Why did Jonah disobey God? (2)
Jonah’s perception about God and His mercy was defective.
He thought God was only for the Israelites.
If the Israelites were children of God who then were the Assyrians? Children of the devil? Hmmmmm.
Let’s do some historical checks on these Assyrians.Who were they?
Noah had 3 sons: Shem,Ham and Japhet.
Out of the three,let’s focus on Shem.
Shem had 5 sons:Elam,Ashur,Arphaxad,Lud and Aram.
Out of the five,let’s closely look at Ashur and Arphaxad.
Ashur whose name is related to the word Assyria was the father of those who settled in the ancient region of Assyria.
Arphaxad lived in Mesopotamia (hope this rings a bell?).He was the progenitor of the Chaldeans.Research even shows that Arphaxad was an Egypticised form of Ur of the Chaldeans.
Anyway,these are the descendants of Arphaxad:
Arphaxad→ Salah → Eber(founder of the Hebrews) → Pel → Reu → Serug → Nahor → Terah → ABRAHAM (Abram)→ Isaac → Jacob(Israel).
From the above,it can be seen that both Israel and Assyria were brothers.
So,if God could show His mercy on the Israelites,then why not the Assyrians?
Jonah was too parochial to see that they were from the same root.
If you ever believed in the story of the flood during Noah’s time,then every nation of the world later came from the three sons of Noah.
Our origin could be traced to Shem,Ham and Japhet!
So,love your neighbor as yourself,for you are related and connected.