Yom
Kippur
It
is our tradition to read the book of Jonah during Yom Kippur. The
obvious reason would be that it is about repentance and returning
to G-d."
Yonah is a controversial book. Some scholars say that it is mainly
allegorical. Many scholars are divided about when it was written,
some stating that it was while Israelites were in dispersion. Some
say that Yonah was the son of Amitai of 2 Kings 14:25 during the
reign of King Jeroboam ll thus bringing it to be written during
the 8th century. According to the modern day science of textual
criticism, it is said to be from the 5th century BCE. However, no
matter when it was written for us as Messianic Jews, its rich meaning
is far greater than tradition and full of meaning.
The Hebrew word, Yonah means "dove" which is a symbolic
picture of Israel. (Hoshea 11:2?; Psalm 74:19). The simple message
which we can draw from the book of Yonah is that G-d is stating
that He cares for the whole world. How?
Mattityahu 12:38-42 sheds light on the subject: "At
his some of the Torah teachers said, Rabbi we want to see a miraculous
sign from you. He replied, 'A wicked and adulterous generation asks
for a sign. None will be given to it but the sign of the prophet
Yonah. For just as Yonah was three days and three nights in the
belly of the sea monster, so will the son of man be three days and
three nights in the depths of the earth. The people of Nineveh will
stand up at the judgment with this generation'
Israel from the beginning has committed a great sin against G-d
with her idolatry. We were called to be a nation of "cohanim"
(priests) which literally means "links"…she was meant
to be the link in the chain connecting G-d to the nations. As cohanim,
we were given the "great commission" to be emissaries
going out to the nations bringing them to the one and only true
G-d. We however, like Yonah did just the opposite; we preferred
to keep the message to ourselves becoming exclusivists not allowing
others into our exclusive club. We are still doing this today.
In these last days, G-d is giving Israel a second chance. Many Jews
are coming to know our Messiah Yeshua but unfortunately even within
the Messianic movement we are making the same mistake. We are creating
exclusive clubs forgetting our mandate to go to the nations and
make "talmidim-disciples". Remember, when Yeshua was speaking
about the great commission, he was speaking only to Jews and then,
like now we did what Yonah did when he ran from G-d's instructions.
Yonah
was a prophet, a man of character, called by G-d to go to the worst
of the worst of the gentiles and proclaim G-d to them. Out of pride,
he refused running as far in the opposite direction as he could
go. On the ship, a great storm arose on the coast of Israel where
it was always calm. The crew members each called upon their own
gods to no avail. They knew that it had something to do with Yonah
who was sleeping like a baby. When Yonah finally told them about
his G-d, they believed instantly and were reluctant to throw him
overboard not wanting to displease his G-d. They turned to G-d as
soon as they saw what He was capable of doing. Once overboard, G-d
sent a large fish to swallow Yonah.
Many rabbis teach that Yonah died in the belly of that fish for
3 days and 3 nights and that he was resurrected after being vomited
up on the shore of Israel once again. In recent years, our people
have been vomited out of the nations back to the land once again
and we are being called upon to do what G-d created us to do.
In Yonah's prayer we can see that he was not afraid to die since
he knew his G-d would save him. It is a beautiful picture of G-d's
grace…salvation came to Yonah not because of his obedience
but simply because G-d is who He is. It is truly a book of Grace.
This time Yonah heads out to Nineveh and within a 3 day period,
the whole city repents and turns to G-d.
We the Jews who have been given the Word of G-d for 3000 years have
been stiff-necked and disobedient rejecting it time and time again
and yet here are people who were pagans, the worst of the worst
and they accept the message of G-d's salvation in an instant. It
was too much for Yonah and he becomes depressed. G-d provides him
the shade of a make-shift sukkah (the castor bean plant) which gives
him some temporary relief from the heat. When G-d takes it from
him, he complains and G-d confronts him with the fact that he cared
more about the plant which he had not created than the lives of
hundreds of thousands of people. It is truly a beautiful message
of love of G-d for the nations of the world.
Yeshua himself was in the belly of the earth for 3 days and 3 nights
after his crucifixion and he was telling this story of Yonah to
the religious people of his day as a sign. You had everything and
did nothing; you think you are the best but you'll be worse off
than Nineveh when they themselves will judge you on the Day of Judgment.
As soon as Yeshua resurrected from the dead, the gentile world came
to believe in him in droves while the Jews for the most part rejected
his message.
In the same way that the Jews have changed the message because they
became an exclusive club, we can look at the Christian world who
have changed G-d's message and did exactly the same thing. They
did it with Shabbat, eliminated all the festivals or changed them
to mean something totally different and even our Messiah Yeshua
has been made to look like a greek god unrecognizable by his own
Jewish brothers. The worst part of this are the Jewish believers
who have also bought the lie and have left their Biblical Hebraic
roots and have converted to the foreign religion thus confirming
the worst fear of the Jewish community at large…assimilation.
One day, however in the same way that Joseph dressed in Egyptian
garb finally introduced himself to his 11 brothers saying "ani
Yosef- I am Joseph", Yeshua will reveal himself to our people…
and recognizing him, they will mourn for the one whom they have
pierced. (Zechariah 12:10)
In Yeshua, there is no longer Jew nor Gentile in the spiritual sense;
we are one in him. During the Yom Kippur, we are called to search
our hearts and He is renewing us. We as Jewish believers are called
to be a light to the nations, not exclusivists. G-d doesn't care
about our pedigree, He wants our hearts. He never created us to
have a secret club but one where all are welcome…"our
house is a house of prayer for all nations." Let us at this
remember our mandate and pray that He will use us to fill our house
to worship Him.
May
G-d add blessings to His Word!
Rabbi
Percy Johnson
Netanel
ben Yochanan
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[b lantn
©
2008 Use by Permission
Kehilat
She’ar Yashuv
