With a Book ... Communion across the Page

For those out there that are Civil War buffs as well as disciples of the prince of peace I want to call attention to Mark Noll's The Civil War as a Theological Crisis. Noll is one of the foremost historians of religion in its North American contexts and has done us all a huge service in this small (200 pages) and very insightful work. The Civil War was for all intents and purposes a religious war in many ways akin to those in Europe. The religious dimensions of the war have often been minimized and even downright denied by much 20th century scholarship. Noll explodes this myth and does it soundly. Of particular interest to those who take following Jesus seriously, Noll's chapter on "The Crisis over the Bible" is worth ruminating on at great length. Put this one on your to read very soon list.

Over the last decade Thomas Cahill has become one of my favorite writers. His "Hinges of History" series has been a delight to read, entertaining and informative. His Mysteries of the Middle Ages and the Beginning of the Modern World is larger than his previous volumes and it is beautifully and lavishly illustrated. I love it for the medieval art alone! People were not as dumb in the "dark ages" as popular mythology would have us believe. Again one can not read through this period of history and not at the same time learn something of the ways of God's ever flawed people in this world.

Sometimes it is interesting to hear about what others think about certain books or authors. One author that has been influential in my "scholarly" development has been Gordon Fee. His book, with Douglas Stuart, How to Read the Bible for All Its Worth changed forever how I read the Bible. Fee's works are some of the preeminent examples of not only what scholarship is but what faith scholarship must be. So it was interesting to me to come across this short interview with him on who he finds to be stimulating. Enjoy. Blessings and Shalom.

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Jonah #10: God's Heart & Struggle with Israel & Us (Can the Church Be Saved?)

"Victory is the LORD's!" (Jonah 2.9, REB)
"Deliverance belongs to the LORD." (Jonah 2.9, The Bible: An American Translation)

Jonah 4.4-11: Can the Church Be Saved?

"But Yahweh said:

Is it right for you to be angry?"

For Jonah had left the city and had sat down east of the city. There he had built himself a shack/tabernacle and had sat down in its shade until he would see what might happen in the city. Then Yahweh-God appointed a goad to grow. It grew up over Jonah to provide shade for his head, in order to pry him out of his wickedness. Jonah rejoiced greatly over the goad. But God appointed a worm, just as dawn was breaking the next morning. It attacked the goad and the bush withered away. And as the sun rose God appointed a burning east wind. Then the sun beat down on Jonah’s head, and he became terribly faint. So he begged that he might die, and he said:

“I am better off dead than alive.”

But God said to Jonah:

“Is it right for you to be angry because of the goad?”

Then Yahweh said:

“You feel sorry for the goad, which you have neither cared for nor nurtured, which grew up within one night and perished away within one night. Should I then not feel sorry for Nineveh, the great city, in which there live more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know how to distinguish between the right and the left . . . and much cattle.. (My Translation)

God Speaks to the Dove

When we left the Dove (=Jonah/Israel) in our previous blog (Jonah #9: The Wrath of the Theologian) there was a hush that fell upon the text. Job desired to put God in the dock but Jonah actually did. When Job exhausted his complaint the voice spoke from the whirlwind. And it is God that breaks the silence in the Story of Jonah! What happens in vv 4-11 seems to take place within the forty days ... its like the minstrel is saying "in the meantime ..."

Just a few questions to probe the story. The city has repented. God has repented and extended his "hesed" at the "drop of a hat." Jonah knows that God has granted life ... but Nineveh does not. What is he waiting for? Why doesn't he share the good new? How long will the humans and animals go without food or water?

As the Dove steeps in his wrath, Yahweh breaks the silence. The Silence does not arrest Jonah from his death, will the voice of the Lord? "Is it right for you to be angry?." Something has changed in the story. Up to this point any word from the Lord has concerned Nineveh now the God of Steadfast love (hesed) goes out to the "elder brother" (so to speak) and pleads with Jonah about Jonah's life. God has done remarkable things with the cracked pot Dove: he has saved the pagan sailors, he has delivered the Ninevites, he even was able to rescue Jonah once ... but here in chapter four the Dove's life is in the balance and it is not certain that God will be able to save him. The Lord of Hesed is battling for the soul of his people, that they (Jonah), may live rather than die. The question that comes screaming from the minstrel's song is not the Lord's ability to give life but whether Jonah can live with God as he is! Whether the nature of the God of the Creed (4.2) is to grievous a scandal for the People to bear. The Dove is willing to put Yahweh in the dock but he refuses to admit his need for repentance and grace in the presence of the Lord. Can Jonah do what Nineveh has already done? Will Jonah refuse to enter the kingdom of heaven even as he shuts the door on those who seek to enter (Mt 23.13ff). Will the pagans sit at the table of hesed while Jonah stays outside?

Jonah Flies off the Stage

The Dove's response to Yahweh's impassioned question is to fly away! Rather than engage the Lord Jonah flees to the East of the city. Here he constructs a sukkah. This is one of those words the Singer loves to pull out of his hat. While the word quite literally means a shack or lean to, it is also the word that Israel's worship tradition uses for the Feast of Booths/Tabernacles (Lev 23.42-43; Neh 8.14-18; Deut 16.13, 16; Zech 14.16,18,19).

There is delicious irony here! Yes, Jonah literally built a tent but in the eyes of the narrator he built a tabernacle! The Feast of Tabernacles/booths is one of the great festivals of the Lord. Israel celebrated their time of wandering when God delivered them by his hesed. They gather before the face of the Lord to celebrate. During Tabernacles the Torah is read again to the people (Deut 31.12-13). Sukkoth then in Israel was a time of renewing and consecration to the covenant of love (see Neh 8.13ff and Ezra 3.1-7). Interestingly enough another part of the cluster of ideas around Booths is Israel's welcoming inclusion of Gentiles in the festival!! Strangers, pagans, aliens were all welcomed (Deut 16.14). Booths extends the hospitality of Yahweh himself to those outside the covenant. The delicious irony is that the Dove is stewing in wrath towards God's self-proclaimed hesed in his sukkah outside the Gentile city that is "great to the LORD!" We have a reversal of the festival of booths! We have a subversion of the calling of the people of God to be a blessing to all nations. And it is they that "forfeit the grace that could be theirs!!!" (Jonah 1.8).

Attempt to Rescue the Dove ... Again

The Lord God "appointed" a plant to demonstrate his kindness even to Jonah. God loves Jonah! Just as God "appointed" the fish to save Jonah from his death wish in chapter 1 so now the Lord appoints the goad for the same purpose. Most English translations render the text to indicate that the shade eased the "discomfort" of Jonah. But here again our minstrel uses one of his favorite words: ra'ah. Surely Jonah is uncomfortable in the blazing heat but Yahweh is attempting to "pry [Jonah] out of his wickedness/evil." Jonah rejoices in the goodness of God directed towards him and "great joy" overtakes him. We all love it when God is good to "us."

Yet again God "appoints" a worm to attack the goad and then "appoints" a burning east wind. Jonah is wroth again! Once again he voices his death wish. Yahweh backs the Dove into a corner with the pointed question "Is it right for you to be angry because of the goad." God has reduced Jonah to an absurdity! Despite it all Yahweh cares for his man.

The Dove Finally Talks to God

Here backed into his absurdity Jonah answers the Lord for the only time. "It is good for me to be angry enough to die!" He admits his anger for the only time and claims it is good. The last words in the Dove's song testified to by the narrator are these words that burst from Jonah's heart.

Though we never hear the Dove's melody again we do hear yet again the earnest plea of the Lord of Hesed. The extraordinary question of Yahweh brings the story of Jonah to a close. "Should I then not feel sorry for Nineveh, the great city, in which there live more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who do not know how to distinguish between the right and the left..." It is as if God is asking Jonah's permission: "Is it ok if I have pity" (echoes of "Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?" {Mt 20.15, NIV}). This is a question that is put to the people of God, to the Dove, to you and me. We know God is not really asking Jonah's permission, he is trying to get Jonah to embrace the heart of God! The verb rendered "pity" or "feel sorry for" quite literally means "to have tears in the eyes" or "the eye flows on account of." It is a graphic picture of Israel's God weeping over his creation while the heart of his Own are far ... very far ... from him. Such imagery reminds us of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem (Lk 19.41-44; Mt 23.37; etc). But this is no revelation to Jonah, he knows that God is too loving, too forgiving, too ready to forgive even the likes of Nineveh.

The "Epic" of Jonah ends with God pleading with him. Echoing Jonah's commission to the "great city" Yahweh reveals that he is the God of all. Not only humans are God's concern but all creation. The reference to animals by Yahweh has baffled many modern Western Christians. God's steadfast love is not limited to humanity but extends to his whole creation.

The reference to animals points to the faithful nature of God. Jonah testified to God's hesed in 4.2 and it seems here Yahweh is reminding the Dove of his long ago covenant with nature. After the flood God promised "never again will I curse the ground because of humankind ... nor will I ever again destroy every living creature as I have done" (Gen 8.21; see 9.1-17). Does Jonah want God to turn his back on his promise.

Can the Church Be Saved?

The Singer in Jonah presents us with a picture of a God who would rather be loved than feared. The Dove seems to feel that "if disobedience on the scale of a Nineveh goes cavalierly unpunished, then the idea of obedience also ceases to have meaning. God's mercy simply makes a mockery of human effort, which is why Jonah ends up in the grips of Thanatos, or the death drive" (T. A. Perry).

The singer leaves us hanging. What happened to Jonah? Did God reach the Dove? Can the people of God celebrate the king and his law of hesed? Can we let God overturn our own theology and fulfill his will in ways that are true to him and surprising to us? As we leave Jonah we are left with a sinking feeling that the Dove is lost.

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Jonah #9: God's Heart & His Struggle with Israel & Us (The Wrath of the Theologian)

The Wrath of the Theologian: 4.1-6

"Deliverance belongs to the LORD" (Jonah 2.9, NRSV)

Most Shocking Chapter in the Bible

If truth is to be confessed then we admit Jonah chapter four is one of the most shocking chapters in the entire canon of Scripture! Here in this chapter the blindness, arrogance, and possibly even the blackness of Jonah's heart is finally revealed. At the same time we have to confess that Jonah 4 is truly one of the most comforting chapters in the canon because of the revelation of Yahweh there.

In Jonah 4 the "Wrath of the Theologian" is on display in all its ugliness. The Dove, Jonah and the People he represents, was convinced he had the word of God understood in precisely the manner in which God intended ... every Christian that values neat and tight systems can sympathize with Jonah.

As our chapter opens the Minstrel brings together for the first and only time two words that he uses with frequency throughout the story: great and evil. He brings them together precisely when the Dove witnesses Yahweh's mercy for those who clearly do not deserve it. Such mercy becomes a great evil. If we remember the mirror, parallel, structure of the book we see that Jonah's actions are in stark contrast to the "horrible" pagan sailors in 1.16. While a yire'ah gedolah et-YHWH (a great fear of the LORD) overwhelmed the pagans in light of God's salvation of Jonah, a ra'ah gedolah (a great evil) swamped the Dove as he (i.e. God's People) witnessed the magnitude of God's gracious love! DO NOT SUGAR COAT, DO NOT MINIMIZE, DO NOT SWEEP UNDER THE RUG ... what the narrator is putting on display here. Jonah hates how God has been true to his own word yet in a way that makes Jonah look like a fool in his own eyes!! God did overturn Nineveh! Yet Jonah, God's own people, the church!!, is sitting in judgment on Yahweh himself. Let it flow over us ...

Invitation to Stop, Reflect & Retrace Our Steps

Our singing Minstrel drops the bomb on us so to speak in 4.2. For the first time we are told why the Dove flew. Two things happen as the verse opens that take us back. First, Jonah explains his flight quoting the heart of Israel's Gospel creed ... it is as if the narrator says "Now go back and reread 1.1-3.10 in light of 4.2!" Second, Jonah's prayer "Is this not what I said while I was still in my own country" ... has strong linguistic and verbal echoes to Israel's rebellious cry in Exodus 14.12 to Moses, "Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt." Yahweh follows up such rebellion with the Exodus event itself and in Jonah 4 God is still trying to deliver the saved people out of the land of slavery. Yahweh attempts to save the Dove! He's already saved the Pagans!

Before the narrative gets to Yahweh's attempt to save the drowning Dove (as he saved him from himself and the sea in 1.17 [2.1, Hebrew]) the writer lets the hammer drop! The Message captures the volcanic reaction in the Dove ...

"Jonah was furious. He lost his temper. He yelled at God, "God! I knew it - when I was back home, I knew this was going to happen! That's why I ran off to Tarshish! I knew you were sheer grace and mercy, not easily angered, rich in love, and ready at the drop of a hat to turn your plans of punishment into a program of forgiveness!"

My own translation through verse 3 reads ...

“Oh, Yahweh! Was not this exactly what I thought while I was still in my own country? This is WHY I at first wanted to flee to Tarshish. For I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, patient and abounding in love, who regrets the evil. So then, Yahweh, take my life from me! I am better off dead than alive!”

It nearly takes our breath away! But our Minstrel isn't asking us to judge Jonah ... he is saying we are Jonah! Jonah, like Israel at the moment of salvation itself (i.e. the Exodus), rebels. Moses confessed "you have been rebellious against the LORD as long as he has known you" (Deut 9.24, NRSV). Are we still?

The narrator has shown us that Jonah is thoroughly "sound" in his biblical theology (1.9; 2.9). Jonah is immersed in the liturgical worship tradition of church and says a pious sounding prayer constructed out of the words he heard at church. Now the minstrel has the Dove confessing intimate knowledge of the very core of "Old Testament" faith - the "Apostle's Creed" of Exodus 34.6-7!! How many times have we confessed the infinite grace of God in prayer, in song, and sermon and then decide we are in control of the "grace nozzle"?? All to often I suspect. The author sings that Yahweh is not constrained by our understanding of his doctrine ... thus the Theologian is Wroth!

Jonah, like the Pharisees in Jesus' day, like many that Gather in buildings with A.D. 33 emblazoned on the corner stone, still does not grasp the depth of his own rebellion against the Lord nor his need for grace because of it. Three times the author has told us the Dove was fleeing from the "presence of YHWH" (1.3 {2x}; 1.10) and yet while Jonah was in the fish not a word of repentance and now in a place that corresponds to the fish Jonah still has not a word of repentance. It is hard to repent when we are convinced of our own rightness.

Rather than repent Jonah uses the creed to accuse God. In quoting the creed Jonah accuses God of four things:

1) of being gracious & merciful
2) of slowness of anger
3) of Hesed (steadfast love)
4) of repenting of punishment

The great text of Exodus 34.6-7 is hard to overemphasize in importance in Israelite faith. It is given in the context of the gross adultery of the Golden Calf to Moses. This self-revelation of Yahweh becomes the basis of hope in Israel and is referred to in whole or part around 25x in the rest of the Hebrew canon. See for example: Ex 34.6-7; Num 14.18; Neh 9.17-31; Psa 86.15; 103.8; 145.8; Joel 2.13 and Nah 1.3. The book of Hosea can be viewed as an extended meditation of hesed, the heart of the Israelite creed (see Ps 136 too).

That Yahweh is gracious. That God is merciful. That the Lord of Israel is loving and merciful is NOT a new teaching to Jonah! He says he knew (yada)! As we have many times sung Amazing Grace so Jonah had praised God for his hesed in his pious psalm in chapter 2. But here it is the historic, concrete, manifestation of God's grace to "objectionables" that is the object of Jonah's wrath! He has grace and hesed quantified, objectified and above all controlled.

Church, do we hear the scandal of these verses? What had always been the basis of praise, thanksgiving and appeal for forgiveness is now turned by Jonah into complaint and accusation against the Lord himself. He hates the fact that the Lord abounds in such unbridled love. That God's grace might extend to even Nineveh. He would, if he could, prevent this loving kindness of the Lord from flowing so freely. He would prevent God from being who he is! What God claims to be! All in the interest of protecting the integrity and reputation of God of course. Shades of the Grand Inquisitor interrogating Jesus ...

In the song the Minstrel sings, the Dove has subverted not only the very mission God created Israel for but has also attacked the message itself. Here in the song Jonah is the Anti-Abraham who argues with God not in order to save a city full of "wickedness, rebellion & sin" (from the creed!) but to protest its deliverance. In this melody Jonah is the Anti-Nehemiah who confesses not only his sin but the sin of his fathers and praises God for salvation flowing from the creed ... our Jonah never confesses and embraces wrath instead of gratitude. Most shocking of all Jonah is the Anti-Moses quoting the self-proclamation of Yahweh himself to Moses not to intercede on behalf of a rebellious people but to complain and accuse!

Gasping in Silence ...

A world where Yahweh is King and hesed is the law of the land is ... well it is a world that Jonah cannot live in. Yahweh's grace is unjust so it would seem to Jonah (echoes in Matthew 20.1-16). Jonah has already tried to commit suicide in chapter 1 but the Lord of Hesed does not wish for the Dove to drown. The Lord of Hesed wishes to set the Dove free to embrace life.

So Jonah says "and now take my life." Death is preferable to the embarrassment of Yahweh's version of law and order. To hear a death wish is an unsettling thing. For a prophet, a "son of truth," it is doubly disturbing. That the Singer intends this to trouble us as it is read aloud has been recognized since before the time of Jesus himself. In the Dead Sea Scrolls "edition" of Jonah there is a pause here for the reader. In the Masoretic text there is a setumah preserving the more ancient tradition of pausing at this point of the story. We are meant to gasp and linger in silence over the implications of the Dove's actions!

Pause and reflect in silence as the story expounds Ex 34.6-7 even in the life of Jonah the Dove. God's compassion in saving the drowning Jonah and sparing Nineveh. God's patience and love ... patient with Jonah and loving Nineveh. And his readiness to forgive "at the drop of a hat" by pleading with Jonah and canceling Nineveh's sentence. Perhaps we should just end this blog here.

Oh the Depth of Jonah. Oh the Wrath of the Theologian. Oh the wonders of his Hesed.

+++++++++++++++

I want to thank my friend Jason Benson in Milwaukee, WI for calling my attention to this painting of Jonah ... I plan on calling more attention to it in our next ...

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Crystal Ball Tell Me ...

Crystal Ball Tell Me What I want to know ... what is coming up on Stoned Campbell Disciple Blog.

I have not been busy this week with a few future blogs. I don't think I have ever actually done this before but I would like to offer my readers a sort of "preview" of what is coming down the road for my blog. So lets look into the Crystal Ball and see what it reveals ...

First. I have two more Jonah posts (with a possible third) in the next couple days. One is called "The Wrath of the Theologian" and the other "Jonah's Self-Defense."

Second. I have never done a blog like this planned one and I am really hesitant about it. I want to do blog on divorce and children. I have ministered to divorced couples for many years but in the last 3 yrs this has become very personal. I want to explore the dynamics of Parental Alienation Syndrome and what we as parents (especially fathers) and ministers can do about it. This may turn into more than one blog ...

Third. I recently finished reading the Hendrickson reprint of the 1560 Geneva Bible. I was caught by the placement of the Prayer of Manasseh after 2 Chronicles. In this blog I hope to write about the history of this historic Bible.

Fourth. I have read and am doing more digging on Bruce Morton's Deceiving Winds. I plan on doing a review and appraisal of this work.

Tomorrow back to Jonah ... Enjoy the song by Styx ...

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Jonah #8: The Reading Report ... Studying Jonah

Greetings from the land of Saguaros and Scorpions. Jonah is such a richly textured work and only grows more profound with meditation. I have had several off line requests for good resources for reflecting on the book therefore I have decided to offer a short list of helpful works ... which in turn will lead to other resources. I do not offer these in alphabetical order ...

James Limburg has authored two commentaries on Jonah: one in the Interpretation series and one in the Old Testament Library series. However, for its insight, accessibility, and appreciation for the narrative art of the book the volume Jonah (OTL) would be the first commentary I bought on Jonah. Much smaller than Jack Sasson's (I'll mention more on him in a moment) which is actually a plus. Limburg offers exegesis of a passage based on the Hebrew text but knowledge of Hebrew is unnecessary to read his work (all Heb is tranliterated an does not "clutter" the text). He looks at a passage first in its narrative context and also in a wider canonical context and closes each section with theological reflections. Several appendices trace the story of Jonah in the first several Christian centuries; in Rabbinic literature and finally in Islamic literature. I would not preach or teach Jonah without this work.

Limburg also has a fascinating essay in Bible Review 6 (August 1990): 18-25 entitled "Jonah and the Whale Through the Eyes of Artists"

Hans Walter Wolff delivered a series of lectures called Jonah: Church in Revolt that are rich. Wolff was the first to peel the blinders off my eyes to the wonderous depth of Jonah. Wolf believes that the Psalm is a secondary addition to the book so omits it in his exposition. Most contemporary scholarship accept the unity of the book ... but with that caveat Wolff is nothing short of profound.

Friedemann W. Golka's contribution to Revelation of God: The Song of Songs & Jonah (International Theological Commentary) is right there with Limburg and Wolf. The work is especially sensitive to the theological argument being put forth.

Philip Cary's Jonah in the Brazos Theological Commentary is another nuanced work worthy of the depth of Jonah.

Finally (of the commentaries) Jack Sasson's work in the Anchor Bible series is a detailed discussion of everything in Jonah. Sasson ancient historian and has valuable insight. His work is not in tune with the narrative art of the work but still a good book if you are going to go the extra mile.

Other Works:

T. A. Perry's The Honeymoon Is Over: Jonah's Argument with God bristles with insight. Perry is a fine Jewish scholar with specialties in literature. This is not a commentary but a series of studies of the narrative and rhetorical art of Jonah and how that affects the theology of work.

Sheldon Blank, "Doest Thou Well to Be Angry? A Study in Self-Pity" Hebrew Union College Reveiw 26 (1955): 29-41

A. Hauser's, Jonah: In Pursuit of the Dove," Journal of Biblical Literature 104 (1985): 21-37.

B. Halpern & R. E. Friedman, "Composition and Paronomasia in the Book of Jonah" Hebrew Annual Review 4 (1980): 79-92

These last three are fairly technical works but worth delving into for serious engagement with the inspired text.

Enjoy,
Bobby Valentine

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Jonah #7: God's Heart & His Struggle with Israel (Symmetry & Irony )

"Salvation comes from and belongs to the LORD" (Jonah 2.9, BV)

Frequently in this series of essays on Jonah, I have stressed that it is a work of exquisite art. And it is. The artistic nature of the book not only makes it such an enjoyable read but also serves the interest of the kingdom of God.

The book of Jonah has four chapters with a total of forty-eight verses. These four chapters divide themselves into two parallel sections ... each mirroring the other showing once again the author's theological interest. I will attempt to show the mirror structure of Jonah below ...

Chapter One . . . . . . . . . . Chapter Three

Call (Arise, Go, Cry) {v.2} . . . . . . . Call (Arise, Go, Cry) {v 2}

Jonah arises - flees . . . . . . Jonah arises - goes

God acts - storm . . . . . . Jonah acts

Sailors call on gods . . . . . . Nineveh believes

Captain identifies 'elohim's power behind storm . . . King seeks 'elohim's will

Sailors seek YHWH's will

Sailors pray to YHWH (lest we perish) . . . . . Nineveh prays to 'elohim (lest we perish)

Storm evaporates . . . . . . God relents

Chapter Two . . . . . . . . . Chapter Four

Jonah saved . . . . . . . . . . Jonah angry

Jonah prays . . . . . . . . . . Jonah prays

God responds . . . . . . . . . . God Responds

The symmetry and structure of the book of Jonah help us see that the actions of the sailors and the Ninevites are practically the same often with the same language used. The actions of Jonah in chapter 1 helps us understand his action in chapter 4 too. And consistently the pagans are portrayed in a favorable light whereas Jonah is consistently portrayed in an darker hue.

The symmetry and structure of the book helps us see other literary tools used by our artistic minstrel. Irony and role reversals abound in the book. One of the most interesting is the question implied in Jonah's name! In 1.1 we read "The word of the LORD came to yonah son of 'amittay." The name 'amittay is constructed from 'emet. Here is delicious irony the author loves ... at the beginning of the book the Dove is identified as a Child of Truth or a Child of faithfulness!!! If Jonah/Dove also has representational value for the people of God then it is Israel that is designated the children of steadfastness or children of truth. With that in mind for the name: Jonah the Son of Truth/Jonah the Son of Faithfulness how do we come to see the Dove in the rest of the story?? Does the Dove behave in a truthful and faithful manner? Irony indeed.

As pointed out above the author consistently paints the "enemy" in an exemplary fashion. Who are the people of Truth? of Faithfulness? The Dove? or the Pagans who respond to God ... even when they don't know his name? This should remind us, if we are paying attention to the heartbeat of the biblical narrative, of a Story that Jesus told one day in which he used dramatic role reversals too. The author of Jonah uses the bitterly hated Assyrians as his foil to rudely snap the People of Truth from their blindness and Jesus uses the equally hated Samaritans to the same effect. Each story in some way forces us to ask the question: what are the boundaries of God's love and care and our own hedging of it.

The author of Jonah holds up the mirror in our face as the people of the Lord and forces us to ask what it means for us to be the sons and daughters of faithfulness, of truth. Is being the Dove a child of truth simply a matter of doctrinal precision? Jonah knows his bible and he knows his doctrine but he certainly comes off looking poorly against the hated pagans. So what about us?

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Jonah #6: God's Heart & His Struggle with Israel and Us (Fugitive Reports to Duty)

Jonah 3: The Fugitive Reports for Duty

"Deliverance belongs to the LORD!" (Jonah 2.9, NRSV)

The Text

"Then the word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying:

“Rise and go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I am now giving to you!”

Then Jonah rose up and went to Nineveh, according to Yahweh’s word.At that time Nineveh was a great city to God – a three days journey was required. And Jonah set about to enter the city, walking a day’s journey. Then he proclaimed:

“Forty more days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed/Overturned/Changed.”

But the people of Nineveh believed in god. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, everyone from the most important to the least. For the word had reached the king of Nineveh. He stepped down from his throne, threw off his regal garments, donned sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he had these words proclaimed in Nineveh:

“This is an edict of the king and his nobles: Men and beast, cattle and sheep shall refrain from eating. They shall not graze, they shall not drink; rather they shall don sackcloth, men and beasts, and shall cry to god almighty. And they shall turn about, each and everyone, away from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows whether the deity/god will once more regret (his decision), and turn from his burning anger, so that we will not perish.”

And God saw their deeds, how they turned away from their evil ways. Then the God regretted the evil he had said he would do to them. And he did not do it! (My Translation)

Ruminations on the Story

The book of Jonah is an exquisite work of literary art. The two halves of the book are like mirror images that balance each other out. Also being one of the last books of the Hebrew Bible to be written the author seems almost to be meditating upon Israel's identity and task in the world. As our minstrel looks back over the history of Israel's literature one question that comes to mind is how faithful has Israel been as a herald of Yahweh's grace and kingship. Israel was elected to be a "light" to the nations (Isa. 49.1-7; See Gen 12.1-3). Israel is to be be a "kingdom of priests" on behalf of the world. In some sense Israel herself is God's Messiah for the benefit of the all humanity. The author of Jonah could look at his own history as we still do in the church ... and see how we have failed in our calling. We have been narrow, sticklers of orthodoxy, but most often, far from the heartbeat of Yahweh. As Moses declared to Israel at the head of her history "You have been rebellious against the LORD as long as he has known you" (Deut 9.24, NRSV. See the entire chapter).

Jonah 3 opens just as chapter 1 does. Jonah is commissioned a second time to go to Nineveh. It is apparent that after being vomited out on the ground that Jonah did not immediately rush to Mesopotamia. Yahweh has to remind him that he still has not done what he was told to do. Perhaps Jonah thought God would forget about this, in his mind, unpleasant task.

We learn that Jonah does obey the Lord but it is clear, as the story goes, he is not at all pleased at all. In verse 3 we learn an important detail. The NIV renders the text as "Nineveh was a very important city". Nineveh is thus an enormous city. The text, 'ir- gedola le'lohim, though likely means "a great city to/for God." The JPS puts this rendering in its footnote, I am inclined to keep it in the text. The commentators suggest this is the correct rendering as well (Sasson in Anchor Bible and Limburg in OT Library) Nineveh, part of God's creation, is "great" to God but interestingly, or sadly, it is not to Jonah. How often are the values of God and the values of his People not the same!

So Jonah heads off to this city valued by God and proclaims a brief message of doom. We are told in v.1 that Yahweh will give Jonah a message. When Jonah actually cries out, however, there is no messenger formula (i.e. "thus says the Lord"). We are not sure - we are left hanging by the author! -  if Jonah preaches the word of Yahweh or the word of Jonah! We know that God is concerned over the wickedness of the city (1.2) but we are never told just what his message would be.

I mentioned in a previous contribution that a number of words in Jonah appear to carry more than one intended meaning ... polyvalence. We are intended to embrace the possibilities rather than choose between them. Here in Jonah's "speech" we have one of those words: "overturn" or "overthrow." The term is nehpaket. It occurs several times in the Sodom narratives (Gen 19.21, 25, 29) which are echoed several times in the Story of Jonah. Yet in spite of that the word is intentionally ambiguous. It does not mean, necessarily, being nuked or annihilated. It can carry the idea of change or and even repentance. The same word in fact occurs, significantly, in Hosea 11.8 in one of the most poignant pictures of Yahweh in the entire Bible. It is the image of Yahweh "wrestling" with himself over whether or not to punish Israel! (a point not to be lost on the Hebrew reader in the fourth century BC):

"My heart(Yahweh) is changed/overthrown within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger"

What meaning does the author intend? Both! Jonah thinks he is preaching doom but Yahweh subverts his word, ironically, and makes it true in a way that Jonah could never imagine or even desired!. Nineveh was in fact overthrown! The pagans did change. They were "overturned." The prophecy is true ... just in a radically different form than Jonah imagined! Does that say anything to us today??

Jonah preached in his anger and did not (as far as what the author tells us) even mention the name of the deity in whose name he cried. The Ninevehites are polytheists. No wonder the king says "WHO KNOWS?? Perhaps the deity {nameless god} will have compassion" ... this "who knows" echoes the words of other pagans in the story ... the sailors in 1.6 (and as we saw before the words of King David - the author knows this and the readers know this but the King does not). The contrast between the pagans and Jonah could not be set in stronger relief. They don't even know the name of the deity and they turn in faith and embrace sackcloth and ashes.

Here is another interesting tidbit. The LXX reads in Jonah 3.3 "after/in THREE days Nineveh will be overthrown." The Old Latin version carries this reading as well. As far as I know there are no Hebrew mss with this reading but all the LXX do. So before the time of Christ there was a tradition of three days ... perhaps the LXX is trying to balance out the three with the days in the fish ... Either way the Gospel Evangelists often used the LXX rather than the Hebrew to tell their story of Jesus. We will come back to this in another post. But for now ...

After the Lord sovereignly sees that Jonah's words are ironically fulfilled, then he who is renowned for his compassion, lavish in his grace, and his reckless abandon in forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin ... does just that!! He "turns" from the "evil" he would bring upon them.

In Jonah we face again the heart of God. We also see, sadly, how often - and badly - God's People are out of tune with the One they call Father. We are reminded once again of the words of Moses:

"It is not because of my righteousness ... not because of your integrity ... but because the LORD swore an oath to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Understand then that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land ... for you are a stiff-necked people" (Deuteronomy 9.4-6)

One wonders how far we have come in the centuries. We still are incredibly self-righteous. We are often filled with every emotional response to the pagan world but love! We like Jonah have dumped invective on the world perhaps more to see the "justice" of God rain down. But do we realize that the world, like Nineveh, is great to God??

Do we, as God's People, know our messianic identity. That we are placed as a light, a beacon, that shines in the night ... pointing not to ourselves but to the Deity who would rather have Nineveh love him than cower in fear before him. That is the God of the Hebrew Bible Jonah sang about but did not imitate.

Shalom,
Bobby Valentine

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Jonah #5: God's Heart & His Struggle with Israel and Us (Jonah and His Bible)

Jonah and His "Bible"

"Salvation is at the LORD's discretion" (Jonah 2.9)

When it comes to the book of Jonah we are encountering a work of deep divine art and exquisite mastery of irony. The person of Jonah was a real historical person who preached in northern Israel. Yet the word "Jonah" means "dove" in Hebrew which is also a word that is used to describe Israel (Hos 7.11 & 11.11). But the word yonah has powerful overtones ...

"my yonah is in the cleft of the rock" (Song of Songs 2.14)

"open to me, my sister, my love, my yonah, my blameless one!" (Song of Songs 5.2)

"unique is my yonah, my pure one" (Song of Songs 6.9, see 1.15, 4.1, 5.12)

The "deliciousness" and intimacy of yonah is suggestive. Again if polyvalence is used in Jonah then we need not have to decide between these meanings for the word ... we embrace them. As we go through the book we get the feeling that the author intends for us to embrace that ambiguity. The ambiguity acts like a snare. Jonah is the beloved prophet and Jonah symbol of Yahweh's beloved people. This does not mean we are not to think of one historical person but we are to think of both ... the man and God's People. Dove refers to both. Which meaning do we choose? We don't have to choose because the author is working on two planes simultaneously. Jonah is Israel. Jonah is us. We are Jonah.

One indicator that more is going on than simply the history of one man but rather a man symbolic of the whole people is the author's rich use of the Hebrew canon. The language of the book of Jonah is saturated with language, echoes, and intertextualities from the great sweep of Israel's Story with Yahweh. The author makes brilliant use of the "Cultural Literacy" (to use E. D. Hirsch's term. See link for my discussion of that idea) of his readers to make powerful points and to draw his readers/listeners into the narrative itself. The story of Abraham, Yahweh and Sodom is echoing behind the description of the wickedness of Nineveh that has "come up before me." The contrast between Abraham's intercession for the wicked Sodom to Jonah's eagerness for the demise of Nineveh is not lost on the reader/listener. The culturally literate Israelite could not miss the delicious irony of the King of Nineveh quoting the theology of Jeremiah back to the Beloved Dove (cf. Jer 18.7, 8, 11; 26.3, 13, 19). Or the the echoes of the repentant adulterous, murdering, man after God's own hear King David on the pagan's lips, "Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me ..." (2 Sam 12.22). The Beloved Dove explicitly quoting, what is in essence the equivalent of the Apostle's Creed in ancient Israel, the Heartbeat of the faith of Israel, Exodus 34.6-7 (cf. 4.2) cautions us to read with ears in tune with the Story of God with Israel. (The importance of this "creed" to Israel is that it quoted to and paraphrased from beginning to end of the Hebrew Bible ... at least 25x!! See my blog "The Gracious & Compassionate God, Ex 34").

My previous point is demonstrated eloquently in the prayer psalm of Jonah recorded in chapter 2. The psalm is the hymnody of Israel. It is the voice of the people of God in worship. These are the words that the Dove has repeated in countless worship services and have become part of the DNA of prayer in the community. The man Jonah, like the people of God down through the ages, often sing words that are far deeper, richer, and substantive than we truly comprehend. Jonah sounds as religious as the folks broiled by Amos yet we are left wondering if there is substance beyond the form of sounding pious!? To illustrate just how deeply the author makes use of the Psalter (or Jonah memorized hymns) I offer the following line by line comparisons. The verbal echoes are striking. (I was unable to reproduce the parallel columns of my chart. If you are interested in a complete parallel chart of Jonah 2 and the book of Psalms send me an email and I will forward that to you).


Jonah's Psalm/Prayer

v.2 I called to the LORD out of my distress
and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol
I cried, and you heard my voice.

Hebrew Psalter

120.1 I cry to the LORD …
in my distress …
that he may answer me:

31.22b … when I cried to you for help ..
but you heard my supplication …


Jonah's Psalm/Prayer

v.3 For you did cast me

into the deep,

into the heart of the seas,
and the flood was
round about me;
and you waves and billows
passed over me.

Hebrew Psalter

102.10 … you have … thrown me away.

62.2 I have come into deep waters,


and the flood sweeps over me.

42.7 …all your waves and billows
have gone over me.

{Skipping a few verses for convenience sake}

Jonah's Psalm/Prayer

v.7 When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the LORD;

And my prayer
came to you,
into your holy temple.

Hebrew Psalter

142.3 When my spirit is faith …
143.5 I remember the days of old …

88.2 Let my prayer,
Come before you,
Incline your ear to my cry!

Jonah's Psalm/Prayer

v.8 Those who
pay regard to vain idols
forsake hesed.
v.9 But I with the voice
of thanksgiving
will sacrifice to you;

what I have vowed
I will pay.
Deliverance belongs to the LORD!

Hebrew Psalter

31.6 You hate those who pay regard
to vain idols;
but I trust in the LORD.
116.17 I will offer
you the sacrifice of thanksgiving


116.18 I will pay my
vows to the LORD
3.8 Deliverance belongs to the LORD

What can we learn from this intertextuality in the book of Jonah? Just this: The author is not interested in a mere historical telling of a long ago prophet (though he uses history as his tool). The author is interested in the people of God seeing themselves and hearing themselves in the Dove. The Dove is the image of the people of God. The author, like his descendant named Yeshua, brilliantly calls for God's people to move beyond the rhetoric of sound doctrine and into living a life that flows from the heart of God.

That future descendant would tell a story one day of several highly dedicated religious servants of the Lord. Those religious servants see a nameless human being and pass on their way. In a brilliant role reversal (as in Jonah) the hated ones do the right thing, the hated ones demonstrate the heart of God in ways those who memorized the Bible and hymnbook could not fathom (Samaritans were hated ... Nineveh was HATED).

What the author wants us to see is that Jonah is not simply about Jonah ... It is about us. How often do we simply, and piously, justify our rebellion against the Lord in the name of orthodoxy? How often do we seek to be the arbiter of other people's destiny? How often do we joyously sing praise songs at the top of our voices and harbor self-righteous condescending attitudes towards those who are not as sound as ourselves? How often do we quote Scripture on grace and have no sense of the depth of our own need?

We like Jonah can often state correct doctrine "Salvation is at the Lord's discretion" (Jonah 2.9)... but what we people of God often fail to have eyes to see is that this "truth" is no mere doctrine. It is the essence of our very life before our God.

Jonah ... is the Mirror of ... Me!!

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