Avraham and Yonah

Introduction

There are only two places in Tanakh where a prophet intervenes to save a non-Jewish city of sinners from destruction: the story of Avraham's prayer for Sedom and Yonah's rebuke of Nineveh.  Comparing the two stories highlights the very differing outlooks of Avraham and Yonah to the attempted salvation, raising important questions regarding sin and punishment and the desired balance between mercy and justice.

Content Parallels and Contrasts

There are many points of contact between the two narratives:

• Non-Jewish city at brink of destruction – Both stories revolve around the imminent "overturning"¹ of a city of sinners.
• Cry rises to heaven – When explaining His plans to destroy Sedom, Hashem tells Avraham that their "cries have reached" the heavens.  Yonah is told to head to Nineveh for the same reason: "because their evil has risen before me".
• Leaving / remaining with Hashem – When Yonah is sent on his mission to try and save Nineveh, his reaction is to flee from before God, "וַיָּקׇם יוֹנָה לִבְרֹחַ... מִלִּפְנֵי י״י". When Avraham hears Hashem's intentions to destroy Sedom, he stays put:  "וְאַבְרָהָם עוֹדֶנּוּ עֹמֵד לִפְנֵי י״י".
• Arguing with God – Both prophets argue with Hashem, but from opposite standpoints. Avraham opposes Hashem's decision to destroy, while Yonah opposes the decision to save.² Avraham question's Hashem's justice: "הֲשֹׁפֵט כׇּל הָאָרֶץ לֹא יַעֲשֶׂה מִשְׁפָּט". Yonah questions Hashem's mercy: "עַל כֵּן קִדַּמְתִּי לִבְרֹחַ תַּרְשִׁישָׁה כִּי יָדַעְתִּי כִּי אַתָּה אֵל חַנּוּן וְרַחוּם".
• Waiting to see – Both leaders watch to see what will happen to the city. Avraham looks out in the morning to see the city's fate: "וַיַּשְׁקֵף עַל פְּנֵי סְדֹם וַעֲמֹרָה" (hoping to find it intact). Yonah camps outside the city "עַד אֲשֶׁר יִרְאֶה מַה יִּהְיֶה בָּעִיר" (hoping to see it destroyed).
• Destruction / salvation – Sedom is ultimately destroyed, there not being enough innocents to save it.  Nineveh, in contrast, is saved due to the multitudes of innocents within ("אֲשֶׁר יֶשׁ בָּהּ הַרְבֵּה מִשְׁתֵּים עֶשְׂרֵה רִבּוֹ אָדָם אֲשֶׁר לֹא יָדַע בֵּין יְמִינוֹ לִשְׂמֹאלוֹ").³

Literary Allusions

The language of the two stories is not particularly similar, making it questionable whether  the Book of Yonah is intentionally alluding back to the Avraham narrative. Nonetheless, there are two parallels worth noting:

 

Analysis

• וַיַּהֲפֹךְ / נֶהְפָּכֶת  –Though the verb "הפך" appears over 90 times in Tanakh, it only refers to the overturning and destroying of a city in the context of Sedom, Nineveh, and Ammon.⁴ Moreover, since Tanakh consistently refers to ""מהפכת סדום" when desiring to exemplify a city's destruction,⁵ using the verb elsewhere in a similar context automatically makes the reader recall Bereshit 19.
• מִלִּפְנֵי י״י / לִפְנֵי י״י – As the phrase "לִפְנֵי י״י" appears over 200 time in Tanakh is it only the shared (and opposite) context of a prophet fleeing or confronting God that makes the parallel significant.

Conclusions

The comparison highlights the opposing attitudes of Avraham and Yonah towards sin and punishment.  Avraham requests collective salvation of the entire city of Sedom, asking Hashem to save even the wicked.⁶  In his view, mercy trumps strict justice. Yonah, in contrast, is upset about Hashem's saving of even the repentant. Several modern scholars⁷ explain that though Yonah believed that repentance for misdeeds is desirable, he did not think that repentance removes the need for retribution. While Avraham is the epitome of "חסד", Yonah is a proponent of "truth" and justice, of "אמת".

The differing attitudes of the two leaders makes the reader ponder::

• What is the proper balance between justice and mercy? Is mercy the most transcendent form of justice or is it a travesty thereof? On one hand, mercy appears to be a desirable trait.  All pray to be pardoned even when undeserving; all desire to be judged with mercy rather than vengeance.  Is this, though, really just? Should one who has sinned egregiously against his fellow man be able to avoid retribution?  Even if penitent, should this suffice to avert punishment?
• On which side of the debate does Hashem stand? Does Hashem acquiesce to or deny Avraham's request?  How does He respond to Yonah's complaint? 
• For further discussion, see Avraham's Prayer for Sedom and Why Did Yonah Disobey Hashem.