Category:Book of Jonah (text)

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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. When finally the reluctant prophet decide to move eastwards, 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)

The recognition that God is not bound by any pronouncement, even pronouncements God has made, is simply unbearable to him. 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

The conclusion is that God is free to use the covenant as God likes and humans have no right to question God's mercy, as they cannot question God when evil strikes. God has broad 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