Many modern scholars agree
That Jonah is intended to be a satire,
given its fondness for exaggerated language and absurd, humorous situations
Central theme?
difficult to identify the central theme that unites all elements of the story into a literary and conceptual whole
4 readings (interpretations):
The broad variety of opinions on this subject‑-from the talmudic sages through modern commentaries‑-
can be summarized into 4:
Each one offers: Its own answer to the 3 interrelated questions:
1. Why was Jonah unwilling to prophesy against Nineveh?
2. What did the Lord teach His prophet by means of the tempest, the fish, and the gourd?
3. What are readers supposed to learn from the book?
#1: Atonement vs. Repentance
That Jonah is designated as the haftarah (prophetic reading) for the afternoon service of Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) suggests that
this book depicts the concept of repentance so starkly and completely that
it can motivate hearers to repent of their ways and change their behavior.
The Ninevites' repentance does indeed seem to be an exemplary combination of
fasting,
prayer, and
deeds (abandoning their evil ways),
& its acceptance by God is a guarantee and confirmation that true repentance can reverse a decree of punishment.
Simon’s critique:
only chapter 3 deals with the theme of repentance
Unlike the people of Nineveh, the sailors are not described as sinners repenting from sin.
Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the fish is not a prayer of contrition.
Jonah’s silence at the end leaves the extent of his change outside the narrative.
The incident of the plant and the Lord's reply to Jonah (4:6‑11) relates to quite a different subject:
God’s mercy is not because of the remorse of Nineveh’s citizens, but rather
because Nineveh is a great city,
full of innocent children,
and animals as well.
#2: Universalism vs. Particularism
Jonah preferred loyalty to his people Israel over his duty to obey the Lord of the universe, his master.
Key: the story is set exclusively among gentiles, who are presented in a positive light!
Why does Jonah refuse to go to Nineveh?
He is afraid that the repentance of the gentile city will put the stiff‑necked Israelites in bad light.
In the modern scholarly version
of this exegesis,
the Jonah narrative is described as a critique against the tendency towards narrow exclusivism prevalent among the Jewish returnees to Zion
after they had suffered from the destruction of the First Temple, the Babylonian exile, and the Persian domination.
Being a “chosen people” meant avoiding aliens and even hating them Jonah is taken as representative of this disdain for gentiles, and his flight is explained as a refusal to show them the way to repentance and salvation.
True meaning of “chosen”
By contrast, that Jonah’s escape is blocked points to the true sense of being a “chosen people”: to serve as agent of faith to the gentiles. (Isa. 49:6!)
To demonstrate that this mission can be realized, the humility & open-heartedness of the gentiles aboard the ship and in Nineveh are contrasted with the arrogance of the prophet who rejects his mission.
Simon’s Critique:
This view can’t be anchored in the text of Jonah, unless one can show that the prophet truly embodies such Israelite exclusivism, and the sailors and the Ninevites are cast as faithful representatives of the gentile world open to the call of faith.
(Then indeed Jonah's anger at God’s pardon for Nineveh could be taken as being indicative of a simple xenophobia on his part.)
Xenophobic Jonah?
But note his conduct during the storm: He prevents them (i.e., the sailors) from being dragged into his quarrel with his God!
There being no evident hatred for gentiles and idolatry in the book, it is hard to interpret Jonah’s running away (4: 2) as a protest against God’s mercy toward the Gentiles.
#3) Prophecy:
Realization vs. Compliance
Focus: Jonah's refusal to prophesy in Nineveh and his anger at its deliverance suggesting that his primary concern is his potential embarrassment as a prophet—i.e., that his credibility would be undermined!
According to this view:
the Jonah story teaches us about the educational purpose of prophecies of doom (see Ezekiel 3: 16‑21 and 33:1‑9)
by criticizing a prophet who viewed announcing future events as his role and full realization of the prophecy as his only test.
Advocates of this view include many earlier Jewish scholars including Saadiah Gaon (Beliefs and Opinions 3,5),
Rashi, David Kimhi (who combined it with the second theme reviewed above), Abravanel, and many other modem Jewish scholars
Why does Jonah run away?
because he cannot resolve two contradictions: between the categorization of unfulfilled prophecies as "false prophecies" (Deut 18:21-22) and God’s mercy for the Ninevites, in response to their repentance; and between the concept of God as unchanging and resolute (Num 23:19) and God as compassionate and forgiving.
Why is God compelling him to prophesy nevertheless?
To teach him the paradoxical nature of true prophets, who "foretell punishment to make it unnecessary" (See St. Jerome’s commentary on Ezekiel 33:1).
Simon’s Critique
There is no real sign in the narrative of the prophet's anguish that his prediction was not fulfilled Hence the author of the midrash quoted above had to assume that Jonah had previously been ridiculed by the people of Jerusalem for an unfulfilled prophecy.
#4) Compassion:
Justice vs. Mercy
Jonah argues on behalf of strict justice -- vs. the merciful God who repents of His sentence (upon the Ninevites).
The advocate of strict justice as it were insists: evil abounds not just because of the of evildoers themselves,
but also because God is not really that strict with them (on account of his mercy)! (Diyos na Kunsintidor! Pusong mamon!)
Jonah must learn that the world can exist only through the paradoxical interplay of justice and mercy, that fear of sin is produced not only by fear of punishment, but also by awe at the sublimity of salvation (Jonah 1: 16 & Kings 17:24) and by fascination with grace and absolution (Psalm 130:41).
Jonah anticipated That the Ninevites would be terrified upon hearing his prophecy & thereby repent & that the merciful God would change his mind once they repented But he was wrong to believe that he would be allowed to escape to Tarshish!
More surprises:
· the fish that saves him from death but imprisons him in its belly until he gives up his flight and begins to pray; and
· the plant that saves him from his distress but soon vanishes so that he can feel the pain of loss
· and open his heart to understand the Creator's love for His creatures.
In short Jonah Must Realize His Own Need for Mercy.
Only when the proponent of strict justice realizes his own humanity
can he understand the fundamental dependence of mortals on human and divine mercy.
In the Jonah Midrash, Jonah is made to expresses this recognition
in body language and words, in the answer he gives to the Lord's rhetorical question that concludes the book:
Then he fell on his face and said: "Conduct Your world according to the attribute of mercy, as it is written: 'To the LORD our God belong mercy and forgiveness' (Daniel 9:9)” (Midrash Jonah).
Simon agrees.
The reservations offered against the 1st 3 views do not apply to the 4th.
It is the only one that does not focus on just a particular segment of the story; rather, it is compatible with the whole story and encompasses most of its elements.
Most commentators of the book of Jonah still adhere to any of the 1st 3 readings or some combination thereof
(See David Kimhi on Jonah 1:1)
Simon favors the 4th.
It explains the plot, the characters, and the dialogue as embodying the primordial struggle between justice and mercy.
