in fasting and prayer. Note especially 2. 1-14, 28;

3. IO.

QUESTIONS

1. Discuss the Samaritan schism, with causes and results. In what ways was it a good thing for Judaism?

2. What is meant by "the Dispersion"?

3. What were the three chief centers of Judaism during the Persian period?

4. What language displaced Hebrew as the vernacular of the Jews in Palestine?

5. What was the Septuagint? Its approximate date?

6. Discuss the influence of the Persian religion upon Judaism.

LESSON LII

JONAH THE MISSIONARY

DWELLING Constantly on the glorious future that awaited them and the destruction in store for their enemies bred narrowness and intolerance in the Jews. Occasionally a writer appears, however, who rises above this spirit and shows a broad, tolerant attitude toward the Gentiles. Chief among these writers is the author of the little book of Jonah. The book is not strictly a prophetic book, though classed with the minor prophets, for the title names not the author but the hero of the book.

Date and authorship of the book.—Jonah, according to 2 Kings 14. 25, lived during the reign of Jeroboam II (785-745), and was therefore a contemporary of Amos. We know nothing about him except the verse referred to above, which says little more than that he was a prophet and the son of Amittai. It will be recalled that the Assyrian empire was at its height in the time of Jeroboam II, and that Nineveh was its capital city.

The book of Jonah was written by an unknown author about B. C. 300, evidently for the purpose of rebuking the narrowness and intolerance of Judaism. It would probably have surprised the author to know that in course of time his work would be interpreted literally by many people. Professor A. R. Gordon says of it: "The book is really an example of the Midrash -moral apologue or parable—which was so much used by the Jewish teachers and notably by our Lord, to

illustrate or enforce spiritual truth. As literature it stands in exactly the same category as the parable of the sower, and that of the prodigal son. Jonah is the typical Israelite of his day, jealous of his spiritual prerogative, and eager for the annihilation of the heathen nations, rather than their reception into the Kingdom. The object of the book is to bring the people to a better mind: to make them realize their responsibilities to the world lying around them in darkness, and to inspire them with something of God's passion for humanity." May we not be glad that the Bible contains not only fact but fancy, not only history and law, but work of the creative imagination?

The story of Jonah.-It is an exceedingly interesting one. Jehovah directs Jonah the prophet to go and preach to the people of Nineveh because of their wickedness, but Jonah is unwilling to go because he fears that the Ninevites will repent and be forgiven. "For I know that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness." So, thinking to escape his unwelcome task, Jonah goes to Joppa and takes ship for Tarshish, on the coast of Spain. A great storm arises and all the people on the ship call on their various gods to save them. As this does not serve to allay the storm they cast lots to find out whose god is angry, and the lot falls upon Jonah. Then he confesses that he is "fleeing from the presence of Jehovah." The cause of the storm now being understood, they regretfully cast Jonah overboard. He accepts his fate manfully-indeed, it is he who suggests this solution of the difficulty, "for I know it is for my sake that this great tempest is upon you." At once "the sea ceased her raging."

1 The Prophets of the Old Testament, p. 348.

"And Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." At the end of that time he was cast forth on dry land. But Jonah could not escape from his God. A second time Jehovah told him to go and preach to the Ninevites. This time he went, but most unwillingly. It was just as he feared it would be. As soon as he began to preach the people began to repent and to worship Jehovah, "from the greatest of them even to the least of them." "And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil which he said he would do unto them; and he did it not."

This made Jonah very angry. He found fault with Jehovah and prayed that he might die. "Then Jonah went out of the city, . . . and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city." (He still hoped it would be destroyed.)

"And Jehovah God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his evil case. So Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd." But the gourd vine died as quickly as it had sprung up, “and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die." A sorry figure he cuts, sulking in his booth.

The lesson of the book. The lesson which the author intended to teach is found in the closing verses, in which Jehovah says to Jonah,

"Thou hast had regard for the gourd, for which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: and should not I have regard for Nineveh, . . . wherein are more

than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?"

Of course Jonah represents Israel. The race has been called to be Jehovah's prophet to the nations, but has been blind to her great opportunity. It is wonderful that a Jewish writer so long before Christ should exhibit so truly Christian a spirit, and that he should have so noble a conception of God. To him God is no respecter of persons, but the universal Father of mankind, whose love extends far beyond the Jewish race. The Jews had thought themselves the only objects of God's care, and some of their prophets had wished to see the Gentiles destroyed. The book of Esther, by an unknown writer of the next century, voices that spirit. The author of the book of Jonah enforces his lesson by caricaturing the narrow-minded Jew and holding him up to ridicule. One writer remarks, "The normally minded men in every age laugh at it, as the author intended."

These are some of the reasons why we may know that the book could not have been written in the time of Jonah:

1. It contains Hebrew words and constructions found only in the later biblical books.

2. Nineveh no longer exists (3. 3).

3. The questions with which the book deals did not arise until about the fourth century B. C.

It is clear that the author did not intend the book to be regarded as historical from the freedom with which he introduces the grotesquely supernatural: the sudden appearance and disappearance of the tempest, the choice of Jonah by lot, the preservation of Jonah within the fish (we even have the prayer he offers