{"id":77748,"date":"2020-07-21T15:38:42","date_gmt":"2020-07-21T12:38:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=77748"},"modified":"2020-07-21T15:38:42","modified_gmt":"2020-07-21T12:38:42","slug":"points-to-ponder-jonah-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/points-to-ponder-jonah-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Points to Ponder – Jonah 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
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  1. Jonah son of Amittai<\/em>. 206 chapters ago in <\/span>2 Kings 14<\/span><\/a>, we read a sort of prophecy, by one Jonah son of Amittai about enlarging the borders of the kingdom of Jeroboam II (\u201cIt was he who restored the territory of Israel from Lebo-hamath to the sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the promise that the LORD, the God of Israel, had made through His servant, the prophet Jonah son of Amittai from Gath-hepher\u201d – verse 25). What\u2019s the connection? Worth looking into.<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. But why?<\/em> Two verses sum up the assignment of the prophetic mission to Jonah. 14 verses deal with his running away from it, leading up to the climax where he cries that he would prefer to die rather than carry out the mission. But why? It is only in the last chapter of the story, chapter 4, that we hear Jonah\u2019s reason (and then we will try to understand it).<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. NE by SW<\/em>. Jonah\u2019s mission is to go north-east to the city of Nineveh in Assyria, and Jonah ends up running away south-west to Jaffa, and to the sea in order to sail to Tarshish.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Down, down, down.<\/em> One may not be able to run away from God, but at least in a literary sense, one can try to get as far away as possible. So if God \u201cresides\u201d in the heavens above, Jonah widens the gap by going down to Jaffa, then down to the boat, then down below decks, as low as he can get. (As we know – there\u2019s one more level below that yet to come\u2026).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Not running from responsibility.\u00a0<\/em> Jonah may be running away from his mission, but he\u2019s not running away from responsibility. When he understands that he is responsible for the storm that threatens to sink the ship, he owns up, and suggests a solution – one that might even cost him his life.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  6. Fulfilling his mission on the way\u2026<\/em> Jonah refuses to act to bring the citizens of the foreign city of Nineveh to repentance. But without intending to, he causes the foreign sailors of the ship to repent. His declaration of faith: \u201c\u201cI am a Hebrew,\u201d he replied. \u201cI worship the LORD, the God of Heaven, who made both sea and land\u201d (verse 9) seeps into their consciousness By the end of the chapter, the sailors become believers themselves. They call on God in verse 14, and fear and worship Him in verse 16. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","image":{"ID":53645,"id":53645,"title":"general-qs-points to ponder","filename":"general-qs-points-to-ponder.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/general-qs-points-to-ponder.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/points-to-ponder-chapter-9\/general-qs-points-to-ponder\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"general-qs-points-to-ponder","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":53644,"date":"2019-04-13 21:49:41","modified":"2019-04-13 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