Kings--Part V

I13--Zechariah

I14--Shallum

assassinated Zechariah in public, reigned 1 month, then assassinated by Menahem.

I15--Menahem, assassinated Shallum, killed the entire population of a town that refused to surrender.ripped open pregnant women.  Reigned 10 years in Samaria.

King Tiglath pileser of Assyria invaded land, Menahem, paid him off by extorting money from Israel. 

I16--Pekahiah

son of Menahem, ruled 2 years.  The commander of his army, Pekah, conspired against him. With 50 men from Gilead, he went to the Citadel in Samaria and assassinated him.

I17--Pekah

He began his reign in the 52nd year of Judah's king Uzziah's reign.  He reigned in Samaria 20 years.  During his reign, the king of Assyria came back, conquered towns and took Israel captive.

J10--Jotham

Son of Uzziah, was 25 when began reign, reigned 16 years.  He rebuilt the upper gate of the temple, was good--like his dad--except did not destroy pagan shrines.  He conquered the Ammonites, buit towns in the hill country and towers/fortresses in the woodlands.  During his reign, the Lord sent King Pekah of Israel and King Rezin of Syria to attack Israel.

J11-Ahaz

William Blake, The Flight of Moloch, 1809

Son of Jotham, co-regent with father for 12 years.  Full name is Jehoahaz (Ahaz is a contraction,-source BBC). He is described as a bad king.  The Believer's Bible Commentary goes so far as to suggest he was the worst king up to this point in Judah.  He increased worship of pagan idols, even "burned his son" as an offering:

"He followed the kings of Israel in his idolatry, even making his son pass through the fire. In the worship of Molech, it is believed that children were passed between the red-hot arms of the brass idol, signifying cleansing from evil and dedication to the god. Sometimes the children were actually killed and burned (Jer_7:31; Eze_16:21)." -Believer's Bible Commentary

Molech/Moloch, a name with various spellings, was an Ammonite god of fire. The consensus from other passages of scripture and commentaries is that the children were burned on the altar, not just "passed through fire." 

These sacrifices took place at Tapheth in the Valley of Hinnom which is outside of Jerusalem.

"...and he made offerings in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom and burned his sons as an offering."   2 Chronicles 28:3


The Valley of the Son of Hinnon was immediately outside of Jerusalem.  Later this valley was referred to as Gehenna and because of the evil that took place there, it became metaphorical of hell.

thought provoking Forum Board discussion of Gehenna

Sadly this location of pagan worship began with Solomon:


"Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem."  1 Kings 11:7

Here is a thoughtful attempt to understand Moloch, though I am not sure of the author's credentials, the entry seems well-researched. Moloch appears throughout classical and modern literature, including Paradise Lost and Allen Ginsburg's poem "Howl." His name is also tied to the modern day practice of abortion--which at first struck me as a stretch, but after contemplating this more, I think the suggestion may be appropriate as both actions are so desperately wrong and against God's high value on human life.

Pulling back to our text in 2 Kings 16:1-9, the Bible states that Ahaz allowed offerings on high places and under "every green tree," thus paganism spread under him.  

He refused to make an alliance with Syria/Aram (King Rezin) and Israel (King Pekah) to stave off Assyria.  As a consequence, these countries attacked Judah.  At one point, Israel brought prisoners of war back from a conquest.  The prophet Obed rebuked him and reminded Israel of their own sins.  Then, Israel relented and sent the prisoners back with provisions.

These countries had banded together to fight off Assyria and had attacked Judah to encourage Judah to join the alliance.  Instead, Ahaz sent tribute to Assyria so that they could be a vassal to Assyria and then asked Assyria to drive the others out.  He took money from the temple treasury to pay tribute to Assyria.

In 2 Kings 16:10-18 Ahaz visits the King of Assyria, Tiglath-Pilesar.  He admired the king's altar and sent a description of it back to the High Priest, Uriah, so he could recreate it.  When he came back, the new altar was ready.  He moved the old altar and replaced it with the new.  He also modified the basins and a covering.  Ahaz offered sacrifices at the new altar.

From Constable's Notes, regarding Ahaz's legacy:

"Ahaz reduced Judah to a new low politically and spiritually. The forces that influenced him were his culture and the people around him rather than God’s Word.

“When Ahaz dies about 715 B.C., he is succeeded by Hezekiah, his son. He leaves a legacy of appeasement and syncretism unmatched to this time. Assyria can count on him for money, loyalty, and zealous acceptance of their gods. Judah’s king seems genuinely pleased to serve a powerful master who can deliver him from regional foes. No doubt he feels safe, but the historian duly notes the ways in which he has exceeded Jeroboam’s wickedness. If Jeroboam’s practices are worth condemning, what will happen to a nation who rejects the Lord even more clearly?”[119]"  -CN

J12-Hezekiah--Ahaz's son, he was 25 when he became king and reigned for 29 years.  He co-reigned with his father Ahaz for 14 years. His mother was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah.  He tore down altars, broke Moses' bronze serpent because people had been sacrificing to it.  The text states that he was "faithful to the Lord" and that he "trusted Him."  He revolted against the king of Assyria and refused to pay tribute to him.  Hezekiah is also credited with conquering the Philistines. 

In 1 Chronicles 29, he begins his reign by restoring the temple doors, instituting a huge sacrifice and celebrating the Passover.  He sent runners throughout the kingdom to gather the people, even though many laughed.

 "All these things, the chronicler wrote, Hezekiah did wholeheartedly (a word used by the chronicler six times: 1Ch_29:9; 2Ch_6:14; 2Ch_15:15; 2Ch_19:9; 2Ch_25:2; 2Ch_31:21) and in strict compliance with the Lord’s commands (2Ch_31:20-21)." -bkc

Me: An interesting instance of a very good ruler coming from underneath a very bad ruler. Environment, heredity, and parenting is not destiny.

Diagram of Hezekiah's tunnel

I17--Hoshea-Hoshea assassinated Pekah. He ruled in Samaria for 9 years and began his reign in the 12 year of Ahaz of Judah.

"King Shalmaneser of Assyria attacked King Hoshea, so Hoshea was forced to pay heavy tribute to Assyria. But Hoshea stopped paying the annual tribute and conspired against the king of Assyria by asking King So of Egypt[a] to help him shake free of Assyria’s power. When the king of Assyria discovered this treachery, he seized Hoshea and put him in prison."-2 Kings 17:3-4

Summer Fruit

Basket of Fruit, c 1599, Caravaggio

A poignant interpretation of the agricultural imagery in Amos 8 by the Biblical Illustrator:

A basket of summer fruit

As God set before Amos a basket of summer fruit, as a sign or parable concerning Israel; so, at harvest-tide God sets before us a basket of summer fruit, to teach us lessons to our soul’s health.

1. In preparing the earth for a harvest crop, and our lives for a crop of holiness, we must expect hard labour, and often sorrow. Whether we cultivate the fields or our souls, we must do it in the sweat of our face, with hard labour. Both the ground and our nature need cultivation, and that implies labour, and frequently sorrow. After the great fire of London, a flower called the Golden Rocket appeared, and beautified places wasted by the flame, though it had never been seen in that district before. The seeds were lying in the ground, but it needed the fire to make them live and grow. Some times we need the fire of affliction to bring out the good in us. It is God’s love, not anger, which sends the fire. Our life needs clearing, purging, that it may bring forth new and better fruit. Some of us can only be saved “as by fire.”

2. We must plough deep. The man who wants a good crop will not just scratch the surface of the earth, he will drive in the ploughshare deep. So we must drive down the ploughshare of self-examination, we must break up the hard ground of pride and self-righteousness, where no good thing can grow. 

3. There must be sowing of seed. What we sow we reap. Our good deeds and our evil deeds bear their fruit here. Your words, your acts, your thoughts are seed; you may cast them forth carelessly, but like seed thoughtlessly dropped in the ground, they will grow, and if it be bad seed, you will be terrified at your harvest. Remember this,—You may not have sown bad seed, but if you have sown nothing for God, you will reap nothing from God. If you have no loving fellowship with God here, you will have none hereafter. Neglect of duty is a great sin. If we neglect our souls they degenerate, our spiritual natures grow weak. Let us learn to thank God, not only for bread which strengthens man’s heart, but also for the better bread of holy teaching which the harvest provides, bread to strengthen man’s soul. -H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, M. A., The Biblical Illustrator

So the Lord relented...

Among many of the grey areas in my Christian walk is the question of prayer.  The Word tells us that the Lord hears our requests to varying degrees. I remember some passages where the Lord turns a deaf ear to cries and recall others where He listens closely.  We can make choices that distance ourselves from Him through our actions and by the gradual hardening of our hearts.  He is not capricious in degrees of listening, but there are definitely degrees and precedence.

It would make an interesting study---clearly the prophets have a more direct line from Abram, through Moses and Samuel. Here, Amos successfully sways the Lord away from destruction by locusts:

In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, "O Sovereign LORD, please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israel is so small."  So the LORD relented from this plan. "I will not do it," He said. -Amos 7:2-3

From Constable's Notes:

"The prayers of righteous individuals, like Amos, can alter the events of history (cf. James 5:16-18). Some things that God intends to do are not firmly determined by Him; He is open to changing His mind about these things. However, He has decreed other things and no amount of praying will change His mind about those things (cf. Jer. 7:16; 11:14;14:11-12; Acts 1:11; Rev. 22:20). It is important, therefore, that we understand, from Scripture, what aspects of His will are fixed and which are negotiable. The same distinction between determined choices and optional choices is observable in human interpersonal relations. Good parents, for example, will not permit their children to do certain things no matter how much the children may beg, but they do allow their children to influence their decisions in other matters.

For further discussion of this issue, see Thomas L. Constable, Talking to God: What the Bible Teaches about Prayer, pp. 149-52; idem, “What Prayer Will and Will Not Change,” in Essays in Honor of J. Dwight Pentecost, pp. 99-113; John Munro, “Prayer to a Sovereign God,” Interest56:2 (February 1990):20-21; and Robert B. Chisholm Jr., “Does God ‘Change His Mind’?”Bibliotheca Sacra 152:608 (October-December 1995):387-99."  -Constable's Notes

In particular, I'd like to explore this issue further by looking for the articles mentioned at the end.  I'm unclear as to all of the aspects that are  "fixed and which are negotiable."  His larger plans in history are fixed.  of parenting rings true to me.  In that context,  I can grasp how some requests are granted and others not---all for the best of the supplicant.  However from my memory of Old Testament scriptures, the Lord sometimes comes off as erratic in His decision making process.  When Abraham tries to talk the Lord out of destroying Sodom, the haggling seems childish at times.  Why does the Lord indulge Abraham in the discussion as He knows the hearts of all men, the past and the future alike?  There are times when the stories read too much like fables or tall tales, whether they are historically true or not.   I'm not confident in my ability to honor and grasp the genre and nuances of the text in such passages, never mind understand the mind of the Lord through them.      

Drops

Amaziah then said to Amos, “Leave, you visionary! Run away to the land of Judah! Earn your living and prophesy there! Don’t prophesy at Bethel any longer, for a royal temple and palace are here!”
Amos replied to Amaziah, “I was not a prophet by profession. No, I was a herdsman who also took care of sycamore fig trees. Then the Lord took me from tending flocks and gave me this commission, ‘Go! Prophesy to my people Israel!’ So now listen to the Lord’s message! You say, ‘Don’t prophesy against Israel! Don’t preach against the family of Isaac!’ Amos 7:12-16

A Raindrop's Life, Neelesh Jain, Graphite on Paper

Constable's comments on the Hebrew word for preach: 

"Amaziah had told Amos to stop prophesying, namely, to stop preaching (v. 16). “Preaching” is from a verbal root meaning “drip” (Heb.natap), as the heavens drip rain (Judges 5:4; cf. Amos 9:13). The idea is that Amos should stop raining down messages from heaven on his hearers. True prophets were people who spoke fervently for Yahweh."  -Constable's Notes

From Strong's:

נטף
nâṭaph
naw-taf'

A primitive root; to ooze, that is, distil gradually; by implication to fall in drops; figuratively to speak by inspiration: - drop (-ping), prophesy (-et).


In the passages referenced, there is this continued idea of raining down or flowing:

O Lord, when you departed from Seir, when you marched from Edom’s plains, the earth shook, the heavens poured down, the clouds poured down rain. Judges 5:4

“Be sure of this, the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when the plowman will catch up to the reaper and the one who stomps the grapes will overtake the planter. Juice will run down the slopes, it will flow down all the hillsides.Amos 9:13

Stars, Rivers, and Faith

North Fork of the French Broad River near Balsam Grove, photo by Duane McCullough

But there is one who made the constellations Pleiades and Orion;
he can turn the darkness into morning
and daylight into night.
He summons the water of the seas
and pours it out on the earth’s surface.
The Lord is his name!

         -Amos 5:8 

For me, the seamless artistry and beauty of the natural world is one of the strongest evidences of God.

The Lord is ever overseeing the ebb and flow of the seasons and natural cycles. How do rivers begin in obscurity yet tirelessly gather and flow to the seas? It seems effortless. In
contrast, our own efforts at artificial rivers seem forced and require much mechanical engineering and human maintenance.

Studying the French Broad River with the children has given me a greater appreciation for rivers.  Why does the French Broad flow across the Eastern Continental Divide?  How does a river emerge and chart its course?  The slope of the land is the largest determiner of a river's direction and course, but there are many others as well.  Even all of the factors in bulk cannot explain the mystery of my spirit being soothed by water.  Why do we have such an emotional response to a river or to the ocean's confidence and force?  There is rest in the flux and broader constancy. 

The orbit of our earth and the tilt of the planet during different seasons also prompt us to ponder the boundless designs and timing of God.  Our spirits are encouraged as light and life increase each spring.  Later, we welcome our need to herd and gather inward again as the air turns cooler.   The Lord is a Master of context, of wedding what we call "science" with the seemingly opposite world of what we call "art."  The two are actually interwoven, as the new agers would put it--the trunk and the tail of the same elephant.

When my spirit is fickle and my faith is muddy, there is still always the voice of God declaring Himself through the natural world. I may doubt miracles, sickness, and His outer-workings in my life and the lives of those around me, but there is something instinctively and undoubtedly right and true about the natural environment and the wedding of the different liberal and scientific arts behind it all.  I don't have to argue a river---it's a theological masterpiece, incessantly declaring its Creator.

Amos 5

Such sweeping imagery in Amos 5, it's no surprise that Martin Luther King, along with many others, have been mesmerized with the power of this chapter:

"I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing streams."  Amos 5:21-24

From Constable's Notes:

"Instead of feasts and fasts, instead of offerings and sacrifices, instead of singing and playing musical instruments, the Lord said He wanted justice and righteousness (cf. v. 7). Instead of a constant stream of blood flowing from sacrifices, and an endless torrent of verbal and ritual praise from His people, He wanted these ethical qualities to flow without ceasing from them. The Israelites were inundating Him with rivers of religiosity, but He wanted rivers of righteousness.
“Only when the personal concern of the law is incorporated into their social structure and ‘rightness’ characterizes their dealings with others will their worship be acceptable. A token practice of justice and righteousness will not do.” [82]
This is the key verse in the book since it expresses so clearly what God wanted from His people. It is a clear statement of the importance of moral and ethical righteousness over mere ritual worship."

Amos & the Role of Prophecy

Chart by Clarence Larkin, not sure what I think of it.  I wouldn't have pegged him as a Baptist, but I'm not a bit
surprised that he had a background in Mechanical Engineering.

"For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets." -Amos 3:7

Why does the Lord choose to reveal Himself and His plans through the prophets? Was it only during this particular period of history that he primarily spoke future plans through the prophets?

The Biblical Illustrator points back to Abraham and Noah:

Am I being biblical by de-emphasizing prophecy? There is a struggle also in the lives of Christians who become overly focused on prophecy to the point of seeing signs and visions in most every aspect of life. Again, this confuses me. Are we reading spiritual tea leaves? Why would some have this and entire denominations be without it? Has this gifting ceased? Way too many questions for this little book of Amos and the context there. However it's hard to escape these questions when you come across a verse like Amos 3:7

"The LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,"  Genesis 18:17

The Lord choose to involve both Abraham and Noah in His plans, moving forward to Moses and into the era of the kingdoms.  

The prophets, as a whole, are verified by the body of their work in retrospect. The Biblical Illustrator also points out that they can be confirmed independent of this through miracles. My reservation with regard to prophets of today is that they cannot be proved true in their lifetime except by miracles or other immediate evidences, and I don't see these to hold true. It seems that prophets cannot be judged in their own era--at least not in a majority way.

"God has given to different nations different missions. He has given to Rome the mission of teaching the world the meaning of law; to Greece the meaning of art and philosophy; to the Hebrew race the meaning of religion. He has given this race this message: Tell the world what you can learn of God and His relation to men. The Hebrew people have added nothing to the architecture, the art, the philosophy of life; but they have been a prophetic race—discoverers of God. In this race there were pre-eminently religious men, who saw God more clearly than their fellows, and God’s relation to mankind more clearly, and God’s relation to human events more clearly, and told their fellows what they saw. And, from all their telling, natural selection says the scientist, providence says the theologian—I say the two are the same—elected those that had in them the most vital truth, the most enduring, the most worthy to endure. Thus we have in the Old Testament something like two score of writers, the most spiritually-minded of a spiritually-minded race, telling us what they have discovered concerning God. This is the Bible. It is the gradual discovery of God in the hearts and through the tongues of prophets who were themselves members of a prophetic race." -Lyman Abbott, D. D, Biblical Illustrator

Looking forward from this era, we have the words of John in Revelation that point toward the return of Christ, and we have the words of Christ himself.  We are still in the middle of things yet to come. Also, the gift of prophecy is included in the list of giftings in the New Testament which indicates that it was an active and expected gift among the early church.  Is this gift still active?

We also also cautioned not to seek divination and false prophets.  How to know the difference?  My impulse is to avoid all manifestations entirely, to throw the entire baby out with the bathwater.

How to discern the will of God?  Is this not an individual work that each of us must accomplish in our lives to some degree? 

Bob Deffinbaugh points out that the prophets help interpret the law:

"The prophets are to the Old Testament law what the Supreme Court is supposed to be to the laws of our land. The Supreme Court should interpret and apply the laws of our land in accordance with the intent of the framers of the Constitution of the United States. The Old Testament prophets’ task was to help God’s people interpret and apply the Old Testament law in the light of God’s purposes for giving it."

We are also told to take the prophetic word to heart in the New Testament.  Peter urges:

"Moreover, we possess the prophetic word as an altogether reliable thing. You do well if you pay attention to this as you would to a light shining in a murky place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. Above all, you do well if you recognize this: no prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." 2 Peter 1:19-21

I'll admit--I'm suspicious of modern day prophets.  The ones I have known have been a bit imbalanced and undisciplined.  Were the prophets of the Old Testament also imbalanced and undisciplined?  I'd say no to the idea of them being undisciplined---I think of the difficulties they faced--persecution and humiliation--they were tough men, even Jonah in his running was not motivated by fear.  Were they imbalanced?  I would concede that many were----emotional and eccentric.  I think particularly of Elijah and Elisha, but of others as well.  What an odd combination come to think of it, emotional yet disciplined.  The two qualities are not typically bedfellows.

Amos--odds and ends of commentary

fruit of a sycamore fig tree

Amos was a profitable herdsman and grower of sycamore figs from the Judean town of Tekoa.   He was in charge of shepherds and large numbers of livestock. He prophesied under the reigns of Jeroboam II of Israel and Uzziah of Judah.  Under these kings, both enjoyed a season of expansion and prosperity second only to Solomon's era.  Amos was a contemporary of Jonah, Isaiah, Micah, and Hosea:

“A flurry of prophetic activity was divinely inaugurated in the eighth century B.C., mainly to warn the northern kingdom of an impending destruction if she did not repent and reverse her way of life.” -Walter Kaiser

His name means "burden bearer" or "load carrier." 

Amos was also a bit of a Cincinnatus or Washington; he left his livelihood to pursue God's specific call on his life for a particular season:

"Unlike other prophets, Amos was not a man whose life was devoted to hearing and speaking the Word of the Lord. He was no product of the "schools of prophets," nor a professional "seer." He left his flock for a limited period, at the command of God, to deliver a specific message at Bethel. That done, he presumably returned to his sheep-tending at Tekoa."
—Herbert F. Stevenson

Although he was from the Southern Kingdom, he prophesied to the Northern Kingdom.  He was profoundly inspired in his prophecy by his natural surroundings.  The imagery in his prophecy comes from nature.

The first chapter conveys God's judgement against 8 kingdoms.

From the Believer's Bible Commentary:

"Each pronouncement of judgment is introduced by the words, "For three transgressions . . . and for four." Baxter explains this Hebrew idiom for us:The phrase is not to be taken arithmetically, to mean a literal three and then four, but idiomatically, as meaning that the measure was full, and more than full; the sin of these people had overreached itself; or, to put it in an allowable bit of modern slang, they had "gone one too many," they had "tipped the scale."" -BBC

"Amos was of them of whom it is written, “Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching.” Through all his hard life this shepherd had kept his mind open and his conscience quick, so that when the Word of God came to him he knew it, as fast as he knew the roar of the lion across the moor. Certainly there is no habit which so much as this of watching facts with a single eye and a responsible mind is indispensable alike in the humblest duties and in the highest speculations of life. When Amos gives those naive illustrations of how real the voice of God s to him, we receive them as the tokens of a man, honest and awake." -Geo. Adam Smith, D. D

"The Lord wanted their loving obedience, not their acts of worship. Loving religious activity is not the same as loving God." -Constable's Notes

Hebrew Idiom

A gem from my NET notes on Jonah's assessment of the Lord:

"...because I knew that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment. So now, Lord, kill me instead, because I would rather die than live!” The Lord said, “Are you really so very angry?”

"Slow to anger" in Hebrew literally means "long of nostrils" --what a word picture!

Psalm 103:8

In contrast, Jonah is angry to the degree that he longs for the Lord to end his own life.  What spite!   

Jonah, odds and ends

First, the Backdrop

Nineveh was a capital of Ancient Assyria, a hugely powerful civilization and a fierce enemy of Israel.  Constable's Notes provide more context: 

"Nineveh stood on the eastern bank of the Tigris River. It had walls 100 feet high and 50 feet thick, and the main one, punctuated by 15 gates, was over seven and one-half miles long.[3] The total population was probably about 600,000 including the people who lived in the suburbs outside the city walls (cf. 4:11). The residents were idolaters and worshipped Asur and Ishtar, the chief male and female deities, as did almost all the Assyrians. Assyria was a threat to Israel’s security (cf. Hos. 11:5; Amos 5:27). This is one reason Jonah refused to go to Nineveh. He feared the people might repent and that God would refrain from punishing Israel’s enemy (4:2)."  -Constable's Notes

Next, The Sideways Nature of Anger

Later in the book, I  find God's question to Jonah amusing:  "Do you do well to be angry?"  In modern slang, this is the equivalent of "how's that working for you?" It doesn't work well to be angry or in conflict, does it.  Although it's necessary at times, it's not a good place to live.

Constable points out one key difference between the Ninevite population and our pluralistic society--the Ninevites believed in the sovereignty of God and man's ability to influence God's actions:

The Ninevites lived in the ancient Near East that viewed all of life as under the sovereign control of divine authority, the gods. Even though they were polytheists and pagans they believed in a god of justice who demanded justice of humankind. They also believed that their actions affected their god’s actions. This worldview is essentially correct as far as it goes. We should probably not understand their repentance as issuing in conversion to Jewish monotheism. It seems unlikely that all the Ninevites became Gentile proselytes to Judaism (cf. 1:16).  -Constable's Notes

In our current scientific climate, our culture would not be open to the possibility of divine offense or judgement--divine love, perhaps, divine interest in their needs, but not divine justice.  The problem is that the sword cuts two ways--love and justice go together and are not exclusive of each other.

Jonah--The one-sided sword

"But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry."  Jonah 4:1

Jonah's displeasure brings to mind the older son of the prodigal.  He resented his father's forgiveness as well. Why do we resent God's mercy to others? We do not hesitate to grasp that we deserve mercy, but surely not that man or those people.  What did they do to deserve such a kindness?  When God extends mercy to the undeserving, the unfairness of it rubs us wrong.  It's nervy because He never made His mercy toward others our business--except to proclaim it, certainly not to question it. 

But, we are a nervy people.  I suspect this impulse is an extension of our bottomless capacity for selfishness, vanity, and pride. We view ourselves as different, better, the exception to the rule.

What if God desires to "save" everyone? What's it to me?

Again, another parable comes to mind---that of the workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20). The nerve of God to pay them all the same!  If I have to be honest, that's my reaction.  I'm definitely an early morning kind of worker and resent the people that slide in late and expect the same.  Why should I labor hard while others barely break a sweat?  I'd like a God who forgives me for being late yet holds others accountable for their lapses.  I want the one-sided sword of mercy.

However, if God is God, I don't get to choose His attributes.  In truth, He choose mine. The degree and timing of my openness to His Spirit is entirely His.  He doesn't permit us to lay claim to even a smidgen of the work of our salvation. If the work is all His---not ours---why wouldn't He have the right to extend it to others? 

I end up feeling like the petulant child who doesn't want her brother to get a free lollipop too. I long for the lollipop to be the result of my goodness--not His.

But, it's His city. His people. His storm. His fish. His field. His vine. His wages. 

Jonah--a Fable?

courtesy David Choate, Flicker

Before I was a Christian, the book of Jonah struck me as a fable, along with the parting of the Red Sea and the worldwide flood of Noah's ark.  I've since become more open-minded, more comfortable with the grey spaces of this present world.  Yes, people do have a tendency to make things up and embellish history over time, but I've also come to allow that strange things DO happen in this world: "truth is stranger than fiction."  

I've also come to accept that God, if He is really God, is quite capable of suspending or superseding the laws of His creation for His purposes and pleasure.  He does not need to be consistent in this regard. Yes, a man in the belly of a fish for three days is bizarre, but if such a God can instantaneously create a universe by speaking, is He not equally capable of sustaining the life of an individual supernaturally if He so desires?  We need to leave room in our hearts for His mystery.  We also need to acknowledge the limits of our own minds.

Constable points out that Jesus referenced Jonah as a man, not a myth, which to me, is a compelling point. If Jesus is God, then he knows these things. If Jesus is not God, we are all wasting our time.

The issue of literal vs. figurative does not go away as easily as I once thought.  While I am a conservative in the sense of believing that Revelation records events that will actually happen, not figures of speech, I also have to allow for the different characteristics of various genres within the Bible.  Clearly, the figurative language used in the Psalms is not intended literally.  The book, The Art of Biblical Narrative, has helped me develop a more comprehensive understanding of the genres of the Bible and some of the characteristics of those genres.

You can believe the Bible is inerrant yet still allow for different interpretations toward figurative language and characteristics within genres.  I think we have to be careful not to allow the sanitary presumptions of our scientific age not to impose rigid sanctions for truth upon an ancient text and ancient world that saw the recording of history and narrative as less a science and more of an art.  Their lens can be true yet different than our own.  

Yet there is a piece of me that longs to see things absolutely as they were--to understand and verify them in a very modern, scientific way.  This same piece of me bucks at Biblical art that depicts characters as European instead Middle Eastern.  I dislike art that cleans them all up, dresses them in Classical or European clothing and sets them among the columns and backdrops of Rome and Greece instead of the natural and possible settings and architecture of Ancient Israel.

Pieter Lastman's "Jonah and the Whale" 1621

We are adept at remaking history to suit our preferences, and this arriving at a true reconstruction is a moving target.  The Christian and non-Christian caricatures are easy to draw---

On one side, we have the traditional southern country Christian, the "Bible thumper" who would say "I believe it's all the word of God because He says it is" case closed.  This same caricature is typically not a heavy Bible reader and has a low level of overall literacy.

On the other side, we have the traditionally educated skeptic who generally has a medium to very high level of literacy a very closed mind toward anything supernatural but Christian in nature.  The irony is that many of these same skeptics are incredibly open-minded toward supernatural happenings in Eastern or pagan religions.     

In the final hour, there are few of us who do not allow for the supernatural in any form.  I think the difference may be in allowing it when it suits us and allowing it when it's less convenient. We are biased---on our deathbeds, we long for the presence of a God that will deliver us from death.  But on the average sunny day, we are less inclined to allow for this God.  He may make demands upon us.  

As much as we can, I think we need to be honest with ourselves about our motives.  None of us can approach God with completely pure intent.  But it doesn't necessarily follow that our faith is false because it is selfish and self-motivated.  God is no dummy---He put us together and clearly understands our foolish and weak proclivities. 

No, the issue of His existence and the truth of the text of Jonah must go beyond all this.  The truth is deeper than a quick, presumptuous conclusion that a man could not live in the belly of a fish for three days.   However, the truth is also deeper than a simplistic "God can do whatever He wants" assessment, which although theologically true, is rather flippant and defensive.

I long for a space, a like-minded Christian community, where I can ponder such mysteries and not feel pushed to either side.

Jonah: like it or lump it, mercy prevails

I thought I understood Jonah. Although I puzzle over Israel and Judah's shortsighted kings, I had no such barrier when it came to understanding Jonah. The Lord commands him to go to a large foreign city, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it." The Net Bible commentary notes that this phrase contains a double imperative of verbs, more along the lines of "Go, immediately." 

Jonah's reaction is almost comical in its unpremeditated clarity:

"But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord." Jonah 3:1

The notes describe the word play in these lines--the Lord asked Jonah to "arise," so he did "arise," but in the opposite direction! I was "with" Jonah.  Who wants to travel to a large foreign city to tell a groups of unfamiliar people that they are living in sin and far from God?  

But actually, a sense of self-preservation, fear of the people, was NOT Jonah's motive.  We are not given the reason for Jonah's flight until three chapters later, but then it is made crystal clear. Jonah shares his motive with us first-hand, so there is no room for misunderstanding:

This displeased Jonah terribly and he became very angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought would happen when I was in my own country. This is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to Tarshish! –because I knew that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment. So now, Lord, kill me instead, because I would rather die than live!” The Lord said, “Are you really so very angry?”  -Jonah 4:1

Jonah fled God's order because he didn't want the Lord to have mercy on Assyria, a nation that was one of Israel's enemies.  This is exceedingly hard for me to relate to.  Even if we were at war with a nation---or perhaps thinking of terrorists as an example---I don't blame the people as much as I blame their leaders.  It's hard for me to relate to someone who resents God's mercy toward a nation so completely.

It also makes a great example of the way that we always bring our own presumptions and "who we are" to the text.  I read Jonah's emotions through my own.  There is a danger in over-personalizing our readings.  We are quick to want life application to the point where we can misunderstand the text entirely in this pursuit.  Application is a piece of our goal, but we should step back from the text almost the way that you step back to see a large painting in a museum.  We need to see the whole landscape first instead of prematurely stepping forward to share "what it means to me."  A hard thing, no doubt, in such an individualistic age.

Understanding Jonah's motive also strengthens the internal unity of the story.  The vine and worm are not an additional development.  Jonah's stewing is the fruition of the entire text up to that point. 

An Illustration by Eyeteeth/Stix, I love that he does research and depicts this as a Castor Bean plant here. 

The larger question is----who is the Lord pointing His finger at here?  Jesus references Jonah when he foreshadows his own resurrection, so there is definitely a prophetic element to it.  In addition, is it a reminder that the Lord's mercy is great and that our own toward others is often sorely lacking?