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Why do some people think that the Book of Jonah is false?

Updated: 8/17/2019
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Technically, the Book of Jonah is anonymous, although Jewish tradition holds that the author really was Jonah. In more recent years it has come to be believed that the book is about Jonah rather than by him.

Until the 19th century, Jonah was regarded almost exclusively as historical fact. However, in the 20th century many other theories have been put forth as to how this book should best be interpreted, especially as allegory or parable, or as a myth based on some earlier event in Israel's history.

The text itself offers no clues about its historical period, and isn't tied to any other text, but 2 Kings mentions a Jonah during the reign of Jeroboam II (786 - 748 BCE). If the Book of Jonah was not based on history, it was probably at least inspired by the reference in 2 Kings.

The idea of Jonah living in the stomach of a fish is so improbable that most Christian apologists attempt to explain this passage as actually referring to a whale. However, any explanation must also say how someone could be inside the digestive juices of a whale (or fish) for three days and yet survive. And if natural explanations are proposed, then a natural explanation must also be proposed for the great gourd that grew so suddenly.

Overall, the Book was probably never intended to be read literally, and certainly never intended to be read as a work written by Jonah himself.

Addendum:

The whole whale/fish/alternate translations is further confused by the fact that the Canaanites worshiped a fish-god Dagon (from דג dag, 'a fish'). Also the name Ninevah translates as "a fish". The imprisonment may therefor have been in a Dagon related building (e.g The temple destroyed by Samson was dedicated to the fish-god Dagon. Judges 15:23-30) or in Ninevah

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Q: Why do some people think that the Book of Jonah is false?
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