Foreword
Of the shorter books of the Old Testament there
is none to overpass the Book of Jonah in interest. But probably Jonah —
the book and the man — is also unique in the number of unanswered
questions, which it provokes in the mind of a thoughtful reader. My own
prejudice is in favour of a straight verse-by-verse exposition of the text. But
certain aspects of Jonah’s story have lured me, now and then, into an
exercise of imagination. The discriminating reader of this study will have
little difficulty in distinguishing between the terra firma of Bible supported
conclusions and the places where “probably” has to give way to
“possibly, maybe, perhaps.” And thus he may learn to append similar
undogmatic qualifying phrases to some of his own efforts to fill in the breaks
in this fascinating story.