Claude Lichtert, «Récit et noms de Dieu dans le livre de Jonas», Vol. 84 (2003) 247-251
The problem of the different names of God in the book of Jonah is regulary discussed by researchers. There have been attempts to resolve this question through diachronic hypotheses (as part of literary criticism), as well as by synchronic hypotheses which attribute the choice of different names for God to semantic associations or to the structure of the story as a whole. This study offers an interpretation which considers the changes in the name for God as a function of the narrative. Thus, the very act of naming God comes from the story itself and through the interaction of its characters. The analysis offered here, after a brief study of each chapter of the book, shows that the double divine name ("YHWH God") is the term that brings out the positive or negative twists and turns in the narrative. In brief, Jonah makes his way through the story with different names for God, each indicating how God’s relation with others is positivie or not.
livre se terminant par une question ouverte, la scène finale détourne l’attention du monde interne du texte et la focalise sur le monde externe du lecteur. Jonas ne répondant pas à la question finale de YHWH (4,11), n’est-ce pas au lecteur à faire basculer une ultime fois la relation à Dieu dans un sens positif?