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The Book of Jonah (see Online Text) is a Second Temple Jewish document, now included in collections of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament (Septuagint and Vulgate).

Overview

The Book of Jonah functions as the logical counterpart to the Book of Job. While Job shows that the righteous' suffering may not be necessarily a consequence of sin, Jonah explores the other (and no less disturbing) side of the coin: "are God compassionate actions just?". Job proved that God does not follow the rules of the covenant in dispensing evil; does God do it in dispensing good?

The prophet preaches God's justice but is afraid of subjecting its validity to the test of experience. When he is asked to preach to the Ninivites his first reaction is to "flee away from the presence of YHWH" (1:3), only to discover that the "fear of God" is abundant also outside the Western boundaries of Israel and the pagan sailors are wiser than the Jewish prophet.

A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing that it is no ordinary storm, cast lots and discover that Jonah is to blame. Jonah admits this and states that if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease. The sailors refuse to do this and continue rowing, but all their efforts fail and they are eventually forced to throw Jonah overboard. As a result, the storm calms and the sailors then offer sacrifices to God. Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a large fish, in whose belly he spends three days and three nights. While in the great fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to thanksgiving and to paying what he has vowed. God then commands the fish to vomit Jonah out.

God again commands Jonah to travel to Nineveh and prophesy to its inhabitants. Finally the reluctant prophet decide to move eastwards, and when he does, he sees the arch-enemies of God, the oppressors of Israel, the people of the city that more than any other city deserves God's punishment, welcoming his appeal to conversion and making atonement. Even more disappointingly, he sees that

"God changed his ming about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them" (3:10).

It is now revealed the real reason Jonah fled away. It was not because he was afraid of the Ninivites; he was afraid of what God might do.

I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful! (4:2)

Displeased by this, Jonah refers to his earlier flight to Tarshish while asserting that, since God is merciful, it was inevitable that God would turn from the threatened calamities.

Jonah then leaves the city and makes himself a shelter, waiting to see whether or not the city will be destroyed. God causes a plant (in Hebrew a kikayon) to grow over Jonah's shelter to give him some shade from the sun. Later, God causes a worm to bite the plant's root and it withers. Jonah, now being exposed to the full force of the sun, becomes faint and pleads for God to kill him.

The recognition that God is not bound by any pronouncement, even pronouncements God has made, is simply unbearable to Jonah. Life itself appears meaningless in a world where there is no justice and everything looks arbitrary:

Please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live

God's answer is a reaffirmation of God's frredom, even to change mind.

And God said to Jonah: "Art thou greatly angry for the Kikayon?" And he said: "I am greatly angry, even unto death." And the LORD said: "Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night;

and should not I have pity on Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?" (4:9–11).

The conclusion is not that God is not in charge of the universe, but rather that God's liberty cannot be restricted; God is free to use the covenant as God likes. Humans have no right to question God's mercy, as they should not question God when evil strikes. God has the broadest discretion in doing what God wants.

References

• / [[]] / In: The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1992 Freedman), dictionary,

• / [[]] / In: The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (2010 Collins / Harlow), dictionary,

External links

• Wikipedia