WHO IS JONAH?
What does Yonah mean?
- Dove- what does it remind you of?
- Ha'ir Ha'yona (City of Oppression, Zep. 3:1)
- Ben Ammitai
Where is he from?
- 850-605 BCE (when Assyrian empire had control over most of ANE)
- Believed to be a prophet under Jerobam II in the Northern Kingdom
- Most likely written during post-exilic period (600 BCE)
- Most likely a critique of the particularism found in the post-exilic era, which relied heavily on Jewish exclusivism era (minority voice in this era)
- Book of Jonah was composed after 612, since it says "Nineveh was a great city" (3:3).
- Bickerman placed the writing in the 5th century, under Persian rule.
- Elias Bickerman, in Four Strange Books of the Bible (New York: Schocken Books, 1967) p. 29
- Bickerman placed the writing in the 5th century, under Persian rule.
- Tarshish
- believed to be in modern day Spain
- Nineveh
- Close to modern day Mosul, Iraq
- Would have provoked bitter memories of Assyrian rule
- “Nineveh was the symbol of the overwhelming and ruthless power of [the Assyrian] empire”
- Nahum calls Nineveh a “city of blood” (ir damim) (Nahum 3:1) and a bastion of “endless cruelty” (3:19).
- It was the Assyrian Empire that first carried out a systematic policy of deporting captured peoples and of replacing them with foreigners, a policy that led to the disappearance from history of the ten northern tribes of Israel when they were defeated by Assyria in 721 B.C.E.” (Elizabeth Achtemeier )
Jonah's Story = Story of "Everyman"
Zohar Vayakhel p. 199. Cf. Tikkunei Zohar Tikkun 21.
The story of Jonah is really a story about “the entire life span of human beings in this world.”
Journey of a Soul
Jonah = dove = inner soul of man (Bracho 53b, Shir HaShirim Rabbah 1:15)
- Dove- one of only animals that mates for life
Jerusalem Talmud Sukkah 5:1
Rabbi Yochanan said: "Jonah ben Amittai was among the holiday pilgrims [olei regalim to the Temple]. He entered the water libation festival [simhat beth hasho'eva] and the holy spirit rested upon him. This teaches us that the holy spirit rests only on one who is happy of heart."
Who Becomes a Prophet?
Saadia Gaon (Book of Beliefs and Opinions, 3:4) believed that as a rule, G-d did not select outstanding individuals for prophecy, for had G-d done so, the message could be ascribed to the genius or giftedness of the messenger. One could confuse the messenger with the message; the genius of the prophet could obscure the genuineness of the prophecy.
Rambam, in the Guide for the Perplexed, (2:32), believed that prophecy is a natural attainment of a pure human being at the pinnacle of moral, spiritual and intellectual perfection. Any person possessing the requisite achievements will receive prophecy, unless G-d denies it for some reason.
The Malbim in the beginning of Amos points out, both impressions can be reconciled. Prophecy can be personal, that is restricted to the prophet himself or a close circle of prophets, or it can be communal, destined for the nation as a whole, perhaps even for all humanity. The former kind of prophecy would only come to a recipient worthy of it. The latter kind may even be sent to an average man. The very fact that he is average and the least expected to voice inspired content or perform miracles and signs, validates the Divine origin of the prophecy.
Who Becomes a Prophet? (Nedarim 38a)
“The Holy One Blessed be He does not rest his presence except on one who is strong, wealthy and wise… How do you know that all prophets were wealthy? From…Yonah for it says: ‘and he gave its price…’ R. Yochanan said ‘The price of the entire ship.’ R. Romanos says: The price of the ship was 4000 gold coins” (Nedarim 38a).
The Jerusalem Talmud teaches that the name Beth Hasho'eva [The House of Drawing] referred to the holy spirit which could be drawn from Heaven upon the individuals attending this event.
In accordance with this idea, we can reconstruct his prophetic career as follows:
- Jonah goes to the Temple on Simhat Beth Hasho'eva and, for the first time in his life, experiences a prophetic inspiration. In this first prophecy, God tells him that He intends to restore the borders of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Thrilled, Jonah rushes to the Northern king's palace to announce the good news, and when it comes to pass, he is considered a national hero.
- The second time he experiences a prophetic encounter he is again in the Temple. This second time, God tells him that He intends to destroy Jerusalem unless the people repent. Jonah now goes to the Southern king's palace and probably does not get an audience with the king. When this prophecy does not come to pass, the Southern kingdom brands him a false prophet and persona non grata. However, he still continues his three annual pilgrimages to the Temple.
- Some time later, Jonah hears his third call to prophesy when God tells him that He intends to destroy Nineveh.
- Who were the people of Nineveh and what was their relationship to the Northern Kingdom? Jonah lives in the time of Jeroboam II (785-744 B.C.E), not long before the Assyrian conquest of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the exile of its people in 722 B.C.E.
- During the reign of King Menahem ben-Gadi (after Jeroboam II's but before exile of 722) the King of Assyria imposed his rule over the land, making Menahem a vassal ruler who paid allegiance and taxes to Assyria.
- we can assume that during Jonah's lifetime, the Assyrians were already seen as a grave threat to the Northern Kingdom. We can then further assume that in those days Nineveh, the capital city of Assyria could stand for an arch-enemy poised for the destruction of Israel.
If God had destroyed Nineveh, the Northern Kingdom would have been saved, so what is in it for Jonah?
- God cannot judge the Assyrians by the future but only by the present....human beings have free will to act or to change their actions.
- Just as Nineveh could repent, so could Israel
Rabbi Isaac Abravanel (1437-1508)
Jonah “knew the evils and exiles that [Nineveh] would bring on the tribes of Israel in the future; hence he yearned for the nation of Assyria to be destroyed and Nineveh its capital to be utterly smitten. This is why he fled instead of going there."
Perhaps Jonah struggles with “the recognition that the bestowal of mercy may be costly, even potentially or actually fatal, for the one who bestows it (or the one who is the agent of divine bestowal). For even a repentant recipient of mercy may only be repentant in the short term. What is to prevent that recipient from turning against the benefactor in the longer term?”
~Moberly, Old Testament Theology, Commentary on Introduction & p. 200