Re: [asa] On Job

A strong and rapid, though not too lasting, response to a mysterious foreign preacher does not seem historically improbable.

Can you cite an instance where it's known to have happened? Seems highly improbable on the face of it to me. There seems to be a human tendency to disregard foreigners if they have no special reputation preceding them. Their usual poor command of the language tends to get them off on the wrong foot, for one thing. On the other hand, if they're known in advance for their accomplishments, they're often given sometimes undeserved special respect.

There's no indication Jonah was in this latter category; and why would anyone have believed his fish story?

I picture a foreigner coming up to me out of the blue spouting all kinds of crazy things. I'd tend to distance myself quickly.

Don

  ----- Original Message -----
  From: David Campbell<mailto:pleuronaia@gmail.com>
  To: ASA<mailto:asa@calvin.edu>
  Sent: Tuesday, October 10, 2006 9:27 AM
  Subject: Re: [asa] On Job

   
  Another factor, besides rumors that there was something fishy about Jonah, that could have helped him make an impact in Ninevah was that things weren't going too well for the Assyrians just then. In fact, the phrase "King of Ninevah" in Jonah might refer to the weakness of his nominal control over the overall empire at that time. The historical Jonah lived at a time whn Jereboam II and Uzziah were able to expand geographically and commercially because no strong superpower was present. Shortly afterwards, Assyrian strength returned.

  The attitude of the sailors in Jonah 1, eager to assuage whoever up there was really angry with somebody down there, would not be surprising to be found among most polytheists, including the Ninevites. A strong and rapid, though not too lasting, response to a mysterious foreign preacher does not seem historically improbable.

  I'm not sure how much weight can be put on the existence of merman-like entities as connecting to Jonah; Dagon of the Philistines, mentioned several centuries earlier, was portrayed as half-fish. However, it's certainly possible that Jonah would get associated with such a deity in confused pagan recollection.

  --
  Dr. David Campbell
  425 Scientific Collections
  University of Alabama
  "I think of my happy condition, surrounded by acres of clams"

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Received on Wed Oct 11 10:34:13 2006