Jonah the Prophet

On the surface, the tale of Jonah is one of the Bible’s most familiar stories. In
fact, despite its many echoes in Western literature (Moby Dick, Pinocchio, and
others), what is familiar is mostly a vague impression from the book itself: for
example, everyone remembers that the prophet was swallowed by a whale, but very
few know that the book does not mention a whale, but a fish (dag, 2:1, 11 or daga
2:2).
In Jewish tradition, the entire Book of Jonah is read annually in the synagogue
on Yom Kippur. And the reason is seemingly clear: this book focuses entirely on the
subject of repentance. But in effect, Jonah himself does not repent his reservations
about the Divine mission and to the end, he does not want God to change His decision
to destroy the city of Nineveh and its inhabitants. Basically, one may conclude that
Jonah does not accept the principle of repentance.
For that and other reasons, Jonah himself, despite being a prophet and
therefore revered, is not always seen positively by various commentators. For
example, Abraham Ibn Ezra writes in the introduction to his commentary on the Book
of Jonah:
And now, I will allude to a secret teaching: Some know to make
rhymes naturally, without study and others need to learn; but
even if one studies, one might not be capable and this last case is
more common than the first….And the enlightened will
understand.

Ibn Ezra apparently means to say that like poets, there are prophets born with
a talent for the profession (such as the prophet Jeremiah, who was chosen for the job
even before he was born – Jeremiah 1:5), and others learn on the job – but only a few
of the apprentices/learners will truly become prophets. In this complex manner, Ibn
Ezra criticizes Jonah and in effect determines that Jonah did not understand his
mission. Ibn Ezra was influenced by the characterization of Jonah’s prophecy in the
early midrash halakha, Mekhilta DeRabbi Ishmael (Parashat Bo, introduction), which
states:
Jonah insisted upon the honor due the son but did not insist upon the
honor due the Father, as it is said, But Jonah rose up to flee unto
Tarshish from the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:3). What is written
about him? And the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second
time, saying (ibid. 3:1). He spoke with him a second time, but did not
speak with him a third time.
 This midrash implies that Jonah’s prophesying stopped after the story in the
Book of Jonah, because “he suppressed his prophecy” and tried to evade the
command to save the people of Nineveh, because he knew that they (the Assyrians)
would later on destroy the Kingdom of Israel. Because of his affection for the Jewish
people (the son), Jonah did not want to save its enemies, despite the word of God (the
father).
Thus, Jonah the prophet is a problematic character. And his story prompted
numerous interpretations that attempt to deal with the difficulties inherent in it: Why
was he chosen? Why was he sent to save a gentile city? Why did he flee? What is the
significance of his stay in the belly of the fish (daga)? What is a fish (daga)? Why did
the people of Nineveh believe Jonah’s words and repent? Why did Jonah get angry
and still want God to destroy Nineveh?
In order to understand artists’ answers to some of these questions, we will now
review the course of the story.
Flight
In the beginning of the book, Jonah is called upon to go east to Nineveh, the
capital of the kingdom of Assyria and to prophesy about it (“aleha”), but he does not
want the mission and runs away. He descends from his home in Gat Hefer in the
kingdom of Israel and heads to Jaffa, and continues heading down to a boat that is
sailing out to sea and eventually descends to the bowels of the ship and falls asleep.

<bojonah>
Bo Bartlett, Jonah

In this picture by the American artist Bo Bartlett, Jonah lies below the waves
apparently on the seabed. His chest is wrapped in a cloth, his eyes are open and it is
unclear if the scene depicts his stay in the fish or his sleep in the bowels of the ship.
But this indistinctness points to a recurring pattern in Jonah’s behavior – he runs
away, he descends, he falls asleep, he is swallowed.

But God chases after him with the help of a storm at sea.

>>Jonah65
Mordechai Beck, Jonah
From the Ship to the Fish
When the ship is on the verge of sinking, the sailors pray, each to their own
god, and for some reason decide to draw lots to find out who is the cause of the storm
– and of course, the lot falls on Jonah. Left with no other choice, the sailors agree to
Jonah’s pleas and throw him into the sea, seemingly to his death – but God saves him
via another emissary, the famous fish.
The Bible describes the sailors positively as compassionate and God-fearing
men:
Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice to
the Lord and made vows. (Jonah 1:16)

In contrast, a tradition in Pirke deRabbi Eliezer refers to the sailors as idol

worshipers:
Rabbi Hanina said, Men of the seventy languages were there on the
ship, and each one had his god in his hand.

For the most part, artists portray the sailors quite favorably, even though in the
standard Christian iconography they feed Jonah to the fish instead of tossing him into
the sea as is written. The impression formed is that the sailors are also God’s
unknowing emissaries.

<jonah16> <jonah48>
Duke of Alba Bible, Jonah Thrown into the Sea (detail) Typological Bible,
Jonah Thrown into the Sea, c. 1465

In these two pictures, the terrible act of the forsaking of a person’s life is
beautified with calming images: flowers, round lines, pious looks, a ship’s mast
reminiscent of a carousel at a village fair. In the picture on the right, this impression is
achieved via the contrast between the gay and flowery upper portion and the lower
portion full of sharp angles.

<jonah34>
Handmade Midrash, Jonah

In this Handmade Midrash, God’s powerful hand replaces the fish that saves
Jonah’s life in order to bring him back to carrying out his mission. It seems the
wedding band is an ironic symbol of Jonah’s dedication to the role of prophet and his
recoiling from this burden.
Rarely is Jonah portrayed drowning in the sea, as described in the Bible.

>jonah 51<
Albert Pinkham Ryder, Jonah, c. 1885

In this painting, God himself appears above, with His two hands representing
his sovereignty and his mercifulness. The ship appears to be on the brink of breaking
up and the wise and programmed fish is approaching to carry out its task. In this
painting, the sea is endangering Jonah’s life, whereas the fish represents the
compassion of God, who saves the prophet from certain death.

Usually, the depiction of the fish in the Christian faith actually highlights its
fearsome nature, even though this is not at all reflected in the biblical story, where the
fish is dispatched by God to save Jonah.

<jonah49>
Paul Manship, Jonah and the Whale, diagram for an anemometer

This apparently stems from the Christian interpretation, which saw the fish as
actually being a symbol of death itself. Therefore in the above sketch, neither a fish
nor a whale, but rather a shark, catches Jonah. It is no coincidence that the life and
death struggle with God is depicted in the form of a weather vane, which symbolizes
the axis mundi (axis of the earth) that connects the earth and the heavens. It seems that
the word, dag (fish) in the Bible comes to emphasize that this is not a sea monster,
called, for example, leviathan (not the marine mammal, but rather a kind of snake) or
Sea or even Death, in ancient Canaanite literature. The fish is God’s messenger, like
Balaam’s ass, or Jonah’s castor oil plant or worm.

In effect, the Christian interpretation of the Book of Jonah focuses, as its wont,
on what appears to be a prefiguration of Jesus: in this case, of his death.

<jonah52>
 Biblia Pauperum , Jonah, Jesus and Joseph, 1425-50

For example, in this page from the Christian commentary known as the Bible
of the Poor, Jonah’s being swallowed up by the great fish is compared to Joseph’s
descent into the pit and both of these are compared to Jesus’ burial (in the center).

In the Fish's Belly and Out

Jonah is trapped in the belly of the fish for three days and utters a prayer
expressing his distress and yearning for God.

For You did cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas and the
floods encompassed me and all Your billows and waves passed over
me.
Then I said, I am cast out of Your sight, yet I will look again to
Your holy Temple.

According to these words, Jonah “sees” the Temple while still in the depths, in
the sea. In the painting below, the fish, positioned with its red head at the bottom,
spits Jonah out straight into the red gate of the tower of Nineveh.

<jonah80>
Hortus Deliciarum, Jonah, the fish and the Temple, 1167- 85

Yet this building, which soars upward and serves as a gateway, also represents
(like Manship’s anemometer above) the axis mundi (the point of contact between the
earth and the heavens, between the human and the divine), just at the Temple is also
an axis of the world. Therefore it is possible to see here a reflection of the two
elements of Jonah’s prayer: distress and the Temple.

Michael Sgan-Cohen, interprets the scene in a unique, personal and perhaps

even a subversive fashion. He sees the stay inside the belly of the fish like a stay in a
summer house – a timeout from the day-to-day frenzy, a place for soul-searching and
study.

<jonah32>
Michael Sgan-Cohen, Leviathan, 1983
 Even Jonah’s emergence from the belly of the fish symbolizes for the
Christian interpretation a prefiguration: of the resurrection of Jesus after three days (!)
in the grave.

<jonah08> <jonah05>
Early Christian Sarcophagus, Robert Eberwein,
Church of Santa Prassede, Rome Jonah as Christ Resurrected

As far back as the early years of Christianity, artists used Jonah’s emergence
from the fish as a metaphor for the resurrection of the dead, whoever they may be, as
in this Roman coffin. And in the 20th century, the Christian artist, Robert Eberwein
depicted this event using the visual images of Jesus’ rise from the grave.

Islam also deals with the life of Jonah who is referred to in Arabic as Yunis,
and after whom a chapter of the Koran is named. In this chapter, Jonah actually
represents the penitent – even though, according to the biblical story, he maintained
his opposition to God’s compassion.

In the Islamic faith, Jonah is depicted mainly in relation to the great fish.
Among others, there are paintings that show him after the fish spat him out, sitting
naked on the land beneath some kind of plant and looking at the fish, while an angel
approaches and gives him fresh clothing.

<jonah41>
An Angel Brings Jonah Clothes, Jami a-Tawariq (Chronicles Collection), c. 1425

Basically, Jonah is portrayed as a newborn (note the fetal position of his legs),
or in essence as being reborn after a traumatic experience, an important image in
Islam, whose believers wear white clothes, like the diapers swaddling an infant, when
making the pilgrimage (the Hajj) to Mecca. This image is not the exclusive domain of
Islam.
<jonah74>
Samuel Rothbort, Jonah and the Whale, 1930's
Jonah at Nineveh
Jonah surrenders to the Divine command and reaches Nineveh, and we have
now moved from a maritime context to an urban context:

And Jonah began to enter the city a day’s journey and he cried and
said, another forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. (Jonah
3:4)

>jonah22<
Uriel Birnbaum, Jonah Calling to the People of Nineveh, 1921

Tortured and afflicted, yet fervent, his skeletal body reflects the sharp angles
of the city of sins. And the people of Nineveh repent (at least ostensibly):

So the people of Nineveh believed in God and proclaimed a fast and

donned sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least. (ibid, 5)

The actions of the people of Nineveh are discussed at length in the Jewish
commentaries. The late Midrash Yonah describes in great detail the actions of the
king, who is identified here as Osnappar, also known as Assarhadon (?) the king of
Assyria.

So the people of Nineveh believed in God - the word reached Osnappar, the
king of Nineveh, who descended from his throne, removed his crown, strewed
ashes on his head, took off his purple garments, and rolled about in the dust of
the highways. And he and all the people of his household and all his ministers
and servants and all the great people of the kingdom agreed to a fast of three
days, for all the inhabitants of the city of Nineveh.

This Midrash is based on earlier Midrashim, found in the Babylonian and in the
Jerusalem Talmuds.

Babylonian Talmud Ta’anit 16a Jerusalem Talmud Ta'anit 8b

It is not written, anent the repentance of Said Resh Lakish, The Ninevites made
the Ninevites, that God regarded their false repentance.
having wrapped themselves in sackcloth
and considered their fast-days, but that What did they do? R. Huna in the name
‘God saw their works, that they had of R. Simeon b. Halfuta said, They placed
turned from their evil way’” (Jonah, their calves indoors and their cows
3:10). outdoors, their colts indoors and their
Concerning the Ninevites it is written mares outdoors; and these would low
(Jonah 3:8): “But let man and beast be from here and those would neigh from
covered with sackcloth.” How was it there. And they said, If you don't have
done? They separated the suckling mercy on us, we will not have mercy on
animals from their mothers and said: them, as it is written, How the beasts
“Sovereign of the Universe! If Thou wilt groan! The herds of cattle are
not have mercy upon us, we will not have bewildered. (Joel 1:18). Said Rav Aha,
mercy upon them.” In Arabia they do thus.
They shall don sackcloth – man and
And further on: “Let men call unto God beast – and they shall cry to God
with might.” What is meant by “with mightily – What is ‘mightily’? Said R.
might”? That means to say that they said: Simeon b. Halfuta, As a bully takes
“Lord of the Universe! Who of the two advantage of the innocent; all the more so
should give way unto the other? The when the welfare of the whole is at stake.
oppressed and the one who cannot be And let everyone turn from his evil
oppressed, the righteous and the ways and return the loot that is in his
wicked?” hands – Said R. Yohanan, Whatever was
Further, it is written (ibid.): “And let in their hands they returned. What was
them turn every one from his evil way, stored in cupboards, chests and
and from the violence which is in their hideaways, they did not return.
hands.” What is meant by “the violence,
which is in their hands”? Said Samuel:
“If a man had wrongfully appropriated a
beam which he had used in building a
house, he would tear down the house and
restore the beam to its rightful owner.”

Based on a comparison of the two sources, it is possible to see that the

Babylonian Talmud had a positive view of the people of Nineveh, whereas the
Midrashim from Eretz Yisrael, using similar imagery, claim that the people of
Nineveh tried to mislead God via emotional blackmail. According to a study by E.
Urbach, this negative and strained assessment was a reaction of the rabbis in Eretz
Yisrael to the Christian commentary that maintained that the gentile people of
Nineveh were preferable in their actions to the Jews, who claim to be the chosen
people, due only to descent from Abraham the patriarch.1
In Christian and in Islamic art there is little treatment of this group, but the
picture in the illustrated Bible of the Duke of Alba, which was made on the eve of the

1
See Orbach’s discussion at http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/kitveyet/mahanaim/nevuat.htm.
expulsion of the Jews from Spain, in consultation with a learned rabbi, is most
interesting, given the considerable influence of the Midrashim we cited above.

<jonah16>
Bible of the Duke of Alba, Jonah in Nineveh (detail), 1430

On the right, there are separate groups of men and women standing at the edge
of the picture, while to the left of the men, the king bows before the throne on which
his crown rests. At the women’s feet, a group of naked children stretch out their
hands, asking for food. On the left, parallel groups of colts and kids, cows and calves,
look longingly at each other. This is an exact depiction of the text of our Midrashim.
Gustav Dore’s painting is well-known because of the great notoriety his
illustrated Bible gained.

>Dore Jonah<
Gustav Dore, Jonah and the People of Nineveh, 1865

Dore went took pains to depict different reactions among the crowd to Jonah’s
sermon/warning/threat.

>Dore Jonah, detail<

Jonah and the Castor Plant

After the people of Nineveh repent, Jonah goes out of the city to observe what
will happen, in the hope that God will indeed destroy the city. God prepares a lesson
in kindness for him by arranging a shaded place with a castor oil plant.

And the Lord appointed a castor oil plant and made it come up over
Jonah that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his
distress. And Jonah was exceedingly glad of the plant. (Jonah 4:6)

But Jonah’s happiness is cut short:

But God appointed a worm when the dawn came up the next day
and it attacked the plant so that it withered.
 And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a
vehement east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head, so that
he fainted
So he asked that he might die, and he said it is better for me to die
than to live.

There are few artistic treatments of this part of the story of Jonah, compared to
the great emphasis on the fish. And perhaps this is no wonder, given that the story of
the castor oil plant seems like a strange turn of events. This episode also ends oddly
with a rhetorical question from God (Jonah 4:10-11).

Then the Lord said, you are concerned about the castor oil plant, for
which you did not labor, and which you did not rear, which came up
in a night and perished in a night.
And should I not be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, where
there are over one hundred and twenty thousand people, who cannot
discern between their right hand and their left hand, also a lot of
cattle.

The two paintings below describe two aspects of the castor oil plant.

<Steinhardt gourd> <merian gourd>

Jacob Steinhardt, Jacob and the Gourd, Matthaeus Merian the Elder, Jonah and the Vine,
1625-30

In the depiction of the end of the story by the Swiss artist, Matthaeus Merian,
Jonah waits anxiously in the shade of the vine prepared by God and hopes for the
destruction of the city. The city itself, however, is basking in the light of divine
loving-kindness.

On the other side, the Israeli artist, Jacob Steinhardt, depicts the tragic irony of
this passage by showing Jonah suffering from the ravages of God’s emissaries: the
worm that struck the castor oil plant, and the burning sun and the sultry desert wind.
 It seems that this scene is the essence of the story of Jonah: the prophet does
not understand the principle of divine loving-kindness, does not understand the
principle of repentance, and does not understand the role of the prophet. He is angry
to the point of wanting to die over his personal situation and his travails and does not
consider the fate of men. He is sent specifically to save gentiles, just as the most
important biblical discussion of the subject of reward and punishment is uttered by
Job, who is not an Israelite: these basic subjects are universal and are not limited to
the Jewish people. Therefore, the reading of the Book of Jonah on Yom Kippur is
significant for all of mankind, not just on a national level.