The sailors pray to their gods, but Jonah is asleep in the hold — 6. Ex — 7. Jonah is concerned about the loss of the gourd but not about the possible destruction of , Ninevites — Unlike other prophetic books, this is not a collection of oracles but the story of a disobedient, narrow-minded prophet who is angry at the outcome of the sole message he delivers It is difficult to date but almost certainly is postexilic and may reflect the somewhat narrow, nationalistic reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah.
As to genre, it has been classified in various ways, such as parable or satire. Experience the richness of your faith What will you discover? This is why I was so quick to flee toward Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion—One who relents from sending disaster. It sprang up in a night and perished in a night. Jonah 1. Footnotes: 13 a Hebrew the men dug in. Jonah 2. Jonah 3. Jonah 4.
The Berean Bible www. Used by Permission. All rights Reserved. Many have questioned whether the book of Jonah is historical. The supposed legendary character of some of the events e. Although their specific suggestions range from fictional short story to allegory to parable, they share the common assumption that the account sprang essentially from the author's imagination, despite its serious and gracious message. Such interpretations, often based in part on doubt about the miraculous as such, too quickly dismiss 1 the similarities between the narrative of Jonah and other parts of the OT and 2 the pervasive concern of the OT writers, especially the prophets, for history.
They also fail to realize that OT narrators had a keen ear for recognizing how certain past events in Israel's pilgrimage with God illumine by way of analogy later events. For example, the events surrounding the birth of Moses illumine the exodus, those surrounding Samuel's birth illumine the series of events narrated in the books of Samuel, and the ministries of Moses and Joshua illumine those of Elijah and Elisha. Similarly, the prophets recognized that the future events they announced could be illumined by reference to analogous events of the past.
Overlooking these features in OT narrative and prophecy, many have supposed that a story that too neatly fits the author's purpose must therefore be fictional. On the other hand, it must be acknowledged that Biblical narrators were more than historians. They interpretatively recounted the past with the unswerving purpose of bringing it to bear on the present and the future. In the portrayal of past events, they used their materials to achieve this purpose effectively.
Nonetheless, the integrity with which they treated the past ought not to be questioned. The book of Jonah recounts real events in the life and ministry of the prophet himself. Unlike most other prophetic parts of the OT, this book is a narrative account of a single prophetic mission. Its treatment of that mission is thus similar to the accounts of the ministries of Elijah and Elisha found in 1,2 Kings, and to certain narrative sections of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel.
As is often the case in Biblical narratives, the author has compressed much into a small space; 40 verses tell the entire story eight additional verses of poetry are devoted to Jonah's prayer of thanksgiving. In its scope a single extended episode , compactness, vividness and character delineation, it is much like the book of Ruth. Also as in Ruth, the author uses structural symmetry effectively.
The story is developed in two parallel cycles that call attention to a series of comparisons and contrasts see Outline. The story's climax is Jonah's grand prayer of confession, "Salvation comes from the Lord" -- the middle confession of three from his lips ; ; The last sentence emphasizes that the Lord's word is final and decisive, while Jonah is left sitting in the hot, open country outside Nineveh. The author uses the art of representative roles in a straightforward manner.
In this story of God's loving concern for all people, Nineveh, the great menace to Israel, is representative of the Gentiles. Correspondingly, stubbornly reluctant Jonah represents Israel's jealousy of her favored relationship with God and her unwillingness to share the Lord's compassion with the nations.
The book depicts the larger scope of God's purpose for Israel: that she might rediscover the truth of his concern for the whole creation and that she might better understand her own role in carrying out that concern. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
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