URL: http://www.rasmusen.org/_religion/_Jonah/jonah.htm. Eric Rasmusen, Indiana University, Dept. of Business Economics and Public Policy, Kelley School of Business, Room 456, 1309 East Tenth Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47405-1701, (812)855-9219. [email protected] , http://www.rasmusen.org.
Poems about Jonah.
It is also heavily cited in the New Testament.
And it is jam-packed with incident. It is boiled down, and cannot be much reduced further.
Think of the Chinese scholars in East of Eden}. Close study is a good idea. Bloom too--- pick your book, and think.
I will intersperse different versions of the book.
Sections of the Book of Jonah.
Who do we have to compare?
Jonah.
The Ninevites.
Peter. Peter denied Christ. He was reluctant.
Sampson, another miracle-worker with big character defects.
Solomon, who was so wise yet who sinned and who could not train up his son properly.
The Catholics have a doctrine of saints, the blessed, saved people. The requirements for certification as a saint are meant to show that you are really saved-- they really are just for certification. But you cannot just look at a person's life and tell if they are saved. All men are sinful. We do not know motives, even if we observe outward behavior.
The crowd on Palm Sunday reversed itself by Maundy Thursday. LIke Jonah's reversals?
Jonah, Timothy Keller noted, is more sin-bound than the Ninevites. tho apparently more religious. Grace is necessary. All he has is self rightesouness. Works versus faith. The prostitute is closer than the banker. It is useful to know how sinful you are.
The Gourd. When I see a car wreck ahead is tying up the highway, I complain. That is like JOnah and his gourd. Isaiah 46:10 is relevant. God declares at the start of time what shall NOT happen.
Isaiah 46:0-11: Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
Jonah is the man called from a far country. Jehovah gave his Word, and Jonah executed it.
God is *counselling* Jonah, gently, with the vine, though earlier he had used force with him. (Keller sermon)
THE PERSONALITY OF JONAH. Jonah alternates between virtue and cowardice. This shows that strength comes from God, by grace. Like Peter, Jonah is an ordinary man. God chooses him, not the reverse.
Faith, not works, in Nineveh. The Ninevites had no works-- they had been sinning for a long time. But they had faith that God was real, and they repented of their wickedness.
The Assyrians repented, but that did not mean much. They were syncretists. So are many modern people, who people all religiions are equally valid. Do Moderns sacrifice their children to Moloch? Well, yes. Or, Sodom. They let their children get AIDS, and forego grandchildren, and grit their teeth and thinkt hey are being noble.
The SIgn of Jonah: Maybe the sign is the Repentance of the NInevites-- a miracle. The Pharisees need a sign like that too. They were very smart--smart enough to predict the weather, but they neede grace too.
1. Embarassment and hurt pride, because the destruction did not take place. (note that God told him to prophesy something false, it seems.)
2. Anger that the evil, non-Jewish Assyrians were forgiven.
3. Fear that now Assyria would destroy Israel. He did not want to go to Nineveh, becuse he was afriad he might persuaade them to repent.
4. Hurt feelings that God was so severe on him, JOnah, but not on the evil Assyrians.
Jonah contains a lot of the issues which divide conservatives from liberals, but alos other issues which divide moderates from fundamentalists.
Do miracles occur? One would think that God would not do them on light occasions. Is this a big enough occasion-- to make the setting for a book of the Bible? No-- the book stands well enough on its own as fiction.
Is Jonah a true story? It is a good illustration, because it seems to involve both the scientifically and the historically miraculous. Also, it involves some obvious rhetoric---the ""know their right hands frm their left'' part. And could the vine grow naturally in the way described? Probably not.
Yet that seems a trivial occasion for a miracle.
Is the Bible inerrant? A number of examples show how even those who say they believe in inerrancy use hermeneutics to escape its hard consequences, while cheerfully accepting the obvious contradictions and implausibilities that do not affect behavior. As in Alice in Wonderland}: believe seven impossible things before breakfast. But belief} is only well-defined, I think, if it affects action. The examples where actions are affected are:
Divorce. The Westminster Confession allows divorce for desertion. Jesus clearly does not allow this. This is an example of being too lax, concerning a point of age-old temptation. See also the circa 1900 amendments to the Westminster Confession. \item Religious Toleration.} The original Westminster Confession does not believe in it, and there is plenty of logical and Biblical support for that. The American Presbyterians changed that around 1788. Somebody has to be wrong. The best illustration of changing one's doctrine when one's circumstances change. \item The Sabbath.} Luther's catechism and the Westminster Confession both, I think insist on a strict Sunday sabbath. Why is it Sunday rather than Saturday? And why are non-Jews bound at all? See Paul on this. And it is hard to distinguish it from sacrifices, etc., except that it made it into the Ten Commandments. This, however, is a rare example of being too strict rather than too lax. The strictness, however, is based on tradition. \end{enumerate} Jews have a useful distinction between two types of commandments---those with practical reasons, and those without. The divorce law has no practical reason. The Sabbath law may. And religious intolerance makes logical sense.
Septuagint quotes in the New Testatment are adapted to the understanding, to the ignorance, of the immediate audience. Saying "The Septuagint is wrong in such and such a detail" would have been distracting to that audience. Just so with the Men of Nineveh-- maybe Jonah is just a story after all.
Jesus showed that the stories were to be treated AS IF true. As valid for instructin. Their actual truth is another matter. 1 Timohty 2:13 also. Adam and Eve too.
See LUke 18: 19. Jesus uses rhetoric, adopting the ideas, tho false, of his audience.
A. A. Hodge and B. B. Warfield, printed in the April, 1881, issue of "The Presbyterian Review:" Hodge and Warfield between translation and quotation:
"(A) favorite charge against the exact truth of the New Testament Scriptures is drawn from the use of the Old Testament in the New, and especially the phenomena of its quotation. Here also, however, most of the objections urged prove nothing but a radical lack of clear thinking on the part of those who bring them. For instance, Dr. Davidson argues that the verbal variation which the New Testament writers allow themselves in quoting the Old Testament is conclusive against verbal inspiration, for "the terms and phrases of the Old Testament, if literally inspired, were the best that could have been adopted," and, therefore, the New Testament writers "should have adhered to the ipsissima verba of the Holy Spirit (seeing they were the best) as closely as the genius of the Hebrew and Greek languages allowed." Here, however, a false view of inspiration is presupposed, and also a false view of the nature and laws of quotation. Inspiration does not suppose that the words and phrases written under its influence are the best possible to express the truth, but only that they are an adequate expression of the truth. ...Nor is quotation to be confounded with translation. It does not, like it, profess to give as exact a representation of the original, in ALL its aspects and on EVERY side, as possible; but only to give a true account of its teaching in ONE of its bearings. There is thus always an element of application in quotation; and it is, therefore, proper in quotation to so alter the form of the original as to bring out clearly its bearing on the one subject in hand, thus throwing the stress on the element in it for which it is cited. This would be improper in a translation. The laws which ought to govern quotation seem, indeed, to have been very inadequately investigated by those who plead the New Testament methods of quotation against inspiration." (pp. 256-7; emphasis in the original).
This applies to Jonah story being quoted too. Jesus can quote the story AS IF true.
It does not, like it, profess to give as exact a representation of the original, in ALL its aspects and on EVERY side, as possible; but only to give a true account of its teaching in ONE of its bearings.
We think it OK to judge other countries, but not ourselves. See Hebrews 10:30. ASV Hebrews 10:30 For we know him that said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. Jonah wanted vengeance to be his, not the Lord's.
Fallen is Babylon the Great! See other fallen cities in the Bible. Revelations. ASV Revelation 18:2 And he cried with a mighty voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird.
THis has tremendous implications for evangelism, and predestination. We don;'t know who is predestined to be saved. The Ninevites, not Jonah.
Also, it has implications for the Jews. Anti-Semites should read this. And, for individuals. Remember, too, the sailors who turn to God.
See Romans 10:16-18 on foreign peoples.
ASV Romans 10:11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame. ASV Romans 10:12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek: for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich unto all that call upon him:Relate this not just to Nineveh, but to the sailors on the boat.ASV Romans 10:13 for, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
ASV Romans 10:15 and how shall they preach, except they be sent? even as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that bring glad tidings of good things! 16 But they did not all hearken to the glad tidings. For Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? 17 So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. 18 But I say, Did they not hear? Yea, verily, Their sound went out into all the earth, And their words unto the ends of the world. 19 But I say, Did Israel not know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, With a nation void of understanding will I anger you. 20 And Isaiah is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I became manifest unto them that asked not of me. Notice in verse 10:17--WORD again.
See Pslm 139: 7-12. ASV Psalm 139:1 O Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; Thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, And art acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, But, lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, And laid thy hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain unto it. 7 Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, And thy right hand shall hold me. 11 If I say, Surely the darkness shall overwhelm me, And the light about me shall be night; 12 Even the darkness hideth not from thee, But the night shineth as the day: The darkness and the light are both alike to thee. 13 For thou didst form my inward parts: Thou didst cover me in my mother's womb. 14 I will give thanks unto thee; For I am fearfully and wonderfully made: Wonderful are thy works; And that my soul knoweth right well. 15 My frame was not hidden from thee, When I was made in secret, And curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 16 Thine eyes did see mine unformed substance; And in thy book they were all written, Even the days that were ordained for me, When as yet there was none of them.
ASV Jeremiah 18:3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was making a work on the wheels. 4 And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; 8 if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10 if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. 11 Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings. 12 But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart. 13 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, who hath heard such things; the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. 14 Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? or shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up? 15 For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false gods; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up; 16 to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head. 17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
ASV Isaiah 45:21 Declare ye, and bring it forth; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath showed this from ancient time? who hath declared it of old? have not I, Jehovah? and there is no God else besides me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none besides me. 22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else. 23 By myself have I sworn, the word is gone forth from my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.
1 Smauel 15:29. He who is the glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.'' Jeremiah 18:7-10 says that God will relent against kingdoms, though.
ASV 2 Chronicles 12:5 Now Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam, and to the princes of Judah, that were gathered together to Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said unto them, Thus saith Jehovah, Ye have forsaken me, therefore have I also left you in the hand of Shishak. 6 Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves; and they said, Jehovah is righteous. 7 And when Jehovah saw that they humbled themselves, the word of Jehovah came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves: I will not destroy them; but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out upon Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.8 Nevertheless they shall be his servants, that they may know my service, and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.
ASV Jeremiah 18:3 Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he was making a work on the wheels. 4 And when the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it. 5 Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 6 O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith Jehovah. Behold, as the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; 8 if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. 9 And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; 10 if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. 11 Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith Jehovah: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings. 12 But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do every one after the stubbornness of his evil heart. 13 Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Ask ye now among the nations, who hath heard such things; the virgin of Israel hath done a very horrible thing. 14 Shall the snow of Lebanon fail from the rock of the field? or shall the cold waters that flow down from afar be dried up? 15 For my people have forgotten me, they have burned incense to false gods; and they have been made to stumble in their ways, in the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths, in a way not cast up; 16 to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing; every one that passeth thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head. 17 I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy; I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
Keller sermon--my impetus.
It is good to write your own commentary. Put it up on the Web.
It is good to get to know one book very well.
Each person should write a commentary. Lord's Prayer. Sermon on the Mount. Genesis 1. John 1. The Ten Commandments. Elijah. Isaac and Abrahama (Kierkegaard).
Have my blank pages commentary as part of the book. The reader is to write in his own thoughts.
http://www.godrules.net/library/clarke/clarkejon4.htm&2