192
THE K I N G ’ S B U S I NE S S Where did he live? 2 Kings 14:26. Find the place on the BESSON map, three m i l e s QUESTIONS north-east of Naza- W. H. Pike reth. To which kingdom in Israel did he belong? 2 Kings 14: 23-25. Who was king of Israel when he prophesied? 2 Kings 14:23-26. About what date did he live? Be tween 850 and 750 B. C. What great city is the theme of this lesson? Where was it and-how large was it? Where was Jonah when he received his first commission? - What happened between his two com missions? What was he to preach to it on the first commission? What was he to preach on the second commission? Did Jonah obey the first command to go? Did Jonah obey the second command to go? How far is a day’s journey? What did the people do when Jonah preached? What did God do when the people repented? Was Jonah pleased with what God did? Why not? How many days did Jonah say the city would be spared? How long did God spare this city? About 100 years. Read Nahum. Practical Questions How does God make known to us His will? How did God speak to Jonah? Ought Jonah to have obeyed the first command of God? Do sorrow and severe circumstances always follow disobedience to God? Does God always give a second chance for obedience? Why was Jonah so willing to obey the Word of God the second time?
4:1: Displeased. Jonah himself ad mits that the reason he had fled to Tar- shish in the first place was because he feared the success of his preaching mis sion. He did not, in the bottom of his heart, want the Ninevites to be con verted. Perhaps he was concerned for his own honor, feeling that he would be called a false prophet if Nineveh was not destroyed in forty days. Or perhaps his motives were patriotic knowing that his own nation would suf fer at the hands of the Assyrians In the future and thus wanting them put out of the way.—Kaylby. Perhaps he was jealous for the honor of his coun try. The reformation of Nineveh shamed the obstinacy of Israel that “ re pented not but hated to be reformed.” The favor Ood had shown to these Gentiles was an ill omen to the Jewish nation, as if they should be (as at length they were) rejected and cast out and the Gentiles taken up instead. Jonah herein had a' zeal for God as the God of Israel, but not according to knowledge.—Henry. Though there be those who find it in their hearts to quar rel with the goodness of God and His sparing, pardoning mercy to others (to which we all owe it that we are out of hell), yet God will justify Himself in the methods of His grace toward re penting sinners. As God values a hu man soul, so should we look upon it as worth more than all the world.— Sum. Bible. v. 6. Prepared. There are four pre pared things in Jonah: 1:17; 4:6-8.— Scof. Bible. v. 10. Pity on the gourd. He was sorry for a gourd but he had no com passion for a city full of souls.— Cohn. Nothing is more solemn than the possi bility that one who has been used by God should ultimately become a casta way. Not that God arbitrarily severs the tie between Himself and His people,' cutting them off from the communica tion of divine life, but that they become unusable. Whenever we refuse His grace in the discipline of our lives, seek ing only the prominence that accrues from His public service, we are in this danger.—Holden.
Pictorial Questions.
Who was Jonah? In what group of the Books of the Bible is Jonah classed?
Made with FlippingBook Online document