GRGR(22) - Jonah

[Doug Millison]

It might be worth considering, re Slothrop and the Judeo-Christian threads
that run through GR, that Jonah wound up on that boat to Tarshish in the
first place because he did not want to go where God told him to go --
rebellious.  Jonah is often recalled for the irony his story presents:  he
thanks God for saving him when he was in the belly of the beast (in the
beautiful prayer, "In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.
>From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my
cry.") but he gets angry when God forgives the people of Nineveh instead of
destroying them as Jonah prophesies. Pissed off, Jonah sits outside the
city to watch what happens:

6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give
shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about
the vine.

7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so
that it withered.

8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed
on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It
would be better for me to die than to live."

9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."

10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you
did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight.

11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who
cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well.
Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

In this case at least, God restrains the Light that might bring the Towers low.

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