reasons. First of all, the text variant is a real text
variant: numbers leave little wiggle room for translation error, or idiomatic
differences: 40 means forty in every language; 3 always means three: well, at
least most of the time. Second, it
detracts from the urgency of the message: there is no urgency in Nineveh, we
can always repent tomorrow. Third, this
means that Jonah’s campout with the gourd in the sweltering heat lasted forty
days: which seems highly improbable to anyone who has done a lot of camping:
Jonah would have made better provisions than a makeshift cover, and found
several ways to grow more plants. Four,
it seems to be an interpolation designed to draw an association between Jonah
and Moses; rather than the association between Jonah and Jesus, which is
already too strong.[13] Of course, we can never know for sure, and
the difference does not alter the flow or conclusion of the story: we have no
archaeological discoveries to fill in the details. The rest of the passage is without
significant variation.
Analysis: One-day could mean that Jonah
begins proclaiming the Lord’s message while he is still in the suburbs. Even so, a sophisticated place like Nineveh
is expected to have elaborate “customs” facilities: it could have taken Jonah a
day to get past various police inspections, and receive official approval. The report is unconcerned about such
“trivial” details, remaining focused on the urgency of the message. It makes little difference if doom is three
or forty days away; still, forty detracts from the urgency of the message,
which, throughout the rest of the book is of paramount importance. Three days is the time required for Jonah to
traverse the city and set up camp in the opposite overlooking hills. If we are looking for a physical overthrow,
we don’t know what it is. Nineveh had
many enemies, within and without: this could as easily be an internal coup d’état,
a military or religious revolt seeking to overthrow the existing regime: the
murder of emperors and kings was relatively common place. The narrative, “their wicked road, as well as
from the unrighteousness of their hands,” suggests that everything about
Nineveh was internally corrupt: rotten to the core. Repentance is swift and universal.
Irony: The city
is actually overthrow in exactly three days.
The Word of the Lord has turned a thoroughly pagan culture and nation
into His worshipers within the space of three days.[14] This is far more significant than the
physical overthrow that we and Jonah anticipated. We mere mortals really fail to grasp the
enormity and subtlety of the love and mercy of the Lord. Nineveh is Repentant, Championed by her King. The
Ninevites probably don’t realize that God has been seeking their repentance all
along.
3.4.
Chapter 3:10.
καὶ εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς τὰ ἔργα αὐτῶν, ὅτι ἀπέστρεψαν ἀπὸ τῶν ὁδῶν αὐτῶν
τῶν πονηρῶν, καὶ μετενόησεν ὁ Θεὸς ἐπὶ τῇ κακίᾳ, ᾗ ἐλάλησε τοῦ ποιῆσαι αὐτοῖς, καὶ
οὐκ ἐποίησε.
God saw their
works, that they turned away from their wicked roads. God relented of the evil which He promised to
do to them, and He did not [do it].
Text: No
variation was observed.
Analysis: God,
here, observes their works, not their faith, which is evident from their
works. God is merciful in judgement.[15] This verse is also out of chronological
sequence; in chronological sequence, it belongs after verse 4:5. Chapter 1 closed by anticipating concluding
events that could only take place at Jerusalem, near the Temple, on one of the
high feast days. The Todah of Chapter 2
closes with a prayer that can only become reality at Jerusalem, near the
Temple, on one of the high feast days.
This absolution can only have been made complete after Jonah has assured
himself that everything went wrong from his perspective. Most appropriately, ambassadors from Nineveh
would have presented official prayers and sacrifices in Jerusalem on behalf of
the City: the narrative, however, does not provide any such information.
4.
Chapter 4:1-11
4.1.
Chapter 4:1-3.
Καὶ ἐλυπήθη Ἰωνᾶς
λύπην μεγάλην καὶ συνεχύθη. καὶ προσηύξατο πρὸς
Κύριον καὶ εἶπεν, “Ὦ Κύριε, οὐχ οὗτοι οἱ λόγοι μου ἔτι ὄντος μου ἐν τῇ γῇ μου; διὰ τοῦτο προέφθασα τοῦ
φυγεῖν εἰς Θαρσίς, διότι ἔγνων ὅτι σὺ ἐλεήμων καὶ οἰκτίρμων, μακρόθυμος καὶ πολυέλεος
καὶ μετανοῶν ἐπὶ ταῖς κακίαις. καὶ νῦν, δέσποτα Κύριε, λάβε τὴν ψυχήν μου
ἀπ᾿ ἐμοῦ, ὅτι καλὸν τὸ ἀποθανεῖν με μᾶλλον, ἢ ζῆν με.”
Jonah was grieved with great grief. He was shaken. He prayed in the Presence of the Lord, “Oh
Lord, were these not my words , while I was yet living in my homeland? Through this I anticipated [the need]
to disappear, to escape, to hide in Tarshish: for I knew that you [are]
merciful, filled with pity, patient, and extremely
compassionate, in relenting upon evil. Now,
Master Lord, take my soul from me: for [it is] more beautiful for me to
decay away than to live.”
Text: MT has,
“Yet, it appeared to Jonah [as] a great evil, and his anger was kindled.” The introductory phrase appears to be a
rabbinic interpolation, inserted to introduce the following sentences. Greek adds, “He was shaken.” All of this can be explained as the paraphrastic
translation of a difficult Hebrew sentence.
There is nothing else notable in this paragraph.
Analysis: This
paragraph captures the grudge that Jonah has been nursing since day one. It is also out of chronological sequence,
since Jonah cannot know that God has acted out of mercy until the time period
for the pending downfall of Nineveh has expired: so, it comes after Jonah’s
watch in verse 4:5. Still, Jonah could
be anticipating what he realizes that God must surely do. If Jonah has to boil in his own juices for 40
days, this seems to amplify the problem; if only three days, the sequential
action transpires in a considerable rush.
Ironically, Jonah finds fault with God for being merciful: possibly, understandable
since Jonah has seen the clarity and force of God’s great mercy in Aram, will
see it among pagan sailors, and now sees it taking place here; yet, he has
never seen it among his own Israelite people, who have never responded in such
a way. So in conception, this verse
belongs with 1:3; yet, with fruition, after 4:5.
Jonah is so
bitter and angry or grief-stricken that he prays for death: not again, the
“death wish”. These words indicate a
major step in the healing process.
4.2.
Chapter 4:4
καὶ εἶπε Κύριος πρὸς Ἰωνᾶν, “εἰ σφόδρα λελύπησαι σύ?”
The Lord said before Jonah, “If you had
grieved vehemently…?”
Text: MT has,
“Is it good[16]
for your anger to be kindled?” However,
this draws a wrong contrast: for God is not angry: God is saddened, so the
comparative or contrasting point is not anger, but the grievousness of the
situation, possibly. God is not even
frustrated, so the point is not to emphasize Jonah’s frustration either.
Analysis: The
point that the Lord is making is that Jonah has not cried his heart out over
the human race. Since frustration and
grief, may often find expression in anger, the lexical difference is not that
great. Nevertheless, we believe that LXX
captures the mood of the passage more effectively than MT. Jonah has been captured in that trap, into
which all man fall: he thinks that somehow his own grief over sinners is on
scale with God’ sorrow for lost mankind.
We are not God, neither do we really share His grief over His
children. This phrase is the overture
coaxing Jonah out of his irrationality.
We become sane when we realize that we are not God, stop playing God,
and look to Him alone: “for in times of despair we have no other help but You.”
As the Lord begins to question the reality of
the intensity of Jonah’s grief or anger, evidently Jonah interrupts Him.
4.3.
Chapter 4:5
καὶ ἐξῆλθεν Ἰωνᾶς ἐκ τῆς πόλεως καὶ ἐκάθισεν ἀπέναντι τῆς πόλεως· καὶ ἐποίησεν ἑαυτῷ ἐκεῖ σκηνὴν καὶ ἐκάθητο ὑποκάτω αὐτῆς, ἕως οὗ ἀπίδῃ τί ἔσται τῇ πόλει.
Jonah went out of the city.
He sat overlooking the city. He
made a tent for himself there, and seated himself under it, where he might see
clearly what would happen to the city.
Text: MT uses a
word that means anticipate; it only comes to mean east by implication, since
dawn anticipates day. The hilly
overlooks for Nineveh are to the east and north. The difference is not significant. MT adds in the shade: this seems to us as if
MT is struggling to explain the situation by adding descriptive words.
Analysis: Now the actual chronological events
begin to take shape. Jonah preaches;
Nineveh repents in sackcloth and ashes; Jonah waits to observe the outcome;
time expires; Jonah realizes that God has defeated him, as well as Nineveh;
Jonah’s grudge breaks out; God begins exposes Jonah’s irrationality, as well as
the realities of spiritual warfare: the battle goes God’s way, not ours.
Jonah cannot have made much of a tent, under
the circumstances: a few saplings bent and lashed together, a few leaf covered
branches: these will also wilt in the blistering heat and scorching wind. The structure is more like the booths that
the Israelites made in remembrance of the Exodus wilderness wanderings: yet,
with less time for preparation, and less quality. All so that he might see….
4.4.
Chapter 4:6-8
καὶ προσέταξε Κύριος ὁ Θεὸς κολοκύνθῃ, καὶ ἀνέβη
ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς τοῦ Ἰωνᾶ τοῦ εἶναι σκιὰν ὑπεράνω τῆς κεφαλῆς αὐτοῦ τοῦ σκιάζειν αὐτῷ
ἀπὸ τῶν κακῶν αὐτοῦ. καὶ ἐχάρη Ἰωνᾶς ἐπὶ τῇ κολοκύνθῃ χαρὰν μεγάλην. καὶ προσέταξεν ὁ Θεὸς σκώληκι ἑωθινῇ τῇ ἐπαύριον,
καὶ ἐπάταξε τὴν κολοκύνθαν, καὶ ἀπεξηράνθη.
καὶ ἐγένετο ἅμα τῷ ἀνατεῖλαι τὸν ἥλιον καὶ προσέταξεν ὁ Θεὸς πνεύματι καύσωνι
συγκαίοντι, καὶ ἐπάταξεν ὁ ἥλιος ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν τοῦ Ἰωνᾶ· καὶ ὠλιγοψύχησε καὶ ἐπελέγετο
τὴν ψυχὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπε, “καλόν μοι ἀποθανεῖν με ἢ ζῆν.”
The Lord God commanded a plant. It grew up over Jonah’s head, to be a shade
above his head, to shelter him from his evils.
Jonah was delighted over the plant with great delight. God commanded a worm early the next day. It attacked the plant, so that it was
withered. At the same time as God
presented Himself in the sunrise; He commanded a scorching hot, burning
wind. The sun attacked Jonah’s
head. He was discouraged. He swore on his soul, “[It is] more beautiful
for me to decay away than to live.”
Text: No
variation was observed.
Analysis: When words fail to penetrate, one
resorts to simpler object lessons. As
with the sea, where Jonah learned that to escape from God is to live in utter
anguish and hopeless despair; now Jonah must learn how great he is in God’s
universe. We do not know what the plant
is, it is not especially important: because of the sound of the Greek name, κολοκύνθῃ,
we offer the barest conjecture that the plant might be a member of the “cole”
family, otherwise known as brassica, which would include some mustard plants.[17] The narrative is straightforward: hear in a
day, gone in a day, accompanied by fierce heat.
The picture is one of incredible stress and torment. It only takes hours, perhaps only minutes,
even seconds to bring human beings to such a breaking point: our pain tolerance
is very low. The “death wish” is
repeated in words nearly identical to those in verse 4:3.
4.5.
Chapter 4:9a
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ Θεὸς πρὸς Ἰωνᾶν, “εἰ σφόδρα λελύπησαι σὺ ἐπὶ τῇ κολοκύνθῃ?”
God said before Jonah, “If [only] you
had grieved vehemently over the plant…?”
Text: Identical in
difficulties with 4:4.
Analysis: In verse 4:4 the Lord speaks; here God speaks:
indicating that the Lord and God are identical: Jonah can hardly be interested
in the minutia concerning E and J. Here
also, the words of verse 4:4 are repeated in identical form: this time God gets
one more phrase into the sentence before Jonah interrupts. The second object lesson, the plant is
brought into play. Again, God questions the reality of the intensity of
Jonah’s grief or anger. Verses 4:4 and
4:9 frame Jonah’s words to emphasize the point.
The Lord’s question and Jonah’s “death wish” form a sort of fugal
interplay.
4.6.
Chapter 4:9b
καὶ εἶπε, “σφόδρα λελύπημαι ἐγὼ ἕως θανάτου.”
[Jonah] replied, I have grieved
vehemently, to the point of death!”
Text: MT has
goodness of anger, rather than vehemence of grief. Again, anger is a close emotion, missing the
point: God is not angry.
Analysis: If Jonah really is angry, then God is tempering
Jonah’s anger to a more appropriate and reasonable emotion. Jonah has lost focus on the main point that
souls are more important than anything else; he has transferred that focus to a
plant. Jonah irrationally insists that his grief is sincere, and supported by
earnest effort. Jonah is near the
breaking point; he is at the end of his rope.
He repeats the “death wish” a third time.
4.7.
Chapter 4:10-11
4:10 καὶ εἶπε Κύριος, “σὺ ἐφείσω ὑπὲρ τῆς κολοκύνθης, ὑπὲρ ἧς οὐκ ἐκακοπάθησας ἐπ᾿ αὐτὴν οὐδὲ ἐξέθρεψας αὐτήν, ἣ ἐγενήθη ὑπὸ νύκτα καὶ ὑπὸ νύκτα ἀπώλετο. ἐγὼ δὲ οὐ φείσομαι ὑπὲρ Νινευὴ τῆς πόλεως τῆς μεγάλης, ἐν ᾗ κατοικοῦσι πλείους ἢ δώδεκα μυριάδες ἀνθρώπων, οἵτινες οὐκ ἔγνωσαν δεξιὰν αὐτῶν ἢ ἀριστερὰν αὐτῶν, καὶ κτήνη πολλά.”
The Lord said, “You concerned yourself for the plant, over
which you did not toil, neither nurtured, which was presented before
night. Before night it was
destroyed. Now, should I
not concern Myself over Nineveh, the great city in which more than one hundred
twenty thousand children dwell, none of whom know their right from their left,
as well as many animals?”
Text: No
variation was observed.[18]
Analysis: The Lord confronts Jonah with
realty. Jonah’s grief over the plant is
not sincere; nor is it supported by earnest effort on Jonah’s part. Jonah did nothing for the conversion of
Nineveh: it was handed to him, just as the plant’s growth was handed to
him. Even his sincere and effort-filled
ministry among the Israelites was really lacking in comparison to the Lord’s
efforts on behalf of fallen mankind. The
wideness of the Lord’s mercy is now seen, especially for both the Ninevites and
for Jonah.
IV.
Conclusions
The narrative ends abruptly, leaving
us hanging in midair. Our feet are left
hanging helplessly, without any support.
Reality, has struck us as well.
We are so like Jonah. We want to
play God with plants. We are lucky to
keep focus for a few minutes.
Eventually, God imparts more wisdom as we are forced to search the whole
record from beginning to end, again, and again, and again. We cry out for the Spirit’s instruction. Eventually the warp and woof of the intricate
message become clearer. God does not
give up on anybody. Jonah’s thank
offering, interweaved together with testimonies of sailors and Ninevites forms
a tight, undeniable picture that this is historic reality. The fact that this document made it into the
Oracle to be archived with Torah, the Psalms, and other Prophets is
certification of this vivid reality.
Let gainsayers show exactly how the
plight and fidelity of the sailors came to be known: would they claim that
someone just made up a fanciful story, which was added to the Oracle record
with a status very similar to Torah; yet the priests and rabbis never one
tested its veracity? More to the point,
we are led to believe that the Shəkinah
did not incinerate false documents on the spot, putting to death also, those
wicked perpetrators who would attempt such a heinous act.
Let gainsayers explain why Jonah
would publicly confess such humiliating things about himself.
Let gainsayers tell us how Jonah
made it through such ordeals, to make it back to Jerusalem, a changed man, in
his right mind, to compose and publish such a document. There is only one explanation: it’s all
true….
[1] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Nineveh_map_city_walls_%26_gates.JPG/220px-Nineveh_map_city_walls_%26_gates.JPG
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/images/maps/ancientmap13.jpg
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTsoLFJ42m17GAo7m1W1j0ZDI9xN80FnigjOdF4K-VDPQ0-6znidQ
https://www.google.com/search?q=ruins+of+Nineveh&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS691US691&espv=2&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwif1OjLwtbSAhWMU7wKHUD7CkUQsAQILg&biw=1097&bih=543
[2]
The Greek word, λέγων,
frequently introduces a direct quotation, which seems to be the case here. Since the English construct, , “, suffices,
it seems redundant to translate λέγων
literally in this place. The fact that
God talks to the Prophets comes as no real surprise.
[3]
Had this only occurred in this verse, we could not make the point. Frequently in the Old Testament the MT avoids
an accurate name, largely because of the disgrace and infamy of this
people. In 800 they are either
Israelites or Judeans, or they belong to a specific tribe. By 500, they have lost their real connection
to Moses, they have become merely Jews, they scramble to recover their holy
religion from the ashes of their own idolatry.
This evasion of identity is frequently an indication of shame on the
part of the Masoretes.
http://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/bible-versions-and-translations/errors-in-the-masoretes-original-hebrew-manuscripts-of-the-bible/
[4]
Joshua 7
[5]
Each repetition has multiplied their fears exponentially. Yet now their prayers are multiplied.
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagon
[7]
Davidson, page 146. See also Dagon
[8] Please
note that the dominant illustration featured on the right side of the page is
not a real artifact; it is not even a sketch of an actual artifact; rather it
is a “proposed representation”: in other words, it is the mythological product
of some archaeologist’s fertile imagination, who then convinced a sketch artist
to make the drawing. What
bas-relief? Where is it archived? This illustration could not be verified from
ANEP, page 79, plate 253, or page 81, plate 262. Nor could it be found among Layard’s
biographical materials. Nor is it
commonly published among the British Museums ample archives.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austen_Henry_Layard
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_sculpture
The article goes on to note that this idea is the product of
19th and 20th century scholarship. A
brief glance at the names of the supporters of such a hypothesis should stop us
dead in our linguistic and theological tracks.
We’re with H. Schmökel (1928) on this one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dagon#Fish-god_tradition
[9] Taylor,
pages 329, and 343. We believe that both
κήτει and κήτους derive from the verb, κτίζω,
the common Greek word for create. AGL,
page 242. If the LXX rabbis wanted to
say fish, they would have used some form of ἰχθύς; had the wanted to say animal, they would have
used ζῶον.
[10]
It is difficult to see how seaweed survives the digestive juices of any animal?
[12] The
motif consists of three days each: in the sea, across Nineveh, until
destruction. If the vorlage actually
reads 40, there is no motif base on three.
[13]
We need to remember that the Masoretes, in part, are struggling to stop the
attrition of Jews and proselytes to Christianity. This competition was so fierce it embraced
murder, evangelism battles for supremacy in whole nations, and even war.
[14]
Nitpickers and gainsayers will find pharisaical fault with this, because Ninevite
worship is necessarily less than perfect.
We do well to remember Acts 15:5-34, especially verse 29, which says,
“Be made well.” Gentile converts,
especially, are not tied to restrictions that are not even required of Jews, or
possible for them. The expression, “Be
made well,” can only be the benediction to the Gentiles to be at peace in their
newfound freedom and in the love of God.
In principle, we can only see God looking for genuine and sincere
repentance; not for perfection of form in Nineveh.
[15] The
supposition that this contradicts Numbers 23:19, where God does not repent or
change, is made by scholars with harder hearts and lesser understanding than
even Jonah has. Nothing changed in God’s
character here. Only Satan and men are
quick and harsh in judgment, always seeking to punish and destroy. God takes no pleasure in the death of the
wicked (See Ezekiel 18:23, 32; 33:11), and even punishes in sorrow and
grief. This is perfectly consistent with
the message of the book. Those that
suppose otherwise have missed the whole point.
[16]
Translators importation of ideas of justice or righteousness are lexically
unwarranted.
[17]
Matthew 13:31; 17:20; Mark 4:31; Luke 13:19; 17:6
[18]
By now the reader has realized that most textual observations work equally in
both directions. Additionally, there are
very few differences that cannot be understood within the range of nuance in
the translated words, or by the existence of idiomatic expression. To draw the points more sharply, we would
need to study every Greek and Hebrew word, in order to find explicit linguistic
connections: because language is so flexible by nature, we expect any such
attempt to fail. We are unable to draw
any other conclusion than that LXX appears to be a very literal rendering of
the Hebrew vorlage. Differences we have
found are relatively minor, many of them due more to our English rendering.
Our conclusion that LXX is a better expression of the
underlying Hebrew vorlage rests on the fact that LXX is at least eight
centuries older than MT. Moreover, the
rabbis responsible for the LXX family of translated manuscripts, were better
equipped linguistically to handle the subtle nuances of both Greek and Hebrew
than any of the Masoretes, or any of us today: they were unentangled with the
influences of modern Europe. After 200
BC, Hebrew becomes a dead language: the only ones really handling Hebrew from
that point on, are the scribes of the Pharisees, and the scribes of the
Sadducees. The Masoretes are struggling
to patch together the little remaining manuscript evidence they have; even so,
Kabbalah and other mystical influences are already being felt in Masoretic
studies as these medieval scholars struggle to recover the oral Torah. Note that they were not simply concerned with
finding the Old Testament autographs and exegeting them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabbalah
http://www.jewfaq.org/sages.htm
https://torahmitzion.org/learn/the-great-debate-between-the-rambam-and-ramban-concerning-sacrifices/
http://traditionarchive.org/news/originals/Volume%2033/No.%203/The%20Deeper%20Conflict.pdf
Maimonides, the Great Eagle, or the Rambam:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides
Nachmanides, or the Ramban:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachmanides
[19] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations,
please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish. No rights are reserved. They are designed and intended for your free
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