This week I want to especially commend an article on the Bible Project website, written by Whitney Woolard. She does an amazing job of drawing out the similarities between Hosea and Amos, and also showing how they both make their own unique contributions to the Biblical story. Give it a read!
Jonah, Background, and Miracles
If you grew up in the church you have grown up with the story of Jonah. One memory that stands out to me was of my illustrated Youth Bible that had this terrifying picture of Jonah in the ocean next to a gigantic sea creature. I wonder if this picture gave me a mild case of thalassophobia! (it's a real thing, google it!).
As I get older, I find that the story of Jonah is so rich, full of so many relevant themes and teaching. There are so many angles with which to approach the story, I'll list a few:
First, there is the angle of Jonah the reluctant prophet. He resists God's call on his life, only to find that disobedience and running away will only work for so long. God is persistent!
Second, there is the angle of justice against Nineveh. Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh because he hated them as a people. They were a people characterized by conquest and violence and Jonah was glad at the though of them being wiped out as a people. But does God think about these things the way that we do?
Third, there is the angle of the miraculous. We could spend all day trying to come up with a plausible explanation for how Jonah survived in the belly of a great fish for three days. We must allow for the miraculous, that God made the impossible possible, to bring about his own purposes in this world. The same God who cause Jonah to survive his ordeal, is the same God who turned the hearts of an entire nation!
And finally, there is the angle that Jesus himself had in mind! There was an occasion where Jesus was being questioned by the religious rulers, and his response was that the sign of Jonah is enough for them (Matthew 12). Jesus thought that Jonah's 3 nights in the fish were a sign of his own three days in the grave!
Enjoy this rich body of short but packed books!
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