This week's lesson deals with the prophet Jonah. You're probably familiar with the story: God calls Jonah to preach to the people of Nineveh, Jonah decides to go AWOL and head to Tarshish instead, storm comes up, Jonah gets thrown overboard and then swallowed by a big fish who apparently doesn't like Hebrew food and spits him up on the shore three days later. Jonah preaches, the city repents, and he pouts because now the Lord won't destroy the city.
What do we know about Jonah? Not a whole lot, really. The Book of Jonah doesn't really talk your ear off with details. Fortunately, in 2 Kings 14:25 there is another reference which identifies Jonah as a prophet (which his book does not), and as living in Gath-hepher (Hebrew, "the winepress of digging") which was a small town about three miles north-east of Nazareth.
Why did Jonah get on a boat when the call came to go to Nineveh? He must've known you can't get to Nineveh by sea any more than you could take a cruise liner to Las Vegas. I think part of what motivated him was the belief that the house of Israel was somehow special, almost to the point of being an exclusive club. Yes, they had been given special promises and blessings, but if they checked the fine print they would've seen those promises extend to anyone who was obedient to God's commandments.
So Jonah opens up his mission call, "Jonah, you are hereby called to serve as a missionary and are assigned to labor in the Assyria Nineveh mission..." To really understand the reaction to the call, imagine being called to serve a mission in Germany during World War II. The Assyrians had quite a reputation for being very brutal in battle, and afterward with any survivors.
He didn't get on the boat because he was afraid of the Assyrians, he got on because he didn't want to waste his time on a people he felt didn't deserve a chance to repent. Even after the whole city of Nineveh were in the process of repenting in sackcloth and ashes, and the king had imposed a mandatory fast for the whole city (including animals), Jonah went outside the city to pout and hoped the Lord would still use the smite button on Nineveh.
Great story, but what can we apply in our lives today?
First, how about "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God" (Doct and Cov 18:10). We tend to prejudge others, a lot. So much that we don't often realize we're doing it. We feel someone is more trustworthy because they are wearing a clean crisp suit, or less trustworthy because they are wearing a thread-bare t-shirt and look like they haven't shaved since birth. But "the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Sam 16:7).
The resurrected Savior taught the Nephites, "unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them" (3 Nephi 18:32).
Second, God is the undefeated champion at Hide and Seek. We could sooner hide ourselves from His sight than we could hide our thoughts and desires from Him. To say that God is all-seeing and all-knowing isn't exaggeration or hyperbole. To the faithful, this means there is no depth of despair or suffering where He cannot reach with comfort and peace.
Third, if God can show mercy to a bunch of "heathens", maybe I have a shot too. One of Satan's tactics is trying to get us to believe that we have traveled beyond the Lord's reach or past the "point of no return". "There's no way you can come back after the things you've done..." I find it somewhat ironic that Satan tries to lure us out by telling us we can go back any time we want, but once we're out he says we've come too far to go back again. Remember the story of the prodigal son? The Father is always watching and will not let us make the return journey alone.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught:
"Just because God is God, just because Christ is Christ, they cannot do other than care for us and bless us and help us if we will but come unto them, approaching their throne of grace in meekness and lowliness of heart. They can't help but bless us. They have to. It is their nature" ("Come Unto Me", BYU Fireside address, 2 March 1997).
I wonder if Jonah had accepted his call to Nineveh with the same zeal as the sons of Mosiah had when they took the gospel to the Lamanites (see Alma 17-26), would the people have been truly converted? It's hard to tell from Jonah's brief account if the people really understood why they were repenting. Judging from Nahum's prophecies, it didn't fare well for them later. If Jonah had tried to help them instead of standing back far enough to get a good view when they were destroyed, would he have had results similar to Ammon and his brothers?
What do we know about Jonah? Not a whole lot, really. The Book of Jonah doesn't really talk your ear off with details. Fortunately, in 2 Kings 14:25 there is another reference which identifies Jonah as a prophet (which his book does not), and as living in Gath-hepher (Hebrew, "the winepress of digging") which was a small town about three miles north-east of Nazareth.
Why did Jonah get on a boat when the call came to go to Nineveh? He must've known you can't get to Nineveh by sea any more than you could take a cruise liner to Las Vegas. I think part of what motivated him was the belief that the house of Israel was somehow special, almost to the point of being an exclusive club. Yes, they had been given special promises and blessings, but if they checked the fine print they would've seen those promises extend to anyone who was obedient to God's commandments.
So Jonah opens up his mission call, "Jonah, you are hereby called to serve as a missionary and are assigned to labor in the Assyria Nineveh mission..." To really understand the reaction to the call, imagine being called to serve a mission in Germany during World War II. The Assyrians had quite a reputation for being very brutal in battle, and afterward with any survivors.
He didn't get on the boat because he was afraid of the Assyrians, he got on because he didn't want to waste his time on a people he felt didn't deserve a chance to repent. Even after the whole city of Nineveh were in the process of repenting in sackcloth and ashes, and the king had imposed a mandatory fast for the whole city (including animals), Jonah went outside the city to pout and hoped the Lord would still use the smite button on Nineveh.
Great story, but what can we apply in our lives today?
First, how about "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God" (Doct and Cov 18:10). We tend to prejudge others, a lot. So much that we don't often realize we're doing it. We feel someone is more trustworthy because they are wearing a clean crisp suit, or less trustworthy because they are wearing a thread-bare t-shirt and look like they haven't shaved since birth. But "the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart" (1 Sam 16:7).
The resurrected Savior taught the Nephites, "unto such shall ye continue to minister; for ye know not but what they will return and repent, and come unto me with full purpose of heart, and I shall heal them; and ye shall be the means of bringing salvation unto them" (3 Nephi 18:32).
Second, God is the undefeated champion at Hide and Seek. We could sooner hide ourselves from His sight than we could hide our thoughts and desires from Him. To say that God is all-seeing and all-knowing isn't exaggeration or hyperbole. To the faithful, this means there is no depth of despair or suffering where He cannot reach with comfort and peace.
Third, if God can show mercy to a bunch of "heathens", maybe I have a shot too. One of Satan's tactics is trying to get us to believe that we have traveled beyond the Lord's reach or past the "point of no return". "There's no way you can come back after the things you've done..." I find it somewhat ironic that Satan tries to lure us out by telling us we can go back any time we want, but once we're out he says we've come too far to go back again. Remember the story of the prodigal son? The Father is always watching and will not let us make the return journey alone.
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught:
"Just because God is God, just because Christ is Christ, they cannot do other than care for us and bless us and help us if we will but come unto them, approaching their throne of grace in meekness and lowliness of heart. They can't help but bless us. They have to. It is their nature" ("Come Unto Me", BYU Fireside address, 2 March 1997).
I wonder if Jonah had accepted his call to Nineveh with the same zeal as the sons of Mosiah had when they took the gospel to the Lamanites (see Alma 17-26), would the people have been truly converted? It's hard to tell from Jonah's brief account if the people really understood why they were repenting. Judging from Nahum's prophecies, it didn't fare well for them later. If Jonah had tried to help them instead of standing back far enough to get a good view when they were destroyed, would he have had results similar to Ammon and his brothers?
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