Of Ships and Seas, and Fish and Beasts: Viewing the Concept of Universal Providence in the Book of Jonah through the Prism of Psalms

The book of Jonah has inspired scholarly investigation in diverse perspectives, such as debating its literary category (fable, parable, allegory), analyzing its narrative art (narrator, character roles, modes of speech, scenes), comic interpretation (satire, parody, farce), and finally defining the...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Forti, Tova (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2011
In: Journal for the study of the Old Testament
Year: 2011, Volume: 35, Issue: 3, Pages: 359-374
Further subjects:B Navigation
B Divine Providence
B Creation
B Ships
B wisdom psalms
B Jonah
B Beasts
B Fish
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Parallel Edition:Electronic
Description
Summary:The book of Jonah has inspired scholarly investigation in diverse perspectives, such as debating its literary category (fable, parable, allegory), analyzing its narrative art (narrator, character roles, modes of speech, scenes), comic interpretation (satire, parody, farce), and finally defining the book of Jonah as an anthology of biblical religious thought (obedience, forgiveness, repentance, providence). This article examines the last perspective, namely, the theological, and, in particular, the concept of providence through several motifs: the sea, the ship, the great fish and behemah (‘beast’). The occurrence of these motifs in Psalm 104 (vv. 14, 24-26) and almost all of them in Psalm 8 (vv. 8-9), and the poetic echo of Jonah’s narrative in Ps. 107.23-31, 38, illuminate the universal quality of God’s cosmic providence, which stands in pivotal contradiction to Jonah’s limited concept of Israel’s God.
ISSN:1476-6728
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the Old Testament
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0309089211398674