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Analysis of the book Jonah
The book of Jonah analysis
Paper about jonah in the bible
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Recommended: Analysis of the book Jonah
An interesting concept that appeared to me while reading the Book of Jonah, was that the concept of the story was universally understood, so simple that they made a children's book from it. While reading “Obadiah, Jonah, Micah : A Theological Commentary” by Philip Peter Jenson, he brought up the question of the message of the story. My initial perception of the story was that Jonah was an unwilling prophet, that did not believe that God would actually do harm to the people of NININ and he chose to ignore the word of the Lord. After the Lord punishes him to a wicked storm and a bit of solitary confinement for three days and three nights, Jonah repents to God and decides to listen to his God. Jenson brought up the point that “The message of Jonah is notoriously difficult to identify. The main objections to the standard proposals is that they do not do justice to all parts of the book, and that the key to the meaning is imported from outside the story without sufficient evidence” (Jenson 36). With examples such as prophecy, universalism, theodicy it started to make me question my initial interpretation of the message being …show more content…
This connection is very fitting once you read more of the bible and pick up other mentions of doves. When Israel was disobedient of God they said ““Ephraim has become like a dove, silly and without sense; they call upon Egypt, they go to Assyria”” (Hos 7:11) (Jenson 43). This is symbolic because when God told Jonah, an Israeli man, to go to Nineveh he went to the opposite way towards Tarshish. He also disobeyed God's commands, and because of that brought on a lot of hardship he had to deal with while God tried to redirect his decision. I believe this was not a mistake and that the pairing of Jonah and the dove was a writing strategy. Jonah is now portrayed as a dove in christian art, which shows how significant the symbolism
160-165 (pg. 229) of The Odyssey, follows a similar structural pattern as the preceding bird omen. That is, two birds appear in conflict and Helen interprets the omen as a sign of Odysseus’s upcoming revenge upon the suitors. The difference in the omens lies in the species of birds and the nature of their conflict. While the first omen showed two of the same bird engaged in equal combat, this omen shows “an eagle carrying in his talons a great white goose.” Progressing this theme of inequality even further, the final bird omen in the text shows an eagle carrying “a tremulous pigeon” (Od. li. 243, pg.
Specifically, it taught about how His mercy could not be restricted by a person’s preconceptions. Jonah was a prophet of God but was ruled by his unrelenting hatred towards sinners. Despite his loathing, God was more than capable of using him in the salvation of the corrupted. When Jonah was commanded by the Lord to preach to the Ninevites, he resisted. Nineveh was a pagan society and epitomized “everything evil that the Israelites hated” (MacArthur, Jonah 112), Seeing that his enemies would be forgiven if he delivered the message, Jonah fled from his duty. However, he would not be able to elude from the will of God and, after some precarious situations in the sea, would reluctantly prophesied to the Ninevites and inspired their faith in the Lord. This came to show that while “Jonah was filled with resentment … [and his] wrath was aroused, … the Lord [could still extend His] grace” (MacArthur, Jonah
In Vonnegut’s novel, readers can notice that there are numerous religious references such as names and terms throughout it. In the opening of the novel it can already be seen. Vonnegut starts his novel off with the narrator introducing himself, “Call me Jonah. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me John.” (Vonnegut 1). From this opening line you can already see a biblical reference, that reference being “Jonah”. The name Jonah derives from the Hebrew bible, it’s known to be the name of a prophet who disobeyed God. Already early on in the novel it can be seen that a parallel between religion and the post-war world which the story take place in are intertwining. It can be assumed that by the author uses of the reference Jonah, a disobedient prophet of god, that the novel also revolves around the theme of deception among people in society. Deception implicated among person to another can lead to creating destruction in society. If one such as a writ...
The role of the prophet changes with the society in which he lives. In modern society, a prophet is a visionary, telling people what they can become; in Biblical times, a prophet was the voice of God, telling his people what they had to become to fulfill their covenant with God. In William Golding's Lord of the Flies, the prophet is a peaceful lad, Simon. He alone saw that the jungle, which represented freedom and the lack of civilization, was not to be feared but to be understood; he alone knew that the mythical Beast of the island, feared by all the boys, was, in fact, their own inherent savagery. Through these truths Simon represents a Christ figure paralleling Christ's misunderstood message and Christ's death.
In various types of media, there would always be the underlying message that the creator was trying to convey. These messages established themes and were able to connect to people and reveal universal truths on human experiences. In literature, messages can be revealed in many ways such as through characters’ words and actions, through objects that act as symbols, through setting, or through irony. This was seen in the play Inherit the Wind, as many of the themes were able to reveal some of the truths that humans experience today through the words and actions of various characters, and through the objects introduced throughout the play.
...e Biblical story weighs heavily on Joseph’s divine dream interpreting ability and the story it provides, focusing on the theme of God caring for His people and fulfilling his divine plan. The Qur’an appreciates this but sees it as a means to the end of the spread of faith to non-believers. The Christian and Jewish version of Joseph’s trials serves a greater literary purpose than the Qur’an’s version, advancing belief by showing God’s abilities and the way they may be manifested in others in order to fulfill his divine plan. However, the Qur’an expands upon the Biblical version by including additional plot points and explicitly portraying Joseph’s goals and how they align with Islamic theology. The accounts differ in functionality, but both are crucial to the holistic understanding of the story of Joseph and some of the fundamental differences between the religions.
First of all the Raven symbolises a bad omen and the Albatross symbolises a good omen. The mariners on the ship in Rime of the Ancient Mariner, see the Albatross and immediately their spirits are uplifted. “At length did cross an Albatross, thorough the fog it came; as if it had been a Christian soul, we hailed it in God’s name.” (Lines 63-66) These lines show that the mariners praised the Albatross and saw it as a sign or a gift from God. According to Tyler Wright, “Sailors have always been superstitious, they are some of the most superstitious people in the world. The Albatross is one of many animal superstitions that sailors have and it is one of the more serious ones.” In contrast the Raven traditionally symbolises a bad omen. “Ravens are seen as evil birds, or birds of the devil. The Raven in Poe’s The Raven is exactly that, and it gives the poem an ominous feeling.” (Jacob Calvin).
N.T Wright (2008) stated that “When we read the scriptures as Christians, we read it precisely as people of the new covenant and of the new creation” (p.281). In this statement, the author reveals a paradigm of scriptural interpretation that exists for him as a Christian, theologian, and profession and Bishop. When one surveys the entirety of modern Christendom, one finds a variety of methods and perspectives on biblical interpretation, and indeed on the how one defines the meaning in the parables of Jesus. Capon (2002) and Snodgrass (2008) offer differing perspectives on how one should approach the scriptures and how the true sense of meaning should be extracted. This paper will serve as a brief examination of the methodologies presented by these two authors. Let us begin, with an
The Hebrew Bible, better known as the Old Testament, is a collection of tomes that form part of the Biblical canon. Many scholars around the world do not think that a single author wrote the books contained in the Hebrew Bible, but rather that it represents centuries of stories frequently compiled after the events they describe . The stories were created with visions for the future, in order to allow audiences insight into communities and beliefs that were common thought during their era. The stories responded to the issues and problems of their time, but also addressed contemporary climates. While the stories themselves may not be true, they convey truth without needing literal readings. For example, the creation stories in Genesis, portray God as creating the universe, and while this is considered as not ‘literally true’; the stories communicate theological truths about mankind’s relationship with God through the eyes of Hebrew writers .
However, there was a time that this distinction was taken to the ultimate extreme. One man alone followed God among the multitudes in the civilization that arose after the fall. His name was Noah. Genesis 6 tells us that “Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation.” Because of mans wickedness, He decided to send a flood to destroy that wickedness and to kill everyone on the earth except Noah and his family. The narrative of this drastic event in Genesis 6-9 show that God will not tolerate great wickedness forever. Several events including the flood, Sodom and Gomorra, Nineveh, and Babel show us who God is. He is a God of righteousness and justice and hates the wickedness of the world. Ed Hindson and Gary Yates explain that the events surrounding the tower of Babel indicate that God blesses those who obey and scatters those who disobey. As believers, we can see that God desires a heart that seeks Him above all else. Even when everyone else in the world has turned away from God, each of us must stand strong in our faith just as Noah did. When our country is turning from God and redefining God’s intended purpose for us and creation, we know His heart and that we must follow no matter how strong the current is raging against
Harris, Stephen. Understanding The Bible. 6 ed. New York City: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 2002. Print.
The book of Zephaniah contains messages of divine judgment against Judah and Jerusalem, as well as against other nations. It addresses a rare concentration of references to central issues in the history of ancient Israel. Idolatry, violence, and deception abound in Judah when Zephaniah began prophesying. Zephaniah's prophesying made it clear that Yahweh would execute vengeance upon unrepentant wrongdoers. His adverse judgments would be visited not only upon Judah and Jerusalem, but also upon other peoples: the Philistines, Ammonites, Moabites, Ethiopians, and Assyrians. Significantly, Zephaniah, the prophet, never stands at the center of the book of Zephaniah; the word of Yahweh is at the center of the book. Zephaniah is mentioned only insofar as he is necessary for the interpretation of the text.
... middle of paper ... ... The only parts that took away from the message were the Datham and Nefreteri stories. These just added drama to the story and didn’t show the power of God to its fullest extent.
The Israelites and Philistines had different yet identical views on the powers of the Ark of the Covenant. One instance, which really interested me, was reading the reference the Philistines made to Moses and the plague that his God had brought upon Egypt (1 Samuel 4:8-9). This shows that they knew the power that it had and what God is capable of doing. But, their way of dealing with the plague was different than you would expect because they passed the Ark around from principal to principal. They all contracted some kind of disease, which they associated with the Ark (1 Samuel 5:1-12). The Israelites saw this as the symbol of their faith because one they brought it to their city when the Philistines were attacking them hoping that it would protect them from losing the battle (1 Samuel 4:1-6). Then the protectors of the Ark were killed, which in a way I feel like God did purposely so that the Philistines can understand the God of the Israelites.
Answering these questions is the purpose of this essay. I begin by arguing that the Bible cannot be adequately understood independent of its historical context. I concede later that historical context alone however is insufficient, for the Bible is a living-breathing document as relevant to us today as it was the day it was scribed. I conclude we need both testimonies of God at work to fully appreciate how the Bible speaks to us.