Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Why Jonah?
Any thoughts on why God chose Jonah to preach to the Ninevites? Some people seem to be of the impression that he was all God had or the best God could locate at the time. I don't believe that. Jonah was not the only prophet of God in this period (he prophesied during the reign of Jeroboam II; II Kings 14:25). Other prophets of the roughly the same period include Isaiah, in Judah the latter part of Jeroboam’s reign (Isaiah 1:1; 6:8; II Kings 15:1); Hosea, mostly to Israel, about the same time as Isaiah (cf. Isaiah 1:1 with Hosea 1:1); and Amos, from Judah, who prophesied in Israel (Amos 1:1; 7:14-15). Seeing we find some prophets and might find more on closer inspection, might we assume God wasn't hard put to find a prophet and just "settled" on Jonah? If so, why Jonah?
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2 comments:
I have often pointed people to Jonah as a prime instructor on the Christian life.
Jonah was called of God, but he was obstinate to do his own thing. He went his own way, fully knowing that God wanted him elsewhere. Jonah had an attitude about certain people and decided he would fix them by not taking God's message to them.
I just wonder if Jonah wasn't meant to be a lesson for us all.
God uses the lesser of His servants to do the majestic task of "going into ALL the world with God's message of redeeming grace.
None of us are exempt from doing colossal tasks.
Cheers,
Jim
Brother Jim, good to hear from you again.
In many ways, Jonah is a prime instructor in what not to do!
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