Day 174: Jonah

Something strange is happening with the prophets. Through them we are discovering that God is interested in the other nations, not just Israel and Judah.
Jonah’s disobedience
Jonah 1:1-11
Jonah in the fish
Jonah 1:12-17
Jonah’s prayer and his deliverance
Jonah 2:1-10
Jonah at Nineveh
Jonah 3:1-10
His strange reaction
Jonah 4:1-11
Judgements against nations
Amos 1:1-15, 2:1-3
Judgements against Israel and Judah
Amos 2:4-3:15

I like Jonah. He’s a curmudgeonly old git, but wonderfully honest. After all, most prophets just write up what God said to them, but Jonah gives us his reactions to God’s instructions, even though they aren’t very inspiring.
He’s a depressive. He always assumes the worst. Even when Nineveh repents, he complains about it. Thinking about it, he was amazingly successful - after all, 120,000 people changed their ways because of him - none of the other prophets had anything like that success rate with Israel and Judah. But all he can do is moan that he didn’t get to see a fireworks display as God destroyed the city, thus denying him the pleasure of saying “I told you so.”
Amos also begins with a message of judgement against other nations. This is interesting and new - up to this point, it’s just been assumed that all the other nations were bad, and the attitude of God’s people has been either to stay away from them, or get sucked into their fascinating idolatry. But suddenly God seems concerned that they are not treating each other well - Moab is criticised for doing evil to Edom’s king. This seems to be the beginning of God extending his concern for justice and righteousness beyond his chosen people, to tall the nations of the earth. It seems to be the beginning of God letting Israel and Judah know that he is concerned with the whole world, not just his chosen people. Perhaps it’s the start of the awareness that Yahweh is God of all, not just the tribal god of Israel.
As Jonah said, “I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land.” All the sailors prayed to their own gods in the storm, but only the Lord was able to calm the storm. Elijah proved that Baal was powerless, and that the Lord is God.
What matters to God is not just having a faithful people who will serve him - he is interested in justice and righteousness the world over.