A Jonah Chiasm
“Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me;
he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel;
he has swallowed me like a monster” (Jeremiah 51:34)
Sabbath - Genesis - Word (rejected)
Jonah recognises God’s directive to warn the king of Nineveh as a judgment upon Israel and rebels against it (Word to Jonah)
Passover - Exodus - Waters
Jonah exiles himself, embarks on a ship and passes through the sea (death of Nineveh)Firstfruits - Leviticus -
Priesthood given
The Lord’s glory, “the Law”, appears in a storm. Jonah reveals that his God is the One who made the Land and the Sea, and the Gentile sailors are converted. Jonah sacrifices himself for them and is thrown overboard (death of Jonah)Pentecost - Numbers - Wilderness
Jonah is swallowed by a sea beast and is “threshed” for three daysThe Gates of Hell
At the centre of the chiasm, Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the sea beast follows the same pattern. It alludes to the de-Creation of Noah’s flood. Soon, Israel’s mountains would also be covered, by Assyria, and then by Babylon, and this would be the prayer of God’s people in captivity:
Word (Lament) - Sabbath
I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me;
out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.Waters (sin covered) - Passover)
For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, andthe flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me.Priesthood (given) - Leviticus
Then I said, I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.Wilderness (tomb) - Pentecost
The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.Priesthood (received) - Trumpets
When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.Waters - Atonement
Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.Word (Thanksgiving) - Tabernacles
But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!
Trumpets - Deuteronomy - Priesthood received
Like the Ark which plagued the Philistines, Jonah is vomited by the fish (Hebrew: dag as in Dagon) back into the Land. He preaches “the Law” to the brutal Ninevites (resurrection of Jonah)Atonement - Joshua - Waters (Laver)
Jonah recognises Nineveh’s repentance as a sign of judgment upon Israel: Assyria’s repentance would only make her stronger (resurrection of Nineveh)Tabernacles - Judges - Word (rejected?)
Jonah is not happy with this ironic expansion of the kingdom. God shades him with a miraculous “booth”, and then kills it from underground. He reminds Jonah of the purpose of the Feast of Tabernacles: Gentile salvation (Word to Jonah)(The reference to the Land and the Sea pays homage to the fact that the feasts also subtly follow the Creation Week of Genesis 1.)
