Nineveh, that Great City

English: Jonah vomited out by the great fish on the shore of Nineveh. Sculpted capital (left side) from the nave of the abbey-church in Mozac, 12th century. Français : Chapiteau de la nef de l'abbatiale de Mozac représentant Jonas recraché par la baleine sur la plage de Ninive (XIIe siècle). Face gauche du chapiteau. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jonah was a prophet who was swallowed by a great fish, some say a whale. But he did more than that; getting swallowed by the fish was just an incident on the way to finding the path of obedience. First, he heard the instruction of God to go the the great city of Nineveh and preach against their sin and corruption. 

Nineveh was the capitol of Assyria. Jonah didn't like Assyria because of political conflict with his own country, Judah, so he resisted the call. The Assyrians were renowned for their destructive and humiliating torture of conquered people. Assyria had already captured the northern kingdom of Israel. Of course, his resistance got him in trouble with God who provided the fish to rescue him when the boat he had taken to escape was caught in a storm. After that he went and preached in Nineveh, and the whole city repented beginning with the king. The destruction God had promised was abated, and Jonah moved on to other calls from God.(2 Kings 14:25)

Restored Adad Gate (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Nineveh also moved on. The city was sophisticated and offered many luxuries. There was a library, a zoo, and many gardens. There was a temple there dedicated to the goddess Istar and other dieties. The city had 15 gates, some of which have been restored. Sennacherib was the king who was responsible for much of the great renown of the city because of his building programs. 

A hundred years after Jonah's revival, Nineveh was 
again in the pit of sin and corruption, and another prophet, Nahum, one of Israel's minor prophets, called for repentance there, but this time there was no reprieve: destruction fell. Scholars place the destruction at 612 bce. The Book of Nahum has been described as both prophesy and history depending on the date the book was written. Not all authorities agree on the date. Nahum is one of the Minor Prophets, classified as "Minor" because he did not leave a large body of writing.

In the first chapter of Nahum, the writer establishes God's right to call Nineveh to account. God calls all people to be obedient and to follow his commands even though they may be alien and unlearned in his ways. 

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
    the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.
The Lord takes vengeance on his foes
    and vents his wrath against his enemies.
³ The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
    the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.
His way is in the whirlwind and the storm,
    and clouds are the dust of his feet.

Nahum records the destruction that fell on Niveveh including natural events as well as military campaigns. The Tigris River bounded the city on one side, and a storm caused the water to rise and flood the city. The description includes details that may indicate other destructive forces. Nineveh was built on a major fault line and sustained damage periodically from earthquakes.
 The horrors of defeat extend beyond military limits. The city was sacked and burned so that there was no remnant to remind later generations of the site of the great city of Nineveh. There were no survivors. For many years it was believed that Nineveh was a myth or fable until about 1849. Since then many discoveries have revealed the magnificence of the temples, palaces, and gates of the city.

Refined low-relief section of a bull-hunt frieze from Nineveh,

The Bible records the destruction of Nineveh as judgment against the evil of the Assyrian empire and the cruelty of the practices of the government. It should serve as a warning to modern nations that God does not take governmental sins or cruelty lightly.  

Location of the province of Assyria; east of the Tigris River. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

^2 5 5 The 

Lamentations Bring Rejoicing

The book of Lamentations is a short book having only 5 chapters written by or, at least attributed  to, the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah is called "the weeping prophet" because of his messages which focus on the sins of Israel and God's judgment on Jerusalem and and the subsequent captivity by Babylon.

The messages are set as poems using an acrostic style in which each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5 all have 22 verses- one verse for each letter of the alphabet, and chapter 3 has 66 verses with each letter getting three verses.

All the chapters describe the destruction of the city called her the "Virgin Daughter Jerusalem." Sometimes the descriptions are personalized and the lament is cast in the first person. Chapter 3 opens with this cry of pain:
I am the man who has seen affliction
    by the rod of the Lord’s wrath.(NIV)
Chapter 2:1 describes God as the avenger:
How the Lord has covered Daughter Zion
    with the cloud of his anger!
He has hurled down the splendor of Israel
    from heaven to earth;
he has not remembered his footstool
    in the day of his anger.(NIV)
The destruction of Jerusalem came from invaders but the punishment is accorded as just punishment for sins committed by Israel with Jerusalem as the errant daughter whose sins have been revealed. The metaphors are graphic and painful.
"Should women eat their offspring
the children they have cared for?"
Jeremiah does not name the attacker as the enemy nations, but only that God has brought this vengeance.
"“Young and old lie together
    in the dust of the streets;
my young men and young women
    have fallen by the sword.
You have slain them in the day of your anger;
    you have slaughtered them without pity.(NIV)

All 5 chapters of Lamentations are filled with the pain and sorrow of the punishment that befell Judah and Jerusalem. It is also a place to review personal sins and failures and view personal punishment not connected with Jerusalem. Righteousness is still God's standard and repentance is still God's requirement.

These verses from Chapter 3 promise God's constant love:

³¹ For no one is cast off
    by the Lord forever.
³² Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
    so great is his unfailing love.
³³ For he does not willingly bring affliction
    or grief to anyone. 

What is the Key to Spiritual Success?

How do people become spiritual? What practice or discipline is required for us to be close to God? Is there a secret to getting the "shotgun" position?

John 14:23  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Lots of teachers and leaders have some ritual that is supposed to make you more obedient and give you that special trick to become spiritual and blessed by God. Don't put too much stock in those gimmicks. There are reading programs that prescribe how many chapter you should read a day or how many verses. It may give you a program that will keep you on track to read the Bible in 90 days or a year, but that's all it will do unless you add something to the mix. You will be able to brag that you have read the Bible all the way through; You may glean some facts you didn't know before, but to become spiritual is more than facts and bragging rights.

Jesus was sensitive to this problem. In the Upper Room teaching he gave the Disciples before he was taken into custody by the officials, he gave them a way to evaluate their own progress in the spiritual realm. He said the mark of love is obedience to his word. It's not a slavish, nit-picking, subservient obedience, but one in which we rejoice to read his word and immerse ourselves in its truths. Our obedience comes as a continuation of the reading. Reading the words of Jesus and acting on them seals the meaning in the deepest core of our being, and that's where Jesus comes with his Father to live with us and in us and to make us like him.

Read the words of Jesus and the words that tell what he did and where he went. Read the Old Testament prophesies that tell what he would do when he came and those in Revelations that tell what he will do at the throne of God. Shape your behavior and your life to fit with his words, and you will begin to experience his nearness and his Father's presence, and you will know that he lives in you and his peace will settle on your life. Circumstances are not the key to a life of peace and joy and fulfillment, but being in love with God and obedient to his word is.

Satan Isn't Funny!

Gustave Doré, Depiction of Satan, the antagonist of John Milton's Paradise Lost c. 1866 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Satan has acquired quite a reputation as the funny guy in the red suit over the years. There have been many depictions of him as troublemaker and adversary in literature, opera, films, and plays. Usually he comes off as the character of comic relief. We laugh at him and feel superior when the hero or heroine, as the case may be, proves victorious and sends him packing.

The sad fact is we are the ones who are deceived. C. S. Lewis wrote The Screwtape Letters in which he gave real life examples of how Satan's deception invades our senses and destroys our peace. The Bible is full of warnings of Satan's plots against all of mankind. We need to take these warnings seriously because they hold eternal impact. 

Get Behind Me Satan (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Job 1:6-8 is a scene of theatrical dimensions. Satan came with the Angels to present themselves before God. Satan couldn't resist a little bragging--he had been roaming the earth, perhaps seeking someone to attack. God cited Job as a man who was faithful and honorable, but Satan wanted to destroy this one who would be God's example of a man of faith and honor.

This example of how Satan works reminds us that when we are doing well and engaged in God's favor, Satan is waiting to attack and destroy our peace and faith. In Job's case Satan attacked, first, his wealth, his children, and then his body. We must not make the mistake of dismissing Satan as a humorous comic character. He is a spiritual being capable of speaking to the mind and heart to destroy, to steal, to kill all that is righteous and Godly.

Satan Is Real (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We have defenses that will protect us, but we must be aware that Satan has power and knowledge capable of weakening us so that we may suffer loss. If we sense Satan's attack, we have the Lord to help us in the battle, and never doubt that we are in a battle. And it is not a comic opera--our lives are the prize.

Tell Us about the Future

Fortune Teller (Photo credit: meeni2010)

The Bible repeatedly warns against seeking knowledge from fortune tellers and mediums.  Saul sought information about future events from a medium who lived at Endor. 1 Samuel 28 tells the story. He had obeyed the Lord and removed all the fortune tellers and mediums from the land, but when he could not get direction from the priests and God did not answer his prayers, he resorted to seeking this help.  He concealed his identity and went at night to visit her. She perceived who his was and feared for her life.


She was successful in calling up Samuel from the dead, but he chastened Saul, too.  He message was one of loss: Loss of his children, his army, and his kingdom. Saul had disobeyed God's command and it didn't do much good to seek God's leadership and direction when the current situation was a result of that failure.  Saul's heart was set to do his own thing, not to obey God.


Seeking knowledge about future events from these strange sources causes problems for a lot of people. Instead, we have God to guide us and the Lord's presence to walk with us as we make decisions and choose courses. We must remember what we are doing and who we represent. Acts 1:7-8 gives a promise that will carry us into the future with confidence and security

^7[Jesus] said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. ⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Dust or Slime? Maybe Mud!

English: The Creation of Adam is a fresco painted by Michelangelo, the work started at 1508 and finished 1512, it appears on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. It illustrates the Biblical story from the Book of Genesis in which God the Father breathes life into Adam, the first man. Chronologically the fourth in the series of panels depicting episodes from Genesis on the Sistine ceiling, it was among the last to be completed. Français : La Création d'Adam Deutsch: Die Erschaffung Adams (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The record of creation that begins in Genesis 2:4 may be the observations or insights of a different writer than the one who wrote Genesis 1.  In this account man is formed out of the dirt, the same substance the earth is made of with the exception that God breathed into his nostrils breath so that he became a living being.  


This account is not compatible with evolution any more than the first one.  God created a shape that he liked out of dirt, or the Wycliffe Bible says, he made man out of  slime.  A child playing with mud may fashion a house, or an animal, or a playmate in the mud, but God went a step further and made the man alive with breath from his own being; the Spirit of God made the man alive.


Since the creation of man, humans have had access to God, being made by him and having an identification with him in spirit.  


All the rest of the Bible and the story of God's dealing with mankind rest on this one fact:  God created us and then, even in the face of our sin and failures, he loved us and provided a way for us to enter into his love and grace.


Read the rest of the story in the Bible.

Sabbath Rest

Drupal's Calendar Module (Photo credit: m.gifford)

Genesis 2:1-3 says that God rested from the work of creation on the seventh day and he blessed it and thereby created our week.  When we get to the giving of the Law, we find the seventh day to be called a day of rest still.  In the modern world we still observe the Sabbath or Sunday and call it a day to be hallowed.  It is the day we worship, and it is the day we rest. Even for people who work on Sunday it is still a special day:  It marks the beginning or ending of a week.  Jews and some Christian denominations observe the seventh day.  Many others observe Sunday as the Lord's Day commemorating the day Jesus rose from the dead.


One of the blessings of the seventh day observance is that people need to rest.  The cycles of time give our lives times and seasons.  Rest doesn't mean we should sit and stare at the wall, but it is a time to assess where we are and get a new grip on life so we can go out again.  To worship on the day of rest is the same kind of renewal, and it allows us to see ourselves and our lives in a refreshed light; as we worship, God allows us to see ourselves as he see us.  We have the opportunity to change, repent, press on, or take up a new challenge.


I remember times when my husband's job required him to work without the day of rest.  I saw him become stressed and angry when the times to rest and worship were abandoned.  God calls us to rest and worship.