First Glance

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When you think of all the events in the Book of Jonah—the prophet running away from his mission to Nineveh, the storm, the sailors, the great fish, Nineveh’s mass repentance, the gourd that blossoms and then shrivels—it’s hard to remember that the book’s four chapters total a mere 48 verses. But what memorable verses they are! Not only have they stirred the imaginations of generations of Bible readers, they have also stoked the creative fires of many an artist. James Limburg, in “Jonah and the Whale Through the Eyes of Artists,” leads us through a gallery of works inspired by the prophet’s tale. But this is no lazy-Sunday-afternoon-in-the-museum stroll. Limburg shows how the works reflect different understandings of the story and, among other points, he explains how Jonah and Jesus came to be linked in one of Western art’s greatest achievements, the Sistine Chapel.

The beautiful artwork continues in David Noel Freedman’s “Did God Play a Dirty Trick on Jonah at the End?” This time, however, the emphasis is not on visual creativity but on theological creativity. Studded with the fresh insights BR readers have come to expect from Freedman from his previous appearances in these pages and from Biblical Archaeology Society seminars, this article explores a doctrine that makes its first appearance in the eighth-century B.C.: the notion that human repentance can produce divine repentance.

Rounding out the Jonah discussion, Nahum Sarna explains “Why the Book of Jonah Is Read on Yom Kippur,” the Jewish day of repentence (see sidebar to “Jonah and the Whale: Through the Eyes of Artists”).

Limburg is professor of Old Testament at Luther Northwestern Theological Seminary, in St. Paul, Minnesota. A prolific author, Limburg has published eight books in the last nine years, including Hosea-Micah in the Interpretation series (John Knox, 1988) and Old Stories for a New Time (John Knox, 1983). He also translated and edited Judaism: An Introduction for Christians (Augsburg, 1987).

David Noel Freedman is Arthur F. Thurnau professor of biblical studies at the University of Michigan and holds the endowed chair of Hebrew biblical studies at the University of California at San Diego. Acknowledged as the world’s greatest editor of English language Bible commentaries, Freedman has served as general editor of 47 volumes of the Anchor Bible Series. With F. I. Andersen, Freedman wrote the Hosea volume for the series. Freedman serves as a member of BR’s editorial advisory board. His “The Nine Commandments: The Secret Progress of Israel’s Sins” appeared here in December 1989.

Sarna, professor emeritus of biblical studies at Brandeis University, has authored more than 100 scholarly articles. He is general editor of the Jewish Publication Society’s Torah Commentary and author of its volumes on Genesis and Exodus.

It’s the accepted wisdom: After the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple in 586 B.C., almost all of Judah’s inhabitants—especially the upper classes—were exiled to Babylon, leaving hardly an Israelite soul within sight of the Temple Mount to mourn the events. Thanks to recent archaeological finds, however, that view is now being challenged. In “Laments at the Destroyed Temple,” Hugh G. M. Williamson, much like an archaeologist himself, uncovers the various layers of two texts—from Nehemiah 9 and Isaiah 63–64—to show that at least a small community remained in Jerusalem and composed prayers for deliverance—prayers that were later absorbed into post-Exilic biblical books.

Williamson earned two doctorates at Cambridge University, where he has been, successively, assistant lecturer, lecturer and reader in Hebrew and Aramaic. His books include a commentary on 1 and 2 Chronicles in the New Century Bible Series and on Ezra and Nehemiah for both the Old Testament Guides series and the Word Biblical Commentary. The latter received a 1986 BAS Publication Award for best commentary on a book of the Old Testament. Williamson has also spent four seasons excavating in Israel at Lachish.

“A day of darkness and gloom, / A day of densest cloud / Spread like soot over the hills” (Joel 2:2). With these evocative words the prophet Joel describes a locust invasion of Jerusalem. In an account of a locust plague devastating the same area in 1915, journalist John D. Whiting writing in National Geographic magazine speaks of the sun darkening and of locust “clouds … so dense as to appear quite black.” The similarity between the two descriptions, written over 2,000 years apart, is striking, 005demonstrating that Joel probably had firsthand experience with such plagues. In “‘An Enormous Horde Arrayed for Battle—Locusts in the Book of Joel,” Harold Brodsky examines both the scientific and spiritual aspects of locust plagues in biblical times and offers insights into Joel’s advice to the ancient Israelites about how to deal with the terror and devastation of such natural disasters, these “acts of God.” Dramatic documentary photographs of the 1915 locust infestation of Jerusalem illustrate the article.

“Every time I read about the locust plague in the Book of Joel, I can’t help feeling that something is crawling up my leg,” says Brodsky, a University of Maryland geographer who teaches a course on environmental and technological hazards. He also has been a visiting professor at Hebrew University and at the Technion University in Hafia, Israel. He actively lectures on his special interest, biblical geography, the subject of his two previous BR articles, “The Shephelah—Guardian of Judea,” BR 03:04 and “Three Capitals in the Hills of Ephraim” BR 05:01.

If you see a biblical scholar flying off to Leningrad, it’s not because of perestroika. Marc Brettler, assistant professor of Near Eastern and Judaic studies at Brandeis University, explains in “Old Testament Manuscripts.”

When you think of all the events in the Book of Jonah—the prophet running away from his mission to Nineveh, the storm, the sailors, the great fish, Nineveh’s mass repentance, the gourd that blossoms and then shrivels—it’s hard to remember that the book’s four chapters total a mere 48 verses. But what memorable verses they are! Not only have they stirred the imaginations of generations of Bible readers, they have also stoked the creative fires of many an artist. James Limburg, in “Jonah and the Whale Through the Eyes of Artists,” leads us through a gallery of works inspired […]