Re: [asa] On Job

Dick Fischer wrote:

> One would have to wonder why there is a mosque erected in Mosul dedicated
> to
> Yonas, and who is buried there that has been revered as a prophet if the man
>
> had been only an allegorical figure. And why is a mound there called "Nebi
> Yonus"? Further, the Ninevites held the belief that a "fish-man" named
> Oannes (see Berossus' account) came out of the river and taught them. A man
>
> who reputedly stepped out of a fish held some esteem in view of their
> beliefs. Why would the Assyrians have listened to a Hebrew anyway? Either
> the fish-man was a lingering mythological belief based upon the prophet,
> Jonah (Oannes), or else the prophet was somehow seen as a fulfillment of
> their myth. Even today fish-men cartoons can still be seen in Mosul.
>

I don't hold strongly to a history/fact view, but this may
explain some of the bizarreness of the story: why such a
wild tale about being swallowed by a great fish. It also seems
like there could have been a Jonah, and for instructive reasons,
the writers exaggerated whatever happened to drive his point.

Sometimes, I reckon we would need a middle eastern mind to
understand some of this stuff.

by Grace we proceed,
Wayne

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Received on Fri Oct 6 20:53:03 2006