Sign+of+Jonah

toc = = = = = = =Introduction=

“The sign of Jonah” is a term used by Jesus in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke as a description of the only sign He would give the people, but the textual differences in the two passages creates controversy for its reader. The author of Jonah is unknown and the book gives little indication of the time at which it was written. There was a prophet named Jonah that lived during the reign of Jeroboam II (II Kings 14:25), but it is not indicated that this prophet and the one sent to Nineveh are the same man.

The “sign of Jonah” is used in two different passages in the New Testament, one in Matthew and the other in Luke. Both make reference to the book of Jonah in the Old Testament. Jonah is a prophet who called the Assyrian city of Nineveh to turn and repent of its sins against the Lord. Matthew 12:39-42 and Luke 11:29-32 are the two passages in the New Testament which quote Jesus speaking about the “sign of Jonah.” The passage in Matthew contains an extra sentence not found in Luke, and refers to Jonah 1:17. = = = **Interpretations** =

**Three Days and Three Nights**
Jonah, according to the book which bears his name, was swallowed by a great fish, where he remained for three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17) which some scholars take to be a parallel to the death and resurrection of Christ which will occur “after three days” (Mark 8:31). For this interpretation to be valid the term used in Jonah cannot be taken literally because Jesus was not in the grave three full days and three full nights. Several theories have been developed in regards to this dilemma. The Syriac //Didascalia Apostolorum// proposes the morning of Good Friday counts as the first day, the darkness at noon is the first night, the afternoon is another day, Friday night would be the second night, and then the Sabbath day and night would total three of each. The phrase has also been taken to be a synecdoche in which the partial Friday and Sunday could refer to an entire day. This idea dates back to a letter from Alcuin to Charlemagne. Lastly, “three days and three nights” was not to be taken literally and referred more to “a day or two” in the modern vernacular. [1] Thomas McComisckey argues that the reference in Matthew to the sign of Jonah applies to the time he spent in the fish. He notes the phrase “three days and three nights” is comparable to thirty-six hours in common reckoning, or it is an idiom, which is not meant to be taken literally. He cites other Old Testament uses of the phrase such as in I Samuel 30:12 when David finds an Egyptian that had not eaten for “three days and three nights” and Hosea 6:2 where it says, “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day.” In the New Testament, “on the third day” is used of the same period as “three days and three nights.” McComiskey also references extra-Biblical uses of this last use of the phrase in the Sumerian myth of Inanna, where the journey to the underworld and back takes “three days and three nights.”4 McComiskey does not see any inconsistencies in saying that the time Jonah spent in the belly of the fish is comparable to Christ’s time in the tomb.

William Hendriksen does not address the inconsistencies between the passages in the book of Jonah and the book of Mark, but rather focuses on the parallel between Jonah being swallowed by a fish and Christ being swallowed by the earth. He says the “sign” for the Ninevites is that a man once thought to be dead reappeared. Christ himself also makes another comparison of being destroyed or killed in John 2:19 when he says, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” [2]

According to Heinrich Meyer, the verses that follow Matthew 12:40 and Luke 11:30 speak only of what the Ninevites did in response to Jonah’s preaching, and not what they did in response to the sign. Jesus’ resurrection is a sign for both believers and unbelievers, leading them either towards or away from Him. Meyer also remarks that this reference to the resurrection by Christ Himself is consistent with other such passages in the Gospels (Matthew 14:21, John 2:21). [3] Meyer concludes the version in Luke is less complete than the one in Matthew.

**Prophetical Message**
Biblical prophets represented Yahweh through their ministries and presence in and among the people of a nation. R. B. Y. Scott states both Isaiah and Ezekiel were “signs” to their respective audiences; Isaiah’s presence representing the word of the Lord to the nation of Judah and Ezekiel’s grief becoming a sign to the exiled Jews. Scott therefore contends Jonah’s presence in Nineveh was a similar sign to the people of Nineveh, calling them to repent. [4]

Darrell Bock defends Jonah’s ministry as the “sign” Jesus is speaking about, addressing several issues that are often not considered when just looking at Matthew. He uses Fitzmeyer to help him support his argument. He says it is both Jonah’s preaching and the repentance of Nineveh that constitutes the sign, “a point that makes the sign visible and concrete beyond the proclamation of the word.” Fitzmeyer concludes it is not the resurrection that is the sign, since a sign cannot just be a given word, but the ministry of Jonah. Bock draws further attention to the comparison between the two different audiences, the Ninevites for Jonah and the Pharisees for Christ, and the comparison between Jonah and the Son of Man. The comparison between the Pharisees and the Ninevites was the message of repentance received by the Nineveh and rejected by the “adulterous generation”. [5] This is also shown in the following verses that speak of Solomon and Jonah; they too had one factor in common, the message from God they gave to their respective audiences. Likewise, the Son of Man has come to preach God’s message of repentance, but is a far greater prophet than Jonah.

The last verses of both passages in Matthew and Luke speak of the men of Nineveh and the Queen of South (Sheba) judging the unbelief of the Jewish people. Solomon spoke of God’s wisdom to the Queen and Jonah spoke of God’s repentance to Nineveh and in both cases the listeners heeded the message from God and acted accordingly. Yet, even though they had Jesus before them preaching repentance, that generation of Jews did not listen to the message. [6] So both the Queen of the South and the men of Nineveh will condemn the generation of Jews that did not listen to Christ, who is greater than both Solomon and Jonah.

= = = **Evaluation** =

The interpretation that holds to the sign being Christ’s time in the grave has a few problems when considering the different passages as a whole. It focuses on the event of Jonah being swallowed by the fish and seems to disregard the rest of the book of Jonah and the repentance of the Ninevites after Jonah preached. Also, the emphasis of this interpretation relies on the passage in Matthew, not addressing how the judgment from Queen of Sheba and the Ninevite men fit in with the “sign of Jonah.” However, this view is simpler and easier to infer from the text.

There are similar shortcomings to the view that believes Jonah’s ministry to Nineveh is the “sign of Jonah.” Many scholars who support this view often say the passage in Matthew, which refers to the “three days and three nights”, is a parallel drawn by the author and is not a quote from Christ. [7] [8] Therefore they disregard the addition. These scholars say Matthew is wont to make such parallels throughout his gospel, but little support is given to sustain this claim. Though this view does well to incorporate the entire passage, including the verses about the Queen of Sheba and the men of Nineveh, it also raises the question of how the Jonah’s time in the fish would be a sign to the Ninevites. Of the two views, the latter is more comprehensive.

[1] A K M. Adam, “The sign of Jonah : a Fish-eye view.,” //Semeia//, no. 51 (January 1, 1990): 177-191. [2] // The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository Commentary // (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Book House, 1992). [3] Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, //Commentary on the New Testament// (New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1883). [4] R B Y. Scott, “Sign of Jonah : an interpretation.,” //Interpretation// 19, no. 1 (January 1, 1965): 16-25. [5] Darrell L Bock, //Luke// (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker Books, 1994). [6] Ibid. [7] Scott, “Sign of Jonah.” [8] Adam, “The sign of Jonah.”

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