Jonah and the big myth

peacefulpete

Many here have heard that many/most famous Bible tales are in fact merely local versions of often repeated pagan myths with a twist. The Jonah story is a classic.

The story is familiar to all, the Joppa setting, the stormy sea and boat, the swallowing by a whale/fish, reappearance after 3 days. The tale is told in various forms by ancient peoples thruout the near and far east, cultures that often shared theological ideas thru migration and trade. Greece, Persia, India, Phoenicia, etc.

IMO the best parallel is found in the Hercules story. He in the story is swallowed by a whale/fish, the setting is Joppa, he reappears after 3 days.

Why would such a story have wide appeal to these various cultures? The mystery is in the symbolism.

In ancient myths the stories were quite often reinactments of solar or astrological phenomena. In many mediterranean cults the sun was personified as a hero or god that overcomes adversity thru violence or efforts to bury or cover him. This symbolized the sun's struggle daily against the darkness or the seasonal rebirth from winter.

In the ancient world winter solstice was percieved as a perilous time. The life giving Sun had to fight the forces of darkness to return. During the winter solstice (Dec 22-25) 3 days pass when no movement in the suns celestial progress is observable with naked eye and this is the time of it's lowest appearance to the horizen( the earth, abyss). This is why the number three figures so large in numerous mythologies.

The enemy of the sun was often figured as the sea or earth as it was there that the sun returned when tired.(horizen).

This explains why various solar deities were illustrated as fish/men ascending from the sea. Dagon of OT fame is a fine example. In some illustations of dagon he is seen as a fish/man hybrid ascending from the sea, in others, as coming forth from the mouth of a fish.

Interestingly the name Jonah is Persian ( a culture that greately influence Jewish cult and thought) for "sun". Other languages of Europe and the Mediterranean have similar etymology.

Jonah story bears all the marks of a Jewish form of the family of myths from cultures that worshipped the sun. The Bible itself speaks of the Jews bowing to the sun. Later editors and trusties of the Jewish cult removed the most offensive parts of the ancient Jewish stories and/or overlaid them with literalism to conceal their original meaning.

JamesThomas

You really shouldn't do that. Look too close at the Bible. You may just find the entire damn thing is just a storybook. Then what? What would all us religious people do without our tiny little anthropomorphic deities? We might have to actually get real. Actually come out of the caves. j

A Paduan

It's widely accepted that the story of Jonah is a story, but there is much teaching contained therein - good grain.

Faraon

It's widely accepted that the story of Jonah is a story, but there is much teaching contained therein - good grain.

The problem is that people took the whole thing for a fact, even nowadays, fundamentalists take the whole bible as the literal word of a true god, which in reality is as mythical, and no different from the rest of them.

A Paduan

Maybe the design of fundamentalism is a gift, and actually a miraculous way of restraining people who would otherwise run amuck.

JamesThomas

Maybe the design of fundamentalism is a gift, and actually a miraculous way of restraining people who would otherwise run amuck.

A Paduan, I could not disagree with you more. Indeed we can dig up some instances where some poor sinner who found religion straighten up their life. However! our human history is full of wars, murders, torture and other atrocities enacted by fundamentalist under the name of their god. The root problem is that all Christian, Jewish and Muslim fundamentalists all believe in the same basic concept or idea which they call "God". The concept is nothing but an anthropomorphized image of a big invisible man. A man who first and foremost is a killer, a god of war. This repugnant creature is then labeled "The Most High", "The True God", "our Creator". So, throughout history you have the fundamental cornerstone of which we are to place our reality on and our spiritual belief, that which we are to look up to, that which we are to love with our whole hearts minds and souls -- be nothing more than a murderous maniac. Little wonder there have been so many blood flowing holy crusades. No wonder we are raised in fear and animosity for those not exactly like us. No wonder the world is full of violence and war, and mans inhumanity to man. If anything religion has hidden the innate love and beauty (divinity) within us behind tons of words, beliefs and scriptures. Ironically the root meaning of religion is to unite or bring together. It has accomplished just the opposite. It has torn us apart. Religion, sucks. It is the foundational reason so many have "run amuck". j

peacefulpete

Paduan...Considering the theme of my original post was the sun worship symbolism in the story, are you sugesting that the "good grain" was also found amoung the worshipers of Dagon?
Just what lofty moral lesson is taught in Jonah? Is it that when threatened with death even the "evil" Ninevites bowed to Yahweh? Was it that Yahweh can make you do what you don't want to do like he did Jonah so you might as well comply? Was it that Yahweh has a shortage of servants to do his bidding and so resorts to using self righteous, vengeful cowards like Jonah?

ScoobySnax

I got gobbled up once, ......maybe twice. It was real.

Odrade

Maybe the design of fundamentalism is a gift, and actually a miraculous way of restraining people who would otherwise run amuck.

A Pad. When I was a J-Dumb, I believed the story of Jonah and the Big Fish was real, true, literal and factual. Now I believe it is a story or an allegory, or something, but not literal. Last time I checked I was not running amok. The only time in my life I ever did run amok was when I did believe that a man named Jonah was swallowed by a big fish for three days, was vomitted onto a beach undigested, hung out on a beach, grew a bottle gourd, cursed a nation, had a discussion with Almighty God about how pissed he was that God didn't smush a million people, etc, etc.

Your logic is flawed.

Odrade

Navigator

O.K., so Jonah is a myth and was most likely borrowed from the Persians. The more important question is;"Why is it included in the canon of the Old Testament?" Could it be to counteract the racist views in Ezra & Nehemiah? Remember, the first wave returnees from Babylon who took wives from the indigenous population were required to divorce them when the second wave arrived because they were of impure blood. Serious business in that day and age for the women and children "put on the street". Could it be that the message that we are all are God's children, even the cursed Ninevites, needed to be learned?

Jonah and the big myth

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