0. Welcome and Opening Question
What do we, as Jews, expect of the people of the world?
Plan for this class
- 1. What we recall of the story of Jonah
- 2. An Orientation to the book of Jonah
- 3. Questions to keep in mind as we read chapter 1
- 4. Our Text: Jonah chapter 1
- 5. Commentaries
- 6. Summary - Upcoming classes
1. What do we recall of the story of Jonah?
Illustration of Jonah being swallowed by the fish from the Kennicott Bible, folio 305r (1476), in the Bodleian Library, Oxford
By Unknown author - Facsimile Editions, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26085375
2. An Orientation to the Book of Jonah
- Part of Prophets - One of the twelve minor prophets known in Hebrew as "The Twelve"/Trei Asar or Sh'neim Asar/תרי עשר or שנים עשר
- Fifth of the "Twelve": Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
- An unusual book among the Prophets
- A book about Jonah. Jonah is not a 'writing prophet' (Jack M. Sasson, The Anchor Bible: Jonah, Commentary, p. 20)
- "the book was regarded as prophetic even if it differs from the others in having barely a sentence of prophecy to relate and even if, when it does so, God's words address foreigners" (Sasson, p. 15).
- See comments by Radak and by Ehud Ben Zvi, below.
- Who is Jonah: Note the reference to Jonah son of Amittai in II Kings 14 (see below).
- Genres: Prose (chapters 1, 3, 4); Poetry (a psalm in chapter 2)
- Dating of the Book
- See statement in Talmud Bava Batra 15a below
- Seems to be written after the destruction of Nineveh in 612 BCE (see Jonah 3:3, below)
- The 'King of Nineveh' makes decisions the way a Persian king would (see Ezra 7:14, below))
- Place in Liturgy: Traditionally read in the afternoon service of Yom Kippur.
- Geography of Book: See maps of the Twelve Tribes and of the Assyrian Empire, below.
- Jaffa/Joppa; Tarshish; Nineveh
(א) ויהי דבר ה' אל יונה בן אמתי לאמר....ויש לשאול למה נכתבה נבואה זו בכתבי הקדש וכולה על נינוה שהיתה מאומות העולם ואין בו זכר לישראל ואין בכל הנביאים זולתה כמוהו ונוכל לפרש כי נכתבה להיות מוסר לישראל שהרי עם נכרי שאינם מישראל היה קרוב לתשובה ובפעם הראשונה שהוכיחם הנביא שבו בתשובה שלמה מרעתם...
One may ask why this prophecy was included in Scripture. All of it concerns Nineveh, a gentile city. It does not mention the people Israel. There is no book like it among the Prophets.
We might explain that it was written as an object lesson for Israel: Here is a gentile people, not Israelites, who readily repent. After the prophet reproves them once, they turn back from their wickedness in perfect repentance. (Trans: DR)
Ehud Ben Zvi, Commentary for The Jewish Study Bible, Introduction to Jonah, p. 1187
It is perhaps better to understand [Jonah] as a meta-prophetic book, that is, a book that probes the role of the prophet, and as a book that is to be studied as the Lord's word or teaching.
(כה) ה֗וּא הֵשִׁיב֙ אֶת־גְּב֣וּל יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מִלְּב֥וֹא חֲמָ֖ת עַד־יָ֣ם הָעֲרָבָ֑ה כִּדְבַ֤ר ה' אֱלֹקֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל אֲשֶׁ֣ר דִּבֶּ֗ר בְּיַד־עַבְדּ֞וֹ יוֹנָ֤ה בֶן־אֲמִתַּי֙ הַנָּבִ֔יא אֲשֶׁ֖ר מִגַּ֥ת הַחֵֽפֶר׃ (כו) כִּי־רָאָ֧ה ה' אֶת־עֳנִ֥י יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל מֹרֶ֣ה מְאֹ֑ד וְאֶ֤פֶס עָצוּר֙ וְאֶ֣פֶס עָז֔וּב וְאֵ֥ין עֹזֵ֖ר לְיִשְׂרָאֵֽל׃ (כז) וְלֹא־דִבֶּ֣ר ה' לִמְחוֹת֙ אֶת־שֵׁ֣ם יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל מִתַּ֖חַת הַשָּׁמָ֑יִם וַיּ֣וֹשִׁיעֵ֔ם בְּיַ֖ד יָרׇבְעָ֥ם בֶּן־יוֹאָֽשׁ׃
(25) It was he who restored the territory of Israel from Lebo-hamath to the sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the promise that the ETERNAL, the God of Israel, had made through God’s servant, the prophet Jonah son of Amittai from Gath-hepher. (26) For GOD saw the very bitter plight of Israel, with neither bond nor free left, and with none to help Israel. (27) And GOD resolved not to blot out the name of Israel from under heaven; and he delivered them through Jeroboam son of Joash.
According to Joshua 19:10-13, Gath-Hepher was assigned to the tribe of Zebulun.
Jeroboam II ירבעם was king of the Kingdom of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) in the early and middle eighth century BCE.
אַנְשֵׁי כְּנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה כָּתְבוּ (קַנְדָּג סִימָן:) יְחֶזְקֵאל וּשְׁנֵים עָשָׂר, דָּנִיֵּאל וּמְגִילַת אֶסְתֵּר.
The members of the Great Assembly wrote the following... : Ezekiel [Yeḥezkel ], and the Twelve Prophets [Sheneim Asar], Daniel [Daniel ], and the Scroll of Esther [Megillat Ester].
This Talmudic passage asserts that Jonah and the other books of the Twelve was written during the period of the Second Temple, that is, during the Persian Period.
(3) Jonah went at once to Nineveh in accordance with GOD’s command.
Nineveh was an enormously large city a three days’ walk across.
(12) “Artaxerxes king of kings, to Ezra the priest, scholar in the law of the God of heaven. And now, (13) I hereby issue an order that anyone in my kingdom who is of the people of Israel and its priests and Levites who feels impelled to go to Jerusalem may go with you. (14) For you are commissioned by the king and his seven advisers to regulate Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your care,
The Persian king Artaxerxes reigned 465-424 BCE. Ezra the Scribe served in his administration.
Joshua's allotment of land to the Israelite tribes according to Joshua 13–19
By 12 tribus de Israel.svg: Translated by Kordas12 staemme israels heb.svg: by user:יוסי12 staemme israels.png: by user:Janzderivative work Richardprins (talk) - 12 tribus de Israel.svg12 staemme israels heb.svg12 staemme israels.png, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10865624
Note that according to this map--some of which is ideal, not real--the tribe of Dan was supposed to control the town of Joppa=Jaffa/יפו. In fact, they were not able to hold that territory. In Israel today, the area including Tel Aviv is sometimes referred to as Gush Dan, the Dan Bloc.
Map of Assyrian Empire
By Ningyou - Own work data fromBased on a map in 'Atlas of the Bible Lands', C S Hammond & Co (1959), ISBN 9780843709414., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=600659
I have circled the area of Jaffa, the city of Nineveh, and the city of Tarsus, which may be the "Tarshish" referred to in chapter 1. Tarshish in Jonah could alternatively refer to Tartessus in southwestern Spain.
3. Questions to Consider as we read Chapter 1
- 1:2 What is special about the city of Nineveh?
- 1:3 Why does Jonah flee?
- What do we learn about sailors and boats from this passage?
- 1:9 Why do you think Jonah says that he is a Hebrew/עברי/Ivri?
- 1:6-16 How do the non-Israelites that Jonah encounters act? (the same question can be asked of chapter 3)
4. Our Text: Jonah, chapter 1
(1) The word of GOD came to Jonah son of Amittai: (2) Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim judgment upon it; for their wickedness has come before Me.
(3) Jonah, however, started out to flee to Tarshish from GOD’s service. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare and went aboard to sail with the others to Tarshish, away from GOD’s service. (4) But GOD cast a mighty wind upon the sea, and such a great tempest came upon the sea that the ship was in danger of breaking up. (5) In their fright, the sailors cried out, each to his own god; and they flung the ship’s cargo overboard to make it lighter for them. Jonah, meanwhile, had gone down into the hold of the vessel where he lay down and fell asleep. (6) The captain went over to him and cried out, “How can you be sleeping so soundly! Up, call upon your god! Perhaps the god will be kind to us and we will not perish.”
(7) Those aboard said to one another, “Let us cast lots and find out on whose account this misfortune has come upon us.” They cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah. (8) They said to him, “Tell us, you who have brought this misfortune upon us, what is your business? Where have you come from? What is your country, and of what people are you?” (9) “I am a Hebrew,” he replied. “I worship the ETERNAL, the God of Heaven, who made both sea and land.” (10) The men were greatly terrified, and they asked him, “What have you done?” And when the men learned that he was fleeing from GOD’s service—for so he told them— (11) they said to him, “What must we do to you to make the sea calm around us?” For the sea was growing more and more stormy.
5. Commentaries
5a. Nineveh - About Nineveh - What Nineveh did to Israel and Judah - Condemnations of Nineveh - for what?
“Nineveh,” Julia M. O’Brien is Paul H. and Grace L. Stern Professor of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Lancaster, PA. https://www.bibleodyssey.org/articles/nineveh/
What do we know about the history of Nineveh?
Perhaps founded as early as 6000 B.C.E., Nineveh was located on the Tigris River near modern-day Mosul in northern Iraq. Significantly enlarged and improved in the eighth century during the Neo-Assyrian Empire, the city surged when the Assyrian king Sennacherib moved his capital there in 705 B.C.E. Excavations by Sir Austen Henry Layard in the mid-nineteenth century unearthed the king’s massive palace decorated with colossal sculpture, wall reliefs, and monumental architecture, as well as an extensive library of Assyrian-period documents, including records of the king’s military campaigns. According to ancient documents such as the Fall of Nineveh Chronicle, a coalition of forces destroyed Nineveh in 612 B.C.E.
19th-century reconstruction of Nineveh, made capital under Sennacherib (reigned 705-681 BCE)
By Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894) - British Museum, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=91148158
Judaean people being deported into exile after the capture of Lachish
By Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg) - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42128981
The siege of Lachish was the Neo-Assyrian Empire's siege[1] and conquest of the town of Lachish in 701 BCE. The siege is documented in several sources including the Hebrew Bible, Assyrian documents and in the Lachish relief, a well-preserved series of reliefs which once decorated the Assyrian king Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Lachish
"Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment, before (or at the entrance of) the city of Lachish (Lakhisha). I give permission for its slaughter”- Inscription on the Lachish Reliefs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lachish_reliefs
(1) A pronouncement on Nineveh: The Book of the Prophecy of Nahum the Elkoshite. (2) The ETERNAL is a passionate, avenging God; GOD is vengeful and fierce in wrath. GOD takes vengeance on opponents, And rages against foes.
The book of Nachum seems to have been written after 663 BCE, since it refers to the sack of the Egyptian capital of Thebes, and before 612 BCE, when Nineveh was destroyed.
(1) Ah, city of crime [עיר דמים/`ir damim/'city of blood], / Utterly treacherous, / Full of violence, / Where killing never stops!
H. L. Ginsberg, The Five Megilloth and Jonah, JPS, Introduction to Jonah, p. 117
No reference is made to the idolatry of the Ninevites, because in the biblical view non-Israelietes are not punished for idolatry but only for breaches of the moral law (compare Sodom).
Robert Alter, Commentary to Jonah, 1:3, Prophets, p. 1289
To send a Hebrew prophet to Nineveh would be rather like sending a Jewish speaker to deliver moral exhortation to the Germans in Berlin in 1936.
5b. 1:3 Why and how would one flee from God?
Where can I flee from Your presence? (8) If I ascend to heaven, You are there;
if I descend to Sheol, You are there too. (9) If I take wing with the dawn
to come to rest on the western horizon, (10) even there Your hand will be guiding me,
Your right hand will be holding me fast.
Jaffa / Joppa / יפו / Yafo
Jack M. Sasson, Commentary, p. 80
"As far as can be ascertained from historical records (Joshua 19:46), Jaffa always remained outside Hebrew control. During the Assyrian period, Jaffa is listed as belonging to Askelon, a Philistine power..."
(טז) תֵּדַע שֶׁאֵין הַשְּׁכִינָה נִגְלֵית בְּחוּצָה לָאָרֶץ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר: (יונה א,ב) "וַיָּקָם יוֹנָה לִבְרֹחַ תַּרְשִׁישָׁה מִלִּפְנֵי ה'".
וְכִי מִלִּפְנֵי ה' הוּא בּוֹרֵחַ? וַהֲלֹא כְבָר נֶאֱמַר: (תהלים קלט,ז-י) "אָנָה אֵלֵךְ מֵרוּחֶךָ, וְאָנָה מִפָּנֶיךָ אֶבְרָח? אִם אֶסַּק שָׁמַיִם, שָׁם אָתָּה, וְאַצִּיעָה שְּׁאוֹל, הִנֶּךָ.*וְאַצִּיעָה שְּׁאוֹל: אכין מצעי, מטתי, בשאול, בעולם שמתחת לארץ. אֶשָּׂא כַנְפֵי שָׁחַר אֶשְׁכְּנָה בְּאַחֲרִית יָם, גַּם שָׁם יָדְךָ תַנְחֵנִי, וְתֹאחֲזֵנִי יְמִינֶךָ."
אֶלָּא אָמַר יוֹנָה, אֵלֵךְ לִי חוּצָה לָאָרֶץ, מָקוֹם שֶׁאֵין שְׁכִינָה נִגְלֵית, שֶׁהַגּוֹיִם קְרוֹבֵי תְּשׁוּבָה הֵן, שֶׁלֹּא לְחַיֵּב אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל.
(16) Know that the Shechinah is not revealed outside the land. For it is written (Jonah 1:3) "And Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish, etc."
Now can one flee from the L–rd? Is it not written (Psalms 139:7-10) "Where can I flee from Your presence … If I ascend to heaven, You are there, etc. If I take wing with the dawn, there, too, Your hand will lead me," ...
Rather, Jonah's intent was: I will go outside the land, where the Shechinah does not repose and reveal itself. For the gentiles are close to repentance — so that they not make Israel (who do not repent) liable (by invidious contrast).
[5c. Ships and Sailors in Tanach and Mishnah]
(49) Jehoshaphat constructed Tarshish ships to sail to Ophir for gold. But he did not sail because the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.
(23) Others go down to the sea in ships,
ply their trade in the mighty waters; (24) they have seen the works of the LORD
and His wonders in the deep. (25) By His word He raised a storm wind
that made the waves surge. (26) Mounting up to the heaven,
plunging down to the depths,
disgorging in their misery, (27) they reeled and staggered like a drunken man,
all their skill to no avail. (28) In their adversity they cried to the LORD,
and He saved them from their troubles. (29) He reduced the storm to a whisper;
the waves were stilled. (30) They rejoiced when all was quiet,
and He brought them to the port they desired.
His wondrous deeds for mankind.
5d. The righteous sailors
(יד) ... אַבָּא גֻרְיָן אִישׁ צַדְיָן אוֹמֵר מִשּׁוּם אַבָּא גֻרְיָא, לֹא יְלַמֵּד אָדָם אֶת בְּנוֹ, חַמָּר, גַּמָּל, סַפָּר, סַפָּן, רוֹעֶה, וְחֶנְוָנִי, שֶׁאֻמָּנוּתָן אֻמָּנוּת לִסְטִים.
רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר מִשְּׁמוֹ, הַחַמָּרִין, רֻבָּן רְשָׁעִים, וְהַגַּמָּלִין, רֻבָּן כְּשֵׁרִים. הַסַּפָּנִין, רֻבָּן חֲסִידִים.
(14) ...Abba Guryan of Tzadyan says in the name of Abba Gurya: A person may not teach his son the trades of a donkey driver, a camel driver, a pot maker, a sailor, a shepherd, or a storekeeper. The reason for all these is the same, as their trades are the trades of robbers; all of these professions involve a measure of dishonesty and are likely to lead to robbery.
Rabbi Yehuda says in Abba Gurya’s name: Most donkey drivers are wicked, since they engage in deceit, and most camel drivers, who traverse dangerous places such as deserts, are of fit character, as they pray to God to protect them on their journeys. Most sailors are pious, since the great danger of the seas instills in them the fear of Heaven.
Ephraim Moses Lilien (1874-1925), “Jonah is Thrown into the Sea”
This collection of Midrashim may have been edited in the 8th-9th centuries.
They took him (and cast him into the sea) up to his knee-joints, and the sea-storm abated. They took him up again to themselves and the sea became agitated again against them. They cast him in (again) up to his neck, and the sea-storm abated. Once more they lifted him up in their midst and the sea was again agitated against them, until they cast him in entirely and forthwith the sea-storm abated, as it is said, "So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging" (Jonah 1:15).
6. Summary and Prospect
- Class 8 Jonah Chapter 2 - A Psalm from the Belly of the Fish - 5/6
- Class 9 Jonah Chapter 3 - Jonah Prophesies to Nineveh - 5/13
- Class 10 Jonah Chapter 4 - Jonah’s Conversation with God - Review - 5/20
Chag Sameach - חג כשר ושמח! Have a happy Passover!
By datafox - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=330554
לְפִיכָךְ אֲנַחְנוּ חַיָּבִים לְהוֹדוֹת, לְהַלֵּל, לְשַׁבֵּחַ, לְפָאֵר, לְרוֹמֵם, לְהַדֵּר, לְבָרֵךְ, לְעַלֵּה, וּלְקַלֵּס לְמִי שֶׁעָשָׂה לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ וְלָנוּ אֶת־כָּל־הַנִסִּים הָאֵלּוּ: הוֹצִיאָנוּ מֵעַבְדוּת לְחֵרוּת, מִיָּגוֹן לְשִׂמְחָה, וּמֵאֵבֶל לְיוֹם טוֹב, וּמֵאֲפֵלָה לְאוֹר גָּדוֹל, וּמִשִּׁעְבּוּד לִגְאֻלָּה. וְנֹאמַר לְפָנָיו שִׁירָה חֲדָשָׁה: הַלְלוּ יָהּ.
Therefore we are obligated to thank, praise, laud, glorify, exalt, lavish, bless, raise high, and acclaim the One who made all these miracles for our ancestors and for us:
Who brought us out from slavery to freedom, from sorrow to joy, from mourning to [celebration of] a festival, from darkness to great light, and from servitude to redemption.
And let us say a new song before God, Halleluyah!