JONAH, rE
The Word of the Lord Heals Jonah
Introduction,
Part 3
I.
The Holy Spirit
In modern times the Holy Spirit is freely given
to all people whenever they ask the Father for Him.[1] As a consequence the Holy Spirit and His
gifts are taken for granted, treated as common things, and regularly abused:
either with absurd excesses, or, at the other extreme, with total neglect.
Prior to Pentecost, 33 AD, the Holy Spirit was
not generally given, and people did not generally have any spiritual gifts.
Moses (ca 1406 BC) is possibly the first person
in Scripture for whom we have noticeable, definitive Spiritual presence and
gifts: Moses talked with God, while the Spirit enabled Moses to understand and
record this conversation, which we know today as the spiritual gift of
inspiration or Prophecy.[2] It seems likely that Joshua shared this gift
of Prophecy or inspiration; nevertheless, there do not seem to be many other
Prophets until Samuel. Jonah is
certainly a Prophet in this sense.[3]
Later, part of the spiritual gift of Moses was
distributed to seventy or seventy-two other people.[4] If the tribal patriarchs were also gifted in
a similar way, this would amount to six or seven people from each tribe,
excluding Levi, which was set apart for the priesthood. As a result, no more than seventy-two to
ninety-six people in all of Israel were endowed with this spiritual gift of
illumination or secondary inspiration, enabling such people to understand,
explain, interpret, and apply Scripture.
Unlike Moses, these people could not talk to God, or write Scripture:
consequently, they were known as Judges, prophets, (not Prophets), sons of the
prophets, or even gods[5] because of their secondary
gift, or bath kol (daughter of voice)[6]. This body of people is the prototypical
Sanhedrin.
By 800 BC, we are left with very little
information about any such Patriarchal system of government, in submission to
God through Prophets and administered by the Sanhedrin. The kingdom has formed (1003), and divided
(930); the northern kingdom has separated from Temple worship; Elijah, Elisha,
Jonah, Hosea, and Amos, the Prophets to the northern kingdom are ambassadors
from God to an estranged people. So by
Jonah’s day, it appears that divine government is left in a shambles as far as Israel,
the northern kingdom is concerned.
A gigantic anachronism is forced upon the Old
Testament by assuming any ability of Old Testament believers to act or react
with the same spiritual abilities that Christians commonly enjoy today.
So, two spiritual gifts were given prior to 33
AD, although there may have been a few exceptions, primarily in the awakening
that followed 4 BC, with the incarnation, birth, and epiphany of Jesus, the
Christ of God. The first gift was
inspiration, the gift given to Moses and all the Prophets, which enabled them
to speak to God.[7] A secondary gift of illumination or secondary
inspiration was given to the members of the first Sanhedrin, empowering them to
govern. If this Sanhedrin is dissolved
in the northern kingdom it is possible that only three people in Israel had
spiritual gifts in Jonah’s day: Jonah, Hosea, and Amos. There were doubtless a few colleagues in
Judea. Since we do not know the state of
the Sanhedrin in 800 BC, it is difficult to say if or how they functioned in
Israel.[8] Where such sons of the Prophets survived,
they understudied the Great Prophets, who spoke directly to God; yet, they were
forced to hide in caves: for their lives were in constant danger, being hunted
by kings like Ahab and queens like Jezebel.
Even priests had no such spiritual gifts: for priests spoke to God only
through the instruments of the Ephod, Urim, and Thummim.
The main point being made here is that
spiritual gifts were exceedingly rare in Jonah’s day. This is why St. Gregory is able to claim that “Jonah knew better
than anyone else.”[9] Jonah knew that what he was doing was wrong,
and he may well have been the only person who could possibly know: such is the
extent of the Prophet’s spiritual madness.
II. The Temple
Prior to Pentecost, 33 AD, all worship was
heavily dependent on icons. The faithful
had to journey to Jerusalem three times a year to meet with God, pray, and make
their sacrifices. Prayers from anywhere
else in the world could be directed to the Oracle of Solomon’s Temple in
Jerusalem: still, there was nothing like the three great festivals: Pesach,
Shavuot, and Sukkot. To walk away from
Jerusalem, in a very real sense, was to walk away from God. God’s Presence, the Shəkinah, was present in the pillar of fire and
smoke, seated on the Ark of the Covenant, on the Mercy Seat, in the Oracle of
the Temple, and only left during the days of Ezekiel;[10] then it would not return
until 4 BC. So, when Jonah speaks of
fleeing from the face of YHWH, he speaks in an imagery, though practically and
theologically impossible, which was, nevertheless, very real to nearly everyone
else. Jonah had to know better; yet, few
others could possibly have understood what he was doing without this imagery.
III.
Genre
If Jonah’s perambulations and profession are
perplexing, then the literary classification of this book is even more
wondrous. It is not apocalypse, history,
parable or prophecy. It appears to be a
few pages ripped out of Jonah’s personal diary.
It reads like a Poe short story, it’s a real page burner. Yet, it is truth rather than fiction. There is little else like it in the pages of
Scripture.[11] It is an autobiographical snapshot. Perhaps a good suggestion is that a literary
form existed among the Israelite-Judean peoples called “Todah”.[12] A Todah, it is thought, is expected of any
child of YHWH for a significant providence or miracle.[13] This is the written portion of Jonah’s Todah,
to be kept with the other Holy Scrolls in the Jerusalem Temple; the other
portion would be Jonah’s animal sacrifice which would be offered up at the same
time as the written portion.
IV.
Sitz im Leben (Situation in
Life)
Israel’s
Internal Problems
Supposing that Jonah had a pleasant childhood
displays an ignorance of the facts.
Jonah’s childhood was most likely spent in sorrow and suffering. Jeroboam I had replaced Aaron’s golden calf
idol with a twin set in lieu of real YHWH worship. The nation of Israel was rank with Baal and
Astarte worship. Ahab and Jezebel had
left their sordid trail of death written across Samaria. Jehu was a flash-in-the-pan. Athaliah continued idolatry in Judah. The situation internally was so bad that most
of the priests had moved to Judah permanently, because YHWH worship in Israel
had become impossible. His parents may
have attended the three required annual festivals in Jerusalem, sneaking out of
Israel alone and cowering in shame.
Jonah could not have had many friends.
His family spent their days mourning the desolation of Israel, sackcloth,
ashes and bitter tears their usual clothing.
The 7000 faithful prophets of Elijah’s day did not spread very thickly
over an entire nation. Israel’s kings
were bent on troubling their own people.
Israel’s
External Problems
If internal conditions were not bad enough,
external conditions were even worse.
Everybody wanted a piece of Samaria: Syrians, Phoenicians, Philistines,
Moabites, even Judah their brother and frenemy.
The Assyrians were worst of all.
Ever since Jehu, and possibly before, Israel had been an Assyrian vassal
state. The Assyrians were like the
plague: on a fairly regular basis they swept across the land as a flood sweeps
across a plain, obliterating everything in their path. They killed every man, woman, child, and
animal that got in their way.[14] In particular Ashurnasirpal II loved
to brag about his conquests, which were carved into stone, written in books,
and hammered out on bronze plaques to decorate Nineveh’s or Calah’s city
gates. It is possible that Jonah
survived because he was in Jerusalem, only to return to Israel and witness the
carnage. Moreover, in his prophet’s eye
he could probably even see the future holocaust that Assyria would bring on
Israel around 722 BC. One thing for
sure, Jonah had every reason in the world to hate and fear Assyrians.
Jonah’s
Loyalties
Jonah is said to be driven by strong national
loyalties. This does not square with the
facts as stated. Jonah[15] is a YHWH worshipper in
the middle of a nation opposed to YHWH.
Jonah may favor the political mood of Israel but his religion puts him
in direct adversarial relationship with that same political system. However much he favors Samaria as a capital,
his worshipping and disobedient heart is in Jerusalem. His journeying and longing can only be
explained if Jonah is in fact the ambassador of YHWH serving in a foreign
capital. The faithful are always
strangers and pilgrims, never at home on Earth.
Jonah is not different. There is
little evidence that Jonah is loyal to Israel.
Jonah’s
Contemporaries
Jonah was contemporary with Elisha,[16] Hosea and Amos. He was also contemporary with (possibly even
Jehoahaz), Joash of Israel, and Jeroboam II; with Joash of Judea, and Amaziah;
as well as with Shalmaneser III, Shamshi-Adad V, Adad-Nirari III, and
possibly Shalmaneser IV; not to mention various Syrian, Egyptian and other
dignitaries. Some suppose that there is a strong difference
of opinion with Jonah opposed to Hosea and Amos, who both predicted dire
consequences against Israel. However, since
Jonah’s ministry is at the beginning, or even before Jeroboam II’s reign, the
supposed differences quickly disappear.
Consider the probability that Jonah goes to Nineveh before Jeroboam
takes the throne. At Nineveh Jonah
witnesses the repentance of the evil empire.[17] Jonah returns to Israel to predict prosperity
under Jeroboam’s II reign. Indeed
Jeroboam is able to recover lost territory at a time when Aram appears to be
busy with Assyrian attacks; a little later, Nineveh becomes temporarily
disinterested in pursuing its cruel oppressions in Israel-Judea. Jeroboam II now has the ironic chance to
eliminate the idolatrous practices of Jeroboam I and return to sincere YHWH
worship, but he does not do it. In
Jeroboam II’s bent on corruption, Hosea and Amos rise up to condemn Israel.[18]
V. Author’s Purpose
Jonah’s
Effectiveness
Fewer preachers have been more effective than
Jonah, as indifferent and bitter as he was.
One sentence, not even directed at his audience in particular, more
directed at himself, throw me overboard and the storm will stop, and the entire
ship’s Captain and crew convert to YHWH.[19] Another sentence, and the entire populace of
Nineveh, Potentate and people convert to YHWH, possibly 500,000 people or more
if the number 120,000 only counts children.
But his effectiveness fails to account for the bulk of the story. Measured by effectiveness alone, Jonah is
greater than any other human preacher recorded in the Bible: greater than
Moses, Joshua, Elijah, Elisha, or Peter.
Never have such few words, or such little effort turned so many hearts,
and they are all Semites.
Jonah
is a Sign of Christ
Jonah may not have fully understood the purpose
of his life and book. But the hand of a
greater Writer holds Jonah’s pen. That
Writer calls Jonah a sign (σημειον). The life of Christ strangely parallels that
of Jonah. In Matthew 8:23ff , Jonah
like, Jesus is asleep in the boat, indifferent to the plight of his disciples
as Jonah is indifferent to the plight of the sailors. In Matthew 14:22, the disciples could not
reach land, even as the sailors in Jonah could not row to make land. In Matthew 26:39, Jesus, like Jonah, is
reluctant to undertake his mission. Is
there more about the sign of Jonah than the sign of the crucifixion? Is it possible, within the mysteries of God,
that the whole of Jonah’s life as expressed in the book of Jonah is intended to
be a Messianic sign? Jonah, like Christ,
is “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3).” “He has no form nor comeliness; and when we
shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him (Isaiah
53:2).” After Jonah spent three days
bathing in the sea, possibly in a creature’s gastric acids, he could not have
been very pretty either. While this may
very well be the greater point; it is not a point found in Jonah: it is only a
point brought to light in the New Testament.
Jonah
is Insane
While such ideas are certainly significant,
especially in the New Testament, they are hardly even footnotes in the book of
Jonah. God speaks first. God speaks most. The book of Jonah is about God talking, and
trying to get Jonah to pay attention.
Jonah is in extreme spiritual pain.
We are not told the causes of this pain.
St. Augustine (354-430) notices
this.[20] St. Gregory Nazianzen (329-390) may be
the first to notice this as he compares Jonah to the well-known suffering of
St. Basil.[21] Jonah is the record of a man under the care
of a physician. Jonah is the
patient. God is the doctor.
Neither insanity
nor nervous breakdown are words that Jonah would likely understand, or that God
would have used. Yet, before we have
finished verse 3 of Chapter 1 we see that Jonah is already acting irrationally:
it is impossible to flee from God, a fact that
“Jonah knew better than anyone else.”[22] How is it that a man reputed to be most
rational, a called prophet, filled with the Spirit, begins to act irrationally. Throughout the book of Jonah, most of Jonah’s
actions and words are irrational: imagine arguing with God over a plant and a
worm; imagine the constant desire for death.
These seasons of irrationality are so prevalent in the book, that we are
compelled to consider the rare instances of clarity and reason to be accidents
brought about by stress. Jonah seems
bitter: our word. He claims to be angry
or grieved: sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish the two: MT has anger; yet,
LXX translates grieved.
We are not told what the causes are; we can
only surmise. Had Jonah lost a dear one
through some act of human brutality, cruelty, and violence? We don’t know. Was Jonah suffering from spiritual battle
fatigue, having preached to the dead and deaf Israelite audience for decades? We don’t know. What we do know is that extreme pain shuts
down the mind and makes it impossible to function rationally. Both Augustine and Gregory thought that Jonah
was in extreme pain. A person under
extreme psychological stress cannot think clearly, if at all.
Jonah’s doctor is the world’s greatest
psychiatrist, doctor of souls. As a
first order of treatment God prescribes work therapy for Jonah; but Jonah
rejects the prescription. What better
way to deal with a person in pain, than to give them something to do? Work takes the mind off of self; as routines
settle in, the mind works through the pain and is healed. Jonah’s response is, “I quit!” How does a person quit the gift of the Holy
Spirit? How does one quit the call of
God?
So, to get Jonah to accept his work therapy, God
prescribes shock therapy. Today,
micro-shock therapy is known to be effective: small damaged portions of the
brain are targeted and taken out of action, at least for a time. Still, in 800 BC, God knows what we do not
know today, He is an expert at shock therapy, and He applies it with pinpoint
precision.
Three days later, Jonah is willing to accept
his prescribed work therapy assignment, no matter how begrudgingly he does it, so
off he rushes to Nineveh; still not really committed to his task. Now, the work therapy does something for
Jonah that he has never experienced in his life until now. The audience listens to his message. The audience responds to his message. He experiences a preaching victory, the likes
of which no preacher has ever seen before, or since: his Physician hands it to
him in a golden bowl. At this point a
fully rational person would respond with amazement, gratitude, and joy: not
Jonah. Jonah sulks, another indication
of irrationality.
God prescribes conversational therapy, loaded
with simple object lessons: a bush and a worm.
Slowly Jonah begins to respond.
He begins to understand the disproportionate comparison between a bush
and a nation, especially a nation full of little children.
We know that Jonah was eventually healed, even
though the report ends without telling us: for the report was delivered to the Oracle
of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem and kept on record for us to read. This could never have happened if Jonah had
never recovered.
Jonah
is Wounded and in Extreme Pain
So that no one ever gets the idea that we are
making the silly anachronistic mistake of imposing twenty-first century
psychology on an 800 BC life, let us approach the matter from a different
angle. The psychological angle was never
more than an illustrative communication device anyway. Jonah is wounded. We don’t know how or why he was wounded. He does not appear to have any physical
marks. He is nevertheless, somewhat
delirious, as evinced by his irrational raging, ranting, raving, and resisting
his best friend at every step of his recovery process. Jonah is thrashing about senselessly like a
soldier wounded in battle, who is lapsing in and out of consciousness, and in
great pain. The record is about God,
Jonah’s best friend who stays with Jonah through thick and thin, steadfastly
refusing to give up on his wounded companion, even in his hour of darkest
pain. Jonah’s spiritual renewal must be
completed. The message of the book is
that God does not give up on friendships.
God never walks away. God never
quits.
Psychology
We are not attempting to read psychology into
Jonah. The invention of the
pseudo-science[23]
of psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939), thrust a brand-new set of
disciplines into the world, cutting right between pastoral, priestly ministry,
and the work of physicians. Prior to
Freud, among Christians, at least, the care of the immaterial aspect of man,
the human spirit or soul, was the exclusive field of the ministry; the care of
the material aspect of man, the body, was the exclusive business of
physicians. Overnight, ministers were
assumed to be ignorant of matters of the soul (psuche), or of the human spirit (pneuma);
ministers were relegated to be gate keepers of theology, and experts on the
technical aspects of Scripture: they were no longer the doctors of souls that
they once started out to be. Nevertheless,
Jesus is the true Great Physician of souls and spirits, and His hospital is The
Church.
This radical shift in occupational duties soon
led to a whole new vocabulary which dominates our thinking today: so, it is
very difficult to talk about a disease of the soul or spirit without using this
new language. That being said, we are
not trying to read psychology into Jonah; we are trying to read psychology out
of Jonah. We are trying to recover
territory, which, from God’s perspective, belongs exclusively to His Church:
for we sincerely believe that Jonah is diseased in soul or spirit, yet we have
lost a commonly acceptable language for expressing such a thought: so, we are
forced to use the terms of psychology in order to be understood.
In the final analysis we must see in Jonah, not
a rebellious, nasty person; rather he is a person so sick at heart, in soul or
in spirit that he can no longer control his actions: he has become almost
completely, totally irrational; while his personal Physician and best Friend is
determined to restore him to full health in his soul or spirit. This Physician and best Friend, refuses to
give up on Jonah. God does not quit.
Conclusion
The whole point of Jonah’s biographical report
about God, his doctor is that God never quit.
God steadfastly refused to let this one, seemingly insignificant prophet
go, until He had lifted Jonah up, and sent him on his way rejoicing. Even then, God was always with him. The application is clear, God does not give
up on us either, not ever. We may give
up on God. We may give up on ourselves,
as Jonah evidently has. People may give
up on us. God never gives up.
Yes, Jonah is the preeminent sign of
Christ. While this is not immediately
seen in the life and time of Jonah, two things are plainly evident. Yes, we see the intense theology of Jonah in
converting many other Semites to the sincere worship of the living God. Yes, we see the display of God’s mercy as
ordinary. I say ordinary, because that
is the way God usually is. Jonah is
angry and disappointed, he wants to see God’s extraordinary fiery wrath and
revenge. He has forgotten what he knows
better than anyone else, that the purpose of God’s wrath is to turn sinners
away from their wickedness, so that they can find God’s mercy. He has forgotten why he wanted to become a
prophet to begin with: to see people converted to God’s kingdom. God’s wrath is evident in Jonah, but all of
it is vented on Jonah himself, as it will be on Christ. And Jonah is a sign of Christ. These are New Testament messages foreshadowed
in Jonah.
Still, the message of Jonah is that God never
gives up. He refused to give up on
Jonah; so we may be sure that He didn’t give up on the sailors, or the
Ninevites, and He won’t give up on us.
All the agonies and aggravations, all the pains and sufferings of life,
are ultimately God’s prescription to lead us into thinking like Him. God knows what He is doing in our lives: He
is healing us from every sin and stain. Human
being’s give up. God never gives up.
VI.
Outline
The book of Jonah divides itself into four parts, each part
corresponding to one of the four chapters, with the exception that MT
mistakenly numbers verse 2:1 as verse 1:17.
This MT error causes each of the verses in chapter 2 to be misnumbered
by exactly one number. Each of the
chapters in turn divides itself naturally into parts.
1.
Chapter 1:1-16
Chapter 1, ending at verse 16, forms a series
of couplets, cause and effect, protasis and apodosis. The rebellious prophet in his lack of fear
and carelessness; nevertheless, as an instrument of God instills fear and
worship of God wherever he goes. The
inclusion of verse 17 in chapter one in English texts is unfortunate.[24]
1.1.
Chapter 1:1-2
The Word of the
Lord assigns occupational therapy for Jonah.
1.2.
Chapter 1:3
Jonah’s irrationally
defies his assignment. The madness of
the Prophet is clearly seen. Jonah, of
all people, knows that he cannot hide, or run from God. Outline 1:1 and 1:2 form a couplet, which
echoes through the rest of the chapter.
1.3.
Chapter 1:4-15
Jonah’s disobedience
leads to alarming and surprising consequences.
The lives of innocent bystanders are put in danger. The outcome stretches human credulity. The potential for identifying more couplets
in this section does not especially increase our understanding of the
structure. The first couplet dominates
the tone of the chapter: other couplets seem to be mere echoes. Jonah
knows nothing of onboard events after verse 15a, “They took Jonah, threw
him out into the sea….”
1.4. Chapter 1:16
This vignette, beginning in verse 1:15b, out of
sequence with the chronological record, shows how God changes a disaster into good. 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)
The Lord assigns
shock therapy for Jonah; yet Jonah himself commands the casting into the
sea. Jonah seems bent on suicide. 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.
2.2.
Chapter 2:2-10
a. 2:2-6.
Jonah reports his Todah prayer.
It fits here chronologically; yet, logically he will be delivering this
prayer years later in the Temple. This
positioning suggests that this is the theme of the book, forming the
introductory precis to what will follow.
b. 2:7. This
is likely part of the Todah. However,
the possible change from first to third person, might conceivably be a veiled
suggestion of the death and resurrection of Christ.[25] However, this is far from certain, possibly being
nothing more than idiomatic expression.
c. 2:8-10.
Jonah continues his Todah in the first person. He ponders whether his heart’s prayer here,
will ever become the prayer of Temple reality.
The fact that we have a record of this prayer shows that the answer to
Jonah’s question is, yes. Verse 9 is
enigmatic, it appears to indicate that the shackles of death are removed from
Jonah. Verse 10 indicates that Jonah
already has confirmation that his Todah will be presented and received:
however, the realization of this assurance in the goodness of God will not be
realized for many years. Once again,
this reality is out of chronological sequence with the plot, proving that Jonah
is ultimately healed.
2.3.
Chapter 2:11
The conclusion
of the chapter is almost anticlimactic, following the Todah. Jonah intends to die. YHWH intends to spare his life. The shock therapy is successful, at least in
part.
3.
Chapter 3:1-10
3.1.
Chapter 3:1-2.
The Word of the
Lord repeats His occupational therapy assignment for Jonah with only minor
changes in detail.
3.2.
Chapter 3:3
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
Since Jonah is ready to get down to business,
the story moves on to the subject of Nineveh.
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.
God is merciful
in judgement.[26] This verse is also out of chronological
sequence, in chronological sequence it belongs after verse 4:5. Verses 4:6-10 unveil God’s justification for
His merciful action. These, of course,
could have occurred after God’s mercy happens; yet, this seems unlikely, since
Jonah still looks to “see clearly what would happen to the city.” This verse is the chronological and logical
end of the story. God heals Jonah with
His overwhelming mercy.
4.
Chapter 4:1-11
4.1.
Chapter 4:1-3.
Jonah is so
bitter and angry or grief-stricken that he prays for death. Logically, these words describe Jonah’s
actions in verse 1:3. Here they indicate
a major step in the healing process.
Although this fits nicely, chronologically after 3:10, we noted that
3:10 itself is not in chronological order.
So, these verses fit chronologically after verse 4:5.
4.2.
Chapter 4:4
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
Jonah establishes a watch post. Chronologically, this fits after he delivers
God’s ultimatum; possibly, even while the Ninevites are in the first stage of
repentance in verse 3:5; and before God’s mercy becomes evident in verse 3:10.
4.4.
Chapter 4:6-8
Jonah’s watch post provides the setting for the
two object lessons that follow, after which Jonah again longs for death
4.5.
Chapter 4:9a
The Lord returns to question 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
Jonah irrationally insists that his grief is
sincere, and supported by earnest effort.
In part, Jonah has transferred his failed efforts at ministry among the
Israelites to a plant. Jonah is near the
breaking point; he is at the end of his rope.
4.7.
Chapter 4:10-11
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.
VII.
Structural Notes
As the attempt was made to outline Jonah, a
concept of structure gradually emerged.
What is Jonah’s structural pattern?
Many authorities cling to a chronological historical pattern. Certainly, Jonah is historical; yet, we
continued to be perplexed by confusing breaks in what would otherwise be a
merely chronological report.
We eventually saw that Jonah follows a story
pattern. In stories, whether fictional
or historical, the author, according to his skill as a story teller, weaves
surprises, flashbacks, cliff-hangers, enigmas, puzzles, and other interruptions
into the mix. The author entertains the
reader and thus forces that reader to think hard about what is being written. Strange figures of speech enhance the
picture. By what means does one ferret such
things out?
We suggest that the reader dissect the book to
from a strict timeline; then contrast that timeline with what Jonah actually
wrote: thus, in sequence, the Lord directs – Jonah flees – disaster results –
Jonah goes overboard. Yet, within the
disaster, Jonah reveals his rebellion long before he writes it in verse 10:
evidently, not long after he arrives on board, probably before he sleeps, no
later than an earlier part of the interrogation of verse 7. How does this technique enhance the
story? Simply enough, it catches us by
surprise. The reality for the sailors is
that while Jonah had told them earlier, the significance of this fact had not
yet dawned upon them until now. Jonah’s
reversal of events forces us readers to experience the same shock as the light of
reality which dawns over the sailors. Of
course, verses 15b-16 belong after the end of chapter 4 in a strict
chronological sequence. Thus, by such a
detailed process, we are forced to ask and answer the question, “Why does Jonah
say such a thing here?” As we progress
with such a quest, we begin to see more intricacies and have more insights into
the fertile, Spirit led, mind of Jonah.
We might attempt the same sort of exercise with
logic structure as well. These are study
methods we might very well employ in other books of the Bible.
What we discover by drawing such contrasts, is
that Jonah is an exceedingly profound discussion, well worth our pondering
throughout life.
VIII. Christian Themes
Several Themes central to the heart of Christianity
run through the book.
1.
God is a Person
God is a person, not a list of attributes, He
is intimately involved in the life of his prophet as well as in the lives of
the Ninevites. He exists in relationship
with Himself in the Trinity, and graciously extends the offer of this
relationship to the whole human race.
This is tangible and visible, here in the person and sign of Jonah, but
ultimately in the person of Christ, Who made Himself man.
2.
God is Immanent
In spite of the greatness of His majesty He is
close at all times. He hears inside the
belly of the sea. God may seem far away,
in Jerusalem, but He is never far away from any one of us.
3.
God is Merciful
The book is
mostly about YHWH’s patient and loving dealings with His angry, stubborn and
hard-hearted child. This fact is so
powerfully expressed that Jonah’s motto might well be “O Love That Will Not Let
Me Go!” But it is evenly more powerfully
expressed in God’s saving act of so many other Semites. It is even expressed in His gainsaying and
idolatrous people whose thankless lives will be spared because of the ensuing
peace.
4.
God is Sovereign over all
His acts and over the means by which He enacts them
There is evidence of synergy throughout, God
will not work without Jonah’s participation.
The decisive ability of man is also active, Jonah is free to make up his
own mind, but his decisions have consequences.
God’s love is simply bigger than Jonah’s hatred. This mystery of Divine Sovereignty and its
tension with human volition cannot be solved.
None of us wants to be branded as Pelagian or semi-Pelagian. Yet, each of us is more than a robot, we take
the cup of salvation. How can this
be? It is a mystery.
How do I resolve this question? Luther’s, Bondage of the Will,
is wrong. I do have free will. Luther’s error consists of attributing power
and strength to the will, a philosophical category mistake. Muscles have power and strength; the will has
none. Ordinary human muscles have no
power to effect salvation: a different strength is required: the strength of
Christ, no mere ordinary man. My volition
is at war with God, and will be at war with God all of my life.[27] The Calvinist view seems to be that the human
volition is overthrown at conversion. I
don’t believe that this squares with Jonah or Paul. Jonah as a highly committed believer wills to
not go to Nineveh. But Jonah, in his
reason, finally understands that God is right, and Jonah sets his volition
aside and accepts God’s will. Christians
must battle their wills every day, and take up what God wants, instead of what
we want. It is, after all, the only
sensible reasonable thing to do. It is
not the emotional thing to do, or the willful thing to do, it just makes good
sense. Christians are and should be a
sensible people. But the volition is
only overthrown and converted by death.
In the new life our wills will no longer fight with God.
5.
The Word of the Lord Heals
Our extended title might very well read, The
Word of the Lord is persistent and tenacious as the Great Physician, refuses to
give up on His sick and sinful servant, the Prophet Jonah. Jonah is a hard case. If we read the story as a straight
biographical chronology, we miss much of the books intricacy. The book is written in story sequence, not in
chronological sequence. Any good story
teller, weaves surprises, and puzzles into his words, to heighten the intensity
of the message. Jonah is an artfully and
well told biography, the biography of God’s work in the life of Jonah. As we begin to understand that verse 4:11 is
not really the end of the story, we start to realize that Jonah is about the
individually specific, tender love for each and every one of us. God never gives up. His care for the human race continues past
this very day. Each of us is like Jonah
in more ways than one. God’s unfailing
love for Jonah is also active in each of our lives. God’s love is a tough love: God is not afraid
to throw us in the drink when we are out of line; the successes God gives us
are often unrelated to our efforts, they are gifts; our ability to reason
correctly is often bent out of shape. In
the end, God persists, and we are healed.
This is the message of Jonah’s “Todah”.
IX.
Conclusion
Jonah is more than a simple story designed to
delight small children with an exciting sea storm followed by the original
Jaws.[28] Jonah is the profound and powerfully
presented report of God’s intense redemptive love for all creation, great and
small, human and animal. It details the
lengths to which God goes in parenting his stubborn and errant child. It shows God’s remarkable patience with all
mankind. The story loses all or most of
its force if it is not literally true.
As the sign of Christ, many remarkable
parallels are found with the life of Christ.
I doubt that we have found the half of them. The reader is left with the joyous quest of
finding more such parallels and meditating on these that are found. With such meditation, the wisdom expressed by
Jonah will only become more and more profound to the earnest reader and seeker. Nevertheless, these parallels are expressed
almost exclusively in the New Testament.
We search in vain to find them in Jonah alone: we ought not to put words
in Jonah’s mouth.
I apologize for writing such a clumsy and
hurried paper. I simply did not have the
facility or the time to do justice to the subject. But you can help me. Your insights and criticisms will go a long
way toward making this paper worth sharing.
This is the sixth edition. We
hope that with God’s help and yours to do better the next time.
[1]
Luke 11:13
[2] Exodus
33:11
[3]
Jonah 1:1; 3:1
[4] Numbers
11:16-17, 25-29
[5]
Psalm 82
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_%E1%B8%B3%C5%8Dl
[7] Exodus
33:11; Jonah 1:1; 3:1
[8] 1
Kings 18:4, 13; 1 Kings 19:18; Romans 11:4; 1 Kings 20:35; 2 Kings 2:3, 5, 7,
15; 4:1, 38; 5:22; 6:1; Amos 2:11; Ephesians 3:5
[9]
St. Gregory Nazianzen (329-390), Orations, Oration 2, “In Defence
of His Flight to Pontus….”, paragraphs 106-109:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310202.htm
[10] Ezekiel
10:18; 11:23 — This had happened once before in 1 Samuel 4:21-22.
[11]
But consider Psalm 116, especially verses 10-19.
[12]
While Todah does not always require the presentation of a sacrificial animal
the extraordinary miracles of Jonah’s deliverance, and the many converts among
sailors and in Nineveh require an extraordinary response. We must not overlook the connection between
Todah and Communion.
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0124.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Thank _offering
[13]
a confession giving glory and especially thanks to God, complete with thank
offerings such as an ox for a sin offering, and another ox for a thank offering
[14]
I will spare you the gory details. If
you must know see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Assyrian_Empire,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_of_Assyria, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Ashurnasirpal _II (884-859 BC), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalmaneser_III
(858-824 BC), http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Shamshi-Adad_V (824-811 BC),
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adad-nirari_III (811-783 BC), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shalmaneser_IV
(783-773).
[15]
together with Elisha, Hosea and Amos
[16]
2 Kings 13:14; 14:25, Jonah may have been Elisha’s successor.
[17]
Which repentance seems unknown from sources other than the Bible. This is not at all unusual. It is very difficult to cross reference
ancient documents. What is significant
to the historians of Judah, is not of great merit in either Nineveh or
Samaria. In contrast, consider that
Jonah is relegated a mere footnote in 2 Kings, while Elijah and Elisha are the
subjects of many chapters. Similarly,
Jehu is known in Assyria, but he is on his face groveling. The Assyrians bragged about their conquests,
not their humiliations.
[18]
It takes two witnesses to condemn; yet, Jonah goes alone to Nineveh, because
God and Jonah are a sufficient witness of repentance.
[19]
Proof of this rests on the contents of Jonah 1:16. Jonah cannot possibly know this unless he
returns to Jerusalem in victory, a changed man.
While he is receiving accolades as the great Prophet he truly is, these
converted sailors recognize him, and confess their faith in YHWH to him. This is the only reasonable way that Jonah
could ever discover the contents of 1:16.
Any miraculous disclosure, while not impossible, presents a far-fetched
solution.
[20]
St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430), City of God (Book XVIII),
Chapters 27, 30, and 44
[21]
St. Gregory Nazianzen (329-390), Orations, Oration 43, “Funeral
Oration on the Great S. Basil”, paragraphs 42, 74
[22]
St. Gregory Nazianzen (329-390), Orations, Oration 2, “In Defence
of His Flight to Pontus….”, paragraphs 106-109:
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/310202.htm
[23]
Psychology is pseudo-science, because there in nothing to measure or test in
the immaterial aspect of humans. There
are no ordinary methods to perform controlled experiments on the immaterial
aspect of humans. Yet, consider Luke
11:13. Even so, there is no way to
corroborate the experiment suggested by Luke 11:13: each person is alone with
God. Taken seriously this reduces
psychology, as a real science exclusively to neurology: nothing more or
less. Other branches of psychology, such
as counseling, are not generally science: they may have discovered human wisdom
about human behavior; yet, they generally neglect Divine wisdom. Still there is no scientific means to
determine that the immaterial aspect of humans even exists.
[24]
It belongs as chapter two verse 1.
[25] Yet,
this is unlikely. The verse reads, “κατέβην
εἰς γῆν, ἧς οἱ μοχλοὶ αὐτῆς κάτοχοι αἰώνιοικαὶ ἀναβήτω ἐκ φθορᾶς ἡ ζωή μου, πρὸς
σὲ Κύριε ὁ Θεός μου.” The verb, κατέβην, is first person. The verb, ἀναβήτω, is third person. If κατέβην were changed to κατέβη it would
become third person in agreement with ἀναβήτω.
Alternatively, the letter, ω, ending anticipates a first person, so it
may be a spelling error or variation. The
fact that such textual contortions are necessary to present the case, makes it
very unlikely that Jonah has death and resurrection in mind at all. Nevertheless, the letter, ν, is readily
removed in Greek.
It is better to take the verse as it stands, “I went down … He
went up. Now the enigma is that Jonah
switches from sea to earth: why?
Moreover, the idea of corruption intrudes itself before Jonah is dead;
this fascination with the rotting of corpses finds reverberations in chapter 4:
why?
[26] 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.
[27]
Romans 7:15ff
[28]
Children love water and scary stories.
[29] 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
participation. They were freely
received, and are freely given. No other
permission is required for their use.
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