Comparing God And Jonah In The Book Of Jonah

In the Beginning: At the beginning of the universe. God created heaven and earth in six days and rested on the seventh. During those six days God spoke to the darkness and created the world, brought forth light, created the sky, land and animals and plants to inhabit them. However, even during this creation he was contemplating the creation of a being made in his own image.

“An Analysis of the “Book of Jonah”.” Judaism 43, no. 1 (Winter, 1994): 87, http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/1304357903?accountid=12085.

Jonah was given the task of delivering God’s message of impending judgment to a society that Jonah despised.

The book of Genesis lays the groundwork for what transpires later in The Bible, while the book of Jonah jumps forwards generations with one man’s struggle with whether to follow God’s direction. In both books, the characters disobey the good lord, in Genesis Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of life, and in Jonah, Jonah ignores God’s directive to venture to Ninevah to save their people from their own wickedness. Furthermore, during both stories Adam and Jonah each decide to hide from God. On the surface, these actions may seem similar, but deep down they are actually quite different, and both of these choices are able to give the reader a deeper perspective on the nature of the relationship between God and humans.

In The Education of a Prophet: Jonah John Piper discusses the idea of Christians that have strong racist views. He starts his sermon by talking about his hometown church and its racist members, then he compares these people to members of the Ku Klux Klan, and last of all he discussed the nationalistic views Jonah had. Piper had found the idea of Christians harboring racist views troubling and made several arguments on why Christians cannot be racist. According to John Piper, church members of his mother’s church are racists because they voted against blacks from attending their congregation; however the members are Christians and yet they harbor such racist views.

The main themes in these verses are God’s: 1) sovereignty; 2) love and mercy for all people, including Jonah, and; 3) Jonah’s selfishness. God’s sovereignty is evident when

Ezra and Nehemiah played a significant role in the formation of Jewish religious traditions and reconstruction of Jerusalem. As a result, Ezra is commonly considered the “Father of Judaism” due to his efforts to assist the post exile Jews with differentiating their religion from their forefathers, the ancient Israelites (Tullock & McEntire, 2006, p. 201-202). Therefore, Ezra initiated the renewal of the Jews covenant with God and instituted several important religious rituals to ensure the people were reminded of God’s laws, repented for their sins, and remembered the hardships and errors of their ancestors. Furthermore, Ezra called for the elimination of marriage to non-Jews, which resulted in the divorce and subsequent banishing of all non-Jewish

Jonah and Jesus both had a mission to convert the Gentiles to God and help them to acknowledge that God was the source of their salvation. Jonah’s mission was to call the Assyrian gentiles in Nineveh to repentance whilst one of Jesus’ mission was to convert all nations –including Gentiles- into the covenant of God. In Jonah 3:8-10 Jonah proclaims to the people of Nineveh. Jonah is preaching to Assyrian gentiles in order to deliver them from their evil habits and sin and bring them back to the grace of God. This is similar to one of Jesus’ missions; for not only did Jesus want the Jews to be educated about God but he also wanted the Gentiles to be and we see this in Mathew 28:19 when he proclaims that people of all nations (Jews and Gentiles, Israelites and Assyrians etc.) are to be told about God and become

“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).

The Book of Jonah can be used as a piece of art that describes the late 5th to early 4th century in Nineveh. It shows that God ultimately has the finally decision and he is able to do things to show others the consequence of being disobedient. The book of Jonah is written in third person

Jonah was given the task of delivering God’s message of impending judgment to a society that Jonah despised.

2. Background and Introduction: Jonah was instructed by God to go to Nineveh and preach the message of repentance to them.

People in ministry sometimes feel like Sisyphus pushing his large rock up the hill just to watch all the work be for not, as the rock rolls back to its starting place. From my experience, you begin the next day saying, “This time, it will be different” and, you start to push the rock again; however, again the rock gets away and rolls back to the starting place but, often God’s purpose was revealed in this uphill struggle. The book of Jonah begins with, “The word of the LORD came to Jonah… saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city…” (Holy Bible: New American Standard Bible., 1421) in the summer of 2010, God called me to become the Youth Pastor at Powell Butte Christian Church. After four years, I wanted to leave and applied to more than 30 different Churches. Peterson wrote, “Each time, after making numerous inquiries and posting urgent letters and getting no response, I gave up and went back to the work to which I had already been assigned, to Nineveh. I never did get to Tarshish, but I can take no credit. I tried hard enough, and frequently enough.

We often read stories in the Bible without taking the historical context into consideration. As a result, we become unaware of the story’s historical validity. In some cases, stories are used to share a moral concept, or used as a tool to teach a lesson. The Book of Jonah is an example that will be used to determine if this particular story describes an accurate recount of history, or if it teaches the readers a lesson. In the Book of Jonah, Jonah (the prophet) is instructed to go to a pagan city (Nineveh) to preach to the Ninevites, hoping that they will repent for their sins. However, he challenges God and travels to Tarshish instead. Jonah receives consequences for his actions and Nineveh is eventually forgiven by God. Although the

In her biblical commentary, Irene Nowell explores the usage of exaggeration in one of her main concepts regarding Jonah. After God commands him to tell the citizens of Nineveh to repent for their malicious acts, Jonah decides to flee onto a ship heading over to Tarsish. God becomes aware of Jonah’s whereabouts, so God sends out a “great wind”, stirs up a “great storm”, and seizes the sailors with “great fear” (Nowel “Jonah 1”). The repetition of the word “great” exemplifies a hyperbole to demonstrate the Lord’s power. A hyperbole is a literary technique used in a figure of speech, thus the device evokes strong feelings and impressions, but the statements made should not be taken literally. It is comprehensible to characterize God as furious and intimidating, however, the hyperbole within this parable is only used as a dramatic effect to grab the audience’s attention. The emphasis of the wind, the storm, and the feeling of fear among the sailors onboard makes the story intriguing as readers ponder over the wrath of God, his control over natural elements, and His supreme sovereignty. Eugene F. Roops’ biblical commentary first concept examines the reluctance of Jonah as he attempts to escape from his responsibility. According to Roops, reluctance upon receiving divine commission was not uncommon because other prophets object God’s message too: Moses, Gideon, and Jeremiah first feel insufficient to fulfill their divine commission at first, yet all three