Introduction to the book of Jonah

Read about the book of Jonah here.

Read about the character Jonah in religion, tradition, and literature here.

Both articles have lots of interesting information. I almost feel like I don't need to cover the story myself. I will anyway, to see if anything particular strikes my attention.

Some facts to consider: The character Jonah is supposed to have lived in the 700's BCE. The story of Jonah is not likely to have been written before the 5th century BCE, after the Jews returned from exile in Persia. No manuscripts of Jonah older than that exist.  That is a gap of a few hundred years. The author is unknown. The book does not claim to be divine, inspired, or the word of a god or gods. There is no extrabiblical evidence that the events depicted therein actually happened and no reason to believe that they did.

In the Bible, outside of the book of Jonah, Jonah is found in 2 Kings 14:25. One sentence mentions that Jonah was  a prophet of Yahweh. He was the son of Amitai (which means truth) and he was from Gath Hepher. Jonah had told Jeroboam II, who was king of Samaria/Israel at the time, that Yahweh wanted him to restore the boundaries of Israel, and he did. I'm assuming this had to do with physical fortifications and protecting the land from invaders. This one passage is used to date the existance of Jonah.

Jereboam II definitely existed, according to archaeological evidence, and his reign was characterized by wealth and luxury, promoting trade with Egypt and Assyria. His kingdom had as many as 350,000 inhabitants. However, not much good is said about him in the bible. 2nd Kings says he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh. This "evil " was in the nature of the sins of the first Jereboam, found in 1 Kings 12: building sanctuaries for Yahweh and representing him with golden calves, to which sacrifices were offered. The book of Amos condemns Jeroboam II and prophesies he will die by the sword. It appears to have been a figurative sword.

One thing to remember is that the Israelite tribes (or the Yahweh worshippers) in Canaan were divided into two competing kingdoms. The kingdom in the north was Israel/Samaria. The kingdom in the south was Judah. They each worshipped the same god, but Judah claimed sole possession of Yahweh's authorized temple, which also would have meant his presence, and his favor. The people of the northern kingdom would have had to travel inconvenient distances in order to worship Yahweh.

Because I do not believe Yahweh ever existed, I conclude that this religious competition was purely a bid for power over people and territory. Judah claimed ownership of the high ground, Israel ignored that claim and worshipped Yahweh their own way. This was the reason for the condemnation. Let us remember that it is usually the victors, or at least those left at the end, who get to write the histories. These stories were probably written by those who sided with the lower kingdom, and show their prejudices. The upper kingdom was eventually conquered and its former citizens disappeared into historical oblivion. The lower kingdom was later conquered but was kept alive in a somewhat cohesive culture while exiled. After the return of the Jews to Judah is when  much of the Old Testament was written or redacted. The former Israelite territory in the north became known as Samaria and its remaining inhabitants Samaritans, who were despised by the Jews, not least because they did not worship Yahweh in Jerusalem. Some things never change.

In spite of the condemnation of this Jeroboam as evil in the sight of Yahweh, 2 Kings admits that Jereboam achieved some great things for his people the Israelites.