The Book of Jonah
I. GETTING STARTED The monitor’s screen of my computer hovered in front of me. I looked at it lugubriously. Somehow, I did not know where to start. Although the Book of Jonah comprises only four chapters, it gives rise to quite a few conceptual issues. These are discussed thoroughly and in detail by Jack M. Sasson’s Jonah (Yale Univ. Press, New Haven & London, 2010). But I knew that very few readers would have the patience to read this treatise from cover to cover. Most people would skim through the original or simply rely on the mention of Jonah by a pastor or other religious exponent. A need for a simplified topical treatment was desirable. The difficulty was that any treatment of the subject would look pale and shallow in comparison with this leading tome. I was about to switch off my computer and give up my at...