clear day of the gospel (Jn 3'", Gal 3^ etc.).
Similar to the above is the idea that has before now been extracted by many from the Book of Jonah. Even Ephraem Syrus discovered the primary purpose of the book to be to bring back the Ninevites to God (cf. B. Wolf, p. 36). Eichhom (Ehrleit. iv. 351) expressed the opinion that 'the book is a proof that God has sho^vn his concern also for the heathen by sending them direct messengers.' Essentially the same is the view of Alb. Rebattu (1S75, p. 6), ' Docet, Deum non solum Judajis sed omnibus gentibus, dummodo gratia divina dignae sint, benevolentiam suam pr^bere ' ; of Bleek (1878, § 229); of Keuss {Geschirhte, 1890, § 408) ; of Renan {Hist. iii. 512, • dcole universal- iste'); of Kaulen (Einleit., 1892, § 412); of v. Orelli (1896) ; of Strack (1898). With perfect cor- rectness also G. A. Smith (ii. 501) remarks, 'The purpose is to illustrate the mission of prophecy to the Gentiles, God's care for them, and their sus- ceptibility to His word.'
Jonah came to Nineveh not as 'a personage part man and part flsh.' But the main point is the following :— If God had saved Jonah by means of a fish, in order that the inhabitants of Nineveh might take him for an incarnation of the Dagan, then God would have strengthened the Ninevites in their faith in the fish-god Dagan. This would have been an unjustifiable 'con- cession ' (p. 16). Nor is it the case that God caused the star (Mt 22) to sbine forth on account of the Magi. Besides, Tnim- bull's attempt (p. 14, note 1) to connect Jonah and Cannes is icarcely possible. In the event of such a connexion, we should rather have expected the form 'I«.«i to be retained. Why Ahould the change have been made from Jonah to IJnv \Johanan, Miwei-av)? On the contrary, a more probable deriva- tion of the name Cannes is thaj- proposed by Lenomianc (Oannea=Ba-^n7i) or by Tiele (, = Ea-vannu). Finally, in his Kcount of the place-name Nebi Yunas (p. 17), Trumbufl appears to have turned his attention too little to the Jewish diaspora uid the Syrian Christians (see, on Nahum and Habakkuk, Konic, Einteitung, pp. 333, 352).
{b) Others have asserted that the theine of th« book is a magnifj'ing of the compassion of God. .Vhcady we hear Philo say {Orat. de Jona, § 2), ' Sicut in arte niedicinte peritissimi salvare oegrotos promittentes, igne et aqua rcgunt eriguntque, similiter sapientissimus ille, solus salvator, deper- ditionem indicens ac ruinam, misericordiam con- struitsalutLs.' Cf. also § 53, 'Sicut pristina vita duraiu merebat prtedicationem, similiter pceni- tentia eorum ex adverso benignitatem.' Upon tliis \ iew, the Book of Jonah would be an illustra- tion of Jer IS'"'", where the conditional character of predictions is explained. This was the view accepted also by the Midrash Yalkut on Jonah, which closed with the words, lom v:d 'jy Sbj n]iv nniK3 ron''7s.ii D-Dmn p'jK 'n*? 3Tidt o'cm.-i mOD -ph\]i jnj.i, i.e. ' At that moment Jonah fell upon his face, and spoke [to God], Guide thy world by the norm of mercy, as it is written, etc. [Dn 9']. The Yalkut was followed by the above-named Arab.- Syr. History of the Prophet Jonah (Wolf, p. 27). Also D. Kimchi in his Commentary reckons it aa a third aim of the book, 'Sya '?y Voin nnan- hxrta idSS D'3T ciPD [DC ^2\ Dnl> SniDi v.TB" oy ni'KD .laicn, i.e. ' to teach that God should be praised for sparing the penitents to whatever nation those belong, and more especially, if they are many in number.' Essentially tlie same is the thou'dit of the book, as given by Keil [Einleit. § 89). Hitzig [Comment, Vorbemerkungen, No. 4) laid special emphasis on the point that the book was intended to vindicate God in the matter of unf ullilled predictions. In like manner, ICautzsch [Abriss, 1897, p. 120) thinks that the narrative desired to give an illustration of tha Divine question (Ezk 18^33"), ' Have I pleasure in the death of the sinner ? ' So also Nowack {Hand- komm., 1897, p. 174). The authors just named thus fail to see that in the Book of Jonah what is pre-eminently depicted is the universality of the Divine plan of salvation, and the duty of Israel t» be the missionary to the goyim.
(c) It is not at aU certain that, in addition to the principal idea, the author of the Book of Jonah desired to impress other sentiments on his readers. But Ephraem Syrus (see above, 7 a) found a second aim of the book in this, that it gave to the Israel- ites an example of the penitent disposition of other nations. This, in fact, was the primary tendency of the book, according to D. Kimchi {-\a\a nvrh nanDi niyi 'ji ,i3icn'7 z\-\j> .t.t 'jxnp'Q Di'm? "idj oy "thp '^kip-S Sftn ncyi? Snj.T kSb.t V^^^'i'^, i.e. 'The book was in- tended to serve for instruction to Israel, showing as it did how a foreign nation, not belonging to Israel, was ready for conversion, and how at the very first reprimand of the prophet it turned com- pletely from its ■wickedness, whereas Israel, al- thougn reprimanded early and late by the pro- phets, did not turn from its evil ways ' ). Kimchi further attributed to the book the purpose 'to make knowTi the great miracle which God wrought upon the prophet. According to Eichhom {Einleit. iv. 351), tlie story was intended also to teach that ' Jahweh rules in all places and over all elements.' Riehm {Einleit. ii. 166) says, 'The author wishes to teach that no prophet can evade the Divine commission. ' He is followed by Volck (art. ' Jona ' in PRE- vii. 85). Again, Vatke (Einleit., 1886, p. 688) found pre-eminent in the book the thought also that ' the honour of the nronhet is no*- im- pugned if a threatening is not fulhlled, nor uii>, ira- tion called in question although many predictions are not realized.' Kaulen (Einleit. § 412) goes the length of maintaining that Jon 1'^ already teaches what was afterwards expressed by the high priest Caiaphas (Jn 11'"), <rvfi(phiei tua eU ivSpuiros dTroSdxj iir^p ToO XaoO. Finally, M. Vemes (Precis d' histoirt juive, 1889, p. 810) contents himself with the words, 'Jonas est nn conte moral plutdt qa'iine prophStie.'