Jonah for the Contemporary Mind: A Short Exegetical Analysis and Application of the Book of Jonah

by Boyan Mak Mihaylov

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https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6257-1246

Abstract:

Boyan Mihaylov, . Hermeneutics, Sara Fudge. Heiligenkreuz, Austria: TCM International Institute. 31 December, 2023.

This article provides a comprehensive exegetical analysis of the Book of Jonah, employing the hermeneutical framework of Henry Virkler and Karelynne Ayayo to examine its historical-cultural context, lexical-syntactical features, theological themes, literary structure, and contemporary application. The study argues that Jonah, though one of the twelve Minor Prophets, functions primarily as a didactic narrative designed to challenge narrow Jewish nationalism and reveal Yahweh's universal compassion toward all peoples, including Israel's enemies. Through analysis of the distribution of divine names (Yahweh appearing 25 times versus Elohim 15 times), the conditional nature of prophecy demonstrated by the Hebrew verb nâcham, and the book's chiastic literary structure, the article demonstrates that God's character as "gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness" (Jonah 4:2) stands at the theological center of the narrative. The study further examines the typological relationship between Jonah and Christ, the irony of a Jewish prophet preaching repentance to a pagan city that would later conquer Israel, and the book's haunting concluding question, which functions as a divine summons to self-examination. The article concludes by applying Jonah's message to contemporary Bulgaria, challenging the church to demonstrate genuine repentance through just actions and to extend compassion even to cultural and political adversaries.

Keywords:

Jonah, Exegesis, Hermeneutics, Repentance, Nineveh, Divine compassion, Prophetic literature, Biblical theology, Contemporary application, Israelite nationalism

Introduction

Jonah is considered one of the 12 Minor Prophets in the Hebrew Canon. The circumstances in Jonah are dated around 785 B.C. and in the Jewish canon it is part of a larger book “The Twelve”. In Christian Scripture it is a separate book. The short account seems to oppose narrow Jewish nationalism of the eight century B.C.¹

The short exegetical analysis I attempt follows the processes described by Henry Virkler and Karelynne Ayayo.²

Historical-Cultural and Contextual Analysis

Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25 as a real historical person. He is from Gath-heper of Zebulun (Josh.19:13) which is north of Nazareth in Galilee during the I century. Our Lord Jesus Christ testifies that the story of Jonah should be read as a literal account (Mt. 12:38 – 41; 16:4; Lk. 11:29-32)³ The name “Jonah” means “dove”.⁴

Author and date of writing. As the book uses past tense in the description of Nineveh it can be assumed the author is Jonah himself.⁵ But the text we have today may be compiled later from the eight to the third century B.C. as the book does not state Jonah as the author.⁶ Encyclopedia Britannica approximates the date of writing from fifth to fourth century B.C.⁷

Historical circumstances. During the eight century the Assyrian Empire was expanding and this happened with cruelty without parallel.⁸ During the first half of the eight century the ascendancy of Damascus ended because of Assyria. Adada-nirari III (811 – 784) assumed power in Assyria and resumed the aggressiveness of Shalmaneser III which Israel did not escape. But by the middle of the eight century Assyria seemed threatened by disintegration, so Damascus in Syria recovered and there was resurgence in Israel with Jehoash of Israel (802 - 786) and Amaziah of Judah (800 – 783). The resurgence reached a maximum under Jeroboam II of Israel and Uzziah of Judah (783 – 742).⁹

The actions of Jonah make perfect sense as it is Yahweh who is in a covenant with Israel who wants a main pagan city of the conquering pagan nation of Assyria to repent.

Spiritual condition of the audience. The spiritual condition of Jonah’s audience is given by God Himself in Jonah 4:11: “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” (NASB). The NLT uses an equivalent paraphrase and speaks of “... 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness”.¹⁰

Purpose of writing. The book of Jonah in only 48 verses uses the two divine names of Yahweh and Elohim. Yahweh is used 25 times in comparison with Elohim: 15 times. But Elohim is used only 8 times absolutely and 7 times in a grammatical relation to Yahweh.¹¹ This prevalence of Yahweh and the topic of the book about the repentance of the whole pagan city of Nineveh should show us that the purpose of writing of this book is to show Yahweh’s care about the pagan world surrounding Israel.

Jonah, as a book, is narrative but is written in a didactic style to teach the reader about God’s character in relation to repentance for both pagans and Jews.¹² The savage character of the Assyrians is omitted and the call upon the Lord of the pagan sailors (Jonah 1:14) and people of Nineveh (Jonah 3:5) is emphasized.

Immediate context. The story can be divided in two main parts: Jonah’s running from the mission of God (Jonah 1:1- 2:10) and fulfilling the mission of God (Jonah 3:1- 4:11). Jonah obeys the command of God to preach his prophetic message to Nineveh but without a desire and with anger.

Broad context. The book of Jonah fits into the flow of other eight century prophets that are concerned with the pagan nations like Amos about Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon and Moab (Am. 1:3 – 2:3) and later Isaiah about: Assyria (Is. 10:5-19), Damascus (Is.17:1 – 14) and Babylon, Assyria, Philistia and Moab (Is.13:1- 16:14).

Noumenological and phenomenological elements. It appeared by the actions of the people that all of them repented. A time of three days and nights is given for the stay of Jonah in the fish but we do not know should we understand this time as astronomical or it appeared so to Jonah?¹³

I am more inclined to believe that the book is a historical narrative but many of the details are phenomenological, like the three days in the fish, the three days that are needed to walk the city, the repentance of all inhabitants. The author does not bother to show historical data but concentrates on the story and his teaching.

Prescriptive or Descriptive? The story is mainly descriptive as we don’t have any commandments in the book given to a larger group (like all believers in Yahweh). One truth we learn is that when God commands repentance it should be accomplished with a full heart. Another truth we learn is that when God has a prophetic word to his servant, it should be obeyed.

Lexical-Syntactical Analysis

The general literary form of the book is narrative with one prayer (Jonah 2:1 – 10) but the message of the book is a prophetic one: Yahweh speaking to the citizens of Nineveh to repent.

Natural divisions. The author’s theme is developed in two parts. The structure of the book can be shown as follows:

1. Jonah’s running from the mission of God (1:1- 2:10)
   1.1. The word of the Lord and Jonah (1:1-3)
       1.1.1. The word of the Lord for Nineveh (1:1 – 2)
       1.1.2. Jonah runs from God to Tarshish (1:3)
   1.2. The storm from God, Jonah and the sailors (1:4 – 16)
   1.3. Jonah in the sea animal (1:17 - 2:11)
       1.3.1. Jonah saved by God trough the fish (1:17)
       1.3.2. Jonah’s psalm of thanksgiving (2:1 – 10)
       1.3.3. The Lord commands the fish to vomit Jonah to dry land (2: 11)
2. Jonah’s fulfillment of the mission of God (Jonah 3:1- 4:11)
   2.1. Jonah’s preaching of God’s message (3:1 – 10)
       2.1.1. The word of the Lord comes a second time (3:1 – 2)
       2.1.2. Jonah cries out to the people in Nineveh (3:3 – 4)
       2.1.2. The people’s response with repentance (3:5 – 9)
       2.1.3. God’s response to repentance (3: 10)
   2.2. Jonah’s anger towards God and God’s response (4:1 - 11)
       2.2.1. Jonah’s reply to God’s actions (4:1 – 3)
       2.2.2. God’s short reply (4:4)
       2.2.3. God speaks to Jonah trough a plant (4:5 – 11)14

Progression of thought. The book opens with “the word of the Lord” which is a phrase common to prophetic literature. A key for the progression of thought is that in Jonah 3:1 a “word of the Lord” comes to Jonah a second time.

The word used for fish is dâgâh (Heb. ‫)ּדגה‬¹⁵) and it may be used for big fish or big sea animals. The Greek translation LXX uses κήτους¹⁶, so there is a range of meaning of big fish, sea monster or whale. ¹⁷ Another key word is nâcham nâcham (Heb. ‫נחם‬)¹⁸ in 3:10 which the KJV translates as “repent” and the NASB as “relent” (a better translation). In context the word shows the conditional character of prophecy resting on God’s character which means it is the right of God to act different when people act different.¹⁹ Jonah knows that God is “a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.” (Jonah 4:2 NASB, compared to Ex 34:6 and Num 14:18). The lack of punishment from God angers Jonah.

Theological Analysis

I view God’s revelation as progressive in time and scope. After the Fall God chooses Noah, Abraham, the people of Israel, Israel’s Messiah Jesus Christ and the Church to be in relationship with Him. But during history God always called every person, pagan nations included, to know Him.

For the Book of Jonah this implies that God’s holiness and mercy are shown not only to Israel but also to Israel’s enemy, Assyria and Nineveh in particular, at the times of Jonah. Jonah’s preaching in 785 B.C. is only some 64 years before Assyria would conquer the northern kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C.²⁰ This is the irony of the book. God uses a Jewish prophet to preach to a pagan city, which repents, later uses the same people to judge his own people.

During this time Israel had the Law, the temple and many of the prophets who asked the nation to return to God’s covenant. “In the eight century the prophets turned their attention more to the people, the nation, or in some cases foreign nations”²¹ The pagan nations knew to some extent the history of Israel. But in light of the recipients of the message at the time of Jonah the Assyrian and Babylonian captivity were future. God would speak in similar words like “for their wickedness has come up before Me” (Jonah 1:2) to his own people also.

The “analogy of faith” shows us that even the church’s wickedness has “come up before” God many times. Cruelty in “Christian” Europe and America can be seen in the Crusades, religious wars, the conquest of Latin America and slavery.

Literary Analysis

The author uses a narrative style but it is formed in a way to be didactic.²² The teaching purpose is accomplished trough dialogues (Jonah and the sailors, Jonah and God) and poetry in the form of a psalm (Jonah 2:1 – 10) as Lofink and Trible suggest is helped by the symmetric structure of the book.²³

The plant that God supernaturally helps to grow in Jonah 4:5 – 8 is used later by God in Jonah 4:10 – 11 as a parable. The single point of similarity is in the compassion: God for the people of Nineveh, Jonah for the plant. But God makes also a contrast. He created the world and the people of Nineveh and also the plant. He, as a loving God, has the right to have compassion. Jonah did not create anything, so, Jonah does not have a right to be angry.

It is our Lord Jesus Christ that uses Jonah (the anteype) as a type for himself. Jesus compares his being death for three days with Jonah being in the “sea monster” three days (Matt. 12:40). Both Jonah and Jesus are send to command people to repent ²⁴. According to Keil & Delitsch Jonah’s preaching was of a threatening nature.²⁵ But so was John the Baptist’s and Christ’s.

The man to who Jonah preached repented but the people did not repent when Jesus preached (Matt. 12:41). In Luke 11:29 – 32 Jesus says: “For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.” One main point of difference is that Jesus came to preach to Israel while Jonah preached to a pagan city.

The book has many supernatural elements typical for prophetic literature: the sending of the fish, the survival in it, the ability to be heard by the pagans, the overall response of the people.

Application

The book of Jonah does not contain any transcultural commands. One can derive some important principles which are implicit in the book.

First, God expects obedience from his servants and is ready to work with them to fulfill His purposes. Just as Jonah was a servant of Yahweh, the contemporary servant of God has to preach the Gospel to people that can be cultural or political enemies. This can lead a Christian to do things that God asks that one does not want to do. Here the book of Jonah has enormous application.

Second, when God commands a group to repent, He waits for results which show a true change seen in their deeds. It is the apostle Peter who preaches on Pentecost about repentance (Acts 2:38-39) and at the home of Cornelius that “in every nation the one who fears Him and does what is right is acceptable to Him” (Acts 10:34-35) In the case of Jonah we have outside signs: fast, sackcloth, ashes and an earnest call to God to repent from wicked ways and violence. (Jonah 3:5-9) What would be a contemporary reaction to God’s message of repentance? In a Bulgarian context maybe the politicians, most corrupt in EU, would return the money they took in a corrupt way?²⁶ A change in the Bulgarian system of justice?²⁷ Stop of physical fights between politicians in the parliament and showing more grace towards each other?²⁸

Third, we shouldn’t be angry with God as Jonah. In his commentary on Jonah, Peter Williams writes: “Because getting angry with God implies that we do have certain rights … But where God is concerned, we have no rights, none whatsoever.”²⁹ For Williams the “human rights” paradigm does not work with God.

Conclusion

Jonah speaks from the eight century B.C. to the modern reader in a radical way. What would repentance on a national level mean today? How does a Christian react when God asks of him to preach to people from an enemy country or a culture that is against Christianity? How should I react when I know God called me to do something that I don’t want to do? What can I do when I am angry with God? Do I have rights with God?

Jonah seems to raise more questions than to answer. But maybe that is the main intention of the author of the book as it ends with a question: “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh…” (Jonah 4:11). If God could show compassion to Israel’s enemy Assyria then why should not contemporary political structures, the church, you and me show compassion?