Jonah

[Jamie123]

I am working through "The Pocket Bible in One Year" which has the entire Bible divided into daily readings. Today was the last day of 2 Kings (which I've been ranting about in another thread) but reading ahead the next book we get to is Jonah. 

Yes, yes I know Jonah doesn't come next in the regular Bible, but it does in this one.

I've always been fascinated by Jonah.

He had a whale of a time.

It seems ironic that a story of deep repentance not leading to deliverance we should come to one of God sparing the Assyrians because they (however temporarily) listened to Jonah. I suppose God holds his own people to a higher standard than outsiders.

You've gotta like the way Jonah reacts though - throwing a sulk (or a "mard" as we used to call it) because God didn't do what he wanted him to - and because he was nice to someone other than the Israelites. Then throwing an even bigger tantrum because God took away his shade. It makes me wonder that if God could choose someone as ornery as Jonah, perhaps there's at least some hope for the rest of us! 

[Guest]

I believe that the story of Jonah is made to remind us that even prophets are simply mortal men with faults.  They'll make mistakes like the rest of us.

Edited July 13, 2017 by Guest

[Jamie123]

1 hour ago, Carborendum said:

I believe that the story of Jonah is made to remind us that even prophets are simply mortal men with faults.  They'll make mistakes like the rest of us.

I wish we knew a bit more about Jonah. Outside the Book of Jonah itself, all we know about him is he prophesied that God would "...restore...the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath unto the sea of the Arabah" (2 Kings 14). Jesus mentions him of course, but only to use the "whale" episode as an analogy for what was about to happen to himself.

The question people always ask about the Book of Jonah is: "Is it real history or a parable/allegory?"

I'm inclined to think that:

1. Jonah probably was a real man (otherwise why would he be mentioned in 2 Kings?)
2. However, the story of the Book of Jonah is probably fiction. In case this offends anyone let me explain:
   1. Jonah has always been described as "one of the minor prophets". The Jews also classify it as such.
   2. All the other "minor prophet" books contain actual prophesy. If Jonah is "real history" then it sticks out like a sore thumb.
   3. If the story is fictional then it can be read as prophesy couched in the form of allegory. As such it fits in far better with the other books in the "minor prophets" category. 
3. The "real" Jonah probably had a reputation for xenophobia making him the last person anyone would expect God to preach to Assyrians. Getting straight on a ship to Tarshish (which is modern day Spain - totally the opposite direction from Nineveh) is exactly what he would have been tempted to do. The original readers of the book would have seen the humour in this.
4.  The true "prophesy" of the book relates not to Jonah's immediate message to Nineveh, but to the more extension of God's grace beyond the Israelite community, which would come to full fruition after the coming of Christ. It's a premature "breaking out" of the New Testament era to come into a world which was still primarily "Old Testament".
5. Also the "whale" part of the story was a prefiguring of what would happen to Jesus - who himself identifies this as the "Sign of Jonah".

 

Edited July 13, 2017 by Jamie123

[mordorbund]

2 hours ago, Jamie123 said:

I wish we knew a bit more about Jonah. Outside the Book of Jonah itself, all we know about him is he prophesied that God would "...restore...the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath unto the sea of the Arabah" (2 Kings 14). Jesus mentions him of course, but only to use the "whale" episode as an analogy for what was about to happen to himself.

The question people always ask about the Book of Jonah is: "Is it real history or a parable/allegory?"

I'm inclined to think that:

1. Jonah probably was a real man (otherwise why would he be mentioned in 2 Kings?)
2. However, the story of the Book of Jonah is probably fiction. In case this offends anyone let me explain:
   1. Jonah has always been described as "one of the minor prophets". The Jews also classify it as such.
   2. All the other "minor prophet" books contain actual prophesy. If Jonah is "real history" then it sticks out like a sore thumb.
   3. If the story is fictional then it can be read as prophesy couched in the form of allegory. As such it fits in far better with the other books in the "minor prophets" category. 
3. The "real" Jonah probably had a reputation for xenophobia making him the last person anyone would expect God to preach to Assyrians. Getting straight on a ship to Tarshish (which is modern day Spain - totally the opposite direction from Nineveh) is exactly what he would have been tempted to do. The original readers of the book would have seen the humour in this.
4.  The true "prophesy" of the book relates not to Jonah's immediate message to Nineveh, but to the more extension of God's grace beyond the Israelite community, which would come to full fruition after the coming of Christ. It's a premature "breaking out" of the New Testament era to come into a world which was still primarily "Old Testament".
5. Also the "whale" part of the story was a prefiguring of what would happen to Jesus - who himself identifies this as the "Sign of Jonah".

 

Jonah as the J. Golden Kimball of the Old Testament....