Bible Study @ 4 Verses Per Week

Reading Bible Stories•David and Goliath•Daniel in the Lion’s Den•Shadrach, Meshach, & Abednego in the Fiery

FurnaceWhy is it that certain biblical stories endure in our faith primarily as children’s stories?

• Frederick Buechner offers us an interesting perspective in his book The Hungering Dark: “Not, I suspect, because children particularly want to read them, but more because their elders particularly do not want to read them or at least do not want to read them for what they actually say and so make them instead into fairy tales, which no one has to take seriously. But for all our stratagems, the legends, the myths continue to embody truths or intuitions which in the long run it is perhaps more dangerous to evade than to confront.”

Children’s Bible Stories• Another possibility is that we give them to children because

these stories ask us to believe the impossible• We’re much too hardened by reality for these kinds of stories– Life teaches us early that the little guy rarely wins– That hungry animals bite– That if you play with fire you usually get burned

• But maybe children are the keepers of these stories because they are the only ones with an imagination capable of handling the truth—for God, even the impossible is possible

• And God is looking for people who will partner with him in making the impossible possible

Do you remember the first time you heard the story of Jonah?

What do you remember about hearing this story as a child?

Frederick Buechner suggests that there is something rich in the Bible stories that we give to children that adults would rather not hear. What about Jonah’s story is difficult for people to hear? What about it is difficult for you?

Introduction to Book of Jonah• Jonah’s influence can be seen in such diverse

literature from Pinocchio to Moby Dick

Everyone “Knows” the Jonah Story• This book continues to delight and challenge the

simple soul as much as the sophisticated scholar• Children commonly love Jonah and many adults are

fascinated with it … it’s a whale of a tale!• Outsiders who have minimal knowledge or interest in

the Bible know enough about Jonah to laugh at a joke based on the story

• It is probably the best-known story in the Old Testament and it is undoubtedly one of the great literary masterpieces in the Bible

Introduction to Book of Jonah

• Jesus compares himself to Jonah (Matt. 12:41), while images of the prophet appear more often in the Roman catacombs than any other OT figure

An Easy Read• Mere 48 verses• Only 689 words in the original Hebrew text• Can be read in 7½ minutes• In the narrative of Jonah we:– Meet a huge storm on the Mediterranean Sea– Take a tour of Sheol– Discover the insides of a great fish– Watch a plant come and go in a day– See Jonah suffer from a hot east wind over distant

lands – Even meet repentant sailors and Ninevites

… divided by 13 weeks = 3.7 verses per week

Telling the Jonah Story

Mary Margaret, 6 Years Old

Jonah Among the Major Religions• Jonah (known as Yunus in Arabic) is central to Islam … a

whole chapter in the Koran bears his name on the theme of repentance

• Until recently it played a part in the major liturgical festivals of three religious traditions:– Up to the Second Vatican Council, Jonah was read in

the Holy Saturday liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church– It still retains this place in the liturgical calendar of the

Greek Orthodox Church– In Judaism, Jonah is the Haftarah reading from the

books of the Prophets on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement

Jews close the Day of Atonement by standing together and saying …

An Easy Read?• The book of Jonah is hardly a “theological

lightweight”• Augustine’s response to an inquiry made by

a potential Christian convert perhaps gets at this best: “What he asks about the resurrection of the dead could be settled … But if he thinks to solve all such questions as …

those about Jonah … he little knows the limitations of human life or of his own.”

• Adding to Augustine’s comments is Father Mapple in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick who states: “Even though Jonah is one of the smallest strands in the mighty cable of the Scriptures, the book is one of the most puzzling and intriguing of the entire Old Testament.”

• Numerous questions abound about Jonah … a few include:– Were the sailors and Ninevites actually “converted”? – How does the psalm in chapter 2 fit into the narrative? – How could a man stay alive in a large fish for three days and three nights? – What is this with the “Jack and the Beanstalk” plant in chapter 4?– Why does the book end with a question?

An Easy Read?

WHO?

Name and AuthorName• The book derives its name from the first verse “Now the word of the

Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai …”• In 2 Kings 14:25 a prophet of this same name is said to come from

Gath-hepher, a place about 5 miles north of Nazareth in the Northern Kingdom of Israel

• According to this reference he must have lived during the time of Jeroboam II (~793 – 753 BC) and he was a contemporary of the prophets Amos and Hosea

• He prophesied about the extension of the borders of Israel• Other than this we know nothing of Jonah apart from what is told in

the book

Author• The author of the book is not specified, but there are no compelling

reasons to assume that Jonah was not the author• If the book was written by someone other than Jonah it does not

affect its authenticity since the writer is not specified

Jonah, Son of Amittai

• Every writing prophet in the Bible has God’s name as part of his own

• For example: Jeremiah – “God will uplift” Isaiah – “Salvation of Yahweh” Micah – “Who resembles God?” Hosea – “God who delivers”

• Jonah (yô-nāh) is the Hebrew noun for “dove”

… except Jonah

What’s in a Name?• One characteristic of many OT names is that they predict

subsequent narrative action … often in the shadowy foreimage of a Hebrew name we are able to anticipate what the future holds. For example:– Eglon’s name suggest the Hebrew word for calf; this ruler of the

occupying Moabite power turns out to be a “fatted calf” ready for the slaughter through the wiles of the judge Ehud

– Ahab’s wife from the kingdom of Tyre and Sidon – the infamous Jezebel – has a name that means “no nobility”

– Moses means “to draw out” • He was drawn out of the waters of the Nile as an infant• Then as 80-yr old man, Moses miraculously leads Israel

through the Red Sea and draws them out of Egypt, out of house of bondage

• Moses also miraculously draws water out of a rock, twice

Jonah, a “Silly Dove”

• Hosea 7:11 -- “Ephraim is like a dove [Jonah], silly and without sense, calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.” • Here “dove” is synonymous for “double-minded”• The word “silly” means spiritual foolishness and

gullibility• “Without sense” signifies infidelity and lack of

discernment

Jonah, a “Silly Dove”

• Hosea 7:11 -- “Ephraim is like a dove [Jonah], silly and without sense, calling to Egypt, going to Assyria.” • So Ephraim is not like a dove in its innocence, but

rather like a dove in its aimless activity, flying from one place to another – first to Egypt, then to Assyria – as a frightened and gullible people who trusts not in Yahweh

More Than Frightened Dove

• However, Hosea is talking more than just timidity here– He constantly emphasizes Israel’s culpable ignorance– The people had abandoned covenant knowledge of

Yahweh (4:6)– Enmeshed in theological error, they misjudge the political

situation and have no self-knowledge– Israel demonstrates blindness at its worse in the people’s

incomprehensible refusal to return to Yahweh or to seek Him, in spite of the severity of all the disasters that had overwhelmed them since they deserted God (Amos 4:6-22; Jeremiah 44)

– Israel failed to return even in spite of the gracious warmth and openness of God’s constant invitation (14:3)

Jonah = Dove = Israel• In many respects, this dovish demeanor depicted in

Hosea matches the person called “dove,” Jonah• Jonah is not only a historical individual, he also

represents Israel• In other texts the dove is easily put to flight, seeking a

secure refuge in the mountains (Ezek 7:16; Psalm 55:6-8)

• The dove moans and laments when in distress (Isaiah 38:14, 59:11; Nahum 2:7)

• With everything that dove means in these OT texts, that Jonah is name Jonah is suggestive

Jonah, Son of Amittai• “Amittai” means something like “Yahweh is true/faithful”• The Hebrew phrase “son of” frequently expresses a

category: – A “son of valor” (1 Sam 14:52) is a “valiant man”– Conversely, a “son of iniquity” (Psalm 89:22) is an “iniquitous

man”• Jonah’s lineage may be a wordplay on that kind of usage

of “son”– If so, Jonah should be a “son of faithfulness/truth;” that is a

“faithful/truthful man”– The irony of Jonah’s relationship with his father is that the

prophet will abandon “faithfulness” at the first opportunity– He will speak the “truth” in chapter 3 only under duress

WHAT?

Fern-Seed and Elephants• While addressing a group of theological students in Cambridge,

C. S. Lewis expressed grave reservations about the presuppositions and conclusions of some biblical critics

• As a sheep “telling shepherds what only a sheep can tell them”, Lewis made a number of astute observations

• His first bleat concerned the lack of ability of biblical scholars to make literary judgments: “Whatever these men may be as Biblical critics, I distrust them as critics. They seem to me to lack literary judgment, to be imperceptive about the very quality of the texts they are reading . . . These men ask me to believe they can read between the lines of the old texts; the evidence is their obvious inability to read (in any sense worth discussing) the lines themselves. They claim to see fern-seed and can't see an elephant ten yards away in broad daylight.”

• At heart of this complaint lay the inability of critical scholars to recognize correctly the literary genre of biblical books

Miracles?• The other bleat concerned “the principle that the miraculous

does not occur”

“Scholars, as, scholars, speak on it with no more authority than anyone else. The canon ‘If miraculous, unhistorical’ is one they bring learned from it. If one is speaking of authority, the united authority of all the Biblical critics in the world counts here for nothing. On this they speak simply as men; men obviously influenced by, and perhaps insufficiently critical of, the spirit of the age they grew up in.”

• Now these bleats draw attention to two issues which have figured prominently in modern discussions on the book of Jonah: – How should we classify this short work?– What are we to make of the miracles recorded within it?

Genre: Classification of Jonah• While it is clear that Jonah differs from other prophetic

books, it is not clear how its genre should be classified• Biblical scholars classify Jonah in a multitude of ways:

MidrashAllegoryDidactic Fiction

SAGAParableLEGEND

FolkloreDidactic HistoryPhilosophical

Treatise

TRAGEDY

IronicShortStoryNovella

COMEDYParody

Issues with Classifying Jonah• It is uncertain that some of these genres were

known in the Ancient Near East• Most of the genres identified assume that the

book of Jonah is a work of fiction• By calling Jonah “legend,” “folklore,” “didactic

fiction,” “parable,” etc., scholars are expressing their own lack of confidence in the historical reliability of the book

• Let’s examine a few of these genres …

Jonah as Viewed by a Few in the Early Church• Some of the Early Church Fathers

(including Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory Nazianzus) believed that the book of Jonah was largely allegorical

• In fact allegory was their preferred method of interpretation for some of the Old Testament

What is an Allegory?• Allegory is a method of teaching truths or

principles by means of symbolic fictional narrative

• A good example is John Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress

• This is an exciting fictional story that conveys the truth that the Christian life is a spiritual pilgrimage

Jonah as Allegory• This view sees Jonah as the people of Israel• Nineveh represents the heathen world to whom Israel

has the task of proclaiming the message of repentance• Jonah's unfaithfulness is thus Israel's unfaithfulness to

her task of being a light to the Gentiles• Jonah swallowed up by the fish is Israel in captivity• Jonah cast up on land is Israel returned from captivity• Therefore, returned Israel is to make religious truth

known to the heathen• However, when these heathen become recipients of

God's grace by conversion, Israel is to be rejected because of her dissatisfaction with the LORD's mercy to the Gentiles

Allegorical?• Majority of modern bible scholars dismiss this idea• Allegorical approach encounters difficulty when pressed for

details:– Jonah's own urging for the crew to cast him into the sea (1:12) is

hardly applicable to Israel being led into captivity– The suggestion that Jonah's imprisonment in the fish represents the

Babylonian captivity is also less than convincing, especially when it is recognized that the fish is portrayed as an instrument of deliverance, not punishment

• This is not to deny that in certain respects Jonah can be considered as typical or representative of Israel

• A representative or typical significance for Jonah would assume certain analogies between Jonah and Israel, while with allegory one would expect a detailed correspondence of the story with Israel's history

Jonah as Parable• Majority of modern scholars tend to identify the

book Jonah as a parable• That term is “easier to swallow” (pun intended)

than calling the book fiction• Parable comes from Greek word parabolee,

meaning “to cast beside”• It is a simple [fictitious] story that illustrates a

moral attitude or a religious principle• Usually a familiar idea is “cast beside” an unfamiliar

idea in such a way that the comparison help us get a better understand and grasp the unfamiliar idea

Old Testament Parables• There are a few parables in the Old Testament:– 2 Samuel 12:1-4 – Nathan’s story to David about rich and

poor shepherds (“You are the man!”)– Ezekiel 17:2-10 - the two eagles– Ezekiel 19:2-9 - the lion and her whelps

• These parables are much shorter than book of Jonah • In addition, they have an unmistakable indication of

being a parable by telling us up front what they are• They are also directly followed by an explanation

and interpretation of what the allegory means• None of these characteristics are found in Jonah

Fact or Fiction?

• Tendency to view Jonah as fictional is a relatively recent development

• Vast majority of early Jewish and Christian writers adopted the view that the events recorded in the narrative actually occurred

• Among Jewish writers, Josephus clearly views the book of Jonah as historical and incorporates the story into his history of the Jewish people:

“But, since I have promised to give an exact account of our history, I have thought it necessary to recount what I have found written in the Hebrew books concerning this prophet [i.e. Jonah].”

Liberal vs. Conservative• For over 2,000 years most Christians and Jews have

viewed the book of Jonah as an historical narrative …such unanimity of tradition cannot be easily dismissed

• This debate has made the book of Jonah one of the most visible outposts along the liberal-conservative battle line– Theological conservatives draw the line at this point– Liberals ridicule “fundamentalist literalism” on the

traditional position of the book of Jonah– For many biblical scholars Jonah is “just another fish story”

Jonah as Fiction: Historical ImprobabilityThere are a number of extraordinary events recorded in Jonah• How was it possible that a true prophet should disobey a direct divine

command? • Is it likely that God should send a storm simply in order to pursue a single

person and thus cause many others to suffer too?• Jonah's rescue by the great fish when thrown overboard by the sailors• It is improbable that Jonah would have prayed a Song of Thanksgiving for

having been delivered while in the belly of the fish• What language did Jonah speak in Nineveh and how could the people

understand him? • It is improbable that a city with hundreds of thousands of people hostile to

Israel and Israel's God, would have been instantaneously and completely (without exception!) converted

• Why is there no record of such a massive conversion in the Assyrian annals? • In addition, all of the beasts of Nineveh fasted, cried out mightily to God and

turned from their wicked ways• Remarkable growth of the plant and its equally swift destruction are hardly

everyday events

Jesus as Witness• Over the next several months we will address all of the historical issues

presented by the text in Jonah• But the most definitive testimony to the historical accuracy of Jonah

rests upon the witness of the New Testament and of our Lord for Jesus says that he is “one greater than Jonah” (Matt. 12:41b)

• Jesus prefaces his connection with Jonah with the words, “the men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah” (Matt. 12:41a)

• There is no indication that Jesus is referring to a parable or quoting from a legend or that the Pharisees regarded the story of Jonah as an allegory or myth

• There is no indication that Jesus or his opponents regarded Jonah or the repenting of the Ninevites as less historical than Solomon or the Queen of the South

• If Jonah’s sojourn in the belly of the fish was non-historical, then according to Christ’s own logic his authenticating sign would be based upon a non-factual event

Author’s Intent• Because Jonah has received a great variety of genre labels, there has

been tremendous debate concerning the intended meaning and message of the book

• What was the author's intention and/or purpose? • Did he intend to write down an historical record of real occurrences,

or to present his readers with a moral in fictitious form? • Did the author intend to write history or to compose a parable? • The key question is: How do we determine the author’s intent? – On occasions we may discover that the author explicitly states his

intention in writing (cf. Luke 1:1-4)– Unfortunately, the book of Jonah lacks any such statement, and

so we are forced to look elsewhere for the solution to our problem

• We need to recognize that each literary form or genre has its own set of “generic signals” by which the author influences the way in which the reader is to interpret his work

An Illustration• Imagine you are in a used bookshop and you come upon a

rather tattered book, without its cover and title page; your curiosity is aroused and you begin to read the opening paragraph …

“The clock on the mantelpiece said ten-thirty, but someone had suggested recently that the clock was wrong. As the figure of the dead woman lay on the bed in the front room, a no less silent figure glided rapidly from the house. The only sounds to be heard were the ticking of that clock and the loud wailing of an infant.”

Murder at MarplethorpeThe Personal History of David Marplethorpe

So What?

Look In the Mirror• The book of Jonah is like a mirror

… “I AM JONAH!”• During our study of this book you

will see the struggles and problems of your own inner life

• Jonah was a mature believer who had given his life to ministry …

… but he battled with the impulses of his own self-interest and self-centeredness

• “My heart is desperately wicked”

Look Out the Window• The book of Jonah is like a

window … it reveals the heart of God

• Let’s discover what Jonah did about the grace of God– His redeeming love– His extraordinary

patience– His relentless pursuit of

lost people and rebellious saints