The Prophet Jonah

Niniveh - Capital of Assyria

* Language?
* walk on the street?

is a sign - he is suppose to have led the pagan

What sort of a sign was Jonah to Niniveh?

He led the gentile Niniveh to conversion (& consequently to salvation)
In short: Salvation is possible for Gentiles too

the movement of Jonah = prophetic movement
= prophetic community



YONAH - (Heb) for "dove" - used to be a symbol of peace
* but in view of the com... were of the prophet (4)
* it is not unlikely that the name is derived from the root YANAH
- to mourn, in the sense of dolens or "complaining" (See St. Jerome's Commentary on Jonah 4,1)

Outside the book itself, Jonah is cited only 1x in the OT: 2 Kings 14:25
Here he is refered to as a native of Gat-Hefer (in north of Israel)
*a contemporary of King Jeroboam II of the Kingdom of Israel (& therefore contemporary of Amos and Hosea) - pre-exilic
* the period is that of Assyrian domination of Syria - Palestine, from about 725-625 BCE
* we learn too that he predicted the sucess of Jeroboam's military adventures
* mention is made of Jonah
- Matthew 12:39, and in 16:4
- parallel Lk 11:29, 30,32 - but these add nothing to the ...

OUTLINE (Joh Schutz) with some renovations

1. Jonah's call, and disobedience ch 1
2. (Inside the belly of the fish) Jonah's lament and divine intervention ch 2
3. Jonah's second call, and obedience ch 3
4. (over the destruction of the gourd vine) Jonah's complaint and divine reprimand

CERESKO's OUTLINE (Jonah, NJBC)
1. First Mission (1:1-2:11)
A) Jonah and Sailors (1:1-16)
a) Jonah's Flight (1:1-3)
b) The Storm (1:4:16)
B) Jonah and the Great Fish (2:1-11)
2. Second Mission (3:1-4:11)
A) The Conversion of Nineveh (3:1-10)
a) The Action of the Prophet (3:1-4)
b) The Reactyion of the City (3:5-10)
B) God's Attempt to Convert Jonah (4:1-11)


The well-known book of Jonah, the 5th book of the 12 Minor Prophets, is recited as the prophetic lesson (Naftarah) in the afternoon service of Yom Kippur

Scholars concludes that the book of JOnah is either a parable or an allegory, which borrowed the historical figure of Jonah, son of Amitai as protagonist to drive home a particular theological declaration.

ALLEGORY

• Jonah represents the nation of Israel
• the book assumes the form of a reading of ISrael's history and of its obligations before GOd to the nations of the world.
• Jonah's unwillingness to obey God, represents Israel's deafness to the prophetic word in the days before the exile.
• (Israel presumes that God only cares for Israel)
• Jonah personifies the nation who is only concerned for their own salvation only to found out that God also cared for other nations.
• The meaning of being chosen had to be with MISSION
• Jonah represents a new theological development
• the STORM symbolizes the POLITICAL TURMOIL caused by the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions of Syria-Palestine
• while Jonah's time in the belly of the great FISH represents the BABYLONIAN EXILE
• The vomiting up of the prophet is emblematic of the JUDEAN RESTORATION and God's 2nd call is to be seen as the renewed opportunities for faith and obedience extended to the post-exilic community
• Jonah's bitterness over the task to which God has summoned him and over the summon of his mnission represents the VARIOUS ATTITUDE of the POST -EXILIC JERUSALEM COMMUNITY towrds other nations.

MISSION TO THE GENTILES ?! - a new theology

PARABLE

• some others claim JOnah is a parable, a story with a single important meaning
• according to this view the book of Jonah is
  
• a reading of the state of the Jerusalem communbity during the year after the return from exile
• a state of mind which one finds expressed in the books of Ezpra and nehemia
• Here is a community fearful and hostile to the outside world with its walls (in both a literal and a spiritual sense) rebuilt and sterngthened

According to this interpretation

• the story was told to contrast the narrowness of outlook within the post-exilic community and
• the historic Jonah was used to reinforce the prophetic character of the book

The underlying theology in the book of Jonah is 2 FOLD:

1. God's compassion extends to all nations of the earth; and
2. Israel is under responsibility to be the vehicle by which that compassion is made known

Jonah is read in the afternoon service of Yom Kippur
As Jews pray for forgiveness and for a year of life,

• they recall that God is the God of all mankind, of all the Ninevehs of the world,
• and humankind, created in God's image, is obliged to embrace and extend that compassion.