An Analysis of Jonah 3-4
In chapters 3-4, the main characters are Yahweh, Jonah, the king of Nineveh, and his people, who are all characterized differently. Whereas Yahweh is portrayed as very earnest in His desire to have Jonah preach a prophetic warning to the Ninevites, Jonah himself was obviously very hesitant to do this, which is why the word of the Yahweh must come “a second time” (Jon. 3:1) in order for him to actually obey. The people of Nineveh, on the other hand, respond to Yahweh’s prophetic word in faith and obedience, which ends with the king himself enforcing a nationwide fast and penance (3:5-6). Towards the end of the book, Yahweh’s merciful character is further revealed; He didn’t want the Ninevites to be destroyed, which is why He had Jonah sent there (4:11). This is in direct contrast to Jonah, who despises Yahweh’s mercy (4:2), and is portrayed as someone who would rather die than see sinners escape judgment (4:3, 8-9).
The first “speech” we have in chapter 3 is Yahweh’s word to Jonah, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you” (3:2). After this, Jonah spends three days traveling to the great city, and then we see what exactly God told him to say against the Ninevites when he preaches to them, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (3:4). The people respond to this message by repenting of their sins and fasting, and the king issues a royal decree to ensure this continues: “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands” (3:7-8). Even though Jonah didn’t say there was anything the Ninevites could do to stop their impending judgment, the king falls back on Yahweh’s mercy, “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish” (3:9).
When God does actually respond to the Ninevites’ repentance, Jonah is deeply saddened by His mercy, and prays that Yahweh would allow him to die, “for it is better for me to die than to live” (4:3). Jonah then leaves the city and builds a “booth” for himself where he can watch the fate of the city unfold, and then God causes a plant to grow over Jonah’s head to keep him comfortable and cheered up (4:5-6). It’s here that Jonah spends the night, but in the morning Yahweh causes a worm to attack and kill the plant, and this makes the prophet request death yet again (4:8). From here, it’s revealed that Yahweh causing this plant to grow and die was an “enacted parable” to teach Jonah a lesson about mercy. Jonah pities the plant that died, and Yahweh points out how, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And [so] should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (4:10-11). If Jonah can pity something that he didn’t have any real relationship with, how can God not pity a people made in His own image?
The most prominent cultural custom we see in Jonah 3-4 is the practice of penance. The Ninevites repented of their sins by fasting and covering themselves in sackcloth (3:5). In light of passages like 1 Kings 20:31-32 and 21:9-12, it seems that this was a well known custom in the Ancient Near East that was used for appealing to the mercy of those in power. In Jonah 3:6, we see that the king even went so far as to tear off his robe and cover himself in ashes, reminiscent of men like Mordecai who did the same in Esther 4:1. Another interesting cultural custom we see is in Jonah 4:5 when the prophet builds a “booth” (סֻכָּ֗ה) for himself to take refuge in. This is the kind of shelter that ancient Jews would have been very accustomed to building, as they would do it every year at “the Feast of Booths” (cf. Lev. 23:42).
As for repetitions in these chapters, there are a few. The most obvious one is the Ninevites fasting and covering themselves with sackcloth, which is repeated twice (Jon. 3:5, 7-8). However, the mercy of God is perhaps the most repeated sentiment in this section. The king of Nineveh proclaims a national day of repentance in hope that “God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger” (3:9), which He indeed does (3:10). Jonah laments the great mercy of Yahweh (4:2), and the book ends with an explanation for why He pities sinners (4:10-11). Alongside this, another repeated theme is Jonah’s contempt for God’s mercy. This is seen as early as his prophetic message, which is an unmerciful oracle of judgment (3:4). And as the city is being spared, Jonah repeatedly states how this grieves him so much that he wants to die (4:2-3, 9).
The intertextualities employed in chapters 3-4 are numerous and incredibly fascinating. The first one is very obvious. Jonah’s “three day” journey to Nineveh is meant to remind us of the “three days” he spent in the belly of the fish (3:3 cf. 1:17). The “fast” being “proclaimed” throughout the land of Nineveh is similar to Jeremiah 36:9, when Jehoiakim proclaimed a fast throughout all of Jerusalem. Moreover, although it’s a bit more subtle, Jonah’s prophetic word announcing that judgment was coming in “forty days” (Jon. 3:4), and the Ninevites responding to this by fasting (3:5), suggests that Moses’ fasting on Mount Sinai for forty days was being alluded to (Ex. 34:28). This is further implied by the fact that the Ninevites’ fasting caused the Lord to “relent” from the “disaster” He had planned for that city (Jon. 3:10), just as Moses’ intercession on Mount Sinai caused the Lord to “relent” from the “harm” He had planned to bring on Israel after the Golden Calf incident (Ex. 32:11-14). And this callback to Exodus is perhaps made the most explicit in Jonah 3:2, when the prophet laments that Yahweh is “a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” This is nearly a quotation of Exodus 34:6-7, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” However, what I think is one of the most interesting intertextual connections is the parallel between Jonah’s interaction with Yahweh in Jonah 4:2-9, and Elijah’s interaction with Yahweh in 1 Kings 19:3-5. Just as Jonah ran away from Nineveh, asked God if he could die, and took refuge under a plant, so too did Elijah run away from Judah, take refuge under a plant, and ask God to die. Also, God’s word to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry?” (Jon. 4:4), is very similar to His word to Cain in Genesis 4:6, “Why are you angry?”
Furthermore, these two chapters are also full of irony. As I alluded to above, it’s ironic that Jonah, a prophet of God, was very reluctant to obey Yahweh by preaching to the Ninevites, however the Ninevites themselves immediately repented of their sins after hearing the Lord’s prophetic word (Jon. 3:4-5). One of God’s chosen people wavered in his faith, while many of God’s “non-chosen” people were steadfastly obedient. This is related to the irony that, although Jonah has been raised learning about Yahweh’s mercy (cf. 4:2), it’s the Gentiles who truly understand the depths of this mercy. Jonah doesn’t even tell the Ninevites about God potentially relenting from His judgment, they figure this out on their own by simply asking, “Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish” (4:9). It’s the Gentiles who understand that when they turn away from sin, God turns away from it as well. And of course, the greatest irony is that, while despising the Lord’s mercy, Jonah himself is one of the main beneficiaries of this mercy! Jonah disobeyed God by not immediately going to Nineveh, yet the Lord relented from destroying him, and instead gave him a second chance (3:1).
Finally, the theology of Jonah is worth discussing. If it wasn’t obvious already, the theological heart of this book is summarized by the prophet himself: “[The Lord] is a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (4:2). Contrary to popular caricatures of the Jewish God, Yahweh doesn’t want to destroy people! He doesn’t get a thrill out of punishing sinners, rather He gives them every chance He possibly can to repent of their sins. As stated above, Jonah himself is the primary example of this. God could have destroyed Jonah as soon as he disobeyed His word, but instead He allowed the prophet to turn away from his disobedience. The enacted parable in Jonah 4:6-11 further explains why God is so merciful towards His creatures. Unlike Jonah’s plant, “for which [he] did not labor, nor make it grow” (4:10), Yahweh has labored greatly for all peoples, including Gentiles like the Ninevites; as the author of their lives, He has made them grow. And because of this intimate relationship between Yahweh and His creatures, He truly cares about what happens to them, and doesn’t wish to see any of them perish, not even their animals (4:11). The last, and perhaps most controversial, theological message of this book is something that’s hinted at in another minor prophet: “I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’” (Hos. 2:23). As explained above, a key component of Jonah 3-4 is the fact that the Gentiles are obeying Yahweh, and Hebrews like Jonah aren’t. According to Deuteronomy 32:21, when Israel is disobedient to Yahweh, He will search out a new people to call His own. Perhaps this is what Jonah was really afraid of, and maybe it helps explain his seemingly irrational disdain for God’s mercy.