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NASB | Jonah 4:11 "Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?" |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Jonah 4:11 "Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 [innocent] persons, who do not know the difference between their right and left hand [and are not yet accountable for sin], as well as many [blameless] animals?" |
Subject: Did God give grace to Nineveh? |
Bible Note: Hi Doc - thank you for thinking of me. I remain cancer free but not always "free of cancer." It's like sin. Praise God. He has freed me from the power and penalty of sin, but it still has the ability to influence me. For the last two and a half years I have been facilitating a cancer support group where Christ is the real "big C!" Thinking about Jonah - I am wondering if we are seeing God’s mercy here instead of grace. When I think of God’s Grace, I understand it to be His unmerited favor in forgiving my sin and imputing His righteousness to me; thus, I am saved from His wrath against sin. We are saved by Grace through faith but I am struggling to see my understanding of God's grace in Jonah. Nineveh was spared destruction because they responded to Jonah’s call to repent. Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. Jonah 3:5 My question is which god did the Ninevites believe? Did they really believe in Jonah’s God or in their god – which I think was called Dagon. Dagon was half man –half fish, just like Jonah would have appeared when he was vomited out of the mouth of the fish! He probably smelled fishy too. With this cultural backdrop, imagine the authority he might be accorded here. The reason I question this is because earlier in the text we read that the sailors cried to their god and appealed to Jonah to call on his god.(Jonah 1:5,6) From this, it appears that they were not the same. Also, it is noteworthy that elohim is used to reference both GOD and god. When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it. Jonah 3:10 Next we read that Jonah was angry about this. Might this be because the people did not recognize the LORD’s hand but attributed the blessing to their god Dagon? (I know speculation, but it does make some sense to me.) I get a bit indignant when people take credit where credit is not due too! Of course this challenges my understanding of God’s grace. So I am wondering, is this perhaps mercy (not getting what they deserved) rather than grace (getting what they don't deserve)? Just as the sailors (their lives were spared) and the Ninevites (their city was not destroyed) reaped the consequences of Jonah’s obedience, we reap the blessing of the obedience of Jesus. I am reminded of Jesus’ prayer on the cross, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Perhaps Jonah instructs us to be more generous with God’s grace – it belongs to Him anyway! Blessings to you Doc! trish |