Post by Beryllos on Mar 9, 2017 17:57:26 GMT
I was talking the other day with my Catechism kids (Confirmation class) about Lent and Ash Wednesday, and happened to think of the Book of Jonah, because it mentions ashes as a sign of penance. On the spur of the moment, I looked up and read the following passage. We noticed that it also mentions forty days.
I love the Book of Jonah.
I just noticed something else: The story mentions animals twice in an unexpected way. In the above passage, the king decrees that not only man, but beast, cattle, and sheep as well, should fast, wear sackcloth, and call out to God. Then in the last chapter the Lord remarks thus to Jonah about the animals:
It's interesting that animals are twice mentioned on a par with man.
One more thing, thinking of recent discussions: Jonah had a dark night... or three
, and yet prayed in thanksgiving and hope. So may we all pray.
Now Nineveh was an awesomely great city; it took three days to walk through it. Jonah began his journey through the city, and when he had gone only a single day’s walk announcing, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be overthrown,” the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and all of them, great and small, put on sackcloth.
When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh: “By decree of the king and his nobles, no man or beast, no cattle or sheep, shall taste anything; they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water. Man and beast alike must be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God; they all must turn from their evil way and from the violence of their hands. Who knows? God may again repent and turn from his blazing wrath, so that we will not perish.” When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out.
When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he had this proclaimed throughout Nineveh: “By decree of the king and his nobles, no man or beast, no cattle or sheep, shall taste anything; they shall not eat, nor shall they drink water. Man and beast alike must be covered with sackcloth and call loudly to God; they all must turn from their evil way and from the violence of their hands. Who knows? God may again repent and turn from his blazing wrath, so that we will not perish.” When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way, he repented of the evil he had threatened to do to them; he did not carry it out.
I just noticed something else: The story mentions animals twice in an unexpected way. In the above passage, the king decrees that not only man, but beast, cattle, and sheep as well, should fast, wear sackcloth, and call out to God. Then in the last chapter the Lord remarks thus to Jonah about the animals:
“And should I not be concerned over the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot know their right hand from their left, not to mention all the animals?”
One more thing, thinking of recent discussions: Jonah had a dark night... or three
, and yet prayed in thanksgiving and hope. So may we all pray.
