The City of God · Chapter
XLIV explained
Augustine discusses the apparent discrepancy between the Hebrew and Septuagint versions of Jonah's prophecy to Nineveh—whether it was 'three days' or 'forty days'—and argues that both are divinely inspired and symbolically point to Christ:
What happens
Augustine discusses the apparent discrepancy between the Hebrew and Septuagint versions of Jonah's prophecy to Nineveh—whether it was 'three days' or 'forty days'—and argues that both are divinely inspired and symbolically point to Christ: the forty days to His ascension and the three days to His resurrection. He encourages readers to seek the deeper prophetic meaning beyond the literal history.
Themes in this chapter
Divine Providence and History
Augustine shows how the differing numbers in the Hebrew and Septuagint texts are both providentially inspired to signify Christ's resurrection and ascension.
True Worship and the One God
The prophecy's fulfillment in Christ points to the true worship of God through the Church of the Gentiles.
Characters to notice
- Augustine
Author and interpreter of the prophecy of Jonah, reconciling the Hebrew and Septuagint versions.
- Jesus Christ
Signified by both the forty days (ascension) and three days (resurrection) in the prophecy.
Key passages
“For who does not see that the prophet could not say both, when he was sent to terrify the city by the threat of imminent ruin? For if its destruction was to take place on the third day, it certainly could not be on the fortieth; but if on the fortieth, then certainly not on the third.”
It is obvious that Jonah could not have given both a three-day and a forty-day warning, since the city's destruction could only happen at one specific time.
Augustine highlights the apparent contradiction to motivate deeper symbolic interpretation.
“These things, indeed, took place in the city of Nineveh, but they also signified something else too great to apply to that city; just as, when it happened that the prophet himself was three days in the whale’s belly, it signified besides, that He who is Lord of all the prophets should be three days in the depths of hell.”
The events in Nineveh and Jonah's time in the whale point beyond themselves to Christ's three days in the tomb.
Augustine uses typology to connect the Old Testament narrative to the New Testament fulfillment in Christ.