THE BOOK OF JONAH: INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STRUCTURE

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The Book of Jonah has several interesting parallels with the Book of Job:

1. There is a great deal of controversy regarding the genre of each.

            2. There is some disagreement as to the main point of each book. One aspect that seems to be clearly taught in each, however, is the true nature of God: his mercy as well as his might.

            3. Both of these books also contain title characters that refuse to act according to expectation. The prototypical wise man Job refuses to admit to the truth of conventional wisdom, and the prophet Jonah refuses to take on a prophetic commission given him by God.

            4. Questions of unity plague both compositions. Regarding Jonah, the major controversy surrounds the psalm of 2:2-9, which many critics feel does not fit its present narrative setting.

Two-fold Structure

In regard to the subject of literary structure and how it supports the book's story and theme, one observation has obtained almost universal agreement among scholars. The book is divided into two parts (1:1-2:10 and 3:1-4:11) both beginning with almost identical words “The word of the LORD came to Jonah..., saying, 'Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city...'” There is also little scholarly opposition to the contention that the events of the first half of the book are paralleled by those of the second half. How they are paralleled is still the subject of much debate as well as how much parallelism is actually present. Assigning meaningful titles to the various sections also remains a somewhat arbitrary process.

Consider the proposed structure pictured in Fig. 1 with two main parts, each containing two sections corresponding closely to the present chapter divisions and each introduced by a call from God to Jonah. Defense of this proposed literary organization is based on verbal and thematic parallels between sections A and B, C and D, A and C, and B and D. In addition, each of these four major sections can be shown to possess completely symmetrical organizations.

Figure 1: The Structure of the Book of Jonah

Part I: Jonah on the Sea

Introduction: First Call from God (1:1-2)

                                                    A. On the Ship (1:3-16)

                                                    B. In the Fish (1:17-2:10)

Part II: Jonah on the Land

Introduction: Second Call from God (3:1-2)

                                                    C. In Nineveh (3:3-10)

                                                    D. In the Booth (4:1-11)

 

Figure 2: The Structure of Section A

1. Jonah's disobedience (1:3)

2. Narrative: Raging sea and response of fear (1:4-5a)

3. Sailors pray to their gods and throw cargo into the sea (1:5b)

4. Narrative: Sailors act to save themselves (1:5c-6a)

5. Jonah's speech (1:6b)

6. Sailors' speech (1:7a)

7. Narrative: Jonah's guilt revealed (1:7b)

8. Sailors' questions (1:8)

9. Jonah's statement (1:9)

                                                                                                            9'. Sailors' response (1:10a)

8'. Sailors' question (1:10b)

7'. Narrative: Jonah's guilt revealed (1:10c)

6'. Sailors' speech (1:11)

5'. Jonah's speech (1:12)

4'. Narrative: Sailors act to save themselves (1:13)

3'. Sailors pray to the LORD and throw Jonah into the sea (1:14-15a)

2'. Narrative: Raging ceases and response of fear (1:15b-16a)

1. Sailors' obedience (1:16b-c)

The only parallelism in the above scheme that is not transparently obvious is between sub-sections 9 and 9'. Their purpose is to highlight the contrast in the story between godly fear and mere dread, respectively.

Figure 3: The Structure of Section B

1. Fish swallows Jonah at the LORD's command (1:17)

2. Jonah prays to the LORD for deliverance (2:1)

3. Jonah is cast out by the LORD (2:2-4)

4. Jonah's progress (2:5-7)

                                                    a. downward (2:5-6b)

                                                    b. upward (2:6c-7)

3'. Jonah's restored fellowship with the LORD (2:8-9b)

2'. “Deliverance belongs to the LORD” (2:9c)

1'. Fish vomits out Jonah at the LORD's word (2:10)

Figure 4: Structure of Section C

1. “According to the word of the LORD” (3:3)

2. “Nineveh shall be overthrown” (3:4)

3. The People's Response (3:5)

4. The King's Response (3:6)

3'. The Royal Decree (3:7-8)

2'. Possibility of Nineveh surviving (3:9)

1'. According to the mercy of the LORD (3:10)

This structure is an expansion of that proposed by Allen. The parallelism between 2 and 2' is stronger than it first appears because the Hebrew root translated “overthrown” in Unit 2 also appears in the parallel unit as “turn” or “repent.”

Figure 5: The Structure of Section D

1. Jonah's Attitude: Anger (4:1)

2. Jonah's rhetorical question to the LORD (4:2)

3. Dialogue (4:3-5a)

a. Jonah asks to die (4:3)

                                                b. LORD's question: “Do you do well to be angry?” (4:4)

                                                c. Jonah's reply: He leaves the city (4:5a)

4. Jonah in the shade (4:5b)

5. LORD grows the plant (4:6a)

6. Jonah's Attitude: Gladness (4:6b)

5'. LORD withers the plant (4:7)

4'. Jonah in the sun (4:8a)

3'. Dialogue (4:8b-9b)

a. Jonah asks to die (4:8b)

                                                b. LORD's question: “Do you do well to be angry?” (4:9a)

                                                c. Jonah's reply: “Yes” (4:9b)

2'. LORD's rhetorical question to Jonah (4:10-11)

1'. Jonah's Attitude: ?

By purposely stopping the book before we hear Jonah's answer to God, the author causes us to dwell on the message longer than we would have otherwise and to ponder how the fickle “hero” will respond this time. Jesus uses the same technique in his story of the prodigal son. Phillip Cary draws the same comparison between these two stories in the Epilogue of his fine commentary on Jonah.

Several interesting examples of word patterns in the Book of Jonah should also be noted. For example, the word “city” appears with a grouped frequency that forms an inclusion for the whole book:

Nineveh, that great city (1:2)

city – three times (3:2-4)

                                    city – three times (4:5)

Nineveh, that great city (4:11)

Even more elaborate word patterns unifying the Book of Jonah include those involving the theologically important words “evil,” “great,” and the combination “cast forth / prepare.” The import of these literary devices is to support the literary genre of the book by lending emphasis to certain key words and features of the narrative.