WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:03.200 Well maybe we should start with your perspective of the story. 00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:04.000 In general. 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:09.679 What do uh what were we what were we thinking when we read uh or curious about? 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:12.640 Um what is the book doing for you? 00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:20.640 I didn't understand why. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:32.639 They absolutely don't. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:35.439 So that's like a foreign concept to map out. 00:02:37.439 --> 00:02:49.840 And I think in other ways, it's it's maybe it's not an either-or in some ways, but to think about if God has a plan and you meet it or you don't. 00:02:50.319 --> 00:02:52.800 That's one way to think about omniscience. 00:02:52.960 --> 00:03:13.680 Another way to think about it is that God is in some ways like the God of infinite potentiality, so that if I pick choice A instead of B, A has a whole bracket of possibilities that God knows the possibilities of, and God's always remapping the chart of possibilities for us, whatever we pick. 00:03:13.840 --> 00:03:26.800 Now that's not like hey, fixed fatalism, but it sure is sort of in some ways um an omniscience of where we can go, if if that makes sense. 00:03:27.360 --> 00:03:31.840 So is it kind of like predestination that you can make one choice? 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:34.240 That's one way to think of it. 00:03:34.479 --> 00:03:49.439 Like, so one way to think of it that I grew up is God has a perfect plan for your life, including who you're going to marry, what you're going to do, and if you sin, you fall short of God's perfect plan, and you'll never get there. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:59.199 So imagine God's plan is this horizontal line, and if you don't pick what God wants you to pick, you miss the line and sucks for you. 00:03:59.680 --> 00:04:08.319 So if you marry the wrong person, like the one that God didn't intend, you're living, you're gonna be short of like the best life you can have. 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:08.560 Right. 00:04:09.039 --> 00:04:15.840 And what that means, right, is that every decision you make has gotta be full of anxiety because you can be constantly making the wrong one. 00:04:16.639 --> 00:04:26.240 Another way to think of it is um you don't even have you don't even get to choose, because since God knows everything, it's all done for you. 00:04:28.240 --> 00:04:29.519 And that's Calvinism. 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:44.079 There's another way to think about it, and this is Leo Tolstoy's view, which is free will is an illusion because it's an illusion, like we make it up, because your personality already predetermines what choice you're going to make in any given circumstance. 00:04:44.399 --> 00:04:57.839 So that's a little different from Calvin, which says God has chosen for you, but it does sort of say, like, and I can tell you, if I gave my kids certain choices, I'm giving them a choice, I absolutely know what they're gonna pick. 00:04:58.160 --> 00:05:02.560 So in some ways, they're not making a choice, like it's an artificial situation. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:10.800 But part of me says, well, that takes out room for surprise because there are times, one in a thousand when my kids will surprise me. 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:18.240 You know, like they've always picked A, always picked A, but like one in a thousand they'll pick B and God knows why. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:31.600 Now Tolstoy would say that's because they have this element of like um rebellion or something else, but he sort of says your personality already picks what you're going to do. 00:05:31.839 --> 00:05:43.759 In some ways, Tolstoy is a behavioralist, like like Skinner was, like you've been conditioned to make certain choices, which means they're not really even choices, they're like responses. 00:05:44.160 --> 00:05:46.319 I I can't really go there all the way. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:06:01.439 I do think our personality gives us proclivities, our formation gives us proclivities, I think our DNA gives us proclivities, but I I like to think that there I like to think, I choose to believe there's room for some surprise. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:13.040 And so when I do that, in my head, instead of God having a way, I think that there's a lot of choices I make, frankly, that are like amoral. 00:06:13.360 --> 00:06:19.839 When I pick to eat at the salad bar, doesn't matter if a flip, to be honest, to God. 00:06:20.240 --> 00:06:26.480 So if I didn't take that extra leap of arugula, I haven't missed the happiest plan for my life. 00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:30.480 I just got less arugula, and God can deal with that. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:33.600 Do I think God cares what I eat? 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:39.920 In some ways, yes, because God cares about everything I do in a curiosity way. 00:06:40.079 --> 00:06:46.000 But I do think when I make a choice, like when I chose the college I chose, I didn't have to pick that one. 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:51.759 I could have picked another one, or actually I could have picked any of the 15 I applied to and got admitted to. 00:06:51.920 --> 00:07:01.439 But when I chose the one I chose, then my and whether you say this is God or or just life, my possibilities got redrawn. 00:07:01.839 --> 00:07:07.600 If I'd gone to Wake Forest, I could have majored in German, for example. 00:07:07.920 --> 00:07:11.600 My college didn't have a German major, so scratch that one off. 00:07:12.160 --> 00:07:13.439 You see how it goes, right? 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:21.199 So the question is, is it life when we make a choice that we have to redraw everything, or is God doing that? 00:07:21.439 --> 00:07:24.720 I didn't believe there's one person that I'm meant to marry. 00:07:25.040 --> 00:07:26.000 I don't believe that. 00:07:26.240 --> 00:07:33.360 What I believe is I choose to marry somebody, and then how am I gonna make that marriage work? 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:35.360 If that makes sense. 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:43.519 So I imagine that every time I make any choice, God is redrawing the board of infinite possibilities. 00:07:44.319 --> 00:07:47.519 Yeah, I that that makes a lot of sense to me. 00:07:47.680 --> 00:07:52.800 Now, when you said Bolsoi was a behaviorist. 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:54.079 A little bit. 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:55.360 He's ahead of Skinner. 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:55.680 Right. 00:07:55.759 --> 00:08:03.600 He's ahead of Skinner, but he sort of believes, just like behavior, I know what that dog's gonna do because I've conditioned that dog to do it. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:06.800 Does that show up in his books? 00:08:07.279 --> 00:08:08.879 Oh, war and peace, absolutely. 00:08:09.120 --> 00:08:11.199 Napoleon had to invade Russia. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:19.120 He didn't choose to do it because of his ego and his background and his whatever, he did it the way he did it. 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:29.439 Sometimes you make a choice in a fork in the road that is so wrong you have to go back to the fort. 00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:33.200 Well, but you know, as the Buddha says, you can't go backwards. 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:34.879 I mean the truth, the truth is, right? 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:37.519 You you can't step in the same river twice. 00:08:37.759 --> 00:08:39.279 You can't, because it's changed. 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:42.639 In fact, the Buddha says you can't step in the same river once. 00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:48.639 Because as soon as, I mean, at every microsecond the river is flowing and changing. 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:53.360 So there's just constant possibility and constant flow. 00:08:53.600 --> 00:09:00.879 There is this point where we repent so we can go more fully forward, but we're never even going backward, right? 00:09:00.960 --> 00:09:04.080 And that's the problem that sometimes we try to go backward. 00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:11.840 This may may or may not interest you, but you know, like I'm I'm positive that there's this thing called faithfulness. 00:09:12.159 --> 00:09:18.080 Faithfulness is when we um return to a faith experience we've had before. 00:09:18.240 --> 00:09:30.240 So I'll tell you, like compassionately, I think people sit in the same seat in church all the time because once upon a time they had this great experience in that seat. 00:09:30.480 --> 00:09:39.360 The light hit them a certain way, or they heard the music, or the sermon was good one day, or they had gas and they burped and it felt great. 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:45.360 So they come back to that place because they want to be faithful to that moment when that wonderful thing happened. 00:09:45.440 --> 00:09:49.120 So they're putting themselves in a posture for something like that to happen again. 00:09:49.440 --> 00:10:10.720 I know for me, like uh I really like to go wine tasting or um distillery tasting because I've had some really nice experiences in those places of slowing down, being connected to people, and the the the tour and the the trial are like lubricants to being present in the world. 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:15.759 Um, so much so that sometimes, like, I'll over like, hey, let's go to one of those places. 00:10:15.919 --> 00:10:20.000 I'm looking to be faithful to those experiences. 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:21.279 And we all have those things. 00:10:21.360 --> 00:10:29.279 This is what we call hobbies, things we continue to do because we're being faithful to an experience that we had in the past. 00:10:29.519 --> 00:10:32.399 And sometimes we're faithful by doing new things. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:36.080 And that can go back to your childhood. 00:10:36.559 --> 00:10:40.320 I it absolutely everything gets back to your childhood, depending on what you believe. 00:10:40.559 --> 00:10:40.720 Yeah. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:49.919 Yeah, I was thinking if I was sitting in church, we uh well, Catholic school, we went and sat in the front because you were better being. 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:52.639 Episcopalians feel from the back forward. 00:10:53.840 --> 00:10:58.080 That's how you know somebody go at Baptist or Catholic, they sit up front. 00:10:58.480 --> 00:11:05.519 Yeah, I sit in the we sit in the second row because I and you know there's something true in education, right? 00:11:05.600 --> 00:11:11.840 Like sitting in the same desk every class increases your academic performance. 00:11:12.080 --> 00:11:12.960 Yes, it does. 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:17.759 And and that's because we associate place with what we heard, right? 00:11:17.840 --> 00:11:22.720 And so in some ways we worship that way, and it's good for our it's good for our brains. 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:32.159 And there's some people that say we should move around all the time, and hey, like variety is interesting, stimulates the amygdala, that's all great too, but it's not either it's not either. 00:11:32.799 --> 00:11:35.600 You might get somebody else's seat, though, if you move around. 00:11:36.080 --> 00:11:37.919 You no one owns seats in church. 00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:38.559 They do. 00:11:38.799 --> 00:11:39.759 No, they don't either. 00:11:43.600 --> 00:11:44.399 I know that, but they didn't. 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:47.360 I know, and they'll be really mad if you sit in their seat. 00:11:47.440 --> 00:11:50.639 But if you get in there, yeah, you know, there's only one seat. 00:11:50.799 --> 00:11:57.200 There's one seat in that church that belongs to anybody, and that's the bishop's chair, and it belongs to the bishop. 00:11:57.360 --> 00:12:01.759 And if I try to sit in it when a bishop comes, it's not gonna be great. 00:12:02.399 --> 00:12:08.159 Well, I mean just you just know that that place belongs to those. 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:10.639 Visitors and seeing visitors don't know. 00:12:12.399 --> 00:12:14.960 And that's why we have to be really good to visitors who don't know. 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:15.840 You're in my seat. 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:16.399 No, you're not. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:16.799 Okay. 00:12:17.039 --> 00:12:18.240 Let's come back to Jonah. 00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:21.039 Because I because we're we're wandering in some good ways. 00:12:21.200 --> 00:12:25.759 But Tam, you asked the question, why is Jonah angry and he didn't answer it? 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:34.399 So, you know, remember that Assyria was this huge empire that gobbled up Israel and got rid of it. 00:12:34.720 --> 00:12:48.720 And part of their gobbling is they led when they led people from Israel to Turkey and to Greece and to um, you know, modern-day Iraq, they did it by putting hooks in their noses. 00:12:48.960 --> 00:12:49.759 That's not nice. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:52.240 It's effective, so that's what they did. 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:56.000 You're very unlikely to run away when you've got a big hook in your nose. 00:12:56.240 --> 00:13:01.679 So they led them off that way, and babies were dashed on rocks. 00:13:01.840 --> 00:13:03.039 You can read about it in the Psalms. 00:13:03.200 --> 00:13:06.720 That's where you take a baby and you slam it on a rock, and that's the end of the baby. 00:13:06.879 --> 00:13:13.360 So, not only are ten tribes wiped off the map, but there's this terrible cruelty. 00:13:14.080 --> 00:13:17.039 Nineveh is the capital city of Assyria. 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:20.080 Sejonah's got a grudge. 00:13:21.200 --> 00:13:24.480 I mean, just to make a comparable bridge, right? 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:29.279 This is a Jewish grudge against Nazi Germany. 00:13:29.519 --> 00:13:33.279 We we as Americans, we don't have any grudge like this. 00:13:33.600 --> 00:13:35.600 We I mean, there's nothing comparable. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:40.720 Maybe the War of 1812, way back when, but we're allies with the British now, right? 00:13:41.039 --> 00:13:47.200 What if you were on the Bataan death march and we maybe prejudice? 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:56.080 And I know when people that I have known that were in World War II had prejudice, they were taught prejudice, you know. 00:13:56.159 --> 00:14:01.279 They didn't like Japs, they didn't like, so my father-in-law didn't like the French. 00:14:01.440 --> 00:14:01.759 Yeah. 00:14:02.000 --> 00:14:03.679 Because he dealt with them in the Japanese. 00:14:03.840 --> 00:14:04.879 But we're allies now. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:05.519 No, that's it. 00:14:05.600 --> 00:14:10.320 So my like my grandfather was a barber in the Navy in World War II. 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:11.279 He got drafted. 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:15.840 And and even in his old age, he'd only buy American cars, would not buy Japanese cars. 00:14:15.919 --> 00:14:16.159 Yeah. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:25.679 Um, he was taking some supplement, and my mom had to censor out any Japanese-looking name with a Sharpie because if he saw a Japanese name, he would refuse to take it. 00:14:26.159 --> 00:14:34.240 These people were deliberately propagandized in this, but then they had real reasons for for their opinions. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:34.960 Sure. 00:14:35.039 --> 00:14:44.559 So, you know, and maybe the best thing we could come up here today is like this is Al-Qaeda or Isis or Osama bin Laden, right? 00:14:44.639 --> 00:14:48.240 I mean, you just you have to actually make this a little bit of a caricature, right? 00:14:48.399 --> 00:14:52.000 And so Jonah, he he says, is the anti-prophet. 00:14:52.159 --> 00:15:01.519 The word of here it reads, the word of the Lord was unto Jonah's son of Amitai, saying, Arise, go into Nineveh, the great city, and call against her. 00:15:01.679 --> 00:15:08.159 In Hebrew it reads, for her evil has risen up before me like a stench, like it stinks like evil. 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:15.840 And then we get to here, and Jonah arose and fled before the Lord, and got in a boat and went to Tarshish. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:18.000 Tarshish is like the edge of the world. 00:15:18.080 --> 00:15:21.600 Like if you Tarshish, you go a little bit further, you fall off the world. 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:26.320 Alright, so Jonah goes the opposite direction, doesn't obey. 00:15:26.399 --> 00:15:37.279 Now, you could say, aha, it's this idea that evil can go unpunished, but I but I do think it's important contextually why they hate Assyrians. 00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:42.960 They hate Assyrians because Assyrians destroyed them and were brutal. 00:15:43.120 --> 00:15:49.919 Okay, so it is about prejudice and it's about God relenting from prejudice. 00:15:50.080 --> 00:15:50.960 It's about both. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:52.879 I mean I think that's really, really important. 00:15:53.200 --> 00:16:00.720 So you have to ask yourself: are there people you would rather die than be reconciled with? 00:16:00.960 --> 00:16:04.240 I think that's another way to read this book. 00:16:05.120 --> 00:16:05.919 That's scary. 00:16:06.080 --> 00:16:07.360 Wow, that's scary. 00:16:07.679 --> 00:16:12.000 Well, I think the parable of the good Samaritan asks the same question. 00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:18.639 The guy who gets beat up on the road is helped by a Samaritan, he might rather die than receive that help. 00:16:18.960 --> 00:16:20.399 But he has no choice. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:22.080 He's too hurt. 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:28.720 So would you rather die than have you pick Hillary Clinton take care of you? 00:16:28.960 --> 00:16:31.440 Would you rather die than have Donald Trump take care of you? 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:35.360 Would you rather die than Osama bin Laden help you personally? 00:16:37.120 --> 00:16:39.840 Those are the kind of questions we have to ask. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:50.080 Who do I hate so much, justifiably, they've earned my hatred, that I do not want anything to do with them. 00:16:50.559 --> 00:16:53.360 I think those are the kinds of questions we have to ask. 00:16:54.559 --> 00:16:58.000 Jonah justifiably hates the Assyrians. 00:16:58.159 --> 00:17:05.440 And you hear at the end of the book, he doesn't want to go to Nineveh because he knows God is compassionate. 00:17:07.200 --> 00:17:11.119 He's mad at God for being compassionate. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:12.480 This is super important. 00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:17.759 It's a little different from what the video is saying, but it isn't. 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:18.559 Right? 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:25.039 The rain falls on the good and the bad, and Jonah's mad about that. 00:17:28.079 --> 00:17:31.440 We get mad about that sometimes, don't we? 00:17:33.039 --> 00:17:34.319 This book is for us. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:38.000 It's a total caricature because you know what? 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:41.519 The sailors turn out to be really pious people. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:42.400 Please. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:43.680 Do you know any sailors? 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:48.720 Oh, we don't want to make God angry. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:50.240 What have we done? 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:54.799 Jonah is asleep in the boat, not because he cares for those sailors. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:57.519 I mean, I'm I'm disagreeing with this guy. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:59.519 Throw me in the water so I can drown. 00:17:59.680 --> 00:18:00.640 I don't have to do this. 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:04.240 I mean, Jonah's life means nothing compared to his hatred. 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:06.160 Yeah. 00:18:06.400 --> 00:18:10.319 Because he was planning to sail off the end of the world anyway. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:15.279 I mean, well, God's gonna get me because I already came off. 00:18:15.680 --> 00:18:22.319 Notice that he falls asleep in the storm because he's happy if they drown. 00:18:22.720 --> 00:18:28.160 That's really different from Jesus falling asleep in the boat when there's a storm and the disciples wake him up. 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:34.480 In Jesus' case, he's not worried about danger because he knows it'll be okay. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:38.400 Jonah's not worried about danger because it'd be great if they sank. 00:18:41.599 --> 00:18:42.960 The sailors panic. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:45.759 These are professional sailors, and Jonah's asleep. 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:48.400 Again, that just tells you, like, that's crazy, right? 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:53.359 And then they're like, oh, well, let's row towards the shore. 00:18:53.440 --> 00:18:56.640 I I mean, again, how many sailors do you know? 00:18:56.880 --> 00:18:58.240 I came from a Navy town. 00:18:58.319 --> 00:18:59.519 I'm just gonna let you know. 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:02.559 This is this is not the behavior of sailors. 00:19:02.960 --> 00:19:11.119 They throw Jonah into the water, because that's what he says, as their last resort, and he gets swallowed not by a whale, but by a big fish, right? 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:13.119 And he's in the fish for three days. 00:19:13.279 --> 00:19:14.720 And he says this psalm. 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:23.839 By the way, it's a quote of one of the Psalms, but you know, when the fish vomits him, I you could say, like, oh, it's because Jonah repented. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:25.200 He didn't repent. 00:19:25.680 --> 00:19:26.720 He didn't repent at all. 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:28.160 He still hates his people. 00:19:28.319 --> 00:19:33.440 It could be that the fish vomits at his fake piety. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:38.640 Like his garbage prayer makes the fish nauseous and throw up. 00:19:38.880 --> 00:19:45.920 Which is an interesting way to read the book because do we have like phony baloney prayers that make God nauseous? 00:19:47.920 --> 00:19:54.480 I mean, I don't think God gets nauseous, but like that feeling, I think that's a sensible feeling. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:19:55.039 You know? 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:59.839 I listen, I hear sermons that make me like spiritually nauseous. 00:19:59.920 --> 00:20:03.119 So I can't imagine what God does with that. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:17.279 Um is there a is this a metaphor for Christ and he clothes three days later? 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:26.079 Well, the gospels are gonna use it, just as Jonah was in the in the belly of a great fish for three days, so is the Son of Man gonna be in this place. 00:20:26.240 --> 00:20:30.960 So it becomes that later, but in the mind of the original audience, no way. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:36.640 Three days is how long your soul sticks with your body. 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:37.039 Okay. 00:20:38.480 --> 00:20:45.839 Now now keep in mind, at this time anyway, they didn't believe that you have a soul different from your body when this is written. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:47.440 You are a soul. 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:50.559 That includes your mind and your emotions and your body. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:57.279 But for the longest time in Judaism, still today, when you die, you've got to be buried within 24 hours. 00:20:58.160 --> 00:20:59.599 So there's a quick burial. 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:04.240 That's the current Jewish belief. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:05.119 What does that mean? 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:06.960 Like your like your essence. 00:21:07.599 --> 00:21:10.240 Yeah, yeah, before it goes down into Sheol. 00:21:12.079 --> 00:21:15.920 So why would you want to be buried with your soul? 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:19.920 Because they believe that your body goes there too. 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:25.200 And then your soul comes up through the dirt. 00:21:25.519 --> 00:21:27.039 No, no, it doesn't go up. 00:21:27.680 --> 00:21:31.039 Everybody stays under the ground if you're Hebrew. 00:21:31.519 --> 00:21:38.079 And you're gonna notice when we read Paul, Paul does not talk about like some spiritual heaven where we've got harps. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:39.599 You get your body. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:44.480 Your body comes up out of the ground because that's part of your soul. 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:46.559 Now we've moved on past that, right? 00:21:46.720 --> 00:21:50.160 Again, most of us, which body would you want anyway? 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:51.119 Not this one. 00:21:51.279 --> 00:21:53.119 I want the one that doesn't hurt. 00:21:53.359 --> 00:21:55.519 And that's part of why we've moved past that. 00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:59.440 But so resurrection did not exist as an idea when this book's written. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:01.839 Certainly changed a lot. 00:22:02.079 --> 00:22:04.319 But he's down there three days. 00:22:04.480 --> 00:22:05.920 That's a really long time. 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:10.640 He says this, oh, the seaweed is wrapped around my head. 00:22:10.880 --> 00:22:12.400 I'm down in the pit. 00:22:12.640 --> 00:22:15.279 The pit, capital P, is like the grave. 00:22:15.359 --> 00:22:17.839 It's the place where dead people go, all of them. 00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:19.119 Like Tartarus. 00:22:19.279 --> 00:22:20.880 There may not be ironic punishment. 00:22:20.960 --> 00:22:22.319 It's just all dark and underground. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:23.759 That's where everybody goes. 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:27.200 And I called on the Lord, and the fish just goes. 00:22:29.039 --> 00:22:30.960 And then he goes to Nineveh. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:33.759 Now it takes him three days to walk through the city. 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:35.680 So imagine how big that city is. 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:37.519 Three days' walk. 00:22:37.680 --> 00:22:40.079 It's 60 miles across. 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:42.640 That's or 30 miles. 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:44.319 It seems really big. 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:46.960 By the way, Nineveh was not that big, but it's a big city. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:52.640 Yeah, the old city would have had a wall, and then there's people outside of the defense wall. 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:54.160 That's a long wall. 00:22:54.640 --> 00:22:56.799 It's a care it's a caricature, right? 00:22:56.960 --> 00:22:58.319 No city is that big. 00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:02.480 You can't you can walk through Paris, it's a huge city, right? 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:07.920 It won't take you three days to walk through big medieval Paris. 00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:09.920 I just want to be clear on that. 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:14.960 Um this this book is a caricature, it's a hyperbole. 00:23:15.039 --> 00:23:15.920 It has to be. 00:23:16.319 --> 00:23:22.000 I mean, if if we choose to say, like, oh, I wonder what kind of fish swallowed Jonah, I think we're missing the point. 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:22.799 Okay. 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:28.240 So he had to walk three days through the city. 00:23:28.400 --> 00:23:34.240 And and somehow in that time he was able to contact 120 something thousand. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:35.200 No, no, no, no. 00:23:35.359 --> 00:23:36.720 Let me get to that number at the end. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:37.359 All right. 00:23:37.599 --> 00:23:42.480 His message of repentance is in 40 days, Nineveh is going to be overturned. 00:23:44.720 --> 00:23:52.720 So, what's interesting, I actually don't think the people of Nineveh know anything about the fish because the coast is very far from Nineveh. 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:54.960 Nineveh's not a coastal city. 00:23:55.279 --> 00:23:58.000 So think through where Iraq is today, right? 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:00.799 Iraq does not border on any water. 00:24:01.039 --> 00:24:04.640 If Jonah is to Tarshish, he's going to the Mediterranean. 00:24:04.799 --> 00:24:11.039 The Mediterranean is not connected to Assyria, so he has to walk there, I would suggest to you. 00:24:12.079 --> 00:24:19.519 So I mean, he doesn't leave out any possibility that things could go different. 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:22.880 Four days, the city's going to be overturned. 00:24:23.119 --> 00:24:29.599 And for some reason, the people in town believe him. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:32.000 And they get worried. 00:24:32.319 --> 00:24:35.279 And even the king says, we're going to have a fast. 00:24:35.359 --> 00:24:37.119 And even the animals are going to fast. 00:24:37.279 --> 00:24:38.079 This is a caricature. 00:24:38.160 --> 00:24:40.960 See, I mean, again, you're not going to deprive your animals of water. 00:24:41.039 --> 00:24:43.200 They put sackcloth on the animals. 00:24:43.519 --> 00:24:45.440 I mean, it's that's it's crazy. 00:24:45.519 --> 00:24:48.880 They put dust and ashes on the animals and the people. 00:24:49.119 --> 00:24:51.039 And they say, who knows? 00:24:51.359 --> 00:24:54.000 Maybe God will change God's mind. 00:24:54.240 --> 00:24:56.880 And not, and by the way, that word in Hebrew is repent. 00:24:57.039 --> 00:25:02.319 Maybe God will repent and not do the evil to us God has spoken to do. 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:03.759 That's how it reads in Hebrew. 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:05.599 Not punishment, but evil. 00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:11.839 So how did the Assyrians had a variety of gods? 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:16.559 And so now they're going to believe in this particular one God. 00:25:17.359 --> 00:25:19.519 These are not monotheists either. 00:25:19.680 --> 00:25:20.000 Okay. 00:25:20.400 --> 00:25:23.359 So maybe they include this God in their pantheon. 00:25:23.440 --> 00:25:25.920 When you're polytheist, there's always room for one more. 00:25:26.799 --> 00:25:28.480 And why they would choose to do it, we don't. 00:25:28.880 --> 00:25:30.079 They don't become Jews. 00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:31.920 They don't get circumcised. 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:33.920 They don't start reading the Torah. 00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:36.160 They put on sackcloth and ashes. 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:47.279 They didn't. 00:25:47.759 --> 00:25:49.039 It's an old, old symbol. 00:25:49.279 --> 00:25:52.319 I mean, again, it's it's sort of the same idea as like whipping yourself. 00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:55.519 Sackcloth is burlap and it's very uncomfortable. 00:25:55.680 --> 00:26:01.279 It's not, it's it's sort of a return to like the most basic level, but it's also like itchy. 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:11.279 Um so it's just it's this sort of way of showing that you're trying to do your penance, like you're trying to suffer in your own body for what you've done. 00:26:11.519 --> 00:26:12.720 Same with fasting. 00:26:12.960 --> 00:26:18.559 Ashes are this symbol, like when you burn up a sacrifice to God, there's like junk left over. 00:26:18.799 --> 00:26:19.440 The ashes. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:36.160 And actually, the guy, there's a priest has to clean those up, go through them outside, and then wash his garments and stay outside of camp for a day to like quarantine all that impurity because you tried to offer God your best and there was junk left over. 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:42.160 So ashes are a sign, like, even at our best, look, we've got like junk left over. 00:26:42.319 --> 00:26:45.440 Like even our repentance is selfish. 00:26:45.920 --> 00:26:47.039 So you wear that. 00:26:47.119 --> 00:26:53.599 That's part of why we still wear it on our heads, is to say, like, even our best efforts aren't perfect. 00:26:55.279 --> 00:27:16.160 So they figured, well, this God that's going to destroy us is gonna look or look at us and see us all dirty and uncomfortable and miserable and listen to our animals moan and groan, and then he'll pay attention to us and and uh hopefully not kill us all. 00:27:16.799 --> 00:27:17.519 Yeah, that's it. 00:27:17.599 --> 00:27:18.079 Hopefully. 00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:18.960 Who knows? 00:27:19.839 --> 00:27:22.160 Maybe God will change God's mind. 00:27:23.119 --> 00:27:24.799 Um and so what do you know? 00:27:24.960 --> 00:27:25.920 God does. 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:32.559 And Jonah gets really mad and says, I wish I were dead. 00:27:32.880 --> 00:27:34.000 No surprise. 00:27:34.160 --> 00:27:37.359 He was gonna sail off the end of the world, he was gonna go in the water. 00:27:38.240 --> 00:27:41.599 And then God says, Is it really okay that you're that mad? 00:27:41.839 --> 00:27:44.559 And Jonah says, Yes, it's okay enough to die. 00:27:44.720 --> 00:27:57.279 Then he goes outside of the city and he he sits there, and then there's this, just I have to tell you this, there's this Hebrew word that only appears two times in the Bible, and it's in Jonah, and it's whatever it is. 00:27:57.440 --> 00:27:59.039 This thing grows up. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:01.519 Vine, bush, we don't know what it is. 00:28:01.839 --> 00:28:04.720 It doesn't, you probably don't care in Hebrew, it's the word kikayon. 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:14.160 We don't well, people try to figure that out, but no one knows what it is because from context, you can't tell what it is. 00:28:14.319 --> 00:28:19.039 I mean, it could be a palm tree, it could be a vine, it could be a castor oil plant. 00:28:19.119 --> 00:28:20.799 I've read all that sort of stuff. 00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:25.359 He doesn't care, it miraculously grows up and gives him shade. 00:28:25.599 --> 00:28:25.920 Right? 00:28:26.000 --> 00:28:28.480 So he's sitting there and he gets this shade and it's great. 00:28:28.640 --> 00:28:35.759 And then the next day God appoints a worm, is how it reads, and the worm eats the plant and he dies, and Jonah's really mad. 00:28:36.160 --> 00:28:39.759 Again, take my life, it's better for me to die than live. 00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:43.759 And God says, Is it okay that you're so mad about the Kika yon? 00:28:44.240 --> 00:28:49.119 And Jonah says, Yes, it is, because it's no longer giving me a shade. 00:28:49.279 --> 00:28:57.920 And God says, You're angry about a plant that you didn't plant and that you didn't care for, and then you didn't cause grow. 00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:05.119 But in Nineveh, there's 120,000 people who don't know their right from their left, and many cattle. 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:07.279 That's how the book ends. 00:29:07.599 --> 00:29:10.480 So, 120,000 who don't know the right from their left. 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:17.359 That could be people who don't know morality, but I want to suggest to you who doesn't know the right from their left, two-year-olds and under. 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:23.599 So there's like children and cattle. 00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:26.720 And the book ends right there, and many cattle. 00:29:28.079 --> 00:29:31.359 God doesn't say anything about adults, I would tell you. 00:29:31.599 --> 00:29:36.160 God says there's children and animals. 00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:39.039 This is a lovely phrase, right? 00:29:39.200 --> 00:29:40.799 That it ends with the animals. 00:29:41.119 --> 00:29:45.200 God cares about the animals of the town and the babies. 00:29:46.880 --> 00:29:49.200 And Jonah just cared about the adults. 00:29:49.440 --> 00:29:49.839 That's what I mean. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:51.279 Jonah once hated them. 00:29:51.680 --> 00:29:56.079 He hated them for logical reasons. 00:29:56.319 --> 00:29:58.480 And he's kind of a control freak. 00:29:59.200 --> 00:30:06.079 Well, I again, he he he fundamentally knows God is merciful and he doesn't want to take a chance on mercy. 00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:16.559 Now, what we do is something really different with like modern Christianity, like the kind that you hear on TV. 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:18.400 God hates sinners. 00:30:18.640 --> 00:30:29.200 And even I hear this like America is God's country, and we're gonna punish like evil, whoever doesn't like Americans because they're not the right kind of Christians. 00:30:29.359 --> 00:30:32.720 And and it's I'm sorry, this book says no, no way. 00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:34.160 Like, no, no way. 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:38.400 But it also has something to do with our, I think, our personal piety. 00:30:38.559 --> 00:30:42.960 Like I said, can you imagine being reconciled with somebody that you hate? 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:46.559 I mean, geez, there's people in my life who don't deserve other chances. 00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:51.119 And here's God giving people who don't deserve other chances other chances. 00:30:55.279 --> 00:30:57.920 There's people I don't want to spend eternity with. 00:30:59.200 --> 00:31:01.359 And God says, is that okay? 00:31:01.599 --> 00:31:03.200 Yes, it's okay. 00:31:03.440 --> 00:31:06.880 They don't deserve it, or I don't deserve it, or whatever. 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:13.599 Okay, you're upset about a plant you didn't plant because of what it did to you. 00:31:14.400 --> 00:31:17.279 I mean, this is sort of the call of the of the book. 00:31:17.440 --> 00:31:28.720 I want to tell you the interesting thing about this book is that it happens in the same collection of books that has Ezra and Nehemiah that says, get rid of foreign wives and their children. 00:31:28.880 --> 00:31:30.079 Get rid of them. 00:31:30.880 --> 00:31:34.559 Put them outside the city, which means they're going to die or become prostitutes. 00:31:34.720 --> 00:31:41.359 And then there's this book that says, Well, actually, God cares about foreign people who don't convert to Judaism. 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:43.920 So, so I do think what he said is really helpful. 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:47.200 David Noel Freeman is like tops, right? 00:31:47.359 --> 00:31:54.160 He says this really interesting thing about this shift from every bad deed must be punished. 00:31:54.400 --> 00:31:56.720 By the way, I grew up hearing that in church. 00:31:56.880 --> 00:31:59.119 God is like the most perfect judge there is. 00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:03.200 So when you sin, I mean, God doesn't may not get mad, but you got a better price. 00:32:03.440 --> 00:32:07.680 So Jesus, somebody's got a bit of punishment, so Jesus is your whipping boy. 00:32:07.759 --> 00:32:11.200 I mean, that's how I was taught to understand Jesus. 00:32:11.440 --> 00:32:14.240