Jonah the first few verses of chapter 1. Our responsibility, God's Will and Our way
Jonah. The First Few VS . Series.
Today we will dive into Jonah. vs. 1-4 of ch. 1. Jonah "the prophet" and "servant" ( from 2 Kings 14:25). The word servant in Hebrew is the same word for slave, abad. This is true in the NT as well used for Christians who are servants, slaves of the Lord. A prophet is nabi in Hebrew , a spokesman or speaker for God the Lord. God spoke to this man, son of Amittai (truth of God). When God speaks to an individual, this is a wonderful thing, yet it is a terrible thing as well. We as Christians , believers in the Lord are carriers of God's Word to others. I say this is an awesome and wonderful responsibility. As the Apostle Paul said about this in I Corinthians 4: " Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mystery of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.....he that judgeth me is the Lord."
Jonah had already been a prophet and servant of the Lord for some time some commentators say. This word that came to him now was " the great service of his life." The Story of Jonah, Raleigh. That seems right to me. He ocity of Nineveh , near the Tigris River , all the way east ( modern day Iraq). Isn't this how God works? He sent Moses to the desert before his great mission and ministry as the one who would lead his people out of Israel. Even our Lord spent time in the desert being tested 40 days . When God sends us on a mission, He prepares us for it, and the prophet and servant of the LORD , Jonah was no exception. I Corinthians 10:13 comes to mind on this point as well, " .... God is faithful , who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able..."
Secondly, the LORD tells him to arise, qum in Hebrew. " Stand up. Go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it: for their wickedness is come up before me." Here is the Warning Order as we used to say in the Operations Orders in the military. A mission is coming. An operations order is coming for you to act on. So arise. Get up, and go ( same word in Genesis 12:1 when God told Abram to go to a land that I will show you ). Prepare. You are going. Here is the order coming from God who is the Commander of the whole earth. That upsets your plans. I know when we had such a warning order to go to Puerto Rico in support of the Haiti liberation in 1994, we got the order, and then waited for about two weeks in formations until we actually mounted up on the airplane, and went. Jonah's plans were upset. He had been doing what he had always been doing , speaking God's word to Israel, and now he is being told to go to unbelievers of another part of the world , miles away ,to the Assyrians.
Nineveh was larger than Babylon .It was considered the greatest city of antiquity. It is on the east bank of the Tigris river, near Mosul today in Iraq. One of the rulers of Assyria was Sennacherib who had the " Hanging Gardens" there , considered one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. It had a 7.5 mile long wall, with 15 gates. The palace had 80 rooms. You can read about Nineveh . They had their own heathen gods and named their city gates for them. The distance from Nineveh to Jerusalem is 600 miles.
Thirdly, Jonah 1:3 says that he did not go to Nineveh which God had commanded. Instead he went to Joppa to get a ship to Tarshish, 2200 miles in the west, the opposite direction from where God said to go. If anything this is the theme of this first few verses. Remember this is an account (historical), not about whales, cities, people or repentance. It is about Jonah's relationship to God and all the other things are incidental. Rebellion of the prophet is not new to Christians either. God says go and we stay, and wait. Go , talk to this person, or that person about God and His or Her need of Him, and we keep our mouths shut. This is not a new thing. Yet to see a servant and prophet of the LORD act in this way, is hard to hear. The Bible portrays us as humans who hear God, but who sometimes act out of our own sinful natures.
Conclusion. No one is perfect. None of us like God's plans for us all the time. We rest in our place or station in life or our place even in the Church, yet that will never give us the satisfaction of obeying God no matter how difficult. God will claim us for His own , because we are His, and He will not let us go. Obedience may not always look easy, but in the end it is the best for us and for all around us. We can grow in faith, and in love if we live in His Will and listen to His Word . Other voices compel us, but One Voice alone is the Voice we must heed. That is the LORD, who is our Creator , Redeemer, Sustainer and the Lover of our Souls no matter what our obedience may always look like. In the end, God will have His way for He is our God, and we are His children by faith.
Today we will dive into Jonah. vs. 1-4 of ch. 1. Jonah "the prophet" and "servant" ( from 2 Kings 14:25). The word servant in Hebrew is the same word for slave, abad. This is true in the NT as well used for Christians who are servants, slaves of the Lord. A prophet is nabi in Hebrew , a spokesman or speaker for God the Lord. God spoke to this man, son of Amittai (truth of God). When God speaks to an individual, this is a wonderful thing, yet it is a terrible thing as well. We as Christians , believers in the Lord are carriers of God's Word to others. I say this is an awesome and wonderful responsibility. As the Apostle Paul said about this in I Corinthians 4: " Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mystery of God. Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.....he that judgeth me is the Lord."
Jonah had already been a prophet and servant of the Lord for some time some commentators say. This word that came to him now was " the great service of his life." The Story of Jonah, Raleigh. That seems right to me. He ocity of Nineveh , near the Tigris River , all the way east ( modern day Iraq). Isn't this how God works? He sent Moses to the desert before his great mission and ministry as the one who would lead his people out of Israel. Even our Lord spent time in the desert being tested 40 days . When God sends us on a mission, He prepares us for it, and the prophet and servant of the LORD , Jonah was no exception. I Corinthians 10:13 comes to mind on this point as well, " .... God is faithful , who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able..."
Secondly, the LORD tells him to arise, qum in Hebrew. " Stand up. Go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it: for their wickedness is come up before me." Here is the Warning Order as we used to say in the Operations Orders in the military. A mission is coming. An operations order is coming for you to act on. So arise. Get up, and go ( same word in Genesis 12:1 when God told Abram to go to a land that I will show you ). Prepare. You are going. Here is the order coming from God who is the Commander of the whole earth. That upsets your plans. I know when we had such a warning order to go to Puerto Rico in support of the Haiti liberation in 1994, we got the order, and then waited for about two weeks in formations until we actually mounted up on the airplane, and went. Jonah's plans were upset. He had been doing what he had always been doing , speaking God's word to Israel, and now he is being told to go to unbelievers of another part of the world , miles away ,to the Assyrians.
Nineveh was larger than Babylon .It was considered the greatest city of antiquity. It is on the east bank of the Tigris river, near Mosul today in Iraq. One of the rulers of Assyria was Sennacherib who had the " Hanging Gardens" there , considered one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. It had a 7.5 mile long wall, with 15 gates. The palace had 80 rooms. You can read about Nineveh . They had their own heathen gods and named their city gates for them. The distance from Nineveh to Jerusalem is 600 miles.
Thirdly, Jonah 1:3 says that he did not go to Nineveh which God had commanded. Instead he went to Joppa to get a ship to Tarshish, 2200 miles in the west, the opposite direction from where God said to go. If anything this is the theme of this first few verses. Remember this is an account (historical), not about whales, cities, people or repentance. It is about Jonah's relationship to God and all the other things are incidental. Rebellion of the prophet is not new to Christians either. God says go and we stay, and wait. Go , talk to this person, or that person about God and His or Her need of Him, and we keep our mouths shut. This is not a new thing. Yet to see a servant and prophet of the LORD act in this way, is hard to hear. The Bible portrays us as humans who hear God, but who sometimes act out of our own sinful natures.
Conclusion. No one is perfect. None of us like God's plans for us all the time. We rest in our place or station in life or our place even in the Church, yet that will never give us the satisfaction of obeying God no matter how difficult. God will claim us for His own , because we are His, and He will not let us go. Obedience may not always look easy, but in the end it is the best for us and for all around us. We can grow in faith, and in love if we live in His Will and listen to His Word . Other voices compel us, but One Voice alone is the Voice we must heed. That is the LORD, who is our Creator , Redeemer, Sustainer and the Lover of our Souls no matter what our obedience may always look like. In the end, God will have His way for He is our God, and we are His children by faith.
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