The Tension of Jonah Chapter 2 (Part 1)
Ok, need some help here. Preaching on Jonah chapter 2 shortly and interested in anyone’s thoughts on the place of chapter 2 in the narrative of the book and the tensions it raises (and whether those tensions can or should be resolved).
Jonah chapter 2 is recognised as a psalm of thanksgiving that Jonah declares from within the large fish that has swallowed him.
The tensions are created by what Jonah says in chapter 2, and what he has done in chapter 1 (and will do in chapter 4). The tension of the peity of the Psalm alongside the rebel on the run. Bruckner (2004, 77) summarises the tensions:
- Jonah is not yet rescued (he’s still in the fish) and yet he gives thanks for his deliverance.
- Jonah claims piety in relation to God but has not repented of his own flight from God.
- Jonah claims to be much more pious than those who cling to idols (think sailors, Ninevites, and Israelite reader/listener) and yet his actions betray him.
Interpreters have come up with different ways to resolve the tensions of Jonah chapter 2 in lights of the broader Jonah narrative: [1] to deny the tension; [2] ignore the tension by focusing on Jonah’s piety; [3] ignore the tension by focusing on the narrative and dismissing Jonah’s piety as either shallow and hypocritical, or ironic.
Any thoughts?
