Analysis Of John Walton's The Object Lesson On Jonah

Runaway, rebellion, and shocking; these are 3 word in which best describe the story of Jonah. Though a exceedingly short book in the Bible, only 4 chapter long, Jonah in nonetheless a significant book in the Bible. We are not told much about the “prophet;” (if he can even be called that) but what we do know makes us question how and why he was chosen by God to deliver a very important message that literally had the fate of an entire city riding on its delivery. We can, however, conclude book of Jonah is most definitely written by a single author; this is evident in its unified theme and style. The author of Jonah is relatively unknown. However, it is possible, but unlikely, that Jonah himself is the author. It is difficult to see a man with such stubbornness and childish actions wrote this

“Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object or person. It can come in the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things (Net 2).” From the beginning, Jonah received the word from the God, who asked him to dissipate the evilness in city of Nineveh. But he did not obey God’s command, instead, he ignored what God’s saying and became evasive, setting forth to another place in the presence of the God. Here his deportment is a direct sacrilege to God’s authority.

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

Mr. Darrow: Perfectly easy to believe that Jonah swallowed the whale? . . . . . I object to your statement. I am examining you on your fool ideas that in intelligent Christian on this earth believe (Document C.) However, fundamentalism continued to grow after the trial ended. Fundamentalism was an example of how the rift

To me it is easy to see myself reacting the same way in many of the situations in the same manner as Jonah did against a group of people that he felt didn’t deserve the blessing of a loving God?

Before he went to the island of San Lorenzo, Jonah was floating on a cloud, not really paying attention to too much detail. However, as he met more people on the island things started to click for him, and he was able to make sense out of some of the puzzle that would eventually become his book. Jonah also makes some dumb mistakes, just like humans do. I don't think that his agreeing to become the president of San Lorenzo was a smart move, but at the time all he could think about was marrying Mona, and that in itself was enough motivation for him. "Love is blind" is a very popular saying, and it rings true in most humans, and in this case, Jonah.

The prophet Jonah was an angry, hateful man who lived in eighth century B.C. During the reign of King Jeroboam II, he was commission by God to go to Nineveh and tell them to repent of their wicked ways. While it is not known, who wrote the book of Jonah is it widely believed to be have been penned by the prophet himself. The passage I have chosen takes place after the people of Nineveh repent and God has shown compassion for them. Jonah is stubbornly angry at God’s compassion and leaves Nineveh. The passage picks up with Jonah sulking on a hill overlooking the city.

When the Hebrew peoples lost everything and entered into captivity to Babylon, they were a lost and floundering nation. “After the days of Solomon, the history of Israel was a story of increasing apostasy and judgement” (Clowney, 2013, p. 185). Despite their breaking of the covenants, and sinning against God in the worst ways, God did not abandoned them. He was very unhappy, and sent many prophets to speak His words to try to bring them back into relationship with Him, then God sent judgements down upon them. However, through these judgements, He kept to His promise to Abraham to ultimately bless the nations of Israel. (Clowney, 2013, p. 193) When they were allowed by Cyrus to return to Jerusalem (Arnold & Beyer, 2008, p. 58), with permission

John the Baptist was eccentric, and there is no doubt about that; his “lineage, his contrary social behavior, his external appearance, [and] his diet” were all evidence of his uniqueness compared to others’ of this time (MacArthur 152). However, he did not care about what others thought of him. Just like John, a new hero that possesses this trait would embrace their differences and put them to use. John did not “fit the model of greatness,” yet he was declared the greatest human being to walk the Earth by Jesus himself (MacArthur 152). The new hero would be inspired by this, and know that even though she may not fit society’s standards, she can still be successful. She would know that God created her to be that way for a reason. Because society tends to push those who are different aside, people can become rebellious just as Jonah did. Though Jonah’s rebellious nature may be seen as negative, no one is perfect. Possessing this characteristic would make a hero more realistic and relatable because at some point in their lives, people want to go against authority and set out to complete their own goals. Jonah disrespected God’s command because he despised the Ninevites; he was driven by his self-interest and did not approve of the Ninevites being saved. Nevertheless, “God worked through him to conduct a campaign of

Friend… what has God been tugging on your heart about, and you haven’t obeyed Him yet? The temptation could be to join Jonah in his downward spiral, to turn away from the rich life God desires for

The LORD is not going to allow His servant to have this wrong attitude, so He confronts Jonah with a question: 4 Then the LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” This is a conversation between God and Jonah. We’re third party. Jonah is saying to God, “I’m mad that You spared the Ninevites and forgave them and showed Your love and mercy!”

God called Jonah to “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city and cry aginst it; for their wickedness is come up before me.” (Jon 1:2) Jonah fled Gods calling to Tarshish. During his escape a great storm came upon the boat that he was on. So the crew cast him into the sea where “the lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” In Matthew 12:40 Jesus refrences this as “Jonah being in a whales belly for three days.” While in the belly of the fish Jonah prayed to God to let him out. “the Lord spoke unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land”.(Jon 2:10) Jonah then went to Ninevah “and cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”( Jon 3:4). Ninevah repented and turned back to God and he showed mercy. Jonah was still angry because God showed this savage nation mercy. God then explained to Jonah that everyone needs mercy even your greatest

“Jonah, by contrast preaches a short, reluctant sermon in Nineveh (of all places!) and the entire city repents, from the greatest to the least.” (Hays,2010, P.171). “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” (Bible.org, N.D). repentance to me is the social justice part, If God’s people repents He will heal the land. The bible says, “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2nd chronicles 7:14).

Bolin, Thomas M. “Should i Not Also Pity Nineveh? Divine Freedom in the Book of Jonah.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament no. 67 (1995): 109-20.

In addition, the city of Nineveh is described in Nahum as “bloody, full of deceit, and full of plunder” (Bolin 117). The Ninevites’ actions therefore justified Jonah’s decision to disobey God’s command because of how ruthless they were. The nature of the great city disgusted Jonah and made him believe that the Ninevites were not worthy of God’s forgiveness. Although Jonah’s intuition to ignore God’s command seems admissible, we later learn that it is not up to Jonah to determine the Ninevites’ fate.