arkably
vivid and suggestive. Jonah fled from Jehovah's land and took refuge in
the sea, not because he feared the Ninevites, but, as he plainly declares
later, because he feared that, if he did preach to the Assyrian foes of
his race, Jehovah would repent and spare them. In the scene in the midst
of the raging tempest the piety of the heathen Sailors and their zeal in
sparing the guilty Israelite stand forth in favorable contrast to Jonah's
action in refusing to carry out Jehovah's command. The Ninevites, clad in
sackcloth, repenting for their sins, and craving Jehovah's forgiveness,
are far more attractive than the sullen prophet, complaining because
Jehovah has spared the heathen foes of his race and later upbraiding
Jehovah because of the destruction of the gourd that for a time had
protected his head from the burning sun. Jehovah's concluding remonstrance
voices the message of the book. Like the New Testament parable of the
Prodigal Son, the story of Jonah presents in graphic form the unbounded
love of the heavenly father and contrasts it sharply with the petty
jealousies and hatred of his favored people. It was a call to Israel to go
forth and become a missionary to all the world and a protest against the
nation's failure to perform its God-given task.

VI. The Book of Ecclesiastes. Very different is the spirit and purpose
of the book of Ecclesiastes. It evidently comes from one of the many
wisdom teachers who flourished during the Greek period and it speaks in
the name of Solomon. It is an essay on the value of life. In its original
form its thought was so pessimistic that it has been supplemented at many
points by later editors. These insertions include (1) proverbs commending
wisdom and praising the current wisdom teachings, and (2) the work of a
pious scribe, a forerunner of the later Pharisees, who sought to correct
the utterances of the original writer (who is commonly designated as
Koheleth) and to bring them into accord with current orthodoxy. The
language and style of the book are closely akin to those of the Chronicler
and the author of the book of Esther. It also contains several Persian and
possibly one Greek word. The book in its earlier form was evidently known
to Ben Sira, the author of Ecclesiasticus, who lived about 180 B.C. In
4:13-16 and 10:16-17 there are apparent references to the reign of Ptolemy
Epiphanes, who came to the throne of Egypt at the age of five, and whose
court was famous for its