The Jonah Saga: When the "Chosen" Disappoint God

The Jonah Saga:
When the Chosen Disappoint God
Sabbath School Bible Study
July25
Presented at Sligo by the Sea by
Larry R Evans

Reflective Questions

1.              When the chosen of God go contrary to His wishes, God starts all over with a new people and new prophets.  True or False?
2.              God’s mission as described in the Bible is about “going ” not “coming.”  True or False?
3.              The first question a Christian must ask himself or herself is:  “What must I do?  This is what Jonah didn’t do and where he made his first mistake. True or False?
4.              It is possible for “pagans” to have a more realistic belief in God than the “chosen ones” of God who have been schooled in the teachings of the Bible.  True or False?
5.              Jonah needed to experience “Salvation comes from the Lord” before he could offer it to the Ninevites.  True or False?
6.              Jonah ran “from” God and then “to” God but as a missionary/ as a witness God needed Jonah to do something even more challenging.  What preposition would describe that challenge?  How is it different from the other two prepositions?

Our Study

1.              When the chosen of God go contrary to His wishes, God starts all over with a new people and new prophets.  False

The book of Jonah is about a reluctant prophet chosen by God who became as much of an object of mission for God as the Nenevites to whom He was sending Jonah.  God worked to save Jonah though this caused a delay in reaching the Ninevites.
2.              God’s mission as described in the Bible is about “going ” not “coming.”   False

Mission in the Bible is of two types: “come” and “go.”
Come is the main type of mission in the OT.  God intended that the nations would come to Israel because of how He had blessed her.

This is what the Lord Almighty says:“In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.  (Zech 8:23)
3.              The first question a Christian must ask himself or herself is:  “What must I do?  This is what Jonah didn’t do and where he made his first mistake.  False

Jonah knew what he was supposed to do.  What he didn’t know and what the book of Jonah reveals is who God is!  If we begin there we will better understand who we are and what will bring about our own sense of meaning and fulfillment.

4.              It is possible for “pagans” to have a more realistic belief in God than the “chosen ones” of God who have been schooled in the teachings of the Bible.  True

The captain went to him and said, “How can you sleep? Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish. (v.6) . . . ”This terrified them and they asked, “What have you done?” (They knew he was running away from the Lord, because he had already told them so. (1:10) . . . Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for the sea grew even wilder than before. Then they cried to the Lord, “O Lord, please do not let us die for taking this man’s life. Do not hold us accountable for killing an innocent man, for you, O Lord, have done as you pleased.” (vss 13,14)
The captain ordered Jonah to pray to his God for their lives (v.6). But the only prayer offered aboard the ship was offered by the crew. (v.14)

5.              Jonah needed to experience “Salvation comes from the Lord” before he could offer it to the Ninevites.  True

This conclusion, found in the last line of his prayer comes after Jonah personally experienced salvation three times:  from impending shipwreck, from drowning and from being digested.

6.              Jonah ran “from” God and then “to” God but as a missionary/ as a witness God needed Jonah to do something even more challenging.  What preposition would describe that challenge?  How is it different from the other two prepositions?

Jonah was the first missionary called to “go” and he made some serious mistakes.  Jonah eventually found solace by running “to” God but only after he had run “from” God both geographically and from the people to whom he had been called to minister.  God never expected Jonah to do the work by himself!  God invited Jonah to participate “with” Him is revealing God’s grace to the people of Nineveh even if at the time they were the enemy of Israel.

The mission hardened prophet struggled with his assignment from God.  To help him understand God used three things from nature to reach him.
1.              A castor bean plant – brought shade
2.              A caterpillar that attacked the plant to take away the blessing of the shade.
3.              A scorching east wind that nearly caused Jonah to faint from the heat.

These were measures of discipline not measures of punishment.  They were meant to reveal that God loves all and empathizes with them in their suffering whether it be pagan Ninevites or a chosen people who made more than their share of mistakes.

I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. (4:2)
This is the very same theme found in Ex. 32-34.   Jonah quotes God’s own declaration of Himself after sparing those who made the golden calf and when He gave them once again the 10 Commandments on a new tablet of stone. 

Conclusion

It matters not whether they be the “chosen voices” for God or the pagan idolaters outside the circles of the church.  All are at the mercy of God who is compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.  The great need is for a people to walk “with” God as that message is proclaimed in both word and life.
 


 

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