C
Crumpy
Guest
The Vatican was the scene of a big synod on the use of the Bible in the Church. A rather important even occured there, and it was the presence of a Jewish Rabbi. This was a signal that the Church wants to open its eyes to the value of Jewish exegesis. This was not simply symbolic.
That idea of studying Jewish exegesis was also expressed in a document released by the Pontifical Biblical Commission titled THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND THEIR SACRED SCRIPTURES IN THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE, which is available for download from the EWTN document library.
So…I’ve been reading Jewish commentaries off and on for a year. I’m reading the commentary on Jonah, published by the Jewish Publication Society.
In general, their opinion is that the lack of detail detaches the book of Jonah from being a historical book. Even in ancient times, the book was grouped with the other prophetic books. The improbability is expressed in many ways, the main way being that Jonah travels for a day into the city, utters one sentence, and in short order, the whole city capitulates, repents, and God relents of its destruction.
Biology aside, the whale can be viewed in two ways, maybe only one way. The whale may be imprisoning Jonah, but nonetheless functions as a rescuer of Jonah who was thrown into the sea. Jonah does not pray with the sailors for relief from the storm, it is only in the belly of the whale that he has time and perhaps obvious reason to pray to God.
The OP is concerned about whether Jonah was dead. The scripture is more concerned with the will of God, in general, and for the prophet Jonah, in particular, than to dwell for even a moment on that possibility. This is glossed over so quickly that it hardly merits further consideration.
The rabbinic discussion of the central theme of Jonah focuses on God’s concern for all people, not just the Jews. The book seems to have been written in the general timeframe that the book of Job was written. As the JPS commentary says, that seemed to be an era when there was a lot of thinking about God’s will and His plan for mankind (my paraphrase). That seems to be the serious subject under discussion in the book of Jonah.
There is a lot of discussion of the apparent irony, if not explicit humor, in the seven scenes of the book. Jonah seems preoccupied with his orthodox thinking, that a just God could relent and withdraw the punishment that the great city deserved. The storm causes a conversion of the sailors and their ultimate salvation from the storm, the whale is recruited for the salvation of Jonah (in a sense), and the residents of Ninevah repent and are saved. But, Jonah is still not persuaded. He takes comfort in a vine, too much comfort so that God takes that false comfort away from him.
Now, I’m not doing justice to the scholarship in this, but suffice it to say that this is so important a subject, that the book of Jonah is read on the most high holy day of the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement. I think the emphasis there is on God’s mercy, God’s will, and the importance of repentence.
That idea of studying Jewish exegesis was also expressed in a document released by the Pontifical Biblical Commission titled THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND THEIR SACRED SCRIPTURES IN THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE, which is available for download from the EWTN document library.
So…I’ve been reading Jewish commentaries off and on for a year. I’m reading the commentary on Jonah, published by the Jewish Publication Society.
In general, their opinion is that the lack of detail detaches the book of Jonah from being a historical book. Even in ancient times, the book was grouped with the other prophetic books. The improbability is expressed in many ways, the main way being that Jonah travels for a day into the city, utters one sentence, and in short order, the whole city capitulates, repents, and God relents of its destruction.
Biology aside, the whale can be viewed in two ways, maybe only one way. The whale may be imprisoning Jonah, but nonetheless functions as a rescuer of Jonah who was thrown into the sea. Jonah does not pray with the sailors for relief from the storm, it is only in the belly of the whale that he has time and perhaps obvious reason to pray to God.
The OP is concerned about whether Jonah was dead. The scripture is more concerned with the will of God, in general, and for the prophet Jonah, in particular, than to dwell for even a moment on that possibility. This is glossed over so quickly that it hardly merits further consideration.
The rabbinic discussion of the central theme of Jonah focuses on God’s concern for all people, not just the Jews. The book seems to have been written in the general timeframe that the book of Job was written. As the JPS commentary says, that seemed to be an era when there was a lot of thinking about God’s will and His plan for mankind (my paraphrase). That seems to be the serious subject under discussion in the book of Jonah.
There is a lot of discussion of the apparent irony, if not explicit humor, in the seven scenes of the book. Jonah seems preoccupied with his orthodox thinking, that a just God could relent and withdraw the punishment that the great city deserved. The storm causes a conversion of the sailors and their ultimate salvation from the storm, the whale is recruited for the salvation of Jonah (in a sense), and the residents of Ninevah repent and are saved. But, Jonah is still not persuaded. He takes comfort in a vine, too much comfort so that God takes that false comfort away from him.
Now, I’m not doing justice to the scholarship in this, but suffice it to say that this is so important a subject, that the book of Jonah is read on the most high holy day of the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement. I think the emphasis there is on God’s mercy, God’s will, and the importance of repentence.