Sunday: The Flawed Prophet
Read 2 Kings 14:25. What does this tell us about Jonah? In what kind of light is he presented?
Outside the book of Jonah, the prophet is mentioned in one other Old Testament passage, 2 Kings 14:25. Here he is honored as a prophet that predicted Israel’s recapture of territory taken by Syria.
Image © Kim Justinen from GoodSalt.com
Jonah was born in Gath Hepher (Hebrew for winepress at the water hole
), a town in Zebulun in northern Israel, only a few miles from Nazareth. This means that both Jesus and Jonah were Galilean prophets, separated by about 750 years.
Read Jonah 1:1-3, Jonah 1:9, Jonah 1:12, Jonah 2:1-9, Jonah 3:3-10. What kind of picture do these verses present about him, both the good and the bad?
Jonah emerges from his book a strange mixture of strength and weakness: self-willed and rebellious but also teachable and obedient. He was loyal to God, courageous, and a believer in prayer, but he was also narrow-minded, selfish, and vindictive. While Jonah was described as a servant of the Lord in 2 Kings 14:25, he cut a somewhat sad and tragic figure in the book bearing his name. It is a mark of the integrity and reliability of the Bible that he was described in such a candid manner. The natural, human tendency of a writer would be to obscure and hide less-acceptable aspects of biblical heroes. But under the Spirit’s inspiration, the Bible’s authors present the valiant along with the petty in the lives of people to illustrate the truth that, no matter how weak and unpleasant these characters may be, God is able to work through them if they are willing.
What other Bible characters did God use despite their personality flaws? What hope can we draw for ourselves from the fact that God uses flawed and damaged people to work for Him in reaching out to others?
(33)
The Bible says he came not for the righteous but for the sinner . All the twelve disciples had their flaws yet Jesus used them to fulfiled his mission on earth .he only needs the vessel to be used .
I love the story of Jonah. I have had many Jonah moments in my life.
That Jonah was a rebellious messenger is probably the thing which comes most readily to mind when many reflect on the story of Jonah. Still this is not the most important message of the passage (Jonah 1-4). One of the messages in this account is the reality of the struggle with self and the need to fight feelings, and the prophet was an example.
The idea may be conveyed that good works are the automatic result of faith – if one believes strong enough in God then every sinful tendency is overcome and no good work is avoided. If that were the case there would hardly be any need to emphasize works, as scripture does from cover to cover. The saints would then only need to be encouraged in belief or trained in some form of concentrated meditation.
When we embark on the Christian journey we effectively sign up for a fight (Romans 7:14-25). To give up on the fight of faith, the battle against self, is to spurn the free gift of salvation (2 Timothy 4:7, 8). Though it makes some uncomfortable to think they have to make effort in the Spirit driven work of sanctification it is God’s intent that none will get to Heaven (ultimately saved) without their cooperation (James 4:7).
Character development comes through wrestling with fallen inclinations and deliberate effort to cultivate godly tendencies. Drawing on the power of the Holy Spirit the faithful resist self and practice right doing (2 Peter 1:3-11). With each right choice sufficient divine strength is imparted to take the next step on the journey (Proverbs 4:12-18).
Each must fight the battle against self and unholy feelings individually. It starts by making intentional decisions to do what God says whether or not it causes discomfort. Never surrender to feelings, but submit the will to God. It is only by willing submission that one may be restored to the image of the Creator.
Hugh, what is "Fruit Bearing"? It is a NATURAL RESULT of being connected to the vine. Our (neglected) duty is to remain connected ... and not to an ideology or to prove someone else wrong or ourselves right or preparing a sermon or,or,or, just simply to spend quality time with Jesus in His word and in prayer every morning (yeah, that means we need to get up a little earlier) so that He is seen throughout the day and not us, we will be hid in Him. Have you read Sister White's comment, When Christ's character is perfectly reproduced in His people then will He come to take us home. Many SDA Christians feel like they need to "Work" harder on (our or their) perfection so that Jesus can return but if you take a look at the context of that quote, she is discussing Fruit Bearing. Again, IS a Natural Result. Lord help us!
Jonah is my Hero and the most bravest of all biblical hero in the Bible for these reasons.
1). The answer to the question, was Jonah scared in the belly of the fish? Definitely no, for He had demanded to be thrown over into the angry waves that was threatening the ship, even when the crews refused he insisted proving that it was a informed responsible decision that if he had a little doubt to be scared he would have agreed with the crews insistence of not casting him overboard.
2). The answer to the second question, Was he scared in the belly of the fish? No, far from it. He realized that Yahweh was not going to kill him so as long as he remained defiant in the belly of the fish the longer he would have to stand the stench in the slimy belly so rather then scared he bargained with God for bail out of the belly out of stench rather than scared.
3). His prayer in the belly as opposed to the prayers of the ship crew showed the defiant attitude towards God's plan of salvation for Nineveh, He had the guts and courage to stand up to God's relent of retribution for the sake of the innocent women and children during the siege and captivity by the Assyrians. Is this bold courage and defiance against Yahweh or just plain scared and timid?
4). Is Jonah's open rebellion against Yahweh's decision of accepting the prayers and fasting of the Nineveh populace and even animals an indication of being shy and timid? I guess not but did he had a valid legal demand for Yahweh's redress on HIS decision to accept and forgive on the grounds of compensation and recompense? To me that is courage and seeking clarification on Yahweh's consistency in Dealings with wickedness especially as a God of the innocent and Just Judge against the wickedness but favoring the innocent, widow, orphans et al.
5). The book ends depicting him as a very bitter and disappointed prophet in Yahweh Mercy in being lenient the perpetrators of injustice and wickedness on the innocent women and children of HIS chosen people. I would like to meet Jonah and know from him the total truth on how they reconciled their irreconcilable differences with Yahweh on this issue and matter of Justice unmet and Unmerited Mercy to supersede the demands of Justice.
6). The law of compensation on eye for an eye and recompense as shown by Zacchaeus demands the law of recompense without relent or favor for Mercy to the perpetrator thus compensating the victim by the perpetrator as shown by Zacchaeus 4 times the amount he stole or siphon off. Jonah is the most defiant prophet of Yahweh's decision on plan of salvation and it shows that it is better to err on God's grace then in HIS justice.
Finally I would rename Jonah as JONAH THE GREAT FOR his demands of YAHWEH TO REDRESS ON his decision of Mercy to favor Nineveh opposing the laws of Retribution of the Blood that cries from the Earth of the innocent during captivity and the unimaginable wicked deeds inflicted to the innocent saints.
Aca, why were the "people of God" allowed to be overcome by Assyria in the first place? What did God promise would come to His people IF they turned away from Him? (Lev 26, Deut 28)
What did He promise IF they repented and returned to Him?
Jonah was given a wonderful opportunity to see the justice and mercy of God upon all who remain wicked or those who choose to repent. Remember, God told Abraham centuries before that He would spare a city for 10 righteous souls. God never lies and never changes. It is we who change.
Jonah only committed to God's instructions when faced with death. Let's see how this unfolds in the next few days before we rename Jonah.
Read again Ex 34:6,7 to remind yourself of God's true character, then compare to the character of Jonah revealed during this ordeal with God's appeal to Nineveh.
David ,is one of those with flaws,he commited adultery with Berthsheba,God God forgave him and used him inspite of his flaws
We can never forget that David repented thoroughly. No repentance, no forgiveness. This is the condition of grace, that we seek it with all our heart as conviction of sin rests upon us through guilt. We must see the goodness of God and believe His promises. This is shown by meeting His terms while keeping always before us our unworthiness and God's amazing grace which He promises to give freely to all who come unto Him. IF we don't recognize our thirst, we will never seek the water of Life.
Why did Jonah get on a boat and go in the opposite direction of the place God told him to go? Why didn't he just stay where he was and say to God, no I don't want to go to Ninevah?
Shirley, you might need to ask Jonah. While it makes no sense, sinners do senseless things when fleeing duty. Look at Elijah's lapse of faith when Jezebel threatened to kill him whom God had just given a great deliverance. It would seem that fleeing from something requires one to leave and go somewhere else to escape all reminders of duty. It's what people do. I've seen pastors flee duty by accepting a "call" to anywhere else. Yet God reads the true motive of every heart and cannot be fooled.
Even though God give us choices Jonah might have thought that if he stays there God would continue requiring that he go down to Nineveth. Going in the opposite direction is telling God with out words that he doesn't want to go.
Like Adam and Eve (Genesis 3:8), Jonah "hid" from God because of the mistaken belief that hiding from God was possible. Don't we too say and do things that we would never do if we could visibly see God? Don't we too make the mistake of thinking that God doesn't see every single thing we do?
I sometimes wonder whether people in church would chatter during worship or gossip about fellow church members if Jesus was visibly sitting right next to them.
I too was rebellious like Jonah I have gotten another chance,what a difference The Lord as made in my life.!
First we must recognize what SIN is and what it is not. We have been led to believe that SIN is the transgression of the law. A careful look with consideration for the language and context you will discover that it is living a life apart from God that is SIN which RESULTS in the transgression of the law. It is a statistical fact that of the students at (all) Christian colleges that are studying to be ministers or missionaries or bible workers and I dare to say church members in general, only 20% spend at least 5 minutes a day in meaningful time with Jesus. Do a self examination in this area. Where are you in this "Study"?
God woke Jesus morning by morning to spend personal, quality time with Him and He will do the same for us if we ask, and if we are willing to get up out of our soft, warm bed and spend quality time in the Bible and prayer we will discover a completely different Christian experience. Then we will start to understand what is meant by the saying "The truth as it is in Jesus can be experienced but it can never be explained" and we will lead a completely different life.
I believe that the lack of time spent in devotion to God is putting self before Him. We make our self "god" if we do not make Him first, and rely fully upon Him in everything. This trend will always lead us to move further away in yielding to Satan's many temptations.
I enjoyed reading the comments posted especially the answer to the question "Was Jonah scared when he was in the whales belly?"
I'M reluctant to comment on this because this because I'll only seen one person present Jonah correctly.This will be foreign to most people,but this is correct what I'm getting ready to say so don't pre judge me yet Jonah was a type of christ the real reason he fled Yahweh was because he understood that Nineveh was the capital of Assyria he understood bible prophecy he knew that Isaiah chapter 10 verse 5thru7 that Assyria would be the very people that would take his people into captivity he was willing to sacrifice his self just as christ sacrifice his self for his people christ brought to attention about Jonah just as Jonah was three days in the belly of the whale so shall the SON of MAN BE three days in the earth he got mad after Nineveh repent not because of being selfish but because of love for his nation the house of Israel after they repented in due time the ones he preached to took his own people into captivity any of us would have done the same thing he did it's about time to correct his legacy which he so deserve.
No reason to feel reluctant to share your ideas here Malcolm. You might not find all in agreement, but this is how discussion go as everyone has a different view.
I would question you conclusions on several grounds, but will only ask this: if Jonah was a type of Christ, wouldn't he know WHY God said this Assyria would overrun Israel? Would he not know that Israel had departed from the LORD? Would he also not know of Israel's true purpose to lead all nations to know and believe in the One and only true God?
Jonah was weak in faith as the Bible accurately depicts. He did not really know God or understand His ways, though His word clearly reveals His purpose and grace for all nations. Yet, we are not here to chastise Jonah, but to be admonished by his story as Paul tells us in 1 Cor 10:11,12.
Had Jonah fully trusted in the Lord, the "sign of Jonah" would never have happened. But God has seen the end from the beginning hasn't He?
Robert, I don't think a type has to be a clone in every aspect. Moses was a type of Christ yet he had serious flaws and he certainly didn't know everything.
Tyler, are you saying Jonah was ignorant of God's word given through the 5 books of Moses? While I have no actual confirmation he was fully aware of Moses' books, I believe that as a prophet He was aware of Israel's departure from God and the sure results. God does nothing without revealing first through His prophets. We know Elijah was very aware of Moses' books and from this he was led to pray for no rain so that Israel might turn again to God.
All we know of Jonah is his reluctance to follow God's will and faithfully perform a duty, then feeling offended by God's mercy towards "sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle".
From the time Moses was called of God to return to Egypt from Midian until he struck the rock in reaction to the stubbornness of the people after 40 years, Moses was without sin. So I'm curious about the "serious flaws" you refer to.
We have no such record of repentance and reformation concerning Jonah. Only reluctance and complaint. We also can conclude that his delivery of the warning from God to Nineveh was convincing, which was the purpose he was chosen. Yes, God needed to twist Jonah's arm, but so many souls were at great eternal risk. I don't know of any other record of such arm-twisting. Only God Himself can tell us why one day. He will not twist our arm, but has given us adequate light to know our duty.
One thing we can know for certain from Jonah's story; God is eager to save.
Perhaps the problem, Robert, is in assuming more than scripture tells us. I have no idea what Jonah knew or didn't know. I only know that he had a problem in seeing the people of Nineveh saved and that God was working with a prophet that didn't see things the way God saw them.
Moses was never without sin. His sin or sins were covered by God and not accounted to him but to Christ.
Tyler, would God call as a prophet someone totally ignorant of His word? What was generally the role of a prophet? Wasn't it to call the erring nation back to the Law and to reveal what God would do for the repentant or against the unrepentant? Don't we see this role being filled by Jonah to Nineveh? How did they know what to repent of without a knowledge of God's law?
Kenny, check again about Moses. Have you read Patriarchs and Prophets? Notice I said from the time God called him from Midian up to the incident where he struck the rock. This does not include his mistake in Egypt. Moses now stands before God "faultless", as all will who are cleansed from sin. But during the leading of Israel those 40 years, he was without sin until that incident at the rock according to what I recall reading.
Kindly assist with an answer as to Why Jonah asked to be thrown into the sea instead of him just diving in there. Didn't have the capacity to jump on his own instead of vexing the Sailors and making them lose their Merchandise?
Gracios, perhaps we will never know the full answer, but remember this; Jonah was running from God. This he should of known was fultile having been familiar I'm sure with Ps 139, the stories of Adam and Eve, Elijah, Gehazi and others. Jonah was not thinking of others, only himself. Selfishness will lead to all manner of behavior that won't seem reasonable to anyone else. Perhaps Jonah didn't want to break the commandment; "Thou shalt not kill", by committing what would surely be suicide. We can only speculate. It was just the result of his reluctance to obey the Lord. As with king David, one sin will usually lead to other sins.
Hi Gracious. Remember, the sailors on Jonah's ship repented and accepted the true God after the seas became calm (just as Jonah told them would happen). So, Jonah's soul-saving influence as a missionary started 3 days before he entered Ninevah (Jonah 1:16). Consequently, we will likely get to meet these very sailors in heaven some day.
Because of Jonah's departure from the will of God, it placed the life of others in danger. His first act was to confess to the sailors that he was the reason why this was happening to them.
We may be part of organizations, churches or businesses that may not be prospering simply because we are outside the will of God. How do we start to make amends? We start by confessing to those individuals who have been negatively affected by our rebellion that you were the cause for circumstances not working out
Jonah's story is one of my favourite bible story, it shows us that God is merciful and gracious n doesn't treat us as we deserve. Once we are willing God is able to use us no matter our short comings.
Thank you all for your feed back to my question, its been helpful.
Malcom, you comments about Jonah being a type of Christ gives a much clearer answer to my question in that Christ new he had to die for our sins yet he did not have to kill himself but be betrayed, judged and nailed on the cross only to be raised on the third day.
Just like the disciples got offended of christ the night that he was betrayed, the Sailors got offended of Jonah and agreed to throw him into the see for "it was better that one man should die than all to Perish".
I further liken Peter's effort to fight and cut Malchus' ear in order save themselves and Christ to that of the Sailors' to throw away some merchandise.
Jon 1:3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah.
This text seems to imply that the reason why Jonah ran away from Israel was because he believed that "the presence of Jehovah" was only in Israel.
However what Jonah learned was that wherever he went Jehovah was there.
What I learned was that God is not limited to one country, one language or even one denomination.
If we say Jonah should have known the fate of Israel better since he was a prophet, we should remember that he was as human as Elisha who fled before Jezebel, the Pharisees who even did not accept the Christ, the disciples who could not understand the Lord's plan of redemption despite his repeated explanation and available writings or indeed our generation living at the end time
Let us also remember that, no prophet however honored of God had all the light/truth from the fall of man, down the restoration on of man and besides, Jonah was human with propensity to do evil. But the good news is that, GOD makes straight the vessel He wants to use however crooked.
Renford, I would guess you are familiar with Amos 3:7. God always makes clear His purpose when executing His judgments, or it could be said He is unjust. Israel knew why they were taken captive by other nations as God sent many prophets to faithfully warn them. These warnings always pointed back to the covenant given through Moses, even if they were rejected by most. God speaks clearly through Amos doesn't He? Amos was a contemporary of Jonah.
Jonah followed roughly 100 years after Elijah's test showed God as the only true God on Mt Carmel. God does not keep His people in the dark, but seeks to save in every generation, including ours. While we are 2500 years after the time of Jonah, we understand how and why God worked as He did in those days. I would safely assume this knowledge was not hid from Israel at that time. We also know that other nations knew of God's dealings with Israel from the time they left Egypt by His great power exerted against the most advanced and powerful nation who held them captive. God wants sinners to know of Him and His willingness to save all who would be saved.
If we study this Word faithfully we will find truth.