Day 181: Jonah and the Whale (2024)

This episode is a detailed exploration of the Book of Jonah, focusing on themes of obedience, repentance, and God's mercy.

1. Jonah's attempt to flee from God underscores the futility of escaping divine call.
2. The episode highlights the transformative power of repentance, as shown by Nineveh's response to Jonah's minimalistic prophecy.
3. It reflects on the depth of God's mercy, willing to forgive even those outside the covenant community.
4. Father Schmitz draws parallels between the historical context of the narrative and contemporary challenges in faith.
5. The discussion points out Jonah's struggle with God's mercy towards his enemies, exploring themes of grace and justice.

1: Introduction to Jonah

Father Mike introduces the Book of Jonah, setting the stage for a detailed discussion on its contents and themes. Father Mike Schmitz: "Today, it is day 181. We are reading from Jonah, exploring his trials and lessons."

2: Jonah's Flight

The chapter explores Jonah's initial disobedience and flight from God's command to prophesy in Nineveh. Father Mike Schmitz: "Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord."

3: The Storm and Jonah's Plight

Discussion of Jonah's thrown into the sea and swallowed by a great fish, symbolizing the consequences of disobedience. Father Mike Schmitz: "The Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest."

4: Nineveh's Repentance

Analyzes the repentance of Nineveh and Jonah's reaction, highlighting themes of mercy and redemption. Father Mike Schmitz: "The people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth."

5: Jonah's Anger and God's Lesson

Focuses on Jonah's displeasure with God's mercy and the lesson God imparts regarding compassion. Father Mike Schmitz: "Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, where more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?"

1. Embrace challenges as opportunities for growth and deeper faith.
2. Reflect on personal biases that may hinder extending mercy to others.
3. Practice daily repentance and openness to God’s redirection.
4. Seek understanding in difficult scriptures through prayer and study.
5. Consider how personal actions align with divine commands and love.

Today, we hear the story of the prophet Jonah, who, unlike Amos, does not want the people to repent. The readings are 2 Kings 15, Jonah 1-4, and Psalm 138.

People

Jonah, God

Content Warnings:

None

Father Mike Schmitz
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a year podcast where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in Ear podcast is brought to you by ascension using the great adventure Bible timeline. We'll read all the way from Genesis to revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story. Today, it is day 181. We are reading from two kings, chapter 15, Jonah, the Book of the Prophet Jonah, chapters one, two, three and four.

The entire book of the Prophet Jonah. It's just four chapters, so we'll get through that today, as well as praying psalm 138, as always. The Bible translation that I'm reading from is the revised standard Version, the second catholic edition, and I am using the great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com bibleina year. You can also subscribe to this podcast in your podcast app, unless you're listening in an app that I've already said it a thousand times.

Right? Okay, so, yeah, moving on, moving on. On day 180, 1, second kings 15, we're getting closer and closer to our next time period, the time period of exile. And so, man, as we get closer and closer, in fact, we're on day 181. In ten days from now, on day 191, we'll be coming to a conclusion of second kings.

And what that means is, and second chronicles 36. So what that means is going to be that on day 192, we're going to begin a different kind of thing. And what we're doing is we're not leaving the story, but we're taking a deeper dive into the other books, the prophetic books and some other historical books and some other wisdom books that were written or proclaimed at the time of the exile. And so, for example, Isaiah, on day 192, we're beginning the book of the prophet Isaiah. Now, Isaiah at the end of today's reading, second kings, chapter 15, we're going to hear about a guy named Ahaz.

And Isaiah lived at that time, and he actually speaks to Ahaz in Isaiah, chapter seven, I believe it is. So we have some crossover. But in ten days we are going to come to a conclusion, in some ways not a conclusion, we're coming to a, uh, let's call it a marker. And that marker is going to be taking a deep dive into the works and the words of the prophets. But today it is day 181.

We're reading two kings 15, all of the book of the prophet Jonah one through four and praying. Psalm 138, 2nd book of kings, chapter 15. Azariah reigns over Judah in the 27th year of Jeroboam, king of Israel. Azariah, the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reignite. He was 16 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem.

His mothers name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Amaziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. And the Lord struck the king so that he was a leper to the day of his death.

And he dwelt in a separate house. And Jotham, the king's son, was over the household governing the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. And Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

Zechariah reigns over Israel in the 38th year of Azariah, king of Judah. Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. And he did what was evil in the sight of the lord, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, which he made Israel to sin. Shalom, the son of Jabesh conspired against him and struck him down at Ibleam and killed him and reigned in his stead.

Now the rest of the deeds of Zechariah. Behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. This was the promise of the lord which he gave to your sons shall sit upon the throne of Israel to the fourth generation. And so it came to pass. Shalom reigns over Israel.

Shalom, the son of Jabesh began to reign in the 39th year of Uzziah, king of Judah. And he reigned one month in Samaria. Then Menachem, the son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and came to Samaria. And he struck down Shallum, the son of Jabesh in Samaria and slew him and reigned in his stead. Now the rest of the deeds of Shalom and the conspiracy which he made, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

At that time, Menachem sacked Tapuah and all who were in it. And its territory from Tirzah on because they did not open it to him. Therefore he sacked it, and he ripped up all the women in it who were with child. MenachEm reigns over Israel in the 39th year of Azariah, king of Judah, Menachem the son of Gadi began to reign over Israel. And he reigned ten years in Samaria, and he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

He did not depart all his days from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nabat, which he made Israel to sin. Pul, the king of Assyria came against the land, and Menachem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver that he might help him to confirm his hold of the royal power. Menachem exacted the money from Israel, that is, from all the wealthy men, 50 shekels of silver from every man to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back and did not stay there in the land. Now the rest of the deeds of Menachem and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

And Menachem slept with his fathers, and Pekahiah his son, reigned in his stead. Pekahiah reigns over Israel in the 50th year of Azariah, king of Judah. Pekahiah the son of Menachem began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned two years, and he did what was evil in the sight of the lord. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, which he made Israel to sin. And Pekah the son of Ramaliah, his captain, conspired against him with 50 men of the Gileadites and slew him in Samaria.

In the citadel of the king's house he slew him and he reigned in his stead. Now the rest of the deeds of Pekahiah and all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. Pekah reigns over Israel. In the 52nd year of Azariah, the king of Judah, Picah, the son of Ramaliah, began to reign over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned 20 years, and he did what was evil in the sight of the lord. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, which he made Israel to sin in the days of Pekah, king of Israel.

Tiglath Pilser, king of Assyria, came and captured Aijon, Abel, Betmeacha, Genoa, Kadesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali. And he carried the people captive to Assyria. Then Hoshea the son of Elah made a conspiracy against Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, and struck him down and slew him and reigned in his stead in the 20th year of Jotham, the son of Uzziah. Now the rest of the acts of Pekah, in all that he did, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. Jotham reigns over Judah.

In the second year of Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, king of Israel, Jotham, the son of Uzziah, king of Judah, began to reign. He was 25 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerusha, the daughter of Zadok. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah had done. Nevertheless, the high places were not removed.

The people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places. He built the upper gate of the house of the Lord. Now the rest of the acts of Jotham, in all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? In those days the Lord began to send Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Ramalia, against Judah. Jotham slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, his father.

And Ahaz, his son, reigned in his stead.

The book of Jonah. Chapter one. Jonah tries to flee God. Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried to his God, and they threw the wares that were in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep.

So the captain came and said to him, what do you mean, you sleeper? Arise. Call upon your God. Perhaps the God will give a thought to us that we do not perish. And they said to one another, come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us.

So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then they said to him, tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country, and of what people are you? And he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.

Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, what is this that you have done? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them, jonah is thrown into the sea and swallowed. Then they said to him, what shall we do to you? That the sea may quiet down for us. For the sea grew more and more tempestuous.

He said to them, take me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for you. For I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you. Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they cried to the Lord, we beg you, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life and lay not on us innocent blood.

For you, O Lord, have done as it pleased you. So they took up Jonah and threw him into the sea. And the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly. And they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows.

And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Chapter two Jonah's prayer and deliverance then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God, from the belly of the fish, saying, I called to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me, out of the belly of Sheol, I cried, and you heard my voice, for you have cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas. And the flood was round about me. All your waves and your billows passed over me.

Then I said, I am cast out from your presence. How shall I again look upon your holy temple? The waters closed in over me. The deep was round about me. Weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains.

I went down to the land, whose bars closed upon me forever. Yet you brought up my life from the pit, o lord, my God. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came to you into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their true loyalty. But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you what I have vowed.

I will pay. Deliverance belongs to the Lord. And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. Chapter three Nineveh repents then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you so Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city.

Three days journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey, and he cried, yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. Then tidings reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

And he made proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles. Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows?

God may yet repent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we perish not. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God repented of the evil which he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. Chapter four Jonah's anger but it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry, and he prayed to the Lord and said, I pray you, Lord. Is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and that you repent of evil.

Therefore now, O Lord, take my life from me, I beg you, for it is better for me to die than to live. And the Lord said, do you do well to be angry? Then Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade till he should see what would become of the city. God reproves Jonah, and the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to save him from discomfort.

So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm, which attacked the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose. God appointed a sultry east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die, and said, it is better for me to die than to live.

But God said to Jonah, do you do well to be angry for the plant? And he said, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die. And the Lord said, you pity the plant for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city in which there are more than a 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle.

Psalm 138. Thanksgiving and praise. A psalm of David I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart. Before the angels I sing your praise. I bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your mercy and your faithfulness.

For you have exalted above everything your name and your word. On the day I called, you answered me, my strength of soul you increased. All the kings of the earth shall praise you, O Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord. For great is the glory of the Lord. For though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly, but the haughty he knows from afar.

Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me. Your mercy, O Lord, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Father in heaven, we give you praise and thank you so much. Lord, you do. You see us and you observe us. You watch us, and not just watch us to bust us, right, Lord God, you didn't just watch us to catch us doing something wrong. You are attentive to us.

You attend to us which makes no sense, Lord God, because you are the God of the universe. And yet these people, us, that you've made in your image and likeness, you attend to us with the love of a father, because you have made us your sons and daughters. And so we we thank you and just, we know that you hear every one of our prayers. We know that you know all of our needs. And so in this moment, we bring our hearts to you, God, not just my words here, but the words, the heart, the needs, the desires of every person listening to these words, Lord God, I.

I know that you know us. You know us by name. And every person who's listening to these words with a desire in their heart, with a. With grief in their heart, with hope or joy or love in their heart. Every person listening to these words, Lord God, you know the secret of the heart.

And you are the answer. You're the answer to the questions of our hearts, to the grief of our hearts, to the brokenness of our hearts. You are the answer. And so we praise you and we pray to you, and we love you. May you be glorified, Lord God, in Jesus name.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, so in second kings, let's jump in quick because we have a whole book, the book of the prophet Jonah, to get through today. And one quick note is that in two kings for today, second kings 15, we have the king Azariah, and we might think Azariah. I know that name.

Yes, you do. But you also know the name Uzziah, because Azariah became a king of Judah when he was 16 years old. And you're like, wait a second. I remember a guy. In two chronicles, there was a young guy who became a king, but his name was Uzziah.

And later on in Isaiah, we're going to hear about Uzziah again. So it's just the kind of, like, how we had Joash, who also was known as Jehoash. So, just so you know, if you're thinking, wait, Azariah sounds a lot like Uzziah in what he did. You are 100% correct. So he becomes a great king, right?

He is a great king, except for the fact that he doesn't tear down the high places. Uzziah, Azariah does the same as his father, Amaziah. Easy for me to say, I guess. And what. What happens?

He restores worship in the temple. Remember this? He restores worship in the temple. But he did not tear down the high places. And so people still burned incense.

They still worshiped at these false places. And so he was struck with leprosy. Remember that? And what happened was, after Azariah, Uzziah died of leprosy, his son Jotham became the king. Now, remember, Jotham was his co regente because Uzziah, Azariah, when he had leprosy, wasn't able to rule, he had to live in a separate place.

And that's when Jotham came in to his own as a co regent. And then when his father died, Jotham became the king in his stead. And then what we hear at the rest of chapter 15 is, oh, man, chaos in the northern country of Israel. So chaos after. I mean, murder after murder.

There were five different kings of Israel, some of them six months he was king, some one month he was a king. And so we just. Things are tumultuous, and they're getting worse and worse and worse, and they're going to get really. In fact, in just like, two chapters from now, we actually even saw the Assyrians. His name was Pul, right?

The king of Assyria. He also is known as a guy named Tiglath Pilesr. And so sometimes they see that those are the same name or the same person. They could be the same person. But basically the king of Assyria is already coming into the northern kingdom of Israel and is already carrying off people into exile, and they get named here.

He goes into Ijon, Abel, Magaka, Genoa, Kadesh, Hazor, Gilead. We know that place, Galilee and all the land of Naphtali. Remember, all those people are being carried off into Assyria. This is the beginning of this destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel, and it's just gonna get worse and worse and worse. We ended at chapter 15 with King Ahaz, and Ahaz is not a good king.

We're gonna hear about that tomorrow. But today we still have the book of the prophet Jonah. Now, we had heard about Jonah one place. In fact, we heard about Jonah just a couple days ago in not only. Well, in second kings, chapter 14.

In two kings, chapter 14, Jonah is a prophet, and he's a prophet to Jeroboam II. Jeroboam II, who is a horrible, horrible king, one of the worst kings in the north. And Jonah basically affirms what Jeroboam does. And then Amos, we heard this a couple days ago. This is what I was thinking of a couple days ago.

In Amos, chapter six, Amos is the true prophet speaking words against Jeroboam. So this is really interesting that Jonah has already known at this point, has not actually being a great prophet. And then what happens? God says, go to Nineveh and be a prophet to them, call them to repentance. And he demonstrates that he is not a good prophet.

Now, we don't know exactly right away why Jonah doesn't go immediately to Nineveh. We don't know. At the beginning of the of the Book of Jonah. We don't know why he runs off to Tarshish, but we find out later on it's because, remember these other prophets? They're getting sent to the people of Israel.

They're getting sent to the kingdom of Judah. They're getting sent to call, basically, the Lord's people back to repentance. Jonah, in this case, is being sent to Nineveh, which is basically Assyria, not basically, which is in Assyria. And so these are the enemies of God's people. They're not God's people.

And God is saying, okay, as a prophet, though, I'm calling you to go to them. I'm calling you to call them to repentance. And Jonah even says, after they repent, Jonah says, this is why I didn't want to come here, because I know who you are. I know that you are gracious God. This is in chapter four, verse two.

He says, I knew their conversion. The conversion of the people of Nineveh displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, I pray you, Lord. Is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? This is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish.

Here's the reason for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and that you repent of evil. And he basically said, the reason why I didn't want to come here is I didn't want it to work. I didn't want these people to repent. I wanted them to suffer for their sins. And, you know, it's a matter of fact, the Assyrians were not good people.

They had not treated Israel well. In fact, had killed so many of the people of Israel. And so Jonah, like, I don't want to go there. But the Lord God demonstrates his kindness, his graciousness, his mercy, by sparing and calling to conversion, even people that did not know him. Think of the.

In chapter three, Jonah goes through this. It's Nineveh, enormously large city, right? Three days journey, three days to walk through it. Jonah gets barely a day, and all he's saying is a couple words. He says, yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

He doesn't even tell them, yeah, God's going to do it. He doesn't tell them, it's the Lord God from the people of Israel who's going to do it. He doesn't tell them what they should do. He doesn't even tell them what they're doing wrong. He just says he's giving the bare minimum of a prophet's message.

Yet 40 days and Nineveh shall be overthrown. And then people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed fast, put on sackcloth. And the king himself takes off his robe and declares, no one's going to eat, no one's going to drink, not even the beasts, not even me. And they have a conversion.

They have a. They repent. And again, this is just irony, right? This is almost even satire, because you have the people, the people on the ship, right? The mariners, they convert after God calms the storm.

They worship God. Yet Jonah, here is nothing calling upon God. You have the people of Nineveh. They worship God. And Jonah is angry about this whole thing.

And so God even tries to teach JONah a lesson by giving this, you know, willing that this plant grows up a gourd tree to make shade over Jonah's head, and he's pleased with it. And then God causes the worm to kill the gourd plant. And JoNah is displeased because now he's hot. And God says this, something that's so powerful, and not just for JoNah the prophet, but is a prophet, prophetic words for us as well. When God says, you pity the plant for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.

So why, you know, there's this plant that, again, you didn't even work for. You didn't have anything to do. You just was happy that it was here that I brought here, and now you are angry enough to die. Should I not I, the Lord, the God of everything, the God who made everyone, should I not have more care for these people in Nineveh who, as he says, 120,000 people who do not know their right hand from their left, like, they don't. They don't.

They don't have the law. They haven't been given the commandments of God. They don't know what's right and what's wrong. And should I not care for them? Basically, God says my favorite line, almost the entire Bible, maybe.

But at least in the book of the prophet, Jonah is the very last line where he says that the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left. And also much cattle, you guys. But also Jonah, they've got a lot of cows. But there, there's an element here where God is saying, this is the depth of my love and Jonah, you and your love has no depth. You and your love has no depth.

You do not. You didn't want me to call these people back to repentance. You didn't want me to give them my mercy. And you're angry enough to die. So, Jonah, what you need is you need a depth.

You need to experience the depth of my love in your life. And that's so many of us right where we can. Maybe we can speak the words of God. I know I can. I can speak the words of God and still have shallowness in my heart.

I can speak the words of God and still not want to extend mercy, not want to extend God's justice to somebody, extend God's graciousness to someone because of the shallowness of my heart. And so for all of us, you know, if you've been baptized, you've been baptized and anointed priest, prophet and king. And so all of us called to be prophets, I hope we're not like prophets like Jonah. Prophets who don't want to speak God's word because we don't want people to know how much he loves them. Hopefully we're prophets like Amos.

Again that contrasting when they're talking to Jeroboam. Jonah tells Jeroboam what he wants to hear and amos tells Jeroboam what he needs to hear. Hopefully all of us allow the Lord to tell us what we need to hear and then we're able to speak that truth, to hear that truth ourselves and let that truth convert our hearts and also to live that truth out in such a way that our lives are prophetic lives, witnesses and testimony to Jesus. Let's keep praying for each other because it's not an easy thing. It is often a challenge for all of us.

So embrace the challenge. Pray for each other. I'm praying for you. Please pray for me. My name is Father Mike and I cannot wait to see you tomorrow.

God blessed.