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 5 of 14, was the second of four posts presenting several implications for the story of Jonah.
Preview of this Post
This is post 6 of 14 and is the third of four posts presenting several implications for the story of Jonah.
- God does not punish those who do not know better.
During the plant episode, God mentions that these people did not know their right hand from their left and then mentions beasts. Simon in the JPS Commentary associated with Jonah 4:11 states that the mention of “their right hand from their left” implies that they did not know good from evil. That would be consistent with the mention of beasts which do not know good from evil. Thus, God was saying that punishing someone for something that they did not know was wrong and God would not do it. A blind application of a rule such as all transgressions (and paganism is clearly a transgression) are punished is unreasonable, and God is not unreasonable. God is admonishing Jonah for not recognizing that and for seeking to punish for acts that were committed not knowing that they were wrong. Before they knew God, the pagans and non-believers of Nineveh could not be expected to know right from wrong. And God would not punish transgressions committed out of ignorance[1].
Preview of the next post
The next post, post Number 7 of 14, is the fourth of four posts discussing implications for the story of Jonah.
[1] In Jonah 3:8, the people of Nineveh were instructed to “call mightily to God” which seems to imply that the Ninevites were instructed to accept Jonah’s God and further implying that they had not accepted Jonah’s God previously. Thus, the Ninevites did not know Jonah’s God and thus did not know “their right hand from their left” and were thus like the beasts in not knowing right from wrong and thus could not be held responsible for purposes of punishment and consequences.