Jonah

1/11/08

Summary:
Jonah is the story of a very stubborn man called to prophesy the fall of the nation of Assyria (spec. in their capitol, Nineveh). He refuses. Instead, he sails west; God sends a storm and he hides in the deepest part of the ship and goes to sleep. When the other sailors panic and ask him why he's not praying for their survival, he sacrifices himself by jumping overboard.

Jonah is swallowed by a big fish and lives in its stomach for three days until he finally agrees to do what God told him to do. The fish vomits him out and he delivers Gods message to Nineveh. The people of Nineveh have a surprising reaction, they repent. And Jonah sulks....the end.

This is one of those books thought to be a parody or satire. Jews, however highly treasure this particular book and it is read as the conclusion (haftorah) on Yom Kippur every year. (Yom kippur is last day of the ten days of repentance or atonement known as Rosh Hashanah)

Why on earth would this story be read for Yom Kippur?

It is an odd choice considering Jonah is thought to be a satire. It contains some ridiculous aspects like:

• The non-Hebrew sailors who understand immediately that the storm is from God because Jonah is running away.
• The Assyrian king who immediately repents - Assyria and Israel hated each other - in fact Assyria was responsible for wiping out northern Israel [1] (would be kind of like the Taliban accepting America because George Bush asked him to).
• Also the king's commands for everyone to repent - people and animals will fast and wear sackcloth (Jonah 3:6) its kind of weird to think of cows and sheep wearing sackcloth and fasting.

Also its an odd choice because Jonah is not a hero (he's the very opposite of that, in fact). God tells him to go east and he goes west (As far west as a man in that day could). God sends a storm and he goes deep in the ship and goes to a deep sleep (early Greek text suggests "snoring"). He never seems to surrender - finally he accepts the task and does little as possible - He only utters five words (the least amount of "prophetic" words by any prophet in the Toreh) "Od arbaim yom vnineveh nepachem!" (Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown!). Then he sulks when his prophecy doesn't come true - the book ends with a question from God to Jonah; and without knowing his response, we aren't really sure if Jonah learned a lesson.


Provides valuable lessons about God and Jesus:

1. It's a great illustration of the stubbornness of man and persistence of God. (you can't run from God...seriously)
2. Also, God spared Nineveh even though He'd already declared they'd be destroyed (Jonah 3:1-4) Illustration of God's mercy
3. Its also interesting what implications are there about evangelism - "One lesson Jonah is said to teach us is that sometimes gentiles are noble and fear God while Jews ignore Him, and let that be a reproach to us! Incidentally, this interpretation found many enthusiasts among the Christians, who even today read the Book of Jonah as a parable of universalism, as a foreshadowing of how receptive gentiles would be to Christ's message, while the Jews would remain stubbornly hostile. " [2]
4. Finally, this serves as yet another another prophecy of Christ coming: (Matthew 12:40-41) "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here."

Additional items for discussion:

• Nineveh was a little crazy anyway - big on disfigurement, human mutilation and cannibalism (Maybe Jonah was more frightened of them rather than just hating them?)
• Timeline varies - some think the plant incident happened before Jonah went to Nineveh

Sources:
[1] http://viatherabbi.blogspot.com/2007/08/why-read-book-of-jonah-on-yom-kippur.html
[2] http://viatherabbi.blogspot.com/2007/08/why-read-book-of-jonah-on-yom-kippur.html
[3] http://www.joyfulministry.com/jonah.htm
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%201;&version=31;