Journal: Tyndale Bulletin
Volume: TYNBUL 37:1 (NA 1986)
Article: Assyrian Nobles And The Book Of Jonah
Author: Paul J. N. Lawrence

TynBul 37:1 (1986) p. 121

Assyrian Nobles And The Book Of Jonah

Paul J. N. Lawrence

The book of Jonah is commonly believed to be a post-exilic composition, with modern scholarship tending to favour a fifth or fourth century B.C. date.1 A number of scholars, however, have challenged this position,2 believing that the reference to the prophet Jonah in the narrative of 2 Kings 14:25 gives good ground for placing the prophet and his ‘prophecy’3 immediately before or during the reign of the Israelite king, Jeroboam II (782/1–753).

We hope to show that this latter view is consistent with two phrases in chapter three.

(a) the king is called ‘king of Nineveh’ in Jonah 3:6, not the usual OT and Assyrian title ‘king of Assyria’.

(b) Jonah 3:7 reads מטעם המלך וגדליו , ‘by the decree4 of the king and his nobles’.

TynBul 37:1 (1986) p. 122

Some scholars have taken these two phrases as evidence for a late date. L. C. Allen, for example, writes

The reference to the “king of Nineveh” instead of to “king of Assyria” betrays a remoteness from historical actuality.5

And

The linking of king and nobles in the decree of 3:7 is a characteristic Persian trait rather than Assyrian.6

The purpose of this note is to show that the situation of Assyria in the early eighth century can, in fact, provide an historical framework for the two phrases under discussion.

Mention of the prophet Jonah in 2 Kings 14:25 occurs in a section dealing with the reign of Jeroboam II (782/1-753 B.C.).

He [Jeroboam II] was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher. (NIV)

Jeroboam II’s reign is noted for its political stability and economic prosperity. It was the rich Israelites of this reign whom Amos castigat...