{"id":78087,"date":"2020-07-26T15:43:05","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T12:43:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78087"},"modified":"2020-07-26T15:43:05","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T12:43:05","slug":"what-displeased-jonah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/what-displeased-jonah\/","title":{"rendered":"What Displeased Jonah?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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God saw the penitent deeds of the people of Nineveh and \u201cHe renounced the punishment He had planned to bring upon them\u201d (3:6). \u201cThis displeased Jonah greatly and he was grieved\u201d (4:1). The cause of Jonah\u2019s displeasure was disputed among the sages and exegetes, as is the question of whether it was justified.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Malbim treated the issue thus:<\/span><\/p>\n

Why was Jonah displeased? Did he not know it was for just that purpose that God had sent him, namely, to get them to repent and, thereby, abolish the decree? What did he mean by \u201cIsn\u2019t this just what I said when I was still in my own country?\u201d (4:2) What does that matter when it was precisely what he successfully accomplished in his mission? If he had gone on his mission and the people had not repented, then he might have said, \u201cI have labored in vain.\u201d He ought to have rejoiced in retrieving so many people from sin.<\/span><\/p>\n

The rabbinic reply to Malbim\u2019s rhetorical question is encapsulated in the statement: \u201cJonah was concerned about the honor of the son [Israel] more than that of the father [God]\u201d (Mekhilta Bo). As explained by Radak (1:1), Jonah feared the repercussions of his success on Israel whose unwillingness to repent would be seen in sharp contrast to the Ninevites. Here, too, Malbim took a slightly different approach:<\/span><\/p>\n

Jonah thought that the decree would not be withdrawn until they repented in both theology and practice and they had only repented of their deeds\u2026 while remaining idolatrous and yet God had still reversed the edict. From this, he understood that God had spared them to become \u201cthe staff of His anger\u201d (Isaiah 10:5) against Israel, and that is what displeased him.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was also intrigued by a related question: The pace of events set by Chapter 3 implies that no sooner had the people and king of Nineveh launched their penitential process, then God reversed Himself. Yet, He had explicitly set a threshold of 40 days to the decree. How did Jonah\u2019s displeasure fit into that time frame? Radak addressed this as follows: \u201cHow did Jonah know, if the 40 days had not yet elapsed? God told him prophetically that He had retracted His edict because they had repented of their evil ways.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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