The Lord condemned Edom's cruelty to the descendants of Jacob. They watched while Jerusalem was ransacked by foreigners and they did nothing. This made them as bad as the foreigners. They celebrated the suffering of Judah, but they shouldn't have. The Lord would pay them back for what they did. The Lord would punish Israel and the neighboring nations, but Israel would survive.
Jonah
Some people think Jonah is a fictitious character, but he is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25 as a prophet.
The Lord told Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn the people to change their ways or they were doomed. Instead, Jonah ran to Joppa and bought a ticket to Spain. Then he got on the ship and sailed away to his escape (or so he thought.) Mayhem ensued. The sea got rough, the sailors panicked and Jonah knew he was the reason for putting everyone in jeopardy. When the sailors asked him, Jonah admitted that it was his fault because God was angry. That scared them because they knew who God was. Jonah told them to throw him into the sea and save themselves. After they prayed for forgiveness, they threw Jonah overboard. The Lord had a big fish swallow Jonah and that's where he stayed for 3 days and 3 nights.
Jonah prayed while he was inside the fish (I would) and realized that God is merciful. The Lord had the fish vomit Jonah onto the shore. So it did.
Again the Lord told Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell the people the city would be destroyed in 40 days. They believed him and decided to fast and wear sackcloth and they stopped sinning. So God didn't destroy them.
Jonah was really angry and upset. He knew God wouldn't destroy Nineveh (which is why he tried to go to Spain.) He asked God to let him die. God asked him what right he had to be angry? Jonah left Nineveh and set up a shade to wait under to see what would happen to Nineveh. The Lord made a vine grow and provide shade for Jonah, which made him happy. The next morning the vine was withered because the Lord caused a worm to chew through the stem and kill the vine. Then the Lord had a hot wind blow on Jonah until he was nearly dead from dehydration, and Jonah shouted that he wished he were dead. The Lord asked him if he had the right to be angry about the vine? Jonah told the Lord "Yes!" and that he was angry enough to die. The Lord told Jonah that he was concerned about a vine he did not take care of, and it grew and died in a day. So shouldn't God be concerned about a city of many people and livestock?
Micah
Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and Hosea. Micah condemns Samaria - the town that king Omri established in 1Kings 16:26. Bad things were going to happen to the people of Samaria because of their sins. Judah was also doomed.
The Lord was going to give the people enough rope to hang themselves. They cheated anyone out of anything they could get away with. The time for that would soon be at an end. The Lord would take care of the survivors.
Micah condemned the people who took advantage of anyone they could. He also told the prophets who offered salvation to those who paid them best that they were in big trouble. Micah had been given courage to tell the people who made cruelty and murder a way of life in Jerusalem that they would be destroyed for their sins.
Tomorrow read Micah 4-7; Nahum 1-2
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment