Sunday School: Jonah & Runaways

5/15/2014

Post your reflections and answers in comment section below before Friday!

Rowena

5/15/2014 11:04:59 pm

10 Fun Facts about Jonah:

1. The reoccurrences of the word 'exceeding' and 'great' throughout the book demonstrate the dramatic, almost exaggerative, nature of the book of Jonah.

2. The book of Jonah is the only one that focuses more (spends more time) on his life story than on the content of his message to the target audience.

3. Jonah's one-liner sermon saved a large, evil city.

4. Gentile characters seem more prostrate towards God; Jonah seems to be the only one who is directly opposed to God.

5. Jonah is a suicidal, bipolar and whiny prophet, yet he doesn't die without asking for the Lord's consent.

6. There is an emphasis on God as the Creator God: lots of creation involved in the story (sea, land, fish, plant, worm). As well, Jonah's story is that of a pseudo-Israelite - first there is chaos (creation), then Jonah's entry into the whale and exit 3 days later is like the death and resurrection, except it is incomplete. Jonah walks out of the whale, still reluctant to obey God's will.

7. The confidence of Jonah's prayer in the fish is strange.

8. God and Jonah's perspective of Nineveh is so different: to God, it is the exceedingly great city (3:3), but to Jonah, it is the exceedingly evil city (4:1, see subscript)

9. Jonah was more angry after Nineveh was saved: he didn't want them to be saved and tried to not let them be saved (did the minimal possible to "obey" God's calling to speak to the city of Nineveh), yet they were still saved.

10. Jonah didn't go through the whole city (only went in one day's journey when Nineveh is 3 days journey in breadth); yet the whole city was saved.