Obadiah (“servant of the Lord”) and Jonah (“dove”)

I know you are a merciful God

In this post we read Obadiah and Jonah. The first of the two prophets has a very short text in the Bible: only 21 verses. It is an oracle against Edom, that took advantage of Judah’s defeat against the Babylonians (587 BC), occupying some of its southern territories. The Edomites, according to the Tradition, are Esau’s offspring (see Gen 36): the Lord reproaches Edom «For the violence done to your brother Jacob» (see Obad 9-10) and defends Israel.
The Book of Jonah, at first glance, is disconcerting. Since we are accustomed to consider the prophets as people who obey the voice of the Lord, even at the cost of heavy persecution, we are amazed by Jonah’s behavior. He does not even answer the Lord’s call, doing the opposite of what He asks. Instead of “arising” and going to Nineveh, Jonah “goes down” to the port of Joppa, embarking for Tarshish (a destination at the borders of the known world), far «from the presence of the LORD». I underline, in his partial defense, that the Lord’s request sounds very odd: He asks Jonah (prophet in the kingdom of Israel, see 2Kgs 14,25) to announce the Lord’s Word to the Assyrians, their arch enemy. «Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down, and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.” They all said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is on us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they asked him, “Tell us, please, for whose cause this evil is on us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you?” He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.” Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “What is this that you have done?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. Then said they to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us?” For the sea grew more and more stormy. He said to them, “Take me up, and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this great storm is on you.” Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them. Therefore they cried to the LORD, and said, “We beg you, LORD, we beg you, let us not perish for this man’s life, and do not lay on us innocent blood; for you, LORD, have done as it pleased you.” So they took up Jonah, and threw him into the sea; and the sea ceased its raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD, and made vows. The LORD prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights» (Jonah 1). The story is a parody: the pagan mariners are more religious than the reticent prophet: the shipmaster gives him the same command that the Lord gave before («Arise»); they try to save him, even if he is the cause of the storm («the men rowed hard to get them back to the land»); after they threw him into the sea, «the men feared the LORD exceedingly; and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD, and made vows» almost as pious Israelites.
After «three days and three nights» in the fish’s belly, Jonah pronounces a heartfelt prayer to the Lord (Jonah 2,3-10): «The LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land».



The Lord commands to Jonah for the second time and the prophet obeys. He is yet reluctant, we can argue it from his preaching, much more sullen than what the Lord asked in 1,1: «Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!» (Jonah 3,4). The Ninevites, unexpectedly, listen to the prophet’s word and convert from their evil behavior: therefore, «God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he did not do it» (Jonah 3,10). The prophet, instead of being happy for the success, gets angry and reveals the reason of his former fleeing (the central theme of the entire Book): «He prayed to the LORD, and said, “Please, LORD, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm. Therefore now, LORD, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”» (Jonah 4,2-3).
We can read the Book of Jonah as a parable: the language in which it is written is a late Hebrew (not used in the VIII century BC, the time of Prophet Jonah mentioned in 2Kgs 14,25), the style of the story is full of irony, the main character is almost a caricature of a prophet, stubborn in doing the opposite of the Lord’s commands. The “dove, son of my faithfulnesses” (literal translation of “Jonah, son of Amittai”) is the people of Israel itself (see Hos 7,11), or rather an ultra-nationalist part of it who, after returning from the Babylon exile, cannot stand that God’s love and salvation are for all nations and not just for His Elected People. The stories we read in all the last posts tell us that Israel was called and lives only by the Lord’s mercy; they cannot limit it without causing their own death. The Lord’s mercy is for all peoples, including the worst enemies; the Elected ones are the ambassadors of that mercy all over the world, they are not the sole owners. The Lord patiently tries to make it clear to Jonah: first He invites him not to be angry, then He makes grow a plant in the night as an “educational” symbol (I invite you to read the whole chapter 4). In both cases Jonah answers with a stubborn silence.
Jesus mentions Jonah in the gospels of Matthew (12,39-41; 16,4) and Luke (11,29-30.32); I took most of the cues for this character from Un profeta tra umido e secco. Sindrome e terapia del risentimento nel libro di Giona, Roberto Vignolo, Glossa.
In the next post we will read Micah and Nahum.