Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Obadiah was probably written between 848 and 841 BC. The Edomites were descendants of Esau (Genesis 25 and 32). It was known for high, stony ground; wise counsellors, and extorting ‘toll money’ from passing caravans. They were a rich people and a proud people. They seemed to take great joy in tormenting Israel. They helped Shishak, Pharaoh of Egypt, to attack in 926 BC. They helped Israel attack Judah in 790 BC. They invaded during the reign of Ahaz in 731-715 BC. They helped the Babylonians in 588-586 BC. The most likely invasion Obadiah refers to (specifically) was when the Arabians, the Philistines, and the Edomites joined together to attack Jerusalem during the reign of Jehoram (848-841 BC), which is recorded in 2 Kings 8:20-22. It was their pride and their mistreatment of Israel that brought God’s judgment on them. They helped Moab against God’s children. They helped the Ammonites and the Moabites attack Judah. They carried away captives when they attacked on their own. They rejoiced when others attacked and invaded. They were enemies of Israel and Judah.

“And those who have been saved will go up on Mount Zion to rule the mountain of Esau. And the kingdom will belong to Yahweh” (Obadiah 21)

The Lord spoke against Edom and told them that He promised He would make them the least of all nations (they were absorbed into Jewish culture during the time of the Maccabees and ceased to be a nation at all.). They would be despised. It didn’t matter how great they got or how protected they were in their mountain cities (Petra was one of them). They would be searched out and their treasures sought after. It would start with the Babylonians, and they would never recover. It would happen because of their hatred against Israel and Judah. Because of their joy and participation in raids, invasions, and the sacking of cities. They had rejoiced at Israel’s destruction and they had taken advantage of it (settling in areas Israelites had been taken from). They betrayed individual Israelites who had fled from invaders. They had had feasts in conquered regions, toasting the desolation – they would be made desolate in turn. The Lord promised that His people would return to the Land and rise up and be a mighty people who would defeat and devour the Edomites. Israel would expand and Edom would cease to be. This happened in stages, but Edom is no longer a nation on this Earth. The promise came true.

“And the word of Yahweh came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Get up! Go to the great city Nineveh and cry out against her, because their evil has come up before me.”” (Jonah 1:1-2)

Jonah, the son of Amittai, was a prophet of God who lived in Gathhepher in Galilee. He previously appeared in 2 Kings 14:23-25 prophesying about the restoration of northern country of Israel’s boundaries during the reign of Jeroboam II. However, the spiritual climate of Israel continued to decline. Hosea and Amos both spoke God’s warnings to the nation. This was the climate Jonah lived in. It is traditionally thought that he was part of Elisha’s school of prophets (2 Kings 2:5) and that in fact he was the Shunammite’s son who was raised to life (2 Kings 4:18-37) – there is no SCRIPTURAL proof of this, however. It is possible, but we just don’t know. During Jonah’s life, Assyria was rising as a major world power and was THE major threat to the northern kingdom of Israel. Jonah wrote this book himself and it took place around 762 BC (it could have been written as early as 793 as late as 758 BC). The theme is mercy. Not just toward God’s people, but ALL people. God’s nature is compassionate toward every human being. He wants them ALL to repent and avoid judgment (2 Peter 3:9). God has great grace for everyone, only bringing upon them the judgments that they insist on by refusing to repent before Him. [Thank the Lord that we live in a New Covenant and not under the Law and judgment of the Old – Hebrews 8:6 – and that Jesus took the judgment for us so that we do not need to experience it as long as we accept that payment by making Him Lord in our lives – Romans 10:9. We are redeemed from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13) and we are NOT currently being judged – not even by natural disasters – although we DO get corrected and sometimes corrected FIRMLY – 2 Timothy 3:16; John 14:15-17.]

Jonah was told to go to rising enemies of Israel and preach to them a message of repentance. Instead, Jonah booked passage to Tarshish (believed to be in Spain – the OPPOSITE side of the known world from Ninevah). He slept in his bunk and ignored the world. Meanwhile, the world was raging. God sent a storm – it was NOT a blessing to teach something, but a judgment that WOULD have killed them. It was so bad that these experienced seamen were terrified. It was clear to them this storm was NOT normal. They tried to lighten the load, but it did no good. They were in danger of sinking. Jonah’s disobedience was endangering them. The captain roused everyone – including Jonah. He specifically asked Jonah to call on his God for help (the captain had everyone praying to their gods). They decided to draw lots to see who was to blame. The lot fell on Jonah. They demanded to know who he was, what country he was from, what he did, and what people were his people. They especially wanted to know WHY the storm. He told them who he was and who his God was. They PALED – the God of the Hebrews had a reputation. They were also confused as to WHY he would run from this powerful God. He told them to toss him overboard. That he was the target for the storm. They didn’t want to. They tried to hold out. But in the end, they had no choice. They called out for the God of the Hebrews not to hold them responsible for what happened to Jonah. Over he went, and immediately the storm stopped. The men were AWED and performed sacrifices to Yahweh, God of the Hebrews. Meanwhile, a great fish swallowed Jonah and he was there three days and three nights.

People have said it was a whale, but scripture calls it a fish. There are MANY modern accounts of people being swallowed by whales and large fish – the whale shark in particular. They are strainer feeders mostly, and it would be physically impossible to get past their oesophagus and into their bellies. The sperm whale (Moby Dick style) COULD swallow a human all the way down and are known to be in the Mediterranean. Was it a whale then or a fish? The Hebrew word for it is VERY generic. It doesn’t REALLY matter to the story. But the most important part is in Jonah 1:17 “And Yahweh provided a large fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” God PREPARED this ‘fish’. Whether it was a whale or a fish, it was specially designed and prepared to accept Jonah and keep from killing him for this period of time. This was a supernatural ‘abnormality’ or a supernatural occurrence. Many whales and ‘fish’ swallow humans and spit them out again (we have video evidence of it), but THIS creature was PREPARED so it doesn’t need to follow the usual rules of nature – much like the rainfall God altered to prove a point to His people (Amos 4:7).

Jonah was in the fish for three days and three nights. And THEN he prayed. He did NOT pray before then. He was STILL in disobedience. He was STILL rebelling. He was STILL against doing what God told him to do. The situation he was in was of his own making. He acknowledged that. God could have let him drown in the sea, but had mercifully had a fish swallow him. He acknowledged that. He had taken his eyes off the Lord and needed to get them back onto God. He acknowledged that. There are some who look at the specific wording of the prayer and think that Jonah actually died and was returned to life (2:6). He acknowledged his ONLY hope was in God. Jonah said that those who turn from God to other things, idols or their own way (which is an idol in and of itself) forsake their own mercy. When we go our own way, we leave the path of God’s blessing and mercy, ending up on our own – and easy prey (1 Peter 5:8). He acknowledged he had fled the ‘umbrella’ of the Lord and forsook God’s shelter – and that the Lord showed him incredible MERCY in not letting him die. Because of this, even while still in the belly of this fish, Jonah resolved to seek the Lord again. He chose to praise the Lord in his situation. He acknowledged the ONLY salvation is from God. When he chose to seek God, God spoke to the dish and it vomited Jonah onto dry ground.

“And the word of Yahweh came to Jonah a second time, saying, “Get up! Go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the message that I am telling you.”” (Jonah 3:1-2)

God did not repeat the message. He repeated His instructions for Jonah to go and give the message. This time, Jonah went. Ninevah was a HUGE city. Its walls encompassed not only city dwellings, but also farmland. It was about eighty-eight and a half kilometres in circumference. It was founded by Nimrod (Asshur) – Genesis 10:11. It took THREE DAYS to cross the city. Scholars say the walls were thirty metres high and VERY thick. They think it was located in modern Iraq and there have been numerous excavations proving it was a great city in its day – one of the mightiest. Jonah got up and went to Nineveh. He entered the city and proclaimed his message: “Forty more days and Nineveh will be demolished!” (Jonah 3:4). He walked a day’s walk proclaiming this message and stopped. This was a half-hearted giving of a prophetic message. He didn’t even get into the main areas of this city. It was pitiful. But God uses us in spite of our consistent failings. The people of Nineveh heard the message and spread it. It even got to the king. The people believed it. A fast was proclaimed. They put on sackcloth and ashes. There was a GREAT revival. Not only the people fasted, but also the animals were kept from food. They repented with their whole hearts. They were hoping that the judgment could be lifted. The anger of God assuaged. Their survival assured. It is interesting to note Jonah said nothing about repentance. He only promised destruction. The people took the route of repentance themselves in HOPE of deliverance, not an assurance of deliverance. And God saw their actions as well as their hearts. He lifted his judgment.

Every prophetic word of the Lord is either a prophetic promise or a prophetic warning. Which one it is depends on how we respond (however, there are times when the Word that comes arrives after the point of no return – Genesis 15:16). Here Nineveh listened and obeyed. it was a warning. It lasted for awhile, but the people of Nineveh gradually went back to their broken ways (Hebrews 3:8). It took a hundred and fifty years. Nahum and Zephaniah prophesied against Nineveh. Diodorus Siculus, an ancient Greek historian, confirmed these prophesies saying that the final assault on Nineveh happened when they were feasting and drinking (Nahum 1:10). Modern archaeology also confirmed prophesy when they found the gates of Nineveh charred by fire (Nahum 3:13). The people of Nineveh did not hold to their attitude toward God and the prophetic warning became a prophetic promise. They brought it about with their own actions and their own attitudes. It did not happen in Jonah’s lifetime, but it DID happen exactly as God said (Deuteronomy 18:22).

“And this was greatly displeasing to Jonah, and he became furious. And he prayed to Yahweh and said, “O Yahweh, was this not what I said while I was in my homeland? Therefore I originally fled to Tarshish, because I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and having great steadfast love, and one who relents concerning calamity. And so then, Yahweh, please take my life from me, because for me death is better than life!”” (Jonah 4:1-3)

Jonah hadn’t wanted to come to this enemy of his people. He didn’t want to see them blessed. He didn’t want them to turn from their wickedness. He wanted them judged and he wanted them to perish. He was looking at it from a very selfish point of view. A very HUMAN point of view. He got so depressed when he heard the people start calling out to God in repentance that he wished he was dead. He couldn’t kill himself and be godly, so he asked God to smite him. His twisted thinking got him into depression. He could have chosen a different path (John 14:1). He didn’t. And God called Him on it. He wanted to know why Jonah felt he had ANY right to be angry? Jonah didn’t respond. Instead, he went and sat down on the east side of the city. He made a shelter. And he waited to see what the Lord would do – probably hoping for fire from heaven.

God made a vine grow supernaturally fast so that it shaded Jonah. It brought him great relief from the sun that day. The next morning, God had a worm eat at the base of the vine and kill it. Jonah suffered under the sun and grew faint. God sent the east wind to make it worse. Jonah lamented the death of the plant and AGAIN prayed for death. God asked him if he had any right to be angry the vine died. Jonah said he did. He felt totally justified. God pointed out that he pity for the plant that died. A plant he did not grow or care for. God said that if Jonah had pity on the plant, should God have pity on the people of Nineveh? People and their livestock? Lives that God made and cared about? Over a hundred and twenty thousand people. People so lost they didn’t even know their left from their right. God TRULY cares for ALL people and wants ALL people to be saved and following Him.

The book ends there. We don’t know what happened to Jonah. We don’t know if he learned his lesson about the compassion of God. We DO know that the lesson was preserved for us. We DO know that the important details aren’t whether a fish can swallow you or not, but that obedience to the Lord is of VITAL importance. Doing what He says, when He says, and how He says. God is seeking people to cooperate with Him in saving this world. The WHOLE world and ALL the people within it. We have no right to keep salvation from them by our rebellion against His directions.

Summary

Key Players: God, Obadiah, Jonah. a Fish, the king of Nineveh

Key Verse(s): Obadiah 15-21; Jonah 1-3, 8-17; 2:1, 7-10; 3:1-6; 4:10-11