Mr. Murphy,
No one, in the course of commenting on the literariness of the book of
Jonah made any reference to the rest of the Bible to back up arguments.
Allow me to try. In Matthew 12:38-41 Jesus shows unmistakebly that he
takes the 'fish story' as a historical fact. He called it a 'sign' of
his own ressurection. He put the fish, the repentance of the Ninevites,
his ressurection, and the judgement day in the same category.
Regards
george murphy a écrit:
> Guy Blanchet wrote:
>
>> Mr. Roberts,
>>
>> The style of litterature in the book of Jonah lends itself to take
>> the 'fish
>> story' literally.
>
> Wrong. The whole book of Jonah displays tremendous
> exaggeration, often for humorous effect. E.g.,
> The evil King of Nineveh [a title equivalent to calling G.W.
> Bush "the President of Washington"] displays greater faith in the God
> of Israel than does God's prophet.
> Nineveh is "3 days journey in breadth" - vastly largely than
> the remains of the real Nineveh.
> Jonah's message to Nineveh totals 5 words. (& no, this isn't
> just the summary of many long impassioned missionaryt sermons. The
> text says nothing of that. Jonah doesn't want Nineveh to repent so he
> does the least he can to satisfy God's demand, leaves, & waits eagerly
> for the destruction of the city.)
> Nevertheless, the whole city does penance - including the
> cattle.
>
> Jonah is a "fish story" in the popular sense of the phrase. It's
> a big joke with a serious message. & it's extremely powerful in the
> way it conveys the truth of God's concern for even the most despised
> sinners, but it is not historical narrative.
>
>
> Shalom,
>
> George
>
> George L. Murphy
> http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
> "The Science-Theology Dialogue"
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