Thus Solomon hoped
that the presence of God (as represented in this new temple) would be available
and appreciated by the broader community. Many people groups found themselves
impressed by the character and ethical teaching of the people of Israel, which
reflected well on their God – YHWH. Monotheism, rather than a plethora of
various gods, was also attractive to many. Others would have heard of God’s
great acts of mercy and liberation on behalf of his people Israel, such as the
‘exodus’ from slavery in Egypt.
Solomon prayed that
such “foreigners” coming from distant lands, seeking a new future with all
their various expectations, would receive all that they would be dreaming of.
This got me to thinking about all our new local residents (from wherever they
have come from) and all the hopes and dreams they have in their new homes. We
mightn’t know them yet, and they may not link with any of our activities
anytime soon, but surely we can pray for them in such terms as these: that they
will have a positive and happy home life, and that they will be able to
participate well in a mutually enriching experience of community.
Part of this praying
would be for the people being prayed for to realise Who the ultimate source of
their well-being is. And then this would create an even greater groundswell of
interest, with a great base of witness being formed. People would come to know
God and God would receive the glory! All this from just factoring in care and
concern for people outside our particular number. As we read back in the
earlier verses, we notice that Solomon was actually hoping for the same
outcomes and blessings for these “foreigners” as he was for the people of
Israel … with no apparent partiality!
And Solomon seems to
pray in this way quite naturally, without giving it a moment’s thought – it was
just the most right thing to do, even (and maybe especially) at such an
important national event as the dedication of the long awaited temple (seven
years in the construction). At the moment which may have caused the most
introspection (looking inward) and the most nationalistic pride, Solomon paused
to think and pray far and wide. Would this have been what we would have done?
Christopher J H
Wright writes, “Sadly, Israel did not always match in practice the open spirit
of Solomon’s prayer here, but became negative, hostile and exclusive towards
foreigners”. There would be times when people are less than keen to concern
themselves outside the walls of their home, or outside the walls of their
church, or outside the parameters of their national boundaries. There would be
times when our thoughts are fully focussed inward … in survival mode or
maintenance mode or in protection mode.
An ‘us and them’
mindset so easily develops – some areas of the media are good at purveying this
‘us and them’ divide, for it builds rating figures and thus advertising
dollars. It is easy for us to want to judge, ignore or reject people who are
very different to us, or have behaviour patterns that repel us. There is one
famous example of this very attitude in the Bible – a person who tried to
escape his calling because he couldn’t accept that God would actively embrace
people who came from a notoriously bad place. This was Jonah.
God called Jonah to
go and preach the message and represent God in Nineveh. But Jonah ran in the
opposite direction as far as he could go. Later in the book we come to learn
why Jonah was so resistant to God’s call – Jonah could not come to terms with
the possibility that this mission might actually be successful. Jonah was not
prepared for such ‘evil’ or dysfunctional people to change for the good. Jonah,
unlike Solomon, was stuck in a negative mindset about such people.
As the story
continues, after three days and three nights in a whale’s belly to think about
things (together with his miraculous rescue), Jonah finally did what God had
asked him to do. And in chapter three of the book that bears Jonah’s name, we
read of the remarkable outcomes. And this from a reluctant missionary – how
much better might it have been if Jonah had been really enthusiastic.
We read a lot in the
Old Testament that general ‘wicked’ and unjust living in a city would
eventually lead to its overthrow. God’s prophets often had to seek to correct
Israel itself along these lines, which was at times met with stubborn
resistance and thus subsequent military overthrow and exile. The warning to Nineveh (3:4) was
“Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” As we come to see later,
Jonah’s mindset actually was … ‘I can’t wait for forty days to pass and then it
will be over for Nineveh and I can go back home’.
Yet this was not God’s mindset,
and clearly God had already been working and preparing in Nineveh, because we
see how quickly and how positively the people there respond (3:5). If we fully
had a grip on how corrupt life in Nineveh was, God’s personal intervention may
seem improbable, and the outcome even more so! Yet, God can and does
seek to draw people from the ends of the earth to himself, and attract worship
and prayer even from those who do not yet fully know him [in all his biblical
revelation], and answer the prayers of those who do not yet belong to his
covenant people (C J H Wright). Desperation is often a prayer in itself!
We read that the people of Nineveh now
“believed God” and, as evidenced by their fasting and wearing of humble
sackcloth, they sincerely ‘repented’. This was all a pretty good result from a
one sentence sermon!! Some people are right on the verge of embracing God, they
are just waiting for a personal invitation. Whether there was a fear concerning
impending doom, a sense of guilt, or whether there was a desire for a
different future, the people of Nineveh were ready. Then followed the king in
the groundswell of humility and belief (3:6). This is exactly the response prayed
for by Solomon at the dedication of the temple.
So you would have thought that Jonah
would be overjoyed … but we read (4:1): ... this was very displeasing to
Jonah, and he became angry. As mentioned earlier Jonah had written Nineveh
off, and he would have been quite happy when destruction came! Surprisingly and
threateningly for Jonah, the people of this city were ready for
change – a response that Jonah was not prepared for and didn’t like. As
we read on in chapter four we see that Jonah actually did understand
God’s character and way of thinking (4:2 – gracious, merciful, patient,
abundantly loving), but still could not accept this positive outcome for
Nineveh.
Jonah’s desire to die rather than
change his mindset was replicated, for those familiar with Victor Hugo’s book
“Les Miserables”, in the character of the stringent policeman Javert, who could
not accept that the former ‘criminal’ Jean Valjean had been able to change so
dramatically and become a beacon of the community.
So God had a bit of work to do on
Jonah’s spirit to bring him into line with God’s way of thinking and acting. Do
we ever pray for a person or witness to our faith while still harbouring
thoughts that we may not really want this particular person to receive God’s
grace or be accepted by God? Can we accept that even someone who has hurt us
deeply can be forgiven and restored to relationship with God? Do we speak the
truth of God’s mercy easily amongst ‘insiders’, but apply it sparingly to
‘outsiders’? If you read on in chapter four, you see God taking Jonah through a
little life scenario that exposes Jonah’s small-mindedness which has totally
blocked out any broader concern for the world that God loves.
God, as we see in the dramatic and
magnificent final verse in the book of Jonah (4:11) has an emotional investment
in all of his creation. What God has created and originally deemed “very good”,
God will want to redeem and facilitate re-creation. We do not have that level
of investment, for we did not create the world and all its inhabitants, but we are
clearly called to embrace God’s level of connection and investment, and thus
grow in our care and concern for other people’s situations. Solomon understood,
then Jonah has been challenged to accept this (and we wonder what might been
recorded in chapter five). Our ultimate example, Jesus, lived out God’s love
and compassion day in and day out of his three year ministry.
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