 |
Activity 1|Activity 2|Activity 4|Activity 5
Process
Activity 3: Know Your
Prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures
Group 7: Your Prophets are Obadiah, Jonah,
Micah
Complete the tasks for Jonah.
2
Jonah
Use the following information and the
listed resources to complete your tasks.
Jonah -
His Profile
|
| Images: |
His Name Means |
Dove |
 |
Appears |
2
Kings 14; Jonah; Matthew 12 |
 |
Biographical |
Jonah
came from Gath-Hepher near Nazareth. God told him to og and prophesy in Neneveh, the
capital of the Assyrian Empire. Jonah did not want God to forgive the Assyrians, so he
sailed away in the opposition direction. God sent a storm to stop him, but Jonah knew why
the storm had come, and told the sailors to throw him overboard. As soon as they did, the
storm stopped and Jonah was swallowed by a large fish that later spat him out on the
shore. Jonah then obeyed God and went to preach in Nineveh. The Ninevites repented and God
forgave them. |
 |
Key
Content |
Chapter
1: Jonah is commissioned by God to prophesy against Ninevah, but he flees. In the great
storm that God sends, Jonah is thrown overboard, and is swallowed by a great fish. Chapter 2. Jonah's prayer; he is vomited onto
dry land
Chapter 3. God again instructs Jonah
to proclaim his message to Ninevah, and he obeys. The people repent and fast, and God does
not destroy them.
Chapter 4. Jonah is angry that
Ninevah has not been destroyed, but God teaches him the lesson of compassion and mercy. |
 
|
Special
Interest |
Reading
through the Prophets of the Hebrew Bible, Jonah comes as a surprise. It is not a
collection of oracles, but a vivid story. After the violent denunciations of Obadiah, here
is a story that tells of God's mercy - even for hated enemies. "Christian Readings. The figure of the
Prophet Jonah had a prominent place in Christian tradition. Jesus used the sign of Jonah
and the repentance of the Ninevites to warn non-believes (Matthew 12:38-45; 16:1-4; Luke
11:29-32). Because of his "three days and theree nights" int he belly
("darkness") of the great fish, Jonah was regarded as a type or an emblem of the
Crucification leading to the resurrection. This image can be seen as early as those in the
Roman Catacombs. The early church fathers drew out themes of repentance and the
mercy of God; of God's mission being extended to the Gentiles; and of the link with the
Holy Spirit, since the name Jonah means "dove". Following the New Testament,
they compared Jonah's time in the belly of te fish to the period that Jesus spent in hell
before his resurrection. ...
In literary interpretations (Milton,
Defoe, Emily Brontė, Byron, Kipling), he has often been portrayed as one who brings
trouble on his companions, and a transient good is referred to as a 'Jonah's gourd'
(Tennyson, Hardy). Jonah's tale has been retold in many different ways and styles. The
fish caused imaginations to wander with thoughts of what the inside of the belly might
have looked like (a line of thinking followed in poems by Aldous Huxley and A.M.Klein),
and with the thought that Jonah may have used the whale's eyes as windows. In Robert
Frost's poem, A Masque of Mercy (1947), Jonah and Paul (and others) debate a
universe that may be God-directed, but, to Frost at least, is largely inscrutable. In
order to find a place to stand in the world, the major quality needed is courage, but what
does that say of the nature of the world? 'The saddest thing in life/Is that the best
thing in it should be courage.' Jonah's fault is that he lacks courage to do the
disagreeable thing. (Bowker, 1998, 231) |
 |
Time |
Probably
after the Exile (sixth century) |
|
Key
Themes/
Messages |
The
sovereignty of God over all nations The universal mercy of God
The power of repentance |
Sources:
Bowker, J. 1998, The Complete Bible Handbook - An Illustrated Companion,Dorling
Kindersley, UK
Brown, R.E., Fitzmyer, J.A.,and Murphy, R.E., 1992. The New Jerome Bible
Handbook, Geoffrey Chapman, England
Comay, J., and, Brownrigg, R., 1980. Who's Who in the Old Testament,
Bonanza Books, NY
Drane, J.(ed), 1998, The Lion Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Bible,
Lion Publishing, England
Motyer, S. 1998. Who's Who in the Bible - An Illustrated Guide,
Dorling Kindersley, UK
Resources
Catholic Encyclopedia - Jonah (difficult to read)
An introduction to the Book of
Jonah (You might want to share this with the others in the class as
it has descriptions of what prophets are at the beginning!)
Bible Study - The Book of Jonah
Outline of Jonah
Early Jewish Writings - Jonah (including Jerome's Biblical
Commentary)
Jewish
Encyclopedia - Jonah (extension as complex)
3
Go to Micah and complete this
activity
Introduction|Task|Process|Resources|Evaluation|Conclusion|Teachers
|
 |
