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The conductor of this symphony has all of his pieces in place. The genre is satire, the satire is signaled by irony, and we know that he has a propensity to rework earlier Old Testament narratives. Let’s listen now as Jonah faces this music. The narrator begins in 1:1 by placing Jonah in the eighth century, possibly as a contemporary of Amos and Hosea; even the Rabbis are unanimous in identifying Jonah with the prophet Jonah mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25. With this connection to 2 Kings 14:25 Jonah appears as the last in the sequence of prophets in the Northern Kingdom; Ahijah (1 Kings 11:29-39; 14:1-18), Jehu (1 Kings 16:7-12), some unnamed prophets (1 Kings 20:13-22, 28), Micaiah ben Imlah (1 Kings 22) and Elijah and Elisha (1 Kings 17 – 2 Kings 13).
Because Jonah comes in the sequence after Elijah and Elisha many phrases from its narrative find their closest biblical parallels in these narratives about the two great prophets from the North. An account involving a great fish (2:1) as well as a small worm (4:7) would not have been out of place in the Elijah/Elisha cycle. These narratives in Kings recount encounters between prophets and ravens (1 Kings 17:4-6) and bears (2 Kings 2:23-25). The narrative of Jonah could have easily been placed after the reference to Jonah son of Amittai in 2 Kings 14:25 and not interrupt the narrative flow of 2 Kings to any great degree. In this way we are invited to compare and contrast Jonah with Northern prophets, especially with Elijah.
In another way, the "wa-yehi" of Jonah 1:1 (“and it came to pass”) also links the narrative with similar events that involve creation in 1 and 2 Kings, a section of the Old Testament that contains a high concentration of prophetic miracle stories. Even a representative list is impressive. Ravens bring food (1 Kings 17:1-8); bread and oil multiply (1 Kings 17:9-16); fire and rain appear (1 Kings 18); wind, an earthquake, and fire are present (1 Kings 19:11-12); a lion kills a man (1 Kings 20:35-36); fire comes down (2 Kings 1:10, 12); the Jordan is parted, a whirlwind carries Elijah to heaven (2 Kings 2:1-14); water is purified (2 Kings 2:19-22); bears kill young boys (2 Kings 2:23-24); oil is multiplied (2 Kings 4:1-7); stew is purified (2 Kings 4:38-41); bread is multiplied (2 Kings 4:42-44); and an ax-head floats (2 Kings 6:1-7).
The Jonah narrative, with its miraculous events involving the storm, the great fish, the qiqayon plant, the worm and the scorching east wind fit well within 1 and 2 Kings with their numerous stories that describe Yahweh as one who controls creation.
To review up to this point, Jonah and Elijah are both from the Northern Kingdom, their ministries involve animals and both experience the miraculous intervention of Yahweh. If we add to this list the fact that the phrase in Jonah 1:1 (“now the word of Yahweh came”) also introduces Elijah in 1 Kings 17:2, 8; 21:17, 28 then we are subtly led to this conclusion; one of the goals of the Jonah narrative is to compare the prophet from Gath-hepher with Elijah.
More specific – and indeed more satirical – connections between Jonah and Elijah begin in Jonah 1:2 where Yahweh calls Jonah to,“arise, go” to Nineveh. This call to go to a foreign land is paralleled only in 1 Kings 17:9 where Yahweh commands Elijah also to “arise, go to Zarephath which is in Sidon.”
Usually Yahweh’s word is the perfect performative, where to speak is to create. The God who says “Let there be light” and “it was so” (Gen. 1:3), commands Elijah to “Arise go to Zarapheth” (1 Kings 17:9) and Elijah“arises and goes,” (1 Kings 17:10). Following this normal biblical pattern we expect the Jonah narrative to continue, “So Jonah got up and went to Nineveh.”But, instead, Jonah says nothing to Yahweh and rises to flee. It’s as though outside his door Jonah hangs a large sign with the words, “Do Not Disturb!”Jonah is certainly no Elijah!
In Jonah 1:3 the prophet flees from the presence of Yahweh. In a prophetic context, the phrase "from the presence of Yahweh” occurs primarily in connection with Elijah (1 Kings 17:1, 18:15) and Elisha (2 Kings 3:14, 5:16). The Deuteronomistic historian uses this phrase to identify these prophets as Yahweh’s servants who hear his word and execute his commands. Closely linked with this is the prophet standing in Yahweh’s heavenly council to perceive the divine word. Though Yahweh’s presence is not explicitly mentioned in the expression of this concept, it would certainly seem to be implicit (cf. Jer. 23:18, 22; 1 Kings 22:19). This means that whereas Elijah faithfully stands in the presence of Yahweh and is obedient to his bidding, Jonah seeks to escape this presence – so much so that for emphasis. the phrase "from the presence of Yahweh" is used twice in 1:3. This repetition is necessary in order to build the following chiasmus.
A. But Jonah arose to flee toward Tarshish from the presence of Yahweh
B. he went down to Joppa
C. and found a ship
D. going to Tarshish
C.’ he bought the ship
B.’ and boarded it
A.’ to go with them toward Tarshish away from the presence of Yahweh
What the words proclaim the structure subverts. Jonah is trapped, with no way out! The irony is that the presence of Yahweh surrounds Jonah, even in his flight. This irony signals satire; Jonah’s actions are foolish, indeed!
It is important to note, however, that not all of the satirical irony in the narrative uses Elijah as its foil. One example will suffice. Irony that leads to a satirical understanding of Jonah is also located in the phrase “a ship going to Tarshish” (1:3). Ships going to Tarshish are well-known in the Old Testament. First Kings 22:2 and 2 Chron. 20:35-37 report how Jehoshaphat made “ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold; but they did not go, for the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.” Psalm 48 praises the God who “by the east wind did shatter the ships of Tarshish” (v. 8) and this is done in such a way as to indicate that the tradition is well known. In Isaiah 23:1, 14 the ships of Tarshish are exhorted to “howl because their stronghold has been devastated.” Finally, in Ezek. 27:25-26 Tarshish ships “fall into the heart of the sea.”
Taking these texts together it appears as though Tarshish ships function like a “banana-skin” tradition. A “ship going to Tarshish” culturally translates as “the Titanic going out on her maiden voyage.” The analogy is almost exact, for Tarshish ships are proud, noble structures (cf. Isa. 2:16 as a symbol of everything that is “high and lifted up” against Yahweh), carrying precious cargoes, and they are generically programmed to be “shattered by the east wind” and to promptly “sink into the heart of the sea.” This means that at the outset of his scheming to flee from Yahweh, Jonah is doomed to fail!
Jonah appears again as an “anti-Elijah” when we consider that in 1 Kings 19 Elijah runs – not because he begrudges Yahweh’s gracious characteristics, as does Jonah (cf. 4:2) – but because he is on Jezebel’s hit list. At this point Yahweh’s question to the defeated Elijah is, “What are you doing here?” (1 Kings 19:9). This is very close to the captain’s anxious cry in Jonah 1:6, “What are you doing in a deep sleep?” Jonah’s “deep sleep” goes far beyond the exhausted sleep of Elijah when he is on the run from Jezebel (cf. 1 Kings 19:5 and the words “and he laid down and slept”). All of the special care with which Yahweh takes care of Elijah – a plant to shade him (1 Kings 19:4]), angels to accompany him (1 Kings 19:5) and ravens to feed him (1 Kings 19:6) –find connections in Jonah, in even more miraculous forms. The irony is that Elijah’s death wish comes after his success on Mt. Carmel in 1 Kings 18 which prompts the death threat of Jezebel (1 Kings 19:2). On the other hand Jonah’s exhaustion comes after fleeing from the presence of Yahweh – the very presence Elijah is running toward (1 Kings 19:8)! These elements magnify the differences between these two prophets, and further diminish the stature of Jonah.
But a closer look at Elijah’s death wish demonstrates further satire when it is compared with Jonah 4:3 where this pouting prophet asks Yahweh to take his life. David Daube analyzes every instance of a wish for death or act of suicide/killing in the Old Testament. Of interest here that he designates the requests made by Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah and Jonah as the tradition of “the weary prophet.” But Jeremiah’s so-called request for death is in reality a wistful (and futile) yearning that he should never have been born (Jer. 20:14-18) and not a desire that his life come to an end. Consequently, it should be categorized with Job 3:2-7 as a curse of life rather than as a request for death. This leaves the requests of Moses, Elijah and Jonah in a group for consideration.
In 1 Kings 19, in his flight from Jezebel, Elijah comes to Horeb and begs Yahweh to kill him (v. 4). Elijah’s motivation appears to be twofold: he is a failure as a prophet and he is the only true follower of Yahweh left. Not only does Elijah overlook Obadiah and the hundred Yahwistic prophets still in hiding (1 Kings 18:3-4), but also that there are 7,000 people left in Israel who have not worshipped Baal (1 Kings 19:18). In response, Yahweh commissions Elijah to anoint Elisha as his successor (v. 15).
In contrast, in 4:3 with the words “Yahweh, take my life from me” Jonah strikes a noble pose by echoing the prayer of Elijah in 1 Kings 19:4 where he says, “Yahweh, take my life”. But instead of continuing, “for I am no better than my fathers” Jonah adapts Elijah’s words to, “for my death is better than life”. This satire of Jonah is based upon the fact that Elijah, wearied with his endless struggle with Baalism, is convinced that he will not succeed where his fathers had failed. He feels that it is time to join them in death. On the other hand, Jonah is disappointed with the very success of his mission! Jonah has Elijah’s depression without Elijah’s excuse!
The immediate divine response to both requests for death made by Moses and Elijah is a diminishment in prophetic authority. Moses’portion of his divine authority is divided among the seventy elders (Num. 11:16-17). Elijah’s office as prophet is shared with Elisha (1 Kings 19:19-21). The most significant shared feature is the fact that these entreaties for death are denied by Yahweh. Jonah’s requests for death in 4:3, 8, therefore, hint at an imminent reduction in Jonah’s authority and status vis-Ã -vis Yahweh’s prophet.
Like Elijah before him, who sits under a broom tree and prays to die at a time of crisis (1 Kings 19:4), later in chapter four Jonah experiences a similar loss of confidence under his qiqayon plant. Also like Elijah who experiences a revelation of Yahweh on Mt. Horeb, Jonah will also receive a revelation in 4:10-11.
Only two other prophets ever explicitly receive Yahweh’s word outside the boundaries of the Promised Land: Elijah at Mt. Horeb (1 Kings 19:8-9, 15-18), and Ezekiel by the River Chebar in Babylon (Ezek. 1:3). When Yahweh extends the revelation of his word to Jonah in this “extra-terrestrial”way, the prophet is unmoved by this act of kindness. Jonah hears only that his anger has not been an appropriate response.
On the other hand, Elijah travels to Horeb and has his dramatic encounter with Yahweh who speaks to him from the “soft murmuring sound” (or “still, small voice,” 19:12). The contrast couldn’t be any more definite – Elijah at Horeb, the ancestral locale of revelation, speaking as a faithful emissary with Yahweh and Jonah petulantly bickering with God about his personal discomfort outside of the Promised Land.
In both 1 Kings 19 and Jonah 4 – by means of his creation –Yahweh attempts to edify his prophet. In Elijah’s case the prophet finally understands that Yahweh’s work will not be by wind, earthquake or fire (1 Kings 19:11-12). Rather, Yahweh will accomplish his great purposes through a “gentle whisper” (1 Kings 19:12), that is to say, through the political and prophetic affairs of Israel and Aram (1 Kings 19:15-18). In Jonah’s case – after everything Yahweh has done to him and for him by means of a fish, his “second chance” (cf. 3:1) and the qiqayon plant – his lack of responsiveness is shocking.
The intertexts we have explored between the Elijah and Jonah invite a comparison of the two, and it is thus. If Elijah is the most daring, courageous, victorious Yahwistic prophet in Israel’s history (cf. e.g., Malachi 3:23) – indeed one of the major fulfillments of “a prophet like me [Moses]” (Deut. 18:15) – then Jonah is certainly the antithesis of this mighty hero of old. When compared to Elijah, the narrative of Jonah is a well orchestrated symphony of satire.
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