HIDDEN LDS/JEWISH INSIGHTS #33
OLD TESTAMENT Gospel Doctrine Supplement by Daniel Rona
Weekly E-mail Reminder
<< SHARING THE GOSPEL WITH THE WORLD >>
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sinking to New Heights:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The story of Jonah is his own poetic way of bearing a humble testimony that he
was nothing, that he sank to the depths, and that he was to do the Lord's work
instead of his own. His humility and
confession may be mistaken as a "less than willing" prophet. Yet he is one of
the greatest, and in fact, the most important prophet of his day.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(2.) Other Fish Stories:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"In ancient literature there are several stories of people being rescued from
inside fish (Heracles the Hesione, Perseus, and Andromeda); but only in that of
Jonah was the rescue effected by
prayer and not by force . . . a lesson in Divine forgiveness and mercy --- to
Jonah as well as to the people of Nineveh --- and as a lesson in obedience to
God's will. As a symbol of the effectiveness of repentance it is read as the
haftarah at the afternoon service of the Day of Atonement." (Encyclopedia
Judaica Jr.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- -
(3.) Re-occurring Sea and Storm Accounts:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- -
There are a few "sea and storm stories" in the scriptures. Their meanings and
lessons for us, nowadays, have a common connection. Noah is saved by the Lord,
Jonah is saved by the Lord, the Apostles on the Sea of Galilee are saved by the
Lord. When "sinking," remember, we are saved by the Lord.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(4.) Messianic Sign of Jonah:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Pharisees asked Jesus for a sign that he was the Messiah. He said, that a
wicked and adulterous nation sought for signs. Jesus reminded the Pharisees
that they already had the one and only sign of the Messiah they would get.
Jonah was down in the sea for three days and three nights and then came alive
again. Jesus prophesied that He would be three days and three nights in the
earth and then come alive again.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(5.) Misguided Wealth:
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Micah directed his prophecy against the rich who lived in ill-gotten splendor
at the expense of the poor. Micah stated God's demands simply: justice
tempered with mercy. Micah's verses of consolation are beautiful in their
vision of the glorious future of Zion: "For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem . . . And they the nations shall beat
their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall
not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But
they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall
make them afraid..." (Micah 4:5)." (Encyclopedia
Judaica Jr.)
|
