And Theoology Of Yahweh: The Theology Of Jonah

2086 Words5 Pages

THEOLOGY OF JONAH
Introduction
The book begins and ends with Yahweh speaking to Jonah. The book has major divisions, Yahweh commissioned Jonah but he disobeyed, and second Yahweh commissioned Jonah again and he obeyed. More importantly, the book ends with a question not only for Jonah but also for the readers including us. In this paper, I will not discuss the authorship, date and genre. The purpose of this paper is to find out who Yahweh is and how he relates to people.
1. Theology of Yahweh
In the book of Jonah, Yahweh revealed Himself as a personal being who spoke directly to Jonah (1:1; 3:1; 4:4, 9, 10). Elsewhere in the book, we see Yahweh as personal. For example, he had compassion, he repented and (3:9, 10; 4:2). We can best understand Yahweh in Jonah's confession of faith: I worship the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the land (1:9). Jonah understood God as the creator who is sovereign over all his creation including the sea and the land. That personal God is the one and only God who creates the land and the sea. God as the creator does whatever He pleases. For instance, He sent a great wind (1:4) and calmed it (1:15). He sent a great fish to swallow (1:17) and to vomit (2:10). He provided a vine (4:6) to give shadow and destroyed it (4:7). He provided east wind (4:8). He does whatever He pleases with his creation (1:14). By seeing all these works of God, one can satisfactorily say as Gareth Crossley said, "There is an undoubted recognition of the sovereignty of God over nature, the natural elements and all circumstances." He is all-powerful. All of Yahweh's creation obeys the sovereign Creator but Jonah did not.
Jonah tried to flee from God (1:3). As a result, he was overthrown into the raging sea. At this ...

... middle of paper ...

...the mount Jesus said to his audiences, "You are the light of the world." So we are today's Jonah, being the light of the world, shining in darkness and bearing testimonies for Christ in our Nineveh. For Myanmar Christians, their Nineveh is none other than Myanmar.

Conclusion
The book of Jonah is very interesting and insightful. Theologically, it gives us who God is and how he relates to his creation. Missiologically, it challenges every reader the urgent need of proclaiming the gospel. Practically, it questions us with the last verse of chapter four. Yahweh is telling us how much he concern for people. It is good to conclude with the quote from Trible, "After all, we are Jonah outside the text, and we hold the power of an answer to Yahweh's question." If anyone reads the book of Jonah, he/she should ponder the question, "Should I not be concerned the great city?"

Open Document