Jonah

“Have You Reason To Be Angry?”

            In the book of Jonah, the titular hero in a third person narrative boards a ship and subsequently embarks on an anti-quest, intending to flee the presence of the Lord.  His ridiculous and ironic behavior immediately draws the reader into an uncomfortable, personal identification with the man of God who has suddenly developed an intense, but unexplained anxiety.  Through the narrative, in which God is able to eventually use Jonah, in spite of himself, to reach the great and wicked city of Nineveh, a powerful and timeless message is conveyed:  The compassion of God is greater than that of his people, who are flawed, and the extent of his mercy is not bounded by the prejudicial limits of his messengers.

            The genre of the book is satire.  Satire exposes foolish human behavior through ridicule or rebuke.  By rebelling against the word of God for no good reason, Jonah exposes himself as foolish.  Jonah’s lack of compassion and mercy for the Assyrians qualifies as the first element of satire, the object of attack.  The second element of satire, in fact the most common form, is the narrative.  The book of Jonah continues in third person throughout.  The third element of satire is tone.  In the book of Jonah, the satirist’s attitude toward his subject is emphasized more than the other three elements of satire.  If it is not foolish enough to try and run from God, his lack of apparent repentance is contrasted with the sailors’ repentant devotion through their nondescript prayers, sacrifices, and vows.  Furthermore, the immense magnitude of God’s grace is not enough to move Jonah’s heart; incredibly, he is displeased.  The fourth element of satire is satiric norm.  The standard of virtue by which Jonah is judged is God himself.  He is portrayed, not only as merciful, but patient with entire people groups as well as with the reluctant individual, Jonah himself.

            The four-chapter book of Jonah has a plot divided into four distinct scenes, not exactly coinciding with the beginning and ending of each chapter.  These scenes have so few visual descriptions associated with them, the cities of Joppa and Tarshish are merely names, and even the object of God’s intended wrath, that is, the city of Nineveh, is described only as “great” and “enormously large.”  In the first part, Jonah tries to take a journey to Tarshish instead of Nineveh, but encounters a storm strong enough to terrify experienced sailors.  Instead of requesting a return to his point of disconnect with God, Jonah instructs the sailors to discard him into the sea.  They comply with his instructions and throw him overboard, and he is swallowed by a large fish.  The belly of the fish is the second part, but no words are spent on a description outside of a mysterious prayer uttered by Jonah.  When the fish spews Jonah upon the shore, the narrative does not indicate where he is, or what the surroundings look like.  The third part of the narrative is in the city of Nineveh itself, since it is completely unclear where Jonah is when God calls him a second time.  The only descriptive phrase is that “it took three days to go through it.”  People in the city are not given names, not even the king.  No dialogue is recorded.  The last part of the narrative takes place somewhere outside the city, but close enough to see it.  The story ends with the open-ended discussion between Jonah and God.  If more description were added, it would only serve to distract the reader from the simple depiction of God’s determination to patiently offer mercy, both to a city-state and to an individual, over the hypocritical reservations of the messenger himself.

            In the book of Jonah, the elements of setting are often implied.  Actual cities are mentioned by name, such as Joppa and Tarshish, but local color is not included in the narrative.  The reader may readily picture Joppa as a coastal city with ships and sailors.  The ship itself is not described beyond the fact that it had a cargo, but the particular crew nationality or shipboard routine do not have bearing on the narrative, only that they are apparently non-Jews, as Jonah must identify himself as a Hebrew.  The essential kernel present is that God wants to use Jonah to show mercy to a people Jonah intends to avoid.  Arrival in Nineveh is described in terms of the size of the city alone, but only the most rural nomads would fail to generate a mental image of a city with 120,000 inhabitants, ruled by a king.  Finally, in the last part of the narrative, weather is described, but only as a simple illustrative tool.  The sun rose, and the east wind blew.  Jonah became faint in the heat, and as a result, considered the plant, which is not identified in the slightest.  Again, the setting is defined more by the lack of visual imagery than the inclusion of it.  Regarding culture and politics of the day, markers are not given to place the story.  In fact, if the name Nineveh had not been a well known name, the story might well be regarded as legendary.

            Although the narrative has sailors and a king, they are nameless and unremarkable.  The characters of substance, therefore, are Jonah and God.  Jonah is the hero, especially as he embodies the characteristics of the Jews for whom the story was recorded.  He starts out as a rebellious anti-hero, however, and so starts his journey representing avoidance rather than honor.  The trend is toward the comedic, although no specific positive beginning is indicated for Jonah, and the positive outcome is an implied “yes” to the will of God.  God initiates the action by calling Jonah to a mission in Nineveh, but the entire remainder of the narrative depends upon Jonah.  When he flees, God sends a storm.  When the sailors ask what they should do, Jonah tells them to cast him overboard.  When Jonah prays to God from the belly of the fish, God causes the fish to spew him out.  The people of Nineveh abase themselves after Jonah proclaims their doom.  Finally, God first sends a plant, and then kills it, allowing scorching heat, for the purpose of completing Jonah’s education, tailored to his obstinacy.  Jonah’s quest is to bring God’s message to Nineveh.  He starts out avoiding the quest, but fulfills it in the end.  The only real conflict is in his attitude.  Jonah’s specific problem, be it personal or nationalistic, is not identified.  Nor does God address Jonah’s complaint, whatever it amounts to.  God simply proclaims the rationality of being concerned with the great city.  The implication is plain:  In the God-man relationship, Jonah is the man; he is not the God.  As long as Jonah persisted in his complaint, he found God was his opponent.

            The narrative of the book of Jonah is a work of art, in that the mental and moral construction is not reliant upon the specific culture of the period, but it is complete in itself.  Within the artful design, lies a further emphasis on the gentle nature of God in that the conclusion itself is not forced or even preached, but left for the reader (or listener) to fill it in for himself.  The picture of God’s immense compassion and mercy draw the reader to spontaneously voice the “yes” to God’s invitation.  Year after year, the Jewish community finds the story relevant to their teaching on grace and forgiveness as the book of Jonah is read in the liturgical schedule for Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.  Finally, though the narrative is an ancient Hebrew account of events not necessarily relevant to modern states and nations, the dramatic encounter between God, a distinctly compassionate being, and man, a consistently ambivalent creature, steps out of place in history to provide a valuable encouragement for any who is willing to contemplate it.

            The book of Jonah, in spite of its brevity, illuminates the character and nature of God sufficient to change a person’s fundamental outlook.  It is all too easy to view the laws and principles of God through a man’s perspective of control and domination.  In the book of Jonah, however, God is portrayed as relentless in his determination to extend compassion and mercy, so far as to audaciously include those people who clearly deserve punishment.  Not content to express his greatness by sparing the masses, he reveals himself as one who also has enough presence to care directly and personally for the individual, even one who shirks his responsibility and runs the other way.  God does not compromise his righteous nature.  He does not cancel judgment before recognizing repentance.  Thankfully, neither is he one who dogmatically insists on destruction for those who waver from perfection.  He does not explain why mercy is righteous; he simply states that it is, as if it should already be obvious to all.

Gottcent, John H. “The Bible:  A Literary Study.”  Boston:  Twayne, 1986.  PDF file.

Magonet, Jonathan.  “Jonah, Book of.”  Anchor Bible Dictionary.  Six Volumes.  Ed. David N. Friedman.  New York:  Doubleday, 1992.  PDF file.

Ryken, Leland.  “Hero/Heroine.”  Dictionary of Biblical Imagery.  CD-ROM.  Ed. James C. Wilhoit, Tremper Longman III.  Downer’s Grove:  IVP Academic, 1998

Ibid.  “Jonah, Book of.”  Dictionary of Biblical Imagery.  Ed. James C. Wilhoit, Tremper Longman III.  Downer’s Grove:  IVP Academic, 1998.

Ibid.  Words of Delight:  A Literary Introduction to the Bible.  2^nd ed.  Grand Rapids:  Baker, 1992.  PDF file.

Walton, John H. “Jonah.” Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament.  Ed. Kevin J. Vanhoozer.  Grand Rapids:  Baker Academic, 2008.  PDF file.