Baidarka

Volker

I think that we are delving off topic so I have started a new thread in Science & Skepticism. Please check it out.

Thanks

Baidarka

Volker.Doormann

Here is another example of a biblical story, that can be understood with reason only by it's spiritual kernel. The story of Jonah is read as a parable of human experience from birth trough death to resurrection and renewed life. A parable of the life of a human being in this world:

»Jonah, who boarded a ship, is really the human soul who descends to this world in order to enter into the body of the person. Why is it called Jonah (denoting torment)? Because together with the body it experiences agony and affliction in this world, as it is said, “Do not wrong (afflict) one another" (Leviticus 25:17). A person living in this world is like a ship in danger of being shattered in the midst of the Great Sea, as it is said, "the ship was in danger of breaking up" (Jonah 1:4) when a human being sins in this world, he thinks of fleeing from the presence of his master rather than giving thought to that other world.

But the Holy One, blessed be He, sends forth a strong storm wind, the person's judgment continually in God's sight and pursuing its execution. The storm strikes the ship and directs attention to the sins of that person that he may be seized. By means of that storm the person is taken through illness, as it is written, "he lay down and fell asleep" (Jonah 1:5). But even though a person is afflicted with illness, his soul is still not moved to return to its Master that it might be redeemed from its sins. What is written? "The captain went over to him and cried out" (Jonah 1:6).

Who is the captain? The good inclination which is in a position of authority. And it says to him, "How can you sleep so soundly! Up, call upon your God" (Jonah 1:6). This is not a time for sleep, rather it is the time to present yourself for judgment concerning all that you have done in this world; repent of your sin. Consider these things and return to your Master: "What is your business?” With what did you occupy yourself in this world? Confess concerning it before your Master. "Where have you come from?” (Jonah 1:8) Consider from where you have come - from a putrid drop - and you will not feel proud in His presence. "What is your country?” (Jonah 1:8) Consider that " from dust you were created, and to dust you will return” (Genesis 3:19). “And of what people are you?” (Jonah 1:8) Consider whether or not you have merit from your fathers which can come to your defense. Since you are about to be called for judgment before the heavenly court, this storm, which is a judgment-decree raging against you, voices a demand of the King, seeking to judge His prisoners. All His counselors appear before Him one by one.

It is then that the court is formed. Some speak in the person’s defense while others press for conviction. And the court insists that justice be done. If the person is not acquitted, what is written? "Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to regain the shore, but they could not” (Jonah 1:3) - those who speak on his behalf strive with great effort to restore him to this world, but they are unable to do so. Why? "For the sea was growing more and more stormy about them” (Jonah 1:13). The judgment of guilt rages with greater and greater force due to the person’s sins until it prevails over him.

As is proper, three messengers are appointed to bring evidence against him. One has a written account containing both all the meritorious deeds and all the transgressions that he bad performed in this world; another has a reckoning of his days, and the third is the one who has accompanied him from the time that he was still in his mother's womb. It becomes clear that the demand for judgment for his sins is not appeased until, as it is written, "they heaved Jonah overboard" (Jonah 1:15). " And they heaved": they took him from his home to the gravesite, in accordance with the proclamations concerning him. If he is innocent, it is proclaimed concerning him, "Give honor to the image of the King." "Yet he shall come to peace, he shall have rest on his couch who walked straightforward" (Isaiah 57:2). From where? As it is written, "Your Vindicator shall march before you, the Presence of the Lord shall be your guard" (Isaiah 58 :8). But should he be found guilty, these proclamations are heard concerning him: "Woe to this person: it would have been preferable for him never to have been created." It is written, " And they heaved Jonah overboard, and the sea stopped raging" (Jonah 1:15).

When they brought him into the graveyard following the judgment, the decree of judgment that bad been raging now calmed from it's fury. The fish that swallowed him is really the grave: What is written? "And Jonah remained in the fish's belly" (Jonah 2:1). The belly of this fish is actually the belly of She'ol. On what basis is this identity established? It is written, "From the belly of She'ol I cried out" (Jonah 2:3). And should it otherwise be understood simply as the belly of the fish and nothing more, it is here clearly written, "the belly of the Netherworld."

"Three days and three nights" ( Jonah 2:1) - these are the three days during which a person lies in the grave with his inward parts split open. After those three days, the stomach's filth is poured out upon his face as the body declares to him, "Take what you have given me. For you ate and drank all day long without ever giving to the unfortunate, and all of your days were as festive days while the poor were famished, never eating with you; therefore, take what you have given me!" This is as it is written: "I will strew dung upon your faces (the dung of your festival sacrifices, and you shall be carried out to his [heap])" (Malachi 2:3).

In this way it is confirmed that during the span of time following those three days, a person is afflicted in his eyes and in his bands and his legs, the pain continuing for a period of thirty days. During all those thirty days the spirit and the body together receive punishment as one entity and for this reason the soul remains present below, beneath the ground, and does not ascend to its own place, like a woman who dwells apart during all the days of her impurity. Afterward when the soul ascends, the body decomposes in the ground until that time that the Holy One, blessed be He, will awaken the dead.

A voice will then resound among the graves, announcing, " Awake and shout for joy, you who dwell in the dust! For Your dew is like the dew on fresh growth; You make the land of the shades come to life (You will cast down the land of the shades)" (Isaiah 26-19). When will this occur? At the time that the Angel of Death will be removed from the world, as it is written, "He will destroy death forever" (Isaiah 25:8). Since He will have swallowed death for all time, it then follows that "My Lord God will wipe the tears away from all faces and will put an end to the reproach of His people" (Isaiah 25:8). And concerning this it is written, "The Lord commanded the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land" (Jonah 2:11).

Immediately when that voice will be heard among the graves, each grave will cast forth the dead which it holds, as it is written, "You will make the land of the shades (refa'im) come to life" (Isaiah 26:19)." What are refa'im? The dead will experience healing, restoring them to their former condition, bone to bone, and so these are called refa'im (rfa, "heal"). And if you say, it is written (in connection with idolaters), "[they are] shades, they can never rise" (Isaiah 26:14), certainly all the world will find healing in the grave. But some will rise, whereas others will not. And it is concerning the latter that it is written " [ they are] shades, they can never rise." But Israel will have a good destiny, as it is written concerning them, "My dead bodies shall arise" (Isaiah 29:19).

In the account of the fish one finds words of healing for all the world, for upon swallowing Jonah the fish died, but after Jonah was inside the fish for three days, the fish was restored to life and cast out Jonah, as it is written, "Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish" (Jonah 2:2). It is written here dagah' and it is similarly written dagah in another verse, "and the fish in the Nile died" (Exodus 7:21); just as there the fish died, so here too, the fish bad died. The land of Israel is similarly destined to be stirred to new life, and following that, all "the earth will cast forth its dead" (Isaiah 26:19).«

(Zohar)

This exegesis is from the Jewish text of the Zohar ("brilliant light") from about 1300 C.E. (Author not sure, maybe: 'Moses ben Shem Tov of Leon) and shows, that this story of Jonah - containing similar elements as the four Gospels in the NT- is a parable; mostly equal as the dramaturgy of the Gospels it shows also, that an historical kernel is not intended in origin in that 4 gospels.

Volker