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Jonah chapter 2 InterpretationDavid Thompson

Notes to reader:1. This interpretive work follows my survey of the book as a whole.2. That survey showed book literary structure commending

several key texts for immediate study, e.g., 1:1-3 and 3:1-3 for the overall book contrast between Jonah’s flight and his obedience; 3:10 for the pivot in Nineveh’s destiny; 4:2 for the reasons/explanations underlying the behaviors of the book’s chief characters, Jonah and Yhwh; 4:10-11 for the climax of the contrasting themes of Yhwh’s mercy and Jonah’s lack thereof.

3. Although chapter two may not among those Òkey textsÓ isolated from book structure, how this chapter is understood will have significant bearing on my understanding of the book as a whole, including its structure. So I am going to work on it here.

INTERPRETIVE QUESTIONS BEING ANSWERED1. Since I am moving directly from book survey to the

interpretation of this chapter, I will look to the relevant questions asked in book survey to guide my work here. Chapter two was the climactic part of the first half of the story, Jonah’s flight from God and the consequences thereof. I will therefore bring forward my questions from that major, book-level structural observation.

2. Interpretive questions regarding Jonah’s flight from God and its consequences, and related matters observed on book survey.

3. What is involved in Jonah’s flight from Yhwh, especially what is involved in this prayer from the great fish in ch. 2?

4. What is the meaning of each of the major elements in this flight from God, and particularly in the prayer?

5. Why this consequence to Jonah’s flight and why this prayer by him?

6. What is implied by Jonah’s flight, by the particular consequences which ensue, and by the prayer in ch.2?

7. What do my findings in these matters imply?

Jonah 2 Interpretation 2

3. I will start an answer by reviewing book survey findings. After that I will• briefly survey the whole prayer, then• work my way through the prayer, doing detailed interpretive analysis on selected features of the prayer (not on every single word and syllable)• make these observations in light of the book context as a whole.

4. The sign, ----ÈÈÈ, indicates inference from the immediately preceding observations/ data.

Phase One: My own Independent-Inductive Study

A. FINDINGS FROM BOOK SURVEY1. Book survey located chapter two at the end/climax of the

downward spiral of Jonah’s flight from God, which began in 1:3.

2. Jonah finds himself in the belly of a big fish ÒappointedÓ by Yhwh for the very purpose of swallowing Jonah, 1:17[2:1].1 At this point in the story, we do not know why the swallowing--for salvation or judgment. Circumstances to this point--Yhwh has hurled a great wind, 1:4, calmed the sea only when Jonah has been thrown overboard and the Mariners have prayed, 1:12-15.----ÈÈÈ Leading a reader at this point perhaps even to anticipate that the fish is an instrument of judgment, not most likely salvation.

3. After three days and nights in the fish, Jonah prays, 2:1, with special note that it is Òfrom the belly of the fishÓ that he prays.

4. As we noted in book survey, Jonah’s prayer is poetic in form, reminiscent of several prayers in the Psalter. We also observed on the survey that the story line itself moves unbroken from 2:1 to 2:10: ÒThen [in the fish after three days] Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the

1 References in brackets e.g., [2:1] refer to the Hebrew text where its numbering differs from the EB.


fish....and the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.Ó

5. Numerous vocabulary links tie the prayer to the surrounding context. Òcall/cryÓ, 2:1 and 1:2,14; 3:2; Òsea/seas,Ó 2:4 and 1:1:5,9,11,12,13,15; Òlife/soul,Ó 2:8 and 1:14; Òvow/vows,Ó 2:10 and 1:16.----ÈÈÈ The question remains open as to whether the poetic prayer is original to the story or not. It seems entirely possible that a ÒpsalmÓ has been inserted into the story. If that is the case, it also seems quite likely that it would have been placed here to provide information we need to understand the story as a whole, as a Òcommentary,Ó so to speak on some feature of the story.----ÈÈÈ Or it is also possible that Jonah prays this ÒpsalmsÓ prayer as his own prayer, quoting it in prayer, much as believers have done for centuries.----ÈÈÈ Or it is possible (more remotely I think) that Jonah is a poet himself and prays an original poem here.----ÈÈÈ The vocabulary links lead me to think it most likely that, whatever the case with the historical Jonah, the one who has given us the story also gave us the poem prayer as an integral part of the story. But the change in literary form and strategic placement mean the poem may still focus as an indispensable commentary on some features of the story being told. In any case, I will speak as though the prayer is Jonah’s, which the story as it now stands assumes, leaving aside issues of composition for the time being.

6. The canonical form of Jonah’s book (both in ancient and modern versions) comes to us only with this prayer and without any explicit indications whatsoever regarding its specific origins.----ÈÈÈ Nothing in the present story was regarded as ÒsecondaryÓ or subordinate to or inferior to other parts by those who gave us the story as Scripture----ÈÈÈ Following their lead, I will focus on interpreting the story as an integrated whole, whatever I may conclude about the compositional history of the book and the place of ch. 2 in that history.----ÈÈÈ If I am able to come to at least tentative conclusions about this Òpre-historyÓ of the text, I will focus that


information on understanding the book of Jonah as I now have it before me.

B. INVESTIGATION OF CHAPTER TWO ITSELF

7. The prayer divides into two major parts: [SEE THE ATTACHED CHART FOR STRUCTURAL OVERVIEW OF THE PRAYER. Such charts help me and others visualize the thought flow.]• 2:2-7 tell in the first person (ÒIÓ language) about Jonah’s plight and deliverance as a past experience, devoting most attention to the terrible plight, vs. 2-6a, and the prayer for deliverance, 7.• 2:8-9 give the Jonah’s promise and affirmation resulting from the rescue and contrasted with a description of idolaters (8).

8. The first section, 2:2-7, proceeds from general to particulars:• 2:2 Announces in general terms contrasting facts: that Jonah cried out in distress to Yhwh and Yhwh answered/heard him.• 2:3-6a detail the plight of Jonah from which he cried to Yhwh

-- Yhwh had cast him into the seas, flood overwhelming, 3, 5-6a

-- Jonah’s realization: he’s cast out, seeing the temple again put in question, 4

• 2:6b Gives one line to the starkly contrasting fact that Yhwh saved him/ Òbrought my life up from the pit.Ó

• 2:7 repeat in general terms the two sides of the situation, both self referential:-- Jonah/I ÒrememberedÓ Yhwh in this plight-- Jonah’s/my prayer came to Yhwh’s holy temple.

7. The second section, 2:8-9 tell apparent consequences of deliverance,• 2:8 claims idolaters forsake covenant loyalty, a statement momentarily at least breaking the flow and rather ad hoc----ÈÈÈ it is possible that this claim does not represent Jonah’s understanding of how idolaters respond to deliverance, but is simply a Òstand aloneÓ claim about idolaters, after which Jonah takes up his own response to deliverance.• 2:9a-c Jonah contrasts himself with these persons and


makes two promise claims about himself:--He will sacrifice a praise offering (a toÆdaÆh) to Yhwh --He will pay vows he has made

----ÈÈÈ implying that in the course of this prayer he has made vows not explicitly mentioned in the prayer (e.g., If you rescue me I will give 10 shekels to the temple treasury) or that he has outstanding vows to which he will promptly attend.2:9d Jonah makes a faith affirmation that ÒRescue/salvation belongs to YhwhÓ----ÈÈÈ implying that should he be delivered from his death trap in the fishes belly, it will be by the saving hand of Yhwh that this rescue will come, such things are Yhwh’s doing, and under his sovereign control.

[When I get to verse by verse or more detailed analysis, I will generally quote the text of immediate focus for ease of reference. I’ll use the RSV, with my eye on the Hebrew text as well.]

1) Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, 2) saying,‘I called to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me;out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and thou didst hear my voice.

7. The introductory lines (2:1) describe the following words as Òpraying/wytpllÓ (a common word for prayer, I recall, in the psalms); they locate the prayer in the Òbelly of the fish.Ó

8. ch. 2:1 names Yhwh as the person/God to whom Jonah directs the prayer and further qualifies Yhwh as Òhis [Jonah’s] God.Ó This would stand over against other possible gods to whom prayers could and already have be directed (1:5) in the book.----ÈÈÈ Jonah’s disobedience and attempted flight from Yhwh has not altered the fact that Yhwh remains his God in the judgment of the narrator and in the thought of Jonah. In this case Yhwh is identified by his relationship to


this particular person, not by his works or by his covenant relationship with larger Israel.

9. The prayer itself begins with reference to the past-- ‘I called to the LORDÓ and continues with this past tense reference through verse 7: Òhe answered...I cried...thou didst hear...thou didst cast...’ etc.----ÈÈÈ The prayer apparently looks back on Jonah’s situation in the sea itself, in the waters, as the plight from which the LORD rescued him. That is, the fish itself was God’s appointed mode of rescue.

10.Right along with the cry--linked by coordinate conjunction-- is the affirmation that the Lord (Yhwh) answered him. That is, Jonah’s prayer puts together right at the start, side by side, his affliction - cry, along with the reality of Yhwh’s answer.

11. In v 6 he goes on to say that the Lord brought him up out of the pit.----ÈÈÈ In this context ÒanswerÓ appears to be roughly the same as Òdeliver.Ó ÒAnswerÓ describes an active, saving response by Yhwh.

12. J. describes his affliction as Òthe belly of Sheol,Ó making more specific the ÒdistressÓ he named in the first line of the prayer. I recall from other studies that ÒSheolÓ = realm of the dead, alien territory of terrible fear and dread, where all persons ultimately find themselves. [I could get a Òpreliminary definition by looking in BDB2 982-83, which defines she·<oÆl as Òthe underworldÓ where persons descend at death.]----ÈÈÈ Thus naming his plight in the sea underscores the life threatening, terrifying situation in which he found himself; he was as good as dead when Yhwh rescued him.----ÈÈÈ Unless Jonah is simply rote praying, if his prayer has any meaning to it, then he apparently thinks Yhwh can hear him from this Ògod forsaken placeÓ and could actually help; him there, should he choose. Apparently,

2 BDB = ÒBrown, Driver and Briggs,Ó a reference by authors to A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (Oxford, 1907) by Francis Brown, S. R. Driver and Charfles A., Briggs, the editors/authors of this classic Hebrew lexicon. For non-Hebrew reading students a recent edition keys the entries to the numbers in Strong’s concordance, allowing you to locate words and get their basic definitions. See The New Brown - Driver - Briggs - Gesenius Hebrew and English Lexicon (Hendrickson, 1979), abbreviated NBDB.


i.e., Jonah does not regard Sheol as off limits to the God of Israel.

13. In this opening generalization these two situations--the plight/cry and the contrasting rescue/hearing are twice stated, in synonymous parallelism.----ÈÈÈ I INFER the prayer intends probably emphasis, these are important enough things to repeat.

3)_ ‘For thou didst cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas,and the flood was round about me; all they waves and thy billows passed over me.

14. Verse 3 begins with the word ÒforÓ and looks as though it intends to explain v.2--the cry and the situation and maybe even the rescue.

15.Jonah attributes his situation in sheol to Yhwh himself/, actually to God’s own direct action. ÒYou cast me into the deep.Ó Furthermore the prayer describes the waves as Yhwh’s waves and Yhwh’s billows (ÒthyÓ).----ÈÈÈ Jonah shows awareness that his situation is not simply an accident, not just a matter of bad weather at sea. Instead the prayer implies God himself put Jonah in this plight. Yhwh whom he has already confessed as ÒCreator of the sea and the dry landÓ (1:9) has used the creatures of his own making both to swamp Jonah and halt his flight and to rescue him as well.----ÈÈÈ This could be a way of talking about providence, i.e., God didn’t act directly--pick him up and do the throwing--God worked in some more general way providentially, especially since the story tells us the sailors threw Jonah into the sea (1:15). ----ÈÈÈ Or the prayer may present Jonah as having a rather direct idea of God’s participation in the whole thing, even though it was the sailors who did the Òthrowing.Ó I think this way of looking at it is probably more likely, judging by the things Jonah and the mariners and the narrator as well say in ch. 1, attributing the situation on the sea to Yhwh’s action.


16.In chapter one we have already been told that it is because Jonah is fleeing from Yhwh that the sea has become unmanageable. Yhwh himself Òthrew/hurledÓ the storm out on the sea (1:4). ----ÈÈÈ This implies a rather direct connection between the actions of God and the physical world of the Mediterranean Sea.----ÈÈÈ It also implies that when persons do things God does not like/contrary to his will, he can cause catastrophe in their lives, such as a storm to overwhelm them. Jonah is aware of this and plainly implies it in v. 3

4) ‘Then I said, ÒI am cast out from thy presence;how shall I again look upon thy holy temple?Ó

17. In verse 4, he Jonah also says he’s been Òcast out of your [God’s] sight.Ó (RSV) I note the NIV translates ÒI have been banished from your sight,Ó changing the tense from present perfect (ÒI am [now in a condition of having] been banishedÓ and intensifying the vocabulary from Òcast outÓ to Òbanished.Ó Checking BDB 176 (see footnote #2) I see that word used here is garash. In the form used here (BDB cite this passage) BDB understands the word to mean to Òbe driven away,Ó i.e., expelled, or as the NIV has it, Òbanished.Ó This being in the fish and the sea has something to do with his contact with/ his relationship with God. Although Jonah does not say who has ÒbanishedÓ him, the only actor beside Jonah named to this point in the prayer is Yhwh himself.----ÈÈÈ I infer the author presents Jonah as thinking that his circumstance included alienation from Yhwh, an alienation which Yhwh himself has effected by casting him into the sea. The ÒbanishÓ tone suggests displeasure on Yhwh’s part and decisive action to show it. The language suggests perhaps a royal court picture where the King orders a subject out of his sight and the palace guards carry out the order dragging him out the door and ordering him out of the country. That’s what happened when Yhwh


tracked him down, hurled the storm onto the sea and cast him overboard.

18. v. 4b either asks ÒhowÓ ( <eµk ) will I look to the temple or affirms ÒyetÓ ( <ak ) Jonah will look again toward the temple. ÒhowÓ (<eµk) = LXX (pw§) RSV, NRSV, JB, CEV, REB, NLT; ÒyetÓ (<ak) = MT, NIV, NASB, NKJV. [It is difficult to decide which is the better reading. a KAAa (<ak) and KEEa or KyEEa (<eµk) are the choices and require no change in the consonantal text to move either direction.----ÈÈÈ If it is Òyet,Ó then we have here a glimmer of hope and faith already back in Jonah’s plight in the sea. There he clung to the notion that in spite of his horrendous plight, he would live to see the temple once again.----ÈÈÈ If it is ÒhowÓ then it would be a question underscoring the hopelessness of his situation--sinking in the sea he saw no way he would again see the temple. He would die under the judgment of God, banished from his sight. Although it is difficult to decide, in my opinion the note of hope interrupts unnecessarily the otherwise unbroken focus on the problem from which Jonah had been rescued.

5) The waters closed in over me, the deep was round about me;weeds were wrapped about my head 6) at the roots of the mountains.I went to the land whose bars closed upon for ever;[I see from the various versions that there are significant differences in how these verses are translated. This would indicate textual problems which I cannot take time to resolve now. If it turns out I need to resolve this to understand the prayer as a whole, I will seek help in other resources later. All of the versions seem to describe a terrible situation, varying only in the specific description of that terrible situation. Therefore I am going to assume at the moment that the RSV will be adequate.]


19.When he picks up this situation again in verses 5 & 6, it looks very serious--Ówaters closed in,Ó Òbars closed behind me forever.Ó He speaks of being surrounded, shut in, and then makes the temporal note that this is Òforever.Ó ----ÈÈÈ I infer Jonah’s situation is hopeless. He is trapped in circumstances he can in no way control or get himself out of. He looks captured and helpless. And the situation has no foreseeable end. The ÒforeverÓ may be hyperbole, but still underscores the unchangeable nature of the situation.

6b) yet thou didst bring up my life from the Pit, O LORD my God.

20. This single line stands in contrast to the entire situation described from vv. 3 - 6a. • It gives Jonah’s testimony to Yhwh’s deliverance. In spite of the apparently hopeless, endless, deathly plight in which Jonah found himself in the sea, Jonah’s God, Yhwh, acted and rescued him. Yhwh rescued him from the very grave into which Yhwh himself had thrown him. The connection of God to his survival of the sea is just as direct and forceful as his connection of Yhwh God to his entanglement in the sea. Both of them are Yhwh’s doing. This is true even though other agents participate in the rescue (namely the Òbig fishÓ Yhwh ÒappointedÓ to swallow Jonah, 1:17).----ÈÈÈ The brevity of the statement itself may well underscore its importance. It stands out by stark contrast to the surrounds, something like ÒNot so the wicked!Ó in Psalm 1:4. The fact of the deliverance--it happened! The agent of the deliverance--Yhwh God! And the sphere of the deliverance--the Grave! These all find emphasis in this brief statement.

21. Here ÒpitÓ parallels ÒsheolÓ in 2:2 (Òout of sheolÓ). RSV actually capitalizes it, ÒPit.Ó----ÈÈÈ My guess is that ÒpitÓ would be another term for the underworld or the grave. The fact that RSV capitalizes it shows they apparently take it as a Proper name for a


well known entity/place. Along with the emphasis on Yhwh God’s deliverance of him is note again of the dangerous hole from which Jonah was pulled.

22. For the first time since the first line of the prayer, God is named directly as Yhwh (cf. 2:2). But ÒYhwh my GodÓ parallels ÒYhwh his GodÓ in 2:1, repeating the name and the pronoun that claims relationship with this God.----ÈÈÈ The identity of this saving God is here emphasized and Jonah’s relationship with that God are also emphasized now in this testimony.

[Because of the desire to remain brief, I am going to move to the concluding affirmations, vv. 8-9, that we saw resulting from this history of cry and deliverance.]

8) Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their true loyalty (RSV, NRSV, JB, cf. REB, NASB, [Òforfeit the grace that would be theirs,Ó NIV; Òforsake their own Mercy,Ó NKJV]9) But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to thee;what I have vowed I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the LORD.

23. Jonah’s first affirmation, via the prayer he prays, deals with idolaters, the worthlessness of the idols they regard so highly, and something which they forsake--either their own loyalty to covenant or something else (RSV), or grace which otherwise would have come to them (NIV), or ÒMercyÓ as a name for God (NKJV). MT reads literally: ÒTheir h\esed they forsakeÓ and is open to all of these construals/translations. I am not sure which is best at this point.

24.All of this--the idolatry and its consequences--Jonah’s prayer contrasts with his own response. He will offer thanksgiving and will pay his vows and casts his own anticipated behavior in a positive light and the idolaters in a negative light.


25.This is interesting, because to this point in the book, the people who have responded most admirably to Yhwh have been the idolaters. And in ch. 3, again , it will be the idolatrous Ninevites who model the response to Yhwh’s word that he is seeking.----ÈÈÈ I infer there is both truth and open irony in this prayer. Jonah is over confident of his ÒunidolatrousÓ self, and mistakenly contrasts his piety with theirs. In the prayer, isolated from this context, the irony would not be present. But here, with this context, Jonah’s words have great irony and drip with overconfidence and perhaps blindness to himself. He has not been saved because of his piety, but because of the mercy of God.----ÈÈÈ This could mean he has renewed awareness of his call to the ÒidolatersÓ of Nineveh. It still rings with irony.

26. The affirmation about offering sacrifice and expressing vocal thanksgiving (8b) seems to assume that Jonah will go to the temple and offer the ÒTodah/ toÆdaµh,Ó the regular ÒThank offeringÓ expressing gratitude for this deliverance.----ÈÈÈ The prayer assumes deliverance from the fish as well. Though the fish has receded into the background till Yhwh will order him to vomit Jonah on dry ground (2:10), it is not out of the picture completely. The prayer has regarded the fist as an instrument of rescue, and these lines assume Jonah somehow back on dry land and in the temple making offerings.----ÈÈÈ More important, his ÒthanksgivingÓ will be an open recognition of his situation. ÒThank youÓ words and deeds assume some action for which one is grateful, in the Psalms usually some deliverance (vs. ÒpraiseÓ which can simply be an adoration response to Yhwh’s character, not any particular deliverance.). Jonah will openly acknowledge his plight (perhaps including his flight) and will pay tribute to Yhwh as his deliverer.

27.The affirmation about vows (2:9b) also assumes Jonah has made vows, presumably during his adversity in the storm and his trip to the watery grave. If his vows were ÒstandardÓ vows, we would expect that he promised


Yhwh his God that, if Yhwh would rescue him, he would do certain things, including go to the temple, which I know from other study, was the place vows were Òpaid.Ó There he would make a Òvow payment,Ó a contribution or a sacrifice as he had promised he would. Psalm 116:12-19, as we saw in survey, provide a closely parallel worship scene in the temple, with 17-19 directly parallel to these affirmations.----ÈÈÈ This affirmation also implies that Jonah anticipates deliverance from the fish as well, and hopes one day to see the temple again. He will be faithful to his promise and show himself grateful for the rescue he has experienced.

28.The prayer closes (2:9c) with a focus on Yhwh himself and specifically Yhwh as the one to whom salvation Òbelongs.Ó It claims that rescue, should it further come and as it has come in this case, is Yhwh’s doing. More precisely he talks not of his salvation specifically but of salvation in general--salvation at all belongs to God. Here the string of references to Yhwh and his actions in the prayer reach climax, but here in the general claim, transcending the bounds of the prayer and Jonah’s plight and talking without qualification about Yhwh’s ÒownershipÓ of salvation. The claim does not specify when or how or why Yhwh saves, but emphasizes the fact that he does. It is a property of his character and a sign of his doing.

29. The book will proceed to emphasis this claim and will add to it two other concerns.• First and most important, judging by space and order of the remaining materials, the book will pursue a concern not just for the fact that God is the one who saves--both the Mariners and Jonah and even the despised Ninevites--but this writer will pursue in ch. 4 those features of God’s character that lead him to do this saving--his mercy, his compassion, his anger, especially his capacity to relent. So I will pay very careful attention to these matters as I continue my study of Jonah.• Second, chapter four will attend as a correlate to the character anticipated in the prophet of such a God. Yhwh


will expose Jonah’s anger and will apparently elicit from him responses similar to Yhwh’s own responses. In other words, the book will take a primarily theo-centric, Yhwh-centered tack, but will also tie with this an anthropological concern--the character of human beings in relationship with Yhwh.

10) And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

30. The story turns back into the story teller’s hands and the direct narration proceeds. Yhwh again acts, speaking to the fish and Jonah is vomited to dry land. No explicit connection

is drawn between the prayer in 2:2-9 and God’s action in 2:10. Jonah’s prayer did not include a prayer for deliverance

from the fish, but rather, as we have seen, assumed it.----ÈÈÈ It is possible that the narrator intends a causal link between the prayer and the release from the fish. If so, it is

implicit, not explicit or emphasized. Some such prayer-response sequence is entirely possible.

----ÈÈÈ It seems more likely, given the other emphasis we have seen on Yhwh’s mercy that here again, we are not to

see a causal link but rather to see that Yhwh has acted from his sheer mercy.

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS FROM MY OWN INDEPENDENT-INDUCTIVE WORK

[My interpretation is not confined to this summary of findings. My interpretation, i.e., my present understanding of the passage is found in all of the above notes. This summary simply helps me sort of the

salient features and keep track of where I am in the process.]

a. The prayer of Jonah from the fish, in poetic form, using traditional language from psalm-like prayers, stands out and helps make clearer sense out of other parts of the book.

b. The fish, which at first seems likely another instrument of judgment, turns out to be Jonah’s Yhwh-appointed salvation from a watery grave/ she<ol in the sea. The prayer itself looks back on that Ògrave,Ó on Jonah’s cry for


rescue there, and on Yhwh’s merciful rescue of him from that plight.

c. All of this--the plight, the cry, the rescue, are emphasized in the prayer. The plight was terrible, horrible, without escape or end in sight. It involved not only death but banishment from Yhwh. The cry was underlined by repetition. And Yhwh as the main actor and only source of salvation stands center stage in the prayer.

d. The content and form of the prayer identify it as a prayer of thanksgiving for deliverance. No repentance or penitence surfaces in the prayer. This means that Jonah’s salvation rested solely on the grace of Yhwh, not on Jonah’s piety or penitence (this emphasized by the irony of the surrounding contexts). Consequently fact that Yhwh is Savior and only He and for his own reasons receives heavy accent.

f. This emphasis on Yhwh the Savior is the topic the book will pursue, broadening its interest beyond the fact of Yhwh’s saving to the character reasons on which that saving stands. The account of Yhwh’s response to Nineveh in ch. 3 and Jonah in ch. 4 will take up these matters.

g. These findings locate Jonah two in a broad stream of Old Testament revelation, tracing clear back to the patriarchal narratives and primevil history. Israel’s God is Creator of all that is, and is also Savior. There is no place where he is not sovereign and where he can not act in both judgment and salvation. Underpinning all of this is his justice and particularly his mercy.

Phase Two: Consultative-Interactive Phase of Study--

Consultation with several significant interpreters of Jonah

1. Joyce Baldwin, ÒJonah,Ó in vol. 2 of The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository Commentary, edited by Thomas Edward


McComiskey. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993. Baldwin is Dean of Women, Trinity College, Bristoll.

a. Baldwin quotes Leslie Allen’s treatment of the psalm/prayer (NICOT) as depicting Òthe inconsistency of one graciously brought back from the brink of deserved destruction churlishly resenting the divine right to rescue other sinners from perishingÓ (567)

b. Points to a Òturning point in Jonah’s attitude,Ó from having his back to the Lord to crying to the Lord, (569).

c. Baldwin thinks Jonah’s affirmations in v. 8-9 [9-10] indicate• a transformation in Jonah such that he wants fellow Israelites to realize the folly of their idolatrous ways (571)• Jonah himself is Òconvicted of his folly in forsaking such a GodÓ (a covenant/\ h\esed God).• He directs advice to Òfellow Israelites guilty of the same thing...and who have gone astray morally as a resultÓ (571).• His suffering has taught him lessons, Òhe admits his backsliding has been foolish. But there is no sign yet that Jonah is truly penitent,Ó comparing Ps. 51:19[17]. (572)

DLT INTERACTION with Joyce Baldwina. Ms. Baldwin’s treatment of the psalm (and the book) is full

of insight and based on careful exegesis. I am not convinced the affirmations reveal as significant a change in Jonah as she presents. Her concluding insight--that no sign of penitence appears--is the most telling, in my opinion. I wish that insight had been purused more fully for the meaning of the chapter and the book as a whole.

b. I wonder whether or not, in light of the concluding insight, some previous claims about Jonah’s transformation and insight may not be overdrawn, granting too much to him.

c. She concurs in the orientation of the psalm, looking back on the sea as the place from which the rescue has occurred.

2. James Limburg, Jonah in The Old Testament Library. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1993. Limburg


is Professor of Old Testament at Luther Northwestern Seminary in St. Paul, MN.

a. Limburg, like Baldwin, emphasizes the traditional nature of the language in the prayer and as Baldwin and I did, classifies it as a prayer of thanksgiving, comparing especially ps. 30 and Ps. 116 (63-66) and looking back on sea as the plight from which Jonah Òcried,Ó according to the prayer.

b. His treatment of she<ol (66) was more extensive than my brief, preliminary definition (as was Baldwin’s) and included helpful links of several features of this prayer to vocabulary elsewhere linked with she<ol (66-67), emphasizing the ÒgraveÓ plight in the prayer.

c. Limburg’s attention to the ÒformÓ of the prayer of thanksgiving, and to the persons to whom the main parts of the prayer are directed called my attention to the importance of investigating this much more. He thinks the clearest indication of the audience for whom the book may have been written is in 2:9a and its words about idolaters (Baldwin had flagged this too as important.). I will attend to this more in later study. His excursus on ÒThe Song of ThanksgivingÓ bears further study (64-66).

DLT INTERACTION WITH LIMBURGa. Overall I found my understanding of the psalm to be the

same as Limburg’s. The import of signficant details gave me helpful clarification and points for later study.

b. I found no significant correction of my work or redirection of general approach. The brevity of Limburg’s treatment may account for the lack of additional insight generated by the work.

3. Leslie C. Allen. The Books of Joel, Obadiah, Jonah and Micah. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1976. Leslie Allen was educated and taught for years in Britain, and is now Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary.


a. Allen points out the general parallel structure between chapters one and two (attributed to Landes): crisis, prayer, deliverance, and worship, which with the paying of vows in both cases places Jonah in the same situation as the Mariners in chapter 1 (198).

b. Though it is not important to the work we did, Allen’s comments on the three days and nights in the fish are very interesting. Again referring to G. M. Landes (JBL 86 [1967] 446-450), he cites material in Sumerian mythology in which three days denotes the time needed to travel to the underworld. Here then, it would be the time necessary for the journey back from Sheol, which would emphasize Òthe great gulf between death and life and the difficulties God gloriously overcame in rescuing his servant from his merited doomÓ (213-214).

c. The prayer is a prayer of thanksgiving (215), as we had seen.

d. Allen underscores the banishment (v. 4) as Yhwh’s endorsement of Jonah’s own will to flee from his presence (216), a Òyour will be doneÓ spoken to the prophet!

e. As did Baldwin, Allen sees a significantly different Jonah in the second and third stanzas of the song. ÒThis is anew Jonah. He is soon to demonstrate a willing spirit by accepting the commission he formerly had rejected. In line with this change of heart, even now in this testimony to God’s grace he looks forward to seeking the special presence of God to offer his praise.Ó (217).

f. Allen concurs that the final line is the climax of the psalm, Òa final exultant shoutÓ acknowledging Yhwh as Savior. (219).

DLT INTERACTION WITH ALLEN.a. Allen’s exposition is by far the ÒliveliestÓ and most

vigorous of these three.b. I am impressed with his emphasis on the changed man he

sees in Jonah.c. In my judgment, however, neither he nor Baldwin, take

sufficient account of the form of the prayer they have


identified (Thanksgiving, not penitence), and insufficient attention of the larger book context, especially ch. 4, in light of which this prayer must be read. I remain unpersuaded.

4. Elizabeth Achtemeier. Preaching from the Minor Prophets. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998. A small paperback, not a scholarly work, and consequently not the sort of book I would normally cite here. I respect greatly the work of Mrs. Achtemeier, however, and wanted to see how she ÒmarketedÓ the Minor Prophets to the church and hoped to discern a line of interpretation in this work. She is recently retired from years of teaching Bible and homiletics at Union Theological Seminary, VA.

a. Achtemeier does not actually address ch. 2 itself, focusing rather on 1, 3 and 4.

b. Her approach to each book is instructive, however: first Òhistorical context,Ó then Òtheological context,Ó then Òfeatures to note in the textÓ (brief analysis), and finally Òsermon possibility.Ó

c. For my work the most significant contribution was her emphasis in the Òtheological context.Ó Here she emphasizes strongly that the story of Jonah intends to show forth Òthe unbounded mercy of the Creator God, who is the Lord and Source of all life, natural and human.Ó She draws attention away from the fish and alleged reasons for Jonah’s reluctance, and also denies the book is a protest against Òexclusivism of Judaism.Ó (56).

DLT INTERACTIONa. I concur heartily with Achtemeier’s emphasis on Jonah as

primarily concerned to expound the mercy of the Creator God.

b. I think she fails to identify clearly why such a work would be written, i.e., what sort of setting might call forth the work.


c. She also does not in this particular work at least, pay sufficient attention to the book’s own attention to Jonah himself and the contrast between his character and God’s.

d. These criticisms may be due as much to the length and purpose of this particular work of hers than anything else.

There are many other works on Jonah that could be cited. This will be sufficient for purposes of illustrating what sorts of interpretive resources students should consult, how they should be reported, and how one should interact with them.

In this particular part of Jonah there are no strong impetuses to look up specific matters of historical background (Nineveh, Assyria, Tarsus, sailing customs, etc.) beyond the data we uncovered in analysis and brief word study. That would not be true in some other parts of Jonah, where our resources would include not just commentaries but also, preceding these, Bible dictionaries, encyclopedias, etc.

FINAL SUMMARY OF FINDINGS

1. Since my findings were not significantly altered by the research in these four interpreters, I will let the previous summary stand.

2. These interpretive results would be the findings I would evaluate, were we to move on to that stage of study in preparation for application.

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