{"id":77909,"date":"2020-07-23T12:19:15","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T09:19:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=77909"},"modified":"2020-07-23T12:19:15","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T09:19:15","slug":"when-is-a-fish-not-a-fish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/when-is-a-fish-not-a-fish\/","title":{"rendered":"When Is A Fish Not A Fish?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"77909","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":64450,"related_cahpter":"531","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"When it\u2019s a huge city near a lot of fish\r\n\r\n","content":"

The first two chapters of the book of Jonah describes how God sends Jonah to Nineveh, and while trying to avoid the mission, is swallowed by a huge fish. In chapter 3, Jonah is told a second time to go to Nineveh, and deliver God\u2019s message. This time he fulfills that mission.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is there any connection between the events of the first half of the book and the second? A look at the etymology of Nineveh can give us an answer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian empire, and was located on the eastern bank of the Tigris river. Fish are plentiful in the river in that area, and the city was associated with fish. The cuneiform of Nineveh was a fish within a house, and that fits the etymology of the name Nineveh as well. It literally meant \u201cplace of fish.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Understanding this, the two halves of the book are parallels to one another. Jonah refused to go to Nineveh \u2013 \u201cthe fish\u201d \u2013 and so God brought the fish to him. In neither half did he avoid entering the fish.<\/span><\/p>\n

The name Nineveh is related to the Aramaic word <\/span>nuna<\/span><\/em>\u00a0meaning fish. This word is likely related to the Hebrew root <\/span>nin<\/span><\/em>, meaning \u201cto sprout, increase\u201d \u2013 which is also the source of the word <\/span>nin<\/span><\/em>. In modern Hebrew it means \u201cgreat-grandchild,\u201d but in biblical Hebrew it means descendant (and likely \u201cson.\u201d) Both fish and children are a sign of abundance, as seen in Jacob\u2019s blessing to Joseph\u2019s children: \u201cAnd may they be teeming multitudes [literally, \u201cgrow like fish\u201d] upon the earth\u201d (Genesis 48:16).<\/span><\/p>\n

By far the more popular word in Hebrew for fish is <\/span>dag<\/span><\/em>. Today we find <\/span>nun<\/span><\/em>\u00a0being used as a suffix, to create Hebrew names for aquatic creatures like <\/span>amnun<\/span><\/em>\u00a0\u2013 \u201ctilapia\u201d and <\/span>tamnun<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>\u2013 \u201coctopus.\u201d And while <\/span>nun<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>meaning \u201cfish\u201d doesn\u2019t appear in biblical Hebrew, we still find it present \u2013 through the letter <\/span>nun<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0The letter <\/span>nun<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>follows <\/span>mem<\/span><\/em> (which derives from <\/span>mayim<\/span><\/em> \u2013 \u201cwater\u201d) in the same way that fish and water go together.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the letter <\/span>nun<\/span><\/em> in ancient Hebrew writing doesn\u2019t really look like a fish. It actually looks more like a snake. And according to some scholars, that \u201cn\u201d letter was originally <\/span>nachash<\/span><\/em> \u2013 \u201csnake.\u201d So why did it switch to <\/span>nun<\/span><\/em>? Because of the proximity to <\/span>mem<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>and the association with water.<\/span><\/p>\n

And just as Jonah learned, sometimes you encounter a fish, even if that\u2019s not what you expected when you set out on your journey.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":77911,"id":77911,"title":"jon3-fish","filename":"jon3-fish.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/when-is-a-fish-not-a-fish\/jon3-fish\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jon3-fish","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":77909,"date":"2020-07-23 09:16:55","modified":"2022-06-26 04:24:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"When Is A Fish Not A Fish?","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"When it\u2019s a huge city near a lot of fish","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":77911,"id":77911,"title":"jon3-fish","filename":"jon3-fish.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/when-is-a-fish-not-a-fish\/jon3-fish\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jon3-fish","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":77909,"date":"2020-07-23 09:16:55","modified":"2022-06-26 04:24:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1920,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish-1024x1024.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1920,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish-1200x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-fish-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77909"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77909"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77912,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77909\/revisions\/77912"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}