DBRP_Jul19_2014 Jonah1-2 Ps136 John17a

Each year when I have followed a personal Bible reading plan like the one we are following, I have enjoyed a break from reading the books of history, moving to the prophets. And our first is Jonah, who was mentioned back in 2 Kings 14.  

Note that the little story of Jonah is masterfully written. It is evidence of inspiration. Little details poke out everywhere. Jonah has a downward journey. He goes down from Jerusalem to Joppa, then down again into the hold of the boat, and then down into the underworld of the ocean. He wasn't just being disobedient. He was saying, “I'm turning in my prophet's mantel.”

 

Bob Deffinbaugh: “Let’s face it, don’t you find that our text has reversed the heroes and the villains? … we would have expected Jonah to be the hero, while the heathen sailors would certainly have been expected to be the villains. This was certainly the perspective of Jonah, and of the Israelites, whom he typified. Yet in our text it is the sailors who pray, while Jonah does not. The sailors sought to deal with sin on the ship, not Jonah. The sailors end up worshiping God, not Jonah. The sailors have compassion on Jonah, while he seems to have little concern for the danger in which he has put them. Clearly this chapter turns our expectations inside-out.”

Even the fish comes out better than Jonah. He obeyed. The pagans of Nineveh and their king also come out looking better than Jonah. They repent.

 

Intro to chapter 2: For most of my life I have been fooled by Jonah's prayer, because he borrows a lot from the Psalms. Jonah prays a selfish, me-centered prayer, and it is also a self-righteous prayer. The worst thing about it is there is no hint of repentance. But there are clear signs of trying to manipulate God. His prayer is somewhat like the self-righteous Pharisee who prayed about himself in Jesus' parable (the one who was thankful he was not like “that tax collector”). I have heavily paraphrased Jonah's prayer (in the style of The Message) so as to make these overtones obvious to a modern American audience.

 

Note that the paraphrase and the NLT are in the attached PDF.

 

Psalm 136 is the most famous antiphonal psalm.

 

The pinnacle of the upper room discourse is Jesus’ high priestly prayer.

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