Joel, Jonah, and SBL

I am presenting my first paper at the SBL meeting in New Orleans this November. It was initially a term paper for my minor prophets class, and my professor was complimentary of it. It was accepted as part of the Contextual Biblical Interpretation program unit. As I continue to tweak the paper, I thought I would throw out some of the things I am doing with it and see if any of you have any questions, comments, concerns, or opposing viewpoints.

My paper is entitled: Is YHWH Faithful to Israel? Joel and Jonah’s Use and Non-use of Exodus 34:6-7. As is evident from the title, I am examining Joel and Jonah’s unique quotation of Exodus 34:6. My basic argument is that whatever dates we conclude best situate these prophetic books are irrelevant for understanding the theological interplay between Joel and Jonah’s use of the Exodus creed. The texts as they stand do not require us to assign priority to either Joel or Jonah, and thus they can be read in both directions. This was actually argued by Thomas Dozeman previously. His article read Jonah as an interpretation of Joel. In my paper, I do the reverse.

Since I begin with Jonah, I spend a greater amount of time reflecting theologically on the text of Jonah. What I have found is unique to my argument is to interpret the absence of אֶמֶת as an accusation against the perceived un-faithfulness of YHWH; that YHWH would relent from this particular disaster against Nineveh is perceived by Jonah as an act of unfaithfulness on the part of YHWH. Does this resonate with any of you who have studied these texts before? The argument has been substantially watered down, but I would love some (any) feedback on the essence of the paper.