1. A Harlot, a Fish, and the Mercy and Judgment of God
Memorial Presbyterian Church Sunday School – Winter 2017

2. When you think of Jonah what comes to your mind first?

3. Background Info Who was Jonah? When did this take place?
Who was Jonah?
When did this take place?
Reign of Jeroboam II ( B. C.)
Either Assyrian king Adad-nirari III ( B. C.)
or Asshur-dan III ( B. C.)
Where did this take place?
What was going on in the world at this time?
2 Kings 14:25 He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.
ESV Study Bible

4. How do we Read Jonah? Allegory? Parable? History?
Allegory?
Parable?
History?

5. What do we Learn from How this Story is Written?
Key words?
Characters?
Plot?

6. Why did Jonah Flee?
“Significantly, no explanation is given here for Jonah’s flight; for this we must await the events of chapter 4. For the present we do not need to know. We must, therefore, restrain our curiosity, avoid making conjectures, and patiently allow the author to disclose the motive when the time is right”
T. Desmond Alexander, “Jonah,” in Tyndale Old Testament Commentary, 111

7. How would an Israelite read a story where Gentiles are saved through God’s judgment on his impenitent prophet?

8. How are we to read this story?
1 Peter 4:14-19
14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. 17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 And
“If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.
Are we like Jonah (v. 9) or like the Sailors (v. 16)?

9. Why Does Jesus Refer to the Sign of Jonah?
Matthew 12: Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.