The Glory of Kings: A Festschrift for James B. Jordan

Fyodor Dostoevsky
(Christian Encounters Series)

Athanasius
(Foundations of Theological Exegesis and Christian Spirituality)

The Four: A Survey of the Gospels

Defending Constantine: The Twilight of an Empire and the Dawn of Christendom

From Behind the Veil: The Epistles of John

Deep Exegesis:The Mystery of Reading Scripture

Jane Austen
(A Biography)

Solomon Among the Postmoderns

The Baptized Body

1 & 2 Kings
Brazos Theological Commentary

The Promise Of His Appearing: An Exposition Of Second Peter

A Great Mystery: Fourteen Wedding Sermons

Deep Comedy: Trinity, Tragedy, And Hope In Western Literature

Miniatures & Morals: The Christian Novels of Jane Austen

The Priesthood of the Plebs: A Theology of Baptism

A Son To Me: An Exposition of 1 & 2 Samuel

Against Christianity

From Silence to Song: The Davidic Liturgical Revolution

Ascent to Love: A Guide to Dante's Divine Comedy

Blessed Are the Hungry: Meditations on the Lord's Supper

A House For My Name: A Survey of the Old Testament

Heroes of the City of Man: A Christian Guide to Select Ancient Literature

Brightest Heaven of Invention: A Christian Guide To Six Shakespeare Plays

Wise Words: Family Stories That Bring the Proverbs to Life

The Kingdom and the Power: Rediscovering the Centrality of the Church

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Bible - OT - Jonah: Do the Dead Praise God?

Do the dead praise God? asks the Psalmist (88:10; 115:17).

Yes, says the book of Jonah: As he descends to the roots of the mountains and the gates of Sheol, Jonah sings Yahweh’s praises (Jonah 2).

A song of hope and triumph erupting from the grave: This is the sign of Jonah.

Bible - OT - Jonah: Thoughts on Jonah

Some random thoughts on Jonah, inspired by a conversation with my student, Brillana McLean.

1) The first chapters of Jonah seem to follow something of an exit-and-return story. Jonah gets in a boat and crosses some water; he is cast out and is swallowed by the waters and by a sea monsters; he is spewed out and then goes to confront the wicked king of a wicked city. This is the same sequence Israel followed in their exile and return: They left the land across the Jordan, were swallowed by the giant fish of Babylon, which later spewed them out, so that they could re-conquer the land.

2) James Jordan suggested years ago that the plant in Jonah 4 is a symbol of Nineveh’s over-shadowing protection. Thinking more about the context, that interpretation makes a good deal of sense. Jonah, after all, has just converted the king of the up-and-coming Gentile empire. That empire is going to be solicitous for Israel so long as they remain God-fearers. They are going to provide shade for Israel. This is exactly parallel to the situation at Israel’s Babylonian exile: Nebuchadnezzar has been converted, and Jeremiah instructs the people to submit to Nebuchadnezzar because they will find shade and protection there.

Bible - OT - Jonah: Looking toward the temple

A student suggests that Jonah 2:4 is at the center of a chiasm that goes from 1:17 to the end of chapter 2. In 2:4, Jonah says that he looks toward the temple of Yahweh, and the centrality of that statement supports the notion that Jonah-in-the-fish is a type of Israel-in-exile (within the belly of the Gentile sea monster). As Solomon instructed (1 Kings 8), Jonah looks toward the temple while in exile and is spat back out on dry land. But the Jonah who looks to the temple in “exile” does not have mercy on the Gentiles, and the unfinished ending of Jonah confronts the Jews with the question of whether or not they will proclaim the kingdom of Yahweh to the Gentiles after they are spat back to land by Cyrus.

Another student suggests that Nineveh means “house of the fish.” ISBE has this: “To all appearance Nineveh took its name from the Babylonian Nina near Lagas in South Babylonia, on the Euphrates, from which early foundation it was probably colonized. The native name appears as Ninua or Nina (Ninaa), written with the character for ‘water enclosure’ with that for ‘fish’ inside, implying a connection between Nina and the Semitic nun, ‘fish.’” The word for “fish” in Jonah, however, is DAG, as in Dagon.

Bible - OT - Jonah: Sign of Jonah

The sign of Jonah is certainly the death-resurrection of Jonah 2, as well as the turning to the Gentiles of Jonah 3. But the sign of Jonah also means the setting of a question mark above the future history of Israel. At the end of Jonah, Yahweh asks why he should not be merciful to the great city, but there is no response from Jonah. The hardening of the Israelite Jonah means riches for the world; but Jonah leaves unanswered the question of whether Israel too will be saved. Romans 9-11 is Paul’s completion of the sign of Jonah.

Bible - OT - Jonah: Successful Disobedience

Jonah obeyed God’s commission, and preached successfully to Nineveh. They all repented in sackcloth.

Earlier, though, Jonah DISOBEYED God’s commission, and preached successfully to the sailors on the ship. They all feared Yahweh and sacrificed and took vows.

It appears that disobedient evangelism is as effective as obedient evangelism.

Or, better, it appears that Israel will bring praise from the Gentiles one way or another. If Israel refuses commission to Gentiles, Yahweh will cause that to turn to His praise. If Israel accepts her commission to Gentiles, Yahweh will cause that to turn to His praise.

“If their transgression be riches for the world and their failure be riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfiollment be! . . . For if their rejection be the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”

Bible - OT - Jonah: Parallel Sections of Jonah

I have long thought of the two parallel sections of Jonah as basically retellings of the same story, but now I’m thinking that they are consecutive thematically as well as chronologically. Here’s the typology: Jonah/Israel is called to witness to the nations, and refuses. Yahweh forces him into exile in the sea of nations, where he swallowed a great imperial sea monster. Then he’s vomited back into the land, bringing an end to exile. At that point, he’s supposed to have learned his lesson and go to the Gentiles to preach judgment and salvation, which he reluctantly does, just as Israel did in fact witness to the Gentiles after the exile. But he’s angry about the salvation of the city, just as Jews by Jesus’ day had become resistant to their ministry to the Gentiles and just as Jews in the first century were jealous of God’s mercy to Gentiles. The “provocation to jealousy” theme that drives the beginning of Jonah is thus still going on at the end; Jonah is typical of the Jews who are angered by the conversion of Gentiles. This is the sign of Jonah: that a dead-and-risen prophet brings salvation to Gentiles but leaves Jews angry and sullen.

Jonah’s little hut fits here too. The Hebrew word is SUKKAH, booth or tent, and is used of sanctuaries in a number of places in the Bible (the “booth of David,” for instance). Jonah is brought from exile, and builds his little temple, and waits for the Lord to burn the Gentiles cities.

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