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"And also much cattle?"

FarSideCownCar.gifJonah 4:11

This, of course, is the wonderfully odd ending of the book of Jonah in which God questions Jonah as to why he's so peeved that he spared the people of Nineveh.

And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?

And that's the end of the book. No answer.

Which leaves you wondering. Was the question supposed to be rhetorical or were we supposed to answer the question?

It also shows that God, who enlists whales and worms to teach lessons to Jonah, cares deeply not only about human beings, but "also much cattle." In many ways Jonah is a deeply ecological book in which God demonstrates an abiding concern for all of creation.

But, that as it may be, I just like a book that ends with the words, "and also much cattle?"

40 for 40, #33

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