75 JONAH’S SAILORS THEIR LOT CASTING AND other hand, despite its brevity, the material about the Ninevites is more theologically developed and therefore clearer with regard to the particularly religious nature of the practices in question when compared with that of the sailors, which, while lengthier, is much more concise as to the specific nature of the lot casting. Such asymmetries do not invalidate the correspondence noted by Trible (and others) which is reinforced by the several observations provided above. Instead, the asymmetries serve to underscore the dialectic of similarity and difference that is at work in all types of repetition, including the kind of stylistic, rhetorical, and literary repetition present in Jonah (and the rhetorical criticism thereof). Symmetry and asymmetry belong together in such (literary) contexts, as do similarity and difference in virtually every instance of repetition beyond the exact or identical variety 29. More specifically with reference to Jonah, the asymmetry-amidst-symmetry affords interpretative insight on both the sailors in chapter 1 and the Ninevites in chapter 3. While the religiously clearer presentation of the Ninevites is the strongest piece of evidence clarifying the religious nature of the sailors’ lot casting, the lengthier account of the sailors may, in turn, cast light on the otherwise limited information provided as to why the Ninevites immediately believe God (3,5) 30. The asymmetry-amidst- symmetry may also highlight that more is going on in the material about the sailors than just the correspondence with the Ninevites; part of that additional “more” is the rhetorical function of their lot casting 31. * * * In conclusion, these four considerations — especially the fourth and final one concerning the correspondence of the sailors’ activities with that of the Ninevites within the structure of Jonah — suggests that the lot casting in 1,7 is another instance of portraying foreigners in the book of Jonah in a most positive light. “Gentiles too have religious sensibilities” 32. For more on these points, see B.A. STRAWN, “Keep/Observe/Do – 29 Carefully – Today! The Rhetoric of Repetition in Deuteronomy”, A God So Near. Essays on Old Testament Theology in Honor of Patrick D. Miller (eds. B.A. STRAWN – N.R. BOWEN) (Winona Lake, IN 2003) 215-240, esp. 217-225. Cf. TRIBLE, Rhetorical Criticism, 183, who believes the lack of 30 information around 3,5 “serves artistic and theological interests.” My thanks again go to J.K. Mead for bringing this point to my attention. 31 B.P. ROBINSON, “The Compassionate God of All Nations: Intimations of 32 Universalism in the Old Testament”, Scripture Bulletin 30 (2000) 32.