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The story of the Whale is well known but why was Jonah so unpleasant after he got out?

BIBLE REVIEW - THE BOOK OF JONAH

The abrupt ending to the Old Testament book of Jonah is startling, but much less well known than the central and well-known story of his three days in the belly of the Whale, (or very big fish) defies credibility.

Jonah’s fishy tale (tail) has provoked a great deal of our popular culture, and a few sailors have claimed to share his experiences.

Book One

Jonah was sent by God to preach the Gospel in Nineveh, which God considered a wicked evil place. Jonah feels unable to cope with such a responsibility and face such evil people, so he runs away, and gets on a ship bound for Tarshish, hoping to hide from God.

God sees him, being omnipotent and all and subjects the ship to a terrible tempest. The terrified crew lighten their load by throwing all their cargo and anything non-essential overboard. Jonah sleeps through the crisis until summoned by the captain, who is not a Christian. He begs Jonah to pray to his God for help in the storm. (If he believes this would help, why does he not convert and pray to God himself?)

The crew cast lots, deciding that the loser, he one with the shortest lot, will be the one guilty of sparking their distress. It turns out to be Jonah. And they interrogate him on his identity. Realizing that he is fleeing from his God (something we are then told he already told them about, (Verses 9 and 10) in which case the interrogation is pointless and contradictory).

Jonah final discovers his bravery and admits that the storm is only there to trap him, not and them. He insists that they throw him overboard to face his own fate and save them. For a time, to their credit, the men try to ignore his suggestion, and try to sail out the storm, but it gets worse, so they finally give in to his wishes and throw Jonah overboard. The name Jonah has become synonymous with a Jinx, someone who brings bad luck on people round himself, ever since.

Book Two

Jonah prays as he flounder sin the sea, and gets swallowed by the Whale, sometimes, as in the translation I worked with, described as a big fish. Jonah passes his three days and nights in prayer for his salvation. He sees the whale belly as cutting him off from seeing his God, and vows that if saved, he will go and preach against those worshipping idols and false gods.

The Whale finally spits Joseph out onto dry land.

Book Three

Jonah has been put to shore just a day’s journey from Nineveh, the town he was asked to preach in by God in the first place. Jonah now goes there, as God again commands him. Jonah tells the vast city, that takes three days to cross from one side to the other that it will fall to divine retribution, and most people believe Jonah. They declare a period of fasting in the 40 days they are told they have left to find God, and replace their rich clothes with sackcloth. Even the city’s king sits in the dust in sackcloth on Jonah’s word.

The people and animals don’t touch food or water at all, as Jonah advises and God decides not to destroy or overthrow the now God-fearing honest city (if he ever planned to do so in the first place).

Book Four

Despite what seems to be a happy ending all round, Jonah is actually angry with God for not destroying Nineveh. He wanted to seethe city fall, and wonders if all his efforts now mean nothing. Jonah has moved to a good vantage point to watch for the city being wiped out. God provides him with a plant that gives him shade, but once Jonah shows disappointment at not getting to see a city and its people getting the divine equivalent of the Hiroshima bomb, God makes a worm chew away the plant, exposing Jonah to bad sunburn. Jonah now gets angry with God over this cruelty. He rashly tells god he wishes he were dead rather than endure such misery as poor shade and not seeing millions of people die for his entertainment.

God tells Jonah off for having more concern for the plant and him than the 60,000 people in the city.

The argument is unresolved as the author just stops writing in mid-flow. Jonah seems rather bloodthirsty and in danger of getting himself smited by God who for once seems in the right. Jonah’s fearful sermons have converted the people of the city but he wants God to kill them anyway. God has done such mass murders before and will again, but here he is textbook humanitarian, and Jonah’s disappointment over the matter is very pronounced. It's only in the very book before this, Obadiah, that God obliterates the city of Edom without warning and leaving no survivors. Jonah seems to want to see such an event first hand only to find God trying to seem kind and merciful for once. Perhaps a few more days as near fish food might have cleared his mid for him properly.

Some Christian fundamentalists nitpick over whether the Greek word Kedos means fish or whale, particularly as the Authorized English translation uses both words, Whale’ in Noah, and ‘Fish’ in a reference to the story in Matthew’s Gospel.

Whales were not seen as mammals until much later than the Bible was written, but it is supposed to be an infallible document, inspired by God, who you’d expect to know the difference. A few translations redefine Kedos as ‘sea monster’ to create a more ambiguous mythical creature and skirt round the debate, which, given its absurdities, becomes as useful a debate as questioning how many angels dance on the tip of a needle.

I planned to end this page with a few lines about the reality of what happens to living matter swallowed by a whale only to find it turned out enough material for a page of its own. A companion essay therefore follows. HAS ANYONE EVER REALLY SURVIVED IN THE BELL OF A WHALE?

The full text of the book of Jonah. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Jonah%201-4;&version=NIV

A Christian website arguing the whale, fish or sea monster question - http://www.tektonics.org/gk/jonfish.html

Arthur Chappell

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