The Book of Jonah, Flannery O’Connor’s Revelation, and Elias Bickerman

The theme of the book of Jonah is easily described, or so it seems to me. Out of a keenly felt sense of justice, and out of love for his own people, Jonah initially refuses to provide the terrible Ninevites with a means to escape their just reward. But Jonah’s God, who loves the Ninevites, requires Jonah to offer a remedy. The Ninevites are saved, and Jonah is crushed.

God, however, does not love Jonah or his people any less. He does pose a “why” question to Jonah. Who do you love justice and hate mercy? The question is meant to rankle those who hear the narrative for all generations.

An anomalous rabbi named Jesus took the book of Jonah to its logical conclusion with statements like “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first” (Matthew 20:16 and parallels). In accord with this teaching, Flannery O’Connor invented the character of Mrs. Turpin, a modern-day Jonah, and describes the “Revelation” she receives. To my mind, “Revelation” is one of the most moving short stories of the twentieth century. Here is a plot summary. The entire short story is available in this excellent edition. It hardly does justice to quote Revelation’s conclusion only, but here goes:

A visionary light settled in her eyes. She saw the streak as a vast swinging bridge extending upward from the earth through a field of living fire. Upon it a vast horde of souls were rumbling toward heaven. There were whole companies of white-trash, clean for the first time in their lives, and bands of black niggers in white robes, and battalions of freaks and lunatics shouting and clapping and leaping like frogs. And bringing up the end of the procession was a tribe of people whom she recognized at once as those who, like herself and [her husband] Claud, had always had a little of everything and the God-given wit to use it right. She leaned forward to observe them closer. They were marching behind the others with great dignity, accountable as they had always been for good order and common sense and respectable behavior. They alone were on key. Yet she could see by their shocked and altered faces that even their virtues were being burned away. (CW, 653-54)

A fine introduction to Flannery O’Connor’s writing, by Michael M. Jordan, is available here. For selected pages of Ralph C. Wood’s splendid Flannery O’Connor and the Christ-Haunted South, go here.

I’ve been re-reading a number of essays by Elias Bickerman, surely one of the most brilliant biblical scholars of the last century. The new edition and collection of his essays, edited by Amram Tropper and introduced by Martin Hengel, is a remarkable piece of work. To be honest, I think the edition should be redone. Three features of the collection make it difficult to use. (1) Whenever Bickerman quotes Latin and Greek, which is often, no translation is provided. How many people nowadays read Latin and Greek well enough not to be stymied by the lack of a translation? (2) Essays originally published in German and French are presented in English dress. This is a plus, but also a minus. By definition, the translation is more or less faithful to the original. Scholars and students who really want to know what Bickerman said must turn to the articles in the language in which Bickerman wrote them. The originals might be made available by Brill in digital form to purchasers of the two volumes (list price: $499.00). (3) A comprehensive bibliography of the works Bickerman cites is not included. That is unfortunate. If one were included, the stunning range and depth of his scholarship would immediately meet the eye.

What does Elias Bickerman have to do with the book of Jonah and Flannery O’Connor? A lot. In a brilliant essay, after taking the reader on an amazing journey through the history of interpretation of the book of Jonah in which he pillories the traditional assumption that the book of Jonah records actual events, Bickerman settles down to describe the book’s point. Here is the midrashic / Kimchian / Augustinian / Calvinian conclusion of his piece entitled “The Two Mistakes of the Prophet Jonah” – a rough-and-ready translation of the Latin he quotes is provided:

Plato, paraphrasing Heraclitus, believed that we are puppets in the hands of the gods, invented to serve as their toys or else for some purpose of which we ourselves know nothing. But Jonah and his readers knew that their God, slow to anger and rich in mercy, is not a “puppet maker,” even if his ways are often incomprehensible to the human spirit. The story of Jonah teaches us that God is merciful, but he is merciful because he is the creator. As Kimchi puts it, quoting Ezek 34:7, God created human beings for his glory, and he grants them pardon for the love of his glory. In Augustine’s words, gratia gratis datur [by definition, grace is given gratis, in exchange for nothing at all]. An interpretation of the story of Jonah in human terms will judge it in relation to the needs and the spirit of the human person, but this interpretation is erroneous. “Not to us, O Eternal, give the glory, not to us, but to your name give glory! . . . (Ps 115).[1]

The book of Jonah and Flannery O’Connor’s Revelation do not record actual events. Why should they? After all, they describe truths which, for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear, have been and continue to be instantiated in thousands of actual events, large and small, on the still unfolding canvass of life.

Bibliography

E. J. Bickerman, “The Two Mistakes of the Prophet Jonah,” in Studies in Jewish and Christian History: A New Edition in English including The God of the Maccabees (2 vols; ed. Amram Tropper; introd. Martin Hengel; Leiden: Brill, 2007) 32-70 = chapter 1 in idem, Four Strange Books of the Bible (New York: Schocken, 1967); Flannery O’Connor, “Revelation [1964],” in Flannery O’Connor: Collected Works (New York: Library of America, 1988) 633-654.

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[1] [A typical Bickermanian footnote] Philo, [de Jona,] 46; Pesikta Rabbati, quoted by S. Lieberman, Jewish Quarterly Review 35, 1944, p. 34; Calvin, Opera 43, 1890, p. 264; discamus Jonae exemplo non metiri proprio sensu Dei judicium [we should learn from the example of Jonah that we should not evaluate God’s judgment in accordance with our own sense]. - Kimchi ad Jon 4:10; Heraclitus, fragment 52 Diels; Plato, Laws I, 644d. – In the Midrash on Jonah, the prophet says, “O God, govern the world in accordance with your mercy, as it is said, ‘To the Lord our God belong mercy and pardon’” (Dan 9:9). Cf. Isa 37:35; 48:9; Ps 23:3; Testament of Abraham 11.

Comments

[Greg]

wow- this is a great post. Reading the title, I knew I was going to like it- I'm a huge Flannery O'Connor fan and I've been doing a lot of thinking on the gospel as presented in Jonah recently. Thanks!

[JohnFH]

Greg, you have a marvelous blog. I wish you well in your studies and as you fuse love of God and love of music, literature, and art.