Jonah the Minor Prophet
Jonah the Minor Prophet
Alicia Darling
REL 111 (Old Testament)
Bethel University
Sherry Henson
July 6, 2014
Jonah
Historical Background: Jonah was written between 793 and 753 B.C. and was written near Jerusalem. The text of the book of Jonah does not specify whether Jonah or someone else wrote the book. There is no compelling reason to deny that Jonah was the author of the book, though some scholars have proposed two or more unknown authors.(LOOK UP REFERENCE FOR THIS STATEMENT) The book of Jonah is quite interesting because it has some major themes and several purposes; it is also a short book in the bible that only has four chapters. Some of the characteristics of Jonah are disobedience, bitterness, resentfulness, and prideful at times.
Summary:
The book of Jonah is an Old Testament story which tells about how the prophet Jonah refused to follow the Lord. Through some supernatural events, God convinced him to obey and carry out the Lord’s plan. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh a great city and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me (Jonah Ch. 1:2, KJV).Nineveh was the ancient capital of Assyria (Illustrated Dictionary of the Bible, 1986 pg. 760). His disobedience brought punishment upon himself and others around him. While Jonah eventually did what he was asked to do, the book closes with showing Jonah as a bitter man.
How it applies today:
There is a warning to all of us in the book of Jonah. For a book with only four chapters it was powerful because a prophet only needed to do what God told him to do. We should never put restrictions on God because we will miss out on many blessings. People may find the book of Jonah funny, but we as Christians can be just like Jonah not trusting God enough to do what he has directed for us to do. In the book of Ephesians 6:1-3 it states Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother, that it may go well with
Alicia Darling
REL 111 (Old Testament)
Bethel University
Sherry Henson
July 6, 2014
Jonah
Historical Background: Jonah was written between 793 and 753 B.C. and was written near Jerusalem. The text of the book of Jonah does not specify whether Jonah or someone else wrote the book. There is no compelling reason to deny that Jonah was the author of the book, though some scholars have proposed two or more unknown authors.(LOOK UP REFERENCE FOR THIS STATEMENT) The book of Jonah is quite interesting because it has some major themes and several purposes; it is also a short book in the bible that only has four chapters. Some of the characteristics of Jonah are disobedience, bitterness, resentfulness, and prideful at times.
Summary:
The book of Jonah is an Old Testament story which tells about how the prophet Jonah refused to follow the Lord. Through some supernatural events, God convinced him to obey and carry out the Lord’s plan. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh a great city and cry against it; for their wickedness has come up before me (Jonah Ch. 1:2, KJV).Nineveh was the ancient capital of Assyria (Illustrated Dictionary of the Bible, 1986 pg. 760). His disobedience brought punishment upon himself and others around him. While Jonah eventually did what he was asked to do, the book closes with showing Jonah as a bitter man.
How it applies today:
There is a warning to all of us in the book of Jonah. For a book with only four chapters it was powerful because a prophet only needed to do what God told him to do. We should never put restrictions on God because we will miss out on many blessings. People may find the book of Jonah funny, but we as Christians can be just like Jonah not trusting God enough to do what he has directed for us to do. In the book of Ephesians 6:1-3 it states Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother, that it may go well with