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An essay about jonah in the bible
Analysis of Jonah
An essay about jonah in the bible
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Last week we talked about Jonah’s attempt to flee from the calling that God had placed on his life. We also got a good look at the deeper meaning of the storm and other elements that God used to setup the great moment of Jonah accepting his calling. That is where we will take off this week and expound on; Jonah and the huge fish. We will cover Jonah 1.17-2.10.
Literary Markers
We pick back up in Jonah at the point where the sailors have, by Jonah’s instruction, thrown him overboard to calm the storm. Verse seventeen provides readers information on where Jonah actually is after he is thrown into the water and for how long he is there. So we are looking at three days and three nights in terms of time passing once we get to Jonah 2.10. We are
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From being thrown overboard to getting swallowed by a fish, I imagine this is what God knew it would take to give Jonah his own Exodus so that he would stop running from God. Rather than drowning, Jonah was gulped by an incredible fish, which God gave. In the gut of the whale, Jonah apologized and shouted out to God in petition. He lauded God, finishing with the shockingly prophetic proclamation in Jonah 2.9; "Salvation originates from the Lord. Jonah was in the mammoth fish three days. God charged the whale, and it spewed the hesitant prophet onto dry …show more content…
The fish, through a mistranslation of Matthew 12.40, was earlier expected to be a whale; there, as here, the original signifies a great fish. The whale's neck is excessively thin, making it impossible to fit a man inside. A wonder in any view is required, and we have no information to conjecture promote. A "sign" or wonder it is explicitly called by our Lord in Matthew 12.39. Breath in such a position must be by wonder. The extraordinary intervention was not without an adequate reason; it was figured to influence Jonah, as well as Nineveh and Israel. The life of a prophet was regularly set apart by encounters which made him, through sensitivity, most appropriate for releasing the prophetical capacity to his listeners and his kin. The interminable assets of God in leniency and in addition judgment are prefigured in the devourer being changed into Jonah's preserver. Jonah's condition under discipline, close out from the external world, was rendered however much as could reasonably be expected the symbol of death, a present sort to Nineveh and Israel, of the passing in transgression, as his deliverance was of the otherworldly revival on apology; as additionally, a future kind of Jesus' exacting demise for wrongdoing, and restoration by the Spirit of God. Three days and three nights, most likely, similar to Christ, Jonah was thrown forward on the third
In Moby Dick, it follows the accounts of a young man named Ishmael. Ishmael is looking for money in the whaling business, the same thing as hunting game, but for whale blubber and whatever else they have to offer. At a tavern, he signs up to go whaling upon a ship named the Pequod, under the captaining of a man named Ahab. At first, Ishmael thinks he’s just your average whaling trip, but soon realizes there’s a deeper story behind Ahab. Ahab’s true intentions are to find a specific whale called Moby Dick. The whale is famous for sinking hundreds of whaling ships, and one was Ahab’s previous ship. In that process, Ahab also lost part of his leg at the knee. As you can imagine, most of the story Ahab is almost insane. At nothing anyone calls
There are those of the thought that Jonah is postexilic period literature. One reason for this theory is the assumption that Jonah depends on Jeremiah and Joel. Jonah and Jeremiah share similar concepts. Jonah and Joel use similar words. Garland and Longman does not mention this theory. Sasson, Stuart, and Trible reject this theory. Similar concepts do not constitute “dependency of concepts.” There are similar concepts throughout the Old Testament. Likewise, the use of similar words is not an indication of Jonah’s dependency on Joel. There are a few scholars who propose Jonah was a source for
Herman Melville's Moby Dick is a book which can be read as a general metaphor for the battle between the evil powers of the Devil versus the divine powers of God and Jesus, both try to obtain the souls of mankind in order to assist in each other's destruction. In this metaphor, the Devil is shown through the person of Captain Ahab, God becomes nature, Jesus is seen as the White Whale, and the representation of mankind is the crew. The voyage of the Pequod, therefore, is a representation of a similar voyage of mankind on earth, until the death of Jesus, during the whole thing the influences of these three “supernatural forces” are connected. Thus, the basis of this idea is that in the plot of Melville's book, there are also peeks of the "plot" of the Bible.
When I read the name of "Jonah," I was prompted to think of the character of the same name in the Bible who got swallowed by a whale in the Old Testament. While the character goes also by the name "John," I couldn't help but wonder if there was some similarity involved in this novel.
There are many well-known stories in the bible, with a seemingly endless amount of tales and morals hidden in the text. Out of all seventy three books in the bible, I find that one of the most interesting stories is Jonah and the Fish, or more accurately, “Jonah Tries to Run Away From God” (Jonah 1). This story is about Jonah, a prophet, who was ordered by God to go to Nineveh help them stop their wicked activities that God had noticed. Instead, Jonah he went and boarded a ship sailing to Tarshish, to flee from God. Afterwards, God created a fierce storm, which caused Jonah’s shipmates to get rid of their cargo and wake up Jonah, who fell asleep. They decided to cast lots — which was a way to answer a question, like flipping a coin — and
This book helped me put some of the situations and feelings that I have experienced in my life into perspective and with more meaning. I could relate to many of the subjects that this book covered and could understand where the author’s ideas originated. Not only can I see his ideas appearing in my own actions, but I also see them in males in their mid-forties to fifties. This observation supports the idea of us going from innocence to doubt and back to innocence. The first idea that stuck with me is the interpretation of the salmon and how it represented Christ.
God’s provision and guidance will lead Israel home (vv.1-3, 7-11), and the first future has been announced. After the safe return, Israel will receive a joyful and peaceful future (vv. 4-6, 12-14) or the second future. I call these two stages of future the double hope. The prophet tended to convince Israel and Judah of the constant hesed of YHWH, the God of the past, presence, and future. To be restored, Israel needs to have strong hope or the double hope. The list of God’s “I will” emphasizes the divine message of hope in the book of Consolation: “I will restore... I will bring them back... I will break the yolk... I will save... I will gather... I will lead... I will turn mourning into joy... I will make a new covenant... I will be their God.” In Jeremiah’s visions, the divine hesed will guarantee the first future, and the same hesed will also ensure a second future, a truly eschatological hope for Israel and Judah.
In book four of Jonah we see him finally arrive at Nineveh and start his preaching. This gives the reader a huge sense of irony, because dispite Jonah hating the Ninevites he is the reason the whole city is saved by his teachings, and the population is spared gods wrath. Nowell points out that God is merciful to Jonah protecting him against the hot sun, not allowing him to die in the belly of a fish (JONAH’S ANGER AND GOD’S REPROOF), but despite this Jonah finds ways to stay angry at the Lord. God destroyed Jonah’s hut with powerful wind, and send a worm to eat away the plant that was protecting him from the sun (Jonah 4), that shows just how merciful God can be, but it also shows that God will punish us for our
Near the beginning of Moby Dick, Father Mapple reminds Pequod sailors of the biblical prophet Jonah and his unique encounter with a whale. The whale, known as a Leviathan in the Bible, swallows Jonah because Jonah refuses to obey God's command to preach to a wicked group of people. Father Mapple in his sermon says, "If we obey God, we must disobey ourselves; and it is in this disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists" (47). Once Jonah admits his sinfulness and follows his maker, the whale frees Jonah. Father Mapple says that obeying God can be difficult and might not seem logical to the person listening.
Specifically, it taught about how His mercy could not be restricted by a person’s preconceptions. Jonah was a prophet of God but was ruled by his unrelenting hatred towards sinners. Despite his loathing, God was more than capable of using him in the salvation of the corrupted. When Jonah was commanded by the Lord to preach to the Ninevites, he resisted. Nineveh was a pagan society and epitomized “everything evil that the Israelites hated” (MacArthur, Jonah 112), Seeing that his enemies would be forgiven if he delivered the message, Jonah fled from his duty. However, he would not be able to elude from the will of God and, after some precarious situations in the sea, would reluctantly prophesied to the Ninevites and inspired their faith in the Lord. This came to show that while “Jonah was filled with resentment … [and his] wrath was aroused, … the Lord [could still extend His] grace” (MacArthur, Jonah
New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997. Osborne, Grant R. Revelation. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002.
In the Mesopotamian version: the gods apparently displeased with the evils of mankind decided to destroy it by means of a great flood. Ea, the god of wisdom and subtlety, was privy to their council and warned Utnapishtim, the Babylonian Noah, of the coming disaster. Utnapishtim was told to build a ship thirty cubits long and thirty cubits wide. Provision it and put in it specimens of every living thing. Then to board it with his family and possessions and launch it on the waters.
...atch out of the whale also represents the time or life taken out of someone. Melville uses these literary elements to explain how dependant people were on whale oil and how corrupt religion can be.
Henceforth, the next substep in the trials is The Belly of the Whale. Most of the time being in the belly of the whale is symbolic for when the hero faces their deepest fear when they are deep into the journey. When the hero is facing that fear, evil, or a source of despair, the hero is in the belly of the whale. Sometimes this stage can be literal and the hero may be in an actual belly of a whale, but generally speaking this stage is symbolic. Also, the darkness and sadness experiences by the grief that the parents feel is another example of being in the belly of the whale.