Jonah 1:1-2
King James Version
1 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah
the son of Amittai, saying,
2 Arise,
go to Nineveh,
that great city,
and cry against it;
for their wickedness is come up before me.
You think GOD can't be funny?
He invented funny.
Watch how He deals with reluctant, petulant prophet Jonah.
Called by GOD to warn Nineveh, Jonah takes the ship to Tarshish instead.
What do you think GOD does?
Jonah 1:4-5
King James Version
4 But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea,
and there was a mighty tempest in the sea,
so that the ship was like to be broken.
5 Then the mariners were afraid,
and cried every man unto his god,
and cast forth the wares that were in the ship
into the sea,
to lighten it of them.
But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship;
and he lay,
and was fast asleep.
Rousing the sleeping prophet, the mariners demand he pray for them, since he's supposed to be bff with GOD.
Not knowing who was responsible for their misfortune, the mariners cast lots.
Of course, the culprit was Jonah.
They asked what he had done to displease the LORD so.
Jonah 1:9
King James Version
9 And he said unto them,
I am an Hebrew;
and I fear the Lord,
the God of heaven,
which hath made the sea and the dry land.
There was only one recourse, and result.
Prophet had to make good his mission for the LORD.
Jonah 1:15
King James Version
15 So they took up Jonah,
and cast him forth into the sea:
and the sea ceased from her raging.
There must have been lots of conversions that day.
In great relief, the mariners offered a sacrifice.
Jonah 1:16
King James Version
16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly,
and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord,
and made vows.
Of course, GOD had another plan for His prophet who had gone off course.
Jonah 1:17
King James Version
17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish
to swallow up Jonah.
And Jonah was in the belly of the fish
three days and three nights.
And that's when Jonah started praying, and repenting, from the fish's belly.
Jonah 2:9
King James Version
9 But I will sacrifice unto thee
with the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay that that I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Cue for the fish to throw up.
Jonah 2:10
King James Version
10 And the Lord spake unto the fish,
and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Reminded of his mission for the LORD, the humbled prophet follows GOD's original plan.
Jonah 3:4
King James Version
4 And Jonah began to enter into the city
a day's journey,
and he cried, and said,
Yet forty days,
and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
Surprisingly, Nineveh does what Jonah thought wasn't possible.
Jonah 3:5
King James Version
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God,
and proclaimed a fast,
and put on sackcloth,
from the greatest of them
even to the least of them.
The people of Nineveh and their king prayed, fasted, covered every man and beast with sackloth, and turned from their evil ways.
GOD responds in kind:
Jonah 3:10
King James Version
10 And God saw their works,
that they turned from their evil way;
and God repented of the evil,
that he had said that he would do unto them;
and he did it not.
That ought to have pleased our temperamental prophet.
Hardly.
Jonah 4:1
King James Version
4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly,
and he was very angry.
Humoring him, GOD asks why he's so angry.
As response, our petulant prophet went his way.
Jonah 4:5
King James Version
5 So Jonah went out of the city,
and sat on the east side of the city,
and there made him a booth,
and sat under it in the shadow,
till he might see what would become of the city.
To appease fuming prophet, GOD comforts him.
Jonah 4:6
King James Version
6 And the Lord God prepared a gourd,
and made it to come up over Jonah,
that it might be a shadow over his head,
to deliver him from his grief.
So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
Now, you can't be angry with GOD for long.
He sees to that.
Jonah 4:7-8
King James Version
7 But God prepared a worm
when the morning rose the next day,
and it smote the gourd that it withered.
8 And it came to pass,
when the sun did arise,
that God prepared a vehement east wind;
and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah,
that he fainted,
and wished in himself to die,
and said,
It is better for me to die than to live.
Now, I can imagine melodramatic Jonah folding his arms, keeping to his hurt pride, as GOD converses with him.
Jonah 4:9
King James Version
9 And God said to Jonah,
Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?
And he said,
I do well to be angry,
even unto death.
Still, GOD has the last word.
The BIBLE is His WORD, after all.
Jonah 4:10-11
King James Version
10 Then said the Lord,
Thou hast had pity on the gourd,
for the which thou hast not laboured,
neither madest it grow;
which came up in a night,
and perished in a night:
11 And should not I spare Nineveh,
that great city,
wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons
that cannot discern between
their right hand and their left hand;
and also much cattle?
More funny prophets here.
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