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…
Tag: Nineveh
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…
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…