Jonah: Religion, Politics, Prophecy

Rabbi Dr. Shmuly Yanklowitz describes Jonah’s actions as a protest, driven by both faith and politics:  

What does it mean to protest? Protesting expresses the opinion that there is something wrong with the ways of the world. At the same time, an act of protest is also an optimistic step to take, signifying our conviction that human actions can be held accountable, human institutions fixed, and society changed. Protest attempts to fight inequity, hatred, greed, and maybe even fear. Why is this relevant?   

The Book of Jonah opens with the idea that religious actions can be politically subversive. In the first two verses, God calls upon Jonah to become a religiously motivated political activist: God speaks to Jonah and implores him to remonstrate against an unjust society. While we often imagine public political protest to be a secular phenomenon, in the Book of Jonah God calls upon the prophet to initiate religious action. [1]  

Richard Rohr considers how prophets are often criticized for being “political”:   

We must not be discouraged when people say, You are making the message political and not spiritual! The prophets speak about misuse of power, but always from an inspired basis, and at a higher level of morality. Think of Martin Luther King Jr. calling for civil rights; Catherine of Siena’s advocacy for reform of the clergy and peacemaking; Sojourner Truth’s activism for the abolition of slavery and civil rights for African Americans and women; César Chávez’s work in organizing farmworkers. Their critiques and promises were stated in concrete historical terms, but with a clear spiritual meaning and motivation. Their messages were received gladly by the powerless and then exploited or rejected by prideful profiteers and narrow nationalists.   

Jonah was a patriotic nationalist who wanted Nineveh to suffer; true prophets are always internationalists working to realize what Jesus will call the “reign of God.” In their “political” advocacy, prophets point out and confront the power equations that are always corrupting human relations and the divine relationship, too. [2]

Yanklowitz honors the weight that prophets carry:   

Many of us may feel that we do not do enough. We may feel exhausted and tired of carrying the heavy weight of that universal responsibility. That’s not just us. We see that even a prophet can feel similarly, and in response, he tries to run away from his responsibility. [3] Jonah is us. We are Jonah.   

It is not easy to be a prophet. The prophet is neither cool nor popular; the prophet is not the life of the party. The prophet is an anxious personality juggling the demands of God with the needs of humans. Constantly risking alienation or even death, the prophet is isolated and lonely. But we are not allowed to turn away. [4]  

References:   
[1] Shmuly Yanklowitz, The Book of Jonah: A Social Justice Commentary (Central Conference of American Rabbis, 2020), 1.   

[2] Adapted from Richard Rohr, The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage (Convergent, 2025), 87–88.  

[3] Rabbi Yanklowitz notes: “We might ask ourselves about how we run away from God today. Do we run from our moral responsibility? Do we run from silence and spiritual engagement? Do we run from our mortality? Do we avoid addressing big theological questions? Indeed, it is only human to hide” (Yanklowitz, 142).  

[4] Yanklowitz, Book of Jonah, 7.  

Image credit and inspiration: Jong Marshes, untitled (detail), 2017, photo, Unsplash. Click here to enlarge image. Beneath the surface we flail, bewildered. Has our heart grown too hard to sense the gentle sun of God’s mercy drawing us up and out? 

Explore Further

Practice With Us

New at CAC