Forgive the lack of posts but I have been lacking a lot of energy lately; I have finished my translation of Jonah (before the publication of Tolkien's version too!), and the inevitable presence of a few errors is probably due to this (at one point, I had to scribble out a whole sentence because I got the tense wrong - I wrote to my teacher in the margin ''no Patrick, operiantur is a Present Passive Subjunctive!''). I shall send it off to my most excellent Latin teacher tomorrow (that is, if I don't see her). I had never read Jonah before, and having done so in Latin, I don't much like him - he was rather obstinate and foolish. In an unpublished letter to his son Michael in 1957, Tolkien wrote: ''Incidentally, if you look at Jonah you'll find that the 'whale' - it is not really said to be a whale, but a big fish - is quite unimportant. The real point is that God is much more merciful than 'prophets', is easily moved by penitence, and won't be dictated to even by high ecclesiastics whom he has himself appointed.'' (The Italics are mine) I wonder, given the time he wrote this, and the curious use of the word ''ecclesiastics'', whether Tolkien had more on his mind than Jonah?
Oh, I love jonah myself. I so identify with him!
ReplyDelete(I fear if i were in charge,-God forbid!- I might turn the church into a sort of "sinners anonymous")
Everyone else in the bible says "here I am lord"
And jonah?
he was told to go to preach to the enemies and oppresors of his people, that they should be saved.
"here I am lord?"
No
He went in the opposite direction completely!
Booked himself off on a cruise to the "costas!"
(Alright, Tarshish = Tartessesos = Spain,
or even Tarshis ship = Atlantic-worthy= on the tinrun to cornwall..
same difference)
That's me!
And even when the lord -via storm , near drowning, and wale/sea critter, 3 jewishly countable dank dark frightening days in the insides of, - rather forced him onto the right track
He outwardly did the lord's will
and inwardly still moaned, sulked , and hoped his enemies would perish miserably so as he could gloat.
That's me too!
And the Lord loved him regardless.
Presumably he got the point and repented and told the story"agin himself" or we wouldn't have it.
Moreover
There's a LOT , as well as the obvious, in our lord's saying that the only sign this incredulous generation will get is the sign of Jonah.