Jonah or Jonas, ''Yōnā'', "dove"; gr, Ἰωνᾶς ''Iōnâs''; ar, يونس ' or ';
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
: ''Ionas''
son of
A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative.
Social issues
In pre-industrial societies and some current c ...
Amittai
Amittai (; he, אֲמִתַּי, ''ʾÁmītay'', "true"; or "my truth" la, Amathi; ar, مَتّىٰ, Mattā) was the father of the Prophet Jonah. He was also a native of Gath-hepher.
In the Bible
Amittai is only mentioned twice in the Bible, in ...
, is a
prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
and the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
, from
Gath-hepher
Gath-hepher or Gat Hefer ( he, גַּת הַחֵֽפֶר) was a border town in ancient Israel. It was the home of the prophet Jonah. The etymology of the name is literally " wine-press of the digging" and is mentioned twice in the Bible at Josh ...
of the northern
kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century
BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
. Jonah is the central figure of the
Book of Jonah
The Book of Jonah is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Hebrew Bible, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament. The book tells of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah, son of Amittai, wh ...
, which details his reluctance in delivering
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
's judgement on the city of
Nineveh
Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern ban ...
. Subsequently he returns to the divine mission after he is swallowed by a large sea creature and then released.
In
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
, the story of Jonah represents the teaching of ''
teshuva
Repentance ( he, תשובה, literally, "return", pronounced ''tshuva'' or ''teshuva'') is one element of atoning for sin in Judaism. Judaism recognizes that everybody sins on occasion, but that people can stop or minimize those occasions in the ...
'', which is the ability to repent and be forgiven by
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
. In the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
,
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
calls himself "greater than Jonah" and promises the
Pharisees
The Pharisees (; he, פְּרוּשִׁים, Pərūšīm) were a Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs bec ...
"the sign of Jonah", which is
his resurrection. Early
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
interpreters viewed Jonah as a
type for Jesus. Jonah is regarded as a prophet in
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
, and the
biblical
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
narrative of Jonah is repeated in the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
. Mainstream
Bible scholars generally regard the Book of Jonah as
fiction
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditi ...
al, and often at least partially
satirical
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or e ...
. The character of Jonah son of Amittai may have been based on the historical prophet of the same name who prophesied during the reign of
Amaziah of Judah
Amaziah of Judah (pronounced , ; el, Αμασίας; la, Amasias), was the ninth king of Judah and the son and successor of Joash. His mother was Jehoaddan () and his son was Uzziah (). He took the throne at the age of 25, after the assassinat ...
, as mentioned in
2 Kings
The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...
.
Although the creature that swallowed Jonah is often depicted in art and culture as a whale, the Hebrew text uses the phrase ''dag gadol'', which means "big fish". In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the species of the fish that swallowed Jonah was the subject of speculation by
naturalists, who interpreted the story as an account of a historical incident. Some modern scholars of folklore, on the other hand, note similarities between Jonah and other legendary religious and mythical figures, specifically
Gilgamesh
sux, , label=none
, image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg
, alt =
, caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assyr ...
and the Greek hero
Jason
Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He w ...
.
Book of Jonah
![Pieter Lastman - Jonah and the Whale - Google Art Project](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Pieter_Lastman_-_Jonah_and_the_Whale_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
Jonah is the central character in the Book of Jonah, in which
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
commands him to go to the city of
Nineveh
Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern ban ...
to prophesy against it "for their great wickedness is come up before me," but Jonah instead attempts to flee from "the presence of the Lord" by going to
Jaffa
Jaffa, in Hebrew Yafo ( he, יָפוֹ, ) and in Arabic Yafa ( ar, يَافَا) and also called Japho or Joppa, the southern and oldest part of Tel Aviv-Yafo, is an ancient port city in Israel. Jaffa is known for its association with the b ...
(sometimes
transliterated
Transliteration is a type of conversion of a text from one script to another that involves swapping letters (thus '' trans-'' + '' liter-'') in predictable ways, such as Greek → , Cyrillic → , Greek → the digraph , Armenian → or ...
as ''Joppa'' or ''Joppe''). He sets sail for
Tarshish
Tarshish ( Phoenician: ''TRŠŠ'', he, תַּרְשִׁישׁ ''Taršīš'', , ''Tharseis'') occurs in the Hebrew Bible with several uncertain meanings, most frequently as a place (probably a large city or region) far across the sea from Phoen ...
. A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing that it is no ordinary storm,
cast lots and discover that Jonah is to blame. Jonah admits this and says that if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease. The sailors refuse to do this and continue rowing, but all their efforts fail, and they eventually throw Jonah overboard. As a result, the storm calms and the sailors offer sacrifices to God.
After being cast from the ship, Jonah is swallowed by a large fish, within the belly of which he remains for three days and three nights. While in the great fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to giving thanks and to paying what he has vowed. God commands the fish to vomit Jonah out.
![Dore jonah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Dore_jonah.jpg)
God again commands Jonah to travel to Nineveh and prophesy to its inhabitants. This time he travels there and enters the city, crying, "In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown." After Jonah has walked across Nineveh, the people begin to believe his word and proclaim a fast. The king of Nineveh puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes, making a proclamation which decrees fasting, the wearing of sackcloth, prayer, and repentance. God sees their repentant hearts and spares the city at that time. The entire city is humbled and broken, with the people (and even the animals) wearing sackcloth and ashes.
Displeased by this, Jonah refers to his earlier flight to Tarshish while asserting that, since God is merciful, it was inevitable that God would turn from the threatened calamities. He leaves the city and makes a shelter, waiting to see whether or not the city will be destroyed. God causes a plant (in Hebrew a ''
kikayon
Kikayon (קִיקָיוֹן ''qîqāyōn'') is the Hebrew name of a plant mentioned in the Biblical Book of Jonah.
Origins
The first use of the term ''kikayon'' is in the biblical book of ''Jonah'', Chapter 4. In the quote below, from the Jewish ...
'') to grow over Jonah's shelter to give him some shade from the sun. Later, God causes a worm to bite the plant's root and it withers. Jonah, exposed to the full force of the sun, becomes faint and pleads for God to kill him.
Religious views
In Judaism
![Kennicott Bible 305r](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0b/Kennicott_Bible_305r.l.jpg)
The Book of Jonah (Yonah יונה) is one of the twelve
minor prophets
The Minor Prophets or Twelve Prophets ( he, שנים עשר, ''Shneim Asar''; arc, תרי עשר, ''Trei Asar'', "Twelve") ( grc, δωδεκαπρόφητον, "the Twelve Prophets"), occasionally Book of the Twelve, is a collection of propheti ...
included in the Tanakh. According to one tradition, Jonah was the boy brought back to life by
Elijah
Elijah ( ; he, אֵלִיָּהוּ, ʾĒlīyyāhū, meaning "My God is Yahweh/YHWH"; Greek form: Elias, ''Elías''; syr, ܐܸܠܝܼܵܐ, ''Elyāe''; Arabic: إلياس or إليا, ''Ilyās'' or ''Ilyā''. ) was, according to the Books of ...
the prophet in 1 Kings. Another tradition holds that he was the son of the
woman of Shunem
The woman of Shunem (or Shunammite woman) is a character in the Hebrew Bible. 2 Kings 4:8 describes her as a "great woman" (KJV) in the town of Shunem. Her name is not recorded in the biblical text.
Hospitality
According to 2 Kings 4, she showed h ...
brought back to life by
Elisha
Elisha ( ; or "God is my salvation", Greek: , ''Elis îos'' or , ''Elisaié,'' Latin: ''Eliseus'') was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a prophet and a wonder-worker. His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eli ...
in 2 Kings and that he is called the "son of
Amittai
Amittai (; he, אֲמִתַּי, ''ʾÁmītay'', "true"; or "my truth" la, Amathi; ar, مَتّىٰ, Mattā) was the father of the Prophet Jonah. He was also a native of Gath-hepher.
In the Bible
Amittai is only mentioned twice in the Bible, in ...
" (''Truth'') due to his mother's recognition of Elisha's identity as a prophet in 2 Kings. The Book of Jonah is read every year, in its original Hebrew and in its entirety, on
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's ...
– the Day of Atonement – as the
Haftarah
The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', he, הפטרה) "parting," "taking leave", (plural form: ''haftarot'' or ''haftoros'') is a series of selections from the books of ''Nevi'im'' ("Prop ...
at the afternoon
mincha
Mincha ( he, מִנחַה, pronounced as ; sometimes spelled ''Minchah'' or ''Minḥa'') is the afternoon prayer service in Judaism.
Etymology
The name ''Mincha'', meaning "present", is derived from the meal offering that accompanied each sacrif ...
prayer. According to
Rabbi Eliezer
Eliezer ben Hurcanus or Hyrcanus ( he, אליעזר בן הורקנוס) was one of the most prominent Sages (tannaim) of the 1st and 2nd centuries in Judea, disciple of Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai Avot of Rabbi Natan 14:5 and colleague of Gamalie ...
, the fish that swallowed Jonah was created in the primordial era and the inside of its mouth was like a
synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
; the fish's eyes were like windows and a pearl inside its mouth provided further illumination.
According to the
Midrash
''Midrash'' (;["midrash"]
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. he, מִדְרָשׁ; ...
, while Jonah was inside the fish, it told him that its life was nearly over because soon the
Leviathan
Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to some ...
would eat them both. Jonah promised the fish that he would save them. Following Jonah's directions, the fish swam up alongside the Leviathan and Jonah threatened to leash the Leviathan by its tongue and let the other fish eat it. The Leviathan heard Jonah's threats, saw that he was
circumcised
Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...
, and realized that he was protected by the
Lord
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or ar ...
, so it fled in terror, leaving Jonah and the fish alive. The medieval Jewish scholar and rabbi
Abraham ibn Ezra (1092–1167) argued against any literal interpretation of the Book of Jonah, stating that the "experiences of all the prophets except Moses were visions, not actualities." The later scholar
Isaac Abarbanel
Isaac ben Judah Abarbanel ( he, יצחק בן יהודה אברבנאל; 1437–1508), commonly referred to as Abarbanel (), also spelled Abravanel, Avravanel, or Abrabanel, was a Portuguese Jewish statesman, philosopher, Bible commentator ...
(1437–1509), however, argued that Jonah could have easily survived in the belly of the fish for three days, because "after all, fetuses live nine months without access to fresh air."
Teshuva – the ability to repent and be forgiven by God – is a prominent idea in Jewish thought. This concept is developed in the Book of Jonah: Jonah, the son of truth (the name of his father "Amitai" in Hebrew means truth), refuses to ask the people of
Nineveh
Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern ban ...
to repent. He seeks the truth only, and not forgiveness. When forced to go, his call is heard loud and clear. The people of Nineveh repent ecstatically, "fasting, including the sheep," and the Jewish scripts are critical of this. The Book of Jonah also highlights the sometimes unstable relationship between two religious needs: comfort and truth.
In Christianity
In the Book of Tobit
Jonah is mentioned twice in the fourteenth chapter of the
deuterocanonical Book of Tobit
The Book of Tobit () ''Tōbith'' or ''Tōbit'' ( and spellings are also attested) itself from he, טובי ''Tovi'' "my good"; Book of Tobias in the Vulgate from the Greek ''Tōbias'', itself from the Hebrew ''Tovyah'' " Yah is good", also k ...
, the conclusion of which finds Tobit's son, Tobias, rejoicing at the news of Nineveh's destruction by
Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar II (Babylonian cuneiform: ''Nabû-kudurri-uṣur'', meaning "Nabu, watch over my heir"; Biblical Hebrew: ''Nəḇūḵaḏneʾṣṣar''), also spelled Nebuchadrezzar II, was the second king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, ruling ...
and
Ahasuerus in apparent fulfillment of Jonah's prophecy against the Assyrian capital.
In the New Testament
![Biblia](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b0/Biblia.pauperum.jpg)
In the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
, Jonah is mentioned in the gospels of
Matthew
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...
and
Luke
People
*Luke (given name), a masculine given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke (surname) (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Luke the Evangelist, author of the Gospel of Luke. Also known as ...
. In Matthew,
Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
makes a reference to Jonah when he is asked for a sign by some of the scribes and the
Pharisees
The Pharisees (; he, פְּרוּשִׁים, Pərūšīm) were a Jewish social movement and a school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs bec ...
. Jesus says that the sign will be the
sign of Jonah: Jonah's restoration after three days and three night inside the great fish prefigures
His own resurrection.
Post-Biblical views
![Jonah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/27/Jonah.jpg)
Jonah is regarded as a saint by a number of Christian denominations. His feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is on 21 September, according to the ''
Martyrologium Romanum''.
On the
Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, Jonah's feast day is on 22 September (for those churches which follow the traditional
Julian calendar
The Julian calendar, proposed by Roman consul Julius Caesar in 46 BC, was a reform of the Roman calendar. It took effect on , by edict. It was designed with the aid of Greek mathematicians and astronomers such as Sosigenes of Alexandr ...
; 22 September currently falls in October on the modern
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It was introduced in October 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years dif ...
). In the
Armenian Apostolic Church
, native_name_lang = hy
, icon = Armenian Apostolic Church logo.svg
, icon_width = 100px
, icon_alt =
, image = Էջմիածնի_Մայր_Տաճար.jpg
, imagewidth = 250px
, a ...
, moveable feasts are held in commemoration of Jonah as a single prophet and as one of the
Twelve Minor Prophets. Jonah's mission to the Ninevites is commemorated by the
Fast of Nineveh
In Syriac Christianity, the Fast of Nineveh ( syc, ܒܥܘܬܐ ܕܢܝܢܘܝ̈ܐ ', literally "Petition of the Ninevites") is a three-day fast starting the third Monday before Clean Monday from Sunday Midnight to Wednesday noon during participants u ...
in
Syriac and
Oriental Orthodox
The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 60 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches are part of the Nicene Christian tradition, and represent o ...
Churches.
Jonah is commemorated as a prophet in the
Calendar of Saints
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
of the
Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church on 22 September.
Christian theologians
Christian theology is the theology of Christian belief and practice. Such study concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Christian tradition. Christian theologians use biblical exeges ...
have traditionally interpreted Jonah as a
type for Jesus Christ. Jonah being in swallowed by the giant fish was regarded as a foreshadowing of
Jesus's crucifixion and Jonah emerging from the fish after three days was seen as a parallel for Jesus emerging from the tomb after three days.
Saint Jerome equates Jonah with Jesus's more
nationalistic side, and justifies Jonah's actions by arguing that "Jonah acts thus as a patriot, not so much that he hates the Ninevites, as that he does not want to destroy his own people."
Other Christian interpreters, including
Saint Augustine and
Martin Luther
Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...
, have taken a directly opposite approach, regarding Jonah as the epitome of envy and jealousness, which they regarded as inherent characteristics of the Jewish people. Luther likewise concludes that the ''kikayon'' represents Judaism, and that the worm which devours it represents Christ. Luther also questioned the idea that the Book of Jonah was ever intended as literal history, commenting that he found it hard to believe that anyone would have interpreted it as such if it had never been included in the Bible. Luther's
antisemitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
interpretation of Jonah remained the prevailing interpretation among German Protestants throughout early modern history.
J. D. Michaelis
Johann David Michaelis (27 February 1717 – 22 August 1791) was a Kingdom of Prussia, Prussian biblical scholar and teacher. He was member of a family that was committed to solid discipline in Hebrew language, Hebrew and the cognate languages ...
comments that "the meaning of the fable hits you right between the eyes", and concludes that the Book of Jonah is a polemic against "the Israelite people's hate and envy towards all the other nations of the earth."
Albert Eichhorn
Karl Albert August Ludwig Eichhorn (1 October 1856, Garlstorf – 3 August 1926, Braunschweig) was a German Protestant theologian. He was the author of ''Das Abendmahl im Neuen Testament'' and one of the founders of the history of religions school, ...
was a strong supporter of Michaelis's interpretation.
John Calvin
John Calvin (; frm, Jehan Cauvin; french: link=no, Jean Calvin ; 10 July 150927 May 1564) was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system ...
and
John Hooper regarded the Book of Jonah as a warning to all those who might attempt to flee from the wrath of God. While Luther had been careful to maintain that the Book of Jonah was not written by Jonah, Calvin declared that the Book of Jonah was Jonah's personal confession of guilt. Calvin sees Jonah's time inside the fish's belly as equivalent to the fires of
Hell
In religion and folklore, hell is a location in the afterlife in which evil souls are subjected to punitive suffering, most often through torture, as eternal punishment after death. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hell ...
, intended to correct Jonah and set him on the path of righteousness. Also unlike Luther, Calvin finds fault with all the characters in the story, describing the sailors on the boat as "hard and iron-hearted, like
Cyclops'", the penitence of the Ninevites as "untrained", and the king of Nineveh as a "novice". Hooper, on the other hand, sees Jonah as the
archetypal dissident and the ship he is cast out from as a symbol of the state. Hooper deplores such dissidents, decrying: "Can you live quietly with so many Jonasses? Nay then, throw them into the sea!" In the eighteenth century, German professors were forbidden from teaching that the Book of Jonah was anything other than a literal, historical account.
In Islam
Quran
Jonah ( ar, يُونُس, Yūnus) is the title of
the tenth chapter of the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
. Yūnus is traditionally viewed as highly important in
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
as a
prophet
In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...
who was
faithful to
God and delivered His messages. Jonah is the only one of
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in the ...
's Twelve Minor Prophets to be named in the Quran.
In
Quran 21:87 and
68:48, Jonah is called Dhul-Nūn ( ar, ذُو ٱلنُّوْن, links=no; meaning "The One of the Fish"). In 4:163 and 6:86, he is referred to as "an apostle of Allah". Surah 37:139–148 retells the full story of Jonah:
The Quran never mentions Jonah's father, but
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
tradition teaches that Jonah was from the
tribe of Benjamin
According to the Torah, the Tribe of Benjamin () was one of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. The tribe was descended from Benjamin, the youngest son of the patriarch Jacob (later given the name Israel) and his wife Rachel. In the Samaritan Pentateuc ...
and that his father was
Amittai
Amittai (; he, אֲמִתַּי, ''ʾÁmītay'', "true"; or "my truth" la, Amathi; ar, مَتّىٰ, Mattā) was the father of the Prophet Jonah. He was also a native of Gath-hepher.
In the Bible
Amittai is only mentioned twice in the Bible, in ...
.
[''Encyclopedia of Islam'', ''Yunus'', pg. 348]
Hadiths
![Jonah and the fish Jeremiah in wilderness Uzeyr awakened after the destruction of Jerusalem](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/02/Jonah_and_the_fish_Jeremiah_in_wilderness_Uzeyr_awakened_after_the_destruction_of_Jerusalem.JPG)
Jonah is also mentioned in a few incidents during the lifetime of
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 Common Era, CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Muhammad in Islam, Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet Divine inspiration, di ...
.
Quraysh
The Quraysh ( ar, قُرَيْشٌ) were a grouping of Arab clans that historically inhabited and controlled the city of Mecca and its Kaaba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashim clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Qur ...
sent their servant,
Addas Addas ( ar, عَدَّاس) was a young Christian slave boy who lived in Taif, a mountainous area south of Mecca, during the times of Muhammad. Originally from Nineveh, supposedly he was the first person from the western province of Taif to convert ...
, to serve him grapes for sustenance.
Muhammad asked Addas where he was from and the servant replied Nineveh. "The town of Jonah the just, son of
Amittai
Amittai (; he, אֲמִתַּי, ''ʾÁmītay'', "true"; or "my truth" la, Amathi; ar, مَتّىٰ, Mattā) was the father of the Prophet Jonah. He was also a native of Gath-hepher.
In the Bible
Amittai is only mentioned twice in the Bible, in ...
!" Muhammad exclaimed. Addas was shocked because he knew that the pagan Arabs had no knowledge of the prophet Jonah.
He then asked how Muhammad knew of this man. "We are brothers," Muhammad replied. "Jonah was a Prophet of God and I, too, am a Prophet of God." Addas immediately accepted Islam and kissed the hands and feet of Muhammad.
[Summarized from ''The Life of the Prophet'' by ]Ibn Hisham
Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Hishām ibn Ayyūb al-Ḥimyarī al-Muʿāfirī al-Baṣrī ( ar, أبو محمد عبدالملك بن هشام ابن أيوب الحميري المعافري البصري; died 7 May 833), or Ibn Hisham, e ...
Volume 1 pp. 419–421
One of the sayings attributed to Muhammad, in the collection of
Imam Bukhari
Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, serve ...
, says that Muhammad said "One should not say that I am better than Jonah". Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt, an older contemporary of Muhammad, taught that, had Jonah not prayed to Allah, he would have remained trapped inside the fish until Judgement Day, but, because of his prayer, Jonah "stayed only a few days within the belly of the fish".
The ninth-century Persian historian
Al-Tabari
( ar, أبو جعفر محمد بن جرير بن يزيد الطبري), more commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Muslim historian and scholar from Amol, Tabaristan. Among the most prominent figures of the Islamic Golden Age, al-Tabari ...
records that, while Jonah was inside the fish, "none of his bones or members were injured". Al-Tabari also writes that Allah made the body of the fish transparent, allowing Jonah to see the "wonders of the deep" and that Jonah heard all the fish singing praises to Allah.
Kisai Marvazi
Kisa'i Marvazi ( fa, کسایی مروزی; 953–1002) was a 10th-century Persian poet.''J. T. P. de Bruijn'Kesāʾi Marvazi/ Encyclopædia Iranica, April 7, 2008
His full name was probably Abu’l-Hasan (or Abu Ishaq) Majd al-Din ʿAli ibn ...
, a tenth-century poet, records that Jonah's father was seventy years old when Jonah was born and that he died soon afterwards, leaving Jonah's mother with nothing but a wooden spoon, which turned out to be a
cornucopia.
Claimed tombs
Nineveh
Nineveh (; akk, ; Biblical Hebrew: '; ar, نَيْنَوَىٰ '; syr, ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ, Nīnwē) was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located in the modern-day city of Mosul in northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern ban ...
's current location is marked by excavations of five gates, parts of walls on four sides, and two large mounds: the hill of Kuyunjik and hill of Nabi Yunus. A
mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
atop Nabi Yunus was dedicated to the prophet Jonah and contained a shrine, which was revered by both Muslims and Christians as the site of Jonah's tomb. The tomb was a popular pilgrimage site and a symbol of unity to Jews, Christians, and Muslims across the Middle East. On July 24, 2014, the
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
An Islamic state is a State (polity), state that has a form of government based on sharia, Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical Polity, polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a t ...
(ISIL) destroyed the mosque containing the tomb as part of a campaign to destroy religious sanctuaries it deemed to be
idolatrous
Idolatry is the worship of a cult image or "idol" as though it were God. In Abrahamic religions (namely Judaism, Samaritanism, Christianity, the Baháʼí Faith, and Islam) idolatry connotes the worship of something or someone other than the A ...
. After
Mosul
Mosul ( ar, الموصل, al-Mawṣil, ku, مووسڵ, translit=Mûsil, Turkish: ''Musul'', syr, ܡܘܨܠ, Māwṣil) is a major city in northern Iraq, serving as the capital of Nineveh Governorate. The city is considered the second large ...
was taken back from ISIL in January 2017, an ancient Assyrian palace built by
Esarhaddon
Esarhaddon, also spelled Essarhaddon, Assarhaddon and Ashurhaddon (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , also , meaning " Ashur has given me a brother"; Biblical Hebrew: ''ʾĒsar-Ḥaddōn'') was the king of the Neo-Assyrian Empire from the death of his ...
dating to around the first half of the 7th century BCE was discovered beneath the ruined mosque. ISIL had plundered the palace of items to sell on the
black market
A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...
, but some of the artifacts that were more difficult to transport still remained in place.
Other reputed locations of Jonah's tomb include the
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
village of
Mashhad
Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...
, located on the ancient site of
Gath-hepher
Gath-hepher or Gat Hefer ( he, גַּת הַחֵֽפֶר) was a border town in ancient Israel. It was the home of the prophet Jonah. The etymology of the name is literally " wine-press of the digging" and is mentioned twice in the Bible at Josh ...
in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
; the
Palestinian West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
town of
Halhul, north of
Hebron
Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...
; and a sanctuary near the city of Sarafand (
Sarepta) in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
. Another tradition places the tomb at a hill now called Giv'at Yonah, "Jonah's Hill", at the northern edge of the Israeli town of Ashdod, at a site covered by a modern lighthouse.
A tomb of Jonah can be found in
Diyarbakir, Turkey, located behind the
mihrab
Mihrab ( ar, محراب, ', pl. ') is a niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the ''qibla'', the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca towards which Muslims should face when praying. The wall in which a ''mihrab'' appears is thus the "qibla w ...
at
Fatih Pasha Mosque.
Evliya Çelebi states in his ''
Seyahatname'' that he visited the tombs of prophet Jonah and prophet
George
George may refer to:
People
* George (given name)
* George (surname)
* George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George
* George Washington, First President of the United States
* George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...
in the city.
Scholarly interpretations
The story of a man surviving after being swallowed by a whale or giant fish is classified in the catalogue of
folktale
A folktale or folk tale is a folklore genre that typically consists of a story passed down from generation to generation orally.
Folktale may also refer to:
Categories of stories
* Folkloric tale from oral tradition
* Fable (written form of the a ...
types as
ATU
Atu may refer to:
* Atu, a character in Samoan mythology
* Atu Bosenavulagi, an Australian rules footballer
* Atu, Iran, a village in Iran
* Atu Moli, New Zealand rugby union player
* Atu'u is a village on Tutuila Island, American Samoa
ATU may re ...
1889G.
Historicity
Many
Biblical scholars hold that the contents of the
Book of Jonah
The Book of Jonah is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Hebrew Bible, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament. The book tells of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah, son of Amittai, wh ...
are ahistorical. Although the prophet Jonah allegedly lived in the eighth century BCE, the Book of Jonah was written centuries later during the time of the
Achaemenid Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...
. The
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
used in the Book of Jonah shows strong influences from
Aramaic
The Aramaic languages, short Aramaic ( syc, ܐܪܡܝܐ, Arāmāyā; oar, 𐤀𐤓𐤌𐤉𐤀; arc, 𐡀𐡓𐡌𐡉𐡀; tmr, אֲרָמִית), are a language family containing many varieties (languages and dialects) that originated in ...
and the cultural practices described in it match those of the Achaemenid Persians. Some scholars regard the Book of Jonah as an intentional work of
parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
or
satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
. If this is the case, then it was probably admitted into the canon of the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
by sages who misunderstood its satirical nature and mistakenly interpreted it as a serious prophetic work.
While the Book of Jonah itself is considered fiction, Jonah himself may have been a historical prophet; he is briefly mentioned in the
Second Book of Kings
The Book of Kings (, '' Sēfer Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of Israel also including the books ...
:
Parodic elements
![Nineveh Adad gate exterior entrance far2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Nineveh_Adad_gate_exterior_entrance_far2.JPG)
The views expressed by Jonah in the Book of Jonah are a
parody
A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...
of views held by members of Jewish society at the time when it was written. The primary target of the satire may have been a faction whom
Morton Smith calls "Separationists", who believed that God would destroy those who disobeyed him, that sinful cities would be obliterated, and that God's mercy did not extend to those outside the
Abrahamic covenant. McKenzie and Graham remark that "Jonah is in some ways the most 'orthodox' of Israelite theologians – to make a theological point." Jonah's statements throughout the book are characterized by their militancy, but his name ironically means "dove", a bird which the ancient Israelites associated with peace.
Jonah's rejection of God's commands is a parody of the obedience of the prophets described in other Old Testament writings. The king of Nineveh's instant repentance parodies the rulers throughout the other writings of the Old Testament who disregard prophetic warnings, such as
Ahab and
Zedekiah. The readiness to worship God displayed by the sailors on the ship and the people of Nineveh contrasts ironically with Jonah's own reluctance, as does Jonah's greater love for ''kikayon'' providing him shade than for all the people in Nineveh.
The Book of Jonah also employs elements of
literary absurdism; it exaggerates the size of the city of Nineveh to an implausible degree and incorrectly refers to the administrator of the city as a "king". According to scholars, no human being could realistically survive for three days inside a fish, and the description of the livestock in Nineveh fasting alongside their owners is "silly".
The motif of a protagonist being swallowed by a giant fish or whale became a stock
trope
Trope or tropes may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept
* Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device
* Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...
of later satirical writings. Similar incidents are recounted in
Lucian of Samosata's ''
A True Story'', which was written in the second century CE, and in the novel ''
'', published by
Rudolf Erich Raspe
Rudolf Erich Raspe (March 1736 – 16 November 1794) was a German librarian, writer, and scientist, called by his biographer John Patrick Carswell a "rogue". He is best known for his collection of tall tales '' The Surprising Adventures of Bar ...
in 1785.
The fish
Translation
![Germany Worms Cathedral Jonah](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Germany_Worms_Cathedral_Jonah.jpg)
Though art and culture often depicts Jonah's fish as a
whale
Whales are a widely distributed and diverse group of fully aquatic placental marine mammals. As an informal and colloquial grouping, they correspond to large members of the infraorder Cetacea, i.e. all cetaceans apart from dolphins and ...
, the Hebrew text, as throughout scripture, refers to no marine species in particular, simply saying "great fish" or "big fish" (modern taxonomists classify whales as
mammal
Mammals () are a group of vertebrate animals constituting the class Mammalia (), characterized by the presence of mammary glands which in females produce milk for feeding (nursing) their young, a neocortex (a region of the brain), fur or ...
s and not as fish, but cultures in antiquity made no such distinction). While some biblical scholars suggest the size and habits of the
great white shark
The great white shark (''Carcharodon carcharias''), also known as the white shark, white pointer, or simply great white, is a species of large mackerel shark which can be found in the coastal surface waters of all the major oceans. It is nota ...
correspond better to the representations of Jonah's experiences, normally an adult human is too large to be swallowed whole. The development of
whaling
Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution.
It was practiced as an organized industry ...
from the 18th century onwards made it clear that most, if not all, species of whale could not swallow a human, leading to much controversy about the veracity of the biblical story of Jonah.
In Jonah 2:1 (1:17 in English translations), the
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
text reads ''dag gadol''
(דג גדול) or, in the Hebrew
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...
, ''dāḡ gā·ḏō·wl'' (דָּ֣ג גָּד֔וֹל), which means "great fish".
The
Septuagint
The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond th ...
translates this phrase into Greek as ''kētei megalōi'' (κήτει μεγάλῳ), meaning "huge fish". In
Greek mythology
A major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore. These stories concern the Cosmogony, origin and Cosmology#Metaphysical co ...
, the same word meaning "fish" (''
kêtos'') is used to describe the
sea monster
Sea monsters are beings from folklore believed to dwell in the sea and often imagined to be of immense size. Marine monsters can take many forms, including sea dragons, sea serpents, or tentacled beasts. They can be slimy and scaly and are ofte ...
slain by the hero
Perseus
In Greek mythology, Perseus (Help:IPA/English, /ˈpɜːrsiəs, -sjuːs/; Greek language, Greek: Περσεύς, Romanization of Greek, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus ...
that nearly devoured the Princess
Andromeda.
Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, th ...
later translated this phrase as ''piscis grandis'' in his Latin
Vulgate
The Vulgate (; also called (Bible in common tongue), ) is a late-4th-century Latin translation of the Bible.
The Vulgate is largely the work of Jerome who, in 382, had been commissioned by Pope Damasus I to revise the Gospels u ...
. He translated ''kétos'', however, as ''ventre ceti'' in
Matthew
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...
12:40: this second case occurs only in this verse of the
New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
.
At some point ''cetus'' became synonymous with "whale" (the study of whales is now called ''
cetology''). In his 1534 translation,
William Tyndale translated the phrase in Jonah 2:1 as "greate fyshe" and the word ''kétos'' (Greek) or ''cetus'' (Latin) in Matthew 12:40 as "whale". Tyndale's translation was later incorporated into the
Authorized Version of 1611. Since then, the "great fish" in Jonah 2 has been most often interpreted as a whale. In English some translations use the word "whale" for Matthew 12:40, while others use "sea creature" or "big fish".
Scientific speculation
![0b4a8510 by vitaly sokol-dbw14sol](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/0b4a8510_by_vitaly_sokol-dbw14sol.jpg)
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
naturalists, interpreting the Jonah story as a historical account, became obsessed with trying to identify the exact species of the fish that swallowed Jonah. In the mid-nineteenth century,
Edward Bouverie Pusey, professor of Hebrew at
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, claimed that the Book of Jonah must have been authored by Jonah himself and argued that the fish story must be historically true, or else it would not have been included in the Bible. Pusey attempted to scientifically catalogue the fish, hoping to "shame those who speak of the miracle of Jonah's preservation in the fish as a thing less credible than any of God's other miraculous doings".
The debate over the fish in the Book of Jonah played a major role during
Clarence Darrow's cross-examination of
William Jennings Bryan
William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator and politician. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running ...
at the
Scopes Trial in 1925. Darrow asked Bryan "When you read that ... the whale swallowed Jonah ... how do you literally interpret that?" Bryan replied that he believed in "a God who can make a whale and can make a man and make both of them do what He pleases." Bryan ultimately admitted that it was necessary to interpret the Bible, and is generally regarded as having come off looking like a "buffoon".
The largest of all whales –
blue whale
The blue whale (''Balaenoptera musculus'') is a marine mammal and a baleen whale. Reaching a maximum confirmed length of and weighing up to , it is the largest animal known to have ever existed. The blue whale's long and slender body can ...
s – are
baleen whale
Baleen whales (systematic name Mysticeti), also known as whalebone whales, are a parvorder of carnivorous marine mammals of the infraorder Cetacea (whales, dolphins and porpoises) which use keratinaceous baleen plates (or "whalebone") in their ...
s which eat
plankton
Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in Hydrosphere, water (or atmosphere, air) that are unable to propel themselves against a Ocean current, current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankt ...
; and "it is commonly said that this species would be choked if it attempted to swallow a
herring
Herring are forage fish, mostly belonging to the family of Clupeidae.
Herring often move in large schools around fishing banks and near the coast, found particularly in shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans, i ...
."
As for the
whale shark
The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, D ...
, Dr. E. W. Gudger, an Honorary Associate in
Ichthyology
Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octob ...
at the
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History (abbreviated as AMNH) is a natural history museum on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. In Theodore Roosevelt Park, across the street from Central Park, the museum complex comprises 26 inter ...
, notes that, while the whale shark does have a large mouth, its throat is only four inches wide, with a sharp elbow or bend behind the opening, meaning that not even a human arm would be able to pass through it. He concludes that "the whale shark is not the fish that swallowed Jonah."
Sperm whales
The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the Genus (biology), genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the s ...
, however, appear to be a different matter: They regularly eat
giant squid
The giant squid (''Architeuthis dux'') is a species of deep-ocean dwelling squid in the family Architeuthidae. It can grow to a tremendous size, offering an example of abyssal gigantism: recent estimates put the maximum size at around Trace ...
, so presumably one could swallow a human.
Similar to a cow, sperm whales have four-chambered stomachs.
The first chamber has no gastric juices but has muscular walls to crush its food. On the other hand, it is not possible to breathe inside the sperm whale's stomach because there is no air (but probably methane instead).
Cultural influence
![Jonah in the whale detail Verdun altar](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Jonah_in_the_whale_detail_Verdun_altar.jpg)
In
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
, "Jonah fish" (in Turkish ''yunus baligi'') is the term used for
dolphin
A dolphin is an aquatic mammal within the infraorder Cetacea. Dolphin species belong to the families Delphinidae (the oceanic dolphins), Platanistidae (the Indian river dolphins), Iniidae (the New World river dolphins), Pontoporiidae (the ...
s.
A long-established expression among sailors uses the term, "a Jonah", to mean a sailor or a passenger whose presence on board brings bad luck and endangers the ship. Later, this meaning was extended to mean, "a person who carries a
jinx, one who will bring bad luck to any enterprise."
Despite its brevity, the Book of Jonah has been adapted numerous times in literature and in popular culture. In
Herman Melville
Herman Melville (Name change, born Melvill; August 1, 1819 – September 28, 1891) was an American people, American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance (literature), American Renaissance period. Among his bes ...
's ''
Moby-Dick'' (1851),
Father Mapple
Father Mapple is a fictional character in Herman Melville's novel ''Moby-Dick'' (1851). A former whaler, he has become a preacher in the New Bedford Whaleman's Chapel. Ishmael, the narrator of the novel, hears Mapple's sermon on the subject of Jon ...
delivers a sermon on the Book of Jonah. Mapple asks why Jonah does not show remorse for disobeying God while he is inside of the fish. He comes to the conclusion that Jonah admirably understands that "his dreadful punishment is just."
Carlo Collodi's ''
The Adventures of Pinocchio'' (1883) features the
title character
The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piece. The title of ...
and his father
Geppetto being swallowed by "
the Terrible Dogfish," an allusion to the story of Jonah.
Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
's
1940 film adaptation of the novel retains this allusion. The story of Jonah was adapted into
Phil Vischer and
Mike Nawrocki
Michael Lewis Nawrocki (born July 8, 1966) is an American director, animator, writer, lyricist, and voice actor best known as the co-creator of the long-running, Christian video series, ''VeggieTales'' where he voiced Larry the Cucumber. He voic ...
's
animated film
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
''
Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie'' (2002). In the film, Jonah is swallowed by a gargantuan whale.
The film was
Big Idea Entertainment's first full-length theatrical release and it earned approximately $6.5 million on its first weekend.
Suggested connections to legends
''Epic of Gilgamesh''
Joseph Campbell
Joseph John Campbell (March 26, 1904 – October 30, 1987) was an American writer. He was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College who worked in comparative mythology and comparative religion. His work covers many aspects of the ...
suggests that the story of Jonah parallels a scene from the ''
Epic of Gilgamesh
The ''Epic of Gilgamesh'' () is an epic poetry, epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia, and is regarded as the earliest surviving notable literature and the second oldest religious text, after the Pyramid Texts. The literary history of Gilgamesh ...
'', in which
Gilgamesh
sux, , label=none
, image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg
, alt =
, caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assyr ...
obtains a plant from the bottom of the sea. In the Book of Jonah, a
worm
Worms are many different distantly related bilateral animals that typically have a long cylindrical tube-like body, no limbs, and no eyes (though not always).
Worms vary in size from microscopic to over in length for marine polychaete wor ...
(in Hebrew ''tola'ath'', "maggot") bites the shade-giving plant's root causing it to wither; whereas in the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', Gilgamesh ties stones to his feet and plucks his plant from the floor of the sea. Once he returns to the shore, the rejuvenating plant is eaten by a serpent.
Jason from Greek mythology
Campbell also noted several similarities between the story of Jonah and that of
Jason
Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He w ...
in Greek mythology. The Greek rendering of the name Jonah is ''Jonas'' (Ἰωνᾶς), which differs from ''Jason'' (Ἰάσων) only in the order of sounds—both ''o''s are
omega
Omega (; capital: Ω, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numeric system/isopsephy (gematria), it has a value of 800. The wo ...
s suggesting that Jason may have been confused with Jonah. Gildas Hamel, drawing on the Book of Jonah and
Greco-Roman
The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...
sources—including
Greek vases and the accounts of
Apollonius of Rhodes
Apollonius of Rhodes ( grc, Ἀπολλώνιος Ῥόδιος ''Apollṓnios Rhódios''; la, Apollonius Rhodius; fl. first half of 3rd century BC) was an ancient Greek author, best known for the ''Argonautica'', an epic poem about Jason and t ...
,
Gaius Valerius Flaccus
Gaius Valerius Flaccus (; died ) was a 1st-century Roman poet who flourished during the " Silver Age" under the Flavian dynasty, and wrote a Latin ''Argonautica'' that owes a great deal to Apollonius of Rhodes' more famous epic.[Orphic Argonautica
The ''Orphic Argonautica'' or ''Argonautica Orphica'' ( grc-gre, Ὀρφέως Ἀργοναυτικά) is a Greek epic poem dating from the 5th–6th centuries CE. It is narrated in the first person in the name of Orpheus and tells the story of ...]
—identifies a number of shared motifs, including the names of the heroes, the presence of a dove, the idea of "fleeing" like the wind and causing a storm, the attitude of the sailors, the presence of a sea-monster or dragon threatening the hero or swallowing him, and the form and the word used for the "gourd" (''
kikayon
Kikayon (קִיקָיוֹן ''qîqāyōn'') is the Hebrew name of a plant mentioned in the Biblical Book of Jonah.
Origins
The first use of the term ''kikayon'' is in the biblical book of ''Jonah'', Chapter 4. In the quote below, from the Jewish ...
'').
Hamel takes the view that it was the Hebrew author who reacted to and adapted this mythological material to communicate his own, quite different message.
See also
*
Aquanaut
An aquanaut is any person who remains underwater, breathing at the ambient pressure for long enough for the concentration of the inert components of the breathing gas dissolved in the body tissues to reach equilibrium, in a state known as satura ...
, a person who stays underwater for a long time
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Biblical and Quranic narratives
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Jonah on the Sistine Chapel ceiling
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Legends and the Quran
A number of legends, parables or pieces of folklore appear in the Quran, often with similar motifs to Jewish and Christian traditions which may pre-date those in the Quran. Some included are the story of Cain and Abel, of Abraham destroying id ...
*
Prophets of Islam
Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets ar ...
*
Qisas Al-Anbiya
Further reading
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Notes
References
Bibliography
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External links
Jonah leaving whaleThe Book of Jonah (NIV)*
Prophet JonahOrthodox
icon
An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
and
synaxarion
Synaxarion or Synexarion (plurals Synaxaria, Synexaria; el, Συναξάριον, from συνάγειν, ''synagein'', "to bring together"; cf. etymology of ''synaxis'' and ''synagogue''; Latin: ''Synaxarium'', ''Synexarium''; cop, ⲥⲩⲛⲁ ...
The Prophet Jonahat th
Christian Iconographywebsite
{{Authority control
Jonah
Christian saints from the Old Testament
Fish and humans
People whose existence is disputed
Satire
Year of birth unknown
Year of death unknown