Jonah 3: a bet on the Lord's mercy

The Lord is merciful even though He is also righteous and punishes the wicked.
Jonah hated the people of Niniveh, certainly, they deserved to be destroyed. It is not common that a prophet from the Lord preaches on a foreign land, however Jonah preaches:

4 Jonah entered the city, went one day’s walk and preached, “In forty days Nineveh will be smashed.”

Apparently he preached to just a small portion of the city because the city was much greater than a one days' walk length. He would be glad if it really were smashed; but the people of Nineveh bet on the Lord's mercy!

5 The people of Nineveh listened, and trusted God. They proclaimed a citywide fast and dressed in burlap to show their repentance. Everyone did it—rich and poor, famous and obscure, leaders and followers.

Even the king repented. He made a decree:

8-9 (...) Everyone must turn around, turn back from an evil life and the violent ways that stain their hands. Who knows? Maybe God will turn around and change his mind about us, quit being angry with us and let us live!”

It was really a bet: "who knows? Let us repent and expect that the Lord is merciful to us".
The prodigal son bet on the mercy of his father too; but unfortunately the older son didn't.
Am I betting on the mercy of the Lord?

Jonas2: Salvation belongs to God!

Jonas was about to die in the middle of the ocean. There was no way to survive. I will face death one day; a death that is certain.
Jonah saw the power of the Lord moving in his favor to deliver him; although he was fleeing from the Lord. Certainly the Lord was merciful to Jonah.
For Jonah, the temple of Jerusalem was very important, even though he was prophet from Israel and not from Judah. Jonah expected death:

3-4 You threw me into ocean’s depths,
    into a watery grave,
With ocean waves, ocean breakers
    crashing over me.
I said, ‘I’ve been thrown away,
    thrown out, out of your sight.
I’ll never again lay eyes
    on your Holy Temple.’

facing death, Jonah prayed to the Lord:

2 He prayed:
“In trouble, deep trouble, I prayed to God.
    He answered me.
From the belly of the grave I cried, ‘Help!’
    You heard my cry.

and he was saved:

6b-9 Yet you pulled me up from that grave alive,
    O God, my God!
When my life was slipping away,
    I remembered God,
And my prayer got through to you,
    made it all the way to your Holy Temple.
Those who worship hollow gods, god-frauds,
    walk away from their only true love.
But I’m worshiping you, God,
    calling out in thanksgiving!
And I’ll do what I promised I’d do!
    Salvation belongs to God!”

Jonah saw that his prayer went to the Holy Temple where the Lord listened to Him. Jonah was very thankful and he wanted to please the Lord through sacrifices. We are called to carry the cross after Jesus. May I carry the cross with joy in my heard, pleased by what Jesus has been doing to me.

Jonah 1: the disobedient prophet

A prophet is one who announces the message of the Lord. We are used to read messages from prophets, but in the book of Jonah we read about the life of the prophet.
In first chapter, the prophet should fear the Lord, but it seems that pagans fear the Lord more:


11 They said to him, “What are we going to do with you—to get rid of this storm?” By this time the sea was wild, totally out of control.
12 Jonah said, “Throw me overboard, into the sea. Then the storm will stop. It’s all my fault. I’m the cause of the storm. Get rid of me and you’ll get rid of the storm.”
13 But no. The men tried rowing back to shore. They made no headway. The storm only got worse and worse, wild and raging.
14 Then they prayed to God, “O God! Don’t let us drown because of this man’s life, and don’t blame us for his death. You are God. Do what you think is best.”
15 They took Jonah and threw him overboard. Immediately the sea was quieted down.
16 The sailors were impressed, no longer terrified by the sea, but in awe of God. They worshiped God, offered a sacrifice, and made vows.

Here the pagan sailors are in awe of God because the storm was over as soon as they throw Jonah in sea. They realized that the Lord is really the One who commands heaven and earth. They worshiped the Lord.
It is very common to read prophecies against pagan nations, but in the book of Jonah, it becomes clearer and clearer that the Lord loves humans in general.

Obadiah 1: Esau/Edom should love his brother Jacob/Israel

 Obadiah must have been written when Judah was invaded by Babylon, thus he should be alive in times of Jeremiah. Edom (descendants of Esau) became glad when Babylon invaded Judah. We read:

10-14
Because of the murderous history compiled
    against your brother Jacob,
You will be looked down on by everyone.
    You’ll lose your place in history.
On that day you stood there and didn’t do anything.
    Strangers took your brother’s army into exile.
Godless foreigners invaded and pillaged Jerusalem.
    You stood there and watched.
    You were as bad as they were.
You shouldn’t have gloated over your brother
    when he was down-and-out.
You shouldn’t have laughed and joked at Judah’s sons
    when they were facedown in the mud.
You shouldn’t have talked so big
    when everything was so bad.
You shouldn’t have taken advantage of my people
    when their lives had fallen apart.
You of all people should not have been amused
    by their troubles, their wrecked nation.
You shouldn’t have taken the shirt off their back
    when they were knocked flat, defenseless.
And you shouldn’t have stood waiting at the outskirts
    and cut off refugees,
And traitorously turned in helpless survivors
    who had lost everything.

Edom is similar to the ones who became glad when the Jews were persecuted and killed by the Nazis. Edom took advantage of this situation. Edom thought of themself as a much more valued people than the Jews that were being despised at that moment. Edom became proud and arrogant. In a similar situation, it is very easy to despise the poor today as if they just have what they deserve (judging that they are lazy, for instance). Even though it may be true, it was also true that the Lord was punishing Judah for their sins but no one should be glad about it.

Amos 9: don´t count on "the Lord is good, therefore He will nor harm us".

In the last chapter of Amos, we read:

7-8 “Do you Israelites think you’re any better than the far-off Cushites?” God’s Decree.
“Am I not involved with all nations? Didn’t I bring Israel up from Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, the Arameans from Qir? But you can be sure that I, God, the Master, have my eye on the Kingdom of Sin. I’m going to wipe it off the face of the earth. Still, I won’t totally destroy the family of Jacob.” God’s Decree.

The Lord is calling Israel as the "Kingdom of Sin". He is wiping Israel off the face of the earth but He won't totally destroy the family of Jacob. Nowadays, it is very clear that it happened. Where is the 10 tribes of Israel? However, at Amos times, it was not so clear it would happen, by contrary, it was common to think that the Lord is good and therefore He would not harm his people.

10
All the sinners of My people will die by the sword,
Those who say, ‘The catastrophe will not overtake or confront us.’

Very interestingly, the sinners of Israel think that the catastrophe will not overtake them, but they are very wrong. Wouldn't this message be to me as a Christian who think of myself as a chosen of the Lord? The chosen is led to obey the Lord. However, the Lord will restore Israel:

11
“On that day I will raise up the fallen shelter of David,
And wall up its gaps;
I will also raise up its ruins
And rebuild it as in the days of old;

And that's how Amos finishes.

Amos 8: love instead of sacrifices.

We read a message:

4 Hear this, you who trample the needy, to put an end to the humble of the land, 5 saying,
“When will the new moon be over,
So that we may sell grain;
And the Sabbath, so that we may open the wheat market,
To make the ephah smaller and the shekel bigger,
And to cheat with dishonest scales,
6
So as to buy the helpless for money,
And the needy for a pair of sandals,
And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”

It is addressed to those who oppress the needy. They are religious: they respect the Sabbath saying: "when will it be over, so that we may open the wheat market?". That is, their hearts are not in obeying the Lord. It is very likely that they feel secure in their religiosity, however:

7-8
God swears against the arrogance of Jacob:
    “I’m keeping track of their every last sin.”
God’s oath will shake earth’s foundations,
    dissolve the whole world into tears.
God’s oath will sweep in like a river that rises,
    flooding houses and lands,
And then recedes,
    leaving behind a sea of mud.

Amos 7: A stranger in the nest

In Amos 7, it becomes clearer that the prophet was not from Israel. Amos was a stranger in the nest. We read:

10 Amaziah, priest at the shrine at Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel:
“Amos is plotting to get rid of you; and he’s doing it as an insider, working from within Israel. His talk will destroy the country. He’s got to be silenced. Do you know what Amos is saying?
11    ‘Jeroboam will be killed.
    Israel is headed for exile.’”

Amaziah was a priest aligned with the king of Israel. He spoke in the name of the Lord and, as priest, he did sacrifices. For him, Amos was a rebel against the king Jeroboam and against Israel. Was the message of Amos, a message of love from the Lord? In a way, yes; however, it was calling to change, to repentance; thus it was a confrontation message.


12-13 Then Amaziah confronted Amos: “Seer, be on your way! Get out of here and go back to Judah where you came from! Hang out there. Do your preaching there. But no more preaching at Bethel! Don’t show your face here again. This is the king’s chapel. This is a royal shrine.”

Here it is very clear that Amos came from Judah ("go back to Judah where you came from"). It is easy to understand that the priest Amaziah had a lot of privileges as being priest, but Amos had only problems.


14-15 But Amos stood up to Amaziah: “I never set up to be a preacher, never had plans to be a preacher. I raised cattle and I pruned trees. Then God took me off the farm and said, ‘Go preach to my people Israel.’

16-17 “So listen to God’s Word. You tell me, ‘Don’t preach to Israel. Don’t say anything against the family of Isaac.’ But here’s what God is telling you:
    Your wife will become a whore in town.
    Your children will get killed.
    Your land will be auctioned off.
    You will die homeless and friendless.
    And Israel will be hauled off to exile, far from home.”

    
Amos forsees a lot of problems to Amaziah. In a way, the Lord will make clear that Amos is right and Amaziah wrong.