BEMA Episode Link: 52: Jonah — Potential
Episode Length: 35:11
Published Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2017 01:00:00 -0800
Session 2
About this episode:

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings look at the book of Jonah and try to uncover the message buried in this most unusual prophet.

Jonah — Potential Presentation (PDF)

Discussion Video for BEMA 52

Challenging God: Why Did Jonah Run? — Aleph Beta Academy

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Transcript for BEMA 52

Notes

*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

BEMA Episode 52: Jonah - Potential

Title & Source Summary

This episode explores the book of Jonah as part of the pre-Assyrian prophetic period in Israel’s history. Rather than focusing on the miraculous aspects of the story (a man swallowed by a fish), the episode examines Jonah as a profound theological narrative about God’s compassion for enemies, the power of repentance, and the vast potential God sees in all humanity. The lecture positions Jonah within Israel’s context of Assyrian conquest, revealing why this unusual prophet’s message matters for a people struggling to understand why God hasn’t destroyed their oppressors.

Key Takeaways

  • The book of Jonah is structured as an imperfect chiasm that emphasizes repentance and potential
  • Jonah is the “worst prophet” in biblical history - disobedient, minimalist in his message, and angry at success
  • Everything in the book is backwards: the prophet wants to die while pagans worship God; enemies repent while the prophet rebels
  • Nineveh represents Israel’s brutal conquerors (Assyria), making God’s compassion toward them shocking
  • The repeated use of “gadol” (great) for everything except God’s judgment highlights divine mercy
  • God sees potential in all people, even enemies, which is why He extends mercy and calls for repentance
  • The vine with 153 leaves (according to midrash) symbolizes God’s blessing intended for all pagan nations
  • Jews read Jonah on Yom Kippur as a reminder that repentance unlocks human potential
  • The book challenges Israel (and us) to examine their own sin rather than focus solely on enemies’ wickedness

Main Concepts & Theories

The Context: Pre-Assyrian Prophets and Israel’s Conquest

Before diving into Jonah, the episode reviews Israel’s prophetic timeline. The pre-Assyrian period included prophets Amos and Hosea warning Israel, and Micah and First Isaiah warning Judah. Judah, under King Hezekiah, heeded the warnings and repented. Israel did not, and Assyria destroyed the northern kingdom. Jonah and another prophet (to be discussed later) speak into this post-conquest reality.

Understanding this context is crucial: Jonah is writing to a conquered people asking, “Why hasn’t God destroyed our enemies?” The answer challenges their assumptions about divine justice.

The Lullaby Effect and Reading Eastern Literature

The “lullaby effect” (a concept from Rabbi David Fohrman) describes how familiar stories lose their strangeness. We’ve heard Jonah so many times in Sunday school and VeggieTales that we miss the profound problems in the text. Eastern literature invites readers to work into problems rather than resolve them away. Western readers try to explain away difficulties; Eastern readers see them as interpretive keys.

Jonah: The Worst Prophet

Unlike other prophets who deliver artistic, poetic, profound messages, Jonah offers a one-line sermon: “40 more days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4). No poetry. No imagery. No acted-out prophetic sign. Just the bare minimum. He’s technically obedient (he shows up) but relationally rebellious (he doesn’t care about the mission).

This contrasts sharply with prophets like Amos, whose messages were richly poetic: “Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-ending stream.”

Everything is Backwards

The book systematically inverts expectations:

  • The prophet disobeys while typically prophets are faithful (even reluctantly so)
  • God is not in paradise (Tarshish) but in Nineveh, the capital of Israel’s enemies
  • Pagans on the boat worship God while Jonah the prophet wants to die
  • Ninevites repent immediately at a terrible sermon while Israel ignored beautiful prophetic literature
  • The king of Nineveh leads repentance while Pharaoh hardened his heart
  • God sends judgment on His prophet (the fish, the east wind) and spares the enemy city
  • The “hero” is angry while the “villains” demonstrate faith

This backward structure suggests the book is making a point beyond historical narrative - it’s forcing readers to examine their assumptions.

The Imperfect Chiasm and the Centrality of Repentance

Chiastic structure in Jonah:

A - The great city of Nineveh (Jonah 1:1-2) B - Jonah wants to die (Jonah 1:3-16) C - Three days in the fish (Jonah 1:17) D - Jonah’s repentance (Jonah 2) C’ - Three-day walk through Nineveh (Jonah 3:3) D’ - Nineveh’s repentance (Jonah 3:4-10) B’ - Jonah wants to die (Jonah 4:1-3, 8-9) A’ - The great city of Nineveh (Jonah 4:11)

Initially, this appears imperfect because the “three days” elements don’t align properly. Rabbi Fohrman teaches that imperfect chiasms are actually perfect - we’ve just misidentified the pieces. When we link “three days” with “repentance” as a single unit, the chiasm becomes perfect. This structure emphasizes that repentance is linked with transformation - three days in darkness leading to new birth.

The Fish Gender Change: Imagery of New Birth

In Hebrew, Jonah is swallowed by a male fish (Jonah 1:17), prays in the belly of a female fish (Jonah 2:1), and is expelled by a male fish. The change to feminine is deliberate. The word for “vomited out” or “expelled” evokes birth imagery. Female fish + expulsion = birth metaphor.

This connects to Perez (“breach/breaking through”), one of Tamar’s twins who broke through in birth (Genesis 38:29). Repentance leads to new birth, new potential, new creation. Jonah emerges from the fish as a “new creation” after repenting.

Jonah’s Misquotation of Exodus 34:6-7

When Jonah complains in Jonah 4:2, he quotes God’s self-revelation to Moses from Exodus 34:6-7: “I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”

But Jonah deliberately omits one word from the Exodus passage: “faithfulness” (Hebrew: emet, often translated “truth”). This is significant because:

  • Jonah’s name means “dove” - symbolizing new creation and shalom restoration (Noah’s dove, Genesis 8)
  • His father’s name is Amittai, meaning “truth” or “faithfulness”
  • Jonah = “Dove, son of Truth”

Jonah’s theological complaint: “God, you’re loving and compassionate, but you’re NOT faithful to truth! If you cared about truth, you’d destroy our enemies!” This represents Israel’s struggle: How can a just God show mercy to brutal oppressors?

Gadol (Great) - Everything is Great Except God’s Judgment

The Hebrew word gadol (great) appears repeatedly:

  • Great city (Jonah 1:2, 3:2, 3:3, 4:11)
  • Great wind/storm (Jonah 1:4, 1:12)
  • Great fish (Jonah 1:17)
  • Great fear (Jonah 1:10, 1:16)

But God’s judgment - the east wind that comes against Jonah (Jonah 4:8) - is NOT called gadol. Everything is great except divine wrath. This pattern highlights God’s restraint and mercy. The one thing we expect to be great (judgment on wickedness) is conspicuously small.

Ish gadol (great man) appeared in the story of Naaman the Syrian - another enemy whom God blessed and healed.

The Vine with 153 Leaves

At the end of the book, Jonah builds a shelter for shade and sits east of the city (east = direction of judgment) to wait for God to destroy Nineveh. God causes a vine to grow over Jonah’s shelter - blessing he doesn’t need since he already has shade.

The midrash (Jewish interpretive tradition) says this vine had 153 leaves. This number comes from Hebrew gematria and triangulation based on Ezekiel, and came to symbolize the pagan nations of the world. If the vine represents God’s blessing and has 153 leaves, the message is clear: God’s blessing is meant for all nations, including pagans.

This echoes the Abrahamic covenant: “All nations will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). Israel forgot they were blessed to be a blessing. The vine is a visual reminder of their calling to provide shade (shelter, blessing) for the Gentiles.

God then destroys the vine, and the east wind (judgment) beats on Jonah’s head. The lesson: Israel was meant to be a blessing to the nations, but they’ve become self-focused.

Should I Not Care About This Great City?

The book ends with God’s question: “Should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left?” (Jonah 4:11)

This frustrating, open-ended conclusion leaves readers wrestling with God’s question. The phrase “cannot tell their right hand from their left” likely refers to:

  • Moral/spiritual ignorance (they don’t know better)
  • Children (innocents who aren’t responsible for adult wickedness)
  • Human limitations (potential not yet realized)

The question forces Israel to consider: Should God destroy all those people - including children and the morally ignorant - because of the nation’s corporate evil? Or is there hope, potential, possibility for transformation?

Why Read Jonah on Yom Kippur?

Jews read Jonah on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement), the holiest day of the year, after ten days of repentance. Why?

The chiasm revealed that repentance is central to Jonah’s message. But scholars suggest a deeper layer: the book isn’t just about Israel’s enemies; it’s about Israel themselves.

When Israel is angry at God for not destroying their enemies, they fail to see their own sin. The book is backwards to mirror this: the “righteous” prophet is judged while the “wicked” pagans are saved. Israel must ask: Are we so different from Nineveh?

On Yom Kippur, Jews confess sins and receive forgiveness year after year. The question arises: Why does God keep forgiving me? The answer from Jonah: Because you have potential. Repentance unlocks that potential. God sees what we can become, not just what we are.

Potential as the Central Theme

The driving message of Jonah: God sees potential in all people.

  • Nineveh has potential despite their brutality
  • Israel has potential despite their unfaithfulness
  • Jonah has potential despite his rebellion
  • Humanity has potential despite our repeated failures

Repentance is the mechanism that releases potential. The fish imagery (new birth), the three days (death and resurrection pattern), and the unexpected salvation of Nineveh all point to transformation.

God doesn’t destroy enemies immediately because He sees what they could become. God doesn’t abandon His people despite their sin because He sees what they could become. The book invites readers to see others - especially enemies - through God’s eyes: as people full of potential.

Examples & Applications

Modern Application: How We View Our Enemies

Just as Israel struggled with God’s mercy toward Assyria, modern readers struggle with extending grace to those who’ve harmed us:

  • National enemies: In 2017 (when this episode was recorded), the hosts mention North Korea and ISIS. Who are the “Ninevites” today? Can we pray for their transformation rather than their destruction?
  • Personal enemies: Those who’ve wronged us, betrayed us, or opposed us. Can we see potential in them?
  • Political opponents: In polarized times, can we view those with different ideologies as having potential rather than being irredeemable?

The challenge isn’t to excuse evil but to maintain hope that people can change.

The Vine Principle: Blessed to Be a Blessing

God blessed Jonah with a vine he didn’t need. The 153 leaves symbolized all nations. Application:

  • Examine your blessings: What has God given you beyond your needs? Gifts, talents, resources, opportunities, education, privilege?
  • Ask the purpose question: These blessings aren’t just for you. How can they provide “shade” for others, especially those outside your community?
  • The judgment warning: When Israel hoarded blessing, the vine was destroyed and judgment came. Blessing unused for others becomes a liability.

This applies to churches, communities, and individuals who’ve been blessed with resources but haven’t extended them to “the nations.”

Yom Kippur Wisdom: Why Does God Keep Forgiving Me?

Many Christians struggle with repeated sin and wonder why God continues to offer forgiveness. Jonah answers: because God sees your potential.

  • Repentance isn’t just about sin management; it’s about unlocking who you could become
  • God’s patience reflects His vision of your future self
  • Three days in darkness (like Jonah) often precedes new birth and transformation
  • Don’t give up on yourself or others - potential remains as long as there’s breath
The Backwards Gospel

Jonah’s backward structure reflects gospel paradoxes:

  • The last shall be first
  • The greatest is the servant of all
  • We die to live
  • We lose our lives to find them
  • Tax collectors and prostitutes enter the kingdom before religious leaders

When the book feels frustrating and upside-down, it’s training us to see God’s kingdom values, which invert worldly wisdom.

Reading the Problems

The “lullaby effect” deadens us to Scripture’s strangeness. How to read better:

  1. Ask what’s weird: Don’t skip over confusing details
  2. Notice patterns: Repeated words (gadol), numbers (three days, 153), names with meanings (Dove son of Truth)
  3. Expect Eastern thinking: Paradox and tension aren’t problems to solve but truths to hold
  4. Work into the problem: When something seems wrong, it’s probably the key

This applies beyond Jonah to all Scripture reading.

Potential Areas for Further Exploration

Literary and Structural Studies
  1. Complete chiastic analysis of Jonah: Map every parallel element and explore thematic connections
  2. Comparative study of prophetic calls: How does Jonah’s call and response compare to Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel?
  3. The use of gadol throughout Scripture: Does this pattern appear in other books? What theological point does it make?
  4. Other imperfect chiasms in Scripture: Learning Rabbi Fohrman’s method for identifying and resolving them
  5. The book’s ending: Why does Hebrew literature embrace open-ended conclusions? What does this teach about interpretation?
Theological Deep Dives
  1. Divine justice and mercy: How do we hold together God’s justice (truth) and God’s mercy (compassion)? Is there tension or harmony?
  2. The doctrine of repentance: What is biblical repentance? How does it relate to transformation, potential, and new creation?
  3. God’s heart for the nations: Tracing the Abrahamic “blessing to all nations” theme through Scripture
  4. The meaning of “potential” in Scripture: Is this language appropriate? What Hebrew concepts support or challenge it?
  5. The problem of evil and God’s patience: Why doesn’t God immediately judge wickedness? (See 2 Peter 3:9)
Historical and Cultural Context
  1. Assyrian warfare practices: Understanding the brutality Israel experienced helps us feel the offense of God’s mercy toward Nineveh
  2. The city of Nineveh: Archaeological findings, historical records, and biblical references beyond Jonah
  3. Tarshish as “paradise”: Exploring ancient Near Eastern geography and symbolic place names
  4. Yom Kippur traditions: How has Jonah been interpreted and applied in Jewish liturgy over centuries?
  5. Midrash on Jonah: What other Jewish interpretive traditions illuminate this book?
Character and Theme Studies
  1. Jonah as anti-prophet: What makes a good prophet? What’s Jonah’s actual problem?
  2. The pagans in Jonah: The sailors and Ninevites show remarkable faith - what does this say about God’s work outside covenant community?
  3. The symbolism of the fish: Beyond the male/female gender issue, what else might the fish represent?
  4. The vine and the worm: Detailed study of the final chapter’s object lessons
  5. The dove symbolism: Tracing “dove” imagery through Scripture (Noah, Song of Songs, Jesus’ baptism)
Contemporary Application Studies
  1. Jonah and social justice: Does the book speak to modern issues of refugee care, enemy love, or restorative justice?
  2. Jonah and evangelism: What does this teach about sharing faith with those we consider “unworthy”?
  3. Jonah and psychological health: How do we deal with anger at God, frustration with divine mercy, or desire for judgment?
  4. Jonah in Christian worship: Should churches adopt the Yom Kippur practice of reading Jonah annually?
  5. Cross-cultural perspectives on Jonah: How do non-Western Christians read this book differently?
Intertextual Connections
  1. Jonah and Jesus: Jesus references Jonah (“the sign of Jonah,” Matthew 12:39-41) - what’s the full connection?
  2. The 153 fish in John 21:11: Is there a connection to the 153 leaves of Jonah’s vine? What does this suggest about Jesus’ mission?
  3. Exodus 34 quotations throughout Scripture: How do other biblical authors use or modify this key self-revelation of God?
  4. Three days motif: Death/resurrection pattern appears throughout Scripture - compile and analyze
  5. East wind/east direction: Study the consistent symbolic use of “east” as the direction of judgment in prophetic literature

Comprehension Questions

Question 1: The Context of Conquest

Question: Why is it significant that Jonah is written during or after the Assyrian conquest of Israel? How does this historical context change the meaning of God’s mercy toward Nineveh?

Answer: The historical context transforms this from an abstract story about mercy into a deeply personal, emotionally charged challenge. Nineveh was the capital of Assyria - the very nation that had just destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel through brutal conquest. The Assyrians were known for torture, rape, and murder of captives. For Israelites reading this book while living under Assyrian oppression, God’s command to preach to Nineveh wasn’t just uncomfortable - it was offensive. They desperately wanted God to destroy their enemies, and instead God sends a prophet to save them. The book forces Israel to wrestle with why God hasn’t judged their oppressors and suggests the answer lies in God’s vision of human potential and His commitment to redemption even for the worst people. This context makes Jonah’s anger understandable and relatable while still challenging Israel to adopt God’s perspective.

Question 2: The Imperfect Chiasm

Question: What is an “imperfect chiasm,” and how does recognizing the imperfect chiasm in Jonah help us understand the book’s central message? What element becomes central when the chiasm is properly understood?

Answer: A chiasm is a literary structure where ideas or events are arranged in a pattern (A-B-C-B’-A’), with the central element being the most important. An imperfect chiasm appears to have elements out of order, breaking the pattern. Rabbi Fohrman teaches that imperfect chiasms are actually perfect - we’ve just misidentified the pieces. In Jonah, the structure appeared broken because “three days in the fish” and “three days walking in Nineveh” didn’t align with “Jonah’s repentance” and “Nineveh’s repentance.” When we link the “three days” elements with “repentance” as a unified concept, the chiasm becomes perfect. This structure emphasizes that repentance and transformation are central to Jonah’s message. The three days represent a period of darkness before new birth/new creation. Understanding this structure reveals that Jonah isn’t primarily about a fish or a prophet’s journey - it’s about how repentance unlocks potential and leads to transformation for both individuals and nations.

Question 3: Jonah’s Misquotation

Question: What word does Jonah deliberately omit when he quotes Exodus 34:6-7 in Jonah 4:2, and why is this omission theologically significant? How do Jonah’s name and his father’s name relate to this omission?

Answer: Jonah omits the word “faithfulness” (Hebrew: emet, also meaning “truth”) from God’s self-revelation in Exodus 34:6-7. He quotes God’s love, compassion, patience, and mercy but leaves out God’s faithfulness/truth. This is deeply significant because Jonah’s name means “dove” (symbolizing peace, new creation, and restoration of shalom) and his father’s name is Amittai, meaning “truth” or “faithfulness.” So Jonah is literally “Dove, son of Truth.” The omission reveals Jonah’s theological complaint: “God, you’re loving and merciful, but you’re not committed to truth. If you really cared about truth and justice, you would destroy our wicked enemies.” This represents Israel’s struggle to reconcile God’s justice with His mercy. Jonah believes truth/faithfulness demands judgment, while God demonstrates that true faithfulness includes redemptive mercy. The omission shows that Jonah (and Israel) have an incomplete understanding of God’s character - they want justice without mercy, truth without compassion. God’s response suggests that real faithfulness includes seeing potential in enemies and offering pathways to transformation.

Question 4: The Symbolism of Gadol

Question: What does the repeated use of the Hebrew word gadol (great) throughout Jonah communicate, and what is conspicuously NOT called gadol in the book? What theological point does this pattern make?

Answer: The word gadol (great) appears throughout Jonah describing the city (“great city” of Nineveh), the storm (“great wind”), the fish (“great fish”), and the people’s response (“great fear”). Everything is described as “great” - except God’s judgment and wrath. Specifically, the east wind that comes against Jonah in chapter 4 (east winds always represent judgment in prophetic literature) is not called gadol. This pattern communicates that God’s mercy is greater than His judgment, and His restraint is more characteristic than His wrath. The one thing readers expect to be great - God’s anger and punishment toward wickedness - is notably small or restrained. This challenges Israel’s expectation that God should display great wrath toward their enemies. The pattern emphasizes that God’s greatness is shown not primarily in devastating judgment but in patient mercy, redemptive compassion, and seeing potential in unlikely people. It’s a literary way of demonstrating that love, not wrath, is God’s defining characteristic.

Question 5: Potential and Yom Kippur

Question: Why is the book of Jonah read on Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), and how does the concept of “potential” connect both to Israel’s view of their enemies and to their own need for annual forgiveness?

Answer: Jonah is read on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, after ten days of repentance. Initially, this seems like a book about God’s mercy to pagan enemies - encouraging Israel to have compassion on Nineveh. But scholars suggest a deeper layer: the book is also about Israel’s own sin. The backward structure (righteous prophet judged, wicked pagans saved) mirrors Israel’s spiritual condition. Just as they condemn Nineveh while ignoring their own failures, Jonah condemns the city while displaying his own rebellion. On Yom Kippur, Jews confess their sins and receive forgiveness year after year, which raises the question: “Why does God keep forgiving me when I keep failing?” Jonah answers: because you have potential. God sees not just what we are but what we could become. Repentance unlocks that potential. The three days in the fish (death/transformation/rebirth) symbolize how repentance leads to new creation. The book teaches that God extends the same patience to Israel that He extends to Nineveh - and that Israel should stop fixating on enemies’ wickedness and examine their own hearts. Potential exists in all people, including ourselves, and repentance is the key to realizing it.

Personalized Summary

The book of Jonah presents one of Scripture’s most backward narratives, where the prophet is the villain and the pagans are the heroes. Written during or after Israel’s devastating conquest by Assyria, the book addresses a burning question: Why hasn’t God destroyed our brutal enemies? The answer is both simple and profound - because God sees potential in all people, even those who commit terrible evil.

Jonah’s deliberate literary structure - an imperfect chiasm linking repentance with transformation - emphasizes that change is possible when people turn back to God. The imagery of the fish (male to female, suggesting birth), the three days (death and resurrection pattern), and Jonah’s own rebirth after repentance all point to God’s redemptive vision.

The book’s most challenging message is that we, like Jonah, often focus on others’ sins while ignoring our own. We want God’s mercy for ourselves but His judgment for our enemies. The repeated use of “great” for everything except God’s judgment reveals that divine mercy is God’s primary characteristic, not wrath. The vine with 153 leaves (representing pagan nations) reminds Israel they were blessed to be a blessing to all peoples, not to hoard God’s favor.

Reading Jonah on Yom Kippur connects the book’s dual message: God shows patience with enemies because they have potential, and God shows patience with us for the same reason. When we wonder why God continues to forgive our repeated failures, Jonah answers - because God sees what we can become, not just what we are. Repentance is the key that unlocks human potential for transformation.

The book ends with God’s haunting question: “Should I not have concern for the great city?” This open-ended conclusion invites readers into ongoing reflection. Will we trust God’s vision of human potential, or will we, like Jonah, sit and pout because God is more merciful than we think He should be? The message remains urgent: God calls us to extend the same grace to others that we desperately need ourselves, believing that all people - including enemies - carry the potential for transformation.

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