Day 131 · Part 8: Two Kingdoms
Jonah
In the Story
In context
Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet who foretold Israel’s restored border (2 Kings 14:25), is sent to Nineveh, the great city of Assyria on the Tigris, in what is now northern Iraq. He goes the other way, down to the port of Joppa for a ship to Tarshish, across the sea (Jonah 1:1–3). In the storm the sailors cast lots and at last throw him into the sea, and “Yahweh prepared a huge fish to swallow up Jonah” (1:7–17).
Jesus spoke of “the sign of Jonah”: as Jonah was three days and three nights in the fish, so the Son of Man would be “in the heart of the earth,” and the people of Nineveh “repented at the preaching of Jonah” (Matthew 12:39–41). Jonah’s prayer from inside the fish ends, “Salvation belongs to Yahweh” (Jonah 2:9).
Nineveh believes God, from the greatest to the least, and God relents (3:5–10). Then Jonah says why he ran: “I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness,” nearly the words the Lord spoke of himself to Moses (4:2; Exodus 34:6). The book ends with the Lord’s question about Nineveh’s more than 120,000 people “who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand” (4:11).
Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence? If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there! If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.
Psalms 139:7–10 · Jonah fled “from the presence of Yahweh” by sea; the psalm asks, “where could I flee from your presence?” and finds God’s hand even across the sea.
In the Bible
World English Bible, as published by eBible.org (public domain).
Jonah 1
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Jonah 2
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Jonah 3
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Jonah 4
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A hymn for today
Amazing Grace · words by John Newton
- Amazing grace! how sweet the soundThat saved a wretch like me!I once was lost, but now am found,Was blind, but now I see.
- 'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,And grace my fears relieved;How precious did that grace appearThe hour I first believed!
- Through many dangers, toils and snares,I have already come;'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,And grace will lead me home.
- When we've been there ten thousand years,Bright shining as the sun,We've no less days to sing God's praiseThan when we first begun.