BOB – Jonah

by Stephen Rodgers

JONAH IN 10 WORDS OR LESS

“Reluctant prophet, running from God, is swallowed by giant fish.”

TITLE

Like the majority of the other prophetic books, Jonah is named for the prophet who is central to the narrative.

Per the MSB:

Following the lead of the Hebrew Masoretic text (MT), the title of the book is derived from the principal character, Jonah (meaning “dove”), the son of Amittai (Jonah 1:1). Both the Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate ascribe the same name.

AUTHOR & AUDIENCE

Unlike many of the other prophetic books, nowhere does Jonah make a direct claim to authorship of the book that bears his name.  In fact, some have argued that since the book is written in the third-person, Jonah could not be the author.  However, this overlooks the fact that writing of oneself in the third-person was a common ANE practice (Ex. 11:3; 1 Sam. 12:11).

Given the auto-biographical information that is known by the author, it seems that Jonah himself is the most probable candidate for authorship.

The original audience of Jonah would have been the northern kingdom of Israel in the time of Jeroboam II.

DATE

Assuming that the book is intended as history (see INTERPRETIVE CHALLENGES), Jonah can actually be dated with some measure of precision.

Per the MSB:

According to 2 Kin. 14:25, Jonah came from Gath-hepher near Nazareth. The context places him during the long and prosperous reign of Jeroboam II (ca. 793–758 B.C.), making him a prophet to the northern tribes just prior to Amos during the first half of the eighth century B.C., ca. 760 B.C. The Pharisees were wrong when they said “no prophet has arisen out of Galilee” (John 7:52), because Jonah was a Galilean. 

Scholars who assume that the book is fictional often date it in the post-exilic period, up to and including the 3rd century BC. However it should be noted that there are very few (if any) textual reasons to support that late date (see OBJECTIONS).

BACKGROUND & SETTING

Per the MSB:

As a prophet to the 10 northern tribes of Israel, Jonah shares a background and setting with Amos. The nation enjoyed a time of relative peace and prosperity. Both Syria and Assyria were weak, allowing Jeroboam II to enlarge the northern borders of Israel to where they had been in the days of David and Solomon (2 Kin. 14:23–27). Spiritually, however, it was a time of poverty; religion was ritualistic and increasingly idolatrous, and justice had become perverted. Peacetime and wealth had made her bankrupt spiritually, morally, and ethically (cf. 2 Kin. 14:24; Amos 4:1ff.; 5:10–13). As a result, God was to punish her by bringing destruction and captivity from the Assyrians in 722 B.C. Nineveh’s repentance may have been aided by the two plagues (765 and 759 B.C.) and a solar eclipse (763 B.C.), preparing them for Jonah’s judgment message.

HISTORICAL & THEOLOGICAL THEMES

There are three major themes that run through Jonah:

  • God’s Sovereignty. Throughout the text, God is shown to be in control of life, nature, and all circumstances (Jonah 1:4, 9, 14, 17; 2:10; 4:6-8).
  • God’s Compassion and Mercy. God loves even the adversaries of His people and will show them mercy when they repent (Jonah 3:10, 4:2, 11). Throughout the text, Jonah’s provincial and ethno-centric attitude is shown to be in sharp contrast to the God who desires that all should repent (2 Peter 3:9).
  • Mission. Jonah foreshadows the NT mission to proclaim God and His message to the whole world (Jonah 1:1-2, 3:1-2), including those who oppose God (Jonah 4:11; Matt. 5:44). In so doing, it is declared that ultimately it is God who saves and who is the source of salvation (Jonah 2:9).

INTERPRETIVE CHALLENGES

The major question regarding Jonah is whether the story is meant to be understood as non-fiction (history) or as fiction (an allegory, midrash, or parable). While there are some elements of the story that could be perceived as exageratted or hyperbolic, it should be noted that Christ Himself regarded the story as literal (Matt. 12:38–41; 16:4; Luke 11:29–32).

While some commentators believe that his prefiguring actually implies that Jonah died and was resurrected (J. Vernon McGee being the most notable), most conservative scholars do not believe that the text requires that interpretation.

LITERARY FEATURES

Per the ESVSB:

The main category for the book is satire—the exposure of human vice or folly. The four elements of satire take the following form in the book of Jonah: (1) the object of attack is Jonah and what he represents—a bigotry and ethnocentrism that regarded God as the exclusive property of the believing community (in the OT, the nation of Israel); (2) the satiric vehicle is narrative or story; (3) the satiric norm or standard by which Jonah’s bad attitudes are judged is the character of God, who is portrayed as a God of universal mercy, whose mercy is not limited by national boundaries; (4) thesatiric tone is laughing, with Jonah emerging as a laughable figure—someone who runs away from God and is caught by a fish, and as a childish and pouting prophet who prefers death over life without his shade tree. 

OBJECTIONS

Skeptical commentators often note a number of alleged issues with Jonah:

  • A biological or factual question as to the “great fish” that swallowed Jonah. There are a couple points that need to be made here: 1) the exact creature that swallows Jonah is never made clear, so arguments as to the diameter of cetaceans tends to miss the point, and 2) the simple fact is that this is intended to be understood as miraculous (and not merely providential), and so attempts to explain the occurrence in purely naturalistic terms also miss the point.
  • A textual question as to Jonah’s song of deliverance in chapter 2. Some have argued that the timing of the song makes no sense since Jonah had not yet escaped the fish. However, this overlooks the fact that Jonah may well have been aware that he had escaped death by drowning.
  • A historical question as to the size/population of Nineveh. The stock objections here are that while Nineveh was certainly large, it would not have taken three days to traverse it (Jonah 3:3). Additionally, the objection that a city that contained 120,000 children (Jonah 4:11) is larger than any known metropolis in the ANE. The “three days” phrase is ambiguous at best, and could refer to the time required to traverse the boundaries of the city limits, the time required to visit all urban quarters, or the time required to conduct business. In regards to the population, many translators do not believe that the 120,000 refers to children, but to the Ninevites in general.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

  • Jonah 2:9
  • Jonah 4:11

DID YOU KNOW?

  • Jonah is a rare instance of a prophecy that did  not come true, precisely because the people heeded God’s warning and repented.
  • The word that literally means “big fish” or “huge fish” in the Bible (and is commonly translated “whale” today), was often translated or depicted as a “sea serpent” or “sea monster” in ancient times.
  • God seems to have a bit of a sense of humor when it comes to the repentence of Nineveh. In their eagerness to demonstrate their sincerity, the king ordered that every person wear sackcloth (a common image of remorse), and that the practice be extened to the livestock as well (Jonah 3:8). Later, when Jonah throws his hissy-fit over the fact that God spared the Ninevites, God specifically mentions the number of people…and cattle (Jonah 4:11).
  • According to Jewish tradition, Jonah was the son of the widow of Zerephath that Elijah raised from the dead (1 Kin. 17:8–24).

Other Works Referenced

  • Apologetics Study Bible, “Jonah”
  • Archaeological Study Bible, “Introduction to Jonah”
  • ESV Study Bible, “Introduction to Jonah”
  • MacArthur Study Bible, “Jonah”
  • NET Bible, Jonah
  • NIV Study Bible, Jonah
  • Reformation Study Bible, “Jonah”
  • The Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook, “Jonah”
  • Dever, The Message of the Old Testament
  • Driscoll, A Book You’ll Actually Read On the Old Testament
  • Knight, The Layman’s Bible Handbook