Phyllis Trible wrote the Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections on the Book of Jonah for The New Interpreter’s Bible. She writes, “The book of Jonah bombards the reader with verbal activity from the heavens through the sea and the dry land into the netherworld. This noisy story of just forty-eight verses is nevertheless silent about compelling questions: Who wrote it? Under what circumstances? How? When? Where? Why? The silence has invigorated scholars.”

Jonah is composed of 5 distinct stories: sailors delivered from a storm at sea, a miraculous tale of being swallowed by a fish, a psalm, the story of the Ninevites saved from destruction, and an extended dialogue between God and Jonah (with few references to anything that came before). Trible writes, “in the end, an unknown author appropriated all these diverse traditions to craft a coherent narrative of superb artistry. A composite history produced a unified story.”

Jonah is in the Bible amongst the “minor prophets.” Minor because they are not as long as say, Isaiah or Jeremiah. Jonah does not give us its historical setting.  Almost all other prophetic literature will say in what king’s reign the prophet spoke, or if it was during the exile or after the exile.

Scholars agree that Jonah is unique among the twelve minor prophets.  All others contain oracles spoken by a prophet.  This book is a story about a presumed prophet.

Scholars do not agree on the genre of Jonah. Jonah can sound a lot like a folktale in which, Trible writes, “the realms of fantasy and reality mingle freely.” The book of Jonah is also parable-like, similar to Nathan’s story told to David in 2 Samuel 14. It’s also been described as midrash. Midrash from the Hebrew verb daras means “to seek” or “to inquire.” As a genre, midrash is, as Trible writes, “a commentary that endeavors to make a particular text meaningful and relevant.”  Midrash is a bit like today’s fan fiction.  It imagines stories about Biblical characters that are not found in scripture. Each of these genre suggestions have their own problems and consideration. Jonah cannot be classified as any one of these but flows from one genre to another.

Scholars do not agree on the purpose of Jonah.  It is “not known” according to Trible. She writes, “The book of Jonah does not disclose its purpose, and speculation has not secured it. This uncertainty matches the meager knowledge about its origin, date, composition, genre, and setting.”

Scene one of the book of Jonah takes up the first two chapters. It starts with Yahweh speaking to Jonah and ends with Yahweh speaking to the fish.  Scene one can be divided into four parts:

• Yahweh commands Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah heads to Tarshish instead
• Yahweh sends a wind upon the sea
• The sailors try to avert disaster. Jonah is thrown overboard.
• Yahweh appoints a fish to swallow Jonah, Jonah prays to God and is spit out onto dry land.

The Book of Jonah begins differently than any of the other prophetic books.  It does not give a time period for when the story took place and begins with the Hebrew word wayyehi which means ‘it came to pass.’ This is a very common beginning to a narrative.  It’s how the books of Judges, Ruth, and Esther begin. The NIV and NRSV versions of the Bible translate wayyehi as “came.” Trible writes, “such a beginning suggests continuation. Jonah is but one story in an all-embracing narrative about the divine and the human, a narrative whose own beginning is elusive and whose ending remains unwritten.”

“Jonah son of Amittai” appears in 2 Kings 14:25. During the reign of King Jeroboam II (786-756 BCE) “Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher” successfully proclaimed the restoration of the border of Israel “according to the word of the Lord.” The book of Jonah focuses on this character, but without placing him in history or giving any detail about what he said to the people.  It is sort of like fan fiction (midrash) about this man from 2 Kings.

The Hebrew has God telling Jonah to “arise” or qum.  Jonah does “arise” but heads toward Tarshish instead of Nineveh. We don’t know why Jonah doesn’t go to Nineveh.  The audience is left to speculate.

Trible writes, “all things appear to work well for Jonah: an accessible seaport, a convenient ship, financial solvency, and available space.” Jonah’s goal is to go “away from the presence of the Lord.”  Does it work? No!  God is everywhere.

The sailors quiz Jonah.  This is the third time Jonah has been addressed directly so far. First God speaks to him, and he runs away.  Second the captain speaks to him, and he remains silent.  Now he responds. It’s interesting in his response to the sailors that Jonah calls God, “the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the seas and the dry land.” Jonah confesses the all-encompassing nature of God and yet he tries to go “away from the presence of God.”

Jonah confesses his guilt and responsibility for the storm, but he does not offer to jump overboard. Instead, he has the sailors throw him overboard. Why do you think that is? Trible writes, “Jonah wants to flee from the presence of Yahweh so that he need not go to Nineveh. Already he has tried physical flight by ship to Tarshish. It has not worked. Next, he has tried psychological flight by sleeping in the hold of the ship. It has not worked. Now, pressed by the sailors, he tries absolute flight through death… To acknowledge culpability is to continue defiance. Jonah is not calling upon his God, and he is not going to Nineveh. To save the sailors is to confirm himself. Death by drowning will secure for Jonah what he wants: flight from Yahweh. Thus, his seeming concern for the sailors camouflages self-concern. His seeming altruism masks egotism. Deception and irony abound in Jonah.”

The sailors are caught between a rock and a hard place.  If Jonah stays on board, they all perish.  If they throw Jonah overboard, they all perish (the sailors become responsible for his death.) So, they pray to God together to forgive them for throwing Jonah overboard. Trible writes, “For the sailors, the story has come full circle. From fear that motivated prayer to unnamed deities, they have become Yahweh worshipers. But the story leaves open the question of conversion. From the perspective of the sailors, the worship of Yahweh may mean but the addition of another god to their pantheon.”

God “provides” a fish to swallow Jonah.  The power struggle continues.  Jonah’s plan to perish by drowning, to escape going to Nineveh, does not work AGAIN.  God thwarts Jonah’s ideas and saves him.

Jonah prays to God from inside the fish.  How much farther can you get from real life – in the depths of the sea in the belly of a fish? He is totally cut off from everything he knew before. Some scholars read Jonah’s time in the fish as his being in the netherworld. This is where the fantasy aspect of Jonah comes into play. Trible writes, “Jonah’s prayer rises to heaven. Descent and ascent meet; death and life contend. The struggle between Yahweh and Jonah extends to the cosmos.”

Then we get a psalm, spoken by Jonah.  Trible writes, “embedded in the belly of the fish, unpredictable Jonah prays.”

There are various types of psalms – psalms of lament, psalms of complaint, psalms of praise, royal psalms, etc.  You’d think, if you’d just been through all that Jonah had been through, you’d sing a psalm of lament or complaint. But Jonah surprises us with a thanksgiving psalm.

The psalm feels like it was copied from someplace else and pasted into the story of Jonah.  It uses different words for the same things than the rest of the book and it references things that did not happen. For example, Jonah says that in his distressed he called qara to Yahweh (2:2). This is the verb used in chapter 1 when the captain tells Jonah to call on his God. But we know that he did not. In the psalm Jonah says Yahweh cast him into the sea and drove him away from the divine sight.  But that was all Jonah’s doing! He told the sailors to cast him into the sea. He was the one trying to get away from God.

Trible writes, “The psalm slows down the movement of the plot, heightens the irony, and complicates the character portrayal of Jonah. It shows how distorted is his perception of reality. Contrary to the narrative, he asserts that Yahweh has sought to destroy him, that he has shown true piety in the midst of calamity, that he projects a voice of thanksgiving, and that he has been delivered from danger. The psalm also evidences Jonah’s self-centeredness… his arrogance peaks when he contrasts himself favorably with idol worshipers [like the sailors and later the Ninevites] … Appearing between the genuine worship of the sailors and of the Ninevites, the psalm offers counterfeit piety from loquacious Jonah. The closing line, ‘deliverance belongs to the LORD!’ elevates the dissonant tone.  If isolated, this sentiment might capture a dominant message of the book, but when spoken by Jonah it has a nauseating effect. So, Yahweh spoke to the fish and ‘it vomited Jonah.’”

The NIV says the fish “vomited Jonah onto dry land.” The NRSV says the fish “spewed Jonah out upon the dry land.”  The word used is qi which communicates a distasteful image. Trible writes, “The fish does not stomach Jonah.”

We start chapter 3 with a do-over.  Yahweh commands again and Jonah responds again.

NIV calls Nineveh a “very important city” and the NRSV calls it “an exceedingly large city.”  Those phrases translate the Hebrew which is literally “a great city to God.” Trible writes, “the idiom ‘great to God’ offers rich meanings that the translations of the NIV and the NRSV fail to convey. It suggests divine perspective: the greatness of Nineveh impresses even God (great before God). It suggests divine ownership: God rules over Nineveh (great to God). It suggests divine favor: God has ordained the greatness of Nineveh (great because of God). And it suggests divine abode: The greatness of Nineveh qualifies as a residence for God (great for God). The theological greatness of the city exceeds a mere superlative. Human calculations do not suffice; divine standards take the measure.”

Jonah walks through town and calls, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” No where does the narrative tell us this is what God told Jonah to say.  Usually in prophetic literature it’ll say something like “the word of the Lord” or “thus says the Lord” or “an oracle of the Lord.” It seems like maybe this is just what Jonah decides to say.

Jonah also gives the Ninevites no idea as to why this is happening.  Usually in prophetic literature the prophet will explain why God has decided to do something. No reasons are given here.

But the Ninevites believe God. The word for “God” here is Elohim a generic term for ‘god’ rather than the particular Israelite name of “Yahweh.” So they believe what Jonah is saying but they are not converted to worshiping Yahweh, the one, true, living God.

The king says, “let them call [qara] to God” which is what the captain said onboard the ship.

There is word play in chapter three involving the word turn sub and the word repent naham.  Naham means to turn- to turn away from evil. The people are instructed to turn from their evils ways so that God may turn from anger.  God then overturns the plans for calamity. The people repent. God repents. Trible writes, “unlike the Ninevites, God does not do evil. The third clause of this passage reiterates the message in negative form: ‘and he did not do it.’ As a two-word statement in Hebrew, this report embodies its meaning by not using the term ‘evil.’ God abolishes it from the divine vocabulary.”

We open chapter four with an angry Jonah.  At the end of chapter three the Ninevites turned away from evil or ra'a, God did not do evil, but the very next verse is all about evil.  The Hebrew is literally, “and it was evil to Jonah an evil great and it burned to him.” Trible writes, “Something more than displeasure is happening to Jonah.”

Now we get some lament and complaint from Jonah as he prays. Jonah explains why he fled. He sort of says, “Of course this is what happened! I knew it from the beginning!” Jonah calls God gracious and merciful he uses the adjective rahum, which is akin to the noun rehem, meaning womb, which expresses maternal compassion. Jonah says God is slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love or hesed. Trible writes, “by reciting this confession in anger, Jonah produces an oxymoron. He subverts divine love into accusation, condemns compassion, and demands vindication from the ‘merciful’ God who coerced obedience from him.”

Once again Jonah asks God for death. Trible writes, “angry Jonah presses his will and logic upon the merciful God, slow to anger.”

Should we trust Jonah’s reasoning? Is this really why he decided to flee from the presence of God? Because he knew it would all turn out okay anyway?

Yahweh answers Jonah.  Yahweh does not respond to what Jonah has said.  Trible writes, “Yahweh does not answer on Jonah’s terms; God does not return to the past.” God doesn’t give orders or commands here, but asks a question instead. God literally asks, “Is it good it burns to you?” playing off what it said earlier in chapter four “and it was evil to Jonah an evil great and it burned to him.” God wants Jonah to consider the meaning of his anger.  But Jonah leaves town instead.

Has leaving town gotten Jonah what he wanted before? No! It’s already been proven to Jonah he can go nowhere to escape God. He waits to see what will happen to the city. From what we’ve just read we know nothing will happen to the city.  Is his plan to sit there indefinitely?

God appoints a bush/plant to protect Jonah from the sun and to “save him from his discomfort.” This translates the Hebrew, “to deliver Jonah from his evil.” Trible writes, “the purposes of the plant are clear.  The first purpose, ‘to be shade’ upon Jonah, follows immediately upon the shade of the booth. Built by opposing characters, these shelters give Jonah double protection from opposite perspectives. Under the booth that he constructed Jonah sits; above Jonah’s head Yahweh appoints a plant. Although both constructions provide him shade, only the latter seeks ‘to deliver him from his evil.’ The booth confirms him as he is; the plant seeks to save him from himself.” Evil has been taken away from all the other characters – the sailors, the Ninevites, God.  Now God seeks to take evil away from Jonah too.

Jonah is happy about the plant. Trible writes, “Delight may suggest a change in Jonah’s character, but the narrator does not say that the plant achieved its stated purpose to deliver Jonah from evil. Shaded by botanical mercy, the delight of Jonah masks his evil.”
   
When God appoints a wind and the sun beats down on Jonah’s head Jonah is not happy about it.  He says it’s better for him to die than live. Trible writes, “whatever happens contrary to Jonah’s will, be it destructive or salvific, tremendous or trivial, impersonal or personal, he would rather die than live with it.”

The narrator never tells us how Jonah feels when the plant dies. But in verse 9 God asks Jonah, “is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” or literally, “is it good it burns to you about the plant?”  Instead of walking away Jonah answers the question- “It is good it burns me even unto death.” Jonah wants to be like the withered plant. Trible writes, “these are his last words in the story. He ends, as his actions began, opposing Yahweh. But Jonah does not have the last word.”

There are parallels to the book of Jonah in scripture, especially in the parable of the prodigal son. Trible writes, “God is like the loving parent, Nineveh is like the prodigal child, and Jonah is like the elder child, who resents the merciful acts of the parent.”

Jonah is the only book of the Bible that ends with a question. Trible writes, “Abruptly the story of Jonah stops, but it does not end. The divine question awaits an answer. In pondering the matter, the reader who journeyed with Jonah begins to get the point. The reader is Jonah; Jonah is the reader. So the open-endedness of the last verse invites self-understanding and self-transcendence. The story subverts the reader.”