I had the pleasure last Saturday of substitute teaching Dr. Benton’s church school class. After reviewing chapter three of the book of Jonah we moved into the fourth and last chapter which begins with Jonah being displeased and angry. “Why is Jonah upset?” I asked the class. “Because the king of Nineveh repented,” one child answered…
Tag: Jonah
Jonah the Post-Modern Nihilist
The final section of Jonah opens with the prophet’s anger and displeasure at the reversal of God’s wrath. (4:1) In a reprisal of his teenager persona, Jonah justifies his selfish behavior from chapter 1, wagging his finger at Dad, “didn’t I tell you?” (4:2) Jonah’s childish rant teems with hypocrisy. Even as he is rescued from Sheol (2:2) he angrily…
The crazy guy vs. the one who listens to him
Chapter 3 of Jonah illustrates Jonah’s second chance to give the Ninevites a second chance. God sets Jonah back on track to warn the Ninevites. Jonah complies this time, and the Ninevites are fairly warned. The king of Nineveh responds with extraordinary piety when word reaches him, committing himself and his entire land–including the livestock–to…
Led by the Voice to Repent, and assisted by those Appointed
Our youngest Ephesus School students learned a new Hebrew word. “Manah” means “to appoint.” In the book of Jonah, at least in the English, God “appoints” a large fish to swallow Jonah, a plant to grow, a worm to devour it, and a sultry east wind to bring Jonah to his senses. Unlike the defiant,…
“Qum” in Jonah and the Continuation of Life
We begin chapter three with Jonah out of detention, pursued by a Word intent on its objective from chapter 1: to make Jonah “stand up” or “get moving” (qum/קוּם) in Nineveh, bearing witness to God’s instruction. Matthew’s explicit mention of this text (Matt 12:39) draws parallels between the movement of Jesus in Matthew and that…
Jonah’s “Time Out”
Today we discussed Jonah 2, Jonah’s prayer from the belly of the big fish. Imagining the condition inside the big fish, we thought of Jonah’s possible reactions. How could he breathe? What would he eat? Wouldn’t it be scary to be eaten by a big fish? The tone of the poem, rather than fearful, struck…
Swimming with the Fishes
In this week’s class we saw the metaphors of entrapment from chapter 1 realized in Jonah’s predicament in chapter 2. Sinking head first and entangled (Jonah 2:5) Jonah found himself cut off and bottomed out in the sea (קצב/qetseb, 2:6) with no chance of escape–a bit like sending a child to stand in the corner….
Breaking Crayons
The goal with our youngest children at Ephesus School this past weekend was to give them the opportunity of simply hearing the Bible story from beginning to end. (The content of Scripture rivals the best fairy tales and Mother Goose stories. PLUS, there are no illustrations which allows the child to imagine the story from…
Put in a Bad Position
God puts people in hard positions our class saw as we discussed Jonah, chapter 1. One problem we discussed affected the poor mariners. They seemed to have their heart in the right place. They wanted to please their gods–any god!–to survive the storm. When they found out that Jonah was at fault, they asked what…
Role Reversal and Hypocrisy in Jonah: First Lesson with Adults at Ephesus School
In our first session with the adult group, we compared the functional role of Jonah as “ignoble preacher defiant of God” with that of the pagan sailors, whose behavior–in contrast with the prophet–served the intent of God’s instruction. It was the captain of the boat, not Jonah, who feared the God of the Hebrews and looked to him…