THE DEAD SEA:
The Dead Sea is called the lowest part of the earth. It is about 1294 feet below the sea
level. The lowest part in the United States is the Death Valley in California 282 feet below the
sea level. The Dead Sea is formed with the water of Jordan River and other small rivers. It is
60 miles long and 13 miles wide. The Dead Sea lies between the Jordan River and the Judea
mountain side of Israel. The depth of the Dead Sea is about 1300 feet. The sea has no outlet
and it is estimated that 7000000 tons of water flows into the sea, daily and about the same
amount of water will be evaporating daily.
The fresh water that evaporates daily may have salinity and the mineral content of 30
percent in the water. The salt Content is 7 percent. Sodium and Gomorrah existed at the lower
end of the Dead Sea, called the tongue. It is also called the Salt Sea. (Genesis 14:3)
The name Dead Sea is suitable to it because no living Organisms will survive in its water.
Its geological bottom is full of minerals like sulphur, iodine, and potassium. The Dead Sea is
seven times dense as the sea water as 25 percent salt control.
People who take dip in the sea water apply mud to their skin and wait for sometime.
Again they take a dip. After that they come out and take bath with fresh water. People float
on the water of the sea because of the density. The mud found at the bottom of the sea is
medicinal for skin diseases. Actually skin products are commercially produced from the factory
which is built near the Dead Sea. Towards the Southern end of the Dead Sea, we can see the
pillars of salt emerge from the water, not far away, from the region of Sodom and Gomorrah.
34
G
8. IDEON
G
od liberated Israel from the bondage of pharaoh from Egypt. After that they were
living in the Promised Land. But they forgot God and began to marry heathen women and
even worshipped their gods. God became angry for their sins. He began to give them to
different heathen kings as a punishment. Whenever they repented for their wickedness and
cried unto God, He became merciful and saved them from such heathen rulers by appointing
some one. This kind of life was continued among Israel for about 200 years.
Some people were chosen
by God to liberate Israel from the
oppression of the heathen kings.
Gideon was one among them.
When Israelites were ill-treated
by the Medianites, God sent an
angel with a message to Gideon.
The angel came to the house of
Joash, father of Gideon and sat
under an oak tree. The angel told
Gideon that God was with him
and he would be the man of
mighty valor. Then he asked the
angel, if God was with him and
with Israel, how the heathen kings
like Medianites were troubling
Israel. At last, the angel looked
at his face and told him to go and
save them from the Medianites.
Then Gideon said his family was
poor, and he was the least man in
that house and how he could save
Israel. Then God said “I will be
with thee and thou shalt Smite
the medianites as one man”. (Judges 6:16) Gideon believed in the words of God. But still he
wished for a sign that God came to him and spoke to him all these things.
35
At the same time he wanted to give some presentation to God. So he asked the angel to
wait, and he went in. Then he came out with some burnt offering to God and kept them before
the angel. They were consumed by the magical staff of the angel. The angel then departed
from Gideon. He was surprised to see the angel of the Lord face to face. Gideon built an altar
to God at the place where he met the angel. He called it “Jehovah shalom”. (Judges 6:24)
In the same night God appeared to Gideon and asked him to throw down the altar of Baal
that his father made and also cut down the grove that was near the idol. God further asked
him to build an altar of God in the same place. Whatever God asked him Gideon did it. The
next day people of the city came to know that the idol of Baal and the grove were destroyed
by Gideon. They came in large number to attack him but Gideon told them, if Baal is the real
god, he can plead and save himself. And they need not come to do unnecessary nuisance. On
that day Gideon was called Jerubaal for his saying “let Baal plead against him” because he
has thrown down his altar.
This incident made the Medianites to join with the other group like Amlakites and the
children of East at a place called the valley of Jezreel to make war with Gideon. Just at that
time the spirit of the Lord came upon him. He gathered the other tribes of Israel, through
messengers. Gideon got another doubt why God wanted to save Israel only by his hand. To
prove God’s plan is correct, Gideon wanted to keep fleece of wool completely wet with water,
and also the floor around must be wet. The fleece of wool must become dry and the floor
remains wet. Then only he said he would believe in God’s words. God did accordingly to make
Gideon believe Him. He was happy at this. He gathered all his men and pitched his tent beside
the well of Harod with 32 thousand men. Then God said the number was too many to fight
with Medianites.
To reduce the number God asked him to declare that who ever was afraid of war, should
depart from the mount of Gilead. With this order, about twenty two thousand left the place.
“The number is also too much” God said. He wanted to put a test to the remaining people to
reduce the number further. The test is about drinking of water. Some drank water with their
tongues and some with their hands. Out of ten thousand men only three hundred men happened
to drink water with their hands. And they were selected. So Gideon had to go to war with
three hundred men only.
Gideon made these three hundred men as three companies. God was with them. They
attacked the Medianites. They were afraid of Gideon and fled from battle field. The Israel ran
after them caught two Mediante princes and killed them.
While persuing the Medianites, the Israel had to cross the river Jordan. They came
across a place called “Succoth”. There the Israel fainted for want of bread. Gideon asked the
people of the town to give them some bread as they fainted. But they did not give anything and
36
spoke negatively. After the battle was over, the Israel realized and repented how much help
they got through Gideon with the word of God so, they asked him saying “rule thou over us
both thou thy son and thy son’s son”. Also thou hast delivered us from the Hand of Medians
(Judges 8:22) but Gideon replied “I will not rule over you neither my son rule over you.
The lord shall rule over you”. (Judges 8:23) These words show us the humbleness of Gideon
towards God.
Gideon made a request to all Israel for their ear rings as they were gold. With that gold
and the gold ornaments that he collected from the Median kings and from the necks of camels,
all that put together and an “ephod” was made. He put the ephod in that city since then the
Medianites never raised their heads before Israelites. They were in complete rest and peaceful
for forty years, in the days of Gideon. He died in his old age. He had many wives and concubines.
Through them he got seventy sons. One of them, by name Abimelech was born to a concubine
killed all his brothers and became the king after Gideon. Today we remember Gideon as there
is a book called Gideon Bible.
37
K
9. ING DAVID
B
ethlehem was first mentioned in the Bible in (Genesis 35:16), as Ephrath, in connection
with the death of Rachel, wife of Jacob. She was buried here. At the time of the division of the
Promised Land, to all Israel, it was given to Judah Tribe by Joshua. Then this place was
frequently mentioned during the period of the kings prominently as the birth Place of David.
Though Joshua put all Israel in this land, there was a change among them. They did not have
a monarch. There was no king in Israel. Added to that, every man was going on his own way
in doing things whatever is right in his eyes. For 200 years, their leaders were the judges
including Ehul, Gideon, and Samson. The authority of judges came from God and the ultimate
task of them, was to see whether the people were upholding the laws of Moses.
But Israelites were not
satisfied with that. They were
punished by the Philistines
very often. At that time,
Samuel was the judge
reigning the Israel. Samuel
did something to Israel to be
away from the danger of
Philistines. Still they were not
happy with what was done by
him. They asked Samuel for
a king to rule them like the
kings of other nations. They
declared that they were not
happy to be exclusively ruled
by God. They wanted a
secular leadership based on
Social, economic and strong
military. The Israel were
never happy.
On the Mount of Sinai,
and in the wilderness they
grumbled for food and lack
38
of proper leadership. They demanded
to go back to Egypt. But God repeatedly
warned them. God said “me, they have
rejected as king” so God told Samuel
to warn them about the disadvantages
of a king and what problems they have
to face with the king. Then Samuel
gave a prophetic speech which is
important in the Bible. He said “a king
will take your son to sacrifice him into
the battle. He will take your daughters,
and make them perfumers, cooks and
bakers. He will seize your chosen fields
and take a tenth of your grain He will
claim your slaves and beasts to burden
and put them to work for him. The day
will come when you cry out because
of the king whom you yourself have
chosen and “the Lord will not answer
you on that day”.
Samuel did not like to have a king
to the Israel because the king will not
uphold the values of God. If they
wanted to have a king then the king
must have limited powers. The king
could rule the country but he must not
dominate over the spiritual life of
people. The state and the church must
be separated and morality must be
observed by the people.
The birth of David was mentioned
in the Bible in the first book of Samuel
which marks the milestone in the
narration. The scholars generously
regard the Bible’s first four books
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and
Numbers as a single unit. The fifth
39
book, Deuteronomy was for its language and style shows that, it was linked with the subsequent
books like Joshua, judges, and two books of Samuel and the two book of kings as a second unit
known as Deuteronomic history. Just as Moses was the dominating character, in the first unit,
David was the dominating one in the second unit. His name appears more than a thousand
times in the Hebrew Bible. Some scholars even supported that Israel’s faith should have been
called not Judaism (the kingdom of Judah which David ruled), but Davidism. By receiving
the blessings of the Eternal Kingdom. David also became Messianic forefather to Christianity.
Even the Koran honored him as a prophet.. The Bible clearly said that David was ‘’a man
after God’s heart’’ but he was also a man of blood. David’s story began with King Saul, the
first king of Israel. He was a Benjaminite.
After the Israelites settled in the Promised Land each one was assigned a region. But
the people of one region tried to over power the other regions and the king was in the control
of the central region only. He was unable to control his own country. He became a weak king.
So God looked for a worthy king to Israel kingdom. God told Samuel “I am sending you to a
Bethelehemite, Jesse for I have decided on one of his sons to be the king”. Samuel came
and selected the eighth son of Jesse by name David. It is said “he is sensible in speech, plays
lyre and he has such skills.” When King Saul heard the music of the lyre played by David, he
40
felt happy and the evil spirits went away from Him. He was a younger boy who obtained
power over the elders. Like Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. David was also a shepherd boy.
The most iconic symbol of Jerusalem today is the six pointed star known as the “Star of
David”. The Star of David was adopted for Israelis in blue color flag. It was to evoke Jewish
prayer shawl. The blue color had its historical importance. When God gave the Ten
Commandments on a stone, it was a blue sapphire.
Goliath was nine and a half feet tall. He wore a bronze breast plate and a helmet. Their
weight was about 125 pounds. The weight of the javelin he used was about 15 pounds. When
David went near him with a few stones and a sling, he laughed at him. He said “am I a dog?”
to come to me with stones? For that David’s reply was one of the most memorable passages
in the Bible. He said “you came against me with sword, spear and javelin but I came
against you in the name Of God”. Both advanced and David hit him with a stone by using a
sling The stone touched his forehead and went into the skull. Goliath fell down and died
immediately. Then David cut his head and brought it to Jerusalem. The Bible had a new savior
prince. David.
41
K
10.ING SOLOMON
S
olomon was the son of great King David. He became the King at the age of twenty.
He went to Gibeon, a Holy place, to pray to God with burnt offerings for his blessings. God
appeared to him in a dream. God said “ask of me what ever I am to give you”. He asked for
42
wisdom to rule his people Israel but God felt happy at his request as he did not ask wealth or
any thing. So he granted him wisdom and wealth thereby he became the richest and the
wisest king on the earth. People from different parts of the earth visited him for his wisdom,
and appreciated him. One of such was Queen of Sheba. He had seven hundred wives and
300 concubines. Most of them were heathens from different tribes. Though God blessed him
abundantly, he neglected God because of his heathen wives. He became almost a heathen
king which made God angry with him. There were some reasons for the anger of God.
1.He took only 7 years for the construction of the temple of God in Jerusalem. But he
had taken 13 years to build the royal palace, especially, for his heathen wife, the daughter of
Egyptian king.
2.He constructed even heathen temples at Baalbeck, the place of Roman gods and
goddesses to please his heathen wives.
3.His father King David repented and cried for the sin he had done in his life, when he
took Bathsheba, the wife of a military officer as his wife. But there was no such repentance
in King Solomon for his blunders
4.He also made sacrifices to heathen gods and goddesses
All these events made God punish King Solomon. The punishment was the division of
Israel kingdom into two parts.
God sent a prophet by name
“Ahijah” to the king to tell the
news.
Accordingly in 922 B.C, the
kingdom was divided as:
1. The Eastern kingdom of
Israel with ten tribes. For this
kingdom, Jeroboam became the
king
2. The Southern kingdom
of Judah with two tribes and for
this Rehobom, the son of
Solomon became the king.
These changes took place
only after the death of King
Solomon. The division of
Israel kingdom into two parts
was an important event in the
Jewish history.
43
D
11.ANIEL COMES TO
JUDGEMENT
J
ehoakim was ruling the kingdom of Judah. In his third year of reign Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, came in 586 B.C, and besieged Jerusalem. As it is said in the Bible, the Lord
himself gave Jerusalem into his hands as a punishment because the Israel forgot their God
completely. The king razed the city and took some vessels also from God’s temple to his
temple in Shinar. Along with all that the king took some people as captives. Among such
captives there were Daniel, Shadrach Meshach and Abednego. The king kept them under the
care of eunuch captain. He asked Eunuch to select some young men who must be the children
of kings or from princes families and who must have wisdom and Knowledge to remain in the
King’s palace. The king wanted them to learn certain things through teaching so that they
could be used for different purposes in the royal palace.
The eunuch selected
the above four young men.
The king called Daniel with
some other name
Beltshazar. God gave them
wisdom knowledge and
understanding capacity and
to Daniel in particular the
understanding of dreams and
visions. When they were
brought to the king after
some time for testing they
proved themselves ten times
better than the King’s own
people like musicians
astrologers etc. The king
was happy at their Progress.
In the second year of
his reign, the king dreamed
a strange dream. He
became restless. He then
called all the wise men
44
musicians and astrologers to interpret his dream. While asking them to answer his dream he
put a condition also that if they could not answer his dream correctly, they would be cut into
pieces, including their wives and children. Their houses too shall be made dung hills. As
nobody answered his dream they were afraid of the King’s punishment.
Daniel some how came to know this through eunuch captain and requested the king to
wait for some time and not to punish anybody. He prayed to God sincerely and got the answer
for the dream of the king. Daniel came to him and answered the dream. The king was happy
for that Nobody from his kingdom could reveal that properly because only God from heaven
could reveal the secret.
The dream of the king was a terrible image stood before the king with gold head; breast
and arms silver, belly and thighs of brass and the legs were iron and part of feet were iron and
clay. A stone happened to hit the leg of that image. With that the image fell and became many
pieces. Then the stone became a big mountain and Spread the whole earth. The dream was
cleared by Daniel. He said God made him king of kings to rule the whole earth. God gave him
power, strength and glory and
the king could control
everything. So the king was the
head of gold. After him came
another inferior kingdom to him.
Then the third kingdom of brass
would come which would rule
the earth and the fourth kingdom
would be as strong as iron.
God of heaven shall
establish another kingdom
which can never be destroyed
like them. The king believed
Daniel whole heartedly. He fell
on his face and worshipped him.
He said that Daniel’s God is the
God of all Gods and the Lord of
all kings and the revealer of all
secrets. The king then made
Daniel a great man... He gave
him good gifts. He made him the
ruler of the province of Babylon.
45
He made him chief of the governors and above all the wise men of Babylon. But Daniel was
not an ambitious man. He did not accept the offerings of the king.. He requested the King to
keep his three friends in charge of those affairs of the province. But Daniel remained at his
original post as the king’s gate man.
The king recognized the wisdom of Daniel. After some time the king made a golden
image of three score cubits height (about 90 feet) and width about 6 cubits about 9 feet. Then
the king invited all people to attend the dedication function in Babylon. And the king put a
condition that all should fall to the ground and worship that image when the music is heard.. If
anybody violates the orders and does not worship, he shall be thrown into the burning Furnace.
All people who attended the function worshipped the image. But the three Hebrew young
men Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego did not worship as they were Jews.
The king came to know this news. He became angry and ordered for immediate action
against them. Accordingly they were thrown into the burning furnace. The next day the king
became anxious to find out what must have happened to them. To his surprise, he saw four
men walking in the fire unhurt and the form of the fourth one was like the son of God. (Daniel
3:25)
The king called them out of fire. He saw them in perfect condition. Then he commented
“blessed is your God who sent his angels to save you”. The king made a declaration
saying anybody says against their God, they will be cut into pieces and their houses made into
dunghills. Because there is no other God who can do such great things like saving people. The
king promoted them to higher positions. Then the king dreamed for the second time.
In that dream the king saw a tall tree almost touching the heaven. And all living creatures
were taking shelter under the tree. Then a watcher, a holy man from heaven came down. He
made a loud cry and began to cut the branches. Then the fruits and leaves spread into all
directions accept the stump. The king called Daniel to answer that dream also.
Daniel said the King’s greatness reached unto heaven as the powerful king. Now the
Most High in heaven would throw him out of his palace and beasts would come and live in it.
God wanted to give his kingdom to whom so ever he liked. Daniel asked the king to accept his
interpretation and stop doing anymore sin and he also advised the king to be righteous to be
merciful towards the poor and by that he could be peaceful.
But nothing happened to him for twelve months. He became proud of himself and said he
was still in the royal palace in Babylon. He also thought the words of Daniel did not work on
him. While he was talking like that just at that movement a voice came from heaven saying
“thy kingdom is fallen. It is departed from thee.” (Daniel 4:31) The king will be driven out
by men and he will eat grass like oxen. The beasts will live in the palace. The king must know
the most high will rule the kingdom of man. The king remembered the truthful statement of
Daniel how it happened exactly. He realized and repented. He praised the most high in heaven
and said “he is the real ruler”.
46
Through this information we
could understand Nebuchadnezzar,
who accepted and promised our
heavenly father greater than any
other God.
BELSHAZZAR:
After the death of the king
Nebuchadnezzar, his son
Belshazzar, became the king of
Babylon. He was a happy go lucky
fellow. He wanted to enjoy his life
mostly in drinking wine in the
vessels his father brought from the
temple of Jerusalem.
One day in such a conditions,
he found some strange writings on
the wall which troubled him a lot.
As his father did he called all wise
men from his kingdom to tell the
meaning of the writing. But nobody
answered him. Then the king came
to know about Daniel through his wife. Immediately he was called for. He saw the writings on
the wall. He said that the highest God gave his father a kingdom, majesty, glory, and honor.
Because of these things every nation respected his father. But he could not keep it properly.
He became proud of himself. Then the highest God removed him from the kingdom. Daniel
also said that his father was not humble before God and raised his head against him.
Daniel explained the meaning of “mene mene take Upharsin” mentioned by the King as:
Mene = God hath numbered his Kingdom and finished it
Take = thou art weighed in the balance and are found wanting
Peres = thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and the Persians
Belshazzar was very much impressed by the interpretation of Daniel. At his command
the people honored him. They clothed Daniel with a scarlet and put a golden chain round his
neck. After this honor the king made a proclamation that Daniel should be the third ruler of the
kingdom. In the same night Belshazzar, King of Chaldea’s was slain and Darius, the Median
became the king.
47
Darius divided his kingdom into 120 provinces and over them there were three presidents
and Daniel was one of them. He reached almost the highest position in political administration.
This could not be tolerated by many other officials in the Kingdom. They planned a plot
against him. They wanted to find fault with him some how or other. They got a decree from
Darius, that no body should put a petition to his God for 30 days except the king. They knew
that Daniel would definitely pray to his god and they were waiting for the opportunity to catch
him while praying. They saw Daniel praying.
Daniel did not honor the declaration of the king and began to pray to God three times a
day. The king, at the time of declaration, had put another condition, “if anybody violates the
decree shall be thrown into the lions den”. One day his enemies saw Daniel praying and
immediately reported to the king. As he violated the order he was thrown into the lions den.
The king did not sleep that night and anxiously waiting to know what must have happened to
Daniel. The next day the king went to that place. He was surprised to se Daniel in perfect
condition. The lions did not do any harm to Daniel. When king Darius enquired he said God
sent his angels and made the lions shut their mouths. The king wondered at this incident. At
the same time he felt happy because Daniel was unhurt. He called all the people who were
responsible for the incident and threw them into the lions den with their wives and children.
The lions had good feast that day.
The king gave a declaration” every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear
before the God of Daniel, for He is the living God. And steadfast for ever and his kingdom
which shall not be destroyed and his dominion shall be even unto the end. (Daniel 6:26) So
Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus, the Persian king. Altogether
he became popular in the reign of four kings. They were 1. King Nebuchadnezzar, 2. King
Belshazzar, 3. King Darius and 4. King Cyrus.
Under these kings he enjoyed the highest positions and glorified God with his wisdom and
knowledge. As we know wisdom is the gift of God. In his latter days Daniel had two visions
of his own. The first vision was about “four beasts” And the second one was about ram and
goat. Daniel by his skill wisdom knowledge and understanding made those kings to say that
Daniels God is greater than any other God and every one should tremble before this God King
Solomon prayed to God to grant him wisdom and knowledge to rule his people Israel. But
Daniel, spoke to God in his prayers. He confessed his sins and prayed for the sins of Israel.
He prayed for the welfare of Jerusalem. He prayed for the betterment of everybody. The
Gabriel angel came to Him and spoke “Oh, Daniel, I am come forth to give you skill and
understanding”. (Daniel 9:22) we have another man in the Bible like Daniel who was elevated
to the highest position. He was Joseph. He won the favor of Pharaoh the king of Egypt. Like
Daniel he interpreted the dreams of pharaoh and reached the highest Position in Egypt. He
was even called the Father of Egyptians.
48
J
12.ONAH, A REBELLIOUS PROPHET
T
he city of Nineveh was built by king Nimrod of Shinar. It became notorious for crimes,
adultery and wickedness. God wanted to check the city from such evil activities and chose
Jonah the prophet for the purpose He sent a word to Jonah to go to that city and warn the
people that they should change themselves from all such criminal activities within 40 days. If
they would not do it God would punish them by destroying every thing. Jonah did not want to
take the risk of going to Nineveh city with the information. So, he wanted to flee from Tarshish
to Joppa. He wanted to escape from God. He found a ship going from Joppa to Tarshish. He
bought a ticket and entered the ship. The Assyrians were in full control of political affairs and
Nineveh city was
their capital. The
population of the city
was about one lakh
twenty thousand
(120,000). It was a
heathen kingdom.
According to
the genealogy of
Noah Assyrians
were the
descendents of
Abraham. The
others being
Persians Arabs,
(Muslims) and
Israelites. The
message sent by
God is: “yet 40 days
Nineveh shall be
over thrown”
(Jonah 3:4) Assyria
was a powerful
kingdom, which
became a great
49
threat to Israel. Since Jonah was a Hebrew prophet, he knew that one day the heathen nation
would destroy Israel, and it happened in 722 B.C. So, Jonah was afraid of the heathens and
did not go to Nineveh to tell them the message of God. He went in opposite direction to Joppa.
He did not regard the word of God. He went to the bottom of the ship and slept there. But God
knew the movements of Jonah. He sent a great wind and it turned into a tempest that disturbed
the ship.
The mariners thought the ship might break at any time, due to the storm. They realized
the situation, and all began to pray to their respective gods. Jonah was at the bottom of the
ship without knowing what was going on out side. The captain of the ship came down and
found Jonah was sleeping. The captain asked Jonah also to pray to his God as they were in
great danger of the tempest.
Finally all decided to cast lots to know who must be responsible for the calamity. The lots
fell on Jonah. They concluded that Jonah was responsible for that disturbance. Then they
made an enquiry about Jonah. He confessed before them that he was a Hebrew. He was
afraid of his God in heaven who asked him to go to the City Nineveh with a message. They
then asked him what they should do to avoid the present calamity. Jonah instructed them to
throw him into the sea. They did as he said. God put a test to Jonah to repent for what he had
done. But he would not keep his children suffer. When Jonah repented for his sin, he already
arranged a whale to swallow Jonah and keep him for 3 days in its belly. The whale came out
of the water and vomited him in a dry place on the third day.
Then God asked Jonah for the second time to go to Nineveh and preach them. He
agreed to do so. He went and told the people that they should repent and change their way of
life within 40 days. There was an immediate response to the preaching of Jonah. It was the
biggest revival in the history as we see in the Bible. The entire population of Nineveh, from the
highest king to the lowest servant put on sack cloth. They even remained in fasting and
repented. The king ordered the animals also not to eat or drink. It was really most wonderful
and unexpected change in them and that change pleased God. He refused to take any action
against the people as God saw the heathen king too changed himself to worship God.
So the book of Jonah reminds us what kind of God we have .God loves us and is merciful
towards his children and is slow to anger. Their repentance really pleased God but not Jonah.
He wanted God to wipe out the Assyrians from earth because they were the perpetual enemies
to Israelites. Perhaps Jonah did not realise that they were the seed and children of Abraham,
the father of Hebrews. So, God showed mercy on them instead of destroying them. In this
context we can understand the revengeful nature of Jonah. Though God said “revenge is
mine”. God also repented at the good nature of the people of Nineveh. He withdrew his plan
of destroying them. This made Jonah angry with God.
50
He ran from God because he knew that God is gracious merciful, and deep loving. In hot
temperament Jonah left God and remained in a booth made for him. He lingered in the city for
a few days with the hope that God would change his mind about the people of Nineveh. It was
really very hot at that time. So God provided some creepers to give him shade. He was happy
on that day. Then the next day God sent warm weather to wither the creeper. He wanted to
test the patience of Jonah. The heat of the sun made Jonah more curious on the plant because
it was withered away.
Then God asked him “is it right for you to be angry with the plant?” Jonah replied “it
is right for me to be angry with the plant even to death.” Jonah felt compassion for the
plant that helped him to feel comfort. . In the same way God felt compassion towards the
people of Nineveh who for many years they scorned and blasphemed God. They did many
evil things against God. Their wickedness, adultery, crimes and every thing was gone with one
stroke of repentance. Now Jonah himself was talking about the nature of God. Jonah wanted
judgment about the people of Nineveh.
God wanted mercy. Jonah supported death for them because they were heathens, and
they must be completely destroyed. But God championed life for the people of Nineveh and
God won the game. God said that he was justified in sparing the Nineveh city from destruction.
Which has 1, 20,000 population. They were innocent and humble. The book of Jonah is one of
the smallest of the books in the Old Testaments. It tells about God’s concern for all people
including the heathens. They were hated by Hebrews for many years for their cruelty and
political domination. Through the story of Nineveh city we can understand that Jonah is a hot
tempered and rebellious prophet.
51