Jeroboam II / Jonah / a whale / ~ and GOD!
<-------------- Hamath: way up here
<---------- between Dan and Mt. Hermon: northern-most border of Israel...most of the time
<--------- Samaria: capital of Israel, the Northern Kingdom
<--------- Sea of Arabah
way down here
"Yeah...", I hear you saying. "WHY do I care?"
Well this blog, as you obviously know, from the title, is about Jeroboam II and Jonah...Jonah, the "I got swallowed by a whale" Jonah. That help?
No?
OK.
Well I included this map because I have been reading and thinking about the Jonah story. Just about everyone ... even if they are not a Christian ... likely has at least a sketchy idea about the Jonah and the whale story. (If for some reason you do not have working knowledge of the book, or even if the last time you read it was...well, maybe Sunday School ... go now and read it. It isn't long.) It is taught in every Sunday school class; it is used as a common metaphor ... very popular story, right?!!
This blog ~ and the next and maybe even a few more ~ is going to consider the story. It is an interesting story...how often does a man get swallowed by a "BIG fish" ... yeah, it says "big or great fish" not "whale" really. My "I love technicalities" son would split this hair. He would remind me that whales are mammals, not fish and I would say, "blah blah blah, what ever" and go on with the story. OK...so you know the story. But ~ have you read Jonah's whole story, and thought about it? That's kind of what I do, ya know? I read these stories and mull them over, creating mental videos, asking "why did he do that?" and "where is that place, exactly?" and "what happened before that happened? what happened after that?" Then I mull and ponder and muse. Then I dump all that mulling and musing and pondering and surmising out onto this blog. So ~ here we go:
Jonah...the back story.
When I read the prophets, and that is who Jonah was ~ a prophet, I like to know the when, and I want to know who was king while they lived and ministered. So to find most of Jonah's story you go to the book of Jonah. But there are a few little verses that tells us when Jonah lived and who was king:
2 Kings 14:23-25
Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.
NIV
OK, got it?
Let's look at these verses.
So firstly, the king during the time of Jonah was King Jeroboam. There were 2 Jeroboams. There was one who was the first king of Israel when the kingdoms were divided after the reign of Solomon -- we'll call him Jeroboam I. (see I Kings 11:26 to I Kings 15:25 for his story) Then there was another Jeroboam who reigned pretty late in the history of the Northern Kingdom -- we'll call him Jeroboam II. (see 2 Kings 14:16 - 29 for his story) It was during the reign of Jeroboam II, referred to in scripture as Jeroboam son of Jehoash, that Jonah was a prophet.
Secondly, we learn two pretty significant bits of information from these verses: 1} Jeroboam II was evil, just like Jeroboam I was evil. And 2} Jonah gave him a word from God -- we are not privy to the word so we don't know the story or exactly what he said -- but based on the word, given to him by Jonah, Jeroboam restored a former boundary line to Israel and thereby extended Israel's territories . . . by a LOT! This is where the map above will be helpful. "from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah" Go on, scroll up and look. Hamath is 50 or so miles NORTH of the Syrian border and the Sea of Arabah is what we might call the Dead Sea and is down by where Jerusalem is.
OK, I hear you again. "So??"
This verse became for me the back story. It really got me thinking. So have you read the book of Jonah? Jonah is ... well ... grumpy, to put it mildly. He is down right cantankerous...even when he is talking to God. He just seems to live in a really, really bad mood. OK. The book of Jonah gives enough info to inform us about what may have caused this serious bad attitude ~ he was told to go to the enemies of Israel and tell them to repent. But he starts off mad. He is rude. He says "No! I will NOT!!" TO GOD!! (And check it out...God does NOT kill him when he throws this fit and says, 'I'm going fishing!') Gives you pause, doesn't it? It does me. The other prophets rail against Israel and Judah, rail against the rampant idol worship and sin. Some even plead for mercy from God for God's people. Not Jonah. He lives in a snit! I think the snit started with his ministry under Jeroboam. Jeroboam is NOT a good king. Does God let Jonah prophesy doom and destruction? NOPE...he gets to prophecy a word of expansion...EXPANSION for an evil king. That had to rankle. I mean it kind of rankles me...like, "really God? You are going to bless Israel, that idol worshiping, no good, pagan in everything but name nation? WHY???" Then because he did so well...???...God gives him another assignment. Go to Nineveh. Tell them to repent. That was the last straw for Jonah. I am sure he said something along the lines of "NO way!!! Not a chance...not a snowball's chance in Gehenna!!"
And what about this "go tell Nineveh to repent" order from God. What exactly could God have been thinking? Kind of makes you want to side with Jonah...sort-of anyway.
Well as I read and re-read this very cool, funny, odd, stranger-than-fiction story I began to see that it was a very big story in deed. Soon, as I re-read and re-read, the least interesting thing about the story was that Jonah was swallowed by that big fish. The most interesting thing for me was the amazing relationship this story shows us between God and Jonah. And then equally amazing . . . no, really more amazing, MUCH more amazing, is the picture this story draws of God, and the way this story shines a light on the character of God.
so...Jonah and God, a whale of a tale.
I know......That was shockingly bad...
1. http://bleon1.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/16-jeroboamii-and-uzziah.png
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<-------------- Hamath: way up here
<---------- between Dan and Mt. Hermon: northern-most border of Israel...most of the time
<--------- Samaria: capital of Israel, the Northern Kingdom
<--------- Sea of Arabah
way down here
"Yeah...", I hear you saying. "WHY do I care?"
Well this blog, as you obviously know, from the title, is about Jeroboam II and Jonah...Jonah, the "I got swallowed by a whale" Jonah. That help?
No?
OK.
Well I included this map because I have been reading and thinking about the Jonah story. Just about everyone ... even if they are not a Christian ... likely has at least a sketchy idea about the Jonah and the whale story. (If for some reason you do not have working knowledge of the book, or even if the last time you read it was...well, maybe Sunday School ... go now and read it. It isn't long.) It is taught in every Sunday school class; it is used as a common metaphor ... very popular story, right?!!
This blog ~ and the next and maybe even a few more ~ is going to consider the story. It is an interesting story...how often does a man get swallowed by a "BIG fish" ... yeah, it says "big or great fish" not "whale" really. My "I love technicalities" son would split this hair. He would remind me that whales are mammals, not fish and I would say, "blah blah blah, what ever" and go on with the story. OK...so you know the story. But ~ have you read Jonah's whole story, and thought about it? That's kind of what I do, ya know? I read these stories and mull them over, creating mental videos, asking "why did he do that?" and "where is that place, exactly?" and "what happened before that happened? what happened after that?" Then I mull and ponder and muse. Then I dump all that mulling and musing and pondering and surmising out onto this blog. So ~ here we go:
Jonah...the back story.
When I read the prophets, and that is who Jonah was ~ a prophet, I like to know the when, and I want to know who was king while they lived and ministered. So to find most of Jonah's story you go to the book of Jonah. But there are a few little verses that tells us when Jonah lived and who was king:
2 Kings 14:23-25
Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD and did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, which he had caused Israel to commit. He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, in accordance with the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.
NIV
OK, got it?
Let's look at these verses.
So firstly, the king during the time of Jonah was King Jeroboam. There were 2 Jeroboams. There was one who was the first king of Israel when the kingdoms were divided after the reign of Solomon -- we'll call him Jeroboam I. (see I Kings 11:26 to I Kings 15:25 for his story) Then there was another Jeroboam who reigned pretty late in the history of the Northern Kingdom -- we'll call him Jeroboam II. (see 2 Kings 14:16 - 29 for his story) It was during the reign of Jeroboam II, referred to in scripture as Jeroboam son of Jehoash, that Jonah was a prophet.
Secondly, we learn two pretty significant bits of information from these verses: 1} Jeroboam II was evil, just like Jeroboam I was evil. And 2} Jonah gave him a word from God -- we are not privy to the word so we don't know the story or exactly what he said -- but based on the word, given to him by Jonah, Jeroboam restored a former boundary line to Israel and thereby extended Israel's territories . . . by a LOT! This is where the map above will be helpful. "from Lebo Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah" Go on, scroll up and look. Hamath is 50 or so miles NORTH of the Syrian border and the Sea of Arabah is what we might call the Dead Sea and is down by where Jerusalem is.
OK, I hear you again. "So??"
This verse became for me the back story. It really got me thinking. So have you read the book of Jonah? Jonah is ... well ... grumpy, to put it mildly. He is down right cantankerous...even when he is talking to God. He just seems to live in a really, really bad mood. OK. The book of Jonah gives enough info to inform us about what may have caused this serious bad attitude ~ he was told to go to the enemies of Israel and tell them to repent. But he starts off mad. He is rude. He says "No! I will NOT!!" TO GOD!! (And check it out...God does NOT kill him when he throws this fit and says, 'I'm going fishing!') Gives you pause, doesn't it? It does me. The other prophets rail against Israel and Judah, rail against the rampant idol worship and sin. Some even plead for mercy from God for God's people. Not Jonah. He lives in a snit! I think the snit started with his ministry under Jeroboam. Jeroboam is NOT a good king. Does God let Jonah prophesy doom and destruction? NOPE...he gets to prophecy a word of expansion...EXPANSION for an evil king. That had to rankle. I mean it kind of rankles me...like, "really God? You are going to bless Israel, that idol worshiping, no good, pagan in everything but name nation? WHY???" Then because he did so well...???...God gives him another assignment. Go to Nineveh. Tell them to repent. That was the last straw for Jonah. I am sure he said something along the lines of "NO way!!! Not a chance...not a snowball's chance in Gehenna!!"
And what about this "go tell Nineveh to repent" order from God. What exactly could God have been thinking? Kind of makes you want to side with Jonah...sort-of anyway.
Well as I read and re-read this very cool, funny, odd, stranger-than-fiction story I began to see that it was a very big story in deed. Soon, as I re-read and re-read, the least interesting thing about the story was that Jonah was swallowed by that big fish. The most interesting thing for me was the amazing relationship this story shows us between God and Jonah. And then equally amazing . . . no, really more amazing, MUCH more amazing, is the picture this story draws of God, and the way this story shines a light on the character of God.
so...Jonah and God, a whale of a tale.
I know......That was shockingly bad...
1. http://bleon1.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/16-jeroboamii-and-uzziah.png
I love this. I've always been intrigued (and thoroughly amused) by the story of Jonah.
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