Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 87 No. 2, 2017.
Review article
God is Being Angry – God is Felling Remorseful. Old Testament Reflections on God's Anger
Karlo Višaticki
orcid.org/0000-0003-4683-4812
; Catholic Faculty of Theology in Djakovo, University of Josip Juraj Strossmayer, Djakovo, Croatia
Abstract
This contribution begins with an anthropomorphism that has been used often in the Bible: God has feelings like a human being. He gets angry, but also feels remorse. The article first presents a few examples of this kind of »mood« God gets into. This is not only unique for the Hebrew Bible, but the history of religions in general is familiarised with God´s and gods´ anger, as well as the human being´s expectance of such a phenomenon. By analysing the term אף ʾaf, (nose, nostrils, rage, anger) and some similar terms of the same semantic field, the article specifies Biblical places where these are being illustrated. After that, the article turns to a specific example of a prophetic book, in this case Ezekiel´s book, in order to present all texts that use this term in any context. As an example of God´s »remorse«, the author draws our attention to a short text from the Book of Jonah (Jnh 4:10) that describes a paradoxical situation: the prophet Jonah is getting angry precisely because God is »feeling remorseful« and gives up his plan to punish the big and sinful, albeit pagan, city of Nineveh, because its inhabitants have repented for their sins.
Keywords
anthropomorphisms; repentence; God´s anger/rage; forgiveness; prophet Jonah; Book of Ezekiel
Hrčak ID:
184963
URI
Publication date:
20.7.2017.
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