{"id":78072,"date":"2020-07-26T14:30:02","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T11:30:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=78072"},"modified":"2020-07-26T14:30:02","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T11:30:02","slug":"seizing-the-moment-of-repentance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/seizing-the-moment-of-repentance\/","title":{"rendered":"Seizing The Moment Of Repentance"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"78072","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38047,"related_cahpter":"532","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"God lets compassion prevail because the potential for human change, however difficult, is real\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jonah, the prophet and the book, are conspicuously different from the other prophets and their books. Rather than elegant oratory rebuking the people for their misdeeds, and largely being ignored, the Book of Jonah is a fairly straightforward tale of a man who hears God and understands the words, but doesn\u2019t really comprehend what God wants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although there are other prophets who protest their unworthiness to undertake their assigned mission, only Jonah tries to physically escape. He forgets that God is quite capable of catching up with him, wherever he might flee. Even after his maritime adventures drive that point home, Jonah still doesn\u2019t fully comprehend what God wants.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now resigned to following orders, Jonah goes to Nineveh. Rather than a piercing, poetic prophecy of doom, Jonah delivers a simple prose statement: \u201cForty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!\u201d (3:4). With nary a question and with astonishing alacrity, the people of Nineveh take the message to heart. They respond with both ritual (fasting, sackcloth and ashes) and ethical repentance, leaving behind their evil behavior (vv. 5-9). God sees, approves, and rescinds the planned punishment (v. 10). Chapter 3 ends with a significant prophetic achievement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Then, chapter 4 begins with a startling revelation: \u201cThis displeased Jonah greatly, and he was grieved\u201d (v. 1). Successful in his God-given mission, Jonah is disappointed to have been heard, and addresses God angrily: \u201cIsn\u2019t this just what I said when I was still in my own country? That is why I fled beforehand to Tarshish. For I know that You are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in kindness, renouncing punishment.\u201d God\u2019s compassionate, forgiving nature infuriates Jonah who omits a key word \u201c\u05d0\u05de\u05ea <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">emet<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> truth\u201d when quoting God\u2019s self-definition in Exodus (34:6). For Jonah, \u201ctruth\u201d is strict justice, and he cannot bear the thought of sin unpunished. He doesn\u2019t want God to balance justice and compassion, he wants justice to reign.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">God has a different perspective. Fully aware of the Ninevites\u2019 reprehensible past, God also sees the changes they are making, and can presumably judge their sincerity. Therefore, God is willing to take a chance and accept their repentance. God lets compassion prevail because the potential for human change, however difficult, is real. A sincere moment of transformation is not something to be wasted.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jewish tradition mandates reading Jonah on Yom Kippur afternoon, when it reminds us that our past need not define our future, if we are earnest in our effort to change in the present.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":78073,"id":78073,"title":"jon4-sorry","filename":"jon4-sorry.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon4-sorry.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/seizing-the-moment-of-repentance\/jon4-sorry\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jon4-sorry","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":78072,"date":"2020-07-26 11:29:35","modified":"2020-07-26 11:29:45","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/png","type":"image","subtype":"png","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon4-sorry-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon4-sorry-300x160.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":160,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon4-sorry-768x410.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":410,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon4-sorry-1024x546.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":546,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon4-sorry.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":819,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon4-sorry.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1024,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon4-sorry-1200x640.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":640,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/jon4-sorry-788x420.png","home_baner-width":788,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Seizing 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