Book contents
- Why the Bible Began
- Why the Bible Began
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Part I The Rise and Fall
- Part II Admitting Defeat
- Part III A New Narrative
- 15 Jeremiah and Baruch
- 16 Isaac and Rebekah
- 17 Moses and Joshua
- 18 Hannah and Samuel
- 19 Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
- 20 Jonah and the Whale
- 21 Yhwh and His People
- Part IV A People of Protest
- Subject Index
- Scholars Cited
- Biblical References
- References
20 - Jonah and the Whale
The Prophets as Survival Literature
from Part III - A New Narrative
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 July 2023
Book contents
- Why the Bible Began
- Why the Bible Began
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Acknowledgments
- Prologue
- Introduction
- Part I The Rise and Fall
- Part II Admitting Defeat
- Part III A New Narrative
- 15 Jeremiah and Baruch
- 16 Isaac and Rebekah
- 17 Moses and Joshua
- 18 Hannah and Samuel
- 19 Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
- 20 Jonah and the Whale
- 21 Yhwh and His People
- Part IV A People of Protest
- Subject Index
- Scholars Cited
- Biblical References
- References
Summary
One day Yhwh commissions a man named Jonah to go to Nineveh, capital of the despised Assyrian Empire. We do not know where he comes from or why he is chosen for the mission; all we know is what he is told: “Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has risen up before me.” Refusing to accept the assignment, Jonah goes to the local port, buys a ticket, and boards a ship headed in the opposite direction.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Why the Bible BeganAn Alternative History of Scripture and its Origins, pp. 317 - 333Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
References
Further Reading
Boda, Mark J. and Wray Beal, Lissa M. (eds.), Prophets, Prophecy, and Ancient Israelite Historiography, Eisenbrauns, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolin, Thomas H., Freedom beyond Forgiveness: The Book of Jonah Re-Examined, Sheffield Academic Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Claassens, L. Juliana M., Writing and Reading to Survive: Biblical and Contemporary Trauma Narratives in Conversation, Sheffield Phoenix, 2020.Google Scholar
de Jong, Matthijs J., Isaiah among the Ancient Near Eastern Prophets: A Comparative Study of the Earliest Stages of the Isaiah Tradition and the Neo-Assyrian Prophecies, Brill, 2007.Google Scholar
Edelman, Diana V. and Zvi, Ehud Ben (eds.), The Production of Prophecy: Constructing Prophecy and Prophets in Yehud, Equinox, 2009.Google Scholar
Heller, Roy L., The Characters of Elijah and Elisha and the Deuteronomic Evaluation of Prophecy: Miracles and Manipulation, Bloomsbury, 2018.Google Scholar
Jacobs, Mignon R. and Person, Raymond F. Jr. (eds.), Israelite Prophecy and the Deuteronomistic History: Portrait, Reality, and the Formation of a History, Society of Biblical Literature, 2013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nissinen, Martii, Ancient Prophecy: Near Eastern, Biblical, and Greek Perspectives, Oxford University Pres, 2017.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rom-Shiloni, Dalit, Voices from the Ruins: Theodicy and the Fall of Jerusalem in the Hebrew Bible, Eerdmans, 2021.Google Scholar
Seitz, Christopher R., Prophecy and Hermeneutics: Toward a New Introduction to the Prophets, Baker, 2007.Google Scholar
Sherwood, Yvonne, A Biblical Text and Its Afterlives: The Survival of Jonah in Western Culture, Cambridge University Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Weems, Renita J., Battered Love: Marriage, Sex, and Violence in the Hebrew Prophets, Fortress, 1995.Google Scholar