Nancy: Welcome to immerse: the daily bible reading experience.
day 200 and 83
immersed in Jonah.
Jonah was a prophet, but the Book of Jonah is not a book of prophecy.
Instead, it is a book about the prophet himself.
Unlike the other books in this volume, it doesn't present a collection
of Oracles that Jonah spoke.
Rather, with great literary skill, it tells a story about him and it
appears to do so from a later vantage point, not like the messages of
other prophets, which were recorded during or just after their lifetimes.
According to Samuel Kings, the prophet Jonah lived in the Northern
kingdom of Israel during the reign of JE Boland second, that is in the
first half of the eighth century bc.
It is hard to be certain, but there is evidence that the Book of Jonah may
have been written after the return from exile in order to bring a particular
message to God's people in that day.
In the story, Jonah is sent to announce God's message to the city of Nineveh, the
capital of the powerful Assyrian Empire.
God is going to destroy Nineveh because of its wickedness, but Jonah
has a problem with this assignment and he tries to run from God.
What's the problem?
He is afraid that Israel's enemies, the Assyrians, will actually repent
of their wrongdoing and that God will not punish them after all.
As Jonah says later in the story, I knew that you are a merciful and
compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
You are eager to turn back from destroying people.
Jonah's description is exactly the language.
God used to describe himself to Moses after he rescued Israel
at the time of the Exodus.
But Jonah believes God's compassion should only be for Israel.
He doesn't share God's concern for the other nations of the world.
So through an unusual series of events, God gets Jonah back on his mission.
Jonah is thrown overboard during a storm at sea, swallowed by a great
fish, and then spit out on the land.
Ironically, Jonah sings a song thanking God for rescuing him from great personal
danger while he's trying to make sure God doesn't rescue the people of Nineveh.
Jonah finally gets to Nineveh and delivers a one sentence warning to them.
40 days from now, Nineveh will be destroyed.
And sure enough, as Jonah feared, the King of Nineveh responds by telling his people,
everyone must pray earnestly to God.
They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence.
Who can tell?
Perhaps even yet, God will change his mind and hold back his
fierce anger from destroying us.
The people of Nineveh do repent and the Lord does indeed relent
his grace triumphing over judgment.
Jonah protests unhappily that his enemies are spared, and that he saw this
coming all along in the closing scene.
Jonah struggles with God's mercy while God defends his greater interest in
creating and preserving life in the world.
The literary structure of Jonah shows that this short story has
been built with artistry and care.
Its two main narrative parts are separated by a Psalm of Thanksgiving,
which is set right in the middle.
Both narrative sections begin with God commanding Jonah to go to the great city
of Nineveh and deliver God's message.
The two parts of the story also mirror each other through the
repetition of key Hebrew terms at the beginning, middle and end.
Jonah's experiences also seem to mirror the experiences of the nation
of Israel, his leaving the land being swallowed by a great fish.
Being deposited back on the land appear to symbolize Israel's exile
and return the challenge that Jonah faces to accept that God might
have good purposes for the nations.
The Israelites see as their enemies is also a challenge
for the return exiles is Jonah.
The only one God wants to save from chaos and destruction
are Psalms of Thanksgiving.
For God's great hacks of rescue, Only for Israel to sing.
Reading the book of Jonah at the end of all the prophetic books helps prepare
us for where Israel's story is going.
The Bible's narrative is moving toward the time when God's larger vision to bring
his salvation to all the earth, including people, great cities, and even the animals
will be realized in a new creation.
The prophet Jonah.
The Lord gave this message to Jonah, son of a midi.
Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh.
Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.
But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord.
He went down to the Port of Jaa where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish.
He bought a ticket and went on board hoping to escape from the
Lord by sailing to Tarshish.
But the Lord hurled a powerful wind over the sea, causing a violent
storm that threatened to break the ship apart, fearing for their lives.
The desperate sailors shouted to their gods for help and through the
cargo overboard to lighten the ship.
But all this time, Jonah was sound asleep down in the hold.
So the captain went down after him.
How can you sleep at a time like this?
He shouted, get up and pray to your God.
Maybe he will pay attention to us and spare our lives.
Then the crew cast lots to see which of them had offended the
gods and calls the terrible storm.
When they did this, the lots identified Jonah as the culprit.
Why has this awful storm come down on us?
They demand it.
Who are you?
What is your line of work?
What country are you from?
What is your nationality?
Jonah answered, I am a Hebrew and I worship the Lord, the God of heaven,
who made the sea and the land.
The sailors were terrified when they heard this for he had already told
them he was running away from the Lord.
Oh, why did you do it?
They groaned, and since the storm was getting worse all the time,
they asked him, what should we do to you to stop this storm?
Throw me into the sea, Jonah said, and it will become calm again.
I know that this terrible storm is all my fault.
Instead, the sailors rode even harder to get the ship to the land.
But the stormy sea was too violent for them and they couldn't make it.
Then they cried out to the Lord.
Jonah's God, oh Lord, they plead it.
Don't make us die for this man's sin and don't hold us responsible for his death.
Oh Lord, you have sent this storm upon him for your own good reasons.
Then the sailors picked Jonah up and threw him into the raging sea,
and the storm stopped at once.
The sailors were all struck by the Lord's great power, and they offered
him a sacrifice and vowed to serve him.
Now, the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah,
and Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God, from inside the fish.
He said, I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble and he answered me.
I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me.
You threw me into the ocean depths and I sank down to the heart of the sea.
The mighty waters engulfed me.
I was buried beneath your wild and stormy waves.
Then I said, oh Lord, you have driven me from your presence, yet I will look
once more toward your holy temple.
I sank beneath the waves and the waters closed over me.
Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.
I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
I was imprisoned in the earth whose gates lock shut forever.
You, oh Lord, my God snatched me from the jaws of death.
As my life was slipping away, I remembered the Lord and my earnest
prayer went out to you in your holy temple, those who worship false Gods
turn their backs on all God's mercies.
But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and
I will fulfill all my vows.
For my salvation comes from the Lord alone.
Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit Jonah out onto the beach.
Then the Lord spoke to Jonah a second time.
Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh and deliver the message I have given you.
This time, Jonah obeyed the Lord's command and went to Nineveh, a city so large
that it took three days to see it all.
On the day, Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds, 40 days
from now, Nineveh will be destroyed.
The people of Nineveh believed God's message and from
the greatest to the least.
They declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.
When the King of Nineveh heard what Jonah was saying, he stepped down from
his throne and took off his royal robes.
He dressed himself in burlap and sat on a heap of ashes.
Then the king and his nobles sent this decree throughout the city.
No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks may
eat or drink anything at all.
People in animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone
must pray earnestly to God.
They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence.
Who can tell?
Perhaps even yet, God will change his mind and hold back his
fierce anger from destroying us.
When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways.
He changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction.
He had threatened
this change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry, so
he complained to the Lord about it.
Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this?
Lord, that is why I ran away to Tarshish.
I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry
and filled with unfailing love.
You are eager to turn back from destroying people.
Just kill me now, Lord.
I'd rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.
The Lord replied, is it right for you to be angry about this?
Then Jonah went out to the east side of the city and made a shelter to
sit under as he waited to see what would happen to the city and the Lord.
God arranged for a leafy plant to grow there, and soon it spread
its broad leaves over Jonah's head, shading him from the sun.
This eased his discomfort, and Jonah was very grateful for the plant.
But God also arranged for a worm.
The next morning at dawn, the worm ate through the stem of the plant
so that it withered away, and as the sun grew hot, God arranged for a
scorching east wind to blow on Jonah.
The sun beat down on his head until he grew faint and wished to die.
Death is certainly better than living like this.
He exclaimed.
Then God said to Jonah.
Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?
Yes.
Jonah retort it even angry enough to die.
Then the Lord said, you feel sorry about the plant, though
you did nothing to put it there.
It came quickly and died quickly.
But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness.
Not to mention all the animals.
Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?
This concludes today's Immerse reading experience.
Thank you for joining us.
I.