Jonah a prophet for today handbook - The Diocese of St. Asaph

EXPLORING FAITHTheology for Life

Jonah,A Prophetfor Today

Level 5Year A Term 1

Module Code: REL510

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INTRODUCTION

Aims and Content of the Module

Module Aims:To enable students to examine critically the text of Jonah and investigate its context, purpose and keythemes.To enable students to explore the Book of Jonah as story and investigate characters, plot and setting.To enable students to investigate the theology of the Book of Jonah and explore how this maycontribute to our understanding of the faith of Israel and the mission of the Christian Church.To enable students to critically reflect on Jonah as a resource for Christian discipleship, ministry andmission today.

The Seminar Day is designed to set the scene, to explore the nature of the Book of Jonah and its placewithin the canon of scripture, and interpretive approaches that may be taken to this book today.

Sessions 1-7 explore portions of the book of Jonah, examining the story in detail, exploring otherbiblical texts which parallel or are in tension with the theology of themes in Jonah, and enable studentsto relate these themes to contemporary Christian life.

Session 8 revisits the book of Jonah as a whole and examines the theme of the sign of Jonah in theGospels.

Learning OutcomesOn successful completion of this unit students will be able to:

demonstrate a critical knowledge and understanding of the text of Jonah.describe and critically reflect on Jonah’s context, purpose and key themes.demonstrate an understanding of Jonah as storydemonstrate an understanding of the theology of Jonah.critically reflect on the Book of Jonah as a resource for Christian life and witness today.

The SessionsPlease study the Introduction to each session carefully and undertake the recommended reading from theTextbook - Jonah (SCM Theological Commentary on the Bible) by Phillip Cary before attending thesessions. This knowledge will be required for a full participation in the sessions and is assumed in them.There is also a 250 word written exercise to be completed before each group session.

Assignment questions are provided at the back of this handbook and a bibliography of additionalrecommended sources is below.

Worship and PrayerPlease surround each session with worship and prayer. Provision is made for worship at the beginning ofeach session and for prayer at the end. Please be imaginative and creative.

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Bibliography

Essential Reading

Cary P, SCM Theological Commentary on the Bible on Jonah, London: SCM 2008Simon U JBS Bible Commentary on Jonah, Philadelphia, The Jewish Publication Society 1999Limburg J, Old Testament Library, Jonah, a Commentary, London: SCM 1993Mackay JL, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Tain, Ross-shire: Christian Focus Publications 2008Sweeney MA, Prophetic Literature, Nashville: A bington Press 2006

Other Indicative Reading

Barton and Muddiman, The Oxford Bible Commentary, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2001Beasley, J.R. and others. An Introduction to the Bible. Nashville: Abington ,1991.Brown, R.E. and others. The New Jerome Bible Commentary. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1989.Coggins, R.J. Introducing the Old Testament. Oxford: OUP, 1990 .Charpentier, E. How to read the Old Testament. London: SCM, 1993.Dunn DG and Rogerson JW, Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible, Eerdmans Grand Rapids, Michigan 2003McConville, G., Exploring the Old Testament volume 4 – Prophets, London: SPCK, 2002Rogerson J.R. Beginning Old Testament Study. London: SPCK, 1983.

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Seminar Day

JONAH, A PROPHET FOR TODAY

For the Seminar Day

Study the Introduction to the Seminar Day and the Introduction in Cary, Jonah.

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SEMINAR DAY

Jonah, a Prophet for Today

INTRODUCTION

BackgroundThe book of Jonah nestles in the bible between Obadiah and Micah, is four chapters in length and tells thestory of the prophet Jonah.

Jonah was called by God to go to the great city of Nineveh and to ‘cry out against it’. However, rather thanrespond to this high calling, Jonah immediately ran off in the other direction, taking a ship to Tarshish. Godcaused a great storm to blow and the ship was put in great danger. Once it was discovered that Jonah wasthe cause of this danger, he told the crew to pitch him over the side into the sea. This they regretfully did,but God provided a large fish to swallow Jonah. He then spent three days and nights in its belly. Near todeath, Jonah called to God for deliverance and God spoke to the fish and it spewed Jonah out onto the dryland.

God then called Jonah a second time to go to Nineveh and this time Jonah agreed to go. He went into thecity proclaiming judgement against it, and before he had got more than a third of the way in, the peopleheard him, believed God, proclaimed a fast, put on sackcloth and sat in ashes. When the King heard hejoined in the general repentance and proclaimed that every human being and animal in the city must do thesame.

When God saw the people repent he changed his mind about the calamity that had planned to bring on thecity. This made Jonah angry and he went and sat down in a booth he made for himself in a huff. God madea bush grow up to give Jonah shade, which made him happy. However, he then sent a worm to eat the bushand a scorching east wind. This made Jonah hot and faint and he asked that he might die.

So God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?’ And he said, ‘Yes, angry enough todie.’ Then the LORD said, ‘You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labour and which youdid not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned aboutNineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who do notknow their right hand from their left, and also many animals?’

It is clear from a description of the text that the book is odd. It is counted as a prophetic book but it isclearly different in so many ways from the other books that bear that title. Jonah is placed in the JewishCanon between Obadiah and Micah as one of the prophetic books in the Book of the Twelve. This is in spiteof the fact that Jonah is never called a prophet in the book and it is a story about his adventures rather than arecord of his prophetic utterances. In truth Jonah would not have been out of place alongside Tobit in theApocrypha or alongside the stories about Elijah and Elisha in the First Book of Kings.

Commentators agree that it is almost impossible to be sure when this book was written but, considering thestructure and intention of the work, and the language used, it is likely that Jonah was written and used at atime when the people of Judah returned from their exile in Babylon. However, the narrative of the book, thelinking of Jonah with Amos, Hosea and Micah in the Book of the Twelve and the reference to a ‘Jonah, sonof Amittai’ in 2 Kings 14 suggests that the Book of Jonah is set in the eighth century BC when Assyria was agreat world power and Nineveh was its thriving capital.

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It is clear from the way in which this small book is structured that it is written to be heard rather than read.In truth, of course, all the books in our scriptures were written for that purpose because there were very fewmanuscripts and virtually nobody could read. Indeed, before the invention of the printing press and the widedistribution of printed texts most people would encounter the scriptures being read or told before a gatheredcommunity and one can imagine how many of these texts would be greatly enhanced by the storyteller’s art.

However, as one reads the book of Jonah, it becomes clear that certain phrases and ideas are repeated inways that help the listener to memorise the message. There are also fourteen questions in the four chaptersof Jonah, and in the first part of the story, all are directed at Jonah. It seems therefore possible that thesequestions were part of a teaching strategy that is designed to allow the listener to put her/himself in the roleof Jonah and to address these questions for her/himself.

Certainly the humour of the book and the way it is written cries out for dramatic interpretation. Thestoryteller would add a great deal to the way that this book could be understood and interpreted by the waythat it was read and presented. And, for this reason, Jonah is written with a great sense of humour, irony andsatire.

Many would agree that the book of Jonah pokes fun at traditional accounts of the prophets and at theattitudes held by many Jews about themselves and their place in the world. Because the work was written inHebrew, much of the treacherous humour of the text has been lost in translation. However, we can still get abroad sense of the humour and of the challenge that the text represents through the English translation.

For all these reasons, it is unlikely that this story was ever intended to be an historical account of an actualperson and is best understood as a story told to challenge and educate, rather like the parables that Jesus told,good examples of which in this context are the Good Samaritan or the Prodigal Son.

Interpretative StrategyThe Book of Jonah has a long history of interpretation in both the Jewish and the Christian communities offaith. The book is seen very differently in these communities. In order to represent the richness of thesedifferent interpretative communities, the introductions to each of the sessions has been presented as a‘dialogue’ or ‘conversation’ between three academics.

The Jewish tradition is represented by the Jewish scholar Uriel Simon through his JPS Bible Commentary,entitled ‘Jonah’. The overtly Christian tradition is represented by Phillip Cary through his SCM TheologicalCommentary, entitled ‘Jonah’ and James Limburg, through his SCM ‘Old Testament Library series, alsocalled ‘Jonah’ represents a scholarship that is more neutral in tone but accepts the importance of Jonah forboth Jew and Christian.

Each of these scholars would agree with the above text in general terms, but each differs on the way inwhich they broadly understand the book, and on the translation and interpretation of individual verses.

Simon, coming from a Jewish interpretative tradition, believes that Jonah addresses three basic questions, 1. Why was Jonah unwilling to prophesy? 2. What did the Lord teach him through tempest, fish and gourd? 3. And what are readers supposed to learn from the book?

He notes that Jonah is designated the ‘haftarah’ for Afternoon Service on the Day of Atonement, and thisreflects the well attested idea in Jewish interpretive thought, that Jonah depicts the concept of repentance.He also recognises that others have traditionally looked to a different core message in Jonah, understandingrather that this is a book about a prophet who preferred loyalty to his people over his duty to obey the Lordof the universe. On this view, the book is designed to root out that belief and to assert that the prophet’s lovefor his people can’t keep him from fulfilling the mission imposed on him by God.

He also notes that others within his tradition have understood this book to be primarily about prophecy.Jonah had previously enjoyed a good reputation (as in 2 Kings 14: 25). He is therefore concerned about the

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veracity of his prophecy and his reputation as a ‘false’ prophet in both Israel and Nineveh if the people ofNineveh repent and are not destroyed.

But Simon is himself convinced that the key theme of Jonah is the tension between compassion and justice.Jonah argues on behalf of strict justice in the face of the Lord’s compassion. For Jonah, the punishment ofsinners in accordance with their wickedness is demanded by strict justice and is essential to detertransgressors. Allowing the judge to stand over and against the law, as the Lord does, undermines itsauthority. But Jonah learns that God tempers justice with mercy and punishment with the hope and joy ofsalvation.

The Midrash of Jonah adds a further comment by Jonah to the end of the book. According to the Midrash,Jonah fell on his face and said, ‘Conduct your world according to the attributes of mercy’. In truth, forSimon, as for most Jewish commentators, the gentiles are incidental characters in this tale of God’srelationship with Jonah and the issues that that raises for the Jewish people. That is because the book isessentially a-historical. Like Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, it deals essentially with a theological problemrather than a real situation.

Limburg understands Jonah to be essentially a didactic story. The book should be understood alongside thestory that Jotham told about the trees (Judges 9: 7-9) or the story that Nathan told King David about thelamb (2 Samuel 12) or the parables that Jesus told. Jonah is a fictional story developed around an historicalfigure for didactic purposes. As noted above, Jonah contains fourteen questions and this is designed to putthe listener in the shoes of the person being questioned. Indeed, in this book, Jonah is more the one who isquestioned than the one who preaches. In fact, some eleven questions are directed at Jonah/the listener, withthe Lord’s final question still ringing in their/our ears.

Cary begins by noting that he in engaging in a Christian reading of a book of the ‘Old Testament’, and likeall books in the bible, it is about Christ, the Messiah. He notes that, in the Gospel narratives, Christidentifies himself with the ‘sign of Jonah’.

For him, Jonah is a book about the relationship between Jews and Gentiles, and between Jonah and JesusChrist. He admits that his interpretation of the book’s concluding question is unique. He understands theplant that protects Jonah in the final chapter of the book, like several such plants in the Old Testament, to bean image of the lineage of David that seems to have died out. God’s open question at the end of Jonah is notonly God’s pitying of the Gentiles, but his apparent abandonment of Israel, allowing the messianic line todisappear, until of course the coming of Jesus Christ.

All three commentators recognise that there is humour in the Book of Jonah. It is sometimes sharp andclearly raises a level of concern for Simon. Jewish commentators are familiar with a traditional Christianinterpretation of Jonah which paints him as the stupid, arrogant Jew, who cuts a ridiculous figure throughmost of the narrative. He therefore tends to downplay the humour of the text, especially when it touchesdirectly on the character of Jonah. For Simon, Jonah is a genuinely pathetic character in his hopelessstruggle with God, but the text does not humiliate him. The other commentators are happier to acknowledgethe humour, but that is because both Limburg and Cary understand that the laugh is on us. Cary notes thatwe need to associate ourselves with Jonah or we miss the point of the joke.

Jonah is a humorous little book, a surprising little book and a challenging little book. It is arguably a bookto stimulate and encourage preachers, teachers, pastors and evangelists and its influence in the way that wemay understand ourselves, our faith, our religious community and God is completely out of proportion to itssize.

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SESSION 1

THE RUNAWAY

For this session

Read Jonah 1:1-3

Read the relevant sections of Cary, Jonah.

Read the introduction to this session and examine the biblical references.

Choose three significant words or phrases from Jonah 1:1-3.In 250 words explore their meaning.

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SESSION 1

The Runaway

INTRODUCTION

The Runaway (Jonah 1: 1-3)

Simon begins his commentary on this section of the Book of Jonah with the words, ‘The judge of all the earthdispatches a Hebrew prophet to a gentile metropolis to proclaim its immediate destruction’.

The Word of the Lord cameLimburg is keen to point out that the first word of the Book of Jonah is, in Hebrew wayehi, meaning‘now…came’. This, he argues, is a typical introduction to a narrative. It is the first word of the books of Josh-ua and Judges and signals that what follows is to be understood as a story. It is like starting with the words,‘Once upon a time’.

Simon points out that this opening phrase is typical of prophetic literature, but doesn’t normally come at thebeginning of the narrative.

Cary emphasises the importance of the Word of the Lord, which is made manifest in this book, setting thingsin motion and bringing unexpected things to light. From a Christian perspective, he relates this to thebeginning of John’s Gospel, ‘In the beginning was the word’.

Cary is also interested in the word ‘YHWH’, used here for God and Limburg reflects on the way in whichYahweh is used in this book to refer to the God of the Hebrews and ‘Elohim’ or ‘El’ to the God of the non-Israelites.

Jonah, Son of AmittaiFrom his Jewish perspective, Simon reflects that it is appropriate for the narrator to use Jonah’s full name andcites Jeremiah 1:1 as a further example.

Limburg and Cary also recognise this but further note that the word ‘Jonah’ means a dove and Cary adds thatAmittai can mean Truth. Jonah is the dove of truth. Limburg notes that Jonah son of Amittai had a positivereputation in Israel for the work that he did with King Jereboam to bring peace to Northern Israel. He notesthat a reference to Jonah, son of Amittai can be found in 2 Kings 14: 25.

The Deuteronomic historian mentions Jonah in a report on the accomplishments of King Jereboam (786-746BCE). Jereboam extended the borders of Israel and brought a period of extended peace. And this happenedbecause the Lord, ‘spoke by the hand of his servant Jonah, son of Amittai, the prophet’. Jonah gave the Kingsound theological counsel on political and military matters and therefore presumably enjoyed a goodreputation in his homeland. He is the last in the sequence of prophets in the Northern Kingdom before it istaken into captivity by Assyria, whose capital is Nineveh.

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From a particularly Christian perspective, Cary is interested in the relationship between the ‘dove’ in Noah(Gen 8: 10-11), the story of Jonah (the dove) and the coming of the Holy Spirit as a dove at Jesus’ baptism(Mark 1: 10-11)

Nineveh, that great citySimon notes that Nineveh is the oldest, largest city in Mesopotamia, mentioned in Genesis 10: 11-12. It isgreat because of its importance and its size, not to mention the size of its sin.

Limburg places Nineveh on the East bank of the Tigris and notes that it is 500 miles from Israel as the crowflies.

Cary recognises that it was relatively weak in the first half of the eighth century BCE, when our story is set,but will have been known to those who originally read the Book of Jonah as the capital of Assyria. AndAssyria destroyed Northern Israel and was itself destroyed by Babylon.

There is a dispute between the commentators on the importance of this background information. Does thewriter of Jonah want his audience to take this background information on board, or does he, as Simonsuggests, give us minimal information about this context to emphasise that we should not adduce biographicalor historical factors in an attempt to explain the prophet’s call and response.

And cry out against it for their wickedness has come before MeThe clamour of the accumulated iniquity of Nineveh has come before God. Simon notes that this echoeslanguage used about the generation of the flood (Genesis 6:5) and of Sodom (Genesis 18: 21). Thewickedness of the people reflects the way they treat each other and their general immoral practice. And to ‘cryagainst’ the city suggests that it is doomed to destruction.

Cary prefers the translation, ‘before my face’ to ‘before me’. Evil is entering the presence of the great King.The justice of God, in tackling evil of this kind, is to be applauded and celebrated.

But Jonah set out to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LordSimon notes that this is an act of rebellion. Jeremiah had spoken of his inability to hold in the word of theLord (Jeremiah 20:9) but Elijah, in line with all the other prophets, had obeyed the Lord when he had orderedhim to go to Zaraphath (1 Kings 17: 9-10). Like Jeremiah, Jonah cannot ignore God’s word, and like Elijah,he sets out in response to God’s word, but, unlike both, he flees in the opposite direction. The term used forJonah’s flight (mi-lifnei) suggests a turning of one’s back, rather than a flight due to fear (mi-penei)

For Cary it is also an act of disobedience, but for him, Jonah, in fleeing Israel, is fleeing the presence of God inthe temple and the sacred land of Israel. All commentators agree that Tarshish is likely to be Tartessa insouthern Spain, renowned for its trade and its wealth. And of course it is in the opposite direction to Nineveh.

Cary is keen to point out that Jonah went via Joppa, the place where Elijah restored the widow’s son, Jesushealed the child of the Syro-Phoenician woman and Peter had a dream in which gentile food was deemed to beclean.

He paid his fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

Simon notes that the feminine possessive attached to the word ‘fare’ suggests that he paid the boat’s fare andnot just his own, so that it could get away quickly. Others disagree. The fare would anyway have been high,for the journey could take a year, suggesting Jonah was of high birth.

And both Cary and Simon notes that Jonah goes ‘down’ to Joppa’ and ‘down’ into the boat and wonder if thisis a comment on his spiritual journey.MotiveAll commentators make it clear that neither Jonah nor the narrator gives us any sense of Jonah’s motive inrunning away. They are both silent on the issue.

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Arrive and worship

Reflect on seminar day

Worship together.

Project 1.

Read Jonah 1:1-3 aloud.

Identify what God does in the passage Identify what Jonah does in the passage Explore their motives, their possible feelings, and the interactions between them.

You may like to explore the story verbally, in writing, as a drawn storyboard or as a dramatic presentation.

Identify and discuss key words, phrases and ideas and their significance for understanding the text.

Project 2.

Read each of the passages below and for each explore how the concept responding to God's call is experienced and understood.

How are these similar to and different from the story of Jonah 1:1-3?

1 Kings 17:9-10 Jeremiah 20:7-9 Isaiah 6:8-10 Mark 1:9-13 Luke 9:59-62

Project 3.

Discuss the view that: The church is struggling today because it has 'set out to flee' from God.

Reflection.

As individuals Write out Jonah 1:1-2, and prayerfully explore how this scripture touches your life.

Worship together.

Planning.

Plan your preparation for session 2.

GROUP SESSION 1

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SESSION 2

THE STORM

For this session

Read Jonah 1:4-16



Choose three significant words or phrases from Jonah 1:4-16.In 250 words explore their meaning.

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The Storm (Jonah 1: 4-16)

But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea and such a mighty storm came upon the sea that theship threatened to break up.

Both Simon and Limburg note the order of the Hebrew text. Putting the subject before the verb emphasisesthe doer of the action, the Lord. Simon also notes that the word ‘hurl’ or ‘cast’ appears three times in thispart of the narrative. The Lord hurls a great wind upon the sea, the sailors hurl the cargo into the sea with noeffect and Jonah is ultimately hurled into the sea.

Cary is taken by the violent nature of the language, more violent than the experience of the flood in Noah’sday. He notes that the Lord hurls the wind as if it were a weapon, a spear. He also notes that the wind is‘great’, as is Nineveh, the storm, the fear of the sailors and the fish. But behind all of this is a God whosegreatness cannot be measured.

Simon notes that the ship has been attributed with consciousness, it was ‘in danger’ or ‘intended’ to breakup. Limburg recognises the story teller’s art in this.

Then the mariners were afraid and each cried to his God. They threw the cargo into the sea, to light-en it for them.

Simon notes that the Hebrew word for ‘sailor’ or ‘mariner’ occurs only here and in Ezekiel. Clearly the in-tention is to identify the men as competent ‘professionals’ doing all that they can in an impossible situation.

All commentators recognise that they were a multi ethnic crew who represented many nations. Limburgnotes that they are treated in a favourable light. They do what they can. They pray to their God and takepractical action.

Cary notes that it is the sailors who respond to the Lord. They find themselves in the middle of a quarrelbetween Jonah and God. He thinks that their reaction evokes Psalm 107: 23-27.

Jonah meantime had gone down into the hold of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep

Simon and Limburg note that the Hebrew puts the subject in front of the verb to emphasise the contrast be-tween the sailors and Jonah.

Limburg notes that it is his third ‘going down’. He went down to Joppa and he went down into the hold ofthe ship. His sleep is deep and death like, as in Genesis 2:21. Simon compared his sleep with Elijah’s in 1Kings 19.

Cary is reminded of Mk 4: 35-41. Jonah doesn’t have Christ’s authority and power but does eventually stillthe storm by giving himself up to death by being thrown overboard. He recognises that the church fallsasleep amidst disaster and individual Christians do the same.

The Captain came and said to him, ‘What are you doing, sound asleep? Get up, call on your God.Perhaps the God will spare us a thought so that we do not perish.

SESSION 2

The Storm

INTRODUCTION

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Simon and Limburg note that the captain is described as ‘chief of the linesmen or ropers’, names given tosailors. He rebukes Jonah, and using words that are the same as Jonah’s commission by God, tells him to‘get up and call’ on his God.

Limburg notes that the captain’s first response is to ask him to pray. Cary sees that he is used by God andthat he is a man of integrity, ‘the most religious human being in the book’. He sees a parallel with Gethse-mane (Mark 14: 32-42). The disciples sleep through a time of crisis.

Jonah is asked to invoke God’s name, to call upon him.

The sailors said to one another, ‘Come, let us cast lots, so that we may know on whose account this ca-lamity has come upon us’. So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.

Simon assumes Jonah maintained a stubborn silence in response to the Captain’s entreaty and this makes thesailors get involved.

Limburg notes that the sailors make two theological assumptions: i) the storm is a divine punishment for themisdeeds of someone on board and ii) that God will communicate through the casting of lots.

Simon quotes Psalm 18:18, ‘The lot puts an end to strife and separates those locked in dispute’. The pebbleswere thrown into a concealed spot, the fold of a garment or a vessel and withdrawn one at a time. He givesexamples in Joshua 7: 14-18 and 1 Samuel 14: 41-43.

Limburg notes the use of lots in Acts 1:26, though here it is accompanied by the prayer of the congregation.

Cary translates ‘one another’ as neighbours and speculates on the mutual obligation that this implies. Healso sees parallels with the Day of Atonement and the selection of the scapegoat (Deuteronomy 7:7-9) whois not sacrificed but driven out. He notes parallels also with Christ.

Then they said to him, ‘Tell us why this calamity has come upon us. What is your occupation? Wheredo you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?’ ‘I am a Hebrew’, he re-plied, ‘and I worship the Lord, the God of Heaven, who made the sea and the dry land’.

Simon notes that the sailors don’t act rashly and Limburg recognises that they are still described in a favour-able light as calm, reasonable, fair men.

It is the first time that Jonah speaks and he describes himself as a Hebrew. Simon notes that this is a wordoften used by Jews when in contact with other nations, but Cary wonders whether it might carry the implica-tion of ‘foreigner’ or ‘refugee’ from its usage by the Egyptians in the book of Exodus.

Jonah worships or ‘fears’ the Lord. In the Hebrew the object comes before the subject to emphasise theLord as the God of heaven. All commentators refer to texts that support this (Isaiah 4: 5-9, Exodus 20: 11,Psalm 135: 6, Isaiah 40: 22-23)

Simon sees Jonah taking responsibility for what is happening and Cary understands that he is making a sol-emn confession of faith, though wonders still if his answer is evasive.

Then the men were even more afraid and said to him, ‘What is this you have done?’ For the menknew that he was fleeing from the Lord, because he had told them.

Simon notes, ‘The men feared a great fear’, magnified when they hear Jonah’s confession. The word fearcan mean both frightened and being in relationship to God. He wonders whether there is a contrast here be-tween the sailor’s great fear of the storm and Jonah’s fear of the Lord. Jonah’s fear seems less profound ashe seems perfectly able to rebel against God and disobey him.

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The men’s question, ‘What have you done?’ is not a rebuke. It is not, ‘what have you done to us?’, but ageneral astonishment in the way he has treated God. Limburg notes that this is the same question posed toEve in the Garden of Eden (Gen 3:13) and Cary notes this is also the question put to Cain (Gen 4:10)

Cary wonders why the narrator announces at this point that the men already knew that Jonah was fleeingfrom his God and speculates that he is suggesting that, although the sailors knew he was running away, theyhave only just realised who it is he is running from and what that means to them. The men are coming tofaith in the God of Heaven.

Then they said to him, ‘What shall we do to you that the sea may quieten down for us?’ For the seawas growing more and more tempestuous. He said to them, ‘Pick me up and throw me into the sea,then the sea will quieten down for you, because I know it is because of me that this great storm hascome upon you’. Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not,for the sea grew more and more stormy against them.

Simon notes that the men still consult Jonah and are not harsh with him. They ask him what they should do.

Limburg notes that Jonah speaks only in response to the sailors’ questions.

Cary notes this is a new stage in the narrative as the attention has shifted to the future. What can they do?Jonah tells them to ‘hurl’ him (like God hurls the storm and the men hurl the cargo overboard) into the sea.

Simon argues that Jonah submits to God but persists in his rebellion. He chooses death. He sidesteps guiltbut accepts responsibility. He turns a punishment into an act of self sacrifice.

Cary thinks he does accept his guilt and sees the action as Christ like. It is not suicide but passive accept-ance. He quotes the lament in Job 3: 25-26 and wonders whether this is the shape of redemption as exempli-fied in Matthew 21: 33-46.

The men try to save Jonah. They try to row (literally dig) hard but to no avail. Human effort cannot over-come God’s will.

Then they cried out to the Lord, ‘Please o Lord, we pray, do not let us perish on account of this man’slife. Do not make us guilty of innocent blood: for you O Lord have done as it pleased you. So theypicked Jonah up and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men fearedthe Lord even more, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

Simon and Limburg note that the sailors ‘call upon the Lord’ while Jonah still refuses to do so, (as he hasrefused to cry out to Nineveh and to cry out to God at the captain’s request) and take on responsibility fordoing the Lord’s will.

All commentators realise that the men’s great fear of the storm is replaced by a fear of God and note the playon words here. They offer sacrifice to God and make solemn vows when the storm abates.

Simon, from his Jewish perspective notes that Jonah, ‘magnified the name of the Lord among the gentiles,even when he ran away from Him’. However, he assumes that the sailors haven’t abandoned their paganbeliefs, but encounter and worship Israel’s God.

Cary, from a Christian perspective, also recognises that Jonah has been instrumental in bringing gentiles toGod, but wants to return to the notion of ‘scapegoat’, noting that when Jonah is ‘hurled out’, the boat be-comes a holy place. He wonders whether the idea of the son of Israel sinking into the sea, leaving a boat-load of gentile worshippers is a sign. He notes that Augustine talked of the wood of the ship and the wood ofthe cross, and saw a connection between Christ’s three days in the tomb and Jonah’s three days in the fish.

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Arrive and worship

Reflect on any issues that have arisen from the last session.

Worship together.

Project 1.


Identify what God does in the passage Identify what Jonah does in the passage

Identify what other characters and entities do in the passage Explore their motives, their possible feelings, and the interactions between them.



Project 2.

Read each of the passages below. For each compare and contrast the meaning of the storm with the meaning of the storm in Jonah. Also compare and contrast the response to the storm in each case.


Psalm 107:23-32 Genesis 7:17-24 Acts 27:18-26, 41-44 Mark 4:35-40

Project 3.

Discuss the view that: The Church is hurling cargo and people overboard in an attempt to stay afloat.

Reflection.

As individuals Write out Jonah 1:11-12, and prayerfully explore how this scripture touches your life.

Worship together.

Planning.


GROUP SESSION 2

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SESSION 3

THE FISH

For this session

Read Jonah 1:17-2:11



Choose three significant words or phrases from Jonah 1:17-2:11In 250 words explore their meaning.

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SESSION 3

The Deep

INTRODUCTION

The Deep (Jonah 1:17-2:11)

But the Lord provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish forthree days and three nights

Simon writes, ‘Just as the storm blocked Jonah’s course to Tarshish, the great fish closes off the gates ofdeath’. The prophet is trapped and imprisoned but remains resolutely silent.

All commentators note that the fish is ‘commissioned’ or ‘appointed’ by God for its task. Limburg notes it isa great fish, (like the great city and the great wind and the great fear) open through the centuries to a varietyof artistic interpretations.

Cary turns to the psalms (Psalm 104: 24-26 and Psalm 51: 9-10) to make the point that the great fishes, likeLeviathan, are made and controlled by God. Leviathan had come to symbolise chaos in the world, but herethe great fish answers to God’s commission.

Limburg notes that the word ‘swallow’ denotes a suddenness, a gulp. Jonah has gone down to Joppa, downinto the hold of the ship and now down into the belly of the fish, into the depths of the sea, the final descent.

Cary notes that Israel has passed through water unhurt at the Exodus and that the people had been ‘swal-lowed up’ (Jeremiah 51:34) by Babylon into exile and had returned. Could Jonah represents the people inexile?

But Jonah might also represent Christian baptism, being buried with Christ. He speculates on the fact thatan early anagram for Christ (Jesus Christ Son of God Saviour) made the Greek word Ixthus, fish.

Then Jonah prayed to the Lord from the belly of the fish, saying

Simon feels that it is the fact that Jonah is trapped between life and death, and is powerless in the fish thatfinally makes him pray.

But his prayer is a psalm that has given commentators much to think about over many years. Simon recog-nises that traditional exegesis has assumed that the narrator wrote the psalm at the same time that he wrotethe rest of the book. However, there are problems with this idea. The psalm is a hymn of thanksgivingwhen we might expect that Jonah would offer an entreaty to be forgiven and a promise of repentance. Also,it concludes, rather oddly in the circumstances, with a ceremonial promise to offer thanksgiving in Jerusa-lem in the temple.

Simon therefore suggests three options. i) It was indeed written by the author. ii) The author used a psalmhe knew. iii) It was a later addition. He discounts the first and argues that, if the original author found andinserted a psalm into the narrative at this point, then we should recognise that Jonah is still not ready to re-pent of his disobedience. If it is a later addition to the text, then it is likely that it is meant to redress Jonah’ssilence on the ship.

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Neither Limburg nor Cary follow this line of thought. Both assume the psalm was written by the originalauthor. Limburg believes that the author built on the pattern of a psalm of individual thanksgiving and hasused many phrases from the psalms in its construction.

Thanksgiving psalms articulate the psalmists’ grateful response to God for a specific act of deliverance andat their heart is the story of salvation. Limburg suggests that Jonah’s psalm closely resembles Psalm 30.Both are addressed to the Lord and yet talk about the Lord. He believes that this suggests that the book ofJonah was used as a means of teaching the post exilic Israelites about their faith.

Cary is comfortable with the psalm, believing that Jonah is acting prophetically by speaking as if his salva-tion has already occurred. He is confidently proclaiming the word of the Lord, summarising the whole storyof his redemption in advance. He believes that Jonah is finally getting round to doing what the captain hadasked him to do on the ship.

I called to the Lord out of my distress,and he answered me.

out of the belly of the sheol I cried and you heard my voice.You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas,

and the flood surrounded me,All your waves and all your

billows passed over meAnd I said, I am driven away from your sighthow shall I look again upon

your holy temple.The waters closed over me

and the deep surrounded meweeds were wrapped around my head

at the roots of the mountains.I went down to the land whose bars

closed upon me for ever.

Limburg notes that these verses provide a description of the distress of being thrown overboard, but Caryrecognises the poetic anguish of the suffering human soul. The language is of a traditional biblical prayer.

All note that sheol is the place of the dead in Jewish thought, the lowest circle of the universe to which allthe dead descend (Psalm 86:13).

Simon notes that ‘cast’ can mean thrown but also rejected. Jonah is rejected by God, driven away in a finaldismissal. Cary notes that God does this, but Jonah is responsible.

Limburg notes that Jonah’s descent is now complete.

Cary thinks that Jonah’s singing in the belly of the fish recalls the exiles singing the Lord’s song in by thewaters of Babylon (Psalm 137:1). He notes that Jonah does not ask for forgiveness because he is dead. Sinleads to death. His desire to look again on God’s Holy Temple, destroyed by the Babylonians and rebuilt bythe returning exiles, evokes the temple of Christ’s body, destroyed and rebuilt at the resurrection.

Yet you brought my life out of the pit, O Lord my God,As my life was ebbing away I remembered the Lordand my prayer came to you

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into your holy templeThose who worship vain idols forsake their true loyaltyBut I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to youwhat I have vowed I will pay

Deliverance belongs to the Lord.

Cary notes that this is a turning point in the narrative. Jonah has been going down, but this now changes.For the first time he has addressed the Lord as ‘my God’, and now he begins an ascent.

Limburg also recognises that this part of the prayer begins with deliverance and reminds us that ‘the pit’ isanother word for sheol.

The commentators disagree over the phrase translated in the NRSV as ‘those who worship vain idols’. Si-mon prefers ‘those who cling to empty folly will give up their bounty’ and suggests that the meaning canbest be understood when read in conjunction with Psalm 31: 7-8. Cary prefers ‘those who pay heed to vani-ties of deceit forsake their loving kindness’ Limburg accepts the NRSV translation but sees this verse as ateaching device ready to challenge the behaviour of the people for whom this book was written.

Cary also sees in ‘the voice of thanksgiving’ a reference to the Eucharist, that is, like Jonah’s aspiration, notyet consummated but already present with us.

Then the Lord spoke to the fish and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.

Again the fish is at God’s command. Limburg notes that God the creator continues to control events in thenatural world.

Simon doesn’t think that the words ‘spewed out’ suggest a derogatory exit from the fish, but Cary sees thisas one of the comic moments of the tale.

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Arrive and worship


Worship together.

Project 1.

Read Jonah 1:17-2:11 aloud.





Project 2.

Read each of the passages below and for each explore how the concepts of being 'in the depths' or 'in the belly of Sheol' are experienced and understood.

How are these similar to and different from the story of Jonah 1:17-2:11?

Psalm 30 Psalm 137:1-6 Mark 15:33-34 Romans 6:1-4

Project 3.

Discuss the view that: Christians are most effective when they are in the belly of the whale and not in the boat.

Reflection.

As individuals Write out Jonah 1:17-2:11, and prayerfully explore how this scripture touches your life.

Worship together.

Planning.


GROUP SESSION 3

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SESSION 4

THE RE-ASSIGNMENT

For this session

Read Jonah 3:1-5



Choose three significant words or phrases from Jonah 3:1-5In 250 words explore their meaning.

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SESSION 4

The Re-assignment

INTRODUCTION

The Re-assignment (Jonah 3: 1-5)

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time saying, ‘Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, andproclaim to it the message that I tell you’.

All commentators remark on the close parallel between this section and the opening of the book. Limburgnotes that we might expect to see Jonah fulfilling his promise, made from the depths of sheol, to sacrifice atthe temple. Instead we go back to the beginning.

But there is a difference. This time Jonah obeys. Cary notes that Jonah is not just starting over, he is begin-ning a new life, like the exiles freed from Babylon or a Christian emerging from the waters of baptism.

Now he is like the other prophets, like Elijah in 1 Kings 17: 8-10. Simon notes, ‘In utter contrast to the firstscene, this time the prophet obeys the injunction to go to Nineveh and the narrator emphasises that he fol-lows his instructions to the letter’. This time he is to cry out ‘to’ Nineveh and not ‘against’ it. Perhaps it isnot to be about destruction after all.

Limburg notes that the Lord is patient, though he retains an urgent concern for the gentile people of Nine-veh.

But Jonah’s silence still suggests a rebellious heart and Cary notes that, ‘the story of sin and redemptiondoes not end with new birth’. The reborn self still contains elements of the old Adam.

So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an ex-ceedingly large city, a three day walk across.

All commentators recognise that the translation ‘an exceedingly large city’ is literally ‘a city great beforeGod’. Limburg notes that the term ‘Elohim’ is here used for God because this is a gentile place. Simon tellsus that excavations prove the walls to be 12 kilometres long and the city 5 kilometres across.

Nineveh is large on a Godly scale. Even so, three days walk across is an exaggeration. The narrator is try-ing to prove that this city is worthy of God’s attention. Like everything else in Jonah it is ‘great’.

Cary notes that it ‘was’ a great city. It is not at the time that this story was written.

Cary also wants us to recognise that the three day’s walk is meant to evoke Jonah’s spell of three days in thefish. In both cases he is not enjoying what he is doing. In both cases God has trapped him into service. Healso suggests that this evokes the three days Christ was in the tomb.

Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s walk. And he cried out, ‘Forty days more, and Ninevehshall be overthrown’.

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Simon notes that Jonah finally begins to fulfil the divine command. ‘To go’ into the city is the antithesis ofhis flight, ‘to go’ with the others to Tarshish. He goes a day’s walk, a third into the city.

Cary wonders if the ‘one day’s walk’ parallels Elijah’s ‘one days walk’ into the wilderness in 1 Kings 19: 4.He goes to die.

Limburg notes that he ‘cries out’. The word ‘qara’ has been used a lot in the narrative though translated inslightly different ways. Jonah was told to ‘preach’ against Nineveh, the captain asked Jonah to ‘call upon’his God, the sailors ‘cried out’ in prayer to God and Jonah ‘called on’ God from sheol. Now finally he‘preaches’ against Nineveh originally instructed.

Forty days is of course a relatively long period of time in the scriptures as in Deuteronomy 9: 18. In thiscase it is a period of grace, giving an opportunity to escape the coming destruction either by flight or repent-ance.

But Nineveh will be ‘overthrown’ or correctly ‘overturned’. It is an utter destruction calling to mind Sodomand Gomorrah (Genesis19: 21,25,29). Cary speculates that there might be a pun here. Overturned can meanturned over or turned around. God may have a different purpose than Jonah realises.

Simon defends the brevity of Jonah’s announcement. He wonders if it is a sign of grudging compliance, butconcludes he was only sent to inform the city of the sentence passed on it. Either way, nothing is said aboutwho will overturn Nineveh or how.

And the people of Nineveh believed God: they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, puton sackcloth.

Simon wonders whether Jonah just repeated his short proclamation, or did he make it plain that he wasspeaking on behalf of the mighty judge of all the earth?

Cary is happy that the word of God is able to convert Nineveh, with minimal help from Jonah. It is the kindof totally unexpected outcome that the bible embraces. It wasn’t Jonah’s word but God’s word.

He also notices that, in the scriptures, those outside Israel are more likely to listen. He cites Ezekiel’s com-mission in Ezekiel 3: 5-7, where God suggests that foreigners would listen to his word much more willingly.And he also cites the gospels where Jesus uses the example of Nineveh to shame his own people (Matthew12:41).

All recognise than fasting and sackcloth are a common sign of repentance. Limburg notes that fasting couldapply to individuals or communities and it often included children and animals. Cary notes that sackclothwas a course weave of goat or camel hair and was a sign of abasement.

All agree that for the second time, Jonah has unwittingly saved a group of gentiles who turn to the Lord inspite of his best efforts.

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31

Arrive and worship


Worship together.

Project 1.






Project 2.

Read each of the passages below and for each explore how the concept of judgement is experienced and understood.


Genesis 18:20-21, 19:24-25 Amos 5:11-17 Matthew 11:20-24 Matthew 3:11-15

Project 3.

Discuss the view that: The mission of the Church in Wales is to 'cry out against' Cardiff.

Reflection.

As individuals Write out Jonah 3:5, and prayerfully explore how this scripture touches your life.

Worship together.

Planning.


GROUP SESSION 4

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SESSION 5

THE TURNING

For this session

Read Jonah 3:6-10




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SESSION 5

The Turning

INTRODUCTION

The Turning (Jonah 3: 6-10)

When the news reached the King of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, covered himself with sackclothand sat in ashes.

Simon notes that it is only the rumour of Jonah’s prophecy that reached the King. Limburg notes this isGod’s ‘word’. Cary recognises that Jonah does not meet the King and therefore talk to him direct.

Simon wonders whether there is an intention here to contrast this whole incident with Jeremiah 36: 24. Inthis incident King Jehoiakim reads the prophecy of Jeremiah from a scroll. He destroys the scroll and refus-es to repent. Perhaps there is also a contrast implied with Joel, chapters 1-2.

Limburg notes that, as with the sailors, the people of the world are demonstrating to the people of God howthey should behave. In fact Cary sees the King as a better man than the Captain because he has no storm towarn him of impending disaster. It is for him more a matter of faith.

Simon recognises that it is unusual for the King to be called, ‘King of Nineveh’ and not ‘King of Assyria’but assumes that is because of the focus of this story. Cary recognises that we don’t know his name or any-thing about him.

However, all recognise that, in rising from his throne, covering himself in sackcloth and sitting in ashes, heis not just taking action to give his people’s response to God’s word royal approval, he is humbling himselfin solidarity with them. Indeed, as Cary points out, by sitting in ashes, he goes beyond what his people havedone.

When he arose he left the majesty of his kingship behind him, but as Cary points out, he retains his responsi-bility for them, and continues to exercise his authority.

Cary also points out that there are Israelite Kings who have done the same. He cites Josiah (2 Kings 22:19–20 and Ahab (2 Kings 21:20 – 22:27). He recognises in his humility the King who would wear a crown ofthorns.

Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh, ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: No humanbeing or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water.Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth and they shall cry mightily to God.

Simon notes that ‘he had the word cried’ (proclaimed) just as the sailors ‘cried out’ to their God. He notesthat the inclusion of the ‘nobles’ in the decree suggests a later date for authorship as this was not a practiceknown before the time of the Persian empire.

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Cary sees the proclamation as the central event of this chapter in Jonah. The King has taken responsibilityfor this action without any help from Jonah who has probably gone off in a sulk by this time. He notes thatthis whole process has been ‘bottom up’ rather than ‘top down’ which is a significant overturning of Nine-veh’s social order.

Limburg suggests that 2 Kings 19:1-2 provides evidence that this has happened in Israel before. King Heze-kiah, his senior officers and priests, dressed in sackcloth, present themselves to Isaiah to illicit his prayerswhen the King of Assyria had surrounded Jerusalem and was threatening to destroy it.

Simon believes that the inclusion of animals in the proclamation is extraordinary. He reflects on a long-standing dispute within the Jewish interpretative tradition on this point. Some commentators have been out-raged and have seen this as proof that the fast is fraudulent. They suggest that the calves are put inside andthe mothers outside and God is being told that, if he doesn’t have mercy on the people, then they will nothave mercy on the animals.

Other Jewish commentators have taken a different view. They have stressed that humans and animals haveinterwoven lives and a common destiny. They cite the flood (Gen 6: 5-7) and also passages like Joel 1: 20,when both animals and humans are seen to cry out to God in distress.

Both Limburg and Cary take this latter view. Limburg suggests Judith 4: 9-10 confirms that humans andanimals are both subject to the same dangers. Cary further recognises that there is an economic aspect tothis. Herds and flocks represent the wealth of the people and are central to Nineveh’s prosperity and wellbe-ing. And because there is a prohibition on drinking, the situation will quickly become critical to life itself.

Simon notices that the decree begins with prohibition, no tasting food, no feeding (grazing), no drinking.However, the second part of the decree is more positive. Both humans and animals shall be covered in sack-cloth and they shall cry out to God.

The notion of covering animals in sackcloth is another comic moment, but not entirely impossible. Simonnotes that you can drape horses and donkeys with sackcloth instead of comfortable saddles, but it is hard tosee how this might extend to sheep in the fields.

And he invites people and animals to ‘cry out’ to God. Jonah has not told the people of Nineveh the name ofthe Lord, the God of Israel, so they cry out to Elohim, an undefined God.

All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who knows? Godmay relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.

Simon recognises that the King understand that mortification of the flesh leading to a submission of theheart is not enough. It must be completed by prayer and supplication and by abandoning the paths of sin.

Limburg notes that the language used by the king, ‘turn from their evil ways’, is language typical of the Isra-elite prophets (Jeremiah 15:7). The language uses the metaphor of feet and hands. The evil paths are trodby feet and the violence committed by hands.

The violence here is theft, fraud, oppression, treachery, murder. Simon suggests visiting Nahum 3:1 for apicture of what Nineveh was like. The King recognises that repairing injustice is the precondition to for-giveness.

‘Who knows’ is an expression of wishing and hoping. It is like the Captain’s ‘perhaps’ . The King, like theCaptain, knows that there are no guarantees that the sentence will be revoked. God cannot be controlled.

Simon notes that David was in a similar position when praying for the life of Bathsheba’s son (2 Samuel12:22) and Limburg also refers to Joel in the middle of a locust plague, ‘who knows whether he will not turnand relent?’ (Joel 2: 13-14). The King of Nineveh follows in this tradition.

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Simon recognises that, according to strict justice, even sinners that repent deserve punishment and are inneed of mercy.

Limburg is impressed by the King’s wisdom and understanding and wonders whether he is kindred to thecenturion in Luke 7: 1-10, of whom Jesus remarks, ''I tell you, not even in Israel have I seen such faith''.

Simon notes that to turn is to change or to repent. It is the same word. Cary finds the image ‘fierce anger’interesting. Literally, ‘the burning of his nostrils’, it is a powerful image of a furious king, burning withwrath.

Quoting 2 Kings 17: 13-14, Cary notes that, ‘the people of Nineveh survived long enough to destroy thepeople of Israel, because the people of Nineveh turned everyone from their sins and the people of Israel didnot’

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about thecalamity that he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.

All commentators note that the word used for God here is ‘Elohim’. Simon suspects that this is to suggestthat the God of Israel responds to those who do not have full knowledge of him and understand him only as‘Elohim’. Limburg is interested in a parallel with St Paul in Athens (Acts 17: 15-34). He begins his preach-ing by talking of ‘the unknown God’ that the people worship and uses ‘Elohim’ to teach about the Lord. In-deed Paul walking through the streets of Athens evokes Jonah walking through the streets of Nineveh.Perhaps each teach about God’s hope for all people.

Simon recognises that deeds have a greater weight than words. God didn’t hear prayer but ‘saw what theydid’. And he calls on his tradition of interpretation to make the point that what God saw that made a realdifference was not that they fasted but that they changed their evil ways.

All speculate on what it might mean for God to ‘change his mind’. All recognise that this is part of the tradi-tion. God ‘changes his mind’ when Moses intercedes for the people after they have made a Golden Calf toworship (Exodus 32: 12-14) and Amos intercedes for his people in Amos 7:3.

Indeed God has made his intention clear in Jeremiah 18-6-8. ‘but if that nation, concerning which I havespoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster I intended to bring upon it’

But Limburg notices the difference here. In this case there is no intercession. Jonah is not interested andindeed will object to what has happened. And although Jeremiah acknowledges the possibility that thiscould happen to any nation, this is the first time that it has actually happened to gentiles.

Cary does not believe that God has ‘changed his mind’. It was always his intention that the people of Nine-veh should repent, which was in any case the result of his ‘word’. It is rather the fulfilment of his plan forthem.

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Arrive and worship


Worship together.

Project 1.






Project 2.

Read each of the passages below and for each explore how the concept of repentance is experienced and understood.


Jeremiah 18:5-11 2 Samuel 12:13-23 John 8:1-11 Matthew 6:16-18

Project 3.

Discuss the view that: We should lock up terrorists and throw away the key.

Reflection.


Worship together.

Planning.


GROUP SESSION 5

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39

SESSION 6

THE SECONDREBELLION

For this session

Read Jonah 4:1-5




40

SESSION 6

The Second Rebellion

INTRODUCTION

The Second Rebellion (Jonah 4: 1-5)

But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘OLord, is this not what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at thebeginning, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger and abounding insteadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.

Simon notes that ‘displeasing to’ can also be translated as ‘a great evil’. Limburg notes that the people ofNineveh turned from their evil (ru’ah) ways. Therefore, God changed his mind about bringing evil (ru’ah)on them. Now Jonah is displeased, or angry (ru’ah). Cary also notes that this is the first time that two of thenarrator’s favourite words, evil and great, come together, and they do so in the person of Jonah.

Limburg also notes that God has turned from the heat of his anger and Jonah is now burning with anger

Simon recognises that Jonah is angry and rebellious because he wants the people to be punished and fordivine justice to go unchallenged by mercy. Cary speculates that Jonah is angry because the enemies ofIsrael are converted and saved, and that he has been made to look a fool. He says, ‘His is the wrath of atheologian whose theology does not work out’. He has also been forced to leave his own country and thathas not been without cost. Cary wonders why the name Israel is never mentioned in the book.

And so, just as Jonah ‘prayed’ from the fish, so he prays now. His opening ‘Please Lord’ imitates the waythe sailors start their prayer, but this prayer moves on to challenge God.

In his prayer Jonah claims that he knew God would forgive Nineveh from the start and that is why he fled toTarshish. It is the first time that any reason has been given for Jonah’s behaviour and the reader is forced todecide how truthful this might be. The narrator doesn’t deny or confirm it.

Cary sees it as the bluff of a disappointed, disaffected man, trying to justify his actions.

Limburg notes that Jonah’s prayer is steeped in tradition and is a confession of faith. It follows closely thewording of Joel 2: 13-14. In Joel these attributes of God are a source of hope and joy, but for Jonah theybring despair.

Limburg recognises that these attributes of God are clearly illustrated in the story. God’s compassion andmercy are expressed in him saving Jonah and Nineveh, patience and steadfast love are expressed in hispatience towards Jonah and his love towards Nineveh, and his readiness to change his mind aboutpunishment in the cancelling of Nineveh’s death sentence.

Cary notes that Jonah exhibits no such virtues and indeed, sets himself against the truth of the Lord.

Cary writes, ‘The blessing of Israel as a chosen people does not mean that others are not blessed, but, on thecontrary, that all the families of the earth find blessing in Israel’. Jonah cannot see that truth.

And now O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. And the Lordsaid, ‘It is right for you to be angry? Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat down east of the city,

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and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become ofthe city.

Simon suggests that Jonah has a ‘death wish’ when his life reaches the end of a blind alley. He notes that thegentiles in the story love life, the prophet seems only to love justice. He also notes that Moses asked God totake his life when his prophetic mission turned sour (Numbers 11:15).

All three commentators note that Elijah also prayed, an almost identical prayer to Jonah, ‘that he might die’,when fleeing from Queen Jezebel (1 Kings 19:7). There is however disagreement about what this mightmean.

Limburg notes that it has been said that Jonah has Elijah’s despondency without Elijah’s excuse and thatElijah wanted to die because of a lack of success and Jonah because he had too much success, an ideaechoed by Cary. He says Jonah is playing at being Elijah.

However, Simon is more sympathetic. He doesn’t see demeaning irony in the text here. He rather notes thatJonah and Elijah do have things in common. Both are zealous advocates of divine justice and both despairof performing their roles as prophets as they would like.

Simon notes however, that the Lord’s compassion is not stirred. He rejects Jonah’s prayer with a harshrhetorical question, ‘Is it right for you to be angry? Not only is Jonah’s wish denied him, but he does noteven receive the dignity of a reply to his request to die.

Jonah then went off and sat east of the city. Simon concludes that he leaves the city so that he need notcontribute to its salvation. When he fled from God he want west and now, for his second rebellion, he goeseast.

Cary wonders whether it is appropriate to pick up an image from Genesis 3:34, where the Angel with theflashing sword guards the east of Eden. He wonders what this symbolism might mean.

All three commentators comment on the ‘booth’, in Hebrew the ‘sukkah’. Interestingly Simon, from aJewish perspective, merely identifies it as a temporary shelter. The others identify it with the structure madeat the Festival of Booths (Nehemiah 8: 15)

Cary in particular notes that the Feast of Booths was associated with the reading of the law (Torah), thecommand to welcome gentiles, strangers and foreigners within the peoples’ gates (Zechariah 14:16) and wasthe first festival celebrated after the return from exile.

Jonah finds shade in the booth and Cary wonders whether the reference in Isaiah 4:6, where a booth onMount Zion will be ‘a shade in the daytime from the heat, and a place of refuge and a shelter from storm andrain’, might also be a relevant image. In this passage the Sukkah represents the safety and salvation of Israeland he wonders whether the people for whom this book was originally written would immediatelyunderstand the significance of Jonah’s temporary shelter in these terms.

Jonah is clearly waiting to see whether he is proved right and God is proved wrong and that sin will againtake hold of the city. Simon notes that the last rebellion involved closing his eyes in the hold of the ship andthis one involves him having his eyes wide open, waiting to see what will happen.

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43

Arrive and worship


Worship together.

Project 1.






Project 2.

Read each of the passages below and for each explore how the concept of rebellion against God is experienced and understood.


Numbers 11:10-15 Job 2:7-10 Luke 15:25-32 John 11:32-37

Project 3.

Discuss the view that: It is never justifiable to be angry with God.

Reflection.


Worship together.

Planning.


GROUP SESSION 6

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45

SESSION 7

THE QUESTION

For this session

Read Jonah 4:6-11




46

SESSION 7

The Question

INTRODUCTION

The Question (Jonah 4: 6-11)

The Lord God appointed a bush, and he made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, tosave him from his discomfort, so Jonah was very happy about the bush. But when dawn came up thenext day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered.

Simon notes that, in the course of the night a plant grows up alongside Jonah’s booth, east of Nineveh. He isoverjoyed. The discomfort (evil) from which it saves Jonah is not just the heat of the sun. He understandsthis to be a conciliatory gesture from God, an encouragement in his struggle to demonstrate the justice of hisposition. Perhaps God is not indifferent to his spiritual distress at the reprieve of Nineveh after all.

Simon recognises that the two terms, Lord and God come together at the beginning of this passage for theonly time in the book. Indeed its only other usage was in the Garden of Eden story in Genesis 2:4, wherethe ‘Lord God made the earth and the heavens’. For Cary this is important because it combines the two ti-tles of God used in the book, the Lord, who is God of Israel and God (Elohim) who is the God of the gen-tiles. Put together they emphasise that God is talking here as the God of the whole world.

And this is important for Cary because he sees this section as the start of an enacted parable, similar to thoseenacted by the prophets (as in Ezekiel 4: 1-17) but different in as much as this particular enacted parable isstaged by God, the God of Israel and the whole world.

Simon notes that the plant is appointed or commissioned like the fish. It is God’s agent. All commentatorsreflect on the nature of the plant. Simon thinks it was a ricinus or castor oil plant. This plant grows wild inthis part of the world, is quick growing and has large leaves. It is various called a ‘bush’ a ‘gourd’ or a‘pumpkin’ plant in different translations.

Limburg believes that the scene makes sense if the booth is a traditional sukkah, as in the Feast of Booths,because they had walls with leafy roofs. The plant would grow up and give a more substantial cover in thiscase.

Simon notes that Jonah was very happy. Indeed, his delight at the plant is proportionate to his anger at itsloss. Limburg notes his extreme mood swings at this time, and Cary notes that it is the first time that Jonahis happy in the entire book.

Cary wants to associate the plant with the line or lineage of David. He sees a connection between the‘branch‘ in Isaiah’s prophecy, ‘a shoot shall come out from the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out ofhis roots’ with the phrase ‘my servant the branch’ in Zechariah 3:8 and 6:12. For him, the plant representsthe Davidic line, the protection that Israel needs from the Lord.

But the plant withers. Cary points out that this word has a number of meanings. It means to dry up, to losestrength and hope, even to be ashamed, and he notes that Joel 1:10-12 is a passage that contains many ofthese meanings in one place.

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Similarly, the failure, or withering of the plant points to the failure of the Davidic line. He also notes thatthis line will only be restored in Jesus Christ.

Simon notes that, although it was a great wind and a great storm, it is a tiny worm that puts Jonah in hisplace.

When the sun arose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah sothat he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, ‘It is better for me to die than to live’

Simon notes that, in the brief interval between daybreak and dawn, the worm managed to gnaw through theplant’s stem and kill it. Therefore, there was no longer any protection for Jonah.

Limburg notes that the east wind is the third act of appointing or commissioning in this section. God hasappointed the plant and the worm and now he appoints the east wind. He is completely in control of what ishappening to Jonah.

Both Simon and Cary note that, unlike the wind that so nearly sunk the boat, this wind is not ‘hurled’ byGod, and it is not great. The Hebrew word is obscure, but it probably means burning, quiet or sultry. It isclearly in contrast to the previous wind sent by God.

Simon notes that it is an east wind for a vigil east of the city. The wind will reach Jonah before it reachesthe city so the city will not shield him.

Cary notes that the east wind is usually bad news in Palestine. It is scorching and it dries things up. Itbrings famine in Genesis 41:6 and plague in Exodus 10:13.

Cary also notes that the word Ru’ach, wind also means ‘Spirit’ (as in John 3: 1-10) , and suggests that thesame ‘wind’ that scorches Jonah has made him a prophet.

Both Limburg and Cary note that the sun strikes or attacks Jonah’s head, just as the worm has attacked theplant.

Simon says Jonah wills himself to die, and notes the close association with 1 Kings 19:4 when the same lan-guage is used of Elijah. Cary prefers the translation, he asked his soul to die. Jonah is burning up insidewith anger and outside because of the sun and wind.

Simon thinks that this is the climax of Jonah’s rebellion. Cary notes that there are no theatricals this time.He is sincere. Limburg notes that he has not moved beyond his wish to die. He is relating to nobody buthimself. Cary notes that his anger has turned to despair.

But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?’. And he said, ‘Yes, angryenough to die’. Then the Lord said, You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labourand which you did not grow, it came into being in a night, and perished in a night.

Commentators note that it is the God of Israel who speaks and not Elohim. Limburg wonders if that is be-cause God is being compassionate here, rather than universal judge, but Cary feels that the name is impor-tant for a different reason. The Lord had the first word and now he has the last. It is the God of Israeltalking to one of his sons.

Simon notes that the Lord’s question to Jonah ironically echoes the earlier query concerning the prophet’sanger over the deliverance of Nineveh. He belittles the source of Jonah’s anger. Jonah has clearly come tocare passionately about the bush. Cary notes that God seems to be repeating himself, but wants in fact tobring Jonah to a new understanding of his faith.

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Limburg argues that the issue here is Jonah’s anger and Cary agrees that he is ‘damned angry’. Jonah is an-gry enough to die and his anger makes him want to give up his life. However, Cary feels that, now Jonahhas finally expressed his anger, God can communicate with him.

Simon wonders if the painful and humiliating experience with the plant might have opened his eyes to histotal reliance on God’s mercy.

Cary wonders if the anger that Jonah feels may be intended to evoke the anger and frustration that Judahfeels as her messianic hope fades. Is Judah so angry with God that she wants to break their covenant rela-tionship and go out of existence? He quotes psalm 89. This psalm celebrates the covenant relationship thatGod has with Israel in language reflected in the book of Jonah. However, in verses 38-49, the psalmist ex-presses the kind of anger at the demise of the Davidic line that Jonah expresses at the loss of the plant.

Cary prefers to translate ‘concern’ as ‘pitied’. For Cary Jonah ‘pitied the bush’ and this suggests that Godwants Jonah to look behind his desire for death to his anger and behind his anger to pity. Although he pitiesthe bush out of his own sense of self preservation, Cary wonders if there might be a small change in the waythat Jonah may see his world.

Simon notes that the plant is transitory and ephemeral. It perished rather than withers here. This is meant toremind us of the words of the King, and of the sailor, who cried out ‘lest we perish’ and found salvation.

Cary notes that God emphasise to Jonah that the bush was prepare by him as a gift. All creation is fromGod.

And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundredand twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and many animals.

Limburg notes that God’s final argument is of the ‘how much more’ type, familiar in the Jewish scripture(Genesis 44:8)

Simon develops this by recognising that the last section has an anti-parallelism in the text, though some as-pects are unstated. Jonah cared about the plant that he didn’t grow whereas the Lord cares for Ninevehwhich he did nurture. The bush appeared overnight and perished whereas Nineveh has been built over manygenerations. And Nineveh is so much greater than the puny plant.

Simon notes that the text actually states that Nineveh consists of ‘more than twelve myriad persons’.Twelve is a round number and a myriad is 10,000 people, a large urban population.

Limburg notes that the word ‘care’ or ‘concerned’ can mean having tears in the eyes. The Lord is moved totears over Nineveh, just as Jesus is moved to tears over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41-44).

Limburg and Cary recognise that the people are helpless in not being able to ‘know their right hand fromtheir left’ The right hand always represents authority and moral right, and not to know this makes them vul-nerable.

Cary notes that the word for people, human beings, is ‘adam’ and suggests that this represents the kinship ofall humanity. They are all God’s creatures. The people of Nineveh might be clueless, but they are gropingin the right direction. Perhaps there is a hint here for Jonah that somebody needs to teach them about theGod of Israel rather than worrying about a withered bush.

Simon thinks differently. He argues that the people of Nineveh in the book of Jonah are described as ration-al people who are responsible for their own actions and quick to repent. Following one strand of rabbinicinterpretation, he wonders therefore if ‘adam’ in fact refers to the entire human population, or only to thechildren of Nineveh who have yet to learn moral behaviour.

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Final interpretationAs the book draws to a close the three commentators each find a different emphasis. Simon, from a Jewishperspective that sees the gentiles as incidental characters in the narrative, concentrates on Jonah. He under-stands that Jonah’s rebellion is over and that he tacitly submits to God. His silence at the end is humble si-lence. He quotes Psalm 65:2, ‘To you, silence is praise’.

To Limburg who has understood this book to be a teaching aid, written for the community of Jews who havereturned from exile in Babylon, the final question is key. God is saying to them, ‘Shouldn’t I be concernedabout the people of the world and their animals?’

For Cary, who engages in an overt Christian interpretation of the book, the end part of this book is a enactedparable about the Davidic line. The line has failed and Israel is called to follow a God who will bring thisline to fruition in Christ, and through him, save the nations of the world who are like Nineveh and their ani-mals.

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Arrive and worship


Worship together.

Project 1.






Project 2.

Read each of the passages below and for each explore why God asks questions and what the questions reveal about God and about those being questioned.


Job 38:1-4 Genesis 3:8-9 Mark 8:27-29 Acts 9:1-4

Project 3.

Discuss the view that: The theologian's task is to ask questions not give answers.

Reflection.


Worship together.

Planning.


GROUP SESSION 7

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SESSION 8

THE SIGN OF JONAH

For this session

Read through the book of Jonah


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SESSION 8

The Sign of Jonah

INTRODUCTION

The Sign of Jonah

The Interpretations of JonahIt was noted in the introduction that Simon recognises that Jonah has been a ‘sign’ to the Jewish communitythat has been variously understood over the years. Some have understood the Book of Jonah to be primarilyabout repentance. Others have noted that the story primarily reflects the recognition that Jonah preferred hisloyalty to his people Israel over his duty to obey the Lord of the universe. And others have felt that the bookis about Jonah’s concern for the truth of prophecy and his fear lest his credibility is undermined and he isseen as a ‘false’ prophet once the people of Nineveh are spared.

However, Simon understands that the book is primarily about compassion. Jonah argues on behalf of strictjustice in the face of the Lord’s compassion. For Jonah, the punishment of sinners in accordance with theirwickedness is demanded by strict justice and is essential to deter transgressors. Allowing the judge to standover and against the law, as the Lord does, undermines its authority.

But Jonah learns that God tempers justice with mercy and punishment with the hope and joy of salvation.This is the sign of Jonah for the Jewish community. For Simon, the gentiles are incidental characters in thetale.

For both Limburg and Cary, the sign of Jonah is very different. Limburg argues that Jonah is a book createdwith the return of the people from exile in Babylon as a teaching aid. Therefore it is full of key questions,eleven of which are addressed to Jonah. Those listening to the story are therefore asked to address thesequestions for themselves and for their community of faith.

It is designed to enable them to examine their attitude to themselves as the people of God, to the gentileworld and to God’s salvation. The book is summed up by God’s compassion for the people of Nineveh andhis question to the Jewish people, ‘Should I not be concerned (care deeply) about Nineveh?’ (Jonah 4: 11)

The Sign of JonahHowever, both Limburg and Cary are aware of the fact that Jesus refers to Jonah in the New Testament andunderstands Jonah to be a ‘sign’ for his own life and work as Israel’s Messiah.

Both commentators identify the passages as being Matthew 12: 38-42, Matthew 16: 1-4 and Luke 11:29-32.Cary suggests that Mark 8: 11-12 sets the scene.

In all of these texts, Jesus is being tested by the Pharisees and Sadducees. They want a sign and he eventual-ly tells then that the only sign he will give this ‘evil and adulterous generation’ is the sign of Jonah. And theunbelief of this generation is contrasted with the faith of the Gentiles.

For Cary this points to the ultimate sign of Jonah, the wish for a King in the line of David who will reignover the whole of creation and bring salvation to all the people of the world. And Israel’s Messiah will dothis through being three days in the earth, and then being raised to life on the third day.

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Arrive and worship

Reflect on any issues that have arisen from the last session. Worship together.

Project 1.

Limburg asks “what does it mean for understanding the story if the hearer or reader takes the place of Jonah?”

Considering the book as a whole, write out all the questions addressed to Jonah.

For each question on your list, consider how you might answer it, both for yourself and for the Church.

Project 2.

In Matthew and Luke's gospels, Jesus describes himself as 'the sign of Jonah'. Compare and contrast Luke 11:29-32 and Matthew 12:38-42. How have the two gospel writers each understood Jesus as 'the sign of Jonah'?

Project 3.

Discuss the question: What does it mean to say that Jonah is a prophet for today?

Reflection.

As individuals Prayerfully explore how the book of Jonah touches your life.

Worship together, offering the term's work to God.

GROUP SESSION 8

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ASSIGNMENTS

JonahA Prophet for Today

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Jonah a Prophet for Today

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENTQUESTIONS

ASSIGNMENTS

1 Produce an exegesis of 750 words of each of the following:

Jonah 3:1-3 Jonah 4:6-8

2 In 1,500 words address the question:

What is the purpose of the Book of Jonah? How does it accomplish this?

3 Please choose the 1,500 word assignment relevant to your training pathway below.

All assignments focus on Jonah 2:1-10

Exploring Priesthood or Diaconal or Reader Ministry:

Write a 1000 word sermon on the text and a 500 reflection on the process used in writingthe sermon.

Exploring Pastoral Ministry:

Reflect on a pastoral situation you have encountered in the light of this passage.

Exploring Evangelist Ministry:

What in this text might make Christianity attractive to contemporary society and whatmight be unattractive?

Exploring Youth and Children's Ministry:

You have been asked to lead a session for children or young people on this text – whatwould you do to help them engage with the meaning of the text?

Exploring Education for Discipleship:

Reflect on the implications of this passage for Christian life.

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Documents

Jonah a prophet for today handbook - The Diocese of St. Asaph