Tuesday 06 October 2009

Background

The third chapter of Jonah is just  as much a comic cartoon as the first two. Knowing what happened last time God asked him to do something, Jonah listens the second time around and goes to tell Nineveh (the capital of Assyria) to repent. Then something really strange happens... the king of Nineveh believes Jonah, dresses himself in sackcloth and sits in ashes to show his repentance. Then he tells everyone to fast, without eating or drinking. Even the animals have to fast.

But it doesn't stop there: everyone has to wear sackcloth and dress their animals in sackcloth too. Picture the scene! God is impressed by the Ninevites turning from their evil ways and decides not to destroy the city after all.

The response of Nineveh to Jonah's preaching is a big surprise, because almost every other time prophets warn people of God's judgement, they take no notice. The funny thing is that Jonah, for all his faults, may be the only successful prophet in the Bible.

Theologians have sometimes worried that it's a bit odd when passages in the Bible say that "God changed his mind". If God knows everything and is unchanging, what sense can it make to say that God thinks one thing, and then decides on something different?

Those who have defended the idea that God is unchanging have argued that biblical language like this is metaphorical - using human images to speak of God - and doesn't really mean that God changes. Some modern theologians have suggested that we should instead take the Bible literally and accept that there can be change in God.

To Ponder

What do you make of the idea that Jonah is the only prophet the Bible records as people taking notice of?

What does it say about God that God responds to the repentance of the people of Nineveh?

"Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not. As thou has been, thou forever wilt be." (From the hymn Great is thy faithfulness.) Does it matter whether God can change, as this passage seems to suggest?