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This study examines the Book of Jonah through the lens of Joseph Campbell's "descent and ascent" motif in heroic narratives, reinterpreting Jonah's journey not as a typical transformative ascent, but as a narrative of regression. While traditional hero stories depict the descent into crisis as a precursor to renewal and growth, Jonah's descent-marked by geographic and symbolic downward movement into the depths of the sea and the fish's belly-leads not to transformation but to a deeper entrenchment in self-centered attitudes. The analysis draws attention to the continuity between the Jonah of 2 Kings 14:25, who is portrayed as a pro-monarchic prophet proclaiming territorial restoration, and the Jonah of the prophetic book, who resists God's mercy toward the enemy nation of Assyria. Jonah's refusal to fully carry out God's commission and his anger at Nineveh's repentance reflect his adherence to an ethnocentric theology that limits divine grace to Israel alone. Although Jonah outwardly obeys God by proclaiming judgment to Nineveh, his message lacks clarity, divine attribution, and openness to repentance. Despite Nineveh's genuine turn from evil, Jonah reacts with anger, highlighting his unresolved inner conflict. This inversion of the hero motif ultimately reveals the limits of the human prophet. Jonah appears to rise, but fails to undergo the inward transformation essential to heroic ascent. The Book of Jonah, therefore, offers a literary and theological critique of exclusive salvation, emphasizing that true transformation-both individual and communal-requires transcending self-interest and embracing the universality of divine mercy.

The core of this study is an anthropological inquiry into the Book of Ecclesiastes, focusing on the integration of Qoheleth’s reflection on human toil (or anxiety), the cyclical repetition of human life oscillating between the rhythms of opposing seasons(as articulated in 3:1-8), and Laozi’s concept of wu wei(無爲). Qoheleth encapsulates his concern for the human condition-tormented by labor and anxiety-into a concise question: “What profit do people gain from all the toil at which they labor under the sun?” (1:3). This question expresses a skeptical view of humanity’s inherent desire for gain and achievement. While this inquiry is linked to passages that invalidate all human endeavors “under the sun” (1:12–2:26), it is simultaneously connected to the poem of times(3:1–8) and its subsequent reflection in 3:9–15. In these verses, the alternating poles of affirmation and negation tied to the passage of time poetically portray the enigmatic pattern of life-one that compels humanity to accept even the times they wish to evade. Time here is structured as a multifaceted flow that approaches humanity from various directions. Qoheleth accepts these polarities of time as "natural," revealing a potential convergence with Daoist thought, particularly Laozi’s philosophy of wu wei (無爲), which stands in contrast to artificial human striving (ren wei, 人爲). This is because wu wei signifies balance or harmony achieved by refraining from forcing action against the natural order's flow. Accordingly, this paper explores the intimate relationship between human labor (toil) and the practice of wu wei within the flow of time, while reflecting on the human condition poised between eternity and the moment. Ultimately, it illuminates the theological implication of “everyday salvation” through the hope of a humanity entangled in anxiety yet capable of finding rest in wu wei.

Song of Songs 6:11-12, particularly verse 12, is widely recognized as one of the most challenging passages to interpret in the Song of Songs. Ancient translations, modern translations, and commentators offer divergent interpretations, and numerous emendations to the Hebrew text have also been proposed. The interpretive difficulties stem not only from the ambiguity in the Hebrew text but also from the unclear motivation behind the expression of surprise at the abrupt transition from the garden setting to the chariot context. This study first examines the history of interpretation of this passage, then proposes an alternative reading utilizing an iconographical method. Iconographical methods, not yet well known in Korean scholarship, can be applied to biblical studies in various ways. This paper focuses specifically on its application to interpreting particular biblical passages or metaphors. After briefly introducing iconographical methodology, the study presents an interpretation of Song 6:11-12 as an example of applying this approach to biblical text interpretation. In this course, biblical texts are thoroughly interpreted by comparing them with other textual sources, while images are analyzed by comparing them with related images. Only after completing these separate comparative analyses are the results from both inquiries synthesized. The study concludes that two concepts appear both in the Song of Songs text and in various images from Egypt, the Levant, and Mesopotamia: ‘woman can be compared to military power’ and ‘vegetation and chariots, or life/love and war, though seemingly contrasting, are different aspects of the same power.’ Thus, Song 6:11-12 reflects a worldview widely prevalent in the ancient Near East. By actively engaging ancient Near Eastern images through iconographic methodology in Old Testament interpretation, we can expect a significantly broadened horizon of interpretation based on cultural-historical information available through visual sources.