jonah: the little ole prophet that swallowed a whale…i don’t know why he swallowed a...

Jonah: The little ole prophet that swallowed a whale…I don’t know why he swallowed a whale…

perhaps he’ll fail.

I don’t know why I swallowed the whale...perhaps

I’ll fail.

Why me?

http://www.oliviamunn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/rabbi_weiss.jpg

Who was Jonah, and what was his deal?

• He was a prophet of the Northern Hebrew nation of Israel.

• He lived during the reign of Jeroboam II

(787-746 BC)

2 Kings 14:25

2 Kings 14:23-25

23 In the fifteenth year of King Amaziah son of Joash of Judah, King Jeroboam II son of Joash of Israel began to reign in Samaria; he reigned forty-one years.

24 He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD; he did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he caused Israel to sin.

25 He (King Jeroboam II of Israel) restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which the LORD spoke by his servant JonahJonah son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.

Time works backwards

before it moves forwards!

1900 BCE 1000 BCE 0

Abraham King David Jesus

1000 AD 1963 AD

The Crusades Preston

(787-746 BC)

Kings David and Solomon

1000 BC

Jesus Born

33 AD Jesus’ Resurrection

0

922 BC

God’s people divided and became two separate competing nations

(787-746 BC)

Divided Kingdoms of Israel and Judah 922 BC

Israel (in the region of Samaria)

Judah

Divided Kingdoms of Israel and Judah 922 BC

Israel (in the region of Samaria)

Judah

(787-746 BC)

950 BCE

1050 BCE

922 BCE

North

South

640 BCE

716 BCE

721 BCE

587 BCE

538 BCE

640 BCE

716 BCE

721 BCE

587 BCE

538 BCE

Jeroboam II (787-746 BC) of Northern Israel

Who was Jonah, and what was his deal?

• He was a prophet of the Northern Hebrew nation of Israel.

• But, he was the only prophet of Israel that was sent to the enemies of Israel!

• Jonah 1:1-2 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying,

"Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before me."

Excuse me, um….God...um…WHERE?!

Me? Are you sure?

Why did he run away?

Where did he need to go?

Why didn’t he want to go to Nineveh?

Didn’t he know the way?

• Take time now, Preston, to discuss this…

http://media.photobucket.com/image/jonah%20and%20the%20whale%20comic/lensman67/DJ%2520Stuff/JonahAndTheWhale.gif

NRS Jonah 3:1

The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2 "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you."

3 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across.

4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"

Jonah 3:5-9

5 And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth.

6 When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

7 Then he had a proclamation made in Nineveh: "By the decree of the king and his nobles: No human being or animal, no herd or flock, shall taste anything. They shall not feed, nor shall they drink water.

8 Human beings and animals shall be covered with sackcloth, and they shall cry mightily to God. All shall turn from their evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands.

9 Who knows? God may relent and change his mind; he may turn from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish."

• Jonah 3:10 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

DOH!

Jonah 4:1 But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry.

Why does Jonah get angry?

Why does Jonah get angry?

• Take time now, Preston, to discuss this…

Some theologians say…

• 1. that Jonah was angry because God made him look bad. God made him into a false prophet.

• 2. that Jonah was angry that God was so easily duped by the false humility of the heathen Ninevites.

Jonah tells us why he became angry:

• Jonah 4:2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this

not what I said [was going to happen] when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.

Let’s Review:


I wanted Jeroboam to expand Israel’s territory!

Jonah wanted Israel to prosper, and for the Ninevites to be destroyed! He did not want to go and bring them a message of salvation!

Let’s Review:


I wanted God to rain Hellfire down upon the Ninevites!

If only Jonah and Jeroboam had the HELLFIRE missile!

They would have taken care of Nineveh themselves – they wouldn’t have needed God!

You see, Jonah was sent to be a missionary of the Gospel, rather

than a Prophet of DOOM!

• Jonah 3:3-4

3 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD….

4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"

• “overthrown” is a loaded word in the Hebrew…

tk,P'(h.n< Nahfahket • KJV Jonah 3:4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's

journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

• NAS Jonah 3:4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk; and he cried out and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown."

• NIV Jonah 3:4 On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned."

• NLT Jonah 3:4 On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: "Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!"

• NRS Jonah 3:4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"

• Hol2055 %p;h' • 1. turn (over on the other side): dish 2K 2113,

hand (back & forth) La 33; — 2. (upside down): overturn: throne Hg 222; overthrow, destroy: city Gn 1921, men Jb 3425; — 3. turn around (in another direction): h¹fak ±œref lifnê turn one’s back on Ju 78; h¹fak y¹d(ayim) turn (chariot) around (by reining about) 1K 2234; — 4. a) transform: w. acc. & l® curse to blessing Dt 236, sorrow to joy Je 3113; w. acc. & b® Ps 414, w. 2 accs. Ps 1148; b) change (characteristics); — 5. intrans. turn (around) 2K 526.

NRS 2 Kings 21:3

• For he rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he erected altars for Baal, made a sacred pole, as King Ahab of Israel had done, worshiped all the host of heaven, and served them.

NRS Haggai 2:22

• and to overthrow the throne of kingdoms; I am about to destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, and overthrow the chariots and their riders; and the horses and their riders shall fall, every one by the sword of a comrade.

Genesis 19:21-26

21 He said to him, "Very well, I grant you this favor too, and will not overthrow the city of which you have spoken.

22 Hurry, escape there, for I can do nothing until you arrive there." Therefore the city was called Zoar.

23 The sun had risen on the earth when Lot came to Zoar.24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur

and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25 and he overthrew those cities, and all the Plain, and all

the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

26 But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

NRS Job 34:25

• Thus, knowing their works, he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.

BUT!!!NRS Deuteronomy 23:5

• Yet the LORD your God refused to heed Balaam; the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you.

NRS Jeremiah 31:13

• Then shall the young women rejoice in the dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.

NRS Psalm 41:3

• The LORD sustains them on their sickbed; in their illness you heal all their infirmities.

• NIV Psalm 41:3 The LORD will sustain him on his sickbed and restore him from his bed of illness.

• YLT Psalm 41:3 Jehovah supporteth on a couch of sickness, All his bed Thou hast turned in his weakness.

You see, Jonah was a missionary of the Gospel, rather than a Prophet of DOOM!

• Jonah 3:3-43 So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the

LORD….

4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out,

"Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"

“overthrown”? OR:OR:

“Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand!”?

•tk,P'(h.n< Nahfahket

• This word is ambiguous in meaning. It refers to an event of significant change for evil or for good.

• Jonah told the Ninevites to repent and change for the good and be spared by God, or else be destroyed.


I didn’t want to bring them the Gospel!

I knew that if they had the chance to hear of God’s grace they might repent and be spared. I knew God was gracious and compassionate slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity

If we (Jeroboam and me (Jonah), and us Ancient Israelites) had had what you Americans

have today…If we had:

• The HELLFIRE Missile

Boeing/Lockheed Martin AGM-114

• How would we have responded if God had sent us to go and preach God’s love to the modern people of Nineveh – Iraq?

• Would most Christians in our country have been like Jonah or Jesus after September 11, 2001?

http://iconicphotos.files.wordpress.com/2009/09/911rtrs_468x683.jpg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_FJwJf54tILc/SqonJHwWK6I/AAAAAAAAAKs/Ro1IasdK9AU/s400/911-attack.gif

http://www.israelnewsagency.com/cherney911terrorism.jpg

How much is a Trillion?

• It is a million x million.

• It is 1000 billion

• It is 1,000,000,000,000.

• If I gave you a dollar every second, it would take me 11 days to give you 1 million bucks. How long would it take to give you a billion dollars? A trillion?

There are 308 Million people in the United States, and there are 7,569 hospitals.

That is one hospital for every 40,509 people.

An average hospital in America has 165 beds – so there is one hospital bed for every 246 people in the United States.

Iraq and Afghanistan has 60.2 million people combined.

In order to build enough hospitals in both countries to give Iraqis and Afghanis the same access to hospital care we have, we would need to build 1,484 hospitals.

In the U.S. it costs $72 million to build an average sized hospital with 162 beds. (Estimated using $150/sq. ft.)

This would cost (considering that there were no already existing hospitals in Iraq and Afghanistan) $106,848,000,000.

This is about 10% of what we have spent so far on the war.

That would be 138 hospitals in Baghdad, and 42 in Mosul (Nineveh).

There are 308 Million people in the United States, and there are 5,750 universities/colleges.

That is one institute of higher learning for every 53,500 people.

An average hospital in America has 165 beds – so there is one hospital bed for every 246 people in the United States.

Iraq and Afghanistan has 60.2 million people combined.

In order to build enough universities in both countries to give Iraqis and Afghanis the same access to higher education we have, we would need to build 1,126 university/college centers.

If we spent 100 million on each university, it would cost 112,600,000,000.

The total for both hospitals and universities would be an estimated 219,448,000,000.

This is about 22% of what we have spent so far on the war.

What could we do with the other ¾ of a

TRILLION dollars?

What if we had sent Love instead of Hellfire?

What if?

Jonah swallowed the whale of theistic zealous nationalism.

How should we as Mennonites live in this land of Jonah?

jonah: the little ole prophet that swallowed a whale…i don’t know why he swallowed a...

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