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What if Jonah first did what the Lord commanded him to do, which was to warn the Ninevans that God will put His wrath on them for their sins? To the extent that God in the Bible allows us to reason with Him, as He says in Verses such as Isaiah 1:18, my guess is that Jonah would be like Ezekiel. That is, after God has Jonah warn the Ninevans, He would have him warn other peoples as well, just as He used Ezekiel after him. Perhaps after the Lord got pushback from Jonah, He decided not to use Jonah any more for that purpose, and he later moves on to Ezekiel.
But Ezekiel stood ready to do what God commanded him to do, and the Book of Ezekiel is full of the places God told him to go, to warn the peoples who sinned. Ironically, it is Jonah that Jesus directly references, when he says in Matthew 12:38-41 that just as Jonah spent three days in the belly of “a great fish,” the Son of Man will spend “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Within those passages he goes on to say that the men of Nineveh, who repented, “will rise up at the judgment” with the generation that Jesus was speaking to and condemn it. In that sense, Jesus compares himself to Jonah who warned the Ninevans, but Jesus, warning “this generation,” says that “something greater than Jonah is here.” Commentators have said that Jesus is referring to himself as being greater than Jonah in that remark.
Does Jesus have any connection with Ezekiel? Jesus in Matthew 10:28 says “[Do] not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” This could be seen as acknowledging Ezekiel 18:4 in which the Lord, in a discussion with Ezekiel, says “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.” As to the father-son reference, Ezekiel 18:2-3, God says to Ezekiel “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel.” God had declared in Jeremiah 31:27-29 that He would watch over the houses of Israel and Judah to build and plant and that “In those days they shall no longer say: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’” This sets the stage for Ezekiel 18:20 in which God says to Ezekiel “The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.” So, sons need no longer grit their teeth because of their fathers’ sins.
There’s a lot of deep discussion going on here between God and Ezekiel, in the midst of God’s having Ezekiel act as His messenger in warning various peoples of the wrath to come upon them. What kind of interaction goes on between God and Jonah, when Jonah’s not in the belly of a fish? Well, the topic of discussion was a plant that God put over Jonah’s head to shield him from the sun, which later wilts and dies, exposing Jonah to the sun again. Jonah was angry that the plant no longer existed, and God sees Jonah’s anger as pity for the plant. On that basis He asks Jonah if He should not pity the people of Nineveh when He granted them mercy since, compared to the plant, it is a great city. Ironically, BTW, Jonah figured that God would be merciful toward Nineveh, which is why he refuses to warn them when God first tells him to do so.
One might wonder if Ezekiel didn’t have the same insight as he goes about warning different peoples who sinned that their number is up. Then again, maybe, in his interactions with God,
he somehow knew that those peoples would not repent, so he didn’t make much of a fuss, that Jonah made.
One lesson from Ezekiel which is carried over to the New Testament, namely Ezekiel 18:20, is that we carry our own weight, whether it be good or bad. In that sense we are responsible for our own actions, and we don’t blame others for the actions we commit. That is not to say that we cannot hold others responsible for the actions THEY commit. And if our own actions are for good, we need not be ashamed of them under God.
But Ezekiel stood ready to do what God commanded him to do, and the Book of Ezekiel is full of the places God told him to go, to warn the peoples who sinned. Ironically, it is Jonah that Jesus directly references, when he says in Matthew 12:38-41 that just as Jonah spent three days in the belly of “a great fish,” the Son of Man will spend “three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Within those passages he goes on to say that the men of Nineveh, who repented, “will rise up at the judgment” with the generation that Jesus was speaking to and condemn it. In that sense, Jesus compares himself to Jonah who warned the Ninevans, but Jesus, warning “this generation,” says that “something greater than Jonah is here.” Commentators have said that Jesus is referring to himself as being greater than Jonah in that remark.
Does Jesus have any connection with Ezekiel? Jesus in Matthew 10:28 says “[Do] not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” This could be seen as acknowledging Ezekiel 18:4 in which the Lord, in a discussion with Ezekiel, says “Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.” As to the father-son reference, Ezekiel 18:2-3, God says to Ezekiel “What do you mean by repeating this proverb concerning the land of Israel, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, this proverb shall no more be used by you in Israel.” God had declared in Jeremiah 31:27-29 that He would watch over the houses of Israel and Judah to build and plant and that “In those days they shall no longer say: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’” This sets the stage for Ezekiel 18:20 in which God says to Ezekiel “The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son.” So, sons need no longer grit their teeth because of their fathers’ sins.
There’s a lot of deep discussion going on here between God and Ezekiel, in the midst of God’s having Ezekiel act as His messenger in warning various peoples of the wrath to come upon them. What kind of interaction goes on between God and Jonah, when Jonah’s not in the belly of a fish? Well, the topic of discussion was a plant that God put over Jonah’s head to shield him from the sun, which later wilts and dies, exposing Jonah to the sun again. Jonah was angry that the plant no longer existed, and God sees Jonah’s anger as pity for the plant. On that basis He asks Jonah if He should not pity the people of Nineveh when He granted them mercy since, compared to the plant, it is a great city. Ironically, BTW, Jonah figured that God would be merciful toward Nineveh, which is why he refuses to warn them when God first tells him to do so.
One might wonder if Ezekiel didn’t have the same insight as he goes about warning different peoples who sinned that their number is up. Then again, maybe, in his interactions with God,
he somehow knew that those peoples would not repent, so he didn’t make much of a fuss, that Jonah made.
One lesson from Ezekiel which is carried over to the New Testament, namely Ezekiel 18:20, is that we carry our own weight, whether it be good or bad. In that sense we are responsible for our own actions, and we don’t blame others for the actions we commit. That is not to say that we cannot hold others responsible for the actions THEY commit. And if our own actions are for good, we need not be ashamed of them under God.
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