Is Jonah Satire?! — Claim #1
Introduction
A few years ago I saw this video from The Bible Project about the book of Jonah. I was shown the video during a chapel at a private Christian school. When I first saw the video, a few red flags went off in my head but I didn’t have the ability at the time to research more. After that day, I forgot about the video.
Recently, I’ve been hearing people talk about The Bible Project and sharing their resources. Then I started hearing claims that the book of Jonah is satire. This caused a bigger red flag to go off in my head because in my years of studying the Bible, I have never seen satire used. Sarcasm? Sure. Parables? Absolutely. Metaphor and other similar literary devices? Yes. Never satire though. It was this claim that had me researching (using the internet) if Jonah was a book of satire. All the results from the search seemed to point in that direction but the sources were all newer in the Christian sphere and linked back to each other. I couldn’t find any information from sources I already knew and trusted.
I did come across the video again. That’s where I’m assuming this idea is coming from. Does it all stem from The Bible Project? I don’t know. For me, that video was the origin point. I got off the internet, picked up my Bible and started to do my research, using the Bible.
Throughout the video, The Bible Project makes a bunch of statements or claims about Jonah and how to interpret the book. I’m going to be going through these claims and statements and, using the Bible, determine the accuracy of each claim.
This is going to be a multi-part series because I’m someone who researches hard and I’m wordy. To fit it all into one post would either make the post the length of a novella or it wouldn’t do the subject justice.
Let’s get started.
Claim #1—Jonah is a suspicious character
The claim that Jonah is essentially sketchy comes from the Bible Project’s interpretation that Jonah prophesied in King Jeroboam’s favor while Amos’s prophecy said the opposite. Immediately this is a red flag if their interpretation is true, but I’ll get to that. First, let’s go to the verses they referenced and see what they say. Discernment is checking verses referenced to make sure they say what is being claimed.
The verses referenced for Jonah and his prophecy was 2 Kings 14:23-25. The verses referenced for Amos and his prophecy was Amos 6:13-14.
2 Kings 14:23-25— In the fifteenth year of Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, began to reign in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, which he made Israel to sin. He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-heper.
Amos 6:13-14—you who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, “Have we not by our own strength captured Karnaim for ourselves? For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, declares the LORD, the God of hosts, and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”
Right away, one of the references seems to be misleading. Amos makes no reference to King Jeroboam II. There is no reasoning given for why the territory will be taken. In fact, the verse doesn’t say it will be taken, it says a nation will rise up and oppress the house of Israel.
Lo-debar means nothing and Karnaim means horns, like a symbol of strength. If we were to swap the meanings of the words used the verse would read, “you who rejoice in nothing, who say, “Have we not by our own strength captured horns (strength) for ourselves?”
When reference verses are given, you should always read some verses before and after so you can gain full context, especially when it comes to books of prophecy like Amos is. The whole of Amos chapter six is a warning. At the beginning of the warning, (Amos 6:1) we see Amos including Judah in his warning as well. This is God warning his people about what is to come.
Israel was living in a time of peace. Though God allowed Jeroboam II to regain the border, they got prideful. They thought it was their strength and their works that got them to that point. They trusted in themselves over God—which is what was going to be their downfall. Their strength wasn’t going to be enough to overcome the nation that God would rise up.
Going back to Jonah and his prophecy in 2 Kings—we don’t see the actual prophecy given. While The Bible Project claims a paraphrase of a battle won and the territory being regained, we don’t see the words that Jonah spoke to the King. What the verses actually say are what happened during the reign of King Jeroboam II. Verse 25 talks in past tense, “He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.”
This is a summary of what happened. The start of verse 14:23 comes with a section heading that says “Jeroboam II Reigns in Israel” so that tells me that verse twenty-three would be the start of the passage. In searching for context, I need to move on, so let’s see what the next couple of verses say.
2 Kings 14:26-27—For the LORD saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel. But the LORD had not said that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.
The way The Bible Project sets up this claim that Jonah is suspicious, implying competing prophecies is not only misleading and an outright lie, but dangerous theology.
As the hosts of a podcast I listen to by Apologia Studios like to say: bad theology hurts people. At the beginning I mentioned that this first claim by The Bible Project raised red flags if it were true. If this claim were true, that Jonah was suspicious and there were contemporary prophets that gave competing prophecies, it would mean the entirety of the Bible could be called into question.
Prophets were messengers of God and their wolds held the weight of it. Prophets' words were directly from God and therefore, had to be obeyed or listened to as such. The Israelites had a long history of falling away and disobeying God, following idols and false gods. The prophets God sent were usually giving tales of woe and warnings of destruction and all those prophecies came to pass.
For these prophets to have competing prophecies, one of them would have to be lying. There are examples of false prophets lying, but never a prophet of God. In 1 Kings 13, we have a story of a prophet who went to Bethel on word from God. He was given specific instructions, which he followed. Up until another man, who claimed to be a prophet, offered a competing word from what God had told the real prophet. In verse 18, we see the words, “but he lied to him.” When the real prophet follows the false prophet’s word, he dies.
Since there are no indications in scripture that would point to either Jonah or Amos lying, it would mean that God changes his mind. It would mean that he is like man who changes his mind, which would call into question Numbers 23:19 and the characteristics of God.
Ultimately, if God isn’t who He says He is and if the Bible isn’t wholly accurate, what is the point of faith? Might as well make up your own God that makes you feel good because what the Bible says about heaven and hell and salvation wouldn’t be true either.
Determination
In reality, The Bible Project is the one being misleading and misinterpreting scripture. For the reasons I listed above but also because 2 Kings is a historical book. This is why understanding genre matters when it comes to books of the Bible. 2 Kings isn’t a book of prophecy so we are not checking to ensure the prophecy happened, because it was recorded in 2 Kings, we know it happened.
These prophecies aren’t competing, they clearly happened at different times and were for different purposes. We don’t have the words of Jonah’s prophecy, all we have is what we read in 2 Kings. It says that King Jeroboam II restored the border of Israel just like Jonah prophesied. I think it would be a safe assumption to think that prophecy was directed to King Jeroboam. Plus, we have verse twenty-seven, that shows us that God used Jeroboam II despite the fact that he was a terrible king. God’s work isn’t dependent on the type of person He uses. It’s God’s work.
Amos’s prophecy was directed to the people, the nation of Israel (all of Israel, both kingdoms), and telling them not about the border being taken away, but of being oppressed and the take over of a stronger nation. Their pride and turning away from God—their sin— was going to have consequences.
We are thirty-seven seconds into this video and there is already an alarming red flag that calls into question their entire interpretation.