Jonah vs. God
I did not grow up religiously, so my extent of knowledge about Jonah before this class was that he was some dude that got eaten by a whale. Now, having read the book of Jonah, I see that there was way more to the story, and the article we read about it makes (a little bit) more sense. The way I read the book was sort of a bluffing contest between Jonah and God. God says he is going to destroy the city of Nineveh, and Jonah basically calls his bluff and goes the opposite way. Then Jonah realizes he’s in a hopeless situation and convinces God that he’s sorry and that he’ll go to Nineveh. Ultimately, Jonah is right and Nineveh is not destroyed, and thus he becomes angry at God. God ends up teaching Jonah a lesson with the plant at the end, but the way I see it, Jonah calls out God in this story. To me, it seems like Jonah does what he wants (even if it’s not what God wants) and gets away with it, which seems uncharacteristic of someone who defies God in the Bible. The article we read also seems to question Jonah’s loyalty to God, as the author agrees that Jonah’s supposed repentance, “within the belly of the great fish seems to have changed nothing of his initial feelings of discomfort” (144). This seems backwards because usually the prophet is the one convincing others of the religion, not the one needing to be convinced. We see the citizens of Nineveh as well as the sailors converting pretty easily in the story, so the real conflict is not with them and God but rather with Jonah and God.
This the article and I agree with, but there are other parts that I am less convinced about. It seems unlikely that Jonah would refuse to prophesy to the Ninevites because of a selfish desire for the Israelites to be the only ones to have salvation. Maybe I am missing something about the Jewish religion (since this is the Old Testament), but I would venture that if the Ninevites would accept God then they should be saved as well. It is possible that Jonah does have some sort of superiority complex over the people of Nineveh, but it seems improbable that the Bible would promote that.
Perhaps I am misunderstanding, but I believe that the article interpreted the Book of Jonah as a denunciation of that superiority complex. Jonah represents the misguided Jewish people who feel they are superior to others because they are God's people, but God humbles him by showing his lack of agency even in his own life and by proving that even the Ninevites can be saved. It does not promote Jonah's feelings of superiority, but rather shows how this idea is incorrect and calls for the Jewish people to humble themselves.
ReplyDeleteI like what you said about how this story doesn't seem to fit into the typical mold of prophetic stories. I'm not sure I would go so far as to call it a bluffing contest, but there does seem to be some mistrust between God and Jonah. Anyways, prophets are usually the ones who deliver the word of God, which Jonah was meant to do, but refused. Why would religion promote a disobedient prophet? Maybe to show what happens to those who don't follow the word of God, but it still seems like an odd premise.
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