All About Zakah for Muslim Americans - Dr. Main Alqudah [https://www.guidance...
Jonah Session 03 Chapter 2
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
Notes de l'éditeur
Jonah was on the ship fleeing the presence of God. When he was discovered, he ended up in the belly of the fish trying to commit suicide by asking the mariners to throw him overboard. 1:17, “But the Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights.”Prepared: The psalmist uses this verb to praise God for knowing the number of stars and naming each one (see Ps. 147:4). In the Book of Jonah, it signifies “to appoint” or “to ordain,” amd describes God’s intervention in natural events to bring about His will. By preparing the fish, the plant, and the worm, God made sure that Jonah’s mission was not left to chance. God exercised sovereignty not only over the plant and animal world, but also over Jonah’s life, using animals as small as a worm to teach Jonah about His great mercy
Q: How do you think that Jonah’s attitude changed from Chapter 1 to Chapter 2? Distress: We sometimes prayer when things get the toughest don’t we? Prayer should be something that we do during the good times. Prayer during the good times fortifies for the times when things will get roughCall & Answer: No matter where are, we can always call upon the Lord. In this verse we see Jonah calling from an emotional place as well as a physical place. God’s Hand: Jonah isn’t blaming God but acknowledging the Lord’s movement in his life. Sounds like he might be realizing that God is moving behind the scenes and that there is no place for Jonah to flee. Recall that although the fish was prepared to transport Jonah, there was still the process of getting from the ship to the fish’s belly. Process can be difficult. We all want to go to heaven but there’s the process of dying before we can get there. We’d like to have good health and less weight but there is the process of diet and exercise over time. We want to enjoy the new born baby but there is the process of pregnancy and delivery. Self-examination reveals to us God’s hand in our lives.
Judgment: Jonah realized that he was where he was because of his own doing. Sometimes we have a hard time realizing that it wasn’t a demon, it wasn’t our neighbor but it was OUR fault for the mess that we were in. When God’s judgment comes down, we know that it is right because God is Holy. Psalms 19:9, “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.”Hope: Even though things are pretty bleak (keep in mind that Jonah didn’t know how this scenario was going to play out like we do), Jonah retained some hope. No matter we might go through, we have the hope of God’s presence through all we might go through. Waters: There is something about being in water that can be exhilarating and frightening at the same time. Ill: I enjoy the crystal clear waters of Hawaii but probably wouldn’t want to dive in New Jersey because of poor visibility. Water is a dangerous and threatening place where you can’t fool around. Wrapped: Conveys the sense of imprisonment or confinement.
Mountains: We don’t often think about the sea having mountains but there is a whole world geography of under the oceans of the world (Ill: Hunt For Red October) know as Trenches (Mariana Trench is 39k ft deep in the Pacific Ocean between Japan and Papa New Guinea). Mercy: Even though Jonah was in a place prepared for him by God, it was not God’s intention to destroy or kill Jonah. Isn’t that comforting to know that even when we screw up royally, God is still merciful towards us? See Psalms 78:38-39; 136:1 Remembered: No matter how you slice it, being on the inside of a fish in the depths of the ocean for 3 days and 3 nights is no walk in the park. Psalms 103:2; James 1:25.
Idols: Jonah notes that misplaced affection for other gods will cause one to forfeit the grace that could have been available to them. Matthews 16:26, “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” The children of Israel suffered a great deal because they (who should have known better given their history) worshipped other gods and idols of their neighboring countries. The word idol here in the Hebrew connotes “vapor”. The idols of this world are but vapors that are here today and gone tomorrow. Think about the different cults through the years: Jim Jones and the People’s Temple; David Koresh & the Branch Davidian; Vowed: After all that Jonah went through in the belly of the fish, he then comes to the conclusion that he will do what God asked him to do. I hope that we don’t have to go through such rough times to get to a point of doing what God assigned us to do. The importance of vows: Eccl 5:4-6a; Proverbs 20:25Salvation: Salvation is in the Lord’s hands. I’m not sure if Jonah was acknowledging that God could save whoever God wanted to save (Ephesians 2:8-9) for its all by God’s grace whether it was him or the people of Nineveh. The ending of Jonah would suggest not but at least for his own salvation from a future of digestion, he knew that if he was going to be delivered, it would only be by God’s gracious hand. Psalms 88:1; Isaiah 12:2
Sovereignty: Here again God is commanding someone or something and God’s will is done. Seven miracles have taken place already in this short narrative: God caused a violent storm (1:4), had the lot fall on Jonah (1:7), calmed the sea when Jonah was thrown overboard (1:15), commanded the fish to swallow Jonah (1:17), had the fish transport him safely, had the fish throw Jonah up on dry land, and perhaps greatest of all, melted the disobedient prophet’s heart (evidenced by his thanksgiving prayer in chap. 2). Maybe 8: turned the hard heathen hearts of the mariners. Jonah was delivered back to his point of departure. We might have thought that God would have taken Jonah to Nineveh but such was not the case. We’ll deal more with this in next week’s lesson.