Year 2, Week 1, Day 3 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 1, Day 3

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of 2 Kings 15; Jonah 2-4

Today’s reading consists of a log of kings from the Southern Kingdom of Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Judah. From the Southern Kingdom of Judah, 2 Kings 15 notes the reign of Azariah (aka Uzziah), who was a son of Amaziah, and the reign of Jotham, the son of Uzziah. Their summary assessments are very similar: “And 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” (2 Kings 15:3-4); and: “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” (2 Kings 15:34-35a). In between the report of these two Kings of Judah, 2 Kings 15 also notes the reign of five Kings of Israel: Zachariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, and Pekah. A common statement is shared by most of these Northern Kings: “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 Nebat, which he made Israel to sin” (2 Kings 15:9; see also 15:18,24,28). The parallel historical record of 2 Kings 15 is found in portions of 2 Chronicles 26-27. Today’s reading also concludes the Book of Jonah as we see not only Jonah’s response to the LORD’s commission: “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” (Jonah 1:3); but also how the resolution to Jonah’s life pointed to a the truth that God’s people were to grasp.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the gripe that Jonah had with the LORD: “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O 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 steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:1-2). Jonah’s words are reminiscent of words and events surrounding Israel’s rebellion against the LORD as they made and worshipped the golden calf. As Moses interceded before the LORD in response to the LORD’s resolve to destroy Israel, we are told: "And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people” (Exodus 32:14). What the LORD did in response to Israel’s rebellion, that is, relent from disaster, is the very thing that had Jonah in an uproar. Jonah’s reaction to the LORD relenting from disaster toward the people of Nineveh was: “Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:3). Jonah is so angry with the LORD, that he would rather die than live to see the LORD treat Nineveh the way Israel was treated by the LORD. In Jonah’s estimation, it was good that the LORD relented from destroying Israel, but it was bad what the LORD relented from destroying the people of Nineveh. 

The hypocrisy of Jonah perhaps also revealed the hypocrisy of Israel as a whole nation. The very existence of Israel as the people of God was built on the character and commitment of the LORD who was: “a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Jonah 4:2), which was simply a restatement of the LORD’s revelation to Moses: “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness” (Exodus 34:6). It had tragically come to the point where neither Israel in general nor Jonah in particular desired that the LORD treat other nations the way that He treated Israel in general or Jonah in particular. Jonah had been the recipient of the LORD being, “a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”, both before and after the people of Nineveh repented. As Jonah first defied the LORD, we are told: “And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah” (Jonah 1:17a). After Jonah did do what the LORD commanded, and it turned out to be a reluctant compliance, we are told: “Now 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 his discomfort” (Jonah 4:6a). Whether Jonah was blatantly in defiance against the LORD, or attitudinally in defiance against the LORD, the LORD was, “a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”. Jonah had one kind of response when was the recipient of such mercy and grace: “So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant” (Jonah 4:6b); but the entirely opposite response when Nineveh received the same: “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry” (Jonah 4:1a).

As the LORD caused the plant that He made to wither, Jonah’s mood shifted again: "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” (Jonah 4:8b). Jonah seems to reflect the notion that he was in fact entitled to the LORD’s provision of grace and mercy in his life. But more importantly, as Jonah showed he cared more about his plant than the people of Nineveh, the LORD wished to show Jonah how out of step he was to reflecting the LORD’s mercy and compassion before others: “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 not I pity Nineveh, that 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?” (Jonah 4:10-11). Jonah wanted to receive the LORD’s grace but he did not want to reflect it. What Jonah displayed in particular was the very mindset that Israel as a whole was displaying.  

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe