The Signs of Jonah

Reading and Rereading in Ancient Yehud

Ehud Ben Zvi

• Publisher: Sheffield Academic Press
• Year: 2003
• Print ISBN:
  9780567222930
• eBook ISBN:
  9780567448910
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

In this new and refreshing approach to the story, Ben Zvi starts with the premise that Jonah, like most books, was written to be read. He therefore concentrates on intended and unintended readership(s) of Jonah and the network of messages that they were likely to derive through their reading and rereading. He starts with the historical and social matrix of the production and reading of the book in antiquity, analyzes its self-critical approach and its metaprophetic character as a comment on the genre of prophetic books and on prophets. How does the historical fact of Nineveh's destruction acually shape the reading? Or the perception of Jonah as a runaway slave?Ben Zvi demonstrates the malleability of interpretation of the Book of Jonah and its limitations, as attested in different communities of readers. He asks why certain messages are easily accepted by particular historical communities, whereas others are not raised at all.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION
• Chapter 2 NINEVEH'S FATES
• Chapter 3 JONAH 1.2, DIVINE FOREKNOWLEDGE AND THE FATES OF NINEVEH
• Chapter 4 A TALE OF TWO JONAHS AND TWO ACCOUNTS
• Chapter 5 JONAH, THE RUNAWAY SERVANT/SLAVE
• Chapter 6 ATYPICALITY AND THE META-PROPHETIC CHARACTER OF THE BOOK OF JONAH
• Chapter 7 JONAH, THE JERUSALEMITE LITERATI AND THEIR IMAGE OF THEMSELVES
• Chapter 8 THE BOOK OF JONAH, ISRAEL AND JERUSALEM
• Chapter 9 INFINITE BUT LIMITED DIVERSITY: A HEURISTIC, THEORETICAL FRAME FOR ANALYZING DIFFERENT INTERPRETATIONS OF THE BOOK OF JONAH
• Bibliography
• Index of References
• Index of Authors