Sign from the fish's belly

James Jordan · 27 Jan 2003, 20:26 · from urth-v0301.mbox · original

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From: James Jordan <jbjordan4 at cox.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) Sign from the fish's belly
Date: Mon, 27 Jan 2003 14:26:37 -0600
Message-ID: <urth-v0301-2843 at digest.urth.net>
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At 07:36 AM 1/27/2003, you wrote:
>I asked this:
>
>--- Marble prophesies for Horn regarding the community (at the beginning of
>OBW): "The city searches the sky for a sign, but no sign shall it have but
>the sign from the fish's belly."  Anybody have an explanation for this?

....

>So it seems clear that "sign from the fish's belly" =3D "sign of Jonah". (I
>take it that Marble is repeating a phrase from the Chras writings here.)
>
>Googling reveals a whole bunch of varied ravings about the meaning of the
>sign of Jonah, but maybe this:
>
>- Jonah's  3 days in the belly of the fish as a prefigurement of Jesus'
>death & resurrection. So should we think of Horn's time in the pit on the
>island, or should we scrap the 3 days & nights and think of this as a
>prophecy of SilkHorn's return to straighten things out in New Viron - Horn
>having "died" and been "reborn"?
>
>- After he is disgorged by the whale, Jonah goes to preach repentance to t=
he
>heathen city of Nineveh. Suprisingly, all 120,000 of them immediately do s=
o,
>covering themselves with ashes & sack-cloth etc. (Jonah is pissed, because
>he was hoping Yahweh would do some serious smiting, Nineveh being an enemy
>to Israel.) So the imagery is maybe the conversion of all a whole nation to
>righteousness, after the "death" and "resurrection" of the prophet.

         The question is how much of the Jonah//Jesus story does (a) Wolfe=20
catch, and (b) Wolfe intend.
         Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh, because of the prophecy in=20
Deuteronomy that if God's people provoke Him with "no-gods" (idols), He=20
will provoke them by going over to another people ("no-people"). God=20
announcement to Jonah was an announcement that He was fed up with Israel,=20
and was going to go over to these gentiles. Jonah, as one who loved his own=20
people, did not want to see this happen.
         At this point in history, Assyria (Nineveh) was not a great power,=20
and not much of a problem to Israel, whose major enemy was Syria=20
(Damascus). After a century, Assyria would become the enemy. So careful=20
expositors don't usually say that Jonah hated the Assyrians, but that he=20
understood that his call to go there was a judgment on his own people. But=20
Wolfe may not have studied all this out.
         Jesus' "sign of Jonah" is of a piece with this history. Repeatedly=20
He has indicated that His new kingdom will be received by more gentiles=20
than Jews. Indeed, His new assistants are no longer shepherds but fishermen=20
(in Biblical imagery, Gentiles are associated with the sea, across waters,=20
while Israel is associated with land).
         The death-resurrection business is, thus, in part a death to the=20
old people and a resurrection to a new one. The old people don't want what=20
the prophet brings, but the new people will hear it.
         I suspect Wolfe knows part of this at least. New Viron searches=20
the sky for a sign (looks to Silk on the Whorl), but what they receive will=20
be something they may well reject, and will be good news to others. To=20
whom? Who actually takes the most interest in Silkhorn's "ministry"? New=20
Viron or other places? Or even the inhumi, so pathetically desperate to be=20
fully human?
         Perhaps closer to the actual events: Horn dies and is resurrected,=20
and then goes not to anywhere on Blue but to Green. What does he do on=20
Green, but clean out the city there (Nineveh, a gentile city - ?). Does=20
this correspond in Lupine thought to evangelism of the city, cleansing it?=20
Who benefits from it? (A good question: Who does? I'm not sure I know.)
         Now, in the gospels, the sign of Jonah is a sign to the Jews. That=20
is, that the reception of the resurrected Jesus by gentiles is a sign to=20
the Jews that they'd better get on board. In what way is Horn's work on=20
Green (Nineveh Gentiles) a sign to people on Blue (Jews)? Maybe that if=20
they don't shape up,  if they don't learn the wisdom that the=20
double-resurrected Silkhorn brings them, they'll wind up like the city on=20
Green? Or something else?
         I don't know. But it looks as if this is a deepstructure in the=20
narrative that would repay closer attention.
         Someone asked about the "3 days/nights" in the gospels. Start the=20
clock with the arrest of Jesus on Thursday night, after he has agreed to=20
die, when everyone abandons him. "In the heart of the earth" is a broader=20
concept than merely lying in a tomb; note the symbolic use of "heart" in=20
the phrase. One has to read Biblical language in terms of the Biblical=20
worldview, not in terms of ours. 3 days/nights under the "power" of death.

FWIW

Nutria


--=20

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