Biblical Hebrew Forum

[ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk (Ben Crick)]

On Wed 18 Nov 98 (20:07:18), brent.lynn.emery AT prodigy.net wrote:
> I think the word HaPaK is used in Jonah if my memory serves me and is
> in fact one of the key words in the book. Jonah wants Nineveh to think
> that in 40 days (LXX has three) that they will be "overturned" which in
> fact they are but not in the way Jonah wanted.

 Dear Brent,

 Thank you for that. Nineveh did share the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, in
 that the site was destroyed by volcanic eruption in 612 BCE, as prophesied
 by the prophets Nahum and Zephaniah. Nineveh was captured and plundered by
 the Medes and their allies in 616; but was "overthrown" in 612.

 Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, and so God mercifully
 suspended execution of sentence for two more generations. AH Layard in his
 fascinating book /Nineveh and its Remains/, 1849, tells of a bas-relief on
 some of the walls depicting a person standing upright in the mouth of a
 large fish (representing the goddess Nina). This will go a long way to
 explain Jonah's extraordinary preaching success in Nineveh, commented upon
 by Jesus in Matthew 12:41, Luke 11:30. This was shortly after he had
 condemned Chorazin and Bethsaida and Capernaum, adding that if the mighty
 works they had seen him do there "had been done *in Sodom*, it would have
 remained until this day" (Matthew 11:21-23; Luke 10:12-15). Josephus in
 /The Wars of the Jews/ tells us how this grim prophecy was fulfilled well
 within 40 years (66CE).

 None of the commentaries in my possession comment on the discrepancy
 between the MT and LXX concerning the number of days' grace given by YHWH
 for repentance to take place before the "overthrowing". Maybe it is a case
 of homoioteleuton with the "three days' journey" of the preceding verse.
 Or it is an accommodation to the three days of chapter 4, when Jonah
 camped out on the hill to watch the "overthrow" take place, like Lot at
 Zoar (the days of the booth; the gourd; the worm and the east wind), and
 was so upset when it didn't happen. If it was only three days (LXX), then
 with EB Pusey we may well ask, what did Jonah do on the other 37 days!

> Have a paper that you both may be interested in that goes further into
> this if you are interested.

 Very possibly. Tell us more (by email if you prefer).

 We`aLeYKa HaShShaLoWM
 Ben
-- 
 Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
 <ben.crick AT argonet.co.uk>
 232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
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