Do we wish God's boundless compassion for others?

Today Crossway has posted online the entire book of Jonah in the ESV Study Bible.

This sample will help you look inside and see the notes from start to finish of an entire book. Mark Futato provided these study notes for Jonah. Mark was my professor at RTS for numerous classes such as Hebrew language and a class on the Psalms. For my last Hebrew class, I had to read and translate Jonah from the original language. Needless to say I appreciated all I learned from that experience, and these notes from the ESV Study Bible are a wonderful recapitulation of many of the Biblical gems that I discovered through Professor Futato's instruction.

James Grant, who blogs at In Light of the Gospel, has interviewed Dr. Futato about his work on Jonah. An excerpt of that interview is below..


What particular areas of research have you enjoyed concerning the book of Jonah?

For me the greatest fascination with the book of Jonah is how paying careful attention to the literary features of the book yields tremendous theological insight. For example, a proper understanding of the structure of the book invites the reader to compare and contrast Jonah's grateful prayer in 2:2-9 with Jonah's angry prayer in 4:1-4.

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The seventh section (4:5-11) stands apart from this parallel structure, signaling that it is the goal toward which the whole story is driving. The story ends with the Lord asking Jonah for permission to have compassion on the Ninevites. At the heart of the message here is that God's compassion is not just for "us" it is also for "them," whoever "them" may be.

How does that particular message speak to our current historical situation in the church?

It seems to me that "Jonah" is alive and well in the church. The spirit that focuses on "us" without much concern for "them" is not hard to find. We need only ask ourselves how grateful we are for God's grace to us and then honestly look at how begrudging we can be toward God extending his grace to "them."

For example, what is our fundamental attitude toward Islamic terrorists? They are quite the analog for the Assyrians of Jonah's day. Is our fundamental attitude one that wishes for them God's just judgment or his boundless compassion? That is indeed an important message for us.

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Mark Futato is the Robert L. Maclellan Professor of Old Testament and Academic Dean at Reformed Theological Seminary in Orland, FL. Dr. Futato received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Semitic Languages from the Catholic University of America, and he is a minister in the PCA (Presbyterian Church of America). Dr. Futato contributed to the ESV Study Bible by providing the study notes for Jonah.


(ht: Between Two Worlds)