| Spending time in the Scriptures Jonah | by A. Kimber | |||||
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This month we arrive at one of the better known prophets. Forty eight verses spread over four chapters telling a straight-forward story make this prime Sunday School fodder. So it’s likely that you will know the basic plot of this book even if you are new to Christianity, so let’s just pick up some interesting points to note. Firstly Jonah is sent to Nineveh. Yes I know that you know this, but it’s worth noticing that Jonah was being sent to a heathen city. Jonah’s attempt to flee from the Lord was not simply because he did not want to preach the message given to him, but because he knew that God was just and would forgive the people if they repented. Putting ourselves in Jonah’s shoes we can understand that he would like them to receive the judgement he’s pronouncing, it’s not in his or his nation’s interests to see these people forgiven, so being sent to an enemy nation knowing that God will forgive if the people obey his word seems to trigger this idea that he can escape God’s commission. As we know, Jonah boards a ship bound for Tarshish, which, upon leaving port, finds itself at the centre of a storm sent by God. I have no idea how Jonah managed to sleep but we find him below deck sleeping. Yet while he was there all the members of the crew were praying to their gods and doing what they could to lighten the ship. Was Jonah really so tired that he, the only person who knew the true God, was unable to pray? The sailors increasingly concerned at their plight cast lots and discover that Jonah is the one who is responsible for their situation. This prophet, who serves the God of heaven who made the sea and dry land, causes much consternation when he tells them of his attempt to flee. We have to acknowledge that Jonah told them that they should throw him overboard but we also have to give the sailors credit for trying to row to shore; although this proved futile and leads to them having to throw him overboard. So as we know, Jonah then gets swallowed by the fish that God has prepared, at this point we then have the first of two recorded prayers from Jonah. This first one is a prayer for help and salvation from the fish’s belly. The second comes after God has spared Nineveh when Jonah then prays that he may die. It’s an interesting view on our perceptions of God, it can be easy to pray sensibly when we have a focus for prayer but when our prayers do not have a profitable goal we can often find ourselves praying for things that are not in God’s will. It’s interesting to note that all the heathen people that Jonah meets are swift to believe and obey what he says. I wonder if he learnt a lesson in obedience? I wonder if he was being taught a lesson about his own peoples’ slowness to obey? Jonah is certainly given a good lesson in values, he is put in a position of reliance on a gourd, a plant that God prepares for him and moans when it is taken from him. God makes it abundantly clear that he loves and values everyone in His creation; it was His desire to save the many hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of Nineveh. So what do we take from Jonah? For such a short book there is a lot to take in, lets just point ourselves in the right direction by realising that God sometimes wants us to do things that we don’t want to do. And God’s requests don’t change, no matter what we do. He is swift to execute judgement but yet again we see that He is righteous, loving and kind. Key Verses Jonah 1:10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. Jonah 2:9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD. Jonah 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. Jonah 4:2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
All quotes are from the King James version of the Bible unless otherwise specified. | ||||||
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