JT ^ PRINCETON, N. J. ^ Presented by ■ ro\ ^TS- J 0)C\X~-\\(2/ vCX^J Section d.T74 i/ THE STORY OF JONAH IN THE LIGHT OF HIGHER CRITICISM byX luther tracy townsend, d.d. Author of " Credo" " Fate of Republics," ^''Evolu- tion or Creation" etc., etc. NEW YORK: Funk and Wagnalls Company London and Toronto 1897 Copyright, iSqj By Luther Tracy Townsend 0! iWiotint Vtxnon i^lace Cffurcf; anb Congregation, aSalttntore, »i„ tfjts ioofelet is affcctionateig anU gratefulb UeUicatcrr* PREFACE* Scepticism seldom varies its attacks upon the supernaturalism of Christianity without having something old or new to say concerning the story of Jonah. One would think from the frequency and vio- lence of the attacks upon the historical integrity of this story that it is by far the most vulnerable narrative in the Bible. Ten years ago a discussion on the book of Jonah, in New England, led the author of this brief treatise to an investigation of the subject. A sermon, entitled "The Story of Jonah," was prepared and preached in Boston and then in Mr. Beecher's church, Brooklyn, N. Y. The following request for its publica- tion, a few days later, was received: — Brooklyn, N. Y., June i, 1887. Dear Sir, — Having listened with great interest to the sermon which you delivered in Plymouth Church, Sunday morning, 6 6 PREFACE, May 29, and knowing that many desire to possess it in some form for preservation, we ask of you the kindness to consent to its pubHcation, and to put the manuscript in our hands for that purpose. We are, with sincere esteem, Fraternally yours, R. W. ROPES A. D. WHEELOCK GEORGE W. BRUSH A. W. TENNEY F. G. SMITH J. C. SAGE AUGUSTUS STORES. To the Rev. Luther T. Townsend, D.D., Professor of Theology^ Bostoti University. In compliance with this request the sermon was published in a small pamphlet edition for private circulation. Recently the historical integrity of the book of Jonah has received such fresh and widespread attention that the author, after seeking for all available additional information on the subject, prepared a sermon entitled " The Story of Jonah in the Light of Higher Criticism," which was PREFACE. preached in the Metropolitan M.E. Church, Washington, D. C. The following formal request was made by the members of the Official Board of that church : — Washington, D. C, February 23, 1897. Rev. L. T. Townsend, D.D., Riggs House, City. Dear Sir, — Believing that your logical, forcible, and eloquent sermon preached in Metropolitan M. E. Church last Sunday evening, on the subject of "Jonah and Higher Criticism," was most timely and should receive a much wider hearing than even that large congregation could give it, we would most respectfully ask for a copy for publication. Very sincerely yours, J. D. CROISSANT H. D. LYNCH ANDREW B. DUVALL THOMAS H. ANDERSON J. H. Mccarty B. F. LEIGHTON Members of the Official Boards Metropolitan M. E, Church. PREFACE. Seeing no good reason why this request should not be complied with, the manu- script, after revision and several additions especially by way of notes and references, was sent to the publishers. It scarcely need be said that the author is grateful for the appreciation shown in these requests, and hopes that the publica- tion, in some measure, may serve the cause of truth. Washington, D. C, March, 1897. STORY OF JONAH IN THE LIGHT OF HIGHER CRITICISM. The thought of the present time is somewhat sceptical and somewhat superficial. Except, however, in case of a few extreme radicals, the modern sceptic does not scoff at the Christian religion as a system ; indeed, he speaks ap- provingly of its humane efforts to benefit the race, and frequently enters its communion. But he does not hesitate to ex- press with great freedom his doubt as to many of the teachings of primitive or orthodox Christianity, 9 10 STORY OF JONAH and feels at liberty to believe only so much of the Bible as may suit his fancy, whatever that may be. To this modern sceptic the ac- count of creation, recorded in Gen- esis, is a myth, and the story of the flood is to him unauthorized tradition, while such Bible narra- tives as the passage of Israel through the Red Sea, the den of lions, the fiery furnace, as well as all other Bible miracles, being in his judgment contrary to the es- tablished order of things, are dis- credited, and the story of Jonah, in addition to being discredited, is regarded by him as quite suitable for the amusement of children, and is labeled ''The Pickwick" and ^'The Biglow Papers of the Bible." This type of unbelief and other AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 11 milder forms of scepticism, as the reader scarcely need be told, have invaded within a few years many of the churches of Christendom. There are clergymen of high standing who, even in the pulpit and on the Sabbath day, question not a few of the narratives re- corded in the Bible, and teach that the story of Jonah has no histor- ical basis on which to rest. Only a few weeks ago this nar- rative is said to have been so handled in the pulpit by an emi- nent clergyman, who is also a lit- erary critic, as to excite great mer- riment and outbursts of laughter, though such results, he has told us since, were not intended. But if the story, as this critic in so many words assures us, "is 12 STORY OF JONAH wholly fiction," why should not just such facetious and laughful results have been intended ? Im- posture ruthlessly should be ex- posed, and shafts of ridicule are among the best agencies in expos- ing it. If the story of Jonah is not true, if it is " wholly fiction," if the amusement that arises from *'the simple statement of the story shows," as the critic says, " the incongruity which lies in the very nature of the narrative," ^ then as a literary critic one has no occasion to offer one's apology for raising a laugh. Indeed apology is quite out of place. If this story is " wholly fiction," and if the Church teaches that it is wholly historic, we would justify 1 Dr. Lyman Abbott. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 13 any man in making it a laughing- stock in order to overthrow the error, and could not feel self-con- demned in contributing an effort to show the world its inconsisten- cies and incongruities. And we do not hesitate to say that viewed by the Scriptural standard this story of Jonah, if it is a mere par- able, does in no way deserve the rank to which the critics have as- signed it, and owing to the absurd- ities in its conception it is, in our judgment, when viewed as a para- ble, an ethical and a literary failure. As might be supposed, this story, ever since the dawn of the Chris- tian era, has received at the hands of unbelievers a good deal of atten- tion. It provoked the mockery of Celsus in the second century, of 14 STORY OF JONAH Zosimus in the fifth, of Thomas Paine in the last, while in the pres- ent century and in our own coun- try there is found a large number of sceptics, conspicuous among whom is a brilliant Western lawyer, who has figured quite prominently in the past as a foe of the Christian faith, though at the present time he is much overshadowed in his opposition to the supernaturalism of the book of Jonah, at least in public thought, by the clergyman and critic already referred to — the genial, gentlemanly, literary, and distinguished successor of Mr. Beecher in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, N. Y. It would not, therefore, be sur- prising, in view of the quantity, quality, and historic persistency AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 15 of this adverse criticism, and in view of the sceptical character of the age in which we live, if the members of the various Christian denominations of our country were found holding, at least, quite a variety of opinions as to the re- markable narrative before us. There are those doubtless who believe the story literally, without change or modification. Others are confident that the narrative is "simply an allegory," '*a legend," **a satirical poem," " a parable in ethics," or " a fiction in prophetic dress." Others are entirely in doubt as to the interpretation that should be given to this story, while a few others entertain the opinion that it is altogether too late to dis- cuss any of the incredible stories 16 STORY OF JONAH of the Bible. Men of this class insist that all such accounts should be dismissed from our thought and from our talk, since they can no longer be believed by educated people. We would better spend our time, it is said, in discuss- ing the practical phases of the gospel, and the vital questions of modern life. '* Let the dead past bury its dead out of our sight and hearing while we pass on into the brightness and serenity of the approaching centuries." Now, therefore, in such a con- flict of opinion it is no matter of wonder that many of our adult people, and very many of our young people, as suggested, have fallen into the tide and are drifting in the direction of a pronounced un- AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 17 belief, not only as to the narrative before us, but as to every other revelation in the Bible that in- volves the supernatural. Amid such an unsettling of faiths and opinions, what shall be done ? is a question of no small impor- tance. In attempting an answer we must bear in mind that the day of pure theological dogmatism is past ; hence if one would seek to be of service, either to the honest inquirer or to the honest sceptic, there must be resort in Bible study not so much to what is known as ecclesiastical authority as to what is termed the rational or literary or scientific method ; that method we mean which is em- ployed by the modern scientist in 18 STORY OF JONAH his Study and teaching of natural phenomena. It is the method of the skillful lawyer when preparing his case and presenting it to the jury. It is the method of the physician when making a diagnosis of the disease he is treating, or when deciding on the remedies to be employed. And it is the method that hes at the basis of all literary criticism and especially of " higher criticism," and against such criticism no objection should be raised, for it is no bugbear or other kind of wonderful or frightful thing ; it is simply the bringing of a subject under the light of all the facts that relate to it. In prosecuting, for instance, any historical subject, or rather one purporting to be historical, the AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 19 literary or scientific method, which, as we said, is the method of higher criticism, leads the investigator first of all to bring before the mind the various facts involved; then, after testing their reliability, he is prepared to state his conclu- sions, though if he is a wise man he will say, " These conclusions are not necessarily final, they are merely tentative ; for new facts may be discovered to-morrow that will demand radically different or at least modified conclusions." Now as this scientific method seems applicable to all discussions on all sorts of subjects, profes- sional, literary, historical, philo- sophical, and scientific, why may we not apply it to the records of the Bible ? The Bible nowhere 20 STORY OF JONAH asks for special favoritism. " Come let us reason together " is its invi- tation to all. Hence in a plain narrative form let us bring before the mind the more important facts, or what are said to be facts, concerning the story of Jonah as recorded in the Bible, and then we may seek to ascertain what parts of the narra- tive, if any, are credible and what parts appear, at least on the sur- face, to be incredible. After doing this we may reach a conclusion. The incidents recorded are these : — Jonah, the son of Amittai, was born at Gath-hepher, about eight hundred years before Christ. He was what is termed a Jehovah prophet, and, after prophesying AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 21 concerning Israel, was sent to Nineveh, the metropolis of the Assyrian Empire, to preach re- pentance to that great and wicked city. It is recorded that, instead of obeying the command, he took pas- sage at Joppa for Tarshish, — either the modern Tarsus in Cilicia, or else Tartessus in Spain. The latter place is the more probable. The narrative from this point is so briefly and faultlessly stated that we attempt no paraphrase, but give the story up to the point of Jonah's casting into the sea pre- cisely as we find it : — ♦' But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. " Then the mariners were afraid, and STORY OF JONAH cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship ; and he lay, and was fast asleep. "So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. '• And they said every one to his fellow. Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. "Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy coun- try? and of what people art thou? "And he said unto them, I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 23 "Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, be- cause he had told them. " Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. " And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea ; so shall the sea be calm unto you : for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. " Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to land ; but they could not : for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. " Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said. We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood : for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee. 24 STORY OF JONAH ** So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. " Then the men feared the Lord ex- ceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows. "Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights." (Chap, i, : 4-17-) This account is followed by what seems to be the most improbable statement of all, that Jonah re- tained his consciousness, and of- fered a prayer while in that loath- some imprisonment. It is also stated that the Lord heard his prayer, and that on the third day Jonah was cast by the whale upon dry land. It is still further re- corded that Jonah then went to Nineveh and delivered his mes- AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 25 sage ; that the people repented, that God forgave them, that Jonah was greatly incensed because Nin- eveh had escaped her predicted doom, but afterward in a singular way was taught a salutary lesson as to God's great forbearance, not only toward that penitent city, but also toward all peoples who forsake their iniquities and turn to him for forgiveness. In brief, such is the remarkable story concerning Jonah, the prophet of Israel. Now at this point the radical sceptic who, as already suggested, nay be and often is extremely superficial as well as sceptical, without giving the subject critical study, sums up the case in a single dogmatic sentence, which is this, " I do not believe one word of this story." 26 STORY OF JONAH What shall be our reply ? Shall it be an equally dogmatic sentence, or some kind of clerical rebuke ? By no means, for the modern scep- tic at such a reply would laugh in our faces. But rather in a kindly manner we may first suggest a cau- tion, namely, that this judgment of the sceptical critic is too sweeping, for unless we are prepared to deny the credibility of all history, there are some parts of this story of Jonah, that on the ground of the higher and the highest criticism one cannot help believing. Let us, therefore, instead of passing our judgments in such a prema- ture and wholesale way, adopt the scientific method and, among these alleged facts, note first those that are reasonably credible. We shall AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 27 then be in a better position to decide as to the disposition to be made of such parts of the narra- tive as are thought to be incredible because they are, or seem to be, supernatural. In pursuance of this method we first apply our tests to the leading character in the narrative, Jonah, the son of Amittai. The question at this point reduces itself to this : Was there a man named Jonah, did he live in Palestine, was he a Hebrew and a prophet of the Lord ? Our reply is that on the grounds of historical and geographical criti- cism, and on the grounds of the most recent and highest philolog- ical and literary criticism, we are led if not forced to the conclusion that Jonah was neither a symbol- STORY OF JONAH ical nor a mythical, but was an historical character. It was an historical and a pro- phetical, not a mythical, age in which he lived. He was contem- poraneous with such men as Oba- diah, Joel, Amos, and Hosea, who belonged to the last school of Old Testament prophets. If Jonah is consigned to the realms of the mythical, then there is no reason why these other prophets, or, in- deed, no reason why the Greek and Roman classical writers of that same period, and even those who flourished somewhat later, should not be consigned to those same mythical realms. Indeed, there is not an argument now used in disproving the histor- ical character of Jonah that cannot AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 29 be used against the historical char- acter of those distinguished con- temporaneous Assyrians, Shalma- neser, Saracus, and Sennacherib, and of those early and notable Greek characters, Hesiod, Lycur- gus, and Homer, who flourished about the same date. One can' present just as strong reasons in support of the proposition that Virgil and even William Shake- speare were unhistorical charac- ters, as that Jonah, the son of Amit- tai, was an unhistorical character. / Another fact that higher criti- cism requires us to take into con- sideration is this, that Jonah's name is of Hebrew origin. The word nir signifies a dove. The transference of the name of some object or quality to a person was 30 STORY OF JONAH the usual method of forming He- brew names, and appears, so far as we can discover, to have been with- out exception the method employed during the lifetime of Jonah. Amos, for instance, signifies "bearer"; Obadiah signifies ** ser- vant of Jehovah " ; Joel signifies "Jehovah is God"; Micah signi- fies "who is like God?" Nahum signifies "benevolence"; Haggai signifies " a feast " ; and Amittai, the name of the father of Jonah, signifies, "stability" or "truth of God." Jonah's name, we repeat, was therefore of Hebrew origin, and was formed in strict harmony with the Hebrew method of form- ing names eight hundred years before Christ, the time at which this prophet received his name. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 31 There is an additional fact in this connection which, in the light of higher criticism, must not be overlooked ; namely, that Jonah is referred to as an historical charac- ter elsewhere in the Bible, and his name is mentioned also in other Jewish historical writings. He is spoken of in 2 Kings 14:25; Matt. 12 : 39, 40 ; Luke 1 1 : 29-32 ; in Tobit, 4-iv, 15; and in the writings of Josephus, Ant., Chap. IX, 10, Sect. 2. Such is the proof, in the light of higher criticism, that Jonah was neither a symbolical nor a mythical, but was an historical character. Turning attention next to the book which bears the name of Jonah, we are confronted by several 32 STORY OF JONAH important facts, three of which deserve special mention. First, this book employs almost identically the same form of intro- duction that is used in the other prophecies of about the same period. Note the following : " The word of the Lord that came unto Hosea, the son of Beeri" (Hosea i:i); "The word of God that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel " (Joel I : i) ; ''The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite " (Micah i : i) ; "The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi " (Zeph. I : i). Turning to the book of Jonah we read, "The word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai" (Jonah i : i). In view of these introductory AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 33 words, what can be said, on the grounds of higher criticism, if not this, that either the writer or the editor of the book of Jonah in- tended to deceive his readers, or else to give the book the same rank and authority as belong to those books with which it has been compiled ? The second fact bearing upon the point before us is this: that a belief in the historical integrity of the book of Jonah universally and continuously prevailed in the Jewish synagogue, and was the belief entertained by the Christian Church during all the early years of its history. Everybody who has studied the subject knows that the primitive Christians, in their paint- ings and frescoes, showed their 34 STORY OF JONAH unwavering belief in the story of Jonah. Archdeacon Farrar, in speaking of those paintings, says : " I found three favorite subjects from the Old Testament : i. The three men in the fiery furnace ; 2. Dan- iel in the lions' den ; 3. The story of Jonah. The Christian felt special delight in the story of Jonah. The fish they always repre- sented not as a fish, but as a long, thin-necked monster of the deep." And as every student of eccle- siastical history knows, the story of Jonah was not called in question in the Christian Church until the middle of the last century, and many of the methods of criticism then employed to rule this book out of the sacred canon are at the AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 35 present time held in almost uni- versal disrespect. The third fact bearing upon this ^ point is, that the compilers of the Old Testament, who were the last of the Old Testament prophets, and whose sources of information were, perhaps, as numerous, at least, whose common sense and judgment were quite as reliable as those of our modern critics, were men of such courage and integ- rity that they would have suffered martyrdom sooner than introduce among the prophetical writings the narrative of Jonah as history and prophecy, if they had thought it to be only a piece of mythical writing. In passing we must not fail to call attention to another fact in 36 STORY OF JONAH the internal construction of this book ; namely, if the story of Jonah is a parable it is strikingly excep- tional, for it is the only parable in the whole Bible that has such in- congruity as to excite amusement. Such a peculiarity as this should on no account escape the attention of those who pretend to be working in the realms of higher criticism.^ And we may add that every parable of the New Testament, as one of our latest critics himself assures us, is such as might have 1 A study of the parables of the Old Testament will confirm what we are saying. The following are the ones usually enumerated: — Jotham's parable of the trees, Judges 9: 7-15. Nathan's parable of the ewe-lamb, 2 Sam. 12; 1-14. Jehoash's parable of the thistle and cedar, 2 Kings 14: 9. Isaiah's parable of the vineyard, Is. 5 : 1-5. Ezekiel's parable of the lions' whelps, Ez. iq: 1-9. Solomon's parable of the poor wise man, Eccl. 9: 13-15- AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 37 been a fact or have been based on facts. But more than this, the integrity of the book of Jonah will bear the most critical inspection. In the judgment of our ablest scholars the philological, historical, and geo- graphical statements of this book of Jonah, together with its unity, its striking idioms, and the use of certain peculiar words, such as ni^SD. sehpheenah, Jon. 1:5, "a decked vessel " ; b^nn D"), ravhach- oevel, Jon. i : 6 {comp. Ez. 27 : 8), "chief of the sailors," and ar^D. taam, Jon. 3 : 7 {comp. Ezra 6: 14), "decree," are data of supreme im- portance, and were so convincing as to have led even Paulus, one of the most destructive of the German critics, unhesitatingly to ascribe 38 STORY OF JONAH the language of this book to the times of Jonah, the son of Amittai. Now if there is any higher type of criticism, or a method any more scientific that can be used in place of these we have employed in es- tablishing the historical character of Jonah and the historical integ- rity of the book bearing his name, we confess that after many years of investigation we do not know what they are or where they can be found. And we challenge the sceptic and the critic of whatever school to point out a single defect in the reasoning we thus far have employed, or any irrelevancy in the facts presented. ^ We next call the attention of the reader to a few facts concern- ing the city of Nineveh. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 39 As late as sixty years ago the literary and higher critics of that day did not hesitate to assert that there never was such a city as Nineveh is represented to have been. Some of those men declared, therefore, that Nineveh as well as Jonah was nothing but a myth. And it must be confessed that from the dawn of the Christian era down to fewer than sixty years ago there were many reasons on which to base such assertions, and the friends of the Bible were some- times perplexed when attempting to make a reply. Here was the difficulty ; in the fourth cen- tury Alexander fought his great battle of Arbela, near the site of Nineveh, yet neither his histo- rians nor his geographers, though *\ y 40 STORY OF JONAH describing many other events and places, in any way allude to the remains of a great city, nor do they even mention the name of Nine- veh. This fact, at first thought, is remarkable, and seemingly justi- fied the sceptic in doubting that such a city had ever existed. Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, Ptol- emy, and other writers of the early centuries, though traversing that territory again and again, said noth- ing and knew nothing of the site of that ancient city. The most they did was to speak of certain traditions concerning an ancient and celebrated city, the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Of its site or of its history they had nothing whatever to say. And we repeat \ that until within less than sixty AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 41 years the story of the greatness and glory of Nineveh was there- fore discredited for lack of evi- dence. The higher critics decided that if there had been such a city this utter silence of all ancient geographers, historians, and travel- ers would be absolutely unaccount- able. It is not surprising, there- fore, when Nineveh in this book of Jonah was described as an exceed- ing great city, of three days' jour- ney, containing more than six- score thousand persons who could not discern between their right hand and their left, that scepticism and higher criticism united in say- ing that these accounts bear upon their very face the evidence of false- hood. They said that these Bible writers viewed things in the light 42 STORY OF JONAH of ** their own puny ideas of mag- nificence." And there, for a time, ended the argument. But in 1 841, underneath the accumulations of centuries, Nine- veh was discovered, then un- covered, and was found to have had just such extent and mag- nificence as are recorded in this book of the prophecy of Jonah. The excavations made by M. Botta, Layard, Rassam, Loftus, and George Smith have enabled us to trace the walls built by Sennacherib, and repaired by As- surbanipal, and to mark the site of the palaces of Shalmaneser and of the temple of Nebo. These explorers and others of later date have exhumed the monuments of Nineveh ; her colossal sculptures, AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 43 her numberless cylinders and seals, her slabs of gray alabaster sculp- tured in bas-relief and inscribed with beautiful arrowheaded char- acters, are now familiar objects, some of which have been trans- ported to almost every noted mu- seum of the world. And, perhaps, no one need be told that upon these slabs are inscriptions of great interest to Bible students which in some instances have com- pletely upset the views held by the higher critics during the first half of the present century. They contain references to Hiram, king of Tyre, who flourished about two hundred years before Jonah ; and references to Jehu, son of Omri, and to Benhadad, king of Damas- cus, both of whom flourished about 44 STORY OF JONAH one hundred years before Jonah ; and there are references to Heze- kiah, who was king of Judah about one hundred years after Jonah. There can now be read on those slabs accounts of Assyrian inva- sions in all directions. There is a record of an invasion of Judaea, and of the siege of Lachish, but a suggestive silence as to the re- sults of that Judsean campaign. One of the inscriptions of the siege of Lachish, as interpreted by Lay- ard, reads thus : " Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment before the city of Lachish, I give permission for its slaughter." But it was not destroyed.^ Speaking in general of these ^ Comp. 2 Chron. xxxii; 2 Kings xix; Jer. xxxiv. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 45 discoveries, Layard declares that the Assyrian records are nothing but a register of military cam- paigns, spoliations, and cruelties.^ Recent explorers, among whom are M. de Sarzac, Lockyer, Tomp- kins, and Professor R. W. Rogers, have made similar discoveries, but in addition also find overwhelming evidence of a very high state of civilization, as well as of gross wickedness. And if further excavations should disclose the fact that, during the reign of one of the later Assyrian kings, a prophet of Israel pre- dicted the doom of Nineveh, but that the doom was averted by the God of the Jews, it would be no more singular than discoveries ^ Comp. Nahum 2: 12; 3: i, 19. 46 STORY OF JONAH already made. At all events there is now no denying the facts that there was an immense city on the shores of the Tigris ; that it was almost without an equal in wealth, power, and luxury; that it was notorious for its sensuality, vio- lence, and cruelty ; that it was flourishing in the time of Heze- kiah, king of Judah, in the time of Benhadad, king of Damascus, in the time of Hiram, king of Tyre, and that it was enjoying a very high degree of prosperity and achieving military conquests over all the neighboring nations in the time of Jonah, the son of Amittai. In order to bring out a thought that will be of service further on in the discussion, we pause at this point for a moment to answer a AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 47 question which one naturally asks ; namely, How was it that histo- rians, during the first and fourth centuries, said so little of Nineveh, and made no mention whatever of any visible evidence of its exist- ence ? The answer is, that at that time there were no visible evi- dences. The facts are these : Nineveh, founded by Nimrod, a great-grandson of Noah,^ fifteen hundred years before Christ, be- came, during the reign of Sen- nacherib, the capital of the Assyr- ian Empire. It was in its greatest glory when Jonah (800 b.c.) proph- esied against it. It was standing several years later, when Nahum uttered his prediction against it. It was besieged for two years by iGen. 10: u. 48 STORY OF JONAH ''^ the combined forces of the Medes and Babylonians, and by them was captured, 606 e.g., which was two hundred years after the prophecy of Jonah. Excavations show that it was then completely devastated by conflagrations, which destroyed everything except its stone and brick. Its walls were thrown down ; and, according to prophecy, it was made forever uninhabit- able.^ Immediately after its over- throw it began to fall into its pro- phetic grave. Four hundred years after the time of Jonah, Herodotus passed over the site of Nineveh, but men- tions no visible ruins. Xenophon, about the same date, likewise trav- ersed and re-traversed the shores iNah. 3: 1-7; Zeph. 2: 13-15. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 49 of the Tigris, but alludes to no\ remains of a great historic city. Thus Nineveh, flourishing in the time of Jonah, captured within two hundred years after Jonah, buried out of sight within four hundred years after Jonah, remained in its grave for nearly twenty-five hun- dred years. It was in 1841, when Botta, and a little later Layard, began their excavations. Hence our radical sceptic who in his haste said, I do not believe one word of this story of Jonah, must qualify his statement, for he is now compelled to admit the fol- lowing facts ; namely, there was such a man as Jonah ; he was a recognized prophet of Israel; he flourished about eight hundred years before Christ, and at that 50 STORY OF JONAH time Nineveh, a great, gay, proud, and wicked city, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, was in her supremacy. These facts, once de- nied, are now undeniable and fur- nish a sort of indisputable his- toric foothold on which one can stand and study all the correlated incidents of this remarkable nar- rative. But let us enumerate certain other matters in the story of Jonah that no intelligent and reasonable sceptic, who is famil- iar with what is termed higher criticism, will venture to deny. For instance, he will not deny that it is entirely credible that Jonah was sent to Nineveh to de- nounce her iniquity and make known to her people the God of AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 51 Israel. Such missions were an important part of the prophet office and service.^ On a similar mission Joseph and Moses were sent to Pharaoh and the Egyp- tians. On a similar mission Elisha was sent to the king and people of Syria. On a similar mission Daniel was sent to four of the greatest monarchs of the world, Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Cy- rus, and Darius. And more than this, it is entirely credible, as any critic must allow, that Jonah should have hesitated to go to Nineveh, There were many reasons for such hesitation. In common with all Israelites he looked upon the inhabitants of that city with disdain, if not with f 1 2 Kings i8: 13; Jer. 25: 4; 5: 59-64. 52 STORY OF JONAH ^ revulsion. He desired to have no associations with that heathenish and wicked though civilized people. It is more than likely, too, that he had forebodings that his mission would be attended with disappoint- ment, and also he may have feared personal injury. If his name in- dicates anything concerning his character, he had the gentleness and timidity of a dove rather than the strength and heroism of a lion ; he was a Melanchthon rather than a Luther. There is nothing incredible, therefore, in his at- tempted abandonment of this to him extremely distasteful mission. Indeed such unfaithfulness is by no means uncharacteristic of human nature. Jonah represents many , servants of God who have left AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 53 undone what ought to have been done. Men called to the ministry frequently have rebelled, not com- plying with their convictions until repeated reverses in other under- takings have driven them into the path of obedience. And it is credible, too, that Jonah after having abandoned his mission fled to Joppa and found there a ship which was about to sail to Tarshish. Joppa, the mod- ern Jaffa, was at that time a well- known seaport of the Mediter- ranean, between which and other trading places commerce had been carried on almost from the dawn of history. And in taking this sea voyage there is nothing incredible ; Jonah did simply what many other runa- V 54 STORY OF JONAH -^ way men, after committing some sin or crime, have done. The statement, too, that Jonah paid his fare is not only one of those incidental turns in the nar- rative that support the view that the story is history and not fiction, but it shows also that Jonah was no defaulter, stowaway, or tramp, but was a man who intended to pay his honest debts, though flee- ing from the performance of his religious duty. Nor is there anything incredible in the statement that, after going on board the ship, Jonah went be- low deck ; and having been in in- tense excitement for days, perhaps for weeks, and being physically and mentally exhausted, there is nothing incredible in the addi- AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 55 tional statement that he fell fast asleep. Men can sin, indeed they can commit appalling crimes and then sleep as if nothing had hap- pened ; they sleep, though they are to be hanged the next day. Nor is there anything incredible in the statement that a severe storm arose. One might as well question the account of Paul's rough experience and shipwreck on this same sea, and perhaps not far from the scene of the storm that overtook this ship from Joppa, as to call in question the story before us.^ And that the sailors prayed and bound themselves by oaths to do and be better in the future if they were spared this time, is not in- ^ Acts xxvii and xxviii. 56 STORY OF JONAH credible, at least in the judgment of any one who is at all familiar with men engaged in a seafaring life. It is notorious that sailors swear and pray, and pray and swear the same minute. Nor is there anything incredible in the statement that the ship's crew, when nothing else availed, cast the unfaithful prophet over- board ; for, in the time of Jonah and in the countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, and on the islands of that sea, as the higher critics have or should have learned, it was no uncommon thing to appease the gods by offer- ing human sacrifices.^ And if ever such sacrifices were called for, it 1 Eurip., Electr., v. 1354; Theophr., Charact., 29; Cic, De Nat. Deor., i, iii. c. 37; Orph., Argon., v. X178; Hdt., i. vil. c. 191; Strab., i. xiii. c. 2. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 57 would seem to be in the present instance. Jonah already had told those on board that he was the cause of their trouble. Hence, after this confession, the bowlings of the tempest, which every moment increased and threat- ened to wreck them, and the lot that had fallen upon Jonah, were to that ship's company as the voice of God. There was but one thing to do, as they thought, and that was to cast the disobedient and guilty prophet into the sea. And that Jonah was willing, or at least that he consented, to be thrown overboard is not so very strange when we take into account his troubled conscience and his nausea. He was from the inland among the hills of Gath-hepher, was con- 58 STORY OF JONAH sequently unaccustomed to sea voyages, and in that storm probably was deathly sick. More than one man when in like condition, sinful and sick, has felt that to go over- board into the boiling sea would be a relief. Nor is there anything incredible in what is said to have followed; namely, that a great fish (di, dahg) was near the ship, and seized Jonah the moment he struck the water. Every seafaring man knows that at sea sharks follow ships for days, sometimes for weeks ; and if an unfortunate man falls overboard, he is often instantly seized and devoured. We need not extend the enumer- ation of these incidents further. But bringing all the scenes of AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 59 this storm under the light of liter- ary and higher criticism, noting the behavior and peril of the ship, the terror of those on board, the praying and oaths of the sailors, the throwing overboard of the cargo, the casting of lots, the confession of Jonah, the efforts of the kind- hearted sailors to spare the unfor- tunate prophet, we shall find that they are full of lifelikeness ; and the point we make and the one that is vital in the discussion is this, that such lifelikeness, were it not based on facts, would be, on the grounds of the highest criti- cism, unaccountable if not impos- sible in an age and among a people where fiction had not been culti- vated as an art. The literary remains of that age, 60 STORY OF JONAH as every scholar ought to know, are historic, not mythical. Orien- tal and Grecian fiction was a sub- sequent development from five to eight hundred years later. And unless the whole Bible is fiction and myth, this story of Jonah stands out conspicuously as an exception in the entire range of ancient Jewish rhetorical composi- tion ; and the higher, at least the highest, criticism cannot allow any such disposition of this book of Jonah to be made. In view, therefore, of all the considerations presented, we appeal to any candid person if the vari- ous and numerous coincidences, the incidental and circumstantial confirmations are not such as to place the parts of this story, which AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 61 we have thus far considered, with- in the realms of indisputable his- tory, and up to this point absolutely preclude the theory of fiction or of myth. A critical and scholarly mind, giving attention to these items, must inevitably concede that no other ancient writing has internal and external proof of the credibility of the facts pre- sented, which is more convincing than is adduced in support of the non-miraculous parts of the story we have been considering. In a word these portions of the narrative already before us are as impregnable as any of the Alps of ancient history. They are not, therefore, the things that we thus far have enumerated, but they are the remaining parts of the story, 62 STORY OF JONAH which, crossing the line of the miraculous, and becoming super- natural, are in the judgment of very many people held to be al- together untrustworthy. Indeed, many friends of the Bible heartily have wished that Jonah's life had ended when the waves of the sea engulfed him, and thus have saved the theological world considerable trouble. Had this been the case there is no likelihood that the historical integrity of this book of Jonah ever would have been called in question. Among the statements in the story that are pronounced incredi- ble, and that seem on the surface to be such, which we must next consider, are first that God, as it is said, '* would not go into the busi- AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 63 ness of creating whales to swallow "^ men." The higher critic, however, should have learned before this date that it is somewhat hazardous to say what God will or will not condescend to do. His ways are often quite incomprehensible. But let us, before hastily reach- ing our conclusions, follow the principles of higher criticism for a moment and note the results. In doing this we discover that the Hebrew words, well translated in the Common Version, '' prepared a great fish," do not mean that God created a fish for the specific pur- pose of swallowing Jonah, but literally mean that God (n:j?D) al- lotted or appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah ; or, in Christian / \ 64 STORY OF JONAH speech, the meaning is that, by the providences of God, a great fish was brought to the side of the ship at the precise moment Jonah was thrown overboard, and under the circumstances did what was perfectly natural for a great fish to do, swallowed Jonah. It well-nigh would have been a miracle if under the circumstances the fish had not swallowed him. And that this whole transaction could have been providential is no more singular than that God should note the fall of a sparrow and num- ber the hair of the head. But another thing that some of the higher critics of a few years ago discovered and published to the world is that the throat of a whale is not large enough to swallow a AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 65 man without mutilating him be- yond recognition. This criticism on the story of Jonah, as every one knows, has been paraded by sceptics and critics until it is threadbare. Let us, however, bring to our aid the light of philological science for a moment and take under con- sideration certain facts that are indisputable, before reaching final conclusions. The word d"i, dahg, translated into both the Septuagint and the New Testament by the Greek word xriro<^^ katoSy and into the Latin of the Vulgate by the words piscem gra7ide'my means simply a great fish or sea-monster. The word "whale," therefore, is the translator's word, while thq 66 STORY OF JONAH words dahg and katos are the words used by the Bible writers.^ So far, therefore, as the Hebrew and the Greek words are con- cerned, the fish may have been a whale, a shark, a sea serpent, a sea lion, or any other large monster of the deep. But even if the critic, though without sense or reason, should in- sist that in this discussion we must use the word ''whale," still the Bible student at the present time would be in no embarrassment, for while the " right whale " has a throat of small size, yet the throat ^ In confirmation of what we are saying see the book of Jonah (Matt. 12:39-41; comp. Matt. 16:4; Luke 11:29-32). See also the use of the word katos by Homer, Od., 12:37; ^nd by Aristotle, Hist. Anim., HI, 20; I, II, 258. This word, as used by classical writers, refers quite .specially to a cetacean of which different specimens, the porpoise, dolphin, and sperm whale, are yet found in the Mediterranean. X AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 67 of the sperm whale is sufficiently large to swallow a man without any difficulty whatever. There is not a shipmaster, or an officer, or an experienced sailor who has been on a whaling voyage who will question the following statement recently made by one of the crew of a New Bedford, Mass., whale ship : that he, though a man of large build, weighing one hundred and seventy pounds, frequently has passed through the mouth and throat of a dead sperm whale. He says he did this after the head of the whale had been cut from the body, and when the jaws and smallest part of the throat had been taken on deck. This dis- position of the head is usually made in order to secure, with- STORY OF JONAH out loss, the spermaceti, which is very valuable and confined to the head. The whaleman who made the above statement, after speaking of a large whale captured off the coast of Borneo which came near swal- lowing him, says : — '* When we killed other whales, from time to time, some of the men lifted up the lower jaws, while the rest, one after another, would crawl through the throat, not down where Jonah went, but to the deck." Then he adds: "Although a sperm whale is large, the bowhead whale is much larger, with a throat not only capable of swallowing a well-built man, but in my judgment a good-sized horse or cow." M. P. Courbet, in the Cosmos (Paris), March 7, 1895, writing con- cerning the scientific expedition AND HIGHER CRITICISM. \ of the Prince of Monac^, after giving an account of a monster sperm whale captured near the Azores, says, '' The discoveries of the Prince of Monacd^ were such as to relieve us of all difficulty in believing the Bible story that a whale could swallow Jonah." In an article contributed to the Academy of Sciences^ M. Joubin states that " a sperm whale easily can swallow animals taller and heavier than a man ; " *' these ani- mals," he says, ''when swallowed can keep alive for some time in the cetacean s stomach and be cast up by it at the moment of its death." 1 1 While the following account is not really essential to the argument, still we call the attention of the reader to it in this footnote especially because the principles of higher criticism will not allow us to pass it by 70 STORY OF JONAH The fact that both the sperm and bowhead whales easily can swallow a man without in the least muti- lating him no longer can be ques- tioned. On philological grounds, how- ever, the weight of evidence seems to be that it was neither a sperm nor a bowhead whale that swal- lowed Jonah, but another kind of unnoticed. It recently appeared in so respectable a publication as the Literary Digest : — "In the month of February, 1891, the whaler Star of the East . . . launched two whaleboats with an equipment of men to pursue a superb whale that was observed at some distance. The huge creature was harpooned and wounded to the death. While it was writhing in its last agonies one of the whaleboats was struck by its tail and shattered in pieces. The sailors who were in it were thrown into the water; all but two were saved shortly afterward by the other boats. The fcody of one was recovered, but the other — a man aamed James Hartley — could not be found. " When the monster had ceased moving and its death was quite certain, it was hoisted alongside the ship and the work of cutting it up began. A day and a night were devoted to this task. When it was ended the stomach of the whale was opened. What was the sur- AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 71 sea-monster. And it is a well- known fact, with which our higher critics doubtless are familiar, that the waters through which a vessel in sailing from Joppa to any Span- ish port would pass were fre- quented in early times, and also in later times, by a species of shark called the sea dog, canis carcharias^ whose normal length at maturity, prise of the whalemen to find in it their lost comrade, James Bartley, unconscious, but alive! " They had much trouble in reviving him. For several days he was delirious and could not speak an intelligent word. Not till three weeks had elapsed did he recover his reason sufficiently to narrate his im- pressions. " * I remember very well,' said he, ' the moment when the whale threw me into the air. Then I was swal- lowed and found myself inclosed in a firm, slippery channel whose contractions forced me continually downward. This lasted only an instant. Then I found myself in a large sac, and by feeling about I realized that I had been swallowed by a whale and that I was in his stomach. I could still breathe, though with much difficulty. I had a feeling of insupportable heat, and it seemed as if I were being boiled alive. " ' The horrible thought that I was doomed to perish 72 STORY OF JONAH according to all modern works on zoology, is thirty feet. The noted French naturalist Lacepede states that sea dogs can swallow animals much larger thaa a man without mutilating them. His exact words, as published in his "Histoire des Poissons," are the following : " Sea dogs have a lower jaw of nearly six feet in its semi- circular extent, which enables us in the whale's belly tortured me, and my anguish was intensified by the calm and silence that reigned about me. Finally I lost the consciousness of my frightful situation.' "James Bartley, the English papers add, is known to be one of the most hardy of whalemen. But his ex- perience in the whale's stomach was so terrible that he was obliged to undergo treatment in a London hospital on his return. "Nevertheless, his general state of health was not seriously affected by this accident. The only effect was that his-skin was, as it were, tanned by the action of the gastric juice. "The captain of the Star of the East adds that cases where furious whales have swallowed men are not rare, but that this was the first time that he ever saw the victim come out alive after his experience." AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 73 to understand how they can swal- low entire animals as large as or larger than ourselves." And it is well known by every zoologist, that the voracity of sea dogs and indeed that of the entire shark family, is such that they never chew their food but swallow everything they can without chew- ing. Blumenbach, the eminent German zoologist, in his "Manual of Natural History," is authority for the statement that sea dogs have been taken weighing five tons, and that a horse has been found whole in the stomach of a sea dog. (See also ** Annals of Nat. Hist.," October, 1862, p. 277.) The naturalist Miiller confirms this statement of Blumenbach and describes a shark found near the 74 STORY OF JONAH island of Marguerite which had swallowed a large horse without mutilating it. The distinguished ichthyologist Giinther speaks of one of these sharks in which was found un- mutilated a sea calf that was as large as an ox. Another naturalist, M. Briiniche, is authority for the statement that a shark was taken in the Mediterra- nean near Marseilles, in which were two tunnies whose normal weight is a thousand pounds ; in addition to these tunnies was a man fully dressed, his clothing being untorn. On the grounds of higher criti- cism, have we not, therefore, heard enough of the talk that whales and sea-monsters do not have throats large enough to swallow men ? AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 75 Allow us in this connection to call attention to one more fact. Pliny in the first century, 50 A.D., gives an account of the skele- ton of a sea-monster forty feet in length, "whose ribs were higher than those of the Indian elephant." This skeleton, Pliny says, " was brought from Joppa, a city of Judea, and exhibited in Rome by M. Scaurus." ^ Now we venture to say that if our higher critics were arguing on the affirmative side of the question, that is, for the credibility of the story, they would suggest, if they did not strongly contend, that this skeleton which Pliny saw on exhi- bition in Rome was that of the very sea-monster that swallowed Jonah. » Plin., Hist. Nat,, i, ix, c. 4. 76 STORY OF JONAH And there would be nothing im- probable if they further conjectured that that sea-monster was stranded on the shores of Joppa at the time he cast the prophet on dry land, and that many years later the bones of this sea-monster, with other fos- sils, were collected and exhibited by M. Scaurus ; for the Romans at that time were making extensive collections of fossils and other nat- ural history curiosities in different parts of the Roman Empire. But bear in mind we do not say that this skeleton of which Pliny speaks was that of the identi- cal sea-monster which swallowed Jonah, but the supposition that it was the one, we give as an illustra- tion of the methods of higher criti- cism in dealing with historic sub- jects. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 77 Indeed, we may presume that the critic would go a step further, and say that if the whale came near enough to the shore to cast the prophet upon or near to the dry land he would of necessity be stranded, and that the stranding of the whale was what secured for Jonah great notoriety in Joppa and an eager hearing in the city of Nineveh. But the statements in the story of Jonah which present the most serious difficulty are that the prophet was preserved alive and in full possession of consciousness, though remaining three days and nights in the stomach of the sea- monster, and that subsequently he escaped in safety to dry land.^ 1 Higher criticism leads us to say, however, that according to the Jewish method of computing time 78 STORY OF JONAH Now if the reader will grant us permission we will pass by these so-called incredible parts of the story for a few moments in order to inquire if there are not in the concluding parts certain important and suggestive matters that, in the light of higher criticism, are reasonable and credible. /. The point we make is this, if Jonah really experienced the perils and miraculous deliverances re- corded in the book of his proph- ecy, then there would be nothing incredible in all that follows. Jonah need not necessarily have remained in the sea- monster's stomach three full days and three full nights. If he were there thirty-six, or thirty, or even twenty- five hours, it could have been said he " was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights," provided he were there one whole day and night (twenty-four hours), and any part of the preceding day or night, and any part of the succeeding day or night. (See page 97.) AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 79 The fact, for instance, that after his deliverance he went to Nine- veh, as he had been commissioned to do, is certainly not incredible. Would not a peril and deliv- erance, such as are alleged, in all likelihood result in leading the prophet into a path of most im- plicit obedience ? What had he to fear from the face of man, after having stood face to face with that most loathsome and distressing of deaths ? After such an experi- ence, even though he had been the timid and dovelike man his name indicates, it is not an unreasonable conjecture that in a day he was changed into a fearless prophet of Jehovah. Nor is there anything incredible in the attentive hearing given to 80 STORY OF JONAH Jonah by the people. The news of what had happened were doubt- less noised through the streets and marts of Joppa, and by couriers were despatched to Nineveh. Especially would this be proba- ble, if the sea-monster had been stranded on the shores of Joppa. But without any such visible in- centive or reason we easily can imagine that despatches such as these would be forwarded to the Assyrian capital : — Jonah, a prophet of Israel, sent to announce the destruction of our city, fled, was thrown into the sea, was swallowed by a sea-monster, was delivered, but is again on his way to Nineveh. These reports or any similar ones in that super- stitious age would excite the live- liest interest. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 81 And, as suggested, Jonah was in condition to meet fully any expec- tations awakened. That is, if this peril actually had been experienced, and if from it Jonah had escaped, how earnest and thrilling must have been his words while passing through the lordly streets of that great city ; pausing in this court and that square ; before this temple and that palace ; announcing the doom of temple, palace wall, turret, and tower, unless the king, the lords, and the people end their iniquity, repent of their sins, and make their peace with God. A man who had just escaped from the jaws of death — from such jaws of death — would in all likelihood henceforth speak as be / 82 STORY OF JONAH cometh a servant and prophet of the great Jehovah. Jonah must have been, as we say, dead in earnest when he entered the city. The glow of the supernatural must have been upon him, beaming from his face, flashing from his eye, and trembling in his words. If, after some outburst of warning or en- treaty, he were asked, " What makes you, O prophet of Israel, so much in earnest .? " he well could have replied, " Earnest I if you had been where I have, you, too, would be in earnest." To such speakers the people always give heed. '' Man," as the pro- fessor of oratory is accustomed to say, " has no majesty like earnest- ness." Macaulay characterizes Demos- AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 83 thenes* oratory as " reason made red hot by passion." No wonder, therefore, that the Athenians lis- tened to him when he uttered his warnings to the Greeks and thun- dered his invectives against Philip. " I go to hear Rowland Hill," said Sheridan, ** because his ideas come red hot from his heart." Men love to hear such speech and will heed it. Can one suppose, therefore, that Jonah could have had those mar- velous experiences on shipboard and in the sea, and then have entered the city of Nineveh with no ardor, have used the prosy speech of some dull doctor of divinity and have left the people unmoved ? Nay, his words and his whole being must have been surcharged with the thunders and 84 STORY OF JONAH lightnings of oratory ; and those ignorant and superstitious people, while listening, must have been awestruck ; and the guilty king and nobles, knowing that " rebel- lion was chronic in many of the provinces of Nineveh, and that the loss of a single battle might bring to their gates nations infuri- ated with long oppression," would be filled with alarm and excite- ment. Any one at all acquainted with the human heart ought also to know that ** remorse for the wrong, the robbery, and violence of many years," when awakened, will blanch the cheek of the mightiest kings on their thrones. Why then should it be thought strange that the people and rulers AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 85 of Nineveh were frightened at the eloquence, earnestness, and hero- ism of this prophet of Israel, and that the great, proud, and wicked city speedily surrendered at his command ? Surely our higher critics need not be told that as a matter of fact there have been many times when the fears of those Oriental people have been raised almost to the pitch of terror by the announce- ment of some impending doom. " I have known," says Layard, "a priest to frighten a whole Mussulman town to tears and re- pentance by publicly proclaiming that he had received a divine commission to announce a com- ing earthquake or plague." Jonah's earnestness must have 86 STORY OF JONAH been of a far bolder and more impressive type than that of one who attempts deceit. He had been, as one might say, converted, and would speak with convictions and a fearlessness like those of Peter on the day of Pentecost ; on that day men by scores and hun- dreds trembled and smote their breasts.^ Jonah's impassioned earnestness and '' uncouth Semitic tongue " must have given to his utterances a forcefulness like that of Peter of Amiens, like that of Capistrano of Abruzzi, like that of others of about that period (1050), and like that of the almost frantic preacher who, in the last days of Jerusalem, during the siege by Titus, struck lActs 2:37-41. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 87 common men with terror and made them tremble. And higher criticism should not overlook the well-known fact that kings and nobles, as well as the common people, have trembled and repented under the simple presen- tation of God's truth from lips touched with a kind of inspired eloquence. It was thus when Nathan confronted David ; thus when Paul was summoned before Felix ; thus when Luther faced the Diet of Worms ; and thus when George Whitefield preached in England, and men of all ranks withered under the burning rays of inspired truth as it came from his lips. Why, then, we repeat, do the critic and sceptic wonder at what STORY OF JONAH followed when Jonah, after an ex- perience such as no other man has ever had, and lived, stood in the streets of the city of Nineveh ? '* So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. *' For word came unto the king of Nin- eveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. " And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing : let them not feed, nor drink water : •' But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God : yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 89 " Who can tell if God will turn and re- pent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" (Jonah, chap, iii, 5-9) Our higher critics, we hope, are not unfamiliar with the fact that these representations which, though to us seemingly are ex- travagant, perfectly harmonize with what is known of those Eastern countries. Herodotus and other classical writers are authority for the statement that, on account of the sins or misfortunes of the peo- ple, it was an Asiatic custom to cover with badges of mourning both men and cattle.^ Nor is it incredible to those -who know God, that he had mercy upon 1 Herod., IX, 24. Comp. Horn., II. 1, XVII, V. 426; Virgil, iEneid, XI, 86, c. e.; Plut., Alex., c. 72. 90 STORY OF JONAH the penitent people of Nineveh, and that their city was given an additional probation, remaining in her glory two hundred years after this visit of Jonah. She was spared because of her penitence and re- form. ^ But when other rulers and peoples arose who had " no fear of God before their eyes," when the city again was given up to idolatry and crime, then God's mercy no longer stood in the way of his jus- tice, and, as in the case of many other rebellious nations, her doom was sealed, and Nineveh was wiped out of existence. We must now return to the two incidents in the narrative which were passed in silence a few mo- ments ago ; namely, Jonah's preser- *Jer. i8:8; Ez. 18:21; 33:11; Am. 7:3, 6. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 91 vation in the sea-monster's stom- ach and his escape from it. All other parts of the story, as we have seen, are credible, credible in themselves considered, and are supported also by the best of histor- ical and exegetical evidence. With the exception, therefore, of these two apparently incredible inci- dents, our naturalistic higher crit- ics, as well as our literary critics, can point to nothing to which they reasonably can object. But in these two incidents they think they have found an insurmount- able barrier to anything like a ra- tional belief. And consequently the believer who contends that these questionable parts of the story of Jonah are history and not fiction, is challenged to show why 92 STORY OF JONAH he, as well as the story, should not be held up as the butt of ridicule. And perhaps there are readers of these pages who now are asking if it is possible that any intelligent man can believe these incredible parts of the book of Jonah. Though Jonah might have been an historical character ; though he might have been sent to Nineveh ; though he might have attempted to escape by going on a sea voy- age ; though he might have been thrown into the sea, and even though he might have been seized by a sea-monster, and swallowed and suffered no form of mutila- tion, still must it not be conceded that in that horrible imprisonment he could have retained his con- sciousness only a few minutes, cer- AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 93 tainly not so long as is claimed in the record ? This, then, in brief is the chal- lenge of the sceptic : The retain- ing of one's consciousness for the length of time alleged, and under such conditions as are alleged, is impossible ; and after such con- finement, though for only twenty- five hours, there is no power or agency on earth that could have restored " the partly digested man " to consciousness. Now we hope it will not surprise the reader when we add that in this opinion of the rationalistic sceptic we fully concur, — unless God could and did miraculously interpose to save the disobedient prophet. But on the other hand, unless 94 STORY OF JONAH we admit the possibility of such divine interpositions, we are con- fronted by a multitude of difficul- ties. Unless we admit the possi- bility of such divine interpositions, and unless we admit the alleged facts of Bible history, though in- volving divine interpositions, the foundations of the Christian reli- gion are gone, and our orthodox faith is no longer worth contending for. Christianity, in its depend- ence upon its facts, differs, in the light of the highest criticism, from all other of the world's religions. Other religious systems are speculative ; their facts are inci- dental. The facts of the Christian religion, on the other hand, are real and supreme. We do not say that a man cannot be saved unless he AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 95 believes the story of Jonah, but i we do say that if Adam and Abra- ham never lived, if God did not give the law to Moses, if he did not lead in a special manner the children of Israel through the wil- derness, and if other records of the Old Testament are not true; also if Christ was merely a myth, if he neither lived, wrought mir- acles, died, nor rose again, then, at least in the judgment of any one who has the least respect for log- ical methods and conclusions, the whole superstructure of Christian- ity, grand as it is, falls to the ground. The evangelical Christian must cleave to the facts, or else be con- sistent and abandon the whole sys- tem. Logically there is for him 96 STORY OF JONAH no third course to pursue. The Bible records and Christianity always have been, and always must be, one and inseparable. The natural and supernatural events recorded in the Old Testa- ment, repeated and emphasized in the New, are likewise one and inseparable. A blow at the Old Testament is a blow at the New. And what stronger possible con- firmation could there be of what we are saying than our Lord's explicit references to this same story of Jonah t Weigh for a mo- ment his announcement, and no- tice, too, that his words are such as must have suggested to the Jews that there was something super- natural or miraculous in the proph- et's escape from the perils of the AA^D HIGHER CRITICISM. 97 sea, inasmuch as our Lord makes that escape the type of his own death and resurrection : — ' " Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying. Master, we would see a sign from thee. •' But he answered and said to them. An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly : so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth/ 1 As suggested on a previous page (77) only a brief study in higher criticism is necessary to throw light upon a difficulty that is sometimes raised as to the length of time our Lord was in the grave, which diffi- culty is stated in this form: " If Christ was crucified on Friday and rose on Sunday, how can it be said that he was three days and three nights in the tomb? " In the Jerusalem Talmud we learn that a day and a night together make up what is called an ni"il?. or in Greek a wx^-qfi-epov , a night-day, and that any part of such a period is counted as the whole. {Conip. Gen. II : 13, 20; I Sam. 30: 12, 13; 2 Chron. 10: 5, 12; Hosea STORY OF JONAH " The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it : because they repented at the preaching of Jonas ; and behold, a greater than Jonas is here. ' ' The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it : for she came from the utter- most parts of the earth to hear the wis- dom of Solomon ; and behold a greater than Solomon is here." ^ 6:2; Bab., fol. 86, 1.; Bab. Avod. Zar., fol. 75, 1. a; Schabb., fol. 12.) The learned Dr. John Lightfoot — there is no higher authority on this subject — speaks thus in his treatise entitled " Hebrew and Talmudical Exercitations upon the Four Gospels" (Vol. II, Part I, page 192): " Therefore Christ may truly be said to have been in his grave three, nD*ll'> Onath, or rpeis vvxQ-r\\x.e(iov, three night-days, when yet the greatest part of the first was wanting, and the night altogether, and the greater part by far of the third day also was wanting. With this view the consent of the schools and the dialect of the nation agree. For the least part of the Onath in- cluded the whole. So that according to this idiom that small part of the third day upon which Christ arose may be computed for the whole of that day and of the night following it." ^Matt. 12: 38-42; comp. Matt. 16:4; Luke 11: 29-32. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 99 Now, as every student of New Testament Greek knows, there is scarcely a saying of our Lord that is better authenticated than this passage. When, therefore, the sceptic, for the purpose of carrying his point, attempts to class these words among spurious or interpo- lated passages, he is confronted by an array of authorities and facts in higher and the highest criticism that leave him no substantial foot- hold on which to stand. And what makes these sayings of our Lord overwhelmingly con- clusive against the mythical theory is that he referred to Jonah as an historical character in the same connection in which he referred to other historical characters, — Sol- omon and the ** queen of the 100 STORY OF JONAH south." This mingling in the same sentence of real and ficti- tious names would be, rhetorically and ethically, almost an unpardon- able sin, and of such a sin Christ could not be guilty. Or, stating the matter more point- edly, we are forced to the conclu- sion that if these incidents re- corded in the book of Jonah are fabrications instead of facts, then these unqualified references to them by our Lord imperil either his intelligence or his integrity. For if this story is a myth, Christ ought to have known it, and not have treated it as a fact. Such treatment would be dishonest. Or if he supposed the story to be a fact, when in reality it was only a myth, then he lacked the wis- AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 101 dom commonly attributed to him. Either horn of the dilemma would be perilous to our faith. But this is only one among many instances where the founda- tions of New Testament Chris- tianity are completely undermined unless the facts, however remark- able and surprising, are without qualification admitted to be true. It was a series of historic facts, including those that are supernat- ural, which furnished the basis of Peter's sermon on the day of Pen- tecost ; without those facts, his sermon would have neither pith nor point. It was a series of his- toric facts, including those that are supernatural, upon which Paul based his remarkable sermon in the synagogue at Antioch ; if 10^- Sl'ORY OF JONAH those facts are discredited, the sermon would be a tissue of false- hoods. It was also a series of his- toric facts, including those that are supernatural, which more than once was the basis of our Lord's discourse before the Jewish rulers and people. In a word, if we eliminate the supernatural from the Old and New Testament Scrip- tures, there will be left nothing but odds and ends and shreds. And this also is true : the alleged fact that God wrought a miracle in behalf of Jonah is no more in- credible than any one of the scores of miracles recorded in the Bible. If we deny one, we must deny them all. The story of Jonah is no more incredible than the part- ing of the waters of the Red Sea ; AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 103 no more incredible than the calling of fire from heaven by Elijah ; no more incredible than the preserva- tion of Daniel in the den of lions ; no more incredible than the walk- ing of his three companions in the midst of the fiery furnace ; no more incredible than the story of Christ's death, burial, and resur- rection, of which Jonah's experi- ences always have been regarded as prophetic types, and upon Christ's resurrection rest in su- preme dependence the faith and hope of the whole Christian world. Forcefully has Paul presented the argument : — "And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain ; ye are yet in your sins. "Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 104 STORY OF JONAH " If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most misera- ble."! Is, therefore, the question still asked. Why at this late day do evangelical Christians believe the antiquated and incredible story of Jonah's peril and deliverance ? The answer is manifest ; it is be- cause there is for such Christians no logical escape from this belief. This narrative and others, which in their supernatural dependences are like it, are vital in the Christian religion ; and that religion, except for the most valid of reasons, is too grand in its practical and ben- eficial results to be deprived of its legitimate and historic founda- tions. 1 1 Cor. is: 17-10. AND HIGHER CRITICISM, 105 But at this point in the discus- sion the destructive naturalistic critic meets the beUever in what seems to be the final encounter. He entrenches himself behind what is variously called the liter- ary, the scientific, and the critical method. That is, he assumes the role of a higher scientific critic, and as such he says : — "This story of Jonah, with its supernatural interpositions, I do not and I cannot believe. I see everywhere in the universe order and law. I therefore must accept the remorselessness of the be- liever's logic, and at once and for- ever abandon the system of super- natural religion." But in reply let us remind this destructive rationalist critic that 106 STORY OF JONAH he should move cautiously, for his own logic may prove as remorse- less as ours. This is what we mean, that no one knows better than the educa- ted sceptic that the whole question of the origin of life is to-day passing into the realms of the supernatural. The life cell has been hunted for with scalpel and microscope by a thousand scientists, but cannot be found. We need not go into par- ticulars, but there is not a natural- ist who does not know that science is to-day pointing her inflexible index finger to a time when the entire substance of the earth was nothing but glowing vapor. After cooling off, condensing, and hard- ening how could a living man AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 107 come upon its surface ? is the ques- tion that naturalism has stumbled over, and at this very hour is sink- ing in the mire of the pit into which it has fallen. Does the sceptic suggest that the first man is accounted for on the ground of spontaneous generation and of evolution by natural selection, or by the survival of the fittest ? Our reply is that there is no proof, there is not a shred of evi- dence in support of such develop- ment ; and of this fact, we repeat, nobody knows better than the ed- ucated sceptic. He knows, and he ought to know that the educated believer knows, that the naturalist is to-day only guessing at the ori- gin of things, and guessing with every fact of science against him. 108 STORY OF JONAH This guessing is not literary, it is not scientific, it is not critical. If the sceptic, who attempts to support naturalism or to overthrow supernaturalism by guesswork, has any claims to the title, "higher critic," then higher criticism is a misnomer, and from a scientific point of view is despicable. We will, however, for the sake of the argument, admit that man originated in common with the oak tree from something still lower, the lichen or the moss. We repeat, there is not a particle of evidence of such transmuta- tions ; but admit them all the same. The next question to be asked and answered is this. Whence the lichen and the moss .-* AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 109 They have come from something still lower, is the reply of our nat- uralistic sceptic. But there is no evidence of such a coming, and the one who suggests it is still guessing, and guesswork, or a *' maybe " we repeat, is not and never can be scientific proof or evidence. As this is one of the most vital points in this part of the discussion, we may be allowed to fortify it with the opinions of two or three men whose qualification to speak on this subject no one will ques- tion. The first is Dr. Etheridge, Ex- aminer of the Science Division of the British Museum, who also is one of England's most famous ex- perts in fossilology. 110 STORY OF JONAH On being asked by another gen- tleman of no inconsiderable scien- tific attainment, this question, " Are the orders of creation seen in the fossils of this museum evi- dence of naturalistic evolution, or of the working out of mind and providence ? " the doctor replied : *' In all this great museum there is not a particle of evidence of trans- mutation of species. Nine tenths of the talk of evolutionists is sheer nonsense, not founded on observa- tion, and is wholly unsupported by facts. I read all their books, but this museum is full of proofs of the utter falsity of their views." Our second authority is Pro- fessor Tyndall. " Those who hold the doctrine of evolution," he says, "are by no means ignorant of AND HIGHER CRITICISM. Ill the uncertainty of their data, and they yield to it only a provisional assent. ... I hold with Virchow that the failures [of evolutionists] have been so lamentable that the doctrine is discredited." We allow Professor Mivart to be the third to speak for us, though there is a score besides. " With regard to the conception as put forth by Mr. Darwin I cannot truly characterize it," he says, "ex- cept by an epithet I employ with great reluctance ; . . . I cannot call it anything but a puerile hy- pothesis ^ ^ We have no hesitation, there- 1 If the reader desires facts and additional quotations bearing upon the questions of spontaneous generation and evolution, he is referred to the author's recent pub- lication, entitled " Evolution or Creation? " for sale by Funk & Wagnalls Co., 30 Lafayette Place, New York. 112 STOKY OF JONAH fore, in saying that naturalistic evolution is seeing its last days. And so far as spontaneous gen- eration is concerned we have no need to delay a moment in reach- ing our verdict. Every genuine scientific man knows perfectly well that so far as accounting for the beginning of things is concerned, divine interposition, or spontaneous generation, is at the present time the only alternative. But the clos- ing words of Professor Tyndall's lecture on the " Origin of Life," before the Royal Institute at Lon- don, leave no alternative. With blanched cheek and bated breath the naturalistic scientist and critic stand to-day in the presence of divine interposition and nothing else. AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 113 ''This discourse," says the pro- fessor, ''is but a summing up of eight months' incessant labor. From the beginning to the end of the inquiry there is not a shadow of evidence of spontaneous gen- eration. There is, on the con- trary, overwhelming evidence against it. I am led inexorably to the conclusion that in the low- est as in the highest organized creatures the method of nature is that life shall be the issue of antecedent life." And even Mr. Darwin never claimed that animal life or any other kind of life ever started ex- cept by divine interposition. There remains, therefore, in the light of the higher and the high- est scientific criticism but one 114 STORY OF JONAH logical conclusion, it is this : The infinite and eternal Author of life must have interposed or the earth would have remained forever deso- late ; there would have been no first oak to cast upon the earth its shadow, and no first man to walk its surface. There would have been no life of any kind. But if God can interpose, then the earth could bring forth grass, and herb yielding seed after its kind, and every tree after its kind, the fish and the bird after their kind, and lastly man after his kind. Hence it follows that the de- structive critic, who decided a mo- ment ago to abandon Christianity because its logic required him to believe in miracles, must not only abandon Christianity, but if he AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 115 would be consistent, he must deny his own existence, for his very life requires supernatural interposition as much as did the preservation of Jonah in the stomach of the sea- monster. But the moment such interposition is admitted, that mo- ment all riddles are solved and all miracles are accounted for. By such interpositions Israel could pass unharmed through the midst of the sea ; Daniel could remain for a night in peace and safety among the raving and rav- ening lions ; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could walk unhurt in the midst of the burning, fiery furnace, and Jonah could remain unharmed for three, or for that matter, for thirty days in the stomach of a sea-monster. 116 STORY OF JONAH / Or we may condense this part of the argument into two sentences, these : — If God coidd make Adanty he could save Jonah. He did make AdafUy therefore he could save Jonah. This, then, is our closing con- fession of faith : We believe the Bible narratives, — the creation of Adam, the parting of the waters of the Red Sea, the triumph of Elijah on Mount Carmel, the res- urrection of Christ, the story of Jonah, and all other authenticated Bible miracles because on scien- tific grounds they are possible; because they are supported by circumstantial, monumental, and other indisputable proof, and be- cause there were purposes of suf- AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 117 ficient magnitude to justify divine interposition. We believe that the jaws of the sea-monster opened and closed upon the disobedient prophet, but God interposed and delivered him in order that the more faithfully he might declare the divine mes- sage ; in order that the people of Nineveh might listen the more attentively to what he had to say ; in order that Jonah's deliverance might be a prophetic sign of Christ's resurrection, and in order that his deliverance might also be a prophetic sign, extending through the ages, that God will keep his children in safety, though dead, until the morning of the resurrec- tion. We believe that the tomb 118 STORY OF JONAH opened and then closed upon the dead body of our Christ, in whom all the fondest hopes of the world are centered ; but that the same divine power that interposed to save the prophet Jonah likewise interposed to raise the dead Sa- viour, and that he came forth and walked the earth to inspire our faith, and then ascended to the home of God's dear family, and there in visible presence awaits the coming of those who love him. The jaws of the earth to-day are hungry for each one of us, and soon they will open and close upon our friends and ourselves. But even then, in view of the record we have been studying, with its divine interpositions, and in view AND HIGHER CRITICISM. 119 of the events in the life and death of Christ, which these events in the life of Jonah symbolize, we may hope, and we do hope, and we BELIEVE, that the same divine power which interposed for the de- liverance of the prophet, and inter- posed and brought from the dead the body of our Lord Jesus Christ, likewise will interpose for us, and we shall come forth unharmed by the touch of death, shall awake in the likeness of our Redeemer, and wakening in his likeness — we shall live forever. THE END. Professor Luther Tracy Townsend^s Books* Credo. Price, ys <^iS' " Read Credo ! How like a trumpet-blast of defiance the very name rings out a challenge for investigation. After careful examination of this new defender of the truth we laid aside the book with the wish that it might be placed in every library and home of our land." — Christian Standard. Lost Forever. 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