An unidentified author wrote Jonah sometime between 537 and 428 BC. Along with Ruth, the story of Jonah would put Gentiles in a positive light. Jonah is different from other prophetic books in that it is prophetic legend. It would be like the story of I Kings 13 and the man of God there, and like the story of Balaam in Numbers 22-24. It would also be like the Elijah and Elisha cycle.
It is very possible that 3:2 suggests that Nineveh is no longer in existence, making the text sometime after 612 BC. the similarities of the language in 3:5-9 with Jeremiah 26:3 and its context suggest a date after that story, which took place in September 609 to April 608.
Jeremiah 26:3 Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from their evil ways. Then I will relent and not inflict on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done.
The focus of the story is the prophet Jonah as he represents the spiritual condition of post-exilic Israel. The message of Jonah radiates a message of inclusion of foreigners at a time when voices like Ezra and Nehemiah were calling for their ouster. It makes a mockery of those in Israel who thought that the interest of YHWH was only in Israel. The real focus of the story is on the prophet himself. The author of Jonah uses the tale of the spoiled and selfish prophet to speak to a hardened and smug post-exilic Israel. Like Jonah, the Hebrews in exile were increasingly hostile toward all their Gentile neighbors, while nursing a growing self-righteousness about their own status as the chosen people of the Lord. By the time of the writing of Jonah, Nineveh is gone. Yet, it seems to ask longingly, "What if it had received the message?" It even invites us to ponder what would happen if the entire world knew the mercy of YHWH and converted to worship YHWH? Would that not be a good thing? Most of the people in the Restoration period after the exile seemed to be saying just the opposite. They were striving for an unrealistic and theologically indefensible ideal of religious "purity." Haggai, Zechariah 1-8, Ezra, and Nehemiah hint in this direction. Jonah, then, by lampooning the incredible narrowness of that view through humor, has forever given us a priceless lesson on the mercy and compassion of God for the entire creation. If God has such compassion, asks the book of Jonah, should not we?
Jonah must be the funniest book in the Hebrew Bible. One of the things that makes Jonah such a hilarious book is the fact that it is not actually a book of classical Israelite prophecy, but a lampoon of classical prophecy employing the farcical caricature of a classical prophet in the character of Jonah son of Amittai. Anyone who doubts that the author intends the story of Jonah to be funny should refer to 3:7-8 where the repentant king of Assyria commands that even the animals in the kingdom fast and wear sackcloth along with the humans as a sign of repentance. The visual image of cows and sheep and goats wearing sackcloth is quite ridiculous.
The humor in the book of Jonah, however, exists alongside definite historical realities. There actually was a Jonah son of Amittai who served as Israel's prophet in the days of Jeroboam II of the Northern Kingdom (II Kings 14:25). In addition, in those days the great enemy of Israel was the Assyrian Empire headquartered in Nineveh.
Whom was God trying to convert in this story? The words proclaimed by Jonah were not very poetic or powerful (Jonah was no Isaiah). God takes Jonah's words and gives them power to convert. However, after their conversion, Jonah is angry with God. Why? Because the prophecy was effective. If God could use Jonah to say a few words and have the whole city convert, God could have used anybody. Therefore, the people God was trying to convert might not the Ninivites, but Jonah. God might be trying to convert the prophet himself. Of course, the author could also use Jonah as a symbol for the people of Israel. Post-exilic Judaism needed a conversion. Nevertheless, how many times in our lives has God used us as ministers/prophets not for the benefit or conversion of others, but more for the benefit or conversion of ourselves.
Everyone (storm, fish, plant, worm, even Ninevites) obey God, except the prophet of God. The rest of the prophets were fabulous failures--no one much paid attention to their words except a few scribes who preserved them for the canon--but Jonah is the most successful prophet in the scriptures. Moreover, nothing irritates him more than his own success. The Ninevites repent. The king even has the animals dressed out in sackcloth! Little puppy dogs in sackcloth chasing little kitty cats in sackcloth chasing mice in sackcloth! Nineveh repents, and it is the last thing Jonah wanted. The story is hilarious, written by some precursor to Neil Simon or Woody Allen.
First, note that God never takes Jonah into his confidence. Jonah must guess from events how to interpret the motives and purpose of God. Second, Jonah does want to allow heaven to dictate moves on earth in disregard to his dignity. Third, wherever Jonah goes, he brings bedlam and calamity. Fourth, Jonah remains aloof from other human beings. Fifth, Jonah keeps his distance from God. There is not an easy relationship or an intimate rapport that one might suspect with other prophets. Sixth, Jonah and God have a conflict of wills. Seventh, whether he resists or obeys the will of God, he finds no satisfaction.
We also need to note what the story says about God. God shows readiness to toy with human beings in toying with Jonah. God also shows concern for those in terrible straits. The doctrine in the 700's BC that human repentance brings divine repentance is one Jonah does not accept. Jonah believes evil must receive divine punishment. We see a focus upon the character of God. An impatient God would be a petty, human, weak, and false god. Only a patient God is great, divine, strong, and true. He sees this truth emerging with clarity in this book. He invites us to notice the relation between the two parts of the book. Chapters 1-2 we have the disobedience of Jonah to his prophetic mission, the punishment of the disobedience, and the gracious and miraculous deliverance from the belly of the fish as he pleads for it and celebrates it in advance. There then follows in Chapters 3-4 the apparent obedience of the prophet. However, the same man who was the object of the patience of God is slow to understand it. He shows crass ignorance in consideration of the message read to him. If the Ninevites repent, God will repent. He acknowledges that God is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness. He justifies running away from God because this is true. The prophet shows impatience by asking God to take his life. The patient God has the final word. We do not know if Jonah learned his lesson. However, we as readers have a lesson to learn of who God is. The truth of the patience of God with Nineveh and with Jonah for their salvation is the ultimate message of this scripture.[1]
The issue is how merciful God can be. That is the scandal to Jonah. By the end of the book, we discover the real reason for the disobedience of Jonah. He had foreseen that God would ensure the triumph of grace, and so he casts back the gracious words with which Israel had from of ancient time made its confession in worship. In fact, the whole issue of the possibility of God destroying Nineveh may have been for show. Even at the end of the book, the people do not know their right hand from their left. They revert to their old ways. However, God was determined to forgive the people their wickedness anyway. Why? Because God has the right to show mercy upon humanity. God has a right to feel sorry for them. That was the scandal that Jonah found so hard to accept. God receives glory, not through the prophet, but despite the prophet. Jonah is in fact shocked into silence at the mercy of God. In fact, God reproaches Jonah for showing concern for a plant, while not allowing God to show compassion upon Nineveh.
The purpose of the book appears to be contrasting narrow religious nationalism with the theological doctrine of God's universal love for all humanity.
Throughout the book, virtually everyone has more faith in Yahweh than Jonah does!
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 reveals the heart of the message of the book of the Jonah. He received an impossible mission. God is sending Jonah to the capital of Assyria, a powerful enemy of Israel, and God wants him to preach against it. Who among us would volunteer today to fly to Damascus, or Riyadh, to walk the streets and call Muslim extremists to repent of their sins? I did not think so. Therefore, Jonah bolts in the opposite direction, taking off for Tarshis to escape the presence of the Lord. He hops on a boat, encounters a storm that throws him overboard, and the famous fish swallows him. Finally, the fish vomits him out on dry land.
The message of Jonah has several facets that I will discuss considering this passage. I begin with the notion of hearing the word of God and obeying it. Obedience will lead to life rather than death. Regardless of what career path we are pursuing, obedience to God can open new possibilities for renewal and regeneration. New life comes from obeying God, even when God leads us to a difficult mission. Keep in mind that the primary problem of Jonah was one of willful disobedience. When he originally turned and headed for Tarshis, he was disobeying a direct command of God.
Father Mapple, the preacher in another great fish story, Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick, points out that God often speaks to us in commands, because he knows that what he wants of us is difficult. “If we obey God, we must disobey ourselves,” Mapple says; “and it is in this disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists.” Jonah disobeyed God, and this led to the near-death experience of sailors throwing him into the sea and a large fish swallowing him. However, when he repented and then obeyed God, he discovered life for himself, and for the people of Nineveh. Renewal and regeneration came when he did the hard work of being obedient to the Lord. Yet, I hope we can agree that the problem with obedience is that it is a tough sell.
The temptation of Jonah to flee was also a temptation for the people in exile who read the scroll of Jonah. It was tempting for people in exile to escape from the surrounding culture, to condemn and complain about it and huddle with their own people. They were the righteous people of God obeying the Torah, in contrast to other nations.
We face a similar temptation today. Our temptation is to retreat into our little conclaves with our Christian sub-culture, music, schools, and ways of life. We need to be open, instead, to surprising dimensions we might learn about God, the culture, and yes, the resistance we have within us to hear and obey the command of God.
I like to think of the book of Jonah as a series of acts and scenes in a play. We are jumping into the middle of the play. I would urge reading the opening in Chapters 1 and 2.
Jonah 3:1-3a Act Three scene One, shows Jonah arriving in Nineveh. In contrast to the response of Jonah in 1:3, going the opposite direction that God intended, we learn that 1the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time. We see another major theme of the book as it emphasizes the patience and mercy of the Lord toward the prophet. The prophet tried to flee the presence of the Lord, providing an example of the impossibility of doing such, as Psalm 139:7ff reminds us. We should note that in this little story, storm, fish, plant, worm, and Ninevites all obey God, while the prophet does not. We can identify with him to some extent. The Lord does not confide in the prophet. He must guess from events the motive and purpose of God. The Lord tells Jonah 2”Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, (a hint that the city is a distant memory for the readers) and, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you.” The author presents us with this recalcitrant individual becoming the most wildly successful prophet in Israelite history. This is because Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire - the largest empire ever to rule the Middle East in ancient times. At its largest extent it stretched from Iran to Egypt and as far north as the Caucasus Mountains. In short, Nineveh and its king were the most powerful political and military force in the known world of the time. We need to be sure to catch the barbed humor in saying the word of the Lord came a second time. The prophet had tried futilely to flee from the presence of the Lord (see Psalm 139:7 ff.) when God told him to go to Nineveh the first time (1:3).
3aSo Jonah does what a prophet ought to do, and set out to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Even here, we do not get a sense that Jonah has an intimate relationship with either other people or even with the Lord. He does not seem to have an easy relationship or an intimate rapport of which we read in other prophets. In fact, we see a conflict of wills between God and the prophet. He will find no satisfaction, whether he disobeys or obeys. We also see another major theme of Jonah. The prophet, representative of a certain strand of thinking in the Old Testament, needs to learn of the concern God has that the people of God pray in one accord for the healing of the nations, as the hymn of the church puts it. The book contrasts narrow religious nationalism, represented well in Haggai, Zechariah 1-8, Ezra, and Nehemiah, with the view of the universal love of God for all humanity.
Jonah 3:3b-4 Act Three Scene Two, discusses the preaching of Jonah. 3bNow Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days’ walk across. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk, indicating that only about one-third of the city heard his preaching. He utters the shortest prophetic oracle in the Old Testament, And he cried out, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” It contains five Hebrew words: Forty days – Nineveh will perish! It does not call for repentance. It offers no qualification. The number of days is consistent with special retreat and fasting. The overthrow/destroy Hebrew word is the same word used to described the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24-25 and Deuteronomy 29:23).From what Jonah said, if we were to take it literally, it would be hard to imagine anyone changing, let alone a whole city! Yet, the power belongs to God and not with us. On his own, Jonah would not have moved a soul. Nevertheless, with God, all things are possible. Yet, we miss the point if we do not see the humor even in this. Could such a brief message bring such a large response? This response would not come in the real world, but in the world of legend, it could happen to get across a point. If God could use Jonah to say a few words and have the while city convert, God could have used anybody. Jonah wants this cruel foreign city to get what it has coming with no warning or mercy. The writer makes his point through farce, humor, satire, and playfulness, intending to reveal the readers to themselves. The writer believes God is God of all the world, and not just Israel. God cares about other nations as much as God cares for Israel. Israel has received mercy. Jonah has received mercy. They ought to want other nations to receive mercy! In fact, this conversion may be the true conversion the author seeks. The point is not so much the conversion of the Ninevites, a symbol of the concern God has for the nations, but rather, the conversion of the Jewish people to a concern for the nations.
Jonah 3:5, 10, part of Act Three Scene Three, which includes verses 6-9. We begin this scene with the surprising success of the preaching of Jonah. In fact, his preaching has a fantasy aura to it, a farce, and a humorous trick on Jonah, to have such success after such few words. 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. At its best, only one-third of the city could have heard his preaching. Never in the history of prophets has one been so successful. Ninevites showed their belief because they proclaimed a fast. Not only that, everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. The people react to the gloomy message of the reluctant prophet. Yet, the true lampoon begins here. The theological heart of the book rests on this reaction of Jonah that Chapter 4 will reveal. The exemplary conversion of the Ninevites has its dramatic and humorous contrast in the incredulity and misery of the prophet of God we find in Chapter 4. The people of the city, these sinful Gentiles who exist outside the special covenant with the Lord that the Hebrews proudly claim, respond with an urgency, authenticity and unanimity that is remarkable. The Ninevites, while appearing entrenched in their corrupt ways, were parched yet fertile soil for the redeeming word of God. It took only the feeble, watery preaching of a reluctant prophet such as Jonah to cause this spiritually slumbering city to burst into the full flower of repentance. To emphasize again, the prophet represents a narrow form of Judaism at which the writer is poking fun. I invite the reader to re-read Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah 1-8 considering this story. They called for the ouster of foreigners. They seem to present the Lord as interested only in Israel. The writer of this little book is making his point, not through serious logic but through humor and playfulness. Jonah lampoons the incredible narrowness of his fellow Israelites through humor. What would happen if a prophet brought the message of the Lord to a city as wicked as Nineveh. Would it not be wonderful if it repented? Would it not be wonderful to see the mercy, compassion, and forgiveness of Yahweh? With humor, of course, the prophet will respond in Chapter 4 with misery at the repentance of Gentiles. The writer is asking readers to consider what their response would be if such an event occurred among the nations. What would happen if Gentiles believed in the Lord and repented? How would you, my Israelite friends, respond to that? The author, through humor, has suggested that they might be as miserable as Jonah will be in Chapter 4. The prediction of this book came true as the first century church called Gentiles to have faith in the God of Israel through Jesus Christ.
In Jonah 3:10, we learn something important about God in all of this. 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, with the result that God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it. Jonah's worst fear comes true. Moved by their genuine spirit of repentance and prayers for forgiveness, Israel's own God spares the pagan Ninevites rather than destroying them. The story shows that powers of divine compassion and transformation know no national boundaries. The God of the Hebrews proves all creation to be under the same watchful, judging, yet loving eye.
This turn away from evil by the Lord, this repentance, exemplifies a surprisingly frequent concept in the OT, that of the Lord’s relenting (having a change of mind) from punishing the evil or wickedness of the people with corresponding “evil” (the same word ra’ah in Hebrew, often translated calamity, disaster, destruction or punishment). Due to the prayer of Moses for their sin of making the golden calf, the Lord relented of the disaster the Lord had threatened (Exodus 32:14). After David made the Lord angry for enrolling the fighting men, the Lord sent a plague, but the Lord relented of bringing the plague to Jerusalem (II Samuel 24:16 and I Chronicles 21:15). The Lord may announce the uprooting, tearing down, and destruction of a nation, but if the nation repents, then the Lord will relent and not inflict the disaster the Lord planned. However, if the Lord plans to build up a nation and it does evil, then the Lord will reconsider the good the Lord intended to do (Jeremiah 18:8-10). In this regard, Jeremiah 26:3 is of particular interest, in that the Lord tells Jeremiah that perhaps the city of Jerusalem will listen, each person turn from their evil ways, and then the Lord will relent, not inflicting on them the disaster the Lord was planning because of the evil they have done. This message took place September 609-April 608 BC. Further, if they reform their ways, the Lord will relent (Jeremiah 26:13). Hezekiah sought the Lord and therefore the Lord relented of the disaster the Lord had planned (Jeremiah 26:19). If the people turn to the Lord, the Lord may relent of the planned destruction and leave a blessing (Joel 2:11-14). This notion, that human repentance brings divine repentance, is one the prophet does not accept. He believes evil must receive divine punishment. It may offend our sensibilities to think that God would bring “evil” upon evildoers, but that is what the biblical texts say, even though interpreters generally understand such divine “evil” does not refer to be moral evil. Should it not matter to God what a people (or individual persons) do against God or against other peoples/persons? Should the Lord God just give a jovial “timeout” instead of something stronger? Nevertheless, God did respond favorably to genuine repentance (turning away from sinful behavior and toward God) by relenting/”changing the mind.” (The LXX translates the Hebrew verb naham as metanoew; this same word in NT Greek frequently receives the translation in English as “to repent,” “to feel remorse,” or “to change one’s mind,” depending on the context.) Jesus uses the message of Jonah to call upon his contemporaries (and us) to repent, just as the Ninevites did (see Luke 11:29-32 and Matthew 12:41). The king was right. God is free to respond graciously, thus avoiding the terrible judgment that Jonah announced. Such freedom and responsiveness create important possibilities for those who collaborate with God. As the Lord was patient and merciful to the prophet, the Lord is patient and merciful to Nineveh. The prophet will be slow to see these qualities.[2]
No comments:
Post a Comment