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 10 of 14, presented a discussion of the story of Jonah as it applies to the concept of repentance.

Preview of this Post

This is post 11 of 14 and discusses how the story of Jonah is an allegory for the nation of Israel prior to the destruction of the Temple and exile to Babylon.

The story of Jonah is an allegory

The story of Jonah seems to be allegorical, with Jonah representing Israel and Nineveh representing the pagan nations of the world. This story has been dated as being post-exilic in origin. If the story is allegorical from this period, it seems that the fish could represent Babylon and Jonah’s time in the belly of the fish could represent exile in Babylon. If Jonah represents Israel and the fish represents Babylon, this story seems to suggest that the Jews of Israel provoked their own destruction and exile in the way the story tells us that Jonah first tried to avoid God by running away, then tried to ignore God by sleeping through God’s warning (the storm) and then requesting to be thrown overboard. If so, the story seems to be saying that the Jews of Jerusalem (Jonah) could have avoided the destruction of the Babylonians (the fish) and exile (into the body of the fish) by heeding God’s call and following His instructions. God’s instructions to Jonah was to give His word to the pagans of the world, which is similar to the instructions given to the nation of Israel by God that they are chosen to bring God’s word and teaching to the world. Jonah’s actions in Nineveh are allegorical for the actions of the nation of Israel in the world, and Jonah’s success in persuading those pagans to repent seems to represent the success the people will have in bringing the word of God to the pagans. Jonah’s repeated requests to die seem to represent the Nation’s attempts to assimilate; and the shade-giving ricinus plant represents the protection of the people by God in their exile home, but which god will withdraw (by the worm) if they do not follow God’s instructions and commandments. Certainly, God’s statement that He cares about all, even pagans represents the author’s moral that God will grant a clean slate to all, even pagans and those that may have wondered away from the religion during the exile. The ending of the story of Jonah is ambiguous because the authors of the story do not know how such an effort will end, or would have ended had the people heeded God’s instructions.

The actions of the sailors on the ship bound for Tarshish can also be viewed allegorically. They first prayed to their gods, but those gods did not answer, or could not overpower the God of the nation of Israel thereby showing that, like the example of God in Egypt overpowering the God of the Egyptians, the God of Israel was the only god and the gods to which the sailors prayed were either non-existent or powerless.

Perhaps this is why the authors chose Nineveh as the city of Jonah’s destination. There were other pagan cities that the authors could have chosen. They chose Nineveh exactly because it was the capitol of the very empire that would destroy Israel and the authors were explaining to the post-exilic Jews of Jerusalem why the catastrophe happened in the first place. Nineveh could also represent all the falsehood, the crime, the solipsism, and the transgressions of the people who left the religion during exile.

Also of interest is the selection of Jonah himself. Jonah was a non-entity. Why did the authors have God choose Jonah, a non-entity? Perhaps to emphasize, via the very mundaness, ordinariness anonymity, and everyman-ness of the “hero” being chosen that we are all capable of greatness if we would just choose to try difficult and seemingly impossible tasks. We are not all Greek heroes like Achilles who become immortal by doing heroic deeds, but just ordinary people….like Jonah, who do everyday things, like following God’s commandments as best we can. While we may not defeat Hector or conquer Troy, we might practice Tikkun Olam.

Preview of the next post

The next post, post number 12 of 14, explores the problem that Jonah may have had in determining if the “call” was truly from God.