Jonah’s Oar Christian Typology in Jacob of Serug’s Mēmrā 122 on Jonah†
Robert A.
Kitchen
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
George A. Kiraz
James E. Walters
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Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute
2008
Vol. 11, No. 1
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https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/article/hv11n1kitchen
Robert A. Kitchen
Jonah’s Oar Christian Typology in Jacob of Serug’s Mēmrā 122 on Jonah†
https://hugoye.bethmardutho.org/pdf/vol11/HV11N1Kitchen.pdf
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies
Beth Mardutho: The Syriac Institute,
vol 11
issue 1
Hugoye: Journal of Syriac Studies is an electronic journal dedicated to the study
of the Syriac tradition, published semi-annually (in January and July) by Beth
Mardutho: The Syriac Institute. Published since 1998, Hugoye seeks to offer the
best scholarship available in the field of Syriac studies.
Syriac Studies
Jacob of Serug
Sarug
Sarugh
Jonah
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Jacob of Serug’s longest
mēmrā - on Jonah (mēmrā
122, P. Bedjan, ed., Homiliae Selectae, vol. 4:
368-490) - stretches for 123 pages. Slowly and poetically,
Jacob proceeds through the original text verse by verse, but
along the way interweaves an unabashedly Christian typology and
interpretation of the prophet’s dilemmas and
mission. The focus here is to present an outline of
Jacob’s commentary and argument and reconstruct how he
uses Christological typologies to present the Christian
Gospel. Jacob is not a systematic theologian, but in this
mēmrā he has given himself enough space to
build a full description of the Christian message in which
Jonah becomes a type of Christ.
1. The Mēmrā
[1] No one
loses the opportunity to retell the story of Jonah. Its
dramatic and singular story is detailed, yet simple, brief yet
of ample length to spawn countless retellings and commentaries
by rabbis, patristic authors, medieval commentators, song
writers and artists. And it’s not all about the
fish. What has continued to confound and intrigue its
readers is that the Book of Jonah keeps not making
sense. That a prophet refuses to be a prophet and believes
he can run away, that a storm can be so divinely personal and a
great fish be so accommodating, that a prophet would be so
angry at being successful and a wicked city could become the
moral model for the Jewish and Christian community are the
ideas that have enabled Jonah’s tale to retain its edge
and bite.
[2]
Certainly the exegetical poets of the Syriac tradition have had
their say. Ephrem returns again and again to Jonah and
Nineveh in a number of madrāshē
Hymns on Virginity, numbers
42-50. Cf. Edmund Beck, CSCO 223/224, Louvain, 1962;
English translation by Kathleen E. McVey, Ephrem the
Syrian: Hymns (The Classics of Western Spirituality; New
York: Paulist Press, 1989), 438-460.
and
mēmrē,
Ephrem, Sermones II, Edmund Beck, CSCO
311/312, Louvain, 1970; English translation, The Repentance
of Nineveh: a metrical homily on the mission of Jonah by
Ephraem Syrus, translated by Henry Burgess (London:
Blackader, 1853). Cf. Sebastian P. Brock,
“Ephrem’s verse homily on Jonah and the Repentance
of Nineveh: notes on the textual tradition,” in A.
Schoors and P. van Deun (eds), Polyhistor: Miscellanea in
honorem C.Laga (OCA 60, 1994), 71-86; and in From
Ephrem to Romanos (Aldershot: Ashgate, 1999), chapter V.
interpreting the narrative from
various perspectives. Narsai also has written a lengthy
mēmrā on the wayward prophet.
Narsai: Homiliae et Carmina, Alphonse
Mingana, edit. (Mosul, 1905) Eighth Mēmrā,
“On Jonah the prophet,” 134-149.
But it is
Jacob of Serug (d. 521) who weaves the familiar tale in the
most unforgettable fashion: Mēmrā 122,
included in Paul Bedjan’s Homiliae
Selectae,
Jacob of Serug, Homiliae Selectae, edit.
Paul Bedjan (Paris, 1908) vol. 4: 368-490. BL Add. 14623,
f. 31a.
endures for 123 pages, 72 sections, 4 divisions,
ca. 2540 lines.
[3] Slowly
and poetically, Jacob of Serug proceeds through the Biblical
text verse by verse, along the way fashioning an unabashedly
Christian typology and interpretation of the prophet’s
dilemmas and mission. Needless to say, there is neither time
nor energy to rehearse the entire mēmrā, so
what follows is an initial attempt to elicit what is unique and
not unique about Jacob’s sermonic poem.
[4] Indeed,
if by originality is meant that no one else has mentioned the
idea before, then despite the size of Jacob’s
mēmrā on Jonah there are probably few
observations, comments, and typologies that have not been made
by someone else. Jacob would never have read the sermons
or commentaries of the Greek and Latin Fathers, and one cannot
really say for sure whether there was direct borrowing from his
hymn-writing predecessor Ephrem. The size and message of
Jonah ensured that everybody read it and exercised their
imagination upon its few verses.
[5]
Nevertheless, there is a significant problem with all this
reading and retelling and reinterpreting which I believe Jacob
avoids. Yvonne Sherwood, in her recent monograph on the
heritage of Jonah in Western culture,
Yvonne Sherwood, A Biblical Text and its
Afterlives: The Survival of Jonah in Western Culture
(Cambridge University Press, 2000).
observes that among the
Fathers, “As the text becomes a gigantic and
accommodating receptacle for Christ’s truth and
Christ’s sufferings, Jonah’s outline begins to
melt; he loses his own voice and script and outline and becomes
a ventriloquist for Christ. And as the Old Testament
narrative is chomped and consumed by the New, emphasis is
redistributed, and elements of the Old Testament text are
lost. What disappears, specifically, is any sense of
Jonah’s resistance to God.”
Sherwood, A Biblical Text..., 17.
While Jacob
explicitly calls Jonah a type for Christ, he does not allow the
text to be consumed by the New Testament, and Jonah continues
to be painted in darker hues throughout Jacob’s
retelling. As shall be seen, the heroic figures turn out
to be the King of Nineveh and his subjects, the people of
Nineveh.
[6] Bedjan
notes in his edition that in the British Library manuscript
three major section breaks or divisions were included,
therefore 4 divisions; the Mardin manuscript only included 2
breaks, so three sections.
P. Bedjan, Homiliae Selectae, vol. 4, page
xi, footnote 7.
Bedjan, utilizing the British
Library Additional 14623 (f. 31a) manuscript as his base, along
with Mardin 117 (f. 117), retained the four divisions. The
first division ends at Section 15 with Jonah waking up in the
hole of the ship, frightened by the storm. The second
division ends at Section 34 with Jonah being successfully
swallowed, not eaten, by the fish. The third division ends
at Section 51 with the King of Nineveh exhorting his subjects
to fight hard this new kind of battle of repentance. The
fourth division is the longest and concludes with Section 72 in
which Jacob points to God making Jonah a parable for the mercy
of his creation.
2. Christian Typology in Jonah
[7]
Following the normal opening section in which Jacob prays for
inspiration and effectiveness in interpreting Scripture, he
wastes no time in declaring his understanding of Jonah’s
role and purpose.
Jonah portrayed the Son on the road of his preaching
and the type inscribed on the path his suffering by which he
imitated him.
He bore suffering prior to the Son of the King, the chosen
servant
So that he might prepare the road for his Lord who comes to
walk upon it.
2. 369:18-21
[8] Jonah is
the type (tūpsā) for Christ, but obviously
his initial response to God’s command to preach to
Nineveh was not very Christ-like. He tried to run away and
Jacob is incredulous: “... and what did he think would
happen to him on the road that he had set out
upon?”
3. 371:19
Jacob makes no excuses for Jonah, yet turns
around and acknowledges that divine providence beyond human
understanding is at work here.
But if he had set straight his road to Nineveh as he had
been sent
He would not have become a sign for our Lord as he became for
him.
The excellence of the road is that he fled from God
for by that reason he served all the mysteries.
3. 373:7-10
[9] In the
eighth section, Jacob unveils some of his more striking and
original typologies and images. “In the
mēmrā of Jonah the story of our Lord is
explained”
8. 378:15
is not unique, though here Jacob refers
to the mēmrā as a work outside of his
control for the first time. The sea, declares Jacob, is
similar to the world, but the world’s sins are more
dangerous than the waves. “Look, I stand in both
seas in the story which I have set down; May your cross, our
Lord, be an oar that rescues me.”
8. 379:10-11
From this
point, Jonah’s and Jesus’ mission become virtually
one. “Through Jonah the way of the Son is depicted
to one who observes it; the sea [is depicted] in the world
which also was disturbed against our Saviour.”
8. 379:16-17
Nevertheless, it is clear who is
prefiguring whom.
Our Lord preached more than Jonah among the nations
and brought the entire inhabitable earth back to repentance
by his word.
Greater is his road from that of the prophets by which they
prefigured him
Just as the substance of the body is greater than the
shadows.
8. 380:6-9
For he was lifted up greatly like the tempest against the son
of Mattai.
8. 380:11; Mt 14:30
[10]
Jacob returns to Jonah’s story and it is that curious
incident of Jonah falling sound asleep in the hole of the ship
during the worst of the raging storm that sparks the next
Christological typology. Showing perceptive psychological
insight, Jacob describes the sleeping prophet,
He slept from depression, indeed in this way heavily
or perchance the mystery bound him spiritually in
sleep.
Maybe because he was bearing the likeness of the Son
[Jonah] typified that sleep which our Lord had slept on the
sea.
He typified the burial of the Son in the depths when he was
brought down
[Sleep] cast him down into the ship and he slept for a long
time.
13. 387:13-18; Mt 8:24
[11]
Jacob continues with the same Gospel scene, beginning this time
with Jesus.
Our Lord slept and the sea was disturbed against the
disciples
and this type was demonstrated in the sleep of Jonah.
That is, he was asleep and they woke him up as in the
typology
which was performed by the disciples to our Savior.
13. 388:2-3, 8-9
[12]
Jonah does awake and the lot thrown by the sailors falls on
him. He tells them who he is and who is his God,
ironically performing his evangelical commission here in the
midst of the sea in the way he should have done on dry ground
in Nineveh. The sailors are converted to God, the Creator
of heaven and earth. Slowly proceeding through the
enlightenment of the sailors and their sincere attempt to avoid
having to submit Jonah to the angry sea, Jacob observes the
sailors sadly binding up Jonah, wishing him peace and that he
will keep them from sinking by his atoning
blood. “Go, Hebrew, may peace accompany you amidst
the floods, and by your pure blood may we not sink when we cast
you out.”
26. 411:11-12
Once the sea did become calm after Jonah
was sent overboard they became genuine converts, taking refuge
in the household of Adonai and sacrificing peace
offerings.
28. 413:4-15
[13] This
scene on the storm-tossed ship keeps expanding its dimensions
in Jacob’s vision. Jonah’s inquisition by the
captain of the ship and the sailors blurs into Jesus standing
before Pilate and the Sanhedrin. The captain of the ship
transforms into Pilate, washing his hands of the blood of an
innocent person, and praying that the impending execution of
Jonah/Jesus will not come back to convict them.
Jonah stood before the sailors while being questioned
just as also our Lord was tried by Pilate.
The sailors implored God on account of Jonah
lest they be destroyed by the blood of a man who was
righteous.
The judge too washed his hands on account of our Lord
lest he be defiled by the holy blood which was
innocent.
The sailors sought to return to dry land, but they were not
able
to deliver that Hebrew from the whirlpool.
The judge too stirred up and made much on account of our
Savior
but he was not able to help that innocent one.
29. 415:4-13
[14] One
of the most striking sections in terms of physical imagery
naturally derives from Jacob’s depiction of Jonah being
swallowed providentially by the great fish. Needless to
say, being swallowed by a whale or a fish is the stuff of
horror and nightmares in any age (just mention the movie
Jaws) and certainly some of the medieval and modern
artistic renderings of the Book of Jonah have focused
graphically on the horrific elements.
[15]
Jacob’s rendition plays on several themes, notably that
Jonah’s sojourn is symbolic both of birth and death, of
the womb and the tomb.
A wronged dead one who is alive in destruction and is not
destroyed
The Living One who was not dead, they carried off and buried,
casting him away.
The bridegroom for whom the movements of the fish were like a
bedroom
and he reclined to enjoy the banquet of passions at which he
had sat down.
A new fetus which entered through the mouth to the belly of
his mother
and he became a conception without intercourse by a great
miracle.
31. 418:3-8; ܘܗܘܐ
ܒܛܝܢܐ ܕܠܐ
ܙܘܘܓܐ
ܒܬܗܪܐ
ܪܒܐ
[16] A
remarkable image is briefly portrayed in which Jonah enters
through the mouth of the great fish into its belly or womb of
his mother and miraculously becomes an immaculate conception, a
prefiguring of Jesus’ birth in the Virgin
Mary. That’s it, for Jacob does not elaborate as in
so many of his ideas.
[17]
Finally, Jacob comes around to a fuller typology of
Jonah’s three days in the fish pointing towards
Jesus’ time in the tomb. “Through these days
when he was in the fish, he depicted the Son and [it was] this
reason [that] summoned the mēmrā to be
spoken”
35. 422:15-16
— apparently an implicit reference and
cue from Jesus’ initial proclamation of the sign of Jonah
(Matthew 12:38-41) and the three days of Jonah in the fish
paralleling Jesus’ three days in the heart of the
earth.
Three days in the heart of the earth Jonah was
buried
so that the road of our Lord which was to the tomb should be
explained.
The prophet in the fish and the Lord of the prophets in the
death which he desired
The ones buried who sprung forth not being destroyed by
annihilation.
The dead ones who became the reason for life by their
actions:
Jonah to Nineveh and the Son of God to all the earth.
35. 422:17-423:3
[18] The
typology continues unabashed as Jacob keeps weaving tighter the
connection between Jonah and Jesus, gradually removing from
Jonah the weight of his disobedience and raising him to an
almost-Christ status.
Jonah dove and from within the deep he rescued
Nineveh
Moreover, our Lord dove and drew up Adam from the
whirlpool.
The burial of Jonah was inscribed into that of Christ
This mystery made the son of the Hebrews descend to the
sea.
A wonder to speak, an amazing thing to be silent that they
were buried:
Jonah while he was alive and the Lord of Jonah while he made
all live.
Where have you seen a buried one who prayed, except
Jonah?
or a person who was killed and made the dead live, except our
Lord?
On this road full of mysteries Jonah ran
and on account of this the mēmrā
concerning him is exalted above us. ::
35. 423:6-15
[19] At
this point in the mēmrā, Jacob’s
filling out of the Christological typologies leads him to raise
Jonah close to an exalted status, a prophet who has come the
closest to typifying Jesus Christ, albeit not by words, the
usual tools of the prophet, but by his
actions. Nevertheless, while Jacob may have waxed
eloquently over the character of Jonah as a prefiguring of
Christ — by association a high status indeed - the
Biblical narrative holds Jacob’s primary allegiance and
draws him back to a more realistic and less sympathetic view of
Jonah. Now that Jonah has been expelled from death, the
story begins anew and Jonah is not always portrayed by Jacob in
as flattering an image. Taking on the terrible persona of
the prophet proclaiming imminent doom to the people of Nineveh,
Jonah has regained his confidence as well as his arrogance,
assuming that he is uttering God’s very
words. Nineveh and its king get the message in no
uncertain terms, trembling not only before God, but also before
the solitary figure of Jonah.
[20] In
the 57th section, Nineveh having fulfilled all its
penance and anxiously awaiting the 40th day, Jacob
draws some boundaries around what has taken place. The
repentance of Nineveh is an indictment against the disobedience
of Zion. Because Jonah and Jesus’ missions are so
closely linked, Jacob points to Zion’s denial of
Jesus’ excellence and the shame and dishonour it dealt
him. The contrasts between Jonah and Jesus also become
more evident: Jonah spoke only words, but was obeyed and
honoured; whereas Jesus performed acts, but was beaten and
dishonoured.
57. 461:1-464:2
Jonah, Jacob implies, was a mere
prefiguring of Christ, not at all his equivalent. The
Christological typology trickles down to nil following
Jonah’s re-commissioning and entry into
Nineveh. Except for this delineation of Jonah’s
functions in relation to Jesus’ and the not too subtle
anti-Judaism, Jacob focuses upon the canonical story for its
own witness, mentioning Christian concepts significantly only
by the personification of grace involved in the judgment of
Nineveh
61-62. 471:4-474:12
and the subsequent appearance of the Gospel in
Nineveh on the 40th day.
63-64. 474:13-477:11
3. Repentance and Grace
[21] A
worthy place to linger is in the long sections on the
repentance of Nineveh and how its ascetical offering, led and
modeled by its righteous and penitent king, provoked a response
of Grace personified to plead successfully Nineveh’s case
before the judge of heaven. The repentance of Nineveh is
the major theme of Ephrem and Narsai and other patristic
writers, for this action presented the clearest example for
imitation to a Christian audience.
[22]
Jonah preached repentance and judgment to the people of
Nineveh, but left little room for redemption and salvation.
“Jonah spoke, ‘there is no way to bring to an end
the anger; Iniquity prevails and repentance reaches to vex
you.’”
49. 446:18-19
The king of Nineveh, more afraid of
Jonah than a large army,
50. 448:12-16
decides immediately to take to
heart the call to repentance, putting on sackcloth and calling
for fasting among his armies and the population. Using
military vocabulary to fight hard this new kind of battle for
repentance,
51. 449:11-450:6
the king is determined to counter
Jonah’s desire to see Nineveh destroyed. The king
knows that the Lord God has the authority to redeem Nineveh
despite the declarations of Jonah. Jonah full of the
arrogance of his prophecy appears to have forgotten this
subtlety.
See, the Hebrew threatens and warns concerning our
destruction
Let us devise a way so he does not rejoice over us when he
defeats us.
He is not silent who calls for the wrath
(rūgzā) over our desolation
Let us not be silent so that we might call for mercy to
rescue us.
The man seeks to raise up his word because he is a
prophet
Allow [him] to preach and come to his Lord so that we might
pray before him.
He is not convinced that it is not his [right] to refute his
words
His Lord has authority over him to reverse lest he destroys
us.
51. 450:7-14
[23] This
is the juncture at which the moral balance of Jacob’s
typologies shifts. Jonah’s near Christ-like
functions find their glow ebbing in the heat of his angry
proclamation, while the pagan king of Nineveh recognizes the
spirit and authority of the God for whom Jonah prophesies and
increasingly becomes the model of humility, penitence, and
righteousness for the Christian audience of Jacob’s
mēmrā.
[24] The
description of the fast so ordered by the king adopts an
ascetical and monastic tone. The universal fast and
wearing of sackcloth includes all creatures, including cattle,
urging all to eliminate iniquity so that the wrath to come may
be averted by their individual and communal repentance.
52. 451:6-453:4
Led by the king who becomes the lord of
mourning to his people, brides and grooms put on sackcloth and
ashes, even infants fast and are weaned,
Ephrem in Hymn on Virginity 47
(str. 1-2), McVey, p. 452, refers to a similar fast for
infants:
and as all put on
black clothing (the dress of a monk) the city becomes dark
(“the city a monastery”).
54. 454:3-458:2
The people
gather anxiously, but are portrayed as earnestly and
authentically determined to correct and transform their
iniquitous ways and begin again a virtuous life.
55. 458:3-459:5
[25] The
leadership of the king of Nineveh was vigorous as he bore the
diseases of the people and healed them - a Christological trait
- and his leadership is a type or model for all cities.
Nineveh, for that matter, teaches the world about repentance,
while fasting, prayer, ashes and sackcloth are its armour
instead of the military weapons which were its former
renown.
56. 459:6-460:21
Forty days Nineveh prayed and made a
festival for repentance, but as the 40th day
approaches the city is full of dread and anxiety.
59. 466:21-468:18
[26]
Jacob then switches literary motifs and personifies Grace as
someone who receives the petitions and prayers of the Ninevites
in the heavenly realms and then pleads their case before the
judge.
61. 471:4-473:17
Grace asks the Lord not to reject their
fasting and weeping, for then no human being will believe that
there would ever be any hope to be redeemed. “If you
reject this entire weeping of Nineveh, then whoever sins will
laugh that there is no discernment.”
61. 473:2-3
[27] And
the Lord accepted Grace’s persuasion and the onset of the
wrath was halted, although all the forces of heaven were set
and ready to strike. “The morning came and brought
the Gospel to the sons of the city and brought to an end the
evil which was threatened against its walls.”
63. 475:20-476:1
The city awoke that morning with great joy - “They saw
one another as departed ones after resurrection, and they
shouted prudently to the one who resurrects the
dead.”
64. 476:8-9
The Ninevites in joy and gratitude praise
their king, “May the new Gospel gladden you, O king who
has come to life with us.”
64. 476:19
[28] In
the final section 72, Jacob states plainly that “[God]
made Jonah a parable for the mercy of his
creation.”
72. 490:3
Jacob’s normal approach to
exegesis has been to perceive the Old Testament narrative
unapologetically through evangelical and Christological
lenses. Typologies abound in dizzying procession, yet note
that Jacob never veers too far from the canonical sequence of
events, though more than a little midrashic retelling is his
wont. Jonah’s Ninevites, because they begin without
knowledge of the God of the Hebrew Bible, are able to
experience Christian revelation without explicitly mentioning
Christ.
4. The Mēmrā as Actor in the
Mēmrā
[29]
Post-modern literary criticism has often driven home the fact
that any text, and certainly an ancient text, acquires a life
of its own, independent from the author’s original
intentions and meanings, and that is especially the case with
Jacob’s Jonah. A curious feature throughout is Jacob
referring to the mēmrā in the third person
as an actor in its own play. The mēmrā
has its own agenda, urging, pushing the story
along. Jacob, perhaps with tongue in cheek, complains that
all he can do is hang on for the ride, for the powerful physics
of the mēmrā are beyond his management, as
if the mēmrā were alive. The effect is
to endow the mēmrā with the qualities of the
Gospel, the Word which shall not be silenced.
[30] The
beginning of the 8th section following the scourging
of Jonah by the storm at sea is where Jacob initiates the
Christological theme. “In the
mēmrā of Jonah the story of our Lord is
explained; As it was also said this was the one who had
fled.”
8. 378:15-16
Jesus is the one who has fled from heaven into
the world - a concept widely circulating, for instance, in
Jerome who sees Christ fleeing to Tarshish, “the sea of
the world,” the theme mentioned above that Jacob
immediately takes up in the next verses. Jerome and
Maximus the Confessor also understand Jonah’s flight to
be a sign of the incarnate Christ, who “abandons his
father’s house and country, and becomes
flesh”
Jerome, In Ionam, 1-3a; Maximus the
Confessor, Quaestio 64 ad Thallassium.
- a Prodigal Son motif as well.
[31] As
the second major section of the poem begins, Jacob personifies
the mēmrā:
The mēmrā of Jonah stands over me like
an inquisitor
so that I will journey in its story quickly until the
end.
With the tale of the sea I will not cease from the
story
of that one who fled whom the sign (remzā)
captured among the floods.
Not from the path of the mēmrā have I
departed, O discerning ones
He is the man who drew me to the sea so that I might speak
regarding him.
He is the prophet who set out his way among the floods
and the mēmrā which is about him journeys
after him where he was walking.
16. 393:13-20
[32] The
mēmrā is attributed with an odd function of
guidance and supervision. It appears as pre-ordained - the
path it must run - yet it follows Jacob making sure that Jonah
and Jacob go in the correct direction. Nevertheless,
Jacob’s attempt to keep on track and complete the
mēmrā runs not so much into obstacles as
side-roads that are of the utmost importance.
The road of the mēmrā is hastened to go
to completion
but the mysteries of the Son do not allow me to go.
It begins with one thing and meets another thing in me
for the son of the living one is depicted in everything to
those who look at him.
The entire road of the son of the Hebrews was depicted in
him
for there is no place where it begins and goes on a journey
without him.
30. 415:20-416:4
[33] Yet
Jacob is not able to totally tame the
mēmrā
. The great fish has
swallowed Jonah, but the mēmrā keeps going
despite Jacob’s attempt to limit and rein it in.
37. 427:14-15
Jonah’s soft prayer from the fish
empowers the mēmrā,
37. 428:20-429:8
so now the
principal actor is enabling the story about him to
continue. Jacob then enters into the
mēmrā and the Biblical narrative to
resurrect Jonah from the prison of the fish.
37. 429:9-20
[34] In the briefest section, number 40, Jacob takes
another respite after the fish was commanded by God to vomit
Jonah out on to dry land to a new birth and
resurrection. Here Jacob recapitulates the tale thus far,
reveling in the beauty of the
mēmrā
in its telling.
Here the beauty of the mēmrā
flowed to him from the tongue
for the prophet was completely immersed in Our Lord
luminously.
Through the word of our Lord the son of the Hebrews explained
his road
for on account of him it was all inscribed clearly.
An evil generation seeks a sign for the people,
Mt 13:39
he
said
and the sign of Jonah was given to it so that it might
understand it.
For just as he was in the heart of the earth for three
days
through this example I will be lowered to the depths of
Sheol.
The mystery was guarded and Our Lord explained it
clearly
Then Our Lord is all of the beauty of the
mēmrā.
He dove into death just as Jonah dove into the sea
and he gave this sign to the people who searched for a
sign.
In the belly of death he was silenced for three days
just like the Hebrew who was in the fish three days.
40. 432:3-16
[35] The mēmrā is therefore not
just a regurgitation of the events, but a recreation and
expansion of the beauty of the divine providence connecting
Jonah’s and Jesus’ three days - “the sign of
Jonah” according to Jacob.
[36] The final scene for the mēmrā
is the same juncture following Nineveh’s desperate fast
and penitence, the last time Jacob offers explicit typologies
between Christ and Jonah. While Jacob had almost despaired
of keeping the mēmrā in line, now he admits
his joy in expounding it. “Now I will repeat
its great story since I love and I do not tire of the
mēmrā which is full of all
profits.”
57. 461:1-2
While Jacob exploits the standard
rhetorical niceties for this kind of literary work, it seems
evident that for him this mēmrā is
different, that it has captured his soul in a way not many
others have. It is this literary device of the living
mēmrā exerting its beauty and will upon him
that indicates that this one mēmrā had
become bigger than he could initially manage. Grace too
brings Jacob home and allows him to put down his pen, but only
when all has been said about Jonah, God, Jesus, and the
mēmrā itself.
[37] Is Jacob of Serug’s rendition of Jonah
original and unique? It is too early to say in a
definitive way - certainly Jacob had heard the story retold and
interpreted in many ways. Many observations are not unique
in patristic exegesis, but how he has woven numerous Christian
typologies into the familiar tale, yet retained the integrity
of the Old Testament book and the ambiguity of Jonah’s
character and actions, is remarkable, indeed,
overwhelming. Never has so much been written about so
little so beautifully. Fortunately, for our merely human
endurance, the mēmrā finally did
end.
_______
Appendix
Jacob of Serug
Mēmrā 122: “On Jonah the
prophet”
Homiliae Selectae, P. Bedjan, edit., Paris, 1908, Vol.
4:368-490
(rubrics in red indicate
Christological typologies)
(Page)
Part
[Section]
Biblical
Synopsis
368:1-369:17
I.
1
---
Author’s
prayer for inspiration and effectiveness in his
interpretation of Scripture.
369:18-371:13
2
Jonah 1:1-2
Jonah is a type of Christ. God commands
Jonah to preach destruction & repentance.
371:14-373:20
3
Jonah 1:3
Jonah flees from
God to the sea. What did Jonah think? That he
could actually run away from God? He was educated
properly. But, if he had not
fled he would not have become a sign for Jesus
Christ.
374:1-375:3
4
---
If Jonah
wasn’t intended to be a sign, all of this is
folly.
375:4-376:15
5
Jonah 1:4
Jonah flees,
seeing the Lord’s punishment full of mercy. Lord
sends storm to retrieve the one who had fled from God.
376:16-377:10
6
---
Jonah - you tried
to escape dry land where God is, but God is in the sea and
will find you everywhere.
377:11-378:14
7
---
The sea scourges
Jonah as a teacher corrects a wayward student. The sea
attacks the ship, but grace preserves it.
378:15-380:11
8
---
The story of our Lord is told in the
mēmrā of Jonah. The sea is similar
to the world, but the world’s sins are more dangerous
than waves. May the cross be an oar that rescues
me. Mary was aship for Jesus Christ to sail the
earth. Jesus Christ is greater than Jonah who
prefigured him.
380:12-382:4
9
Jonah 1:5
A storm rises up
against Jonah, holding him back from his road. Sailors
are disturbed by the anger of the unusual storm, throwing
cargo overboard to lighten the ship, but the weight of
Jonah is submerging it.
382:5-383:19
10
---
Homiletic excursus
on which treasure/cargo not to throw overboard.
383:20-385:6
11
---
The soul is held
on to rather than pearls. In face of death all
possessions are excessive in order to keep the soul free
from bondage.
385:7-387:10
12
Jonah 1:5
Sailors cast away
all of their wealth but the sea only wanted
Jonah. Oblivious, Jonah goes down into ship to sleep,
weighed down by his sadness and anxiety. Sailors cry
out each to their own god.
387:11-388:19
13
Lk 8:22-25
Jonah slept from
depression, but he typified the
sleep of Jesus in the stormy sea. Disciples, alarmed
by storm, woke Jesus. Sailors too are
distressed by storm.
388:20-390:7
14
Jonah 1:6
Jonah slept while
sailors called on their gods so One God would not be mixed
up with them. Captain came to awaken Jonah, asking him
to pray to his God.
390:8-393:12
15
Gen 1:6-7
Jonah wakes up,
frightened by the surrounding storm. Excursus on how
the sea depicts the awesome power of the creator.
393:13-395:8
II
16
---
The
mēmrā, personified, pushes Jacob to
continue. Ships were made to subdue and travel the
sea.
395:9-396:21
17
Jonah 1:7a
Sailors seeing the
tempest like none other and understanding the sea wanted
one person, decide to cast lots to see who is at
fault.
397:1-398:9
18
Jonah 1:7b
They cast lots and
the lot falls on Jonah, the one who is the cause of the
storm.
398:10-399:16
19
Jonah 1:8
Sailors angrily
demand from Jonah, “What have you done and where are
you from that you have stirred up the sea so
violently?”
399:17-402:11
20
Jonah 1:9
Besieged by
sailors and sea, Jonah confesses he is a Hebrew, whose Lord
has authority over sea and land. Recital of Hebrews
who have conquered & divided the sea. Because he
refused God to preach to Nineveh waves battered him.
402:12-404:5
21
Jonah
1:10-11
Through Jonah the
sailors become wise, recognizing God’s omnipotence
and asking Jonah as wise man what they should do to calm
the sea.
404:6-405:18
22
Jonah 1:12
Jonah tells them
they have to cast him overboard to calm the sea for the
tempest is his fault. He will be a parable since the
sea has imprisoned him because he has fled from the Lord of
the seas.
405:19-407:16
23
Jonah
1:13-14
The sailors are
sorry for Jonah and struggle to make it to land, but the
sea threatens, ‘If I do not receive him, I will not
be calm.’ When they have to give up, they call
out to God to release them from guilt for Jonah’s
blood. They recognize it is God’s will whether
to save Jonah or not.
407:17-409:19
24
---
Jonah’s
teaching was successful with the sailors, for they let go
of their gods and worship the Lord. Jonah had refused
to preach to Nineveh, but now preaches in the midst of the
sea and acquires disciples.
409:20-410:15
25
Jonah 1:14
Mt 13:1-9
The word of the Lord is the fertile good seed
sown, even in the sea. The sailors pray to God,
not wishing to destroy Jonah, who ashamed, prepares
himself.
410:16-412:6
26
Sailors sadly bind
up Jonah giving thanks for their new faith in the Lord,
wishing Jonah peace and pray that by his atoning blood keep them from
sinking, and pray that Lord will do a new thing,
change the nature of the deep, and keep him alive.
412:7-412:18
27
Jonah 1:15
Sailors cast out
Jonah and the sea and tempest become calm, freeing the
ship.
412:19-413:15
28
Jonah 1:16
Sailors increase
in fear and worship of Lord seeing all that had
happened. They make sacrifices and ‘take refuge
in the household of Adonai.’
413:16-415:19
29
---
Jonah descends into deepest part of sea to
depict type of Son of God, a sign of the murder of the Son
who descends to Sheol and empties it. “Become in
the dead sea a living one without parallel.” He
stood before the questioning of sailors as our Lord did
before Pilate. The judge washed his hands of blood and
tried to save the innocent one - the captain and
Pilate.
415:20-416:14
30
---
The path of the mēmrā wants
to keep going, but the mysteries of the Son do not allow
Jacob to go. Everything on the Son’s journey is
depicted in Jonah’s.
416:15-418:8
31
Jonah 1:17a
Lord sends a fish
to swallow Jonah as a sign of grace to protect him on his
journey, riding in a new ship, unwrecked. Depicted as a new infant which entered through
the mouth to the belly of his mother, a miraculous
conception without intercourse.
418:9-419:17
32
---
The
mēmrā of Jonah is deep like his
journey. A solitary one, for he alone walked under the
seas. The old man became again a fetus in the bowels
of the fish. The fish was a citadel for him, a bridal
chamber.
419:18-420:18
33
---
Excursus on how
Creator provides for a fetus in a narrow belly without air
- an analogy of Jonah in the fish. A small place
amidst affliction, a dark prison, yet a palace full of
blessings.
420:19-422:10
34
Analogy of God providing living space to Jonah
in the fish, normally the bowels of death, similar to Jesus
in the tomb. Fish swallowed, not ate,
Jonah. This is a unique and wondrous story about
Jonah at which we are amazed.
422:11-424:16
III
35
Jonah
1:17b
2:1
Jonah is in the fish for three days, depicting
the Son and this is the cause for this
mēmrā to be spoken. Explicit
typology between Jonah and Jesus - the dead ones who became
the reason for life by their actions. Jonah,
realizing - yet puzzled - he is not dead, begins a prayer
in his heart in the heart of the earth.
424:17-427:13
36
Jonah 2:2-9
Amplification of
prayer of Jonah from within the belly of the fish.
427:14-429:20
37
---
The
mēmrā keeps going despite Jacob’s
attempts to limit it. Jonah’s soft prayer from
the fish empowers the mēmrā. Jacob
pleads with God to resurrect Jonah from the prison of the
fish.
429:21-431:6
38
---
The prayer of
Jonah ascends to God with sweetness, attracting the
attention of the angels and the response of God.
431:7-432:2
39
Jonah 2:10
Lord commands the
fish to vomit out Jonah, raising the dead one to life and
back on to dry land.
432:3-16
40
---
The mēmrā is the vehicle for
the story of our Lord, three days in the tomb as Jonah was
three days in the fish. Gives to readers “the
sign of Jonah.”
432:17-434:10
41
---
Jonah’s story, along with other prophets,
describes how the Son will be coming, painting a portrait
mixing different colors. Other Messianic
prefigurations cited.
434:11-435:11
42
---
Jonah speaks to his prophetic colleagues who do
not want him to speak about the atoning one, but he shows
how his journey is very similar to
Christ’s.
435:12-437:9
43
Jonah elevated his story of the Savior by his
own suffering. Jonah did not preach about the Savior,
but went silently to belly of death and ascended without
harm.
437:10-440:2
44
Jonah 3:1-2
Revelation of Lord
comes a second time to Jonah to preach to Nineveh. Jonah is
reluctant, but knows he has no choice. This time he
will preach exactly what Lord has told him.
440:3-443:6
45
Jonah 3:3-4
Jonah walks to
Nineveh and preaches threateningly of upheaval and wrath
within forty days. Nineveh will be a desolate mound
of dirt.
443:7-444:7
46
---
Jonah’s
terrifying words were heard by Nineveh which was greatly
alarmed by this one man.
444:8-445:13
47
Jonah
3:5-6a
Ninevites hear
Jonah and are afraid, fasting and putting on
sackcloth. Word reaches king of Nineveh and servants
ask, “Who is this one who despises you?”
445:14-446:17
48
---
Jonah, set on fire
by the divine revelations, accepts no bribes or flattery
and fears no authority. People ask him, “How do
we heal our disease?”
446:18-448:11
49
---
Jonah says there
is no way to bring an end to the wrath, describing an angry
Lord who wreaks punishment on sinners and citing catena of
prior judgments.
448:12-449:10
50
Jonah 3:6b
King of Nineveh is
more afraid of Jonah than an army, puts on sackcloth, and
calls for fasting among his armies and the population.
449:11-451:5
51
Jonah 3:7-9
King exhorts his
troops and population to fight hard this new battle of
repentance, fasting and sackcloth, especially to counter
Jonah’s desire to see Nineveh destroyed. The
Lord has authority to redeem us despite Jonah.
451:6-453:4
IV
52
Jonah 3:7-9
King sends out
commandment for universal fast and sackcloth, including
cattle, urging all to eliminate iniquity so that the wrath
may be averted by repentance.
453:5-454:2
53
Jonah 3:9
The people
respond, led by the militant example of the king who
extends hope. King admits that he is afraid of Jonah
as he has never been of armies.
454:3-458:2
54
---
Lengthy depiction
of acts of repentance by Nineveh. Bride &
bridegroom put on sackcloth and ashes. King becomes
lord of mourning to his people. All put on black
clothing and the city becomes dark. Even infants fast
and are weaned.
458:3-459:5
55
---
The people
gathered speak with resolve to correct and transform their
iniquitous ways and begin again a virtuous life.
459:6-460:21
56
---
The leadership of
king of Nineveh is vigorous, bearing diseases of the people
and healing them, and is a type for all
cities. Nineveh teaches the world about repentance:
fasting, prayer, ashes and sackcloth are its armor.
461:1-464:2
57
---
Jacob returns to
the mēmrā which he does not tire of
telling. Contrast between Jonah & Jesus: while
Jonah spoke and did not perform acts like Jesus, he was
honored; but Jesus was beaten and dishonored. The
mēmrā shows the repentance of Nineveh as
a judgment against Zion.
464:3-466:20
58
---
Nineveh’s
petition and prayer to God for mercy to preserve it from
destruction.
466:21-468:18
59
---
Forty days Nineveh
prays, making a festival for repentance, terrified by
Jonah’s words. Sleep is invaded by nightmares of
destruction.
468:19-471:3
60
---
Jonah’s
forty day period of warning is completed. No one wants
to look at one another, as all anticipate with great
anxiety on its eve the day of judgment.
471:4-473:17
61
---
The prayers of
Nineveh ascend to heaven, where Grace receives the petition
and pleads their case before the judge. Grace asks the
Lord not to reject their fasting and weeping, for then no
human will believe there is any hope to be redeemed.
473:18-474:12
62
---
Grace’s
persuasion stops the onset of the wrath, though all the
forces of heaven were set and ready to strike.
474:13-476:2
63
Jonah 3:10
The judge
relinquishes the punishment appropriate to the city, for
repentance ascended to establish love with
him. The morning comes and
brings Gospel to the city.
476:3-477:11
64
---
Ninevites awake
that morning full of joy and praise, transforming their
weeping. They praise the diligence of the wise king
whose effort had brought an end to the wrath. The city revels in the Gospel.
477:12-478:8
65
---
Jonah withdrew
from Nineveh after his preaching, but goes back to see what
has happened. Yet the walls and towers are still
standing at the end of the days.
478:9-479:21
66
Jonah 4:1-2
There being no
collapse of Nineveh, Jonah weeps & complains to
God. I know you are merciful and that is why I fled
the first time. You compelled me to come a second time
and preach for an upheaval and now there is none.
480:1-482:2
67
Jonah 4:3
Jonah blames God
for the mercy shown to Nineveh and bitterly requests to
die, lest he is accused of false prophecy.
482:3-484:9
68
Jonah 4:6
The Lord sees that
Jonah is very zealous in tradition of Elijah, a solitary
one without any possessions. God commands a plant to
grow over him and makes a booth in order to tempt Jonah to
take pleasure in it. Jonah takes comfort in the shade
and in his suddenly acquired house, and his sorrow
vanishes.
484:10-486:5
69
Jonah 4:7-8
Then the Lord
commands the plant and it dries up. A parching wind is
sent and the booth collapses and heat beats down on
Jonah. He thinks it might be the upheaval, but when he
sees Nineveh still standing he prays to God for
death. Nineveh was evil and stands; the innocent booth
and plant are pulled down.
486:6-488:22
70
Jonah
4:10-11
Lord rebukes
Jonah, why find fault with my mercy? You are sorry for
the plant which you did not make or own, yet it upsets
you. The city belongs to God, why did you not have
pity when it repented? Do not desire suffering for
others. You think you alone suffer and the suffering
of others does not concern you.”
489:1-490:2
71
---
God teaches Jonah
about mercy through craftiness, not compulsion. We are
both owners, Jonah of the plant, God of human
beings. You were distressed for the plant, I had pity
on Nineveh. Through the sorrow of Jonah we see mercy
of God.
490:3-16
72
---
God made Jonah a
parable for the mercy of his creation. The image is of
repentance which God responds to mercifully when called
upon.
Notes
† This is a revised version of a paper
presented at the Vth Syriac Symposium, June 25-27, 2007, at the
University of Toronto. I wish to gratefully acknowledge the
comments and suggestions of three anonymous Hugoye
reviewers who have helped steer me clear of some of my errors.
The Ninevites repented to give offerings: a pure fast of pure
babes.
Flowing breasts they withheld from babes, that they might
suck floods of mercy.