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Jonah: Christian Reception

Jonah among the Fathers

It is difficult to overstate the influence that the Book of Jonah has had on Christian exegesis and theology through the centuries. This influence, which stems, no doubt, from Christ’s references to Jonah (Mt 12:39–41; 16:4; Lk 11:29–30,32), is reflected in several areas of interpretation, ranging from typology to moral exhortation to historical inquiry. The present commentary gives the reader a sense of the broad scope of this influence by offering a selection of patristic passages from works of formal exegetical commentaries as well as from homilies and letters. While this selection is in no way exhaustive, it offers a representative cross-section of patristic thought that incorporates major exegetical traditions, including those of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Edessa. In particular, the early commentaries (of Jerome, Cyril of Alexandria, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and Theodoret of Cyrus) as well as metrical hymns and homilies (of Ephrem and Jacob of Serug) are included and brought into conversation with one another wherever possible. Hopefully, the selection of patristic citations provided by this commentary will convey both the unity and diversity of the patristic reception of the Book of Jonah.

Typological Interpretation of the Book of Jonah

When the many patristic typological readings of Jonah are brought together, one gets the distinct impression that the Church Fathers see the book as a prophetic microcosm of the Gospels. In particular, these readings typically focus upon the following typological relationships:

Though less common, the book is also sometimes interpreted as a symbolic representation of God’s economy of salvation unfolding within history. Within this typological framework, the book is read as an illustration of doctrinal teachings.

  • Jonah can represent human nature, one of the passions, or Israel.
  • Nineveh often represents human sin, the Gentile nations, or the Church.
  • God’s dealings with the characters in the book reflect how God deals with these entities in the world.

Unfortunately, this kind of typological inquiry sometimes led to vitriolic statements criticizing the Jewish people for refusing to believe in Jesus Christ and for being distraught over the salvation of the Gentiles (Christian Tradition Jon 3:4–9 ; Christian Tradition Jon 4:1ff).

Finally, it should be noted that several patristic authors recognize the limits of typological readings and acknowledge that they can become strained. This is first of all because not every detail prefigures Jesus Christ in the Gospel or symbolically reflects God’s saving action in the world. In addition, as a few patristic authors recognize, such typological readings can have an inordinate effect on one’s understanding of the characters within the text.

The Book of Jonah in Christian Exhortation and Preaching

In terms of Christian exhortation, the Book of Jonah occupies an important, though less central, place in the Christian tradition. Frequently in homilies and treatises on prayer, the Church Fathers point to Jonah’s prayer in the belly of the great fish as a model for Christian prayer, particularly in dire circumstances. In such works, Jonah is presented as a figure to be emulated in two respects: first, Christians, like Jonah, should trust that prayer has the power to elicit divine aid and protection in any circumstance; and second, they should cultivate an awareness of their need for God’s help as Jonah did (Christian Tradition Jon 2:1–9). Perhaps even more ubiquitous in homilies and exhortative writings, are references to the repentance and fasting of the Ninevites. These references are made in order to instruct the Christian faithful about the proper disposition during fasting as well as the theological basis for doing so (Christian Tradition Jon 3:4–10).

Questions about the Details of the Narrative

Primarily in exegetical writings and commentaries, some of the Church Fathers demonstrate a concern for establishing contours of the book’s historical setting (e.g., who Jonah is and where he is from, where Tarshish is, the state and location of Nineveh at the time Jonah lived). In addition, many of their writings deal with the plausibility of various details mentioned in the book.

The Character of Jonah

One last feature of patristic interpretation of Jonah that deserves mention is the assessment of the character within the book. Quite often, typological interpretation and moral exhortation leave Jonah’s motivations and personality unexamined. Yet, this is not universally so. While some Fathers, especially in the Antiochene school, are concerned to safeguard the dignity of the prophetic office, there are examples of patristic authors, particularly in the school of Edessa, who examine the negative aspects of Jonah’s character (Christian Tradition Jon 1:5e; Christian Tradition Jon 4:1–5).

Jonah in the Middle Ages

The →Gloss. ord.—the Latin West’s chief biblical commentary from the High Middle Ages until the 16th c.—assembles many of the same themes seen in the Fathers. While the backbone of the Glossa’s section on Jonah is Jerome’s commentary, the Glossa contains a number of anonymous additions, and, moreover, the various source texts are cut up and rearranged around the relevant passages in the biblical text. Thus, various interpretations of a particular passage are presented together, granting a kaleidoscopic vision of the text. Subjects covered by the glosses include history (e.g., Josephus’ speculations on the location of Tarshish), philology (e.g., noting divergences between the Greek and the Hebrew), narrative (i.e., rephrasing the narrative or supplying missing dialogue to aid understanding of the story itself), and allegory (e.g., connecting Jonah to Christ). At times, the Glossa simply asks provocative questions of the reader, intended to inspire reflection and contemplation. For example, when Jonah tells the sailors that he worships the creator of heaven and earth, a commentator asks (ad loc. Jon 1:9), given Jonah’s confession, “why does he think that, leaving the land, he is able to avoid the creator of the sea in the sea?” Perhaps this mosaic-like vision of the text’s meaning—assembled from various hands over the preceding centuries and brought into a somewhat harmonious whole—is the most characteristically medieval trait of the Glossa.

The Glossa’s polyphonic approach to Scripture can be seen in the way it interprets the character of Jonah, particularly his flight. Generally, throughout the book, the Glossa follows the Fathers in identifying Jonah with Christ. Just as Jonah volunteered to be tossed into the sea to save the ship, so Christ gave himself to be swallowed up by the seas of death for the sake of the Church. But Jonah is also an everyman. Everyone has sinned and thereby flees from God’s mission for his life: it is only when the storminess of a life without God becomes unbearable (Jonah literally “bottoms out”) that one repents. But at the same time, Jonah’s movement from Nineveh (the World) to Tarshish (the diametric opposite of the World, namely rest in and contemplation of God) through Jaffa (yph “to be beautiful,” particularly the beauty of salvation) typifies the life of a sage. In this way, the whole book is food for theological contemplation in the hands of the Glossa.

Jonah in the Protestant Tradition

Many Reformation era commentators identify elements of Jonah with the theological and ecclesial concerns of the time. Chief among them is a conviction of salvation via sola fide. Calvin, Luther, and others admonish their own congregants to emulate the obedience of the Ninevites who take Jonah, and therefore God, at his word. In the same way, they often go to great lengths to clarify that the acts of repentance observed among Nineveh’s inhabitants were not works performed in service to salvation, but were responses to grace received through faith. These proclamations often come in tandem with others regarding a doctrine of sola gratia by which God has extended undeserved grace to the people of Nineveh as Israel’s enemy par excellence. In this way, reformed commentators continued the interpretation of Nineveh as an archetype of Gentile peoples to whom God’s grace was now extended.

The city of Nineveh plays more roles for Protestant authors than that of a model for divine grace. While the repentant Nineveh is lauded, the pre-repentant city from which a cry of evil rises to God represents unbridled sinfulness, and a more recent rendition of Sodom. Similar critiques are marshaled against the sailors before they come to recognize the power of the true God. Some commentators extend these judgments to their contemporary circumstances by leveling ecclesial polemics against what they see as debased elements of the Catholic Church and the Papacy.

Unfortunately, while these authors extol the faith of the Ninevites—an interpretation which the text can bear—they sometimes relied on a negative caricature of Israel and subsequently, of Judaism, to do so. Jonah’s unwillingness to respond appropriately to God’s gracious actions was thus understood as Israel’s own recalcitrance. This negative example further stoked growing anti-Semitic sentiments. It should be noted that not all Reformation commentary on Jonah is focused on polemics. Readings highlighting God’s care and provision for Jonah as a prophet, and God’s control over the forces and facets of nature maintain consistency with pre-Reformation exegetes. Most importantly, the identification of Jonah’s experience as a prefiguration of Christ’s death and resurrection carries through from the earliest Christian interpretations.