Bible Discussion Thread

 
  • Richard H Priday - 1 year ago
    Jonah: The reluctantant Prophet

    It seems hard to fathom why the Lord would call and commission Job when; knowing all things He would have expected him to take such an aversive action of going in the other direction; then when he finally obeyed the commission after dying or nearly dying in the body of the fish he still was upset that the large city repented of Nineveh.

    What is equally interesting and often flies off the radar is God's concern for the huge population of heathen who; according to historians oppressed Israel and eventually God destroyed as seen in Nahum. Other than individual rulers such as the case of Nebuchadnezzar under Daniel or perhaps healing of Naaman the Syrian we don't see such an evangelistic campaign anywhere else before the New Testament. Jonah 4:10 shows God's concern contrasted with the vine which was Jonah's sole comfort being taken away.

    What we do see here also is how those called and chosen by God are hunted down; I like to refer to it as the hounds of heaven.

    We do see with Jonah's message it was for repentance; there was the obvious fear of God of the Hebrews as evidenced by the men who cast him into the sea; and no reluctance as was seen with Pharoah in the case of Moses. The ruler himself put on sackcloth and declared no man or beast was to eat or drink. ( Jonah 3:5). It is hard to conceive that they would have all ceased from food or water for 40 days including animals without a huge casualty rate; surely if they survived that it would be a miracle.

    It seems plausable that God relented well before the 40 days were up under those circumstances; or the ruler implied a shorter fast; but if Jonah declared that it was not mentioned. He was sitting around to "see what would happen"; after he declared the city's destruction in 40 days.

    Think about it; there were 120000 saved; certainly genuine repentance among some or God wouldn't have relented. How Job could have been disappointed is hard to fathom.

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  • Jema - In Reply - 1 year ago
    I can see Christ in Jonah , not just the obvious , him being in darkness and under the earth for three days but also in him being sent to preach to the Ninevites , we are the Ninevites :) . As for the forty days fast , I think it was the custom to not eat or drink during daylight hours but eating and drinking in moderation was allowed in the dark , I may be mistaken about that though . Anyhoo , the entire book of Jonah exists only in order to point to Christ I think .



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