Alastair's Adversaria - Biblical Reading and Reflections: August 31st (Jonah 2 & Matthew 3)

Episode Date: August 30, 2021

Jonah's prayer from the deep. John the Baptist. My reflections are searchable by Bible chapter here: https://audio.alastairadversaria.com/explore/. If you are interested in supporting this project, please consider supporting my work on Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/zugzwanged), using my PayPal account (https://bit.ly/2RLaUcB), or buying books for my research on Amazon (https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/36WVSWCK4X33O?ref_=wl_share). You can also listen to the audio of these episodes on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/alastairs-adversaria/id1416351035?mt=2.

Jonah chapter 2. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me. Out of the belly of Sheal I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me. All your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, I am driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look upon your holy temple. The waters closed in over, me to take my life, the deeps surrounded me. Weds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever. Yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to

you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I, with the voice of Thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will pay, salvation belongs to the Lord. And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. When reading Jonah chapter two, we might wonder how it fits into the larger narrative. There is no statement of repentance on Jonah's part, and his prayer from the belly of the big fish has a number of elements that seem odd in its context. The prayer is framed on the one side by the big fish's swallowing of Jonah,

and on the other side with his vomiting of him out. One of the things that will help us to understand this prayer is to consider some of the wells of symbolism that it is drawing upon. A clue to one aspect of this is seen in a very strange detail at the beginning of the account. At the end of chapter one, the big fish was described as a male fish. At the beginning of chapter two, the word that's used is the word for a female fish. What accounts for the shift between the two? Perhaps the best way to understand this detail is to stand back from the text and to notice some of the symbolism that is taking place. James Bejohn has observed the way that in Jeremiah chapter 51 verse 44,

Bell in Babylon that swallows Israel, is described using masculine language. However, Babylon itself, later on in that chapter, is described as feminine. As a predatory entity, Babylon is male, as a place where Israel ends up. It's female. More interesting still is the way that Amy Erickson observes some of the symbolism of birth that's taking place here. She remarks upon the strangeness of the expression, out of the womb of Sheole. She goes on to observe other language in verses 1 to 6 that is elsewhere used in the context of birth.

She suggests that the person crying in distress might also make us think of birth pangs. The realm of Shiol here is described in a way that has connotations not just of death, but also of birth. And such connections are found elsewhere in Scripture. The infant child is knit together in the lowest parts of the earth, in Psalm 139, for instance.

Erickson argues that we should, you think of Jonah here as en-womed. I have already noted the way that this story is one that evokes the events of exile and then return. The notion of such a movement being described as one of death and resurrection, and also as one of birth fits well with the way that the events of the exodus are described. The exodus is presented as a sort of birth from the belly of Egypt. Now there's going to be another birth from the belly of Babylon. On the subject of the exodus, Erickson notes over a dozen points of contact between the landings and of this passage and the language of the song of the sea in exeter's chapter 15 verses 1 to 19

the term salvation he threw them into the sea or threw me into the deep in jona the red or reed sea and the reference to the read in verse 5 two different terms for the deep or the deeps and then a reference to going down the heart of the sea or the seas the earth as the underworld passing over swallowing loyalty the lord's holy abode or sanctuary Dry ground. Interestingly, there is also a reference to three days' journey immediately after the Song of the Sea in Exodus chapter 15, verse 22. We should also notice the way that this passage evokes the situation of Genesis chapter 1 at the very beginning of the creation prior to things being formed out of the Great Deep. Jonah's being returned to this decreated state, out of which

he'll be brought forth once more. Throughout the book of Jonah, there are many elements of the original creation. We have sea monsters, we have the deep, we have storms and great winds, we have beasts, we have the burning sun, we have a weed in this chapter and we have a gourd in chapter four. The great drama of Jonah is taking place within the world of the most basic elements. As in the story of Noah and the Ark, he's a man adrift in the deep. Like the dove in that story, he's seeking for dry land. We might also recognize the importance of the themes of dry land in the story of the Red Sea Crossing, which is also alluded to here, and the story of the original creation, where the dry land is established on the third day.

One of the interesting things about Jonah's prayer is the way that it speaks about a former deliverance. I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me. After the belly of Sheal I cried, and you heard my voice. It seems likely that he sees the big fishes swallowing of him as the first token or sign of the Lord's fuller deliverance. It's the sign that his prayers have been heard, and he anticipates that the Lord will bring this salvation through to completion. He begins by speaking about the Lord in the third person,

I called out to the Lord, and then shifts to the second person, and you heard my voice. Describing his former situation to the Lord, he multiplies the different ways that he describes the waters of the deep, the deep, the waters, the billows, the flood, the waves, the heart of the seas. Beyond the language of the deep, he also speaks about subterranean themes, the roots of the mountains, going down to the land whose bars closed upon him forever, descending into the pit.

He is undertaking a passage into the realm of death, into the order that preceded the days of creation, and also a sort of return to the womb. The language of the Psalms is not far in the background of Jonah's prayer here. We might think of Psalm 120 verse 1. In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. Will Psalm 18, verses 4 to 6? The chords of death encompassed me,

The torrents of destruction assailed me. The cords of Sheol entangled me. The snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the Lord. To my guard I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice. And my cry to him reached his ears. Jonah is making his own prayer here.

But he is using the language of the Psalms in order to do so. The reference to the reed at the end of verse 5 is a surprising one, translated as weeds plural in most translations. The term is actually singular, and it also relates to the word. to the language that's used of the reed sea or the Red Sea in the Book of Exodus. Kevin Youngblood observes that this is another surprising detail of the text. Reeds are not usually associated with the sea. They are more typically associated with fresh waters.

He suggests that taken with a term that would typically translate as river in verse 3, there's a reference here to a river ordeal. He writes that the descent that Jonah is experiencing ends up at the same place. The river, where judgment by river ordeal, takes place. to confirm Jonah's guilt and the propriety of his being confined in Shiole. The mention of the reeds enhances the imagery of the river ordeal as Jonah finds himself bound and yanked down by the entangling river plants. He also observes that language of being enclosed, enveloped and wrapped,

all evoke a process of Jonah being wrapped in grave clothes and buried in a tomb. The prayer of Jonah is a response of Thanksgiving to deliverance. From the deep Jonah calls out to the Lord seeking his holy temple. Verse 7 describes the Lord's hearing and answering of Jonah's prayer just as his life is fainting away. While there is no call to praise within this prayer of deliverance, it does move towards a commitment to pave ours to the Lord, and also to worship the Lord in his temple. The Lord addresses the fish that he is appointed. We might think of the fish here as a sort of Leviathan,

a great and terrible sea monster who is nevertheless under the rule of the Lord. The fish vomits Jonah out upon the dry land. Jonah, whose name means dove, moving from the engulfing chaos of the deep to the dry land at the end of Chapter 2, does seem very fitting. One of the questions that the interpreter of Jonah, Chapter 2, will have to face, is raised by verse 8. Jonah speaks of those who pay regard to vain idols forsaking their hope of steadfast love. About whom might he be speaking here? Is he thinking about the pagan sailors of Chapter 1? That might invite us to compare and contrast their calling upon the Lord, and Jonah's calling upon the Lord.

upon the Lord. In light of such a comparison, many commentators do not have a favorable impression of Jonah's prayer here. A question to consider, what is your impression of Jonah's prayer, to what extent should it be regarded as sincere? Should we perceive a subtext in verse 8, either referring to the pagan sailors or to the pagans of the city of Nineveh. Matthew chapter 3 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.

Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, You brood vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance,

and do not presume to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I baptize you with water for repentance,

that he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John,

to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me? But Jesus answered him, Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfil all righteousness. Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized,

immediately he went up from the water and behold, the heavens were open to him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dub and coming to rest on him. And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased.

In Matthew chapter 3 we are introduced to the character of John the Baptist. John the Baptist is very important in each one of the Gospels, and in the book of Acts we see that to be an apostle, you had to be a witness of Christ's ministry beginning from John the Baptist to the resurrection. John the Baptist is not just mentioned in the New Testament. We also see him in the works of Josephus. His practice of baptism also seems to be related to Jewish ritual washings for purity. It's not something conjured up out of nothing. The community associated with the Dead Sea Scrolls also seems to have practiced similar sorts of baptisms. In the book of John, there are people who

come to John and ask him about his practice of baptism and seem to be discussing according to the lines of ritual purity more generally. So it's not an unprecedented movement. It draws upon earlier covenant and natural symbolism. Water has a natural symbolism, washing, cleansing, union, blessing, all these sorts of things. And John is drawing upon that and his practice. But he's also drawing upon existing practices of washing. He's drawing upon the symbolism of a particular place. The crossing of the Jordan was where they entered into the land. By baptizing people in the wilderness on the far side of the Jordan, he's preparing people symbolically to enter into the land again, and he's calling people to join in this new exodus movement. It's distinct from later Christian

baptism, and it's not self-baptism either. So there are important things to notice about that distinguish it both from some of the baptisms that we find in places like the Book of Leviticus, but also the baptisms that we encounter later on in the New Testament. John declares the Kingdom of Heaven, and the Kingdom of God are largely interchangeable expressions. This is central to John the Baptist ministry and announcement. It's also central to what Christ declares as he comes on the scene. The words of John the Baptist draw our minds back to Isaiah chapter 40 where there is this prophecy of a new exodus that's going to happen. Israel is being forgiven of its sins, its warfare is ended, and God is going to come to reign among them.

That promise of the reign of God or the kingdom of heaven is in its original context a prophecy of the return from Babylon. God is coming to rule and John the Baptist characterizes himself as the one bearing this message. This frames our understanding of Christ's ministry when it comes. Note how little the Bible gives attention to appearance of characters, to scenic features and details of diet. But yet it describes John the Baptist. He's dressed in a garment of camel's hair, he has a leather belt around his waist, and his food is locusts and wild honey. Now, why on earth does it matter what he eats for his breakfast? Why does it matter how he dresses when he goes out on the day? Well, it matters because it connects us with various other things that help us to understand what

type of character he is. Most particularly it brings our mind back to 2 Kings chapter 1 verse 8 where the character of Elijah is described. He wore a garment of hair with a belt of leather around his waist and he said it is Elijah the Tishbite. The very last prophecy of the Old Testament promises that behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction. The final verse of chapter four of the book of Malachi, the final verse of the Old Testament in our typical ordering. And now we see this character on the scene who dresses in the same way as Elijah. He is the Elijah

to come and later on in Matthew chapter 17 verse 10 following he is described as the Elijah that was come. In Luke chapter 1, verses 14 following, he is described as one who will come in the spirit and the power of Elijah. And so this reminds us of Old Testament prophecy. It characterizes John the Baptist, helps us to see who he is, and what prophecies he's fulfilling. He eats locust and wild honey. He's detached from the society. These aren't cultivated foods. They're wild foods. He's connected with the poor. The locust may be connected with enemies of Israel. Honey with the sustenance of the land, wild and uncultivated. It's a return to the state of Exodus, like eating quail and manor.

And his location is important. He's in the wilderness. This brings up themes of exile, fulfillment of prophecy. He goes outside of society, a place where there are the fugitives and the outcasts. And John's baptism is connected with a certain exclusion from society. You're stepping away from society to be baptized, and you're going outside of the main area. of the land and you have to re-enter again through this washing. Pagans who wanted to join Israel would have repented and been baptized. Israel is being treated in the same way, subject to proselyte baptism.

This is in keeping with John's message that Jewish ancestry was no guarantee of safety as God came near to his people. It also sets the terms for much of the rest of the New Testament message about Jews and Gentiles and keeps with the themes of Matthew at this point. Many might as assume that the merit of Abraham will protect them, but John attacks that notion. He speaks of them as brood of vipers, it's the seed of the serpent. And this may also be an allusion to the idea that vipers kill their mothers. They were set against their ancestors and not walking in their ways. What really matters is that they need to bear the fruits of repentance. So this theme of trees and fruits, it's the characteristic of the righteous man, a tree that bears its fruits

and season and they need to bear the fruit of repentance. There's also this play on children and stones. You can see that in both Aramaic and Hebrew and it reminds us of the idea of Israel being taken, hewn from the stone of Abraham, that if they're going to be the true sons of Abraham, they have to be hewn from this. The axe is laid to the root of the tree. This is the language of Isaiah. Isaiah often uses this language of trees being cut down or of things. growing up from a stump or a root out of dry ground. The axes laid to the root of the trees. The leaders of Israel are about to be cut down. The heads of the people. And this great forest is about to be felled. God is going to come near. He's going to judge and they need to be prepared.

See a similar thing in Daniel, where it describes the story of Nebuchadnezzar, this great tree in which people took refuge and beneath its shade and its branches, it's going to be chopped down. He is humiliated. And then it will be built up again. Now, this is a need for a general repentance. It's not just a subset of the wicket. This is an event of national, not merely private import. John is calling the whole nation to enter into this repentance. It's a collective return to God. And he uses the language of God coming to the threshing floor. This is again it's language from Malachi he uses the language of the threshing floor but Malachi speaks of the temple

behold I send my messenger and he will prepare the way before me and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight behold he is coming says the Lord of hosts but who can endure the day of his coming and who can stand when he appears for he is like a refiners fire and like full as soap. He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord. It is important to remember here that the temple was built on the site of the threshing floor and drew upon its symbolism. The threshing floor is the place where the wheat is prepared, where things are tested, where God judges his people. It's the place where the oxen of the priesthood

tread out the grain, preparing Israel for God's bread, as it were. John describes his baptism as anticipatory of a greater baptism, the baptism of the Spirit. Jesus is anointed with the Spirit himself, but he will go on to anoint others. We might ask why Jesus needed to be baptized. John the Baptist makes the objection to it, but Jesus says this should be done to fulfill all righteousness. Maybe it's referring to God's establishment of his saving righteousness, this fulfillment of prophecy. Jesus is identifying with his people. He's also symbolically identifying with Israel. He crosses the water and later he'll be tested in the wilderness. And so he's leading the people on this new exodus movement. There's a handing on of the baton here as well. Jesus continues from

the last great prophet. And this is the baton that has been passed to John himself. John is the Elijah that was to come, the great prophet that was promised. And now he passes on the baton to note in the Old Testament the number of transitions that we see at the Jordan. We have Moses transitioning to Joshua, we have Elijah transitioning to Elisha, and in those cases what we see is a movement from a desert prophet to a land prophet. And in both the case of Joshua and Elisha, there are similarities with Jesus' name. Joshua and Jesus are the same name, and Elisha and Jesus are also closely associated. God saves or Yahweh saves. These are very similar names. Now Christ is taking over from the desert prophet and bringing things into the land. John is also a witness. Throughout the book

of Matthew and particularly John's gospel, John's witness is set forth as something that is very important. John the Baptist bears witness to Christ. He is the Baptist, but he recognises Jesus as the great baptize, the one who were baptized with the Spirit. And his identification of Jesus is an important part of the Witness to Christ, along with the resurrection. This is why it was important for apostles to be aware of John the Baptist ministry. He comes up out of the water and he's anointed by the spirit, the spirit descending in the form of a dove upon him. He sees this happening. It's not necessarily something that would have been seen by everyone in the situation, in the same way as a lied ascending into heaven was not necessarily a sight that anyone would have seen. Rather, your

eyes needed to be open to see this. John the Baptist saw this. Jesus saw this. And this is an anointing of Jesus by the Spirit for his mission. The heavens are open. The dove descends and the voice declares his status. This is a multifaceted witness to Christ. He is marked out as the sun at this point. This is also a deeply trinitarian event. The father speaking, from heaven, the Spirit descending upon Him, and Christ in the waters. We might also reflect upon the different voices represented here, the voice of Scripture as a witness to Christ, the prophetic voice of John the Baptist as a witness to Christ, and then also the heavenly voice as a witness to Christ. All of these join together in a unified

witness to who Christ is. The Spirit descends in the form of a dove. You can think back to the story of Noah, where the dove is what descends. ends upon the earth as it first comes out of the water. This is like the spirit on the original waters as well. It's associated with themes of love. Doves come out from eyes to express the love between persons in the poetry of something like Song of Songs. And so this is expressing the belovedness of the sun.

It's marking out the sun as it were as the new creation that's just emerged from the waters. And heaven and earth are united at this point. This is a descent of the spirit upon the sun who's standing in the waters, and all the different aspects of creation are joined together at this point. The heavens, the waters beneath, the earth, and there's, as it were, communication between heaven and earth. This is a Jacob's Ladder type theme. And that voice coming from heaven declares that he is the beloved son.

This is the language of Isaiah chapter 42, verse 1, for instance, where we read, behold my servant whom I uphold my chosen in whom my spirit delights I have put my spirit upon him he will bring forth justice to the nations or of Psalm 2 verse 7 I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me you are my son today I have begotten you a question to consider later on in the gospel of Matthew as in the other synoptic gospels we read of the transfiguration which has a number of similar themes to the baptism of Christ. What similarities do you see and why might these two events be similar?