Jonah chapter 1

After reading chapter 1:

*Jonah is called the son of Amittai, exactly as mentioned in 2 Kings. Which came first, the book of Jonah or Kings? Who knows? Nobody that's who. But, as usual, there are plenty of scholars who try to pin these things down to a span of three hundred years, give or take a few years.

*Somehow, Jonah heard from Yahweh. There are no details. Was it a vision, a dream, or an angel? No information is available, and noone else heard the message. (Is a revelation to one a revelation to all?)Yahweh is said to have told Jonah to "go to Nineveh and preach against it" because it was wicked. Why Nineveh? Ninevah was the chief city of the Assyrian kingdom at the time the story takes place, which was 770-ish BCE.  Frankly, I'm pretty sure it wasn't any more wicked than any other large city in that time period. Who knows what even constituted wickedness to the author of Jonah. There are no details. I have a feeling that biblical authors ascribed most cultural destruction as being a consequence of "wickedness."

*According to Wikipedia, Nineveh was the largest city in the world for about 50 years, until it was sacked in 612 BCE. It is very possible, even probable,  that the book of Jonah was written after that. This is the subject of much debate. Isaiah and other prophetic books of the bible predict the fall of Assyria and Nineveh with it. Because I do not believe in prophesies, I am inclined to accept the judgement of historians who also do not believe in prophesies and say that those books were most likely written after the events they supposedly prophesy. Or they were wishful thinking. Assyria's power seems to have been at a lull during the reign of Jereboam II, but it did conquer Israel later and was responsible for the break up of the northern kingdom about 732 BCE.

*Anyway, Jonah "ran away from Yahweh" and headed for Tarshish, by way of a ship from Joppa. The exact location and existence of Tarshish are disputed. It was clearly intended to be in the opposite direction from Nineveh, which was about 600 miles  to the east of Jerusalem.

*While Jonah was at sea, there was a violent storm and the ship was in danger of sinking. The crew began to throw things overboard to lighten the ship, meanwhile crying out to their own gods. Jonah was sound asleep below. The captain berated him for not calling on his God to save them. The sailors decided to cast lots to see who was bringing them bad luck. The lot fell on Jonah. Those were smart lots! The ship's crew asked Jonah to explain his presence and the reason the lots chose him. So, Jonah told them he worshipped Yahweh, "the god of heaven who made the sea and land." He then explained that he was runnng away from Yahweh, which is not surprising when you realize most ancient gods were national in nature. But Yahweh apparently had power beyond the boundaries of Israel.

*I'm trying to keep dates, events, and facts straight, but this historical time period and the bible record of supposed events can be confusing. So I may edit when I find out something isn't right.

To be continued.