Jonah And The Whale Essay

In all reality, it most likely written by a third party. Much like the parables that Jesus taught, Jonah was left “incomplete,” if you will. Meaning that we simply do not know how Jonah responds; the Bible left that part out. As if God leaves that part to us to reflect on our own lives and decide how we would act in Jonah’s place. It is written as a prophetic narrative, but the “hero” is portrayed in a negative light. Furthermore, the book of Jonah is sensational literature, meaning it is designed to arouse the imagery in the audience’s mind and use that imagery to produce emotion. The time period is also not very clear. “The actual composition of the book is not datable except within the broadest boundaries (ca. 750b.c.-250b.c.) simply because there are no certain indicators in it of date (Stuart 432). However, it was obviously between the time when Nineveh was a strong power in the known world; and most likely between the time when Assyria had taken Israel into exile. However, it is most plausible that Jonah took place closer to the 750

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

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

For years the killer whale, also known as Orcinus orca, has been drawing the attention of the public through the entertainment industry. These marine mammals have been bringing in billions of dollars to amusement parks such as Sea World, but at what cost? An idea that these killer whales can live happily and content while in captivity may be going through the minds of the public, but this cannot be further away from the truth. To have such complex creatures in captivity is not morally correct and there are many points against it, such as their level of emotional competence, violence between the killer whales, violence of killer of whales towards trainers, shorter lifespans, physical harm, and their level of intelligence. After taking a look at how these creatures function and the conditions they are put in while in captivity, there is no question about whether or not these mammals should be kept in captivity; an experience such as this affects these marine mammals just about the same as it would affect a human because of their high highly developed emotions and complexity. Since these industries do not have a natural authority over these creatures no matter the cause, the best thing they could do for these killer whales is to stop capturing them and return those who are capable back to the wild.

This is because I am one of those who have held on to the interpretation that Nineveh turned to the Israelite faith when they repented (53). I finally understand why Jonah was angry. I see that Jonah probably felt that if they had converted to the Israelite faith, God’s unmerited grace to Nineveh would have been justified. But Gods’ perspective in all this that “His grace is bestowed not upon the final achievement of an unblemished faith…rather, His gracious acts rewards attempts no matter how small they may be” (55). So God was not looking into a total conversion but for them to turn away from what they were doing. In the light of this, I notice that God wanted them to take the first step towards repentance and in His own way He would lead them to Himself. I think it is important that when dealing with ourselves or other people, we should understand that God looks our heart’s attitude. As we seek to walk closely with Him, God does not release His grace upon our lives because we have attained a certain level of perfection in our faith but because He sees that in spite of our human weaknesses we have the desire to do the right thing and are taking steps towards it.

Nineveh was 500 miles north and east of where Jonah was. It was a major city on the banks of the River Tigris. In contemporary terms, that would be in Iraq, about 300 miles north of Baghdad. Archeologists have found the ruins of ancient Nineveh right outside the city of Mosul in Iraq.

Do to the idolatry in the days of Abraham, God love for his people and his wiliness that none shall perish he gives a mandate to Abraham to become a blessing to the world as a whole. The only this could be done was that Abraham had to embrace the call which was the first part, but not only that he had to accomplish the promise God. The last one before mention would be that of Jonah. A man that would have a world win view of how to obey the call of He that is greater. Jonah one that was given a message that had the power to change a nation of people that was not of his lineage, but yet the same were the calling of God. Would take upon himself to know the mind of God and would become disobedient to his calling and go the oppose way from where God sent him. Jonah would be the first to show that disobedient will not be tolerated by God. The book of Jonah tells the story of a unenthusiastic missionary who resisted the calling of his life, by not being obedient to his calling by denying a people that was racial and culturally different from him, by not giving what he was called to deliver. The love that God has for humanity is evident throughout the Old Testament, and reflected through his passion for mission. God's heart is reflected

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).

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

Ferguson, Paul. “Who Was the King of Nineveh in Jonah 3: 6.” Tyndale Bulletin 42, no. 7 (1996): 301-14.

The people simply humbled themselves before God and He had mercy on them cancelling His judgment. Jonah had wanted Nineveh to be destroyed by God and this would prolong the life of the kingdom of Israel. But instead he was the main source of them hearing the message of repentance. He had preferred to die instead of fulfilling his divinely appointed mission. Now he had no one to "blame" for Nineveh's survival except himself and God's mercy.

This study uses the term “overarching” to refer to a theme that finds support in all four chapters of Jonah and is also crucial to understanding the text. Other “sub-themes,” while undeniably important, especially for the discipline of systematic theology, do not strike at the heart of the author’s message. That said, four separate yet overarching themes are outlined below. Each is grounded throughout the entire text of Jonah. Furthermore, each one is crucial to understanding the author’s intent.

This book really grabbed me right from the beginning of the story. The story begins with the birth of fraternal twins, with the grandfather patiently awaiting the birth of the son. Right away I felt sadness when the mother and one of the twins die. The boy dies and the girl survives. The grandpa seems to not care about the girl who survived . He was longing for his grandson because he is from the Maori tribe and the tribe is waiting for the sign of a new chief to be born . The chief would lead the village and its community to greatness. Many elders have been born but none with the strength to be the next chief. The little girl was named Pai. The grandma of Pai took her home to raise her along with the grandfather. The grandfather showed

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.