In 2 K 14^ it is further recorded of Jonah that in the time of Jeroboam II. (c. B.C. 781-741) this prophet jfredicted the re-conquest of the eastern boundaries of Israel. In this passage ' the sea of the Arabah ' (i.e. the Dead Sea) fixes, of course, only exclusively the terminus ad quern. The un- certain expression ' the brook of the Arabah ' (.i5-;;>T Snj) in Am 6'* does not contradict this assumption, which is commended also by other considerations (see below, § ii.).
ii. Jonah and Is 15f.— We should be much better informed regarding the work of the prophet Jonah, if lie were the author of the prophecy which forms at least the basis of Is 15'-16'^, and to which Isaiah himself added the epilogue, ' This is the word wliicli J" in time past spake concerning Moab, and now hath J" spoken, saying,' etc. (16'"'). That earlier prophecy is, in point of fact, attributed to Jonah by Hitzig {Des Proph. Jonah Orakel itb. Moab, 1831), Maurer, Knobel {Der Prophetismxu der Uebrder, ii. 124), Rielim (Einldt. in d. AT, ii. 62), Duhra (Theol. d. Proph. 71), Kenan (Hist. du. peuple d'Israel, ii. 417). But (a) the announce- ment of Jonah, which is mentioned in 2 K 14-', had certainly a much wider scope than the oraela of Is 15'-16'-. (6) If the author of la 15'-16'" wai
* For the other exceptions see Kbnig, Heb. Lehn^bnude, ii 6178.
JO^'A^
JO^'AIl
r45
an inhaliitant of the Nortliern kiiigJoiu and a sub- ject of Jeroboam II. (whicli even Clieyne, Introd. to Bk. of Isaiah, 1895, p. 88, retjanU as possible), he LOuIJ only ironically have called upon the Moabites to send presents to Zioji (16'"). (c) In the words, 'Send lambs (-^z) for the ruler of the land ... to Zion'(lG'), such a political relation of the Moabites to Jerusalem is most naturally presupposed as we find in 2 K 3* (o-ij). In all probability, the Moabites after the time of Mesha Lecame tributary again to the kings of Judali, and Is 15'-16" related to an attack made upon the land of Moab by the Assyrians, i'runi tliis part of Isaiah, then, no information regarding Jonah bcn-Amittai can be derived.
iii. Jonah and the Book of Jonah.— 1. An abundant source of information about Jonah would be opened to us, if the liftli of the twelve minor prophetical books was written by him. The essen- tial contents of this book are as follows : —
(rt) Jonah ben-Aniittai evaded the Divine com- mission to go and preach against the citv of Nineveh (!'■'). His motive, however, was not ' Ijequemlich- keit, Tnigheit, Menschenfurcht' (Kleinert, 189.3, ad loc), but the fear that J", on account of His compassionate disposition, would not execute the threatened judgment (4'). Many exegetes have sought to justify this motive by remarking that Jonah will have feared to prove a ' prophet of lies' (^lr.:•.^ «•;}) (cf. the Midrash in J(ilqii( ^hitrioni on Jonah,' and the Gcsch. d. Projih. Jona by B. Wolf [see below], 1897, p. 12). Uthers will have it that Jonah did not wish to save a people which threatened destruction to Israel (so the ilcchilta to Kx I'', Jerome, Kaslii, Kimclii.t Abravanel). Ac- cording to Mikhlal Jophi, ad loc, Jonah was afraid that the Ninevites, if they repented at the pien<Oiing of a single prophet, would put to shame the Israel- ites, who did not repent in spite of nuintj pro|)hets (ny-i.T D311D c'li? cru). Yet other interpreters .sup- pose that Jonah was reluctant to make known to a heathen people the knowledge of the true God (Hengstenberg, Christologie'', i. 4t)9, ' weil er den Heiden die Barraherzigkeit missgonnte').
(b) God brought about the punishment of Jonah by means of a great storm (1'"'). Ace. to I'liilo [de Jona oratio. Op., ed. Hichter, vii. .^TT 11.), it was the enoring of Jonali that drew the attention of the captain of the vessel to him ('Tradebat eum vox narium stertentium, quum altius reddatur in supinis jacentibus'). On the other hand, the Arabo-Syrian History oj the Prophet Jonah makes the fatter confess his fault on his own impulse, and Jonah is thus hold up as a moilel of noble love of the truth. Moreover, the ciusting of lots (n^Si.^j 1') is not introduced till after v.", somewliat after the example of the Midrash. (For the language of the latter see Wolf, p. 16 f.). In this way the casting of lota would be a last attempt to save the life of tlie prophet. Al.-to, according to Edm. Hardy (ZDMG, 1890, |>. 15.3), it is related in the Hindu Jat, 439 (eil. FauMbiill, iv. 2), how sailors discovered the guilt of Mitlavindaka by casting lots three times, anil how, using almost the very language of Jon 1", they exposed him on a raft.
(c) Hut a merciful God has thus reduced Jonah to straitM, not in order to destroy him, but ulti- matclv to rescue him (2'"").
((/) 'riiercupon the prophet proclaimed in Nineveh tliat in forty days the city would be destroyed (3'"*).
The same number 40 (E'yjitr), wliich is common to the MP, Targum, I'esh., and Vulg., is piven aXao in one manuscript of the above-named Uustory
• •:» y\y tcki . . . ."i^'-tfinS .nil") ''k inSr . . . ma no^i Sk-itt "I kSi Sht" Sv 'un .iScci d.t naicn 'zi-if qmjip nprn n'3) 'nin pip d-S'Sk nmy "jk k'-k ijvn h'3) •tiik I'lip