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7.0 Introduction Studies in Jonah

1. Introduction. G. Campbell Morgan writes,

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7.0 Introduction Studies in Jonah

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    1. 7.0 Introduction & Studies in Jonah Studies in the Scroll of the Twelve

    2. 1. Introduction G. Campbell Morgan writes, “Men have been looking so hard at the great fish that they have failed to see the great God.” [Morgan, G. Campbell, The Minor Prophets, 69]

    3. 2. Retelling the Story of Jonah 1. 1.1-3 Prophet told to go but doesn’t... 2. 1.4-16 God sends a storm 3. 1.17-2.9 Jonah prays 4. 2.10 Jonah lands 5. 3.1-4 Jonah proclaims God’s message 6. 3.5-9 People of Nineveh repent 7. 3.10 God changes his judgment 8. 4.1-4 Jonah is angry 9. 4.5-8a God sends a plant / a worm / a wind 10. 4.8a Jonah complains 11. 4.9-11 God rebukes Jonah and concludes the story.

    4. 3. Two Theological Centers 1. The nature of prophecy and its failure. 4.2 attempts to explain this, i.e., a summary, encapsulation of chap. 1-3. 2. Second, the book of Jonah brings out the message of God’s loving kindness.

    5. 4. Jonah as Subject & Object 1. Jonah ben Amittai is not a new character to students of the Bible. 2 Kgs 14.25 indicates that: 1.1 He was prophet. This is presupposed in the book of Jonah, also. However note that the book never mentions “prophet” (aybn). 1.2 From: Gath-hepher, which makes him a Northern Prophet 1.3 His prophetic message: i.e., that Jeroboam II would “restore the borders of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the sea of Arabah.”

    6. 4. Jonah as Subject & Object 2. Jonah in Jonah: 2.1 Jonah as a believer in hwhy 1.9 “I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” (N.B. parallel in Ps 95.5). 4.2 Ancient Israelite creed. 2.2 Jonah’s piety: prays in (2.2; 4.2 [lament]); chapter 2.2-9 is a traditional “Song of Thanksgiving” with many psalms parallels.

    7. 5. God as Subject & Object 1. Jon 1.9 hwhy, the God of heaven, who made the sea and dry land. 1.1 Confession is paralleled in Ps 146.6 1.2 Although Ps 146.6 is parallel the word is not hvbyh but #rah. 2. Jon . 4.2 “A Gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in ds,x, and repents of evil.” 2.1 God is a changeable God, is the core of forgiveness. But 3.9-10 does not force God to change . . . .

    8. 5. God as Subject & Object 3. God as present in the Text Proper: 3.1 hwhy is Judge of the whole earth: Amos 1.1-2.16; Gen 18.25. This was the whole purpose of the situation of 1.2. 3.2 The question of theodicy = primary. Yet the theodicy is not why the righteous suffer, but why or how could God allow mercy in light of Justice. In the text, Jonah could not see how God could have mercy on Nineveh.

    9. 6. Sailors and Ninevites 1. For the history of Israel, the choose of Nineveh manifested the “epitome of everything that was cruelly hostile to Israel and Judah.” [Payne, 1979, p. 7] 2. The Biblical texts of Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah illumine a rather different perspective. 2.1 Note especially Nahum 1-3: hwhy is a “jealous and avenging God” in 1.3 who is describe in terms of a Divine Warrior in whom the world falls before him. In chapter 2 the battle scene is predicted in gory detail (2.10-12). Chapter 3 confirms this point of view with the justice motif in 3.19!

    10. 6. Sailors and Ninevites 3. God’s choice of Nineveh radically stresses God’s mercy - not because of what Nineveh did (3.9), but who God is (4.10-11). 4. The Sailors portray an interesting situation: 4.1 N.B. that they are not portrayed with hostility, nor does Jonah show hostility against them. In fact in 1.12 he offers his own life. (Jonah’s hostility is with God’s ways!) 4.2 In fact the captain is highly pious, requesting prayer from Jonah (1.6). 4.3 The sailors are humanitarians (1.13), although they are motivated by protecting their own skins (1.14).

    11. 6. Sailors and Ninevites 4.4 Their gratefulness is equal to Jonah’s (1.16) in fact liturgically the sailors’ offerings and vows function with Jonah’s thanksgiving song. N.B. that the vow of the Individual psalm of narrative praise is accompanied by a vow, i.e., a todah.

    12. 7. The Form of the Book 1. Uniqueness of the book: 1.1 In the Context of the Twelve Prophets: Only 5 Hebrew words are used in Jonah’s prophecy. The Message is given in narrative form (... yhyw) like the prophetic stories in the books of Kings. The message is found in the interaction of Jonah’s experience, similar to a parable like the “good Samaritan.” Like Habakkuk 1.11ff.: it utilizes dialogue or better laments to God in the midst of proclaiming God’s word.

    13. 7. The Form of the Book One wonders if Jonah is a false prophet, i.e., the burden of the message. Contrast with Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah. 2. Repetition: A Hebrew rhetorical device (Numbers 7.12-18, Oral > story telling technique) 2.1 Key words: “... the meanings they have acquired in earlier context with them into their present and future contexts, immensely complicating and interrelating the concerns and actions of the play.” [Alter, p. 92] i.e., through repetition the semantic range of the words is utilized; imagery; themes; sequence of action; type-scene.

    14. 7. The Form of the Book Great = x14 while in the 11 prophets only x28. Nineveh/ites = x6 (1.2; 3.2, 3, 5, 7; 4.11) Wind, Storm, Fish = x4: God’s means to carrying out his purpose (1.4a, 4b, 12, 17) response of Sailors = x2 (1.10, 16) Jonah’s anger (4.1) and personal joy (4.6) = x2 Evil (noun & verb) = x10 (1.2, 7, 8; 3.8, 10a, 10b; 4.1a, 1b, 2, 6). Used in two related senses: wickedness (Ninevites and Jonah) and judgment by God. N.B. especially 4.1. Hurl = x4 God starts the action... leads to Jonah. (1.4, 5, 12, 15).

    15. 7. The Form of the Book Appoint = x4 (1.17, 4.6, 7, 8) A fish, a plant, a worm, a wind. Call = x9 (1.2, 6, 14; 2.2; 3.2, 4, 5, 8) x4 judgment of Ninevites x4 human cry to god in distress x1 proclamation of the fast Fear = x6 Chapter 1 (rhythm of chapter 1) Turn, Repent = x5 in chapter 3 (rhythm of chapter 3) Anger = Chapter 4: x4 in chapter 4; x2 in chapters 3 / 4.

    16. 7. The Form of the Book Perish / die =Human response = related to life / death Perish = x4 (1.6, 14; 3.9, 4.10) die = x4 (4.3, 8b, 8c, 9) Pity = x2 in 4.10-11 3. General Hebrew Style: Repetition 3.1 Jon 1.3 = X3 Tarshish; X2 presence of the Lord. (within a limited setting). 3.2 Parallel of 1.1-3 and 3.1-3: The Hebrew maintains a suspense in style by repetition. 3.3 Structural repetition: chapters 1.4-16 and 4.5-9. The response of the Sailors / Jonah like the Ninevites.

    17. 7. The Form of the Book 3.4 Jonah is basically spoken to in a question? 3.5 This all sharpens the rhetoric of 4.10-11. 3.6 Deletion for emphasis later: Reason for flight to Tarshish in 1.1-3 not made known till 4.2. 1.10 because he had told them. Prayers: Lament missing in 1.15-2.10; Lament found in 4.2 ff.

    18. 7. The Form of the Book 4. Irony: 4.1 Definition: Figure of speech in which . . . The intended meaning is the opposite of that which is stated, i.e., palace used instead of a “humble home.” An event statement, event, occurs or is used in a way just the opposite of what is expected, i.e., a lifeguard drowns; a Christian bombs a church. Use = vehicle for criticism, i.e., point up inconsistencies and incongruities.

    19. 7. The Form of the Book 4.2 Expectation of a prophet: Jonah abandons the task he is called to do. Jonah sleeps through the storm, while the heathens pray. Pagan captain pleads with Jonah to pray. Jonah remains unrepentant versus heathens respond to God. Jonah is angry at the Ninevites conversion, at the point when God turns. Heathen’s openness / Jonah’s closed minded-ness to God (1.14 / 3.9).

    20. 7. The Form of the Book Jonah doesn’t wish to give God opportunity to be true to Himself (4.2). 4.3 Incongruities in Jonah’s Actions: Jonah flees God’s call, but confesses him as hwhy (1.9) Jonah recognizes God’s hand in the storm, but refuses to repent (1.12) Jonah’s overwhelming success in Nineveh. Jonah’s joy in the gift of shade. When x2 he wished for death. Jonah’s joy over his deliverance, but anger over the deliverance of Nineveh.

    21. 7. The Form of the Book Jonah’s wish for death at success. Jonah’s psalm of thanksgiving. 5. The Psalm: 2:2 > Pss 120:1; 31:22 2:3 > Pss 102:10; 69:2; 42:7 2:4 > Pss 31:22; 5:7 2:5 > Pss 9:1; 18:4 2:6 > Pss 103:4 2:7 > Pss 142:3; 143:5; 88:2 2:8 > Pss 31:6 2:9 > Pss 116:18; 3:8

    22. 8. Miracles in Jonah 1. Miracles in Jonah: 1.1 God speaks to Jonah 1.4 God sent a great wind...violent storm 1.17 God provided a great fish... was inside the fish for 3 days and 3 nights 2.10 God commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land 3.2 God speaks to Jonah 4.4 God replied to Jonah 4.6 God provided a vine... shade (How long did this take?) 4.7 God provided a worm, which chewed up the vine 4.8 God provided a scorching east wind... sun blazed 4.9, 10-11 God speaks to Jonah

    23. 8. Miracles in Jonah 2. The Purposes of Miracles in Jonah: 2.1 God does the miracles in Jonah. Jonah has no active part to play. Note that Jonah is a prophetic story after the style of Elijah and Elisha. Yet it differs in that the miracles are 2ndary to the message and messenger. 2.2 Miracles are presupposed as God’s way of dealing with his people and humans in general (Jonah, Sailors, Ninevites). 2.3 God as the one who made the sea and land is the theological basis of miracles: God’s power and authority.

    24. 8. Miracles in Jonah 2.4 God’s method to change people is the motivation or purpose of the miracles in Jonah.

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