Introductions
| The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai (Jonah1:1) |
There is much controversy over this book: Did Jonah really get swallowed by a fish and live to tell the tale? Did Nineveh really respond in a city-wide act of repentance? Is there really a fish that could swallow someone and spit them up later? Shouldn't we just treat this story as an allegorical satire? But then why does Jesus parallel His three days in the tomb to Jonah's time in the whale's belly thus lending factuality to the story?
Let me say at the outset that I am perfectly comfortable to believe that the God who created the entire universe and who raised His Son from the dead is completely capable of providing a fishy submarine for a stubborn prophet.
I think the debates about whether Jonah is allegory or fact miss the point entirely. The bottom line is that there are great truths conveyed by the account - and these truths are bigger than Jonah, the fish or Ninevah. I'm going to deal with the text as it stands and take it at face value. This, I think, was the author's intention.
Jonah, son of Amittai lived in the 8th Century BC. He is acknowledged briefly in 2Kings14:25 as one who spoke the word of the Lord. However, the vocabulary, language and idiom of the finished book of Jonah comes from a much more modern time - roughly the end of the 4th century BC - some 400 years later.
We don't know who the author of the book is. The book bears Jonah's name because he is the chief character, not because he is the author. The writing is concise, sharp and satirical. Jonah is the main character, but he is not the hero - he's the object of examination and there's a great deal of fun being poked at him. Judging from the linguistic clues mentioned earlier, we can conclude that the book is about Jonah and was written at a time where it was felt that readers could learn lessons from Jonah's mistakes and also get to meet Jonah's God.
At the end of the day, the main character isn't Jonah, but God. Jonah is, in many ways, a foil for God - Jonah's mistakes and misconceptions show God in a clearer light.
There is a lot of humour in the book and this too is a beautiful picture of the playfulness of God that is in no way callous or unkind, but desperate to break through our calcified preconceptions.
I'm looking forward to Jonah's journey...
(The image above is modified from one I found on the www.reliancechurch.org )
