A Picture of God

• Lesson 13 for the week of December 20 to December 27

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Background Considerations: Ways of accessing God’s portrait in the story of Jonah. A straight-forward hearing or reading of Jonah conveys a picture of God as repentant and forgiving, as characterized by the vocabulary of grace...

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The Sign of the Prophet Jonah

• Lesson 12 for the week of December 13 to December 20

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Background Considerations: Jonah outside the book of Jonah. The contribution of the story of Jonah to Old Testament thought and practice must have been a real surprise, given its attention to the wider world of...

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The Last Word

• Lesson 11 for the week of December 6 to December 13

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Background Considerations: Sense of an ending. Does the story of Jonah end? Is there what some literary analysts call “a sense of an ending” to this biblical book? Do we have closure on the plot?...

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A Wind, a Worm, and a Plant

• Lesson 10 for the week of November 29 to December 6

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Background Considerations: Literary considerations. Again, we reflect on the literary features which not only give the story of Jonah richness and character, but teach us theologically as well. What about irony? Any of that in...

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Conversing With God

• Lesson 9 for the week of November 22 to November 29

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Background Considerations: The section of Jonah that we consider here is perhaps the most important to the point of the story. It speaks of a prophet whose success angered him precisely because of divine grace...

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Jonah, the Amazing Evangelist

• Lesson 8 for the week of November 15 to November 22

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Background Considerations: The nature of prophecy. The popular definition of prophecy is almost always tied to predictions of the future. But the future is only part, in fact a small part, of the prophets’ arena...

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Second Chances

• Lesson 7 for the week of November 8 to November 15

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Background Considerations: Structure of the book of Jonah. As we enter chapter 3, something becomes apparent upon a close reading of the story: chapters 1 and 3 begin the same way (the command to Jonah...

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Salvation Is of the Lord!

• Lesson 6 for the week of November 1 to November 8

Background Considerations: Poetry in the Old Testament. A high percentage of the Hebrew Bible comes to us in the form of poetry. The most important feature of Hebrew poetry is parallelism, which defines the way...

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A Hebrew Prophet and Heathen Mariners

• Lesson 5 for the week of October 25 to November 1

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Background Considerations: Notion of the Ocean. The ancient world did not have positive feelings toward the ocean, and with good reason. Water out of control was a serious threat, not only due to floods, but...

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“The Dove Flees”

• Lesson 4 for the week of October 18 to October 25

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Background Considerations: Jonah’s name means “dove.” Check this out in a good Bible dictionary to see how the prophet’s name functions in the story. His father’s name, Amittai, is tied in some way to “truthfulness”...

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Jonah and Judgment

• Lesson 3 for the week of October 11 to October 18

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Background Considerations: The role of biblical prophets appears primarily to have focused on judgment, on calling people to accountability, to responsible living. How one relates to God (avoid idolatry) and how one relates to fellow...

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People and Places

• Lesson 2 for the week of October 4 to October 11

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Background Considerations: Prophets. Review a good Bible dictionary’s article on “prophet” and think about how Jonah fits the role and where he is historically. Among other early prophets, we know of several in the northern...

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Biblical Prophets and Biblical Narrative

• Lesson 1 for the week of September 27 to October 4

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Background Considerations: The prophets. Who were these people and what tasks would best describe their job? The major word used for “prophet” in the Hebrew Bible was nabi, which derives from an Akkadian word meaning...

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Prayers of Praise: Revelation

• Lesson 13 for the week of March 24 to March 31

Two related themes run through the book of Revelation. First, Jesus calls the persecuted to resist persecution and temptation; and second, the faithful utter prayers for His coming and the trials to end. The book...

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