Yonah: Man against Nature

Abstract

Yonah ben Amitta's beginnings were quite unusual. According to Pirke d' Rabbi Eliezer (chapter 10), Yonah was the son of the widow in whose house Eliahu HaNavi lived during a famine. This was the same child who died and was revived by Eliahu HaNavi (I Melachim 17:9- 24). Yonah was a disciple of Eliahu and, afterwards, of Elisha and was the prophet for the dynasty of (Jehu (ll Melachim 9:1- 10, 10:30, and 14:25). He lived for 120 years. The Ramban (Bereshis 6:19) notes that when resorting to miracles , HaShem employs an economy of means and causes miracles to happen as close as possible to the natural order. In the entire Sefer Yonah, many of the events are an intermingling of overt miracles with natural phenomena.