The Book of Jonah
This is an excerpt from the paper...
This paper is an examination of the book of Jonah, which is part of the last books of the Old Testament that are known collectively as the Twelve. These are the writings of the so-called minor prophets, and scholars have long debated the reasons for grouping them in the order in which they appear. Jonah is a concise accounting of a prophet who tries to disobey God's command to warn the people of the non-Hebrew city of Nineveh of their impending destruction. The book appears between the accounts of Obadiah and Micah, and this placement has been chosen primarily for literary reasons. In its present place, Jonah's curious little tale stands as part of a larger story, warning the people of Israel of their obligations to the world as a whole. Although written at different points in history by different authors using different styles, these three books create an interesting literary trilogy that continues to fascinate scholars and readers alike. Jonah is a deceptively simple book. Composed of just four chapters, it begins immediately with God's command to the title character, "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me" (Jon. 1:2). The outline of the four chapters shows the book's structure: I. Jonah tries to run away from God's command A. God commands him to go to Nineveh B. Jonah boards a boat for Tarshish C. God creates a huge storm at sea D. The men on the boat accuse him of causing the storm
. . .
ghts and actions. By making the book truly Jonah's story, the author is able to make a clear point about Israel's own sins.
Paul R. House argues that Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah make up the last three books of the first part of the Twelve (the last dozen books which, in Augustine's classification, comprise the minor prophets, simply because of the brevity of these books). These three books end the section concerned with showing the sins of Israel: "Obadiah and Jonah elaborate on the sin of hating one's neighbor, which breaks the most fundamental of all God's laws, . . . while Micah summarizes the main points of his five predecessors" (House Unity 118).
Historians believe that, of the Twelve, Obadiah was written first (around 845 BC), Jonah was written third (between 790 and 750 BC), and Micah was not completed until between 735 and 700 BC, well after a number of the other books that make up the last section of the Old Testament. Nevertheless, the order in which they are traditionally placed has been accepted for centuries, providing scholars with rich opportunities for discussion. Edgar W. Conrad is one of many who contends that the accepted order of the works is the most important literary factor to be considered, since
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Obadiah Micah, Yahweh God, Jonah God, Israel God, , Nineveh God, Bible Twelve, Edgar Conrad, God Jonah, Jonah Micah, obadiah micah, obadiah jonah, jonah micah, god's command, jonah tells god, people israel, love people, israelites love, city nineveh, style obadiah, god commands, tells god anger, obadiah jonah micah,
Approximate Word count = 1690
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
More Essays on The Book of Jonah
|
Customer Service
to Over
32,000 Professionally Written Papers!!!
