daily scripture 8 march 06

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 9:23am

new king james version

jonah 3

1 now the word of the lord came to jonah the second time, saying,

2 “arise, go to nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that i tell you.”

3 so jonah arose and went to nineveh, according to the word of the lord. now nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent.

4 and jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. then he cried out and said, “yet forty days, and nineveh shall be overthrown!”

5 so the people of nineveh believed god, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.

6 then word came to the king of nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

7 and he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.

8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to god; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.

9 who can tell if god will turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish?

10 then god saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and god relented from the disaster that he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.

[beacon1]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 9:30am

I've always love this passage because it shows that God is merciful and allows us to use our moral agency to choose to follow him (or not.) He makes provision in his plan for the opportunity for us to make changes for good or for evil.

In this case, Jonah's "prophetic burden" to advise Nineveh of their impending punishment moved the people to a mighty change of heart. In accordance with this choice, the Lord blessed the people for making this change.

This passage reminds me he is not a God bent on vengeance. Rather, he is a loving God who provides opportunity for us to grow and become better people...or to face negative consequences for our poor choices.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 10:16am

A couple of interesting things:

1) God "repents" in this passage. If we want to know what repentence is about, it is in this passage. Verse 10 uses the same word that is translated as "repented" in other passages. In the NKJV, it is interpretted as "and he did not do it." But, literally, God "changed His mind". Repentence is us changing our mind.

2) It is odd that Jonah only says "yet forty days, and nineveh shall be overthrown," and the people believe him. Jonah is a stranger. Imagine if you heard a man do this in the streets on New York City. You would think they were crazy. And chances are, they would be. However, this should go to show you the difference in culture we have with the people of Ninevah (the greatest city in their known world -- much like NYC today). But, it should also serve a comedic effect. Here Jonah was so nervous to go to them and confront them, but all he had to do was say a few words, and they immediately repented -- even their animals repented! The truth of the story should be that God's dreams don't see the problems that our dreams see.

3) I find it odd that the city that God decided not to destroy, Bush et al have all decided is okay to destroy -- Ninevah is modern day Mosul/Baghdad in Northern Iraq. It seems like an odd choice that we do not send prophets, but we sent bombs.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 10:25am

i dunno, touch, it seems that your point two would argue against point three, the whole, "yeah, he's nuts, ignore him." after all, bush et al are not gods, but men and it is easier to defy the will of men than god. who's to say that they (dubya & co.) will not have to pay for their choices in the afterlife?

also, were the ninevites followers of the god of abraham before they went off on their merry way down the road to sin?

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 10:48am

I would contend that if Bush et al will have to pay for some crime, we should try to warn them from doing further damage now. What we are silent about, we consent to.

Most probably, Nineveh had quite a few Israelites in it at this time. It was during the time that the Israelites were being slowly exiled from Assyria. So, it was a wide mix of religions there. Today, it is still a mix of (mostly) Sunnis and Kurds.

Another interesting note for modern day Nineveh: the Nineveh province cast the deciding vote in referendum for Iraq's constitution.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 11:10am

so they are still doing god's work, touch?

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 11:13am

Which "they"? Nineveh?

I wouldn't say that is God's work at all. Democracy is not God's work. It is an interesting factoid, though, isn't it?

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 11:17am

it truly is.

[beacon1]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 11:21am

Re No. 2:

It seems to me that the people did have a basic knowledge of the type of behavior God wanted of them--they were just choosing otherwise. When Jonah spoke it hit them in the core.
And, culturally, the concept of God using a prophet to speak to them in the "here and now" was a lot more comprehensible than most folks would receive it today. For Jonah's time, God was seen as openly communicating with people in an on-going fashion through prophets.

Today, the idea of a modern-day prophet is often met with suspicion because it seems like that was something done/believed long ago. Not all of us feel that way (I don't. I believe in living prophets) but a lot do think the heavens are closed for that type of interaction.

I also think that Jonah's words carried great power with them. This is a shorthand version of what happened. It would be interesting to hear how his first encounter went, etc.

[grizzabella]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 12:17pm

I find Jonah's story so interesting and enlightening because of the second chances that God gives Jonah to repent, do God's will and become an effective messenger. When God first tells Jonah to go to Nineveh, Jonah's response is to run to Tarshish. It is only after Jonah sees his own error, and goes through various hardships as a result, that he concedes to do God's bidding and take the message to the Ninevites, who listen to him. I sometimes wonder if it was this "refining" process that somehow gave Jonah an air of "God's man" so that the Ninevites would be prepared to listen. Yet Jonah isn't perfect. Even after they repent, Jonah is somewhat annoyed with God because God doesn't carry through with his justice, but instead shows mercy. It is encouraging that even through difficulties we all face, God uses it to bring about his will, if we listen and continues to forgive us. It is such a stunning view of how encompassing God's mercy really is.
By the way, Papa, I applaud you for starting this discussion of scripture every day. It's very enlightening, and stimulating to read everyone's views.

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 12:30pm

I don't have anything intellectually to add today. I just have to say thanks a lot. When I was about 11, we did a musical about Jonah at church. And now I have the inane song about this part stuck in my head. I'm amazed that I remember the tune:

Get up and go to Nineveh
Get up and go to Nineveh
Not Newark or Nashville or Nuremberg
Not Newark or Nashville or Nuremberg
But Nineveh, Nineveh, Nine-Nineveh
Won't you go to Nineveh right now.

A regular Sondheim, the writer of that show was.

edited because I managed to spell Nineveh wrong a record six times in one post
Updated On: 3/8/06 at 12:30 PM

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 12:39pm

Every time I read about Ninevah, I start to sing the score of "Kismet."

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 12:47pm

wow, cal, interesting choices of cities starting with "n" they chose there.

i'd like to publicly thank everyone who chooses to contribute to these threads. i've told a few people that i'm not too sure why i started posting them, i just did. but as each day passes i learn more about how i view these stories, how others views them, their historical context, ways they've been interpreted...it's really enjoyable for me and i guess a few others too, so thanks.

[touchmeinthemorning]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 12:48pm

Yes, these threads have really been interesting to me, too. Thanks for posting them, papa.

[Calvin]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 12:50pm

Why papa, I didn't even mention that there was a second verse. Which is basically the same as the first verse, except it had three different "n" cities. Sadly, the only one I remember is Nantucket. And I guess that's really an island, not a city. Surprisingly, they didn't go with the obvious rhyme after that.

And I like the scripture threads, even though I don't always particpate, BTW.

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 3/8/06 at 12:52pm

not fans of limericks i take it?