Moby Dick; Or, The Whale

The Hymn of Jonah

In prolonged solemn tones, like the continual tolling of a bell in a foundering ship, Father Mapple begins reading a hymn about Jonah’s experience in the whale. As he reaches the concluding stanzas, his manner shifts, and he bursts forth with pealing exultation and joy, singing of the ribs and terrors of the whale, the opening maw of hell, his cry to God in black distress, and his joyful deliverance, ending with praise for God’s mercy and power. Nearly all the congregation joins in, their voices swelling high above the howling of the storm.

The Book of Jonah Introduced

After a brief pause, the preacher slowly turns the leaves of the Bible and fixes his hand upon the proper page. He addresses his “beloved shipmates” and cites the last verse of the first chapter of Jonah: “And God had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.” He introduces the Book of Jonah—containing only four chapters—as one of the smallest strands in the mighty cable of the Scriptures, yet one that sounds the depths of the soul with its deep sealine.

The Lesson of Jonah’s Sin

Father Mapple declares that the Book of Jonah teaches a two-stranded lesson: one to all sinful men, and a more personal one to himself as a pilot of the living God. The lesson for all men is a story of sin, hard-heartedness, awakened fears, swift punishment, repentance, prayers, and final deliverance and joy. The sin of Jonah, son of Amittai, lay in his wilful disobedience of God’s command, a hard command. Father Mapple emphasizes that all things God would have us do are hard to do, and so He oftener commands us than endeavors to persuade. To obey God, we must disobey ourselves; the hardness of obeying God consists in this disobeying of ourselves.