them like those who lift infants to their cheeks. I bent down to them
and fed them. . . . How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you
over, O Israel? . . . My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows
warm and tender.”
Finally, with a repetition that never becomes tediously repetitive,
Psalm 136, “His steadfast love endures forever.” This phrase occurs 26
times in the psalm.
This notion of God’s mercy and love is very ancient indeed, but it is
very difficult to absorb in a non-tribal, non-exclusive way. We humans
too often have reductive, parsimonious views of God, especially in
respect of those who do not belong to our tribe, to our church. The
Book of Jonah speaks to this condition.
Help from the Scholarly Community
Let’s begin our reflection on Yahweh’s merciful love in the Book of
Jonah with some orienting quotations from the scholarly community.
First, from the distinguished Irish Old Testament scholar and Syriacist
Carmel McCarthy, RSM, and her late American colleague William
Riley: “Jonah is, at heart, a humorous book. Its characters and story
are intended to raise a smile on the lips of its hearers — or, rather,
some of its hearers. For the Book of Jonah is a satire, which means that,
although it will entertain those who are in tune with its message, it
might anger those who are in disagreement.”1 The God of the Book of
Jonah has a great sense of humor that undermines silly and prejudicial
assumptions that some religious people have, and, moreover, that are
difficult to displace. God’s humor in th H