Paul R. Bauman, D.D.
A R C H A E O L O G Y A N D THE B O O K O F J O N A H
N O OTHER account in the Bi ble has been the victim of such ribald mockery as the passage has been the subject of such blundering exegesis. Worse, no portion of Scripture has been more tragically neglected, even by its friends. The entire story contains but four unusually short chapters, and these may be read in several min utes at the most, yet very few peo ple have ever read the Book of Jonah through at a single sitting. As a re sult, both enemies and friends little realize that they have missed one of the most precious gems in the whole Bible. According to Jeropie, the book of Jonah was the means of Cyprian’s conversion at a time when he was gay and thoughtless. Cornill testi fies that he “cannot take up this marvelous book, or even speak of it, without the tears rising in his eyes.” The Austrian archaeologist, Sellin, regards it as “one of the most prec ious jewels of Hebrew literature." Those who have falsely accused Jehovah of being a blood-thirsty God, concerned for the welfare of none save a few bigoted and nationalistic Israelites, will find here one of the most beautiful pictures of God’s love and mercy in the entire content of sacred Scripture. To the author of Jonah, God is no mere tribal deity. Here the heathen, as well as the seed of Abraham, are the objects of divine grace, For the love of God is broader Than the measure of man’s mind, And the heart of the Eternal Is most wonderfully kind. Various attitudes toward the Book of Jonah are expressed, but three views prevail: the mythical, the alle gorical or parabolic, and the histor ical. The Mythical Interpretation Many treat the story as pure fic tion, with or without little historical connection. By many the non-his torical character of the book is re garded as beyond dispute. If one dares to venture the opposite atti tude, in certain quarters he is looked PAGE EIGHTEEN
upon as a vestige of the Middle Ages, and with some impatience is chided in words similar to the declamation of George Adam Smith: “How long, O Lord, must Thy poetry suffer from those who can treat it only as prose?” Such invective as a rule ignores the fact that the great major ity of Hebraists and theologians of the church, from Jerome and Augus tine to Pusey and Perowne, concluded that the story of Jonah could not be separated from the web of history. The Allegorical Interpretation There are two fatal objections to .this view, as Robinson has pointed out: (1) No other allegory in the en tire Old Testament has as its hero an historical person, and, (2) The presence of the miraculous in the story. By nature parables stand op posed to everything grotesque and unbelievable.1 That is, nothing ever happens in a parable which cannot or does not occur in everyday life (cf. any of the parables of Christ). The Historical Interpretation The following is a brief summary of the evidence for the Book of Jonah as a trustworthy historical account of the experiences of a rebellious prophet. (1) Evidence from the Book Itself. The story begins as if it were a rec ord of real history: “Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai” (Jonah 1:1). Note that Jonah is called “the son of Amittai”. In like manner, the prophet Joel begins what is readily admitted to be an historical record: “The word of the Lord that came unto Joel the son of Pethuel” (Joel 1:1). The same method of introduction is employed by Hosea and Zephaniah, and these prophets are admitted to have been historical characters. Yet none of these is given as much attention in Biblical history as Jonah. (2) Evidence of Biblical History. We are told little about the activi ties of the prophet Jonah, but that which we do know about him con nects him very definitely with the history of Israel. We are told that “Jeroboam restored the border of
E d ito r's note: T h is is the first of d series of articles by Dr. Baum an dealing w ith the light archaeology sheds on the Book of Jonah in general and the e x perience of the prophet in particular. Israel from the entering in of Hamath unto the Sea of Arabah, according to the Word of the Lord God of Israel which He spake by the hand of His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet which was of Gath-hepher” (2 Ki. 14:25). Here distinct refer ence to a well-known king is made (Jeroboam II), and the work of the prophet in connection with his reign. This prophet is called "the son of Amittai,” in a distinctly historical book. (3) Testimony of Jewish History. The place the Book of Jonah occupies in the canon of the Old Testament is sufficient proof that the Jews be lieved it to be historical. It appears in the Greek Septuagint Version translated early in the third century B.C. It holds the same place in the Hebrew Bible from which the Sep tuagint was translated. The Old Testament Apocrypha are Jewish lit erature produced during the second century B.C. and earlier. These defi nitely reflect the Jewish mind. Two strong references are made to Jonah’s call and preaching to Nineveh, par ticularly in the Book of Tobit.1Philo of Alexandria, the Jewish philos opher, and Josephus, both accept the book as historical. (4) Testimony of Christ. So firmly did our Lord believe the Old Testa ment record concerning Jonah that when the unbelieving Jews of His day demanded some miracle from Him to substantiate the trutli of His claims, He used the experience of Jonah as a sign of His own miracu lous resurrection. Jesus plainly stat ed: “An evil and adulterous genera tion seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; for as Jonah \Vas three days and three nights ih the belly of the sea-mon ster, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart T H E K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
story of Jonah and the whale. No
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