Review of Previous Posts
The posts in this Jonah Series of the Prophets Section explore meanings for the story of Jonah. The previous post, Number 1 of 14, presented the story that was considered by the blogger.
Preview of this Post
This is post 2 of 14 and presents several commonly accepted interpretations of the story of Jonah. This post will be a starting point and is presented prior to launching into a full exploration of the story.
III. Interpretations
According to Uriel Simon in the JPS Commentary on Jonah (The Jewish Publication Society of Philadelphia, 1999), there are generally four themes in the book of Jonah.
- Repentance: the Ninevites’ repentance is accepted by a merciful God which shows that authentic repentance has the power to nullify the severe decree of death.
- Loyalty to Israel: Jonah preferred loyalty to his people Israel over his duty to obey God because Jonah fears that a quick and true repentance by the gentiles of Nineveh will show up the stiff necked Israelites[1]. Simon notes Rashi, Kara and others[2] suggest that a corollary to this theory is that Jonah foresaw that the gentiles of Nineveh would ultimately create great political problems for the people of Israel and hence was reluctant to participate in a plan to save them.
- Jonah feared that he would be viewed as a false prophet when Nineveh was spared.
- Justice versus mercy: Jonah believes that mercy will undermine the authority of God because it interferes with consequences that otherwise will flow from an act. All sinners must be punished and punishment is the only way that a sin can be purged[3]. Furthermore, mercy is a form of forgiveness, and as discussed in the essay “Forgiveness,” God cannot forgive. As such, Jonah may have felt that by granting mercy, God was undermining His own authority and being.
Preview of the next post
The next post in this series, post 3 of 14, presents additional possible interpretations of the story.
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[1] See, Rashi, Kara, Ibn Ezra, Radak.
[2] See, also, Abarbanel and Malbim.
[3] Elyakim Ben-Manahem advocates that Jonah was opposed to the very concept of repentance and that wicked people should be immediately punished, Da’at Mikra, Trei Asar vol. 1 (Hebrew) (Jerusalem: Mosad Kook, 1973), Jonah, introduction to commentary, pp 7-9. Good things (such as failing to punish) should not happen to bad people (i.e., pagans and idol worshipers).