Jonah

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was angry.” What’s that you say? The “it”, the repentance of Nineveh and the relentance (not a real word) of God. The thing that generally makes us rejoice (and that we find ourselves part of not all that often) has pissed Jonah off. It all comes together here.… Read more: Jonah | Chapter 4

Chapter 3 starts very similarly to chapter 1. God calls Jonah to “Arise…” and go to Ninevah and, “…call out against it…” this time in the message God will tell him (instead of something about their evil coming to God’s attention, which was the last part of that same declaration in chapter, verse 2). This… Read more: Jonah | Chapter 3

Notice that even the fish is obedient to God, along with the pagans and the sea; basically everyone obeys God in this book except His prophet.  In chapter 2, Jonah prays. I think we should read this with a bit of skepticism, especially in light of his actions later on. That said, his full commitment… Read more: Jonah | Chapter 2

The opening cuts to the quick. The word of the Lord comes to Jonah (in some way or another) instructing him to head to Nineveh and call out their evil because God has caught wind of it (as He tends to do). Nineveh is in the heart of Assyria, and although they are weakened at… Read more: Jonah | Chapter 1

Jonah was a prophet of God who was working the beat in the mid 8th century BC. Unlike some of the other prophets at the tail end of the Old Testament, Jonah is speaking during a time of relative peace in Israel as the Assyrian empire hit a conquering lull and the kings of Israel,… Read more: Jonah | Introduction