DustyTomes

The story of Jonah is one of the most commonly retold biblical stories in many circles, particularly to Sunday School classes. The Book of Jonah is oftentimes interpreted through a strictly metaphorical lens, but a sizable group considers the whole of it as a literal history. Regardless of the story’s historical reality, readers have commonly misunderstood the passage of Jonah being eaten. The popular depiction of this scene, especially in art, suggests a whale swallowed Jonah. Although this interpretation is common, there is no textual evidence to imply this case. The debate over this detail is complex and longstanding. To provide clarification for what the text can impart, it is necessary to review the original Hebrew text, the later translation into Greek, and the themes of the story as a whole.

In the oldest available Hebrew manuscripts of the Book of Jonah, the scene of Jonah being swallowed uses the word הַדָּ֔ג (had·dāḡ), meaning “of the fish.” [1] This translation merely informs the reader that the creature that swallowed him was a fish, not a whale or other aquatic animal. We know this because there were words to describe these other creatures in use in other places in the Bible, such as תַּנִּין (tannin) meaning “dragon, serpent, sea monster” and לִוְיָתָן (Livyathan) meaning “Leviathan... a wreathed animal, a serpent, dragon.” [2]

The Hebrew text alone does not fully attest to our understanding of the passage, but it does provide a strong foundation. This is strengthened through the interpretation of the story in the Greek Septuagint. The translators used the word κῆτος (kētos), which means “a sea monster, huge sea fish, whale.” [3] While this word could be used to mean a whale, it did not serve this purpose in Jonah. The Greek-Hebrew concordance of the Bible reveals that kētos was used only in parallel with the Hebrew dāḡ and tannin. Additionally, Greek writers did not use kētosto strictly refer to any one type of sea creature, rather it was used to broadly describe any large sea creature. [3]

Through the knowledge of the translation history of the verses in Jonah, a clearer vision of the story’s themes can take shape. The most evident themes revealed throughout the Book of Jonah are repentance, obedience, and God’s mercy. Briefly, the elements of the story suggest its authorship dated to around the 8th century BCE, during which Israel and Judah were under the control of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. [4] Consequently, God’s followers were exiled from their homeland and sought divine intervention to return to their lands. The community’s desires are reflected in the themes of the story. The Israelites sought to repent for their perceived transgressions against God and worked to obediently follow God’s law in order to earn God’s mercy, thus in the story the Ninevites earn the mercy of God thanks to Jonah’s message of repentance and obedience.

#bible #christianity #judaism #oldtestament #readerquestion

[1] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/haddag_1709.htm

[2] https://biblehub.com/hebrew/8577.htm ; https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3882.htm

[3] https://biblehub.com/greek/2785.htm

[4] https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1170/the-book-of-jonah/

Eric B – BA History, Minor in Religious Studies
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