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“Jonah Again?”
As I have taught Hebrew to university students through the years, one of the books we always translate together in Year 2 is Jonah (along with Ruth). Jonah is a brilliant short story, powerfully and compactly written, full of vim and vigor and bursting with spiritual truth. There is a reason we go back to it over and over again.
Jonah as a prophet is so unique. He is a missionary prophet (though certainly a reluctant one) unlike the others who prophesy mostly to Israel and Judah. His words are few – just 8 words of preaching are recorded – “Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be destroyed” – and one gets the feeling those words were spoken with the hope no one would here, and no one would heed.
Jonah also stands out among the Minor Prophets in that he is the only one that our Lord mentions and actually compares Himself to (Matthew 12 / Luke 11). Interesting, is it not, that Jesus chose the most incredible character with the most unbelievable story to treat as a real historical person and draw parallels with His own redeeming work?
There are also 4 significant miracles in Jonah, and multiple instances of God intervening powerfully to promote His will. He does so through such things as a fish, a plant, a wind-storm, and a calming of a storm.
Jonah as an individual is incredible because he is a preacher who hopes he will fail – and spectacularly! He is a man of God who fears the goodness of God.
Finally, he is a true-blue Israelite patriot who was probably a national hero for his accurate prophesying of national success during the days of King Jeroboam – 2 Kings 14:25. God, however, now wants him to throw all that away by offering an olive-branch to the most fearsome, most hated, most hateful, terroristic military machine in the history of the world to that point: the Assyrians. Is it any wonder he tried to do the impossible and run away from God? Would any of us have done any less?
More to come…