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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   2346 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for June 9, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Allegory in the Book of Jonah Part 2: Jonah 1:4-6

But the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a great storm on the sea, so that the ship thought to break apart. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they cast the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the recesses of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came and said to him, “What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god! Perhaps the god will give a thought to us, that we may not perish.”

The ship here is anthropomorphized, and having a personality it considered breaking apart. This unique choice is not incidental and betrays the spirit of the book, which is allegory. The word “wind” is the same as the word spirit, and this is no coincidence if we take wind to be a metaphor of the spirit of inner unrest. Jonah, we saw, was disobeying God, who is the great master of his soul and purpose (as to any believer). Jonah already broke apart with God when he stood by Jerusalem — the seat of religion — leaving his moral calling to Ninevah and spending his money on a trip to Tarshish.

The sailors, who were not Hebrews, all prayed to their gods for salvation. Its literal reading would be that they cast down the objects of the ship, to lighten the above (or upon) — and there’s ambiguity here to what is being referred. They may be lightening the “above” of the ship, or the “above” of themselves, but in either case we take it allegorically. There was a great inner unrest, and they were throwing out all the baggage that was weighing them down, in order to lighten that which is above. It’s of note that this occurs in the same breath as each one praying to his god, immediately after the ship considers breaking apart. In cases of violent unrest, when your ship threatens to break apart by a great and fearsome spirit, you throw out the baggage to unburden your “being above”, which is the very nature of “crying out to one’s god”.

In furtherance of this great metaphor, we read that Jonah had descended down into the recesses of the ship — or the most remote part — and laid down and fell asleep. The mariners were lightening what was above, and Jonah once again unwisely descended and absconded of any duty or moral impulse. How many times has Jonah descended now, anyway? He descended to board the ship, he descended to the remote part of the ship, then he lowered himself to fall asleep. And just like he determined to flee to the remote part of the region of his world (Tarshish), he went to the remote part of the ship.

The word “ship” in “recesses of the ship” is a hapax legomena which steps from the word “cover”. So rather than just descending to the remote part of the ship, there’s an element in which he descended under a cover, covering himself, so to speak. The failure of academics to read allegorically is why we have the poor translation here.

Now who goes to speak to Jonah? The Septuagint says “the look out man”, which fits neatly in relation to Jonah’s role both etymologically and as a prophet. “What do you mean, you sleeper” is a very quizzical question. It can be translated more literally as “what to you, sleeping?”, questioning both what sleeping’s purpose is for Jonah and even questioning the listener as to in what way we are sleeping symbolically. The look out man tells Jonah to arise (yet again!), and interestingly the word is “perhaps THE GOD will consider us”, in contradistinction to the the polytheistic god(s) in the previous sentence. It’s as if this mariner in a state of unrest required a singular mighty god.

A better translation is, “perhaps Elohîm will SHINE on us, so that we may not be lost”. It’s confusing how translators are so bad at their job. The word is shine because that’s the only previous use of the word in Hebrew, and because it is a request to cure the storm that Elohîm had cast down. Storm with clouds -> shining with sun. The word “lost” could plausibly also connote wandering, which makes sense for Jonah — our wandering prophet.

It is interesting now to note three ways this intersects with the Gospel. The first is when the Apostles were in a boat during a storm and Jesus was sleeping, and they go to awake him. He gets up to tell them to have faith and the storm quiets (and presumably he goes back to sleep). This is pretty funny. The second is this word sleeping, which in the Gospel connotes a spiritual torpor contrasted with wakefulness, something beautifully put to music by Bach. Third, we have this phrase arise — and it’s not by chance that Jesus tells those he heals to arise, lift their bedding, and walk.

How many times has Jonah descended now, anyway?

Note one more descent, the first one - leaving the Holy Land, especially permanently, is literally called "descending", even in modern Hebrew. And he "descended" coming from Jerusalem (mountain city) to Jaffa (port) to board the ship, both metaphorically and very literally. Once Jonah decided to flee, it has been all downhill for him, it's not even subtle. Even the word "fell asleep" in Hebrew looks like "ירדם", which looks the same as "ירד" - "went down". This descent theme is hammered in pretty heavily.

Great insight! Didn’t know that about the Hebrew. I know there’s also a lot of punning in Jonah, too, which I imagine can only be enjoyed by knowing Hebrew.

Yeah dawg, I'm not reading all this on a Friday Fun Thread.

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Then there was no need to take seconds out of your day to complain about it. You could just... not read it.

It’s a good book!

What's the rating on Good Reads?

The Good Book, even.

Some great bits - as a former Muslim I'm always shocked Ecclesiastes is canon , nothing like it in the Quran - but it really drags in places and the characterization of Yahweh especially can be pretty uneven.

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