Meaning More than They Say: The Conflict between Y hwh and Jonah
Year: 2012
Type: article
Abstract: Interpretations of the book of Jonah regularly focus on the prophet's explanation of his flight in 4.2 and Yhwh's explanation of the qiqayon in 4.10–11 to illuminate the main characters' conflict. However, neither speech is particularly explanatory. Additionally, closer examination of Jonah's words is suggested by his ironic and self-implicating speech elsewhere in the book. Yhwh's logic relating the qiqayon to Nineveh is also far from transparent. The reader is left to work out the nature of their conflict. In this article it is argued that the book focuses less on Yhwh's relationship with Nineveh than on pressing Jonah to recognize Yhwh's compassion for him, and that he is the only one in the entire world of the book that is unresponsive to Yhwh.
Author: Rob Barrett
Institution: University of Göttingen
Language: English
Subfield: Religious studies
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2147082011