Wednesday, June 22, 2022

Jack M. Sasson on Jonah 1:14 and “Innocent Blood”

  

Hebrew Scripture knows of two different ways in which the words “blood” and “pure, clean, innocent” are bound to each other. In the case of dām nāqî’, “innocent” is simply an adjective to “blood,” with each word receiving its own accent; I translate this phrase simply by “innocent blood.” In the other case, “blood” loses its accent and enters into construct with the nominalized adjective “innocent person,” leading to a phrase (dam [han]nāqî/neqîyîm) that can be rendered with “blood of the innocent person(s).” . . . The difference between the two constructions is subtle and is available to the eye rather than to the ear, for we cannot hear any difference when either is pronounced. “Innocent blood” focuses on the act of shedding blood, regardless of one who is the victim, while “blood of the innocent person” dwells on the blamelessness of a victim.

 

In this light, “innocent blood” in our verse permits one more perspective by which to appraise the sailors’ prayer: they are beginning God’s understanding, not for judging a prophet guilty, but for a crime they are about to commit. In other words, the sailors are not completely convinced of the truth conveyed by Jonah even as they made ready to heave him overboard. Despite their prayer, therefore, the sailors have not yet completely and obediently yielded to God’s will. (Jack M. Sasson, Jonah: A New Translation With Introduction, Commentary, and Interpretation [The Anchor Yale Bible 24B; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990], 134)

 

In a footnote to the above, we read that

 

Vocabulary parallels to Jonah’s is found Jer 26:15. Despite the soothing words of the other prophets, Jeremiah insists on predicting calamity and destruction the unreconstructed. Angered officials seek his death, to which Jeremiah responds, “I am, now, at your disposal; do with me as you deem it right and proper. However, do realize that if you put me to death, innocent blood will be assessed against you (kî-dām nāqî ‘attem nōtenîm ‘alêkem), and upon this city and its inhabitants. God has indeed empowered me to deliver these words to you individually.” Jeremiah does not hope to frighten his enemies by warning about hurting God’s messenger (they are too callous for that), but to alarm them about the crime of shedding any individual’s blood. The vocabulary in the Jonah and Jeremiah passages can be compared to that found in Deut 21:1-9, where a crime has been committed, but the criminal cannot be identified. Levites will break the neck of an unworked (and unmated?) heifer and elders will pledge, “We are not personally responsible for this crime, nor have we witnessed it. Accept expiation, Lord, for your folk Israel, whom you have redeemed; do not impose the guilt of innocent blood upon your folk Israel (we’al-tittēn dām nāqî beqereb ‘ammekā yiśra’ēl). May this bloodshed be expiated for them.” (Ibid., 134 n. 9)