Transcript Welcome to the ROC! - Lutheran Hour Ministries

Welcome to the ROC!
Lutheran Hour Ministries’
Regional Outreach Conference
Rev. Dr. Reed Lessing
Associate Professor, Exegetical Theology
Concordia Seminary, St. Louis
JONAH
On a Tough Mission for a Tender God
Jonah 1:1
“And the word of YAHWEH came to…”
Used in Old Testament only when contexts and
circumstances regarding the prophet and his
mission are already established in previous
statements.
Story of Jonah actually begins in another place;
i.e. 2 Kings 14:25.
Jonah 1:1
“And the word of YAHWEH came to…”
Anchors Jonah in the 8th century B.C. as a courtprophet of the Israelite king Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.).
“He [Jeroboam II] restored the border of Israel from
Lebo-hamath [i.e. Aram/Syria] as far as the Sea of the
Arabah [i.e. the Gulf of Aqabah], according to the word
of Yahweh, the God of Israel, which he spoke by the
hand of his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet,
who was from Gath-hepher.”
Jonah 1:2
"Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against
it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
Entire prophecy of Nahum, delivered before
Nineveh’s downfall in 612 BC, gives picture of
this city of bloodshed…
Jonah 1:2
"Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against
it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”
…full of lies, dead bodies without end, a city that
could be likened to a shapely harlot out to
seduce all nations (Nah. 3:1-4; cf. Zeph. 2:13-15).
Nineveh was truly the “chief of sinners.”
Jonah 1:2
Jonah 1:3
But Jonah ran away from Yahweh and went
down to Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where
he found a ship bound for that port. After paying
the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish
to flee from Yahweh.
Jonah 1:3
Jonah’s Progressive Downhill Slide:
•
•
•
•
Goes down to Joppa (1:3)
Goes down to the ship (1:3)
Goes down into the innermost parts of the ship (1:5)
Thrown down into the depths of the sea then descends
to the realm of death or Sheol (2:3, 7)
• Down, down, down, down….the inevitable path of
those who seek to avoid the mission of the church.
• Going down in the OT depicts a movement toward
death (cf. Ps. 88:4-6; Prov. 5:5).
Jonah 1:3
The word “fare” actually refers to the ship. The
idea here is not that Jonah paid a fare (so all of
the English versions), but rather that he hired
the ship and its crew.
Jonah 1:3
1. Jonah has access to the ship’s “innermost
recesses” (1:5) makes sense if he owned the boat.
2. Sailors hesitate to throw Jonah overboard (1:13-14)
– Understandable because he was their “boss.”
3. According to most scholars it wasn’t until Roman
times that the ancient world had a specific word
for “fare” – a charge for the purchase of space in
an expedition, seagoing or otherwise.
Jonah 1:4
Then Yahweh sent a great wind on the sea, and
such a violent storm arose that the ship
threatened to break up.
Jonah 1:4
“And as for the ship – it had a mind to break up.”
The irony is that the sailors fear disaster, the
captain of the ship fears disaster, indeed, even the
ship thinks it is going to break up.
The only character – animate or inanimate – that
has no fear is Jonah. The pun then is this: as the
ship fears wrecking she becomes a nervous wreck!
Jonah 1:5
All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to
his own god. And they threw the cargo into the
sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone
below deck, where he lay down and fell into a
deep sleep.
Jonah 1:5
The subsequent events will transform the sailors
from shear terror, to an awe at the awareness of
being in Yahweh’s presence, to finally trust, belief
and worship of this great God.
Jonah 1:5
The word “deep sleep” may be the first indication
that Jonah seeks to die (4:3). As a noun the word
describes Abram (Gen. 15:12) and Adam (Gen. 2:21).
Like James, Peter and John (Matt. 26:40, 43), the
divinely chosen prophet Jonah is sound asleep.
Jonah 1:9
He answered, "I am a Hebrew and I worship
Yahweh, the God of heaven, who made the sea
and the land."
Jonah 1:9
Jonah’s confession of faith in 1:9 have been carefully
placed at the midpoint of this chiastic structure.
• 94 words in the Hebrew text from the scene’s
beginning in 1:4 to the beginning of the speech in 1:9
• 94 words in 1:10-15
• Verse 16 stands outside the pattern as a conclusion
• The chiastic structure and the exact balance of number
of words serve to place the focus for this section on the
confession in 1:9
Jonah 1:10
This terrified them and they asked, "What have
you done?" (They knew he was running away from
Yahweh, because he had already told them so.)
Jonah 1:10
The sailors react in a way more indicative of an
Israelite, than in a manner one would expect
from unbelievers. The sailors cannot imagine
anyone treating a deity in such a fashion.
Here they are revealed as having a respect for
the divine that Jonah does not have. This is an
ongoing theme of the book – that is, the
outsiders get it, the insider doesn’t.
Jonah 1:14
Then they cried to Yahweh , "O Yahweh, 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 Yahweh, have done as you pleased."
Jonah 1:14
The role of prophet and people is reversed:
• The sailors refuse to commit a crime after the
prophet has asked them to do so
• The sailors are praying the prayer Jonah should be
praying.
• The sailors confess that Yahweh does as he pleases
(cf. Ps. 115:3; 135:6), while Jonah expresses his
frustration because God does precisely that.
Jonah 1:17
But Yahweh provided a great fish to swallow
Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days
and three nights.
Jonah 1:17
Although Jonah apparently believed that he
would be able to escape Yahweh’s commission by
his own death, God makes it clear that there will
be no escape. Rather than kill him or let him die,
he imprisons Jonah in the belly of the fish to
demonstrate further that there is nowhere in the
world, even death, where Jonah can flee.
Jonah 1:17
The word “provide” or direct, ordain, appoint is
used the first of four times in the book here, then
again in 4:6, 7, 8.
Each time:
• a non-human agent is appointed
• each occurrence is used with a different divine name.
Each non-human agent is different.
Jonah 1:17
What does all this mean?
Yahweh “appoints” a fish, a plant (4:6), a worm
(4:7) and a wind (4:8).
These elements of nature are appointed for
salvation (the fish and plant), as well for
judgment (the worm and wind).
Jonah 1:17
Two observations regarding the use of this word
“provide” in the book are as follows. With each
use a different divine name is used as the subject
of the verb:
1:17 – Yahweh
4:6 – Yahweh-Elohim
4:7 – Ha-Elohim
4:8 – Elohim
Jonah 1:17
When the verb occurs the object of the LORD’S
control belongs to a different realm in nature:
1:17 – the fish (sea)
4:6 – the plant (vegetation)
4:7 – the worm (animals)
4:8 – the wind (air)
Examples of the Psalms in Jonah 2
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
“my distress” 18:6; 120:1
“Sheol” 18:4-5
“all thy waves and thy billows passed over me” 42:7
“from thy presence” 139:7
“upon thy holy temple” 5:7
“the waters closed in over me” 69:2
“my life from the Pit” 30:3
“my soul fainted within me” 142:3
“into thy holy temple” 18:6
“deliverance belongs to Yahweh” 3:8
Jonah 3:1-4
Then the word of Yahweh came to Jonah a
second time: “Go to the great city of Nineveh
and proclaim to it the message I give you.” Jonah
obeyed the word of the LORD and went to
Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very important city- a visit required three days. On the first day,
Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: “Forty
more days and Nineveh will be turned over.”
Jonah 3:1-4
The approximate travel time from Jerusalem to
Nineveh in antiquity would have been about 45
days. This is estimated according to caravan
speed.
Jonah 3:1-4
The sermon in verse four is only five words in
the original Hebrew text. At this point people
are asked not to turn to their pastor and quote
from Luke 10:37, “Go and do thou likewise.”
Jonah 3:1-4
“Forty days” is a term that denotes a time of
testing, with a new beginning at the end.
Jonah 3:1-4
“Forty days” is a term that denotes a time of
testing, with a new beginning at the end.
Examples – 40 Years:
• Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan (Ex. 16:35)
• Peace in Israel upon the LORD’S selection of a
judge (Judg. 3:11)
Jonah 3:1-4
“Forty days” is a term that denotes a time of
testing, with a new beginning at the end.
Examples – 40 Days:
• Rain leading up to the flood (Gen. 7:12)
• Moses at Mt. Sinai (Ex. 24:18)
• Spies in Canaan (Num. 13:25)
• Elijah’s fast (1 Kings 19:8)
• Jesus’ fast (Matt. 4:2)
• The post-resurrection Epiphanies (Acts 1:3).
Jonah 3:1-4
“Forty” takes us to the slow and merciful LORD
who could have said to Nineveh, “I’ll make all
new things, the old won’t do.” But instead he
said, “I’ll make all things – even you – new!”
Jonah 3:9
“Who knows? God may yet relent and with
compassion turn from his fierce anger so that
we will not perish.”
Jonah 3:10
“When God saw what they did and how they
turned from their evil ways, he had
compassion and did not bring upon them the
destruction he had threatened.”
But does God really relent, or, as the KJV
translates the Hebrew word, “repent?”
Jonah 4:1
“But it was evil for Jonah a great evil.”
A key word in the book that is repeated as a
noun and a verb is “evil” occurring ten times
(1:2, 7, 8: 3:8, 10a, 10b; 4:1a, 1b, 2, 6).
Jonah 4:1
There has been “evil”:
• Beginning with the Ninevites (1:2)
• Moving to the sailors (1:7)
• Returning to the Ninevites (3:10)
• Coming to Yahweh (3:10; 4:2)
• And, here with Jonah.
Except in the reference to Jonah, all the evil is
taken away. In v. 6 Yahweh tries, but to no avail.
Jonah 4:2
“He prayed to Yahweh, ‘O Yahweh, is this not
what I said 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.’”
Jonah 4:5
Why does the author tell us where Jonah sat?
As the same verb is used here and also in 3:6 to
describe the king’s actions it could be to contrast
Jonah’s sitting high and the king’s sitting low.
Jonah 4:5
Nineveh was flanked on the west and north by
the Tigris and the Khoser rivers; there were a few
hills on the town’s remaining sides where Jonah
in all likelihood perched himself to witness the
city’s immanent judgment.
Jonah 4:5
The irony is exactly this – the king who is – afterall the king – is seated low. Jonah who is – afterall just a prophet – is seated high. What the king
was willing to do – that is, humble himself – his
Jonah is unwilling to do.
Luke 14:11, “For everyone who is exalting himself
will be humbled and the one humbling himself
will be exalted.”
Jonah 4:9-11
“But God said to Jonah, ‘Do you have a right to be
angry about the vine?’ ‘I do,’ he said. ‘I am angry
enough to die.’ But Yahweh said, ‘You have been
concerned about this vine, though you did not
tend it or make it grow.’”
Jonah 4:9-11
“It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But
Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty
thousand people who cannot tell their right hand
from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I
not be concerned about that great city?’”
Small Group Discussion
1. Where is your Nineveh?
2. What is your response to God’s
call to Nineveh?