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Nachum Gutman, an Israeli painter, was born in Teleneşti, Bessarabia, (a part of the Russian Empire). In 1905 the family moved to the Land of Israel, and settled in Tel Aviv.  Gutman immortalized the young city in drawings and writings. He was later designed the symbol of the city.  Gutman studied art at the Bezalel Academy with Abel Pann and Ze'ev Raban. From 1920-1926 he studied art in Vienna, Berlin and Paris. In 1923 he illustrated the works of his father and thus began a long career as a children's book illustration.  Upon returning to Israel he participated in exhibitions of Israeli artists in the Tower of David. He belonged, along with Reuven Rubin and Ziona Tager to the "Land of Israel Style", which focused on landscapes and images of Israel, and emphasized the bright colors and light of the country. The artists in the group believed that the Arabs in Israel closely resemble people from biblical time, and frequently painted Arab people and villages. Nachum Gutman illustrated books by Chaim Nachman Bialik, and is considered a pioneer in children's books illustration in Israel. He illustrated hundreds of books, including his own. His style is dramatic, monumental, sculptural and primitive; and shows the influence of ancient Assyrian sculpture as well as Persian miniature art.  In 1931 Gutman co-founded the children's journal "Davar LaYeladim" and remained on the staff for 32 years. He had a regular spot in the journal with illustrated stories.  in 1934 the Tel Aviv municipality sent him to South Africa to paint the portrait of Jan Smuts. During the War of Independence he accompanied the fighters as a military illustrator and his drawings were published in "The Negev Animals".  Gutman also designed scenery for theater. In 1966 he created a large-scale mosaic depicting scenes from Tel Aviv. In 1998 The Gutman Museum of Art opened in Neve Tzedek in Tel Aviv.  Gutman died in Tel Aviv on November 28, 1980. Jonah or Jonas,[a] son of Amittai, is a prophet in the Hebrew Bible and the Quran, from Gath-hepher of the northern kingdom of Israel in about the 8th century BCE. Jonah is the central figure of the Book of Jonah, which details his reluctance in delivering God's judgement on the city of Nineveh, and then his subsequent, albeit begrudged, return to the divine mission after he is swallowed by a large sea creature. In Judaism, the story of Jonah represents the teaching of teshuva, which is the ability to repent and be forgiven by God. In the New Testament, Jesus calls himself "greater than Jonah" and promises the Pharisees "the sign of Jonah", which is his resurrection. Early Christian interpreters viewed Jonah as a type for Jesus. Jonah is regarded as a prophet in Islam and the biblical narrative of Jonah is repeated, with a few notable differences, in the Quran. Mainstream Bible scholars generally regard the Book of Jonah as fictional,[3] and often at least partially satirical,[4][5] but the character of Jonah son of Amittai may have been based on the historical prophet of the same name who prophesied during the reign of Amaziah of Judah, as mentioned in 2 Kings.[6] Although the creature which swallowed Jonah is often depicted in art and culture as a whale, the Hebrew text actually uses the phrase dag gadol, which means "big fish". In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the species of the fish that swallowed Jonah was the subject of speculation for naturalists, who interpreted the story as an account of a historical incident. Some modern scholars of folklore say there are similarities between Jonah and other legendary figures, specifically Gilgamesh and the Greek hero Jason. Contents 1 Book of Jonah 2 Religious views 2.1 In Judaism 2.2 In Christianity 2.2.1 In the Book of Tobit 2.2.2 In the New Testament 2.2.3 Post-Biblical views 2.3 In Islam 2.3.1 Quran 2.3.2 Hadiths 2.3.3 Claimed tombs 3 Scholarly interpretations 3.1 Historicity 3.2 Parodic elements 4 The fish 4.1 Translation 4.2 Scientific speculation 5 Cultural influence 6 Suggested connections to legends 6.1 Epic of Gilgamesh 6.2 Jason from Greek mythology 7 See also 8 Further reading 9 Notes 10 References 11 Bibliography 12 External links Book of Jonah[edit] Main article: Book of Jonah Jonah and the Whale (1621) by Pieter Lastman Jonah is the central character in the Book of Jonah, in which God commands him to go to the city of Nineveh to prophesy against it "for their great wickedness is come up before me,"[7] but Jonah instead attempts to flee from "the presence of the Lord" by going to Jaffa (sometimes transliterated as Joppa or Joppe), and sets sail for Tarshish.[8] A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing that it is no ordinary storm, cast lots and discover that Jonah is to blame.[9] Jonah admits this and states that if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease.[10] The sailors refuse to do this and continue rowing, but all their efforts fail and they eventually throw Jonah overboard.[11] As a result, the storm calms and the sailors then offer sacrifices to God.[12] After being cast from the ship, Jonah is swallowed by a large fish, within the belly of which he remains for three days and three nights.[13] While in the great fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to giving thanks and to paying what he has vowed.[14] God then commands the fish to vomit Jonah out.[15] Jonah Preaching to the Ninevites (1866) by Gustave Doré God again commands Jonah to travel to Nineveh and prophesy to its inhabitants.[16] This time he goes and enters the city, crying, "In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown."[17] After Jonah has walked across Nineveh, the people of Nineveh begin to believe his word and proclaim a fast.[18] The king of Nineveh puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes, making a proclamation which decrees fasting, the wearing of sackcloth, prayer, and repentance.[19] God sees their repentant hearts and spares the city at that time.[20] The entire city is humbled and broken with the people (and even the animals)[21][22] in sackcloth and ashes.[23] Displeased by this, Jonah refers to his earlier flight to Tarshish while asserting that, since God is merciful, it was inevitable that God would turn from the threatened calamities.[24] He then leaves the city and makes himself a shelter, waiting to see whether or not the city will be destroyed.[25] God causes a plant (in Hebrew a kikayon) to grow over Jonah's shelter to give him some shade from the sun.[26] Later, God causes a worm to bite the plant's root and it withers.[27] Jonah, now being exposed to the full force of the sun, becomes faint and pleads for God to kill him.[28] But God said to Jonah: "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" And he said: "I do. I am angry enough to die." But the LORD said: "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight, and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?" — Jonah 4:9–11 (NIV) Religious views[edit] In Judaism[edit] See also: Jonah in rabbinic literature Illustration of Jonah being swallowed by the fish from the Kennicott Bible, folio 305r (1476), in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The Book of Jonah (Yonah יונה) is one of the twelve minor prophets included in the Tanakh. According to one tradition, Jonah was the boy brought back to life by Elijah the prophet in 1 Kings.[29][30] Another tradition holds that he was the son of the woman of Shunem brought back to life by Elisha in 2 Kings[31][32] and that he is called the "son of Amittai" (Truth) due to his mother's recognition of Elisha's identity as a prophet in 2 Kings.[33][32] The Book of Jonah is read every year, in its original Hebrew and in its entirety, on Yom Kippur – the Day of Atonement – as the Haftarah at the afternoon mincha prayer.[34][35] According to Rabbi Eliezer, the fish that swallowed Jonah was created in the primordial era[36] and the inside of its mouth was like a synagogue;[36] the fish's eyes were like windows[36] and a pearl inside its mouth provided further illumination.[36] According to the Midrash, while Jonah was inside the fish, it told him that its life was nearly over because soon the Leviathan would eat them both.[36] Jonah promised the fish that he would save them.[36] Following Jonah's directions, the fish swam up alongside the Leviathan[36] and Jonah threatened to leash the Leviathan by its tongue and let the other fish eat it.[36] The Leviathan heard Jonah's threats, saw that he was circumcised, and realized that he was protected by the Lord,[36] so it fled in terror, leaving Jonah and the fish alive.[36] The medieval Jewish scholar and rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra (1092–1167) argued against any literal interpretation of the Book of Jonah,[37] stating that the "experiences of all the prophets except Moses were visions, not actualities."[37] The later scholar Isaac Abarbanel (1437–1509), however, argued that Jonah could have easily survived in the belly of the fish for three days,[38] because "after all, fetuses live nine months without access to fresh air."[39] Teshuva – the ability to repent and be forgiven by God – is a prominent idea in Jewish thought. This concept is developed in the Book of Jonah: Jonah, the son of truth (the name of his father "Amitai" in Hebrew means truth), refuses to ask the people of Nineveh to repent. He seeks the truth only, and not forgiveness. When forced to go, his call is heard loud and clear. The people of Nineveh repent ecstatically, "fasting, including the sheep," and the Jewish scripts are critical of this.[40] The Book of Jonah also highlights the sometimes unstable relationship between two religious needs: comfort and truth.[41] In Christianity[edit] In his fresco The Last Judgment, Michelangelo depicted Christ below Jonah (IONAS) to qualify the prophet as his precursor. In the Book of Tobit[edit] Jonah is mentioned twice in the fourteenth chapter of the deuterocanonical Book of Tobit,[42] the conclusion of which finds Tobit's son, Tobias, rejoicing at the news of Nineveh's destruction by Nebuchadnezzar and Ahasuerus in apparent fulfillment of Jonah's prophecy against the Assyrian capital.[42] In the New Testament[edit] Christ rises from the tomb, alongside Jonah spit onto the beach In the New Testament, Jonah is mentioned in the gospels of Matthew[43] and Luke.[44][45] In Matthew, Jesus makes a reference to Jonah when he is asked for a sign by some of the scribes and the Pharisees.[46][47] Jesus says that the sign will be the sign of Jonah:[46][47] Jonah's restoration after three days inside the great fish prefigures His own resurrection.[46] 39He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here." — Gospel of Matthew, 12:39–41[48] Post-Biblical views[edit] Russian Orthodox icon of Jonah, 16th century (Iconostasis of Kizhi monastery, Karelia, Russia) Oh Jonah! (2:57) MENU 0:00 "Oh Jonah!", a gospel summary of the Book of Jonah, sung by the Golden Jubilee Quartet. Problems playing this file? See media help. Jonah is regarded as a saint by a number of Christian denominations. His feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is on 21 September, according to the Martyrologium Romanum.[2] On the Eastern Orthodox liturgical calendar, Jonah's feast day is on 22 September (for those churches which follow the traditional Julian calendar; 22 September currently falls in October on the modern Gregorian calendar).[49] In the Armenian Apostolic Church, moveable feasts are held in commemoration of Jonah as a single prophet and as one of the Twelve Minor Prophets.[50][51][52] Jonah's mission to the Ninevites is commemorated by the Fast of Nineveh in Syriac and Oriental Orthodox Churches.[53] Jonah is commemorated as a prophet in the Calendar of Saints of the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church on 22 September.[54] Christian theologians have traditionally interpreted Jonah as a type for Jesus Christ.[55] Jonah being in swallowed by the giant fish was regarded as a foreshadowing of Jesus's crucifixion[56] and Jonah emerging from the fish after three days was seen as a parallel for Jesus emerging from the tomb after three days.[56] Saint Jerome equates Jonah with Jesus's more nationalistic side,[57] and justifies Jonah's actions by arguing that "Jonah acts thus as a patriot, not so much that he hates the Ninevites, as that he does not want to destroy his own people."[57] Other Christian interpreters, including Saint Augustine and Martin Luther, have taken a directly opposite approach,[58] regarding Jonah as the epitome of envy and jealousness, which they regarded as inherent characteristics of the Jewish people.[59] Luther likewise concludes that the kikayon represents Judaism,[60] and that the worm which devours it represents Christ.[61] Luther also questioned the idea that the Book of Jonah was ever intended as literal history,[62] commenting that he found it hard to believe that anyone would have interpreted it as such if it had never been included in the Bible.[62] Luther's antisemitic interpretation of Jonah remained the prevailing interpretation among German Protestants throughout early modern history.[63] J. D. Michaelis comments that "the meaning of the fable hits you right between the eyes",[59] and concludes that the Book of Jonah is a polemic against "the Israelite people's hate and envy towards all the other nations of the earth."[59] Albert Eichhorn was a strong supporter of Michaelis's interpretation.[64] John Calvin and John Hooper regarded the Book of Jonah as a warning to all those who might attempt to flee from the wrath of God.[65] While Luther had been careful to maintain that the Book of Jonah was not written by Jonah,[66] Calvin declared that the Book of Jonah was Jonah's personal confession of guilt.[66] Calvin sees Jonah's time inside the fish's belly as equivalent to the fires of Hell, intended to correct Jonah and set him on the path of righteousness.[67] Also unlike Luther, Calvin finds fault with all the characters in the story,[66] describing the sailors on the boat as "hard and iron-hearted, like Cyclops'",[66] the penitence of the Ninevites as "untrained",[66] and the king of Nineveh as a "novice".[66] Hooper, on the other hand, sees Jonah as the archetypal dissident[68] and the ship he is cast out from as a symbol of the state.[68] Hooper deplores such dissidents,[68] decrying: "Can you live quietly with so many Jonasses? Nay then, throw them into the sea!"[69] In the eighteenth century, German professors were forbidden from teaching that the Book of Jonah was anything other than a literal, historical account.[62] In Islam[edit] Jonah and the giant fish in the Jami' al-tawarikh (c. 1400), Metropolitan Museum of Art hide Part of a series on Islam Islamic prophets hide Prophets in the Quran Listed by Islamic name and Biblical name. ʾĀdam (Adam)ʾIdrīs (Enoch)Nūḥ (Noah)Hūd (Eber)Ṣāliḥ (Selah)ʾIbrāhīm (Abraham)Lūṭ (Lot)ʾIsmāʿīl (Ishmael)ʾIsḥāq (Isaac)Yaʿqūb (Jacob)Yūsuf (Joseph)Ayūb (Job)Shuʿayb (Jethro)Mūsā (Moses)Hārūn (Aaron)Dhul-Kifl (Ezekiel)Dāūd (David)Sulaymān (Solomon)Yūnus (Jonah)ʾIlyās (Elijah)Alyasaʿ (Elisha)Zakarīya (Zechariah)Yaḥyā (John)ʿĪsā (Jesus)Muḥammad (Muhammad) show Main events show Views  Islam portal vte Quran[edit] Jonah (Arabic: يُونُس, romanized: Yūnus) is the title of the tenth chapter of the Quran. Yūnus is traditionally viewed as highly important in Islam as a prophet who was faithful to God and delivered His messages. Jonah is the only one of Judaism's Twelve Minor Prophets to be named in the Quran.[70] In Quran 21:87[71] and 68:48, Jonah is called Dhul-Nūn (Arabic: ذُو ٱلنُّوْن; meaning "The One of the Fish").[72] In 4:163 and 6:86, he is referred to as "an apostle of Allah".[72] Surah 37:139–148 retells the full story of Jonah:[72] So also was Jonah among those sent (by Us). When he ran away (like a slave from captivity) to the ship (fully) laden, He (agreed to) cast lots, and he was condemned: Then the whale did swallow him, and he had done acts worthy of blame. Had it not been that he (repented and) glorified Allah, He would certainly have remained inside the Fish till the Day of Resurrection. But We cast him forth on the naked shore in a state of sickness, And We caused to grow, over him, a spreading plant of the gourd kind. And We sent him (on a mission) to a hundred thousand (men) or more. And they believed; so We permitted them to enjoy (their life) for a while. — Surah As-Saaffat 37:139 The Quran never mentions Jonah's father,[72] but Muslim tradition teaches that Jonah was from the tribe of Benjamin and that his father was Amittai.[70] Hadiths[edit] Jonah trying to hide his nakedness in the midst of bushes; Jeremiah in the wilderness (top left); Uzeyr awakened after the destruction of Jerusalem. Ottoman Turkish miniature, 16th century.[73] Jonah is also mentioned in a few incidents during the lifetime of Muhammad. Quraysh sent their servant, Addas, to serve him grapes for sustenance.[74] Muhammad asked Addas where he was from and the servant replied Nineveh. "The town of Jonah the just, son of Amittai!" Muhammad exclaimed. Addas was shocked because he knew that the pagan Arabs had no knowledge of the prophet Jonah.[74] He then asked how Muhammad knew of this man. "We are brothers," Muhammad replied. "Jonah was a Prophet of God and I, too, am a Prophet of God." Addas immediately accepted Islam and kissed the hands and feet of Muhammad.[74] One of the sayings of Muhammad, in the collection of Imam Bukhari, says that Muhammad said "One should not say that I am better than Jonah".[75][76][77][78] A similar statement occurs in a hadith written by Yunus bin Yazid, the second caliph of the Umayyad Dynasty.[78] Umayya ibn Abi al-Salt, an older contemporary of Muhammad, taught that, had Jonah not prayed to Allah, he would have remained trapped inside the fish until Judgement Day,[78] but, because of his prayer, Jonah "stayed only a few days within the belly of the fish".[78] The ninth-century Persian historian Al-Tabari records that, while Jonah was inside the fish, "none of his bones or members were injured".[78] Al-Tabari also writes that Allah made the body of the fish transparent, allowing Jonah to see the "wonders of the deep"[79] and that Jonah heard all the fish singing praises to Allah.[79] Kisai Marvazi, a tenth-century poet, records that Jonah's father was seventy years old when Jonah was born[78] and that he died soon afterwards,[78] leaving Jonah's mother with nothing but a wooden spoon, which turned out to be a cornucopia.[78] Claimed tombs[edit] Photograph of the ruins of the mosque of Yunus, following its destruction by ISIL See also: Mosques and shrines of Mosul § Mosque_of_the_Prophet_Jonah Nineveh's current location is marked by excavations of five gates, parts of walls on four sides, and two large mounds: the hill of Kuyunjik and hill of Nabi Yunus.[80] A mosque atop Nabi Yunus was dedicated to the prophet Jonah and contained a shrine, which was revered by both Muslims and Christians as the site of Jonah's tomb.[81] The tomb was a popular pilgrimage site[82] and a symbol of unity to Jews, Christians, and Muslims across the Middle East.[82] On July 24, 2014, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) destroyed the mosque containing the tomb as part of a campaign to destroy religious sanctuaries it deemed to be idolatrous.[83][82] After Mosul was taken back from ISIL in January 2017, an ancient Assyrian palace built by Esarhaddon dating to around the first half of the 7th century BCE was discovered beneath the ruined mosque.[82][84] ISIL had plundered the palace of items to sell on the black market,[82][84] but some of the artifacts that were more difficult to transport still remained in place.[82][84] Other reputed locations of Jonah's tomb include the Arab village of Mashhad, located on the ancient site of Gath-hepher in Israel;[45] the Palestinian West Bank town of Halhul, 5 km (3.1 mi) north of Hebron;[85] and a sanctuary near the city of Sarafand (Sarepta) in Lebanon.[86] Another tradition places the tomb at a hill now called Giv'at Yonah, "Jonah's Hill", at the northern edge of the Israeli town of Ashdod, at a site covered by a modern lighthouse. A tomb of Jonah can be found in Diyarbakir, Turkey, located behind the mihrab at Fatih Pasha Mosque.[87][88] Evliya Celebi states in his Seyahatname that he visited the tombs of prophet Jonah and prophet George in the city.[89][90] Scholarly interpretations[edit] The story of a man surviving after being swallowed by a whale or giant fish is classified in the catalogue of folktale types as ATU 1889G.[91] Historicity[edit] Many Biblical scholars[who?] hold that the contents of the Book of Jonah are ahistorical.[92][93][3] Although the prophet Jonah allegedly lived in the eighth century BCE,[1] the Book of Jonah was written centuries later during the time of the Achaemenid Empire.[1][94] The Hebrew used in the Book of Jonah shows strong influences from Aramaic[1] and the cultural practices described in it match those of the Achaemenid Persians.[1][22] Some scholars regard the Book of Jonah as an intentional work of parody or satire.[4][5][95][96][97][98] If this is the case, then it was probably admitted into the canon of the Hebrew Bible by sages who misunderstood its satirical nature[99][97][98] and mistakenly interpreted it as a serious prophetic work.[99][97][98] While the Book of Jonah itself is considered fiction,[92][93][3] Jonah himself may have been a historical prophet;[100] he is briefly mentioned in the Second Book of Kings:[101][3] He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath unto the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which He spoke by the hand of His servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher. — 2 Kings[102] Parodic elements[edit] Modern restoration of the Adad gate at Nineveh in a photograph taken prior to the gate's total destruction by ISIL in April 2016.[103] The Book of Jonah exaggerates the size of Nineveh far beyond what it actually was historically.[1][22] The views expressed by Jonah in the Book of Jonah are a parody of views held by members of Jewish society at the time when it was written.[5][104][96] The primary target of the satire may have been a faction whom Morton Smith calls "Separationists",[105] who believed that God would destroy those who disobeyed him,[96] that sinful cities would be obliterated,[96] and that God's mercy did not extend to those outside the Abrahamic covenant.[105] McKenzie and Graham remark that "Jonah is in some ways the most 'orthodox' of Israelite theologians – to make a theological point."[96] Jonah's statements throughout the book are characterized by their militancy,[96][106] but his name ironically means "dove",[96][106] a bird which the ancient Israelites associated with peace.[96] Jonah's rejection of God's commands is a parody of the obedience of the prophets described in other Old Testament writings.[107] The king of Nineveh's instant repentance parodies the rulers throughout the other writings of the Old Testament who disregard prophetic warnings, such as Ahab and Zedekiah.[98] The readiness to worship God displayed by the sailors on the ship and the people of Nineveh contrasts ironically with Jonah's own reluctance,[108] as does Jonah's greater love for kikayon providing him shade than for all the people in Nineveh.[108] The Book of Jonah also employs elements of literary absurdism;[22] it exaggerates the size of the city of Nineveh to an implausible degree[1][22] and incorrectly refers to the administrator of the city as a "king".[1][22] According to scholars, no human being could realistically survive for three days inside a fish,[1] and the description of the livestock in Nineveh fasting alongside their owners is "silly".[22] The motif of a protagonist being swallowed by a giant fish or whale became a stock trope of later satirical writings.[109] Similar incidents are recounted in Lucian of Samosata's A True Story, which was written in the second century CE,[110] and in the novel Baron Munchausen's Narrative of his Marvellous Travels and Campaigns in Russia, published by Rudolf Erich Raspe in 1785.[111] The fish[edit] Translation[edit] Depiction of Jonah and the "great fish" on the south doorway of the Gothic-era Dom St. Peter, in Worms, Germany Though art and culture often depicts Jonah's fish as a whale, the Hebrew text, as throughout scripture,[citation needed] refers to no marine species in particular, simply saying "great fish" or "big fish" (modern taxonomists classify whales as mammals and not as fish, but cultures in antiquity made no such distinction). While some biblical scholars suggest the size and habits of the great white shark correspond better to the representations of Jonah's experiences, normally an adult human is too large to be swallowed whole. The development of whaling from the 18th century onwards made it clear that most, if not all, species of whale could not swallow a human, leading to much controversy about the veracity of the biblical story of Jonah.[112] In Jonah 2:1 (1:17 in English translations), the Hebrew text reads dag gadol[113] (דג גדול) or, in the Hebrew Masoretic Text, dāḡ gā·ḏō·wl (דָּ֣ג גָּד֔וֹל), which means "great fish".[113][114] The Septuagint translates this phrase into Greek as kētei megalōi (κήτει μεγάλῳ), meaning "huge fish".[115] In Greek mythology, the same word meaning "fish" (kêtos) is used to describe the sea monster slain by the hero Perseus that nearly devoured the Princess Andromeda.[116] Jerome later translated this phrase as piscis grandis in his Latin Vulgate.[117] He translated kétos, however, as ventre ceti in Matthew 12:40:[118] this second case occurs only in this verse of the New Testament.[119][120] At some point cetus became synonymous with "whale" (the study of whales is now called cetology). In his 1534 translation, William Tyndale translated the phrase in Jonah 2:1 as "greate fyshe" and the word kétos (Greek) or cetus (Latin) in Matthew 12:40[121] as "whale". Tyndale's translation was later incorporated into the Authorized Version of 1611. Since then, the "great fish" in Jonah 2 has been most often interpreted as a whale. In English some translations use the word "whale" for Matthew 12:40, while others use "sea creature" or "big fish".[122] Scientific speculation[edit] Photograph of a whale shark, the largest known species of fish[123] Photograph of a sperm whale, the largest toothed predator and one of the largest whales that currently exist. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, naturalists, interpreting the Jonah story as a historical account, became obsessed with trying to identify the exact species of the fish that swallowed Jonah.[124] In the mid-nineteenth century, Edward Bouverie Pusey, professor of Hebrew at Oxford University, claimed that the Book of Jonah must have been authored by Jonah himself[125] and argued that the fish story must be historically true, or else it would not have been included in the Bible.[125] Pusey attempted to scientifically catalogue the fish,[126] hoping to "shame those who speak of the miracle of Jonah's preservation in the fish as a thing less credible than any of God's other miraculous doings".[127] The debate over the fish in the Book of Jonah played a major role during Clarence Darrow's cross-examination of William Jennings Bryan at the Scopes Trial in 1925.[128][129][62] Darrow asked Bryan "When you read that ... the whale swallowed Jonah ... how do you literally interpret that?"[128] Bryan replied that he believed in "a God who can make a whale and can make a man and make both of them do what He pleases."[128][62] Bryan ultimately admitted that it was necessary to interpret the Bible,[128] and is generally regarded as having come off looking like a "buffoon".[129] The largest of all whales – blue whales – are baleen whales which eat plankton; and "it is commonly said that this species would be choked if it attempted to swallow a herring."[130] As for the whale shark, Dr. E. W. Gudger, an Honorary Associate in Ichthyology at the American Museum of Natural History, notes that, while the whale shark does have a large mouth,[131] its throat is only four inches wide, with a sharp elbow or bend behind the opening,[131] meaning that not even a human arm would be able to pass through it.[131] He concludes that "the whale shark is not the fish that swallowed Jonah."[131] Sperm whales, however, appear to be a different matter: They regularly eat giant squid, so presumably one could swallow a human (although perhaps not in one piece).[132] Similar to a cow, sperm whales have four-chambered stomachs.[132] The first chamber has no gastric juices but has muscular walls to crush its food.[133][134] On the other hand, it is not possible to breathe inside the sperm whale's stomach because there is no air (but probably methane instead).[132] Cultural influence[edit] Depiction of Jonah in a champlevé enamel (1181) by Nicholas of Verdun in the Verduner altar at Klosterneuburg abbey, Austria. In Turkish, "Jonah fish" (in Turkish yunus baligi) is the term used for dolphins.[135] A long-established expression among sailors uses the term, "a Jonah", to mean a sailor or a passenger whose presence on board brings bad luck and endangers the ship.[136] Later, this meaning was extended to mean, "a person who carries a jinx, one who will bring bad luck to any enterprise."[137] Despite its brevity, the Book of Jonah has been adapted numerous times in literature and in popular culture.[138][139] In Herman Melville's Moby-Dick (1851), Father Mapple delivers a sermon on the Book of Jonah. Mapple asks why Jonah does not show remorse for disobeying God while he is inside of the fish. He comes to the conclusion that Jonah admirably understands that "his dreadful punishment is just."[140] Carlo Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio (1883) features the title character and his father Geppetto being swallowed by "the Terrible Dogfish," an allusion to the story of Jonah.[141] Walt Disney's 1940 film adaptation of the novel retains this allusion.[142] The story of Jonah was adapted into Phil Vischer and Mike Nawrocki's animated film Jonah: A VeggieTales Movie (2002). In the film, Jonah is swallowed by a gargantuan whale.[143] The film was Big Idea Entertainment's first full-length theatrical release[144] and it earned approximately $6.5 million on its first weekend.[145] Suggested connections to legends[edit] Jonah being swallowed by a great toothed sea-monster. Sculpted column capital from the nave of the abbey-church in Mozac, France, 12th century. Epic of Gilgamesh[edit] Joseph Campbell suggests that the story of Jonah parallels a scene from the Epic of Gilgamesh, in which Gilgamesh obtains a plant from the bottom of the sea.[146] In the Book of Jonah, a worm (in Hebrew tola'ath, "maggot") bites the shade-giving plant's root causing it to wither;[146] whereas in the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh ties stones to his feet and plucks his plant from the floor of the sea.[146][147] Once he returns to the shore, the rejuvenating plant is eaten by a serpent.[146][148] Jason from Greek mythology[edit] Campbell also noted several similarities between the story of Jonah and that of Jason in Greek mythology.[146] The Greek rendering of the name Jonah is Jonas, which differs from Jason only in the order of sounds—both os are omegas suggesting that Jason may have been confused with Jonah.[146] Gildas Hamel, drawing on the Book of Jonah and Greco-Roman sources—including Greek vases and the accounts of Apollonius of Rhodes, Gaius Valerius Flaccus and Orphic Argonautica—identifies a number of shared motifs, including the names of the heroes, the presence of a dove, the idea of "fleeing" like the wind and causing a storm, the attitude of the sailors, the presence of a sea-monster or dragon threatening the hero or swallowing him, and the form and the word used for the "gourd" (kikayon).[149] Hamel takes the view that it was the Hebrew author who reacted to and adapted this mythological material to communicate his own, quite different message.[150]*****The Book of Jonah is collected as one of the twelve minor prophets of the Nevi'im ("Prophets") in the Hebrew Bible, and as a book in its own right in the Christian Old Testament. Set in the reign of Jeroboam II (786–746 BC), it tells of a Hebrew prophet named Jonah, son of Amittai, who is sent by God to prophesy the destruction of Nineveh, but tries to escape this divine mission. The story has a long interpretive history and has become well known through popular children's stories. In Judaism, it is the Haftarah portion read during the afternoon of Yom Kippur to instill reflection on God's willingness to forgive those who repent,[1] and it remains a popular story among Christians. The story is also retold in the Quran. Contents 1 Date 2 Narrative 3 Outline 3.1 Summary 4 Interpretive history 4.1 Early Jewish interpretation 4.2 Late Jewish interpretation 4.3 Early Christian interpretation 4.3.1 New Testament 4.3.2 Augustine of Hippo 4.4 Medieval commentary tradition 4.5 Modern 5 Jonah and the "big fish" 6 Jonah and the gourd vine 7 References 7.1 Bibliography 8 External links Date[edit] The prophet Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25, which means the story is set during reign of Jeroboam II (786–746 BC). The majority of scholars date the book much later, to the post-exilic period sometime between the late 5th to early 4th century BC;[2] perhaps (along with Book of Ruth) as a counter to the emphasis on racial purity in the time of Ezra.[3] An even later date is sometimes proposed, with Katherine Dell arguing for the Hellenistic period (332–167 BC).[4] Narrative[edit] Unlike the other Minor Prophets, the book of Jonah is almost entirely narrative (with the exception of the poem in the 2nd chapter). The actual prophetic word against Nineveh is given only in passing through the narrative. The story of Jonah has a setting, characters, a plot, and themes; it also relies heavily on such literary devices as irony. Outline[edit] The Prophet Jonah before the Walls of Nineveh (c. 1655) drawing by Rembrandt The outline of the book of Jonah:[according to whom?] Jonah flees his mission (chapters 1–2) Jonah's commission and flight (1:1–3) The endangered sailors cry to their gods (1:4–6) Jonah's disobedience exposed (1:7–10) Jonah's punishment and deliverance (1:11–2:1;2:10) His prayer of thanksgiving (2:2–9) Jonah reluctantly fulfills his mission (chapters 3–4) Jonah's renewed commission and obedience (3:1–4) The endangered Ninevites' repentant appeal to the Lord (3:4–9) The Ninevites' repentance acknowledged (3:10–4:4) Jonah's deliverance and rebuke (4:5–11)[5] Summary[edit] Jonah Preaching to the Ninevites (1866) by Gustave Doré Jonah is the central character in the Book of Jonah, in which Yahweh commands him to go to the city of Nineveh to prophesy against it for their great wickedness against him.[6] However, Jonah instead attempts to run from Yahweh by going to Jaffa and sailing to Tarshish.[7] A huge storm arises and the sailors, realizing that it is no ordinary storm, cast lots and discover that Jonah is to blame.[8] Jonah admits this and states that if he is thrown overboard, the storm will cease.[9] The sailors refuse to do this and continue rowing, but all their efforts fail and they are eventually forced to throw Jonah overboard.[10] As a result, the storm calms and the sailors then offer sacrifices to Yahweh.[11] Jonah is miraculously saved by being swallowed by a large fish, in whose belly he spends three days and three nights.[12] While in the great fish, Jonah prays to God in his affliction and commits to thanksgiving and to paying what he has vowed.[13] God then commands the fish to vomit Jonah out.[14] God then once again commands Jonah to travel to Nineveh and prophesy to its inhabitants.[15] This time he reluctantly goes into the city, crying, "In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown."[16] After Jonah has walked across Nineveh, the people of Nineveh begin to believe his word and proclaim a fast.[17] The king of Nineveh then puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes, making a proclamation which decrees fasting, the wearing of sackcloth, prayer, and repentance.[18] God sees their repentant hearts and spares the city at that time.[19] The entire city is humbled and broken with the people (and even the animals)[20][21] in sackcloth and ashes.[22] Displeased by this, Jonah refers to his earlier flight to Tarshish while asserting that, since God is merciful, it was inevitable that God would turn from the threatened calamities.[23] He then leaves the city and makes himself a shelter, waiting to see whether or not the city will be destroyed.[24] God causes a plant (in Hebrew a kikayon) to grow over Jonah's shelter to give him some shade from the sun.[25] Later, God causes a worm to bite the plant's root and it withers.[26] Jonah, now being exposed to the full force of the sun, becomes faint and pleads for God to kill him.[27] And God said to Jonah: "Art thou greatly angry for the Kikayon?" And he said: "I am greatly angry, even unto death." And the LORD said: "Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night; and should not I have pity on Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle?" — Book of Jonah, chapter 4, verses 9–11 Interpretive history[edit] Early Jewish interpretation[edit] Fragments of the book were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, most of which follows the Masoretic Text closely and with Mur XII reproducing a large portion of the text.[28] As for the non-canonical writings, the majority of references to biblical texts were made as appeals to authority. The Book of Jonah appears to have served less purpose in the Qumran community than other texts, as the writings make no references to it.[29] Late Jewish interpretation[edit] The 18th century Lithuanian master scholar and kabbalist, Elijah of Vilna, known as the Vilna Gaon, authored a commentary on the biblical Book of Jonah as an allegory of reincarnation. Early Christian interpretation[edit] New Testament[edit] Christ rises from the tomb, alongside Jonah spit onto the beach, a typological allegory. From a 15th century Biblia pauperum. The earliest Christian interpretations of Jonah are found in the Gospel of Matthew[30] and the Gospel of Luke.[31] Both Matthew and Luke record a tradition of Jesus' interpretation of the Book of Jonah (notably, Matthew includes two very similar traditions in chapters 12 and 16). As with most Old Testament interpretations found in the New Testament, Jesus' interpretation is primarily typological. Jonah becomes a "type" for Jesus. Jonah spent three days in the belly of the fish; Jesus will spend three days in the grave. Here, Jesus plays on the imagery of Sheol found in Jonah's prayer. While Jonah metaphorically declared, "Out of the belly of Sheol I cried," Jesus will literally be in the belly of Sheol. Finally, Jesus compares his generation to the people of Nineveh. Jesus fulfills his role as a type of Jonah, however his generation fails to fulfill its role as a type of Nineveh. Nineveh repented, but Jesus' generation, which has seen and heard one even greater than Jonah, fails to repent. Through his typological interpretation of the Book of Jonah, Jesus has weighed his generation and found it wanting.[opinion] Augustine of Hippo[edit] The debate over the credibility of the miracle of Jonah is not simply a modern one. The credibility of a human being surviving in the belly of a great fish has long been questioned. In c. 409 AD, Augustine of Hippo wrote to Deogratias concerning the challenge of some to the miracle recorded in the Book of Jonah. He writes: The last question proposed is concerning Jonah, and it is put as if it were not from Porphyry, but as being a standing subject of ridicule among the Pagans; for his words are: "In the next place, what are we to believe concerning Jonah, who is said to have been three days in a whale's belly? The thing is utterly improbable and incredible, that a man swallowed with his clothes on should have existed in the inside of a fish. If, however, the story is figurative, be pleased to explain it. Again, what is meant by the story that a gourd sprang up above the head of Jonah after he was vomited by the fish? What was the cause of this gourd's growth?" Questions such as these I have seen discussed by Pagans amidst loud laughter, and with great scorn. — (Letter CII, Section 30) Augustine responds that if one is to question one miracle, then one should question all miracles as well (section 31). Nevertheless, despite his apologetic, Augustine views the story of Jonah as a figure for Christ. For example, he writes: "As, therefore, Jonah passed from the ship to the belly of the whale, so Christ passed from the cross to the sepulchre, or into the abyss of death. And as Jonah suffered this for the sake of those who were endangered by the storm, so Christ suffered for the sake of those who are tossed on the waves of this world." Augustine credits his allegorical interpretation to the interpretation of Christ himself (Matthew 12:39–40), and he allows for other interpretations as long as they are in line with Christ's. Medieval commentary tradition[edit] "Jonah outside the city of Nineveh" (1678), from an Armenian hymnal The Ordinary Gloss, or Glossa Ordinaria, was the most important Christian commentary on the Bible in the later Middle Ages. Ryan McDermott comments that "The Gloss on Jonah relies almost exclusively on Jerome's commentary on Jonah (c. 396), so its Latin often has a tone of urbane classicism. But the Gloss also chops up, compresses, and rearranges Jerome with a carnivalesque glee and scholastic directness that renders the Latin authentically medieval."[32] "The Ordinary Gloss on Jonah" has been translated into English and printed in a format that emulates the first printing of the Gloss.[33] The relationship between Jonah and his fellow Jews is ambivalent, and complicated by the Gloss's tendency to read Jonah as an allegorical prefiguration of Jesus Christ. While some glosses in isolation seem crudely supersessionist ("The foreskin believes while the circumcision remains unfaithful"), the prevailing allegorical tendency is to attribute Jonah's recalcitrance to his abiding love for his own people and his insistence that God's promises to Israel not be overridden by a lenient policy toward the Ninevites. For the glossator, Jonah's pro-Israel motivations correspond to Christ's demurral in the Garden of Gethsemane ("My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me")[34] and the Gospel of Matthew's and Paul's insistence that "salvation is from the Jews" (John 4:22). While in the Gloss the plot of Jonah prefigures how God will extend salvation to the nations, it also makes abundantly clear—as some medieval commentaries on the Gospel of John do not—that Jonah and Jesus are Jews, and that they make decisions of salvation-historical consequence as Jews.[opinion] Modern[edit] In Jungian analysis, the belly of the whale can be seen as a symbolic death and rebirth,[35] which is also an important stage in comparative mythologist Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey".[36] NCSY Director of Education David Bashevkin sees Jonah as a thoughtful prophet who comes to religion out of a search for theological truth and is constantly disappointed by those who come to religion to provide mere comfort in the face of adversity inherent to the human condition. "If religion is only a blanket to provide warmth from the cold, harsh realities of life," Bashevkin imagines Jonah asking, "did concerns of theological truth and creed even matter?"[37] The lesson taught by the episode of the tree at the end of the book is that comfort is a deep human need that religion provides, but that this need not obscure the role of God. Jonah and the "big fish"[edit] The Hebrew text of Jonah[38] reads dag gadol (Hebrew: דג גדול, dāḡ gāḏōl), literally meaning "great fish". The Septuagint translated this into Greek as kētos megas (κῆτος μέγας), "huge whale/sea monster"; and in Greek mythology the term was closely associated with sea monsters.[39] Saint Jerome later translated the Greek phrase as piscis grandis in his Latin Vulgate, and as cētus in Matthew.[40] At some point, cētus became synonymous with whale (cf. cetyl alcohol, which is alcohol derived from whales). In his 1534 translation, William Tyndale translated the phrase in Jonah 2:1 as "greate fyshe", and he translated the word kētos (Greek) or cētus (Latin) in Matthew as "whale".[41] Tyndale's translation was later followed by the translators of the King James Version of 1611 and has enjoyed general acceptance in English translations. In line 1:17, the book refers to the fish as dag gadol, "great fish", in the masculine. However, in 2:1, it changes the gender to dagah, meaning female fish. The verses therefore read: "And the lord provided a great fish (dag gadol, דָּג גּדוֹל, masculine) for Jonah, and it swallowed him, and Jonah sat in the belly of the fish (still male) for three days and nights; then, from the belly of the (dagah, דָּגָה, female) fish, Jonah began to pray." The peculiarity of this change of gender led later rabbis to conclude that Jonah was comfortable enough in the roomy male fish to not pray, and because of this God transferred him to a smaller, female fish, in which Jonah was uncomfortable, to which he prayed.[42] Jonah and the gourd vine[edit] The Book of Jonah closes abruptly with an epistolary warning[43] based on the emblematic trope of a fast-growing vine present in Persian narratives, and popularized in fables such as The Gourd and the Palm-tree during the Renaissance, for example by Andrea Alciato. St. Jerome differed[44] with St. Augustine in his Latin translation of the plant known in Hebrew as קיקיון (qīqayōn), using hedera (from the Greek, meaning "ivy") over the more common Latin cucurbita, "gourd," from which the English word gourd (Old French coorde, couhourde) is derived. The Renaissance humanist artist Albrecht Dürer memorialized Jerome's decision to use an analogical type of Christ's "I am the Vine, you are the branches" in his woodcut Saint Jerome in His Study. .      ebay5685