{"id":77925,"date":"2020-07-23T13:22:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-23T10:22:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=77925"},"modified":"2020-07-23T13:22:54","modified_gmt":"2020-07-23T10:22:54","slug":"when-less-is-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/when-less-is-more\/","title":{"rendered":"When Less Is More\u00a0"},"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":"77925","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":75217,"related_cahpter":"531","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Did he say the least that was required? Or simply all that was needed?\r\n\r\n","content":"

Coming off chapter two\u2019s powerful moment of transition, one might be disappointed by Jonah\u2019s long-awaited encounter with the corrupt forces in Nineveh. It consists of one short line: \u201cForty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!\u201d (verse 4).<\/span><\/p>\n

Jonah\u2019s speech works, but we as readers are left to wonder, \u201cHow?\u201d A whole city persuaded, from its king to its animals, from just a few quick words? In what should be his shining moment of success, it seems like Jonah is doing the very least he can in order to get a giant check mark in the sky from God and be allowed to go back home.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is worth asking, though, if there could there be some wisdom in Jonah\u2019s communication style. Say what you want about the prophecy\u2019s brevity, but one has to admit it was remarkably to-the-point, and certainly, simpler is better when it comes conveying a political message to the masses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beyond that, however, one has to wonder about the overall context within which Jonah delivered his speech. Perhaps it is not that he did the least that was required, but rather all that was needed. I hear Jonah\u2019s one-liner and picture him standing in the midst of a busy thoroughfare, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of city life, including the crime and corruption that caught the attention of God in the first place. Jonah says just enough to turn the heads of Nineveh\u2019s citizens: not to himself, but all that is going on around them. Jonah uses his voice not to convince others through a long and drawn-out discourse. Instead, he shows them the impending result of their present course of action, so they come to convince themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jonah\u2019s one-line prophecy is a testament to the fact that, often, a spoken message gets its power not just from its words, but from its context. There are only 246 words in Abraham Lincoln\u2019s Gettysburg Address (about one and a half minutes of speaking time). They reverberate throughout history for their beauty, to be sure, but also because the moment as a whole captured the hearts of those who heard them. The words worked because they were spoken in that place, at that time. Sometimes, perhaps with the help of the divine, one\u2019s words can align with a historical moment in such a way that they \u201cring true\u201d in a profound and society-moving way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ancient Israel did not have a \u201cone-prophet-fits-all\u201d approach to the dissemination of God\u2019s word. Elijah\u2019s prophecies stung with sarcasm. Literary Jeremiah knew the power of the pen to sway hearts. Ezekiel had a flare for the dramatic. Perhaps Jonah is the prophet that lets the moment do the talking for him. What he loses in air time he makes up for in impact: merely point your finger at the problem to your listeners, and let them come to the necessary conclusion themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Gustave Dor\u00e9: Jonah preaching to the Ninevites, 1866 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":77927,"id":77927,"title":"jon3-Dore_jonah preaching","filename":"jon3-Dore_jonah-preaching.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-Dore_jonah-preaching.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/when-less-is-more\/jon3-dore_jonah-preaching\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jon3-dore_jonah-preaching","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":77925,"date":"2020-07-23 10:22:43","modified":"2020-07-23 10:22:50","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":477,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-Dore_jonah-preaching-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-Dore_jonah-preaching-239x300.jpg","medium-width":239,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-Dore_jonah-preaching.jpg","medium_large-width":477,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-Dore_jonah-preaching.jpg","large-width":477,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-Dore_jonah-preaching.jpg","1536x1536-width":477,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-Dore_jonah-preaching.jpg","2048x2048-width":477,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-Dore_jonah-preaching.jpg","post_full_size-width":477,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon3-Dore_jonah-preaching-334x420.jpg","home_baner-width":334,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"When Less Is More\u00a0","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Did he say the least that was required? 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