The Book of Jonah: Jonah 1-4

hello welcome to another roundtable discussion on the Old Testament today we're talking about the prophet Jonah the Book of Jonah my name is Dana Pike I'm a professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University I'm joined by three of my colleagues from the ancient scripture department professor Kelly Ogden professor Thomas wayman's and professor Keith Wilson it's nice to be here with the three of you again we're talking about the Book of Jonah today again one of my favorites it's only four chapters long but a lots been said a lots been written about Jonah a lot of questions about the Book of Jonah let's first put Jonah in this historical perspective and then we can talk about the experiences that are recounted here for us let's turn to 2nd Kings chapter 14 before we actually get into the Book of Jonah this gives us the context for this prophet and tells us something else that he was involved in yeah where he fits into history and where he came from even second Kings 14 were in the middle of the chapter beginning in verse 23 we are introduced to a king named Jeroboam son of joash this is a king in the Northern Kingdom we usually refer to him as Jeroboam ii there had been a previous king named Jeroboam at the beginning of the creation of the Northern Kingdom of Israel after the death of Solomon but we're now down into the mid 707 60s 750 s BC and we read that one of the things that Jeroboam did is King verse 25 as the second kings 14:25 he restored the coast of Israel the borders of Israel from the entering in of Hamas further to the north of Damascus under the sea of the plain according to the word of the Lord God of Israel which he spake by the hand of his servant jonah the son of a meat i the prophet who was a Gath heifer was from gasps ever we would say that hippy Swede just please a second where where is got that out and our new set of maps or Canaan and Old Testament times in Galilee just a little west of where we see the Sea of Galilee is that place in fact is just a couple of miles north of Nazareth we know well from later in the new testament time so there although somebody tries claiming later in the ministry of Jesus all the prophets are from Judah well actually all the prophets were not from Judah was from Galilee well we I think we think Hosea was a native of the northern king of Israel Jonah certainly is so he served a mission here at home and then he got a call to go on an international mission right and now I've lost Jonah so while I turned to Jonah we can make this observation Jonah is one of the the twelve shorter prophetic books that are collected together in the Old Testament Jonah is a little different in the sense that it's not a collection of his prophecies like we've read a name as or Hosea or Micah what-have-you but it's more of a narration of his experiences acting at the call of the Lord to serve as a prophet and that there's only one direct statement that's attributed to Jonah and in terms of preaching that's over in chapter 3 verse 4 you have forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown and then everything else is sort of that's his whole service all right well again for chapters the book of johna breaks nicely down into two portions the first two chapters the Lord's call to Jonah to go to Nineveh is to preach repentance and and his running from the Lord and from the call and the second half of chapters three and four Jonah prophesied taking the call as it came to him again and this time going to to Nineveh to prophesy so so with that in mind perhaps we should begin at the beginning chapter 1 verses 1 & 2 now the word of the Lord in Hebrew it's jehovah write the word of Jehovah came to jonah the son of ami tais saying arise go to Nineveh that great city and cry against it for their wickedness has come up against me what do we know about Nineveh in the mid 7os you know what that would be like by the way it would be like one of us receiving a call in 1940 to go to Berlin alright or in 1990 to go to Baghdad or even in 2005 to go to better call on those people to repent with those kind of leaders well what you asked what was going on one of the reasons that Jonah when he received his call he was to go that way that's northeast he went that way Southwest he flees the exact opposite direction because he didn't want anything apparently it could becomes clear he didn't want anything to do with the Assyrians they were known for their cruelty they cut off their captives ears they yanked out tongues they actually they actually hung on those who are captive they had hanged the decapitated heads of other captives around their necks and parade them through the streets of Nineveh we're talking about barbaric methods and certainly all Israelites including Jonah would have hated this period ation there so don't have of Jonah Nineveh here we often call it the capital city of Assyria but in reality we should probably recognize it as a major city not the capital but a major city in the region Nineveh will become the capital of Assyria but not until 701 so about four or five decades after this it's been an impressive has been proven to be impressive remains even to this day excavations have been carried out at Nineveh in the eighteen and the 1900s Nineveh is located just across the Tigris River from Mosul Iraq so in that northern portion of what's now Iraq but definitely a prominent city he's called to go there that's that's where his call is and and his attitude is feeling but I'll go where you want me to go Diller dear Lord except except to Nineveh yeah well and then he he takes it so much further I mean Tarsus if I say it right isn't it don't we usually believe that's in modern day Spain and there are a number of theories about where it is but he definitely used the lame idea cousin the other goes down to Joppa modern-day Jaffa on the Mediterranean coast just south of where Tel Aviv is in Israel today he obviously falls among known Israelites on a boat and says you know you're not Israelites take me across the Mediterranean get me out of here you know go as far away from that city you know it's an interesting thought at night I know that it always captures my attention that a prophet would have this call and understand the word of the Lord and yet run and so I always wonder flee from the Lord obviously not and he's going to learn that experience and in Chapter 1 as we recount a very human-sized gonna go down to Joppa then he's going to go down into the ship then he's going to go down into the water and then he's going to go down into the belly of the great fish and then he's going to be sent back up out of the fish up out of the water back up to the land and there's something interesting oh there's there's a Latino a serious significance here to the symbolism well as we read in Chapter one as we've already recounted he goes into the ship and they hand out across the Mediterranean verse for the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea there was a mighty tempest in the sea and the ship was creaking and sounded like it was about to be broken up and joan is sleeping down and then the hold and so the sailors those are manning the boat call him up because they can't figure out what's going on verse seven this might be of interest number of people have asked about this we can mention it in passing they said one to another the sailors in the boat come let us cast lots that we may know for whose cause this evil has come upon us so they cast lots in the locked fell upon Jonah it's interesting when we learn about the ancient Near Eastern world that a number of people believed in casting Lots various objects and that somehow Divine Will would be manifest through that we even have that practice among the ancient Israelites not just in an apostate sort of way but the high priest would cast lots we have in proverbs chapter 16 verse 33 it says the lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing the whole making known thereof is from the Lord so there was the sense that it was a under the appropriate in the appropriate occasion the appropriate controls that it was a means of isn't divine wheel being made if I also cast lot a great yeah first Nephi chapter 3 when defy and his brothers are outside the city walls of Jerusalem they're trying to determine effect I have that open here we can we can read that the language is exactly the same as we have it in Jonah first Nephi 3:11 we this is Nephi and his brothers but if I talk and we cast lots who of us should go into the house of Laban and it came to pass that the lot fell upon laymen and laymen went into the house of Laban and talked with him as he sat in his house and so while this was clearly a principle that was abused on occasions it does seem to have been a means of revealing divine will on occasion so they determine really from that that Jonah is the reason the storm is here yeah the boat is going down and they believe that that's an inspired determination which very different than our society but it teaches a doctrine that I sometimes call a pollution they have a pollution in their midst and in order for them to decide to survive they have to get him out of that boat some way and they seem a bit hesitant to toss him overboard but ultimately say we're gonna have to let him go so that we survive and they say Lord don't lay on us his sin or don't make take our lives for something he's done yeah and it's interesting that Jonah appreciates their plight so in verse 11 when they say what are we going to do with you that we can we can end this set of circumstances that look like they're headed for tragedy he says throw me into the sea to see the way to save yourselves to get rid of me and they're they're hesitant to do that eventually they do that his language is just fascinating too in verse verse 12 where he says take me up and cast me forth into the sea so shall the sea be common to you for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you he senses that the Lord is judging him and that knows it yeah he knows that he's done the wrong thing and and but he's willing to say I know it's almost like he's bearing testimony the spirit you know I'm starting to sense that I've done some grave evil in the eyes of the Lord right so they do take him and throw him into the Mediterranean Sea verse 17 tells us now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights we said that all of the Book of Jonah is a narration of his experience chapters 1 3 & 4 that pros narration but interestingly chapter 2 which is the prayer of Jonah while he's in the belly of this great fish is in poet this poetry it's poetic in form and there's some important symbolism that that we should note as we work through chapter 2 Kelly do you want to help us out here Jonah prayed out of the belly of the fish to the Lord what does he say well I'm just going to mention one of the main purposes of the Book of Jonah the story of Jonah that the Savior himself brings up is that business so three days and three nights I just turned back to Matthew chapter 12 verse 44 as Jonas Jonas as the Greek spelling Jonah was three days and three nights in the whales belly so shall the Son of Man be three days there's a earth there is there's a type there so see all things are the typifying of him so the Savior himself brings up the example that Jonah's experience was a type of what would happen with him I really fun read been on this whole passage is to take that framework that you've established from the Savior himself saying this is a type and to just see all these images go ahead here is we have the poetry there that you sense some of what he now feels in the belly of the whale and are in the belly of the fish and I I'm always caught by verse 3 and following he talks about being cast in the midst of the sea and then he says in verse 4 I'm cast out of there out of your sight and the parallel continues through that the Lord is is rejected like Jonah but this time a little bit different reasons for it but some of the same parallelism or symbolism comes through while Jonah is in there okay one of the greatest lessons of course from this whole little book is verse 7 when my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord that the storm the the fish the pending destruction the east wind that will come later and less this is Helaman 12:3 again and unless the the God threatens us with impending doom we we seem slowly here slow to respond in fact let me turn quickly to section 101 of the doctrine covenants 101 verse 8 very interesting observation for this book in the day is 101 8 and doctrine of covenants in the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel but in the day of their trouble of necessity they feel after me Jonah replied to example does user trouble we usually get right to our knees and start pleading crying out to God when something's wrong when something tragic isn't Jim is life his whole life becomes a type of Christ rather than what he taught and I think Keith you brought this up earlier that there's really not much of what he says in his life here but it's really what he does and I've always wondered if I had had this experience I wouldn't I if I retold it I don't know that I would tell it in terms of ice shirk to call I ran away I think I would try to suppress that but that's the very point that becomes part of the story he then that becomes a type of the Savior's death and resurrection and so there's a need to retell it in a way that's one thing is wonderful about this story is he's big enough to tell even though it casts a little negative reflection on himself he wants the what he's learned from this mission experience famous for running away now chapter 2 is so good to on this symbolism of Christ's death I mean see here Jesus says and he refers to Jonas and that and in chapter 2 you can just go down the specific verses and see such strong imagery look at like verse 2 I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard me out of the belly of hell well when you know the belly of hell see that's that's Christ giving up his life that's that's those images and he hears me and then he goes on he talks about when my soul fainted over in verse 7 and then in verse 9 that great verse I will pay that that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord and you can just see so many of those images of Christ being crucified in the grave and coming forth with salvation I'm surprised we skipped over verse 6 because o least of my experience a lot of Christians see that as an important verse I went down to the bottoms of the mountains the earth was about me forever yet you have brought up my life from corruption Oh Lord God and Jesus descending below all things a lot as far as the symbolism typifying his experiences you mentioned one of the the sad notes with traditional Christian interpretation is they many people struggle to see Jesus Christ in the Old Testament they see Yahweh God but they don't see it as a specific and and Jonah is such a marvelous example he's just all over the text so chapter 3 the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time Jonah got a second chance why not the people of Nineveh you know getting a second chance to hold that back from them almost he's just still not very convinced that that's a worthy mission call yeah this this is what's really ironic about this in the first half the Lord has been merciful to Jonah given him another chance Jonah does not want to see the mercy of the Lord extended it to these other people but it's going to be anyway a lot like that parable of the unmerciful servant you know you receive total forgiveness but you're not willing to extend it to the next version well he goes to Nineveh that's quite a ways off but he gets there again it's in what we would call northern Iraq today he announces that in 40 days this is chapter 3 verse 4 yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown the people of Nineveh believed God it says now I'm not sure that at least personally I'm not sure that we can tell that all of the people in Nineveh began to worship Jehovah and Jehovah alone but there is there is the sense as it's related here that there's a turning from what they had been doing and he knows that the prophesied destruction has not come to that least enough enough people to spare the city yes there is that burning they were rather historical record of that but apparently enough did yes so we get to verse 10 of chapter 3 God saw their works that they had turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil or relented as our footnote tells us the Hebrew means decided not to go through with the prophecy because they did take the condition of repentance and so we didn't do unto them the things that they said this is a very important doctrine right here there's a verse over in Jeremiah 18 8 says if that nation against whom I pronounced turn from their evil I will repent of the evil this is the Lord speaking and event there was changed by the Prophet Joseph Smith to withhold I will withhold the evil that I thought to do to them if they'll just repent well there's here's the exams an example that other people who were spared because they decided yes I think one of my favorite verses in comes at the beginning of for chapter four verse one always please Jonah right there right there at the end of chapter three that's a good place to end the story yes it is but there's another lesson there's another lesson that that has come on so here Tom what is this a well to me you know I I struggled on my mission in a sense we we taught a lot but didn't have a lot of what we majored as success and we I can't imagine to go to a country and teach and have baptisms and success and say I'm just really upset about angry with you or you know I not happy with the way this is going and where Jonah does and he can that women there it's almost as if Kelly said we know of your atrocities we know what kind of people you are you're so hard-hearted you do things that nobody on earth does and now you repent and it's just caught him on you are and get our hope that just Betty's right yeah yeah he wants the Lord to bring let's have some rain fire on them and do something to take care of these people well chapter four again verse one but it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry and he prayed to the Lord and said Lord what didn't I tell you this before when I was in my own country I fled to Tarshish for I know and this one of the great truths doctrinal truths taught by Jonah in the Book of Jonah I know that thou art a gracious God merciful slow to anger of great kindness and you repent or you relent turn from the evil you've prophesied if people will turn to you it's going to be the crossroads of where the man comes into conflict with the Prophet or maybe conflicts too strong of a turn but here's where he says I went away because I didn't want to see them repent but I had the call and I know what kind of man you are are kind of being you are and so we see these come to a head the man wanting to repent and knowing that the Lord would forget them and he really let's say I think in this story lets his human side over time the other gene question from the Lord verse 4 doest thou well to be angry Jonah and think about my logic yeah yeah is this good for you you don't sound so so low here in terms of his his inbred dislike of the people that he even asked to have his life taken are we really should work through the mix there's a couple of interesting portions to the last few verses here so why don't why don't we work through these Joe note verse 5 of chapter 4 Joe Jonah went out of the city sat over on the hill east of the city made himself a little booth right got set up hoping that something would change and verse 6 the Lord God prepared a gourd or a fast-growing plant that was going to come up gave him some shade he's really happy it's hot out here at Nineveh but yeah things things aren't so bad I guess after all but that night the Lord sent a worm and came in and destroyed the plant and so how does Jonah feel about that oh he's the sons now beating down he's reminded now once again I think that Nineveh isn't such a great place he had felt that way before and the east wind comes and obviously makes conditions not so bear it's better that I had died he says at the end of verse 8 what's the point of living and then again the same question we've already mentioned in verse 9 the Lord says again as it could for you to be angry because of the gourd right in this case he's asking about the gourd instead of destroying the city people and he said I do well to be angry even unto death and I'm in the last two verses the Lord teaches them a lesson but some people don't get it what's the lesson here or later says to us and modern revelation I the Lord will forgive whom I will forgive but of you it's required to forgive all man everybody even those pagans out there the Assyrians as barbaric as they are they're children of God and they need an opportunity to come back and so that's kind of a sad PostScript to that is in the verse the Lord says if you can't forgive the greater sin remains in you and and and what a what a commentary it is on Jonah and in fact that his heart heart is hardened about these people and they're really God's children also again if Jonah prepared all of this if he had something to it he was he was big enough to record his personal lessons for all of us to learn I think the final bit of reason by the Lord is powerful he teaches him this lesson and I hope I can summarize it well he says that I gave you the gourd and I provided it and I took it away and you were concerned after it and then he hopefully sees the connection to his missionary work you went there you did really no work other than announcement and then you left and there was success but you had no pity for them so kind of that parallel to his mission but using a physical thing Jonah seems to not be able to get past it in verse 4 but then perhaps at the end finally realizes why I should have had pity on the little whom the Lord had pity the verse 11 tells us 320,000 people in Nineveh persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left and that's like children hey these are children spiritually they're children and remember the worth of souls is great how would you say in the sight of they they all know right from wrong yeah it's a little bitty almost sarcastic they can't discern me they can't tell left and right in cattle it's almost don't you worry about them Jonah how far astray they are it's really my domain so the next chapter of Jonah chapter 5 which is home come he's intruders here okay his homecoming address what's he gonna say that's a good question what is he going to teach as usual the missionary learns even more than those who are taught I'll bet he had some dramatic lessons leading ourselves back into Israel well we don't know what he said on his homecoming address but we have a minute or two to just reflect on some of the major themes the major lessons in the book of one of the ones that I love and I think comes through clearly is that the Lord loves all people his goodness his mercy is not just for the covenant people just for the Israelites that he has love for everyone it's that Universal love for all people if they'll turn to him he's more than glad to give them even more at the Lord's point is the reason you have become a covenant people the reason I put you in this little land isn't so that you could seal yourself off close yourself off from everybody else but so that you'd be a light to all the nations well one of the great promises responsibilities of the Abrahamic covenant is to be a blessing to all the people of the earth and here Jonah has a chance to do that but hasn't quite got this deal an Abraham some of them Joseph and others are sent to other lands like Egypt to the in Pauls are going to be sent out all these other lands school other lessons you can think of it my favorites is you cannot get away from the calling of the Lord it's there and even physically changing circumstances does not circumvent a call from the Lord and you know I was thinking of our service we really just can't run from him he knows our whereabouts I think it was the Prophet Joseph Smith who said something to the effect that there's nowhere you can go but God will find you out can you think about when I love is just this whole nature of God's love for other people also but it's centered in the atoning sacrifice and in Christ coming forth from the grave and this whole imagery that's right in the middle of the story than being three days and then coming forth and how it just centers us on the atonement well let's end with the last portion of chapter four verse two we read it but again I think it's worth repeating because it helps to summarize these lessons Jonah says I know that you Jehovah are a gracious God merciful slow to anger of great kindness we have felt that goodness of the Lord extended to us in our own day hopefully in our own lives it's recounted numerous times the witness of the scripture it's one of the great great blessings of life to feel the love and mercy extended to us those people did Jonah did and may we feel it even more abundantly for more information on this program visit our website at BYU broadcasting or

Channel: BYU Religious Education

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Keywords: BYU, Brigham Young University (Organization), Roundtable, Roundtable Discussions, Mormon, LDS, Latter-day Saint, The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints (Religion), Religious Education, Ancient Scripture, Old Testament (Religious Text), Discussions on the Old Testament, Thomas Wayment, Dana Pike, Kelly Ogden, Keith Wilson

Id: uBLlFGDpE0U

Length: 28min 4sec (1684 seconds)

Published: Mon May 19 2014