Deep Calls

Psalms 34  Of David. When he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he left.                                                                                                                                                    ...

Jonah  is a short book: 47 verses long. You can read it, quite literally, in minutes even if  you read v    e    r    y  slowly. But ~ so much happens!!! Jonah gets instructions from God. Jonah says, "No way!!" and goes on an extended trip. God chases Jonah with a storm. Jonah gets confronted by some VERY angry sailors . . . and ultimately he suggests that he should be thrown overboard. God sends a big fish to swallow him. Jonah prays a wonderful, very worshipful prayer...after sitting in big-fish stomach guck for 3 days. ( can anyone say 'stubborn'?!?) Jonah goes to Nineveh and gives, like, a 1 sentence ultimatum-esk prophecy against the city. Nineveh repents!!!! Jonah throws a fit, sits up on a hill in a snit, and God confronts him...with poignant wit. THE END My summary may even be longer than the whole book. Right? Ahhhh! But it's the  story!! So...things I love about this story!! 1) Jonah tells G...

OK...see the map?   1 <--------------  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 metap...

Jonah is a short book: 47 verses long. You can read it, quite literally, in minutes even if  you read v    e    r    y  slowly. But ~ so much happens!!! Jonah gets instructions from God. Jonah says, "No way!!" and goes on an extended trip. God chases Jonah with a storm. Jonah gets comfronted by some VERY angry sailors . . . and ultimately thrown overboard. God sends a big fish to swallow him. Jonah prays a wonderful, very worshipful prayer. Jonah goes to Nineveh and gives, like, a 1 sentence ultimatum-esk prophecy against the city. Nineveh repents!!!! Jonah throws a fit, sits up on a hill in a snit, and God confronts him...with poignant wit. THE END My summary may even be longer than the whole book. Right? Ahhhh! But it's the story!! So...things I love about this story!! 1) Jonah tells God, "NO!" Jonah is a prophet!!! He clearly loves God...know Him well. The book starts with a prophet refusing to obey God....

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish.   Jonah 1:1-3 I can see him... stomping through his room, stuffing things randomly into a bag. His hand grabbing his mantle. Then he freezes. His jaw clenched, he clutches his mantle in a tight fist and he hesitates . . . in the bag? leave it behind? The word God told him to take to Nineveh was the last straw.  " Find yourself another prophet! ", rages through his head, but sticks in his throat. To leave the mantle, the symbol of his anointing and ministry as a prophet...it would be final, really final. Shaking his head, Jonah stuffs the mantle into the bag, and storms off, slamming the door. We can guess pretty safely that he had been living in or near Samaria since he did in fact give Jeroboam the word about expanding the territory. I think that th...