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List of contents
List of Illustrations
Prologue
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: The First Place
Chapter 3: Jonah 1:1-3 - The Call
Chapter 4: Jonah 1:4-5 - The Storm
Chapter 5: Jonah 1:7-10 The Lottery
Chapter 6: Jonah 1:11-17 An Ethical Dilemma
Chapter 7: The Sea, The Sea
Chapter 8: Maker of Heaven and Earth
Chapter 9: Jonah 2:1-10 An Appeal from the Abyss
Chapter 10: Jonah, Exodus and Psalms
Chapter 11:Jonah 3:1-10 An Innocent in Nineveh
Chapter 12:Jonah 4:1-11 On Being Elijah the Tishbite
Chapter 13: The Lord’s Fondness for Livestock
Chapter 14: In Conclusion
Bibliography
Indices
About the author
Alastair G. Hunter is Senior Lecturer in Hebrew and Old Testament Studies at the University of Glasgow, UK.
Summary
This study is designed as a commentary with a difference, where the reading of the prophet’s travails is explored in the context of two wider themes: (1) the overt and highly sophisticated intertwining of Jonah’s story with an impressively wide range of other biblical texts, often deployed in surprising ways; and (2) the clearly contrarian relationship between God and Jonah which has both vexed and intrigued scholars and lay readers alike for millennia.
Underpinning this reading is a twofold thesis: firstly, an argument that many of the puzzles inherent in the book of Jonah can be illuminated in the light of the idea that Nineveh was from the beginning a cipher for the Jerusalem of the author’s time; and secondly, that this would have been evident to Jonah’s first readers: the class of elite literati amongst the ruling cadre of late Persian or early Hellenistic Judaea.
Foreword
A commentary on the prophet Jonah drawing on a wide range of biblical parallels and examples from folk literature, showing the sophisticated nature of Jonah as a literary composition.
Additional text
[A] stimulating study-cum-commentary that, precisely by exploring the book’s ambivalences from multiple angles, opens up fascinating avenues for engaging with this richly allusive/elusive text.
