· The date of his ministry is doubtful. If his ministry was around 848-841 B.C., Jehoram [Joram] was the king of Israel (9).
· His ministry was during the reign of kings Jehoram (5) and Ahaziah (6) of Judah.
· His relationship was with the prophets, Elijah, and probably Elisha.
This short book comes from some undetermined time. Many consider it to be around 848-841 B.C. when Elijah and Elisha ministered. Some think it was after the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., with a message against the Edomites, ancestors to Esau, the brother of Jacob, because they rejoiced over the fall of Jerusalem. Obadiah prophesied that Edom would be punished and defeated, along with other nations that were the enemies of Israel.
· God’s view towards taking vengeance.
Sharing:
· God gave this prophecy to Obadiah long before the punishment was carried out. He is a patient God who waits, and will withhold is judgment for generations so that even a few could be saved.
· He has always been a God of the few, the remnant, and the faithful. But while there have always been believers and followers of God, He does not rest. He seeks the lost and the sinful. He reaches out to even the evil and gives them time to repent. Our God is always calling sinners to repentance.
· Why is it good that God gives out punishment? Because He is just, and it’s tempered with forgiveness when it is asked for. In this case, it is not just one man’s evil, but the people as a whole who got worse. There were sins of omission (not doing what they knew they should do), and not just commission (the evil they actually did).
· Obadiah shows that Israel is not God’s only people.
· ‘Stand and watch’ in verse 11 may refer to the Gulf of Aqaba between Israel and Edom. Edom stood by on the other side and watched Israel’s destruction. Or it may not be a geographical reference, but just a reference to doing nothing while Israel needed help. The prophecy was fulfilled when Edom was wiped out forever is years to come.
· Verse 18 compares with Ezekiel 35:1. If God is against you, there is no hope.
· His ministry was during the reign of Kings Jehoash (12) and Jeroboam II (13) of Israel.
· His ministry was during the reign of King Amaziah of Judah (9).
· His relationship was with the prophet Amos.
His message to Nineveh was delivered during the rules of two kings of Assyria: (Shalmaneser IV) and Ashur-dan III (760-753), ending his ministry about thirty years before Assyria fell (722 B.C.).
The Book of Jonah is unlike other prophetic books of the Bible in that it is a narrative, describing the exploits of a prophet who tried to disobey God’s command. God told him to go to Nineveh, the capital of the great empire of Assyria, Israel’s enemy. But Jonah did not want to go there with God’s message, because he was convinced that God would not carry out his threat to destroy the city. After a series of dramatic events, he reluctantly obeyed, and finally sulked when his message of doom did not come true. The book portrays God’s absolute sovereignty over His creation. But above all it portrays God as a God of love and mercy, who would rather forgive and save even the enemies of His people, than punish and destroy them.
- What is the purpose in using God’s name 41 times in 48 verses?
- How does God use prayer to deal with our anger toward Him?
Sharing:
- God tells Jonah to give a message of warning and repentance to Nineveh. In Sunday school I always heard the story of Jonah being too scared to go. But I don’t find fear in the story. I believe if there is fear, it’s a fear that God would forgive the Ninevites. The Ninevites were Assyrians, not only a danger to Israel, but an awful brutal people. They put the bones of their enemies outside their city gates, and covered the wall with their skins. They were a violent, proud people.
- Jonah is certain to have heard stories of their evil and could even have known some of their victims. It was a national hate for the Assyrians. They were not God’s chosen people. In fact, they tortured and killed His people.
- God revealed Himself to the sailors by stopping the storm, once Jonah was thrown overboard. The men on the ship offer a sacrifice to the Lord and make vows to Him. He is always revealing Himself. Once Jonah tells them that the way they are living will bring punishment on themselves from God, the Ninevites repent. It’s as simple as that. They hear the words of God, and respond with repentance. After all the belligerent and stubbornness of the Israelites, it’s refreshing to finally see people that repent. And they’re not God’s chosen nation. They’re the dirty, the unfaithful, the sexually immoral, the drunks, and the liars. That’s who God saves. Israel as a nation refused to think of itself needing God as much as every other nation does. They assumed that because of their parents, they must be right with Him. On the high places and in the dark, they sinned as much and more than the “sinful” people around them. But Nineveh repented. So thousands upon thousands of people were saved into the family of God and everyone was happy… that would have been a good ending. In reality, we are much less forgiving than God. Jonah accused God of being a gracious and compassionate God! It sounds like he’s calling God soft. He even says that it would be better to die than to see the city saved. But God asks Jonah, “What right do you have to be angry?” Jonah stuck around to see if maybe God would punish the city after all. God made a vine to give shade for Jonah from the scorching sun. Jonah was comfortable and happy, until God took away the vine and the desert sun beat down on Jonah’s head until he became faint. Again, Jonah says it would be better to die than live after God took away the vine. The Lord reminds Jonah that he did no work to grow the vine, and it was God’s to do with as He pleased. If Jonah was so distressed about the vine, was he not distressed about an entire city that had never been told the truth of God? God was concerned for them, and it’s good for us He’s nothing like us. The Ninevites were the people in life that are just plain awful. They are the type of people that sicken us. They fill us with righteous anger for the innocent people they hurt and the innocence they take away. They’re the reason hell was made; they don’t deserve forgiveness. But that’s not the truth in the book of Jonah. Here’s a statement that might sound strange: ‘God gives forgiveness only to the undeserving.’ Undeserving Nineveh was saved, and deserving Israel remained unrepentant. God’s word and our consciences prove that no one deserves salvation. We’ve all proven our inability to be righteous. But the God of Israel and Nineveh and Bainbridge, loves to forgive and the only reason He does it, is because He loves us. It is not for anything good that we can give Him; it is just because it pleases Him to offer Himself to all men.
- God’s Story about Jonah shows not only a punishing God, but one who accepts repentance. He is the sole prophet to Gentiles only.
- Why did Jonah run away? He hated the Ninevites as evil people. Are we the same in that we may not want salvation for those we dislike? Jonah knew that God would forgive his enemy, and he didn’t want that to happen. He was prepared to die (be dumped off the ship) before going to the Ninevites. Jonah also ran away because he had allegiance to his own country.
- The sailors were introduced to Jonah’s God in a very strange way. God used Jonah’s disobedience to reveal Himself to others. They encountered a supernatural God.
- The Ninevites witnessed a strange looking man that was white from stomach acid. It is ironic that the result of Jonah’s disobedience was used by God to get the attention of the Ninevites. Their repentance wasn’t for gain, since they didn’t know God would withhold judgment.
- It was easy for Jonah to flee from God: he had the money, and the ship leaving in the opposite direction. His fleeing provides an illustration: fleeing means he went down – down to the port of Joppa, down to the ship’s base, down to the ocean bottom, and down and away from God.
- Jonah accused God of being merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry, and full of unfailing love (Jonah 4:2). It is easy for us to think others don’t deserve God’s forgiveness. Many think the Old Testament only shows a bloody, angry God. This story shows a God of love that Jonah accused Him of being.
Jonah knew that God was a God of mercy and forgiveness, so he ran away from delivering God’s message.
- His ministry was during the reign of kings Pekah (8) Hoshea (9) of Israel.
- His ministry was during the reign of kings Jotham (11), Ahaz (12), and Hezekiah (13) of Judah.
- His relationship with prophets was shortly after Amos, with Hosea Israel, and Isaiah in Jerusalem.
His message to Judah was during the time when the Assyrians launched their drive for supremacy, defeating the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C.
Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, was from a country town in Judah, the southern kingdom. He was certain that Judah was about to face the same kind of national catastrophe that Amos had predicted for the northern kingdom, and for the same reason God would punish the hateful injustice of the people. Micah’s message, however, contains more clear and notable signs of hope for the future. His message gives the picture of universal peace under God (4:1-14); the prediction of a great king who would come from the family line of David and bring peace to the nation (5:2-5); and in 6:8 he gives the summary of much that the prophets of Israel had to say: “What he requires of us is this: to do what is just, to show constant love, and to live in humble fellowship with our God.”
- What does God consider authentic worship to be?
- What is the significance of Micah’s use of God’s name 52 times in seven chapters?
Sharing:
- Every generation was faced with the truth of God and the exposing of their sin. That is a God of constant love. He gives every person of every generation an opportunity to respond to His love, repent and stop doing evil.
- The people of Micah’s time looked for prophets that would tell them they were a great people, that God would lift them up and bless them. This is a constant theme throughout all of Scripture, and all of human history. Is there any difference today?
- We easily hear what we want to hear when the Bible is preached. Sometimes we ignore the message, sometimes we are sleeping, and sometimes we apply it to someone else and don’t take it to heart. We are masters of deflection and self-deception. There are even times when we will go out and seek a place that doesn’t challenge us to pursue hard after God so that we can feel like a good person again. We just want to hear that we have everything together. We want a God who loves us and doesn’t want us to change a thing. Micah is saying that everything is not okay. We are called to change, to admit the sin in our lives, and then live differently. A godly walk that doesn’t need to be changed has only existed once. We are called to honesty, and if we’re honest, there is no way we can be done living a repentant life. There is always something to give up, to leave at the roadside and follow our God. If we’re not changing we’re lying to ourselves. We’re either becoming more obedient to our God, or we’re more a slave to sin.
- Micah displays the results of disobedience, and they are terrible. Living in sin heaps misery on your head. Living after God brings rest and joy. All of the prophets and all of God’s Word scream this at us. There is no middle ground, it’s love God and experience the protection of the God who can lead you to perfect peace, or reject His protection and try it your own way. The prophets are meant to wake people up to the choices that they’re making and the results of those choices. God will not let anyone wander into hell unknowingly. We are all faced with God. In the back of our minds, there is that vague memory of something lost. Something that we are missing that we were meant to have.
- God is waking His people up, and sadly, when they are shown their sin and confronted with God’s opinion of it, they deny that small voice calling them back, by telling themselves, ”This prophet doesn’t really know what he’s talking about. He can’t know what I’ve done in secret.” But I believe, in their hearts they know. It is a choice. And it’s so easy to deflect and avoid. It seems easier to just wait out those guilty feelings and let them pass.
- Micah reveals the punishment of sin, and then the unbelievable forgiveness of God. God calls and calls and never tires. He exposes sin to bring repentance, and not a guilty conscience. The guilt remains because we haven’t given up our sin. Guilt is not meant for God’s children. He has never wanted a worried, guilty people. He desires a free and thankful people who understand the great gift of a God that opens our eyes to the sin that wears on our soul. He gives us a way to let go and be free. We are not meant to be guilty. We are meant to accept that we have fallen short, and then to accept His forgiveness and know that true salvation’s rest is with us.
- What does God require for authentic worship? Micah 6:8 speaks of a heart that expresses itself in life.
- The fact that Micah mentions God’s name 52 times shows that the people wanted to identify with God, but not serve Him.
- The people’s reaction to their sin being exposed was to tell Micah not to tell them about it, but go away. He was to shut up and leave. They denied that they were under conviction. It seemed easier for them to evade the issue most of the time. Why is sin exposed? A change was needed, to the extent that a second chance was given. The sin of Israel and Judah was an example to other nations of the folly of living in sin. Exposure of sin is not intended to make us wallow in guilt, but so that we can enjoy life. It is to our benefit to go the right way, and in order to do this, we cannot brush off sin, but respond to the conviction we have when we do sin.
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