A Minor Prophet and the History of his Prophecy

According to 4 Kings 14:25, Jonah (Jonas) was of Geth-Opher, and prophesied in the reign of Jeroboam II, 823-782 B.C. The prophecy has no introduction and no hint of date. It is rather the history of a prophecy than a prophecy. It falls into two parts:

Jonah Chapters 1-2

Jonah's first mission from which he flees; instead of going east to Niniveh, he goes to the west, sailing from Joppe the port of Palestine, cf. Joshua 19:46 and 2 Paralipomenon 2:16. The Lord raises a storm to show His displeasure at Jonah action, and the Prophet implores the frightened sailors to cast him into the sea which is at once calmed. A huge fish swallows Jonah, and he breaks into a canticle which is composed of verses from the Psalms; the fish then ejects Jonah.

Jonah Chapters 3-4

He is again told to go to Niniveh, and this time he at once obeys. His preaching is successful, but the missioner is displeased; he had expected, and indeed hoped, to see the city suddenly destroyed, 4:5. God, however, shows him how unworthy such sentiments are by raising up a plant which shelters Jonah from the heat; but whilst the prophet is rejoicing in the shade thus provided, a cancer-worm eats into it from within and it withers away. God then tells him that he has only grieved for a plant which he had not toiled to make, much more then will God grieve for the destruction of souls for whom He has toiled. This is the moral of the story and it thus foreshadows the universality of the Gospel; it teaches, too, the value of real penitence, and it foreshadows Our Lord's rejection of all mere Legalism. Jonah himself is a type of Christ, cf. St. Matthew 12:40, and Mt 16:4.

The Historical Character of the Book.

The Assyrian empire was, in the reign of Jeroboam II of Israel, in a state of decay, for the reign of Ramman-nirari II, 812-783 B.C., practically covers the same period as the reign of Jeroboam. Modern writers deny to the book all historical character because they maintain that it shows evident signs of having been composed long after the time to which the events are assigned; some even refer it to the age of Maccabees. But against this it should be noted that the book has a place amongst the Twelve Minor Prophets; from this it would seem to follow that its prophetical character was acknowledged by the Jews. But if this is the case then it must have been regarded as composed long before the fall of Niniveh. It is doubtful, too, whether a later writer would have presented the prophet in such a very unamiable light. The author of Ecclesiasticus (Sirach), circa 180 B.C., evidently regarded Jonah as holding a place among the Twelve, 49:12. It must be remembered that the term Prophet does not necessarily signify one who foresees events; it rather means one who has entered into God's counsels, and who is thus enabled to manifest to us God's ways, whether in the past, the present, or the future. In this sense the book of Jonah has as much claim to a place among the Prophets as the Books of Kings which, for the Hebrews, ranked among the Prophets. In discussing the question of date, however, it must be borne in mind that Jonah differs from the other prophetical books in that it is written wholly in the third person. Various Aramaic expressions are pointed out by critics as proofs that the book belongs to a late date, but the argument from Aramaisms, is always precarious, for we really know very little about the various phases through which the Hebrew language went; at any rate, the Zenjirli inscriptions have shown us that as early as the eighth century B.C., Aramaic forms, hitherto considered an indisputable sign of late date, existed. At the same time, account must be taken of the fact, already pointed out, that the hymn of Jonah, 2, is a cento of fragments of Psalms, some of which may be of late date. It is worthwhile pointing out that there are no whales in the Mediterranean where Jonah met his fate; hence it is always well to speak of Jonah's host as a big fish. As regards the text there is only one interesting variant to be pointed out and that is in 3:4, where the Septuagint (LXX) reads "three days" instead of "forty days." This variant was known to St. Justin, Dialogue 107, where -- as the text now stands -- we read: "three (in other versions, forty) days"; the words in brackets are probably due to some later copyist. St. Augustine also knew the variant reading, and comments on it at length, De Civitate Dei, XVIII. 44. The rendering "ivy" in 4:6, for the "colocynth" of the Old Latin version, was the occasion of a remarkable scene which St. Augustine describes in a letter to St. Jerome (Ep. LXXX. among the Letters of St. Jerome); St. Jerome defends his translation "ivy" in his commentary on Jonah, and in Ep. LXXIV. to St. Augustine. St. Jerome, Prologue to his Commentary on Jonah, says that this prophet's tomb was shown at the second mile-stone from Sepphoris, called Diocaesarea. But the Arabs venerate his remains at the mound near Niniveh known as "Nebi-Younas," i.e. "the Prophet Jonas."


by
Very Rev. Hugh Pope, O.P., S.T.M.
Doctor in Sacred Scripture,
Member of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, and
late Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Collegio Angelico, Rome.