Jonah

When Jonah receives his recommissioning in Jon. 3:2, the message he delivers to the Ninevites is the terse message "yet forty days, Nineveh will be overturned" (HAPAK). This is problematic, since if the term HAPAK means "destroyed," it does not happen. Is Jonah a false prophet? Is there unstated but assumed conditionality? Is this intentional ambiguity? Is God free to change his own mind when mercy shown requires him to break his word? Or did Jonah not actually deliver the message that God gave him? This paper explores each of these options and the implications, both for interpretation and theological ramifications.
Trinity Journal NS 9 (1988):  37-46

In Christian literature, Jesus’ crucifixion is commonly (and for good reason) assigned to a Friday, and Jesus’ resurrection to a Sunday.  Jesus would, therefore, have spent (at most) three days and two nights in the grave.  Yet, in Matt. 12.39-41, Jesus describes himself as ‘a greater than Jonah’, and says he will spend “three days and three nights” in the heart of the earth.  That fact has prompted students of Scripture to make some unusual moves, e.g., to (re)date the crucifixion to a Thursday, or to treat Jesus’ reference to “the heart of the earth” as a reference to a location other than the grave.  But neither of these moves are (in my view) necessary, nor are they desirable.  Scripture does not speak in its own language, much less employ modern-day conventions.  Instead, it follows the conventions of its own time, which allow a three-day-and-two-night period to be referred to as “three days and three nights”.

Summary:  Jonah’s response to Nineveh’s salvation is generally taken as an example of how not to order one’s affections.  And rightly so.  But, when we consider why Jonah is so aggrieved and set his story alongside the text of Exodus 32–34, Jonah’s response is instructive.  It teaches us about YHWH’s character, YHWH’s acts of revelation, and the nature of atonement.  Keywords:  Jonah, Exodus 32–34, Moses, intertextuality, sacrifice, atonement.  Date:  Dec. 2020.

The surface-level question driving this investigation is, how is the reader to understand the character of Jonah? The thesis advanced here is that shared narrative conventions, particularly those pertaining to setting, plot and characterization, enable readers to identify more accurately the values espoused by biblical authors. The message of the narrative of Jonah is clarified when it is read in this light, including which group he is meant to represent and whether he is portrayed positively or negatively. The narrative conventions reveal a negative portrayal of Jonah and the sins he represents: pride, hypocrisy, callousness toward others and small-mindedness before a sovereign God. Thus the book indicts those who presume upon God‘s compassion based on mere affiliation with a group.
Doctoral Dissertation, D.Theol. Univ. of S. Africa, 2002
Published by Saarbrücken, Germany: AV Academiker Verlag, 2011

On the surface, the book of Jonah is marked by a certain literary simplicity and apparent artlessness. This is evident in at least three ways: its style, with few adjectives, action-oriented narrative, repetition of words and phrases, sound-plays and personifications; its plot, with extreme scenarios and a binary view of the world; its structure, with significant substantial correspondence. Yet it is often in the very places of apparent artlessness that there are hidden depths. A survey of these undercurrents suggests that the book of Jonah is best understood as an engaging exploration of how credal confessions relate to the complexities of lived experience.

Many of the most recognizable monsters in Western culture, such as Medusa, Cerberus, and the Cyclopes, started to appear in literature and art nearly three thousand years ago. Other, more generic types of monstrous or uncanny entities, such as dragons and ghosts, are even older and appear in art and literature across the globe. This chapter covers such creatures in the earliest folk and fairy tales of the ancient Near East and Mediterranean areas, keeping in mind that much of our information comes from tales, or, in most cases, prototypes for tales, embedded within the larger context of Near Eastern and Greek myths. The chapter first considers what the concept of "monster" might have meant for people in those geographical regions thousands of years ago. The chapter then examines what tales from antiquity survive that incorporated monsters, what kinds of monster predominate in these tales, and what the presence and roles of monsters in the tales might have meant.

The meaning of the “sign of Jonah” in Matthew 12 and Luke 11 has proven enigmatic for centuries, and consensus has never been reached as to the exact meaning of the phrase. This in large part is due to the seemingly disparate accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke and the confusing correlation between Jonah’s three-day chthonic sojourn and Christ’s death and resurrection. The texts do not seem to make readily apparent how Jonah functioned as a sign to Nineveh, much less how Jesus functions as a sign to his opponents clamoring for divine authentication. Often overlooked, the answer to this debate lies in the typological correspondence Jesus makes between Jonah and himself in a proclamation of judgment upon the religious leaders and a prophecy of salvation for those who believe.

This study makes use of Lloyd Bitzer's "rhetorical situation" model of functional communication in a study of the seven rhetorical situations of Jonah. This rhetorical-critical-narratological approach to biblical narratives demonstrates a useful hermeneutical basis for narrative preaching models.

This paper deals with the underlying characterizations of Jonah in the synoptic accounts of Jesus' stilling the storm. I claim that since Jesus is diametrically opposed to Jonah in this story, his respective characterizations in the synoptic accounts may serve as an indication ab opposito of three diverse ways of characterization of Jonah, which in turn may be set in a broader context of Jonah's images in the contemporary literature. Also, the possibility and the criteria of the interpretative move applied in this paper, as well as the possibility of its further application to other storm-stilling stories, are discussed in detail.

1La parole de l'Éternel fut adressée à Jonas, fils d'Amitthaï : 2« Lève-toi, va à Ninive, la grande ville, et crie contre elle, car sa méchanceté est montée jusqu'à moi. »
3Jonas se leva pour s'enfuir à Tarsis, loin de la présence de l'Éternel. Il descendit à Jaffa, et il trouva un bateau qui allait à Tarsis. Il paya le prix du transport et s'embarqua pour aller avec les passagers à Tarsis, loin de la présence de l'Éternel.
4L'Éternel fit souffler sur la mer un vent impétueux, et il s'éleva sur la mer une si grande tempête que le bateau menaçait de faire naufrage. 5Les marins eurent peur ; ils implorèrent chacun leur dieu, et ils jetèrent dans la mer les objets qui étaient sur le bateau afin de l'alléger. Jonas était descendu au fond du bateau, s'était couché et dormait profondément. 6Le capitaine s'approcha de lui et lui dit : « Pourquoi dors-tu ? Lève-toi, fais appel à ton Dieu ! Peut-être voudra-t-il penser à nous et nous ne mourrons pas. » 7Puis ils se dirent l'un à l'autre : « Venez, tirons au sort pour savoir qui nous attire ce malheur. » Ils tirèrent au sort, et le sort tomba sur Jonas.
8Alors ils lui dirent : « Dis-nous qui nous attire ce malheur. Quelle est ton occupation et d'où viens-tu ? Quel est ton pays et de quel peuple es-tu ?» 9Il leur répondit : « Je suis hébreu et je crains l'Éternel, le Dieu du ciel, qui a fait la mer et la terre. » 10Ces hommes furent saisis d'une grande crainte et lui dirent : « Pourquoi as-tu fait cela ? » Ils surent en effet qu'il fuyait loin de la présence de l'Éternel parce qu'il le leur déclara. 11Ils lui dirent : « Que te ferons-nous pour que la mer se calme envers nous ? » En effet, la mer était de plus en plus déchaînée. 12Il leur répondit : « Prenez-moi et jetez-moi dans la mer, et la mer se calmera envers vous, car je sais que c'est moi qui attire sur vous cette grande tempête. »
13Ces hommes ramèrent pour gagner la terre ferme, mais ils ne purent pas y arriver parce que la mer était toujours plus déchaînée contre eux. 14Alors ils s'adressèrent à l'Éternel et dirent : « Éternel, ne nous fais pas mourir à cause de la vie de cet homme et ne nous charge pas du sang innocent ! En effet toi, Éternel, tu fais ce que tu veux. » 15Puis ils prirent Jonas et le jetèrent dans la mer. Et la fureur de la mer s'apaisa. 16Ces hommes furent saisis d'une grande crainte de l'Éternel. Ils offrirent un sacrifice à l'Éternel et firent des vœux.

Initially written in Greek and published in the Greek monthly ‘Trito Mati’ – ‘Third Eye’ (February 1992), before my adhesion to Islam, under author’s name ‘Cosmas Megalommatis’, successively translated by me in French and published in France, and more recently translated in 1999 in English and published in various media.

At this point, I want to thank the translator for this excellent English translation. My adhesion to Islam did not make me change my approach and opinion in anything related to this subject as developed in this text.

Published in the Origin of Nations magazine, vol.3, no.3. (1999): pages 2-3, 12-20 and online:
http://www.originofnations.org/books,%20papers/Elizabeth%20II.pdf

The original Greek text can be found here:
https://www.academia.edu/49102838/Απόγονοι_των_Ισραηλιτών_οι_Βρεταννοί_

ABSTRACT E: Jonah: The Stubborn Prophet and the Gracious God: Surely everybody knows the story of the man who was swallowed by a fish and then was vomited out again. The opus which is named after him belongs to world literature. There is talk of »Jonah«. This is the name of a figure in the Old Testament. It is also the title of one of the writings of the bible which treats of him and even more so of the doings of God. The book of Jonah is part of the Twelve Minor Prophets which is one of the prophetic books of the Jewish Bible. However there are no prophecies in Jonah apart from a single very short consequential one which takes place in the town of Ninive. The message is rather conveyed in the form of a prophetic narrative — including a psalm. The LORD, God of Israel and the whole world shows himself in it »on the move«. He is able to relent out of compassion and to temper justice with mercy.
2nd, slightly revised edition, 2016 (2012).
ABSTRACT D: „Wer hat nicht schon von dem Mann, den ein Fisch verschlang und wieder ausspie, gehört? Das Werk, das seinen Namen trägt, gehört zur Weltliteratur. Die Rede ist von »Jona«. So heisst eine Gestalt im Alten Testament. Den gleichen Namen trägt die Schrift, die von ihm, aber noch mehr von Gottes Tun und Lassen handelt. Sie ist Teil des Buches »Zwölfpropheten« (Kleine Propheten). Allerdings enthält das Buch Jona keine Prophetien ausser einer einzigen, kurzen wie folgenreichen in der Stadt Ninive. Die Botschaft wird als Prophetenerzählung, in die ein Psalm eingebettet ist, vermittelt. Der HERR, der Gott Israels und der Gott der ganzen Welt, zeigt sich darin »beweglich«: Er kann aus Mitleid umkehren und Gnade statt Gericht walten lassen.“ (Klappentext).
Das Büchlein bietet zunächst eine Einführung in die Grundfragen der Jona-Schrift. Im Hauptkapitel „Darstellung“ werden dessen vier Kapitel im Detail ausgelegt. Nachfolgend folgt ein Blick in die „Wirkung“, welche diese alttestamentliche Schrift im Neuen Testament, im Judentum, im Islam und dann in der Geschichte des Christentums und darüber hinaus ausgelöst hat. Beigegeben sind ein Anhang, der eine Übersetzung der Jona-Texte aus dem Alten und Neuen Testament enthält, sowie Verzeichnisse.
2., leicht überarbeitete Auflage, 2016 (2012). See: More Info.
REVIEWS: Aktion Sühnezeichen Friedensdienste (27.1.2013) 57 (H.R.); ThLZ 138 (2013) 947–949 (M. Gerhards); JETh 27 (2013) 240–242 (K. Riebesehl); Faszination Bibel 3 (2013) 76 (M. Rohde); Biblische Bücherschau (bbs) 11 (2013): http://www.biblische-buecherschau.de/2013/Weber_Jona.pdf (A. Giercke-Ungermann); ZAW 125 (2013) 707–708 (J. Wöhrle); Eulenfisch 1 (2013) 9 (A. Rüttenauer); Lehrerbibliothek (Lbib) 2013: http://lbib.de/Jona-Der-widerspenstige-Prophet-und-der-gnaedige-Gott-77491 (T. Bernhard).

Il "Sermone su Ninive e Giona" è un memrā appartenente alla collezione di sermoni metrici scritti da Efrem di Nisibi. L’opera fu composta, forse a Edessa, in occasione di una festività liturgica in cui l’accento era posto sulla penitenza. I destinatari dell’opera sembrano infatti i membri di una ampia comunità cittadina, che si riflette nelle numerose figure che il poeta evoca all’interno del suo sermone. L’opera, a cavallo tra predica morale, esegesi biblica ed elaborata poesia dipinge l’arrivo del profeta Giona nella città di Ninive per annunciare la sua distruzione imminente voluta da Dio. Solo grazie a uno sfiancante periodo di quaranta giorni, durante i quali i Niniviti mostrano la loro conversione con duri atti di privazione, il popolo viene salvato. L’esemplarità di Ninive riguardo alla potenza del pentimento è ulteriormente rafforzata dalla forte carica polemica con cui Efrem si scaglia contro varie categorie umane che invece languiscono nella corruzione dell’empietà e della falsità. Il testo è accompagnato in appendice dai nove inni (madrāšē) su Ninive e Giona di Efrem.

Many subjects in Christian religious architecture, both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, can be seen as paintings or stone decorations on the facades or walls of churches or monasteries. With these scenes, it is aimed to reinforce the sanctity of the building and to convey information about religious issues to the visitors. Considering the conditions of the period when the literacy rate was very low, it can be understood how important the thematic scenes expressed with the visuals on the facades of religious buildings are. Some churches in Anatolia, especially in the Eastern Anatolia Region, stand out in terms of the density of thematic scenes on their facades. Especially the facade surfaces of the Holy Cross (Akdamar/Ahtamar) Monastery Church on Akdamar Island in Lake Van are covered with depictions of many themes. Hz. Abraham's sacrificing his son, the Prophet Jonah being thrown into the sea, Hz. The expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, Hz. The struggle of David and King Goliath, Samson and the Philistine duo, three Hebrew youths in the fire, Hz. Mary and Hz. Scenes such as Jesus and Daniel in the Lion's lair are the main ones. Although not as intense, there were scenes with similar religious themes in churches and monasteries in the historical Tao Klarceti Region, which includes Artvin and Erzurum regions. E.g; The depiction of the Prophet Jonah thrown into the sea on the southwestern façade of the Holy Cross Church and the depiction of the Prophet Jonah thrown into the sea, which was carved on the side wall of the entrance door on the south façade of the Haho (Bağbaşı/Haholi) Monastery Church in the Tortum District of Erzurum, are similar in terms of subject matter. However, these two scenes, which are similar in subject and made with the relief technique, contain great differences in terms of style and description.

“Jonah” (dove) appears to be an “odd bird” among the biblical prophets (and a loner at that, since he is the only Hebrew or Israelite in the whole book). The same applies to the book named after him. It stands out among the fifteen biblical prophets – the three “major” and twelve “minor” ones (among whom Jonah appears in the fifth place according to MT) – because of its untypical shape. In the main, it is a skilfully crafted (prophetic) narrative. It contains almost no prophetically mediate word from God, but it does have dialogues of a different kind as well as a psalm. On the surface the plot and the “message” of the booklet are easy to understand, but when one digs deeper they become puzzling and sometimes irritating.– This can already been seen in the opening of the book. The introductory “word-event formula” (Wortereignis-Formel, W. Zimmerli) is well-attested in the Bible. Here, however, it leads those listening to the story without the usual classifications immediately to an event that is unique in the Bible: Jonah’s response to the divine commission is to do the precise opposite of that which YHWH commands (and which the listening audience would expect him to do). Another of its peculiarities is the fact that in the middle of the book the plot, and with it the book as whole, seems to start all over again.– I will trace the contours of this book opening in comparison with other prophetic figures (including Jonah ben Amittai from 2 Kings 14:25) and books and inquire into the referents and interpretive horizons that are evoked by the broader canonical context.

Dieser kurze Beitrag (wie die anderen Beiträge zu sämtlichen biblischen Büchern auch) will anhand der Bucheröffnung das biblische Buch, in diesem Fall, Jona, erschliessen helfen. Inhalte sind: Analyse der Buchouvertüre, Ausblick auf das Jona-Buch, innerbiblische Vernetzungen, Hinweise zur Wirkungsgeschichte, Resümee und Literaturhinweise. // The Book of Jonah: From the Big Fish into the Big City, in: 73 Ouvertures: The Beginnings of the Books of the Bible and Their Message – This short contribution (similar to the other contributions on all biblical books) attempts to help to unlock a biblical book, in this case, the Book of Jonah, through its opening.  Its contents include: Analysis of the book ouverture, a view on the Book of Jonah, inner-biblical connections, guidelines to its reception history, a summary and some bibliographic references.

Kitab-ı Mukaddes’in Arapça tercümesinde Yunus kelimesinin “Yunan” olarak tercüme edildiğini görmüştüm. Ve Sami dillerde “Metta” kelimesinin de zaman demek olduğunu, daha küçüklüğümde öğrenmiştim. Sonra, Yunan tarihinde, bilgelikten ve medeniyetten dolayı Yunanların kendilerine Yunan (insan) dediklerini ve başkalarına barbar (vahşi) söylediklerini okumuştum. Bir balık türüne de Yunus Balığı denmesinin, onun evcil ve ünsiyetli bir tür olmasındandır.

Daha evvel de B. Said Nursi’den Yunus kıssasından maksat, insan türü olduğunu, Yunus kıssasında anlatılan bütün detayların aslında insan türünü ilgilendirdiğini okumuştum.

Sonra İncil ve Tevrat üzere yazdığım iki kitaptan birkaç sene sonra, kıssalarla ilgili çalışmamı topladığımda Yunus’un gerçekten insanoğlu demek olduğunu anladım. Şöyle ki:

Metta Oğlu Yunus… Bilindiği gibi, insan zaman oğludur. Yani zaman içinde en çok gelişen, evrimleşen, soyut değerleri öğrenen bir varlıktır. Fakat evrim sürecindeki, alt hayvani birikimler (nefis), adeta bir yılan, bir canavar balık olarak onu yutuyor, onu soyut ve sonsuz gelişmesinden alıkoyuyor.

O ise, bedenin ve maddi yapılanmanın hiç hükmünde olduğunu bilince; sonsuz Allah’tan başka kurtarıcı bir merciin kalmadığını öğrenince, daha önceki kusurlarını, eksiklik ve zulmünü (dengesizliğini) dile getirir, kusurların, sonsuz Allah’ta değil de sistemin sınırlılığından kaynaklandığını anlar ve şöyle dua eder: 

“Ya Rabb, Seni bütün kusurlardan tenzih ederim. Ben dengesizlikle kendime zulmettim. Senden başka kurtarıcının olmadığını anladım, sonsuzluğu kavradım.”

Bunun üzerine, balık onu geri kusar. Haliyle O, bu arada epey sıkıntı çeker. Denizin (sosyal hayat) dalgaları onu açık ve aydınlık bir çöle atar. (O da soyut ve manevi değerlerin kıymetini anlar.)

Üzerine de asma kabak ağacı (yani çok bilinç içeren ve çok besleyici olan ekolojik sistem) dikilir.

Yunus, daha önce Ninova’nın (yeni ve kalabalık bir şehrin) kurtarılması için görev alır. Fakat bu kutsal ve bilince dayalı görevi kabul etmeyip kaçtığından kapasitesi sınırlı olan bir gemiye (sosyal ve fırtınalı bir işe) girer. Oranın sıkıcı hayat şartlarından dolayı da sosyal hayat denizinde, evrimin en alt kademesini temsil eden canavar bir balığın karnına yutulur.

The Holy Quran is one of the main fountainheads of Hāfiẓ idiolect and thought. Hāfiẓs’ sweet poetry is, indeed, intertwined with the Good Tree of Quran. The assumption in the present study is that 183rd sonnet of Hafiẓ, beginning with ‘Last night at dawn…’ implicitly yet purposefully echoes the story of Jonah in the Holy Quran. When words such as ‘grief’, ‘deliverance’, ‘darkness’, ‘gratification’, ‘patience’, ‘candy’, etc. are juxtaposed with such mystical ideas as ‘the mirror of beauty attributes’, ‘swoon at the  radiance of His Light’, ‘deliverance from the tragic bonds of time’, etc. they indicate that firstly, in composing this sonnet, Hāfiẓ is inspired by the story of Jonah, and secondly, readers will come to a deep understanding of the sonnet if they refer to the noble Quranic verses. Using a descriptive-analytical method, the present study suggests that there is an implicit yet purposeful association between the 183rd sonnet and the Quranic story of Jonah (a). Moreover, the study reveals that the lines of this sonnet are organically interrelated, and they portray a specific theme in the form of a poem.

Jonah, the runaway prophet, had his weaknesses but his honest, daring, and open attitude in the midst of dangers on the Sea, projects his God, saves the travellers and himself. Good lessons and challenging thoughts sit in this story, and this short paper brings them out.

This paper presents a series of examples revealing some significant aspects about the technique of the Greek translation of Ephrem’s mēmrā on Niniveh and Jonah (Syriac text by Edmund Beck, 1970; editio princeps of the Greek text by Démocratie Hemmerdinger-Iliadou, 1967).
This text represents a very interesting example of the interaction at different levels between Greek and Syriac in Late Antiquity. Firstly, this translation is from Syriac into Greek, a translation direction little studied so far, in strong contrast with the opposite movement of translation from Greek into Syriac (for examples, the articles by Sebastian Brock, David Taylor, Aaron Butts and Alberto Rigolio). The contact between the two cultures was not only characterised by the prevalent position of Greek over Syriac, but also by the fact that Syriac literature and culture influenced the Greek spheres by means of translations and oral traditions (the monography about byzantine hagiography by Paul Peeters and some articles by Sebastian Brock).
Secondly, this text shows a literary and poetic interchange, as the Greek translation presents a transposition not only of the content of the Syriac text, but also of the metrical structure of the mēmrā (the only known case so far of a Greek translation from an extant Ephrem’s text). In fact, it reproduces the isosyllabic pattern of the original and expands the couplet of verses in a group of four verses, maintaining the same structure based on parallelisms and oppositions.
From a comparison between the two texts (the source text in Syriac and the target text in Greek), it is possible to identify a series of linguistic, cultural and formal characteristics that indicate which kind of translation the Greek text is. This contribution intends to display these aspects by means of chosen textual examples. The examples will be selected from portions of the Syriac and Greek texts, placed side by side in order to show better the similarities (and differences) between the two versions.
In the conclusions, I will talk about the translation techniques of the text in general and the analysed typology of translation will be viewed within the categorisation of translation techniques in the Syriac literature proposed by Sebastian Brock in 1983.

Is God, at the end of the book of Jonah, claiming that he will not destroy Nineveh? Or should the straight-forward reading of the Hebrew and Greek texts be taken at face value as claimed ten years ago by Alan Cooper? Although they do not challenge the common reading of the end of Jonah as a rhetorical question, the results of recent studies on Jonah support Cooper's contention. Reading "You had pity over the plant... but I will not pity Nineveh..." makes more sense and places Jonah on a par with Job.

1L'Éternel fit venir un grand poisson pour avaler Jonas, et Jonas fut trois jours et trois nuits dans le ventre du poisson. 2Du ventre du poisson, Jonas pria l'Éternel, son Dieu, 3en disant :
« Dans ma détresse j'ai fait appel à l'Éternel, et il m'a répondu. Du milieu du séjour des morts j'ai appelé au secours, et tu as entendu ma voix. 4Tu m'as jeté dans l'abîme, dans les profondeurs de la mer, et les courants m'ont environné ; toutes tes vagues et tous tes flots sont passés sur moi. 5Je disais : “Je suis chassé loin de ton regard”, mais je verrai encore ton saint temple.
6L'eau m'a couvert jusqu'à m'enlever la vie. L'abîme m'a enveloppé, les algues s'enroulaient autour de ma tête. 7Je suis descendu jusqu'aux racines des montagnes. Les verrous de la terre m'enfermaient pour toujours, mais tu m'as fait remonter vivant du gouffre, Éternel, mon Dieu !
8Quand mon âme était abattue en moi, je me suis souvenu de l'Éternel, et ma prière est parvenue jusqu'à toi, dans ton saint temple. 9Ceux qui s'attachent à des idoles sans consistance éloignent d'eux la bonté. 10Quant à moi, je t'offrirai des sacrifices avec un cri de reconnaissance, j'accomplirai les vœux que j'ai faits. Le salut vient de l'Éternel. »
11L'Éternel parla au poisson, et le poisson vomit Jonas sur la terre.

1) Tarihen sabittir ki; dinin bu evrensel bilgileri, tarih dersi olarak değil de ders alınacak prensipler ve evrensel mesajlardır. Öyle ki; Hz. Ömer ve Hz. Ali, kıssaların bu evrensel manalarına aykırı olarak, hayallerle, hikâyelerle o prensiplerin arasını dolduranlara karşı gelmişler; böyleleri cezalandıracaklarını söylemişler.

2) İşte Peygamberler Tarihi dediğimiz kitapların aslı, bu hikâyelerden doldurulmuş hurafeler ve asılsız hayallerdir. Dinsizleri haklı çıkartan birer çöküntü ve cehalet ilaveleridir. Çünkü tarih, sağlam bilgi ve belgelerden oluşan bir ilimdir. Hurafe ve hikâye değildir.

3) Bütün Kur’an’da gözlendiği gibi; Kur’an, Tevrat ve İncil’in metinlerini tenkit etmiyor. Tam tersi, onlara uyanları “Neden doğru anlamıyorsunuz, bu evrensel gerçekleri yaşamıyorsunuz?!” diye uyarıyor. Hadislerde de “Yunus buralarda ibadet etmiştir” diye, o bölgenin asırlar öncesinden kutsal ve mübarek olduğuna, insanlık medeniyetinin o bölgede başladığına işaret ediyor.

4) Evet insan nevi (türü) birçok yanlış yapmasına rağmen geneli iyidir, dindardır, medenidir. Ontolojik evrimini, aksaklıklarla dahi olsa, tamamlamıştır. İşte Yunus kıssasının aslı bu realitenin şu iki yönlü gerçeğini dile getirir. Kesinlikle geçmişte olmuş bitmiş bir şey değildir.
     
Evet, âdem kavramı bu gelişmenin ilk dönemlerini temsil ediyor. (Kitaplarımızda gösterdiğimiz gibi…) Yunus kavramı ise, bu gelişmenin son dönemlerini temsil ediyor ve bu gerçeği anlatan Tevrat metni de Kur’an metni de mucize ve evrenseldir.

- In the Belly of the Monster : Moved by the sight of whales and their predatory power, ancient people created the image of the ketos. This sea monster, which swallows Herakles as well as Jonah or Lucian’s ship, would be a metaphor of death at sea. Like those figures, a shipwrecked man is the prey of the sea which swallows him whole.
- Dans le ventre du monstre : Impressionnés par la vision des grands cétacés et par leur puissance prédatrice, les hommes ont créé l'image du kétos. Ce monstre marin, qui engloutit aussi bien Héraclès que Jonas ou le navire de Lucien, serait une métaphore de la mort en mer. Comme eux, en effet, le naufragé est la proie de l'élément marin qui le fait disparaître dans ses entrailles.