Bible Discussion Thread

Hi Josephine. I think that the others on the ship all worshipped different gods and obviously their prayers were useless. When they asked Jonah and he told them that he was a Hebrew and worshipped God, it was a testimony to those on the ship that the God of the Hebrews is real because he was the cause of the storm. This fits with the narrative of Jonah being an accidental evangelist-he didn't want to go to Nineveh to tell the Ninevites to repent and turn to God (but ultimately did), he didn't go out of his way to tell those on the ship but only did when his hand was forced.

Notice though that the people on the ship must have believed that the God Jonah worshipped is real because they called out to God and perhaps turned to him as a result. Then when Jonah finally preaches to the Ninevites they also accept what he says.

One of the lessons that I take away from Jonah is that God uses who he wants to use and we don't have to be perfect people to achieve good things if God wills it, so none of us has an excuse, we should all be doing what God calls us to do (go and make disciples of all nations).