“That Jonah and the Whale story, that never really happened, no way did he spend three days in a whale’s stomach” snapped my friend angrily before abruptly changing the subject. A bit shocked by the outburst, I didn’t say anything right away. After some consideration I realized that as a child her church required her to believe that Jonah’s story was real, literal, physical history, while my church taught me that it was a parable told in the ancient Hebrew folkloric tradition.1 No one could survive for three days in the belly of a fish. Cattle don’t put on sackcloth and fast. The King of Assyria certainly never repented to the God of the ancient Hebrews.
Later I asked her, did she know about the city of Nineveh and what it stood for? Or the infamous cruelty of the Assyrians? No and no, the only meaning of the story she was taught was that she had to obey God or else God would do something bad to her. But Scripture isn’t one-dimensional. Scripture isn’t like other texts, fiction, non-fiction, mythology, etc. Scripture is multi-dimensional, multi-faceted, the living Word of God. The Holy Spirit speaks to us directly through it. Obedience to the will of God is only one of the meanings we can take away from the story of Jonah and the Whale.
Background
Knowing the background of this story is necessary for it to make sense. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria, which was infamous for its horrific cruelty.2 They had savagely conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and carried off the survivors as captives. Tragically, those conquered became the lost ten tribes of Israel. The suffering the ancient Assyrians caused in the biblical world was immense. 3 They were the deeply hated and feared enemy of the people of Judah.
Yet God wanted Jonah to go and save his archenemy, Nineveh, to call the people to repentance, save them from judgment and punishment for their atrocities. Understandably, Jonah wants nothing to do with this. Against his will, he ends up being one of the few successful prophets in the Old Testament. His call to repentance prompts the people, from the greatest to the least, even their animals, to repent. God sees their repentance and through God’s mercy, withholds the judgment due to them. At this, Jonah is distraught: “But Jonah grew indignant and fell into a rage…isn’t this exactly what I said would happen…That’s why I left and fled…I knew that you were a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness, relenting from violence. Now, God, please take my life! I’d rather be dead than keep on living!” (Jonah 4:1-3) Jonah hadn’t forgiven the Assyrians, he still hated them and desired God to take vengeance on them. I wonder if he felt like a traitor to his people. Jonah was deeply upset to be the person whose actions saved these enemies.
What meanings can we find in Jonah’s story? For myself, one of the meanings is of the immense love and mercy God has for all of us, even those who are as bad as the people of Nineveh. Another point to reflect on, were the animals and the ordinary poor people, helpless to control what the king did, really deserving of hatred? After all, they had no political power. Many of the inhabitants of Nineveh were themselves captured in battle by the Assyrians and forced into slavery. Many of the inhabitants likely spent all their time and energy just struggling to survive.
Purgative Metaphors in the Story of Jonah
There are purgative metaphors in this story. The sailors “hurl” Jonah out from their midst. The big fish vomits him out. The vine that grew up over Jonah is a castor oil plant, a purgative.4 Read in the original Hebrew, the purgative metaphors are even more prevalent and pretty funny. Like slapstick, I can imagine the ancient Hebrews telling this story to their children as they laugh at the improbable and comically disgusting images.
On a more serious level, this story reminds me of the saying “Hatred is like swallowing poison and expecting the other person to die.” It’s best to purge ourselves of the poison of hatred. It reminds me that I need to be vigilant in making sure I’m not carrying hatred in my heart. It’s too easy to fall into the trap of resentment and blame. Temptations into hatred, envy, and jealousy are all around us. Just scanning the news headlines these days carries a a sneaky, devious invitation into hatred. At the same time, Jonah’s journey reminds us that it can be a difficult and long process that leads to forgiveness. As long as we’re telling YHWH about it, God will be with us even in those undesirable emotions. We deserve mercy and grace too.
Understanding the multi-dimensional, multi-faceted nature of Scripture is important for developing a relationship with God. There are valuable lessons to learn from our spiritual leaders and we should listen and learn from them. However, Scripture can become the living voice of the Holy Spirit and speak to us directly with something God knows is important for us. The value of the Story of Jonah isn’t in proving our obedience to our particular denomination by accepting it as literally true at the expense of our God-given logic. The value is in the lessons of love, mercy, and forgiveness that it teaches.
