The Bible Undressed

            Jonah might be the most satirical book in the Bible.  Jonah is said to be a prophet in Israel around the time of King Jeroboam of Israel, according to 2^nd Kings 14:25.  However, the book of Jonah is a story about Jonah; it does not claim to be written by Jonah.  The story makes Jonah looks so bad that one might wonder if this is a story written to make fun of Jonah and the other prophets of Israel.  There was animosity between the prophets of Israel and Judah (see posts 21 thru 23).  Those in Judah considered those in Israel/Samaria to be apostate.  Perhaps this story was composed in Judah to make fun of the prophets of Israel.  It is looks like a parody of the prophets of Israel.

            As the story opens the Lord tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, the wicked capital city of the pagan nation Assyria, and preach against them.  Instead Jonah boards a ship going in the opposite direction.  God sends a great storm against the ship, and while the other people on board are praying to their gods Jonah is asleep (i.e., not praying).  The people cast lots to determine who brought this storm upon them and of course the lot falls to Jonah.  He explains that he is a Hebrew who worships Yahweh and he is fleeing from His presence.  Jonah suggests that they throw him overboard to appease God (he still doesn’t bother to pray to God).  The men do not want to do this and they try in vain to row out of the storm.  Ultimately they see that they must throw Jonah into the sea to save the ship, but in doing so they pray for forgiveness from Yahweh.  That is, even the pagans prayed to Yahweh; Jonah did not! 

Jonah and the Whale, Pieter Lastman, 1621

            So, into the sea goes Jonah and he is swallowed by a “great fish.”  People argue about whether this was a shark or a whale or some other large sea creature, but that all seems irrelevant to the story.  Jonah spends three days and nights in the stomach of the fish.  People envision Jonah being alive during this time, like Geppetto inside of Monstro in the movie Pinocchio.  After all, he is now, finally, praying, so he must be alive, right? Jonah’s prayer in chapter 2 sounds more like he was dead: he sank to the bottom of the sea (2:5, 6), was is in “the depth of Sheol (death)” (2:2), and “water encompassed me to the point of death” (2:5).  So, it may be that Jonah was in the vague netherworld of death, kind of like what Homer describes in the Odyssey.  But the main point is he prays and repents.  God then has the fish vomit him out onto land and he is again alive.  The idea that Jonah died and was then brought back to life in the story seems to be supported by the Gospel writers who have Jesus saying that the only sign that would be given to the unbelievers of His day would be the “sign of Jonah.”  Matthew has Jesus say that just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the fish so the son of man would be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth (Matthew 12:39-41).  The illustration seems to be that just as Jonah was dead inside the great fish before being restored to life so Jesus would be dead and buried in the earth before being restored to life. The analogy doesn’t make as much sense if Jonah was alive while he was inside the fish.

            Having gotten Jonah’s attention, God again sends Jonah to Nineveh.  He takes three days to walk through the big city, crying out, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown!”  However, the people repent, from the king all the way down to the animals!  Their actions are so convincing that God Himself then “repents” concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them (3:10. See post #55 for more examples of God ‘repenting.’).  Note that some modern translations translate this as ‘relent’ or ‘had compassion’ rather than ‘repent,’ apparently not wanting to concede that God might ‘repent.’  This also raises a serious question: when the forty days passed and nothing happened, how were the people to know it was because of their repentance rather than Jonah being a false prophet? After all, Deuteronomy 18:21, 22 says “…if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has NOT spoken…” So, maybe they were just silly to listen to this raving man. How would they know?

            Even Jonah recognizes the problem and he gets angry that what he prophesied did not come to pass (4:1).  Jonah complains to God that he knew all along that God was too compassionate and gracious to pull this off, and that is why he tried to flee from his mission in the first place.  So, “take my life from me, for death is better to me than life” (4:3).  Jonah was a bit histrionic, it seems.  Then he sets up a shelter outside the city where he could wait and see what would happen.  Perhaps he was still waiting for some good old-fashioned smiting from God.  God causes a plant to grow up and provide him shade, but then He “appoints” a worm to attack the plant and cause it to wither.  Exposed to the sun again, Jonah once again “begged with all his soul to die” (4:8).  I told you he was a bit histrionic.  God then explains that if Jonah was so concerned about a mere plant, shouldn’t He be concerned about Nineveh, which had 120,000 children “as well as many animals?” (4:11).  Gee, Jonah, if you don’t care about the children don’t you at least care about the animals?!

            So, is this all a joke at the expense of the prophets of Israel? What does this story say about this prophet of Israel?

> He runs away from Yahweh,
> He endanger others with his actions,
> He doesn’t bother to pray even while the pagans do,> He has to be threatened with death in order to do his job,
> He doesn’t understand or appreciate the heart of Yahweh,
> He lacks compassion for people,
> He would rather die than live with the results of God’s compassion.
> He is less likely to repent than even the wicked pagans!

That is why I say that this seems more like a parody than a simple telling of a story.  Jonah, a supposed prophet of Israel, looks just plain awful in this story.

            And is there a lesson for today as well? We see many people preaching today, acting as God’s prophets, quite often on sexual matters, like LGBTQ. Some even advocate for the imprisonment or execution of gay people. Like Jonah, do they preach but don’t really want people saved? Do they enjoy talking about the condemnation of ‘sinners’ and even look forward to it? Like Jonah, would they be disappointed to see such people saved? Like Jonah, would they rather die than live in a world filled with God’s compassion?

            Don’t be like Jonah!