"A Review"
Ellul, Jacques The Judgment of Jonah
(1971 William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Mi)
Allen Johnson
Rt. 1, Box 119-B
Dunmore, West Virginia 24934
Theology of the Minor Prophets
Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Dr. Tom McDaniel
Fall, 1994
In the canon the book of Jonah is
one of the twelve alongside others of the minor prophets. That Jonah is even in the canon is a puzzle
to many scholars and historians, and furthermore that Jonah is included in the
assemblage of prophets seems an anomaly.[1] The miracle
of the great fish swallowing Jonah seems preposterous and ill-fitting to the
general tenor of the Old Testament.
Only Elisha's miracles are so dramatic.
Furthermore, the setting of Jonah is not in Israel nor does it speak to
the chosen people. No mention is made
of the covenant. Unlike other prophetic
books, it is not grounded in a specific historical situation. Finally, it appears to have been written at
a time when Jewish people were impatient and unsympathetic toward their
oppressors (pp. 12, 13).
In his autobiographical commentary
on the development of his thought, Jacques Ellul states his own personal
parallel to the life of Jonah, thus his study to understand this enigmatic
prophet.[2] In the words
of the esteemed translator of this present book, The Judgment of Jonah,
Geoffrey Bromiley writes in his forward that this work of Ellul is "an
existential commentary" or more specifically a "christological
commentary" (p. 5). Ellul is adamant
that Jonah only makes sense christologically.
"Jonah is a figure, a type of Christ. To prove this one has only to consider that Jesus referred the
revelation of Jonah to himself....the situations in which Jonah found himself
are situations of the Messiah" (p. 17).
But then, if Jonah is only
comprehensible viewed through the prism of Jesus Christ, why is this book in
the Jewish canon? Many moral stories
did abound in the time scholars believe this book to have been compiled,
between 400 and 190 BCE. The rabbis
were not capricious in admitting a work into the canon. Their discrimination and exegesis of texts
was with utmost seriousness. Ellul
admits he does not have an answer pleasing to the scholar. "The Jews do not have a rational view
of prophecy but according to faith. The
important thing in recognizing prophecy is to know from whom the word comes, not
what it contains" (p. 14).
Ultimately Ellul ascribes the book's canonization as a work of the Holy
Spirit.
Ellul is impatient with two polar
extremes to the book. The one, a
fundamentalist or literalist approach concentrates on historical
validation. Presuming Jonah was
factually swallowed by a whale, attempts are then made to demonstrate
scientifically how this might be so.
Indeed, I have seen such constructions.
The goal of this "school" seems to prove the existence of
miracles. Conversely the other polar
extreme seeks to relegate Jonah to the realm of primitive legend and fable as
perhaps an instructive moral satire, but with the implication that the book no
longer need be taken seriously. But
Ellul reminds the reader that it is not moral precepts but rather the
relationship between God and humankind that is the true thrust of scriptural
revelation. Such is Jonah (pp. 10,
11).
Therefore Ellul is not concerned
with questions of historical factuality or source primogenitor. What matters in Jonah, indeed is true for
all scripture from Genesis to Revelation, is that "the word of God is faithfully
transmitted" (p. 18). God seeks to
reveal Himself through a communication to humankind. Such is our goal that we hear and respond when we approach the
Bible.
Although Ellul draws out many
christological motifs in this work, the most striking to me is when God
"repents" of His judgment to destroy Nineveh. Ellul points out that different Hebrew word
constructions show that human repentance and God's repentance have different
inflections.
"As concerns man, shubb implies a change....in attitude and direction (a conversion)
in his very being. As concerns God, the
word nacham is the usual term, and
this....[implies] inner suffering which must be consoled. It is suffering not because of self but
because of the relation between self and others" (pp. 98, 99).
The holiness of God demands that sin
be judged. The love of God grieves over
the estrangement with the beloved. In
is in Christ, finally, that God's conflict is resolved, for He takes upon
Himself our evil and inflicts our condemnation upon Himself. He suffers our judgment that we might
live. This, then, is the gospel of
Jesus Christ that Jonah prefigures (p. 99).