A knowledge of Assyria is essential to understand Jonah and Nineveh. Jonah probably knew that the Assyrians would eventually destroy his nation.
The Roman world background of the life of Christ or the travels of Paul. The privileges of being a Roman citizen, pagan religious practices.
2. The Cultural Gap.
“Culture includes what people think and believe, say, do, and make” (Roy Zuck, Basic Bible Interpretation, p. 79). Zuck goes on to group culture into eleven categories: political, religious, economic, legal, agricultural, architectural, clothing, domestic, geographical, military, and social (p. 80ff). God’s revelation is rooted and grounded in historical fact. The Bible writers were culturally conditioned––they were not automatons. The message from God came to people in terms of their specific cultures and their cultural settings.
Note the historical-cultural settings in these representative texts:
Isaiah 1:1
Jeremiah 1:1-3
Ezekiel 1:1-3
Hosea 1:1
Certain books owe their occasion for writing to historical-cultural events or other factors.
o The Book of Joel: The locust plague o The Books of Ezra and Chronicles: The return from exile and the needs of the new community in Judea o The Book of Lamentations: The fall of Jerusalem o The NT Epistles
1 Corinthians has some purely cultural purposes in writing: (1) Women’s head covering, ch. 11; (2) Eating meat offered to idols, ch. 10; and possibly (3) The situation of lawsuits, ch. 6.
o The Headings of Many Psalms:
One last preliminary question: What is a culture? What do we mean when we talk about a given people's culture? James Axtell has provided a definition of culture that, in many ways, illustrates the problems of grappling with this slippery concept:
Culture is the characteristics of a group of people defined by language, cuisine, religion social habits music and art. There are many different types of culture including western culture, eastern culture, African culture and many more. Culture is influenced by the groups of people that make up the country (Zimmermann, 2012). The term culture was first used by an English Anthropologist named Edward B. Tyler. It was first mentioned in 1871 in his book named ‘Primitive Culture’. He stated that culture is "that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Since then culture is the main focus of anthropology.
In the book of Jonah we see the vast amount of tension between both God and Jonah. He is one of the prophets who also believes in tolerance of non-Jews opposite to Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s stress of an unadulterated blood race of Jews under a restrictive Jewish God. Jonah is one of a vast line of important people in the bible who argues with God. As you see in past books of the bible everyone has stood their own against the Lord. Jonah though decides to try and run from God. The Lord called to Jonah and said “Arise, go to Ninevah, that great city, and cry against it,” but Jonah flees to Joppa, setting sail on a ship duty-bound for Tarshish, assuming he can evade the Lord. Jonah views the Lord as sort of a indigenous God of restrained power that his hand would not reach as
Family, heritage, ethnicity, beliefs, values, knowledge, experiences, attitudes, religion, education, roles, language, and cuisine are all items encompassing culture. Culture is what influences your outlook on life itself as well as behaviors and rituals. Culture is the way different groups of people do things. While some cultures have overlapping cultural behaviors or aspects, most cultures vary significantly. Culture, for the most part, is something you are born into, your innate programming, however, it some aspects can be changed or evolved. "Only part of culture is conscious" (Spector, 2013).
Culture includes the knowledge, belief, arts, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society (Graham:2014:2). Culture is learned and shared understandings among a group
I believe culture is the attitudes and feelings a group of people share. Culture can include practices like rituals and customs like religion. It is how you eat, drink, and speak. Culture can be either tacit or explicit. Tacit is very much like an unspoken behavior, it is something people lack words for. Explicit culture can be spoken or written. No matter what category culture falls into it truly makes us different from one another. It is everywhere shaping people all around the world every day.
One definition of culture from the sheet “What is Culture?” is: “culture…designates what we pay attention to and what we ignore.”
The term “Culture" can have many varying meanings, traditionally, it is thought of as the shared beliefs, traditions, religious practices and values of an ethnic group; or the beliefs, customs, practices, and social behavior of a particular nation or people. Culture can also be defined as people with shared beliefs and practices: or a group of people whose shared beliefs and practices identify the particular place, class, or time (era) to which they belong. It can also be defined as the shared attitudes or particular set of attitudes that can characterize an ethnic or religious group of people. Culture is also art, music,
A culture is the characteristics that relate and reflect on a particular group of people. This may include language, religion, music/arts, beliefs, values, and, overall, their way of life.
Cultures, it is not only our beliefs or customs, but a variety of things that makes a culture.
“Tiglath Pileser III was responsible for military reforms and innovations that existed until present time” Here we see the most memorable factor that contributed to developing the Assyrian
Jonah is one of the books of the minor prophets in the Old Testament. The main character Jonah was called by God to prophesy against wickedness in the great city of Nineveh. The themes are obedience, compassion, love, mercy, and salvation. Jonah refused God’s calling, boarding a ship to Tarshish in an attempt to flee from the presence of God. A fierce storm tossed the ship causing Jonah to be thrown overboard. Jonah was swallowed by a great fish where he cried unto the Lord. Graciously, God heard his cry and delivered him. When Jonah spent three days and nights in the belly of the fish, he served as a symbol of Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. Jonah quickly obeyed God by prophesying to Nineveh. Although the city’s inhabitants
God, when are you going to get us out of here? This was the cry of the Israelites when they were in captivity. Before the book of Ezra, Israel was disobedient to God. As a result, God punishes them by putting them under the captivity of another nation. During the captivity of the Israelites, God was orchestrating a plan of restoring for His people and this plan a student can find His plan is in the book of Ezra. When studying the book of Ezra, God’s faithfulness floods over the book! Students need to identify the political and spiritual background of Israel and key characters to understand the book of Ezra.
The definition of culture offered in one textbook is “That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man person as a member of society.”
Culture can be defined in many ways due to the fact that everyone can have their own distinct and traditional beliefs and values. “ Culture is fluid, it is not a static entity which one takes out of the box on occasion. It is with us daily” (Cultural Handout). Someone’s culture is set as the characteristics of the group practices in language, religion, types of food, social traits and habits, and the distinct arts and music. There are a variety of different cultures for example, Western Culture, Eastern Culture, Latin Culture, Middle Eastern Culture, and African Culture. All of these different cultures have their own ideas, values, and individualism, laws that are implied, civil rights, and even technology. In our, “ Culture Handout” culture is defined as the tool of the mind, “ it is an individual’s way seeing and interacting within the world. It encompasses one’s values systems, beliefs, and perceptions of the world around them. Race, socio-economic class gender, sexual orientation, ability, geographic location, age, religion language, etc. all impact the formation of culture, but these various context are not culture” (Cultural Handout).