10 February 2014

The Ambiguous Meaning of Jonah 2:8

Jonah 2:8 [HB 2:9] is a tricky verse to understand because of its ambiguity. The 2011 NIV translates this verse as those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them. Literally, the verse reads those who give regard to worthless vanities forsake their mercy (משמרים הבלי שוא חסדם יעזבו). The KJV translates this verse fairly literally as they that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. The English translations either effectively follow the KJV using the phrase their own mercy for חסדם (their mercy), which retains something of the ambiguity of the original Hebrew, or else they take the third person plural pronoun in חסדם objectively to mean the mercy that God could show to them. Apart from the NIV, the NLT, ESV, and ISV opt for this second approach.

Jonah 2:8 is actually ambiguous for two reasons: Is the phrase they who give regard to worthless vanities inclusive of Jonah; and is the phrase their mercy subjective or objective?

Regarding the first element of potential ambiguity, the phrase they who give regard to worthless vanities could be either inclusive or exclusive of Jonah. Does Jonah have in mind other people (perhaps even non-Israelites) who were idol worshipers, or does he see also himself (in his previously disobedient state) numbered among such idolaters?

Even though Jonah did not physically bow down to any idols, the key reason for Jonah running away from God lies in the fact that he did not want God’s mercy to be shown to the Ninevites. Jonah preferred a God who was not so merciful. And by having this preference, he had set up for himself a god of his own imagination. In addition, it makes sense in the wider context of Jonah showing some degree of repentance in Jon 2 to understand him in Jon 2:8 as including his disobedient self within the set of those who were worshiping worthless idols. It is as if he were saying: “If I had not turned back to God, then I would not have experienced his saving mercy.” It makes sense, therefore, to take the phrase they who give regard to worthless vanities as being inclusive of Jonah’s disobedient self, which contrasts in Jon 2:9 with his obedient self, who is dedicated to worshiping God appropriately.

The second element of ambiguity in Jon 2:8 has to do with the phrase their mercy. Is the third person pronoun in this phrase subjective (i.e., the phrase indicates the mercy that people are supposed to show to others, or perhaps even the faithfulness that people are supposed to show to God), or is it objective (i.e., the phrase indicates the mercy that people might be able to experience from God)? Is Jonah’s overall idea in Jon 2:8 the idea that idolatry causes people to forfeit God’s grace, or is it the idea that idolatry makes people less merciful to others or perhaps less faithful to God?

In the context, the main idea on the lips of Jonah is probably the idea that idolatry means that people will not get to experience God’s mercy, based on the understanding that the practice of idolatry leads to judgment. In the mind of Jonah, he was probably implying that it was a good thing that he had repented of his idolatrous and false thinking about God, because such repentance led to him experiencing God’s mercy.

However, even if it makes more sense in the context to understand the pronoun in question as being objective on the lips of Jonah, the subjective understanding is probably lurking in the background in the mind of the narrator. This can be seen from the thematic prominence of חסד in Jonah 3–4. The issue in chs. 3–4 is Jonah’s lack of mercy to the people of Nineveh, and his anger at God for showing mercy to them. Jonah might have repented of his false view of God when facing death in the middle of the ocean, but in reality his words in Jon 2:8 will end up condemning him for his own lack of mercy toward the Ninevites.

It is significant in this regard that God is described in the Old Testament as being a God who does not forsake his mercy (see Gen 24:27; Ruth 2:20; Ezra 9:9). Yahweh is merciful and compassionate. His character stands in great contrast to the character of Jonah that is revealed in Jon 3–4. Jonah will forsake his mercy. He chooses not to show compassion. This lack of compassion means that the god that he really worships is an idol. Jonah’s preferred god is a god who is different from the compassionate and merciful God revealed in the Scriptures. The ambiguity of the phrase חסדם, therefore, is seemingly deliberate.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

And your conclusion shows, 1: less compassion (by far) for Jonah than God showed (does this make you an idolater?), 2: Not much respect for God who said no such thing about Jonah as you have said (you sound kind of like Job's friends), but chose him to preach to the Ninevites and to write a book of the Bible.
Overall though, I thought your discussion of the text was good.

Moses

Anonymous said...

Have to agree with Moses here your comments on the verse where interesting and thought provoking - but where did you pull that conclusion from - or did you have the conclusion in your mind first and then write the article

Unknown said...

Jesus said ,"Follow me and I will make you fishers of men", as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ we are to love all people even our enemies, and we know that loving our enemies is oftentimes very difficult, until we are growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior. We are instructed to be as merciful as our heavenly Father. Lack of compassion in our hearts towards our enemies is usually a sigh of hatred in our hearts for them. Since hatred is a work of the flesh, it means that there are still idols in our hearts to be conquered. In a sense,like Jonah, we could oftentimes, be forsaking our own mercy and grace. Those who refuse to deal with heart idols and those who have not yet been helped by God to turn from their worthless idols forsake their own mercy because of the sin of idolatry. We have many examples of people in the bible who died without repenting of their rebellion, which is as idolatry and the sin of witchcraft.

In the same manner that God helped Jonah to embrace his calling and to preach His message of repentance to the Ninevites and helped them to experience the mercies of God, so also by the power of the Holy Spirit we will be regenerated from the inside out and we will be shown why we need to and how to love our enemies they way Jesus loves them so that they too can experience the mercies of God. Mercy triumphs over judgement. By mercy and truth inquiry is purged and by the fear of God one turns from evil. To withhold mercy from another is to sin. With God's help we need to try to help others in a gentle and considerate manner to see, to confess their sins, forsake it, receive the mercy of God and be restored into right fellowship with our Heavenly Father. We need to display a merciful disposition, because our Father desires to be merciful to all.