Milo

JULY 2

Reading 183

GOD OF COMPASSION Jonah 3–4

“Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (Jonah 4:11)God has compassion for all. We need to develop an attitude that mirrors His—not Jonah’s!

Overview

When Jonah preached in Nineveh, the Assyrians repented (3:1–10). Jonah, upset and angry, asked God to let him die (4:1–4). Instead, God used a vine to teach Jonah a lesson in values (vv. 5–11).

Understanding the Text

“Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time” Jonah 3:1. Jonah had willfully disobeyed God’s call to preach in Nineveh. Now God gave him another chance. We need to remember three things about second chances. God’s will is going to be accomplished. God intended to warn Nineveh, and Nineveh would be warned, whether Jonah or some other person was God’s agent. Jonah’s disobedience merited discipline, not rejection! God gave His prophet a second chance. Usually He gives you and me many opportunities to respond to His guidance. It is much better to respond to God when His word first comes to us. Jonah would have avoided the terror of being thrown into the sea and being swallowed by the great fish if only he had been willing to do God’s will when he first learned it. Let’s not count on second chances. But if we do fall into disobedience, Jonah’s experience reminds us that we can still turn back to God and be used by Him. “Now Nineveh was a very large city” Jonah 3:3–4. The size of Nineveh at this period has been established by archeologists as a maximum of 175,000. This compares to 30,000 in Samaria, the capital of Jonah’s nation. The figures match well with the mention in Jonah 4:11 of 120,000. The reference to three days to go through Nineveh may mean it took Jonah three days to go through the fields and suburbs that surrounded Nineveh, rather than through the walled part of the city. The point made in the text, however, is a simple one. Jonah’s mission was to a metropolis: a city teaming with human beings. This emphasis helps us see why Jonah’s mission was so important. Thousands of lives were at stake. “The Ninevites believed God” Jonah 3:5–9. Amazingly, Jonah’s warning of imminent destruction was taken to heart by all in Nineveh. The king abandoned his throne to publicly sit “in the dust” in the rough clothing which in that culture indicated sorrow and grief or repentance. He issued a decree that summoned all to fast, to call on God, and to “give up their evil ways and their violence.” Given the dating of Jonah to the time of Jeroboam II in Israel, the Assyrian Empire, of which Nineveh was the capital, was then seriously threatened by warlike northern tribes known as the Urartu, Mannai, and Madai. The enemy had pushed its borders to within a hundred miles of Nineveh, and the very existence of the ancient empire was threatened. A sense of weakness and of impending doom may have helped create openness to Jonah’s message. Yet the spontaneous response of the whole population to a foreign prophet who wandered unannounced into the city with an unpopular message, underlines the fact that response to any word of God has supernatural roots. God was working in the hearts of the pagans of Nineveh. When they heard, they believed. We need to count on a similar work of God when we preach, teach, or share the Gospel conversationally. God may well have been at work preparing others to hear His Good News. His Spirit can bring that Good News home to their hearts in a compelling way, whatever the inadequacies of the messenger. “He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened” Jonah 3:10. One of the most clearly established principles in Old Testament prophecy is that most prophetic warnings of doom are contingent. They invariably come true—unless the people to whom they are addressed repent. We see this principle in earlier incidents, such as those recorded in 2 Samuel 12:14–23; 1 Kings 21:27–29; and 2 Kings 20:1–6. Repentance can cause God to relent. This should not be misunderstood as a change of the divine mind. It’s more like the red flashing lights and ringing bells that warn of a train’s approach. Anyone on the tracks will be crushed. But a person who gets off the tracks will be safe. When Jonah preached, he said in effect, “You people of Nineveh are about to be run over!” When the people of Nineveh repented, they in effect got off the tracks! The juggernaut of divine judgment rushed on—and passed them by! What an object lesson for Israel. The prophets of God, not strangers but fellow countrymen, had shouted out warnings of impending doom for decades. Here, in the experience of Nineveh, a pagan nation, was an object lesson for God’s own people. If only Israel would listen to the prophets and repent, God would relent in their case too. The tragedy is that the people of Israel did not repent. The object lesson was wasted on them. The irony is that the very people that Jonah’s preaching saved, the Assyrians, were the agents God used to bring judgment on an Israel too hardened to heed. “Now, O Lord, take away my life” Jonah 4:1–4. When the city was not destroyed, Jonah was upset and angry. Like many of us, Jonah thought God should behave as he wanted Him to. More was involved in Jonah’s case (see DEVOTIONAL), but isn’t such a reaction all too typical? We have it all figured out, and are sure that God should solve one problem this way, and another that. When He doesn’t do it our way, we sulk or become angry. What we should do in such a case is thank God that He didn’t do it our way! Our notion of how things should be is limited by our lack of knowledge—and often by our lack of caring. God not only knows what is best, He loves always. Thanking God even when His decisions do not reflect our first choice is a sign of spiritual maturity. And common sense. “Jonah was very happy about the vine” Jonah 4:5–6. Sullen and angry about Nineveh’s repentance, Jonah settled down on a distant hill overlooking Nineveh, to wallow in self-pity and see what would happen to the city. As he sat under a typical desert lean-to shelter, a vine sprang from the ground, and grew large enough to provide shade. Jonah was happy for more than the shade. Such a little thing, and yet here was something green and living, and Jonah was comforted by its presence. Often God provides some similar little thing to comfort us when the big things in life seem to have gone wrong. Jonah was right to be happy about the vine. And we are right to be happy about the little things that remind us of God’s love. If we’re wise, whenever suffering comes we will look actively for some such little thing, let it remind us of God’s love, and let it bring us some happiness despite our sorrow. “God provided a worm” Jonah 4:7–11. The end of the Book of Jonah at first appears strange. God took away the vine that gave Jonah that little bit of happiness, and when Jonah became even more despondent, God asked, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?” We can understand why Jonah answered, “Yes!” But God had a reason. Jonah had “been concerned about this vine” that sprang up one night and died the next. Jonah had been happy that it was there beside him. But Jonah had cared nothing at all for the lives of the thousands upon thousands of people of Nineveh, to say nothing of the cattle there. What a contrast with God, who is concerned about all His creation, and cared for the thousands of Nineveh. Even though they were idolaters, and the enemies of His own people, they were important to the Lord. The challenge to Jonah was clear. Jonah, you cared about the vine. Why don’t you care about other human beings? You were happy for the vine’s existence, even though it was fleeting. Why aren’t you happy about the life given to the thousands in Nineveh, rather than eager to see all those lives taken away? There is a challenge here for us. What do we care about? What makes us happy? Is it the insignificant things of life? Or do we share God’s values, and care about what is important to Him?

DEVOTIONAL

Right, but Wrong(Jonah 4)

Christians correctly tend to place emphasis on right doctrine. After all, we are to hold fast to what the Bible teaches. But the story of Jonah reminds us that we can be totally right, and very, very wrong. Jonah 4 begins with a statement by Jonah of some of the rightest doctrine there is. “I knew,” Jonah said, “that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (v. 2). That statement by Jonah is one of the Old Testament’s central affirmations of faith; a characterization of God found first in Exodus 34:6–7, but repeated in Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalms 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; and Joel 2:13! And the phrase “gracious and compassionate” is found many, many more times in Old Testament descriptions of the Lord. So Jonah’s doctrine was about as pure as can be. There was only one problem. Jonah said, “I knew . . . that is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish” (Jonah 4:2). And that’s why Jonah was angry now. Those rotten people of Nineveh went and repented! It would be just like God not to destroy them after all. And again, Jonah was right. His doctrine was as pure as can be. It was just like God not to destroy Nineveh, and He did not. In fact, it is because Jonah was right that he was so wrong. You see, the believer is not simply called to know about God. The believer is called to be like Him. We are not simply to know God is compassionate. Because God is compassionate, we are to be compassionate too. It’s not enough for us to know that God cares for the pagan or the poor. We are to care for them too. The doctrinally correct Jonah was about as far from harmony with God’s heart as a believer can be! What a reminder for you and for me. A person who is totally right about God intellectually can be totally wrong. Knowing about God is no substitute for being like Him in character, values, and concern for others.

Personal Application

Ask God for heart as well as head knowledge as you study His Word.

Quotable

“A man’s heart is right when he wills what God wills.”—Thomas Aquinas

Jonah

JULY 1

Reading 182

THE PATRIOTIC PROPHET Jonah 1–2

“But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish” (Jonah 1:3).Jonah had what he thought were good reasons to run from the Lord and from the mission God had given him. His story reminds us never to substitute “good reasons” for God’s will!

Background

The patriotic prophet.

Second Kings 14:25 identifies “Jonah son of Amittai” as a prophet who lived in the days of Jeroboam II of Israel, and who predicted that king’s many victories. In the days of Jeroboam II the boundaries of the Northern Kingdom were extended almost to the borders achieved during the golden age of David and Solomon. As the prophet called to preannounce the king’s victories, Jonah must have enjoyed great popularity, especially as life in Israel had been bleak before Jeroboam’s vigorous rule. No doubt the prophet felt a great deal of personal satisfaction as well, as he watched his fellow countrymen begin to prosper in accord with the word of the Lord which he had been privileged to deliver. God’s command that Jonah go to preach against Nineveh, however, was something else again! Assyria had been, and still was, a threat to Israel’s very existence! Jonah wanted no part of a ministry to that particular bunch of foreigners! All Jonah wanted to do was to keep on preaching his positive message of prosperity in his homeland. Jonah’s patriotic motivation, which is further explained in chapter 4, was so great that he determined to flee God’s presence. It is at this point that Jonah’s story begins.

Overview

Jonah was told to preach against Nineveh (1:1–2), but tried to flee to Tarshish (v. 3). Identified as the cause of a great storm that threatened his ship, Jonah was cast overboard (vv. 4–16), where he was swallowed by a great fish (v. 17). From inside the fish Jonah prayed, and was delivered (2:1–10).

Understanding the Text

“Go to the great city of Nineveh” Jonah 1:2. There is no indication that God explained the purpose of Jonah’s mission to him. But chapter 4 indicates Jonah suspected. There Jonah said, “I knew that You are . . . a God who repents from sending calamity” (v. 2). Jonah suspected that if he went to Nineveh the city might repent of “its wickedness,” and God would withhold the threatened destruction. Jonah’s explanation helps us understand the exact nature of the prophet’s flight. He did not run from God because he failed to understand the Lord’s purposes, but because he did understand them! Jonah simply didn’t like those purposes. God doesn’t ask us to agree with what He plans. All He asks is that we acknowledge that He knows best—and obey. “A ship bound for that port” Jonah 1:3. Most commentators believe that the port in question was Tartessus, in Spain. Looking at a map reveals its significance. Nineveh lay to the north. Tarshish was as far south on the Mediterranean as a vessel could go. It’s typical of young people who decide to abandon the faith and lifestyle of their parents to go as far in the opposite direction as they feel they can. If one of your children has taken the route to Tarshish, the story of Jonah is comforting. There was no way Jonah could get away from God. God will pursue our young people, even as He pursued His prophet. “The Lord sent a great wind” Jonah 1:4–6. In the eighth century B.C vessels that plied the Mediterranean stayed close to the coast, ready to run for shelter in case of a storm. The storm that struck the ship terrified the sailors, and apparently made the landsman Jonah groggy. Jonah was aroused and urged to pray by the desperate seamen. It’s possible Jonah was unaware of how desperate the situation was, while the experienced sailors knew full well the extent of the danger. “Who is responsible for making all this trouble for us?” Jonah 1:7–9 As the storm worsened, the sailors cast lots to find out who was responsible for the calamity. This was more than superstition. It reflected the sailors’ awareness that such storms never struck during that particular season. It seemed clear to them that some supernatural cause was involved. The problem was, the sailors felt themselves innocent bystanders, caught in the conflict between some deity and someone on board the ship. Jonah’s disobedience had brought a shipload of innocents into grave danger. This illustrates a basic principle of all human life. Our lives and the lives of others are woven together. We cannot disobey God without in some way affecting others for ill. Nor can we obey God without affecting them for good. “I know that it is my fault” Jonah 1:11–16. Jonah knew that he was responsible for the danger they were all in, and showed he was willing to accept that responsibility. He told the sailors to throw him overboard, and promised that then the storm would stop. We can admire this in Jonah. So many who make mistakes are unwilling to accept responsibility, and try desperately to avoid the consequences of their choices. Jonah was ready to accept those consequences, which he realized was necessary to save his shipmates. But we can also admire the sailors. Despite Jonah’s confession, they were unwilling to throw him overboard until every other hope was exhausted. Finally, begging God not to punish them for taking Jonah’s life, they did as the prophet demanded and threw him over the side. This too is an important reminder. It’s easy to develop a “we/they” view of others, as though there were no moral or good persons in the world beyond the church. The sailors, all worshipers of other gods, and in terror for their own lives, still did all they could to save Jonah. We should appreciate such qualities in others. In fact, such qualities should make us all the more eager to share the good news of the salvation available to all in Jesus. (See DEVOTIONAL.) Archeologists have established the kind of fragile ship that sailed the Mediterranean in Jonah’s time. The single-sailed cargo vessel might carry a few passengers, but most of the crew worked and slept on deck. Most ships in this era refused to put to sea during the Mediterranean’s storm season, and the unexpected storm that struck Jonah’s vessel was viewed as a divinely caused calamity (Jonah 1:7).“The Lord provided a great fish” Jonah 1:17. The Hebrew does not indicate a whale, despite the familiar King James rendering (Matt. 12:39–40). This makes all those stories of whaling men swallowed and later found alive (or dead) in a whale’s stomach irrelevant. It’s understandable that those determined to prove the reliability of the Bible would appeal to such evidence. But it is entirely unnecessary. Why? Because the text says that the Lord “provided” the great fish. This was no ordinary fish, but a Goliath among fish, prepared especially for the task of swallowing Jonah. Just as the appearance of the fish on the scene in time to swallow Jonah, and Jonah’s survival in the stomach of the fish, were miraculous, so was the giant fish itself. “I will look again toward Your holy temple” Jonah 2:4. Jonah 2 is a poem recapitulating Jonah’s experience. He pictures for us the currents that swirled around him, and the clammy seaweed, some of which grows to a height of 50 feet or more, that wrapped around his head as he sank. Near death, “I remembered You, Lord, and my praise rose to You, to Your holy temple.” These references to the temple recall Solomon’s prayer at its dedication. In that prayer he asked God to restore any of his sinning people, “aware of his afflictions and pains, and spreading out his hands toward this temple” (2 Chron. 6:29, cf. vv. 26–27). Jonah’s prayer was a tacit confession of his sin of disobedience, and a tacit commitment to be obedient. Then, rescued and rejoicing, Jonah openly affirmed, “What I have vowed I will make good.” How often we see it in the Old Testament. Whatever the sin, however great the disobedience, God is willing to accept the sinner who returns to Him. Upon confession the sinner is restored not only to fellowship, but in the case of Jonah, still entrusted with his original mission. Your past failures, or mine, do not disqualify us from participation in the great purposes God is working out even now in our world. What a motive to surrender to Him, and once again be fully committed to doing His will.

DEVOTIONAL

Make Me a BIG Blessing(Jonah 1)

Every once in a while I run across the notion that unless a Christian is really in close fellowship with the Lord, God can’t use him or her to bless others. Actually, that’s not true, as the story of Jonah illustrates. Jonah was just about as far out of fellowship as a believer can get—running away from God—when that terrific storm hit his ship and frightened all aboard. And then look what happened. Jonah admitted he was responsible for the storm, got the sailors to throw him overboard, the storm stopped—and the sailors, convinced by all this of the power of Jonah’s God, “greatly feared the Lord, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows to Him” (v. 16). God used a disobedient Jonah to introduce Himself to a shipload of pagan sailors! And the pagan sailors believed. Of course, Jonah wasn’t around to enjoy his “success.” He was drowning: sinking into the sea, his lungs bursting, sensing the clammy touch of the seaweed entwined around his head. I think this is the message preachers should get across to Christians. Can God use a carnal or disobedient believer to accomplish His purposes? Of course! But— will such a believer experience the blessing that usually comes with serving God? No. Like Jonah, the believer out of touch with God misses the blessing, for he’s drowning in the sea of his own troubles and sorrows. Oh, yes. There’s one more thing to note. When Jonah was out of fellowship with the Lord, God used him to save a shipload. But when Jonah was back in fellowship, and went on to Nineveh, God used him to save a whole city. Conclusions? I think I want to ask the Lord to make me a BIG blessing. He can use me more if I stay in fellowship with Him. And I’ll sure enjoy it a lot more too.

Personal Application

Serve God wholeheartedly, and enjoy!

Quotable

“There is more joy in Jesus in 24 hours than there is in the world in 365 days. I have tried them both.”—R.A. Torrey

Jonah

INTRODUCTION

Jonah is the narrative report of a prophet from Israel and his mission to Nineveh, capital of Assyria. Fearing that his nation’s enemy might repent if warned of impending judgment, Jonah tried to flee. God dealt with His reluctant prophet, and Nineveh humbled itself and was saved, teaching Jonah and us a lesson about the compassion of God.

OUTLINE OF CONTENTS

I.	Jonah’s Flight	Jonah 1
II.	Jonah’s Deliverance	Jonah 2
III.	Jonah’s Preaching	Jonah 3
IV.	God’s Rebuke	Jonah 4

Obadiah

JUNE 30

Reading 181

JUDAH’S ENEMIES PERISH Obadiah

“Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame; you will be destroyed forever” (Obad. 10).Those hostile to God’s people take a great risk when they act against them.

Background

Names in Obadiah.

The prophet used a number of different racial and geographic terms in this short book. The majority are synonyms used to identify either Edom or Judah. These names reflect the Hebrew custom of identifying peoples by their ancestors (thus “Esau” is another name for Edom and “Jacob” for Judah) or by place names (thus “Teman” also refers to Edom, and “Mount Zion” to Judah). If this is kept in mind the message of Obadiah will be much clearer.

Overview

Edom would be pillaged and her people slaughtered (vv. 1–9) as punishment for violence she directed against Judah (vv. 10–14). In the coming Day of the Lord all nations will judged and their lands occupied by God’s own (vv. 15–21).

Understanding the Text

“The vision of Obadiah” Obad. 1. Nothing is known of Obadiah as a person. His name, however, means “servant of Yahweh.” Obadiah did not think it was important even to identify himself, as most Hebrews did, by stating their father’s or family name. Obadiah saw himself simply as God’s servant. What was important was the message he had to deliver. You and I want to adopt Obadiah’s perspective. Oh, yes, we are important—important to a God who loves us for ourselves rather than for what we do for Him. But when we’re given the mission of speaking for God, we must exalt the message. Obadiah would do nothing to detract from his message by drawing attention to himself. “You who live in the clefts of the rocks” Obad. 2–4. Edomite population centers were built on a great ridge of mountainous land opposite the Dead Sea. These heights, ranging from 4,000 to 5,700 feet, made the land easily defensible, and it was in fact protected by a series of stone fortresses built to command the roads that wound up precipitous cliffs and traced the edges of terrifyingly deep gorges. These natural defenses contributed to the pride of Edom, reflected in their rhetorical question, “Who can bring me down to the ground?” How dangerous a sense of security is! The Edomites felt untouchable. Arrogant, they struck out at Judah from behind the barriers they thought protected them. Undoubtedly if they had felt vulnerable they would never have risked trying to harm their neighbor. God said to Edom, “I will bring you down.” In this saying Obadiah reminded all of us that no one is ever beyond the reach of God. Every person is responsible for his actions, and every person is within reach of the disciplining hand of the Lord. “Because of the violence against your brother Jacob” Obad. 10. The ancient covenant that God made with Abraham guaranteed that God would bless those who blessed him and his descendants, and curse those who cursed him and his progeny. God recalled His promise, and announced through Obadiah that Edom would be “destroyed forever” because of just such an offense. What a revelation of the nature of God’s commitment to His word. If Obadiah did prophesy just after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians, as many believe, the generation of Jews that were Edom’s victims was an apostate generation. They willfully abandoned God to serve idols, and consciously rejected His word. They were themselves under the ban: themselves doomed to judgment. Even so God intended to keep His ancient promise. Those who cursed His people must be cursed. Edom must fall. Remember this verse and its historical context next time you fail yourself and God and, burdened by a sense of shame, wonder if God can forgive you. God remains fully committed to every promise He has made to you in Christ, even as He remained fully committed to Judah despite far worse sins. God keeps His word. You can trust Him to keep on loving you, keep on working with you, until at last you do reflect the very character of Christ. “Look down on them in their calamity” Obad. 11–14. The text shows a fascinating progression in the behavior of Edom toward Judah. At first, as the invasion developed, the Edomites stood off, to watch and enjoy the discomfort of Judah (vv. 11–12). When it became clear that the people of Judah were losing, the Edomites became more brave. They marched through the gates of the ruined city to gather all the loot that might be left. They then became bolder still, and positioned troops along escape routes to “cut down their fugitives” and “hand over their survivors.” It was a classic case of waiting till the fight was over, and then hurrying in to kick the loser. Kicking a person who’s down has always been popular, because it carries little risk. At least, little risk of the victim kicking back. What people need to remember, however, is that God takes the side of the oppressed. So, if in your home, office, or your community, you’re ever tempted to join the crowd that kicks one of life’s underdogs, remember Edom. A victim may seem defenseless. But he or she has God on his side. “For all nations” Obad. 15–21. Obadiah announced that the principles seen in his oracle against Edom have universal application. They do. One day God will openly act on behalf of the victims of every oppressive power. Even nations will answer to Him. When that happens every Esau will be destroyed, and Judah, the “loser,” will occupy their territory. There is no “ill-gotten gain.” There is only “ill-gotten loss.”

DEVOTIONAL

Like One of Them(Obad. 11–12)

I confess! I do like to read the comics when I get up in the morning. At least, I like to read three of them—Calvin and Hobbes, Sally Forth, and For Better or For Worse. Last week—the first week of school—the little girl in Better threw her teddy bear on the school bus. She was assigned the painful task of writing a note of apology. In a later set of panels she aimed the bear carefully, and bopped her big brother squarely in the back of the head! Why? Because he was the one who encouraged her to toss the bear on the bus in the first place, and then laughed when she got caught and was punished. I don’t suppose cartoonist Lynn Johnston had been reading Obadiah. But she might have been. Obadiah 11 and 12 reads, “On the day you stood aloof while strangers carried off his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you were like one of them. You should not look down on your brother in the day of his misfortune, nor rejoice over the people of Judah in the day of their destruction.” In comic strip terms, “I didn’t throw any bear!” And again in comic strip terms, “Na Naa Naaa! That bus driver got you good. Ha ha ha!” I suspect everyone suppressed a smile of satisfaction when the bear plopped on the brother’s head. He sure deserved it! That’s what God said to Edom through Obadiah. And what He says to us. You can’t stand around when you see your brother a victim, egg on the perpetrators, and be guiltless. If you don’t step in with help, you are “like one of them.” Biblical faith doesn’t let us stand on the sidelines when others are victimized. Even if the “others” aren’t particular friends of ours. Even if they are our enemies.

Personal Application

Don’t stand by when you see others in need. Help.

Quotable

“When a man does love his enemies, he knows that God has done a tremendous work in him, and everyone else knows it too.”—Oswald Chambers

Obadiah

INTRODUCTION

Obadiah is a prophecy of destruction, directed against Edom, a land across the Jordan River from Judah that was populated by descendants of Jacob’s brother, Esau (Gen. 25). Obadiah said the Edomites collaborated with foreign invaders of Judah and mistreated Jerusalem’s survivors; a charge which fits six different occasions in Judah’s history! It is most likely that Obadiah predicted Edom’s overthrow just after the Babylonian invasion of Judah in 586 B.C. Edom disappeared as an independent kingdom the latter half of the sixth century B.C., and its ruin is referred to in Malachi 1:3–4.

OUTLINE OF CONTENTS

I.	The Demise of Edom	Obad. 1–9
II.	The Charge against Edom	Obad. 10–14
III.	The Day of the Lord	Obad. 15–21