Hearing God’s Call
in
JONAH & RUTH
Teaching Outlines for Leaders
of
Presbyterian Women
2007-2008
by
Sandy Sturch
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction...... 1
Lesson One
The Meaning of Call...... 3
Lesson Two
Jonah 1 – Running from God ...... 14
Lesson Three
Jonah 2 – God’s Gracious Intervention...... 25
Lesson Four
Jonah 3 – A Second Chance......
Lesson Five
Jonah 4 – The Unfathomable Ways of God......
Lesson Six
Ruth 1 – When Life Falls Apart......
Lesson Seven
Ruth 2 – The Faithful Provision of God......
Lesson Eight
Ruth 3 – God is in the Details......
Lesson Nine
Ruth 4 – The Persistent Love of God......
INTRODUCTION
The PW study this year combines two Old Testament books that are completely different in context and content. They take place in two different historical periods. One is about a young Moabite widow, an alien, who follows her beloved Israelite mother-in-law from Moab back to Bethlehem. The other is about an Israelite prophet, called to preach to the hated Ninevites of Assyria, but runs in the opposite direction. In the Horizon study, the later book (Jonah) comes first; the earlier book (Ruth) comes second, and the subject of call is used to tie these two books together.
Had the decision been mine, I would not have chosen to put these two books together. And if I were teaching these lessons, I would reverse the order so that the study of Ruth, a book about a Gentile woman who becomes part of the genealogy of Christ, would begin in the fall and end in December, dovetailing nicely with Christmas. I would begin the study of Jonah in January with chapter one, ending in April with Jonah chapter four, and in May, I would share insights gleaned from both books. This can include the subject of call, but you can include other important insights as well, such as the meaning of providence, redemption, and God’s steadfast love for all people. But since some circles use the Horizons Bible study along with these study notes, and since some women have requested that I follow the Horizon chapters as closely as possible, I will not impose such a radical change in the order of these lessons. If you wish to teach Ruth first, you will need to revise the Table of Contents accordingly. (And if you use these notes, you will have to check to see if I can get all the lessons written and posted by the time you begin teaching in October, when you would begin the first chapter of Ruth. I am trying!)
When studying Scripture, if we are to interpret accurately, it is important to know what kind of literature we are reading. Scholars don’t agree on Jonah. The author of the Horizons study suggests that Jonah is parable and parody, which is one view among modern scholars. But other scholars see it differently. These notes are written from the perspective that both Jonah and Ruth are historical narrative. This position is based on the conviction that God is all-powerful, the God of miracles; that God is in control of all creation, including the fish in the sea and plants of the earth; that God can sustain life even in the most unlikely or impossible places and circumstances. Furthermore, other parables in the Bible are not based on actual people and historical events. It also seems unlikely that Jesus would compare his own bodily resurrection to a fictitious story in the Old Testament and use as an illustration the repentance of the Ninevites if it never happened (Matt. 12:38-41).
Nevertheless, whatever your own conclusion, we must remember as we study that, “All Scripture (referring at that time to the Old Testament scriptures and now to all scripture) is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Tim 3:16-17). Also, remember these important words, “For prophecy (again, referring in its context to Old Testament Scriptures) never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). This tells us that all Scripture must be taken seriously; that there is a message for us on every page as we study.
Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matt 7:7-8). Truly, if we seek the Lord in this study, we will not be disappointed.
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LESSON ONE
Understanding God’s Call
If anyone had asked me to put two books of the Old Testament together in one study, I would not have chosen Jonah and Ruth. The differences are obvious. Jonah is a male prophet of Israel, called to preach God’s message to unworthy, dangerous foreigners, who are a formidable threat to Israel. Ruth is a foreigner whose people, the Moabites, are longtime enemies of Israel. She is a widow whose deep devotion to Naomi, her Israelite mother-in-law, motivates her to leave her family of origin and homeland to settle in Bethlehem, walking into a life of hardship and uncertainty as an alien. The Moabites are Israel’s longtime enemies.
Can we say that both Jonah and Ruth are both called by God? Jonah, the prophet, intentionally runs away from God’s call to preach in Nineveh. Ruth is an outsider who has no understanding of God’s call, yet she is powerfully drawn to her Israelite mother-in-law and to Israel’s God, which results in a totally different direction in her life. Are both called by God, or is one called by God and the other led by God? Or is there another way to say this?
Maybe called is the right word to use for Jonah––he was called to a prophetic office, and God certainly called him to go on a specific mission. But might providence be a better word to use for Ruth? Surely, God was at work in her life so that the outcome was providential. The late theologian, Paul Achtemeier, defines providence this way (underlining added):
Providence, one of the most commonly held and most vigorously debated beliefs in both ancient and modern times: that there is a benevolent and purposeful ordering of all events of history. Nothing happens by chance; though not always perceptible to human understanding, there is a divine or cosmic plan to the universe, a reason for everything....
The communities of faith reflected in the documents of the Bible also held to a view of providence...God the Creator was held to be personally responsible for preserving and regulating the created order. In this context, providence is related to the notions of “election” and “predestination.” This God has a plan and purpose for his world. Providence is not a principle of orderliness for reason; rather, providence is the will of the Creator who is actively involved in moving his creation to a goal. History is not a cyclical process of endless repetition; history is being moved toward the predetermined end.
In the OT and Jewish literature, the Book of Job and the Wisdom of Solomon represent two classical locations for the confidence regarding
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providence. Here, as in other texts, the key terms often translated “providence” are really “foreknowledge” or foresight” (which indeed, is the etymological Latin meaning of “providence). While humans see and judge from the limitations of time and space, even when able to learn on the recorded wisdom of prior generations, God sees the end from the beginning. In spite of evil and all that is perplexingly enigmatic in life, the message of the OT and subsequent Jewish literature is to trust in the providential care and good will of the Creator (Deut. 32:7-43; Job 10:12; Pss. 74:12––17; 104:27-30; cf. Wisd. Of Sol. 14:3; 17:2; 3 Macc. 4:21; 5:30; 3 Macc. 9:24; 17:22).
In the NT, the basis for such an invitation to trust providence is Jesus Christ. He becomes, through his life, death, and resurrection, the guarantor that God’s providential goal is salvation rather than destruction. The belief that history has a saving goal is grounded in his coming. The earliest Christians believed and preached this understanding of providence in a great variety of verbal expressions and human situations (e.g., Matt. 6:25-33; 10:29-31; Rom. 8:28-39; 12 Cor. 4:11-18; 1 Pet. 1:3-9).[1]
I am suggesting that we have a wonderful opportunity in the study of Ruth to learn the meaning of providence. This is a theological truth we should seek to understand in order to help us understand what we see in the world around us and in our own lives. Most of all, it helps us to better understand God.
Ruth and Jonah lived in different historical periods. Ruth and Naomi lived in the time before the time of the kings, when judges ruled Israel, when “everyone did was right in their own eyes” (Judges 17:6; 21:25; cf. Deut. 12:8; 31:16, 17). Thus, their story shines like a bright light in a time of darkness. Jonah lived in the eighth century B.C., during the days of Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.), when there was relative peace and prosperity. He follows his contemporaries, Hosea and Amos, who prophesied during this time. Assyria was rising to its greatest height of power and terror. We will say more about the terrible cruelty of these people and their threat to Israel.
These stories are not primarily about call; they are about God. They are God’s self-revelation; they reveal God’s character. But let’s say more about call. It is a good word. As we begin this study, let’s have a mutual understanding of what it means, or at least the various ways we can appropriately use the word. Again, Paul Achtemeier helps us in our understanding: (underlining added)
Call, a common word acquiring theological significance when God or Christ is the one who calls, implying divine election or commission. Sometimes individuals are called to special vocations in God’s plan of salvation: God called Moses (Exod. 3:4), the judges (Judg. 3:9), the prophets (Jer. 1:5), and Jesus (Matt. 4:21; Rom. 1:1). When the call is a general summons to repentance and salvation, every Israelite or Christian is viewed as its recipient and hence Israel and the church are collectively designated God’s “called” or “elect” (Isa. 41:9; Heb. 3:1).[2]
I think we shall see when we study the Book of Ruth that Ruth, a Gentile, was called or elected to become a part of God’s plan of redemption. This was not just for herself personally, but to become part of the lineage of David, and hence the human lineage of Jesus Christ. She is one of the Gentile women in Christ’s genealogy. Yes, she was indeed called. And the events of her life—her marrying an Israelite from Bethlehem, then being widowed at a young age; her decision to go with Naomi back to Bethlehem; her willingness to work for the food for Naomi and herself; her meeting Boaz, who just happened to be a relative of Naomi who qualified to be the kinsman-redeemer; the decision of the nearer relative to decline the opportunity to marry Ruth, resulting in her marriage to Boaz––this is providence. God is behind the scenes, working out all these details according to Ruth’s call to be included in the story of redemption. If our focus is on Ruth, we smile because this is a beautiful story. But if it is on God, we burst forth in praise to our magnificent God who is always behind the scenes, working in all the details of life for his glory. Do you see the difference?
The meaning of call in Jonah’s life was quite different from call in the life of Ruth. Jonah was called to be a prophet. Prophets in the Old Testament were men and women who were called by God to proclaim divine messages from God to individuals, particular groups, Israel, or foreign nations, by means of speech or symbolic action.
The Pentateuch traces Israel’s history of prophecy back to Moses, the paradigm of the prophetic office (Deut. 34:10). The heirs of Moses’ prophetic mantle mentioned in the books of Samuel and Kings include Samuel, Gad, Nathan, Micaiah, Elijah, Elisha, and Huldah. Speaking in the name of Yahweh, these prophets continued the intermediating role first performed by Moses.
Some of the prophets were important political figures who anointed kings, acted as their military advisers, assumed the role of the God-sent censors, and got involved in dethroning some of Israel’s rulers. Until the mid-ninth century BCE, they were Israel’s most important oppositional force; and as agents and defenders of Yahweh, they opposed religious apostasy and syncretism.[3]
The prophets evaluated the life of God’s people from a divine perspective. The prophetic books record announcements of divine judgment to a sinful people, which were mostly disregarded. But their messages also proclaimed future salvation beyond punishment. The prophet’s message was intended to motivate people to repent so they might escape the predicted judgment. Lack of repentance resulted in tragedy.
There seems to be no discernable pattern to how God called the prophets or at what point in their life they received their call. They heard God’s voice in different ways, at different ages, under different circumstances. For instance, Moses was 80 years old, herding sheep on the backside of the desert, far removed from his luxurious upbringing in Pharaoh’s palace in Egypt (Ex. 3:1-12). Samuel was a young boy, living in the house of Eli, the high priest of Israel. His mother Hannah had left him there after he was weaned, because she, a barren woman, had prayed to conceive and had vowed to “lend” him to the Lord all the days of his life if the Lord would grant her request (1 Sam. 1:10-11). Jeremiah was twenty years old when he was called, and his ministry was to be not just to his own people but he was to be a prophet to the nations (Jer. 1:4-10).
The life of the prophet was hard because the prophet’s message was unpopular. The prophet’s message was counter-cultural. Not only was the prophet called to preach, he was often called to act out God’s message publicly, using dramatic means to illustrate the message. This often resulted in embarrassment, ridicule, and rejection. Yet, the prophet was expected to be obedient and faithful to God’s instructions, however difficult, proclaiming God’s message accurately and faithfully.
Because God formed Israel to be God’s light to the world, it was imperative that God’s people be holy; that they worship only the one true God; that they demonstrate God’s love and justice in all they did, in contrast to the heathen nations around them. The message of the prophet was intended to restore Israel when they turned away from God, but Israel failed to respond. The only record of repentance following a prophet’s preaching is that of Nineveh to the proclamation of judgment by Jonah (Jonah 3:4-5). Nineveh, the powerful capitol of the Assyrian empire, was a Gentile city, filled with idolatry, violence and cruelty, and a growing threat to Israel. But God’s mercy extended even to Nineveh. God cared enough to give these heathen people a chance to repent.
Eventually, the prophets failed miserably in their call, preaching a false message, leading the people astray. The result was exile. They lost their land, their temple, and their identity as a nation. For 400 years, there was only silence––no new word from God. God no longer called them.
So we see that being called can mean different things to different people. But if you belong to Christ, you have been called.
The focus of the Horizon study is call, “Hearing God’s Call in Jonah and Ruth.” What can we learn from Jonah and Ruth in terms of our own call? Who is called? By whom are we called? To what are we called? These are important questions. But these stories reveal far more than call. They teach us the power of God’s relentless and eternal love, not just for us personally, but for the whole world, even our enemies. These stories are primarily about God––the God who loves with a steadfast love that will not let us go; the God who loves the very worst of sinners, who is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. These stories reveal God’s mysterious ways that are beyond our understanding; about God’s eternal plan that, through Israel, the Messiah would come, fulfilling all the Old Testament prophesies. From the Easter side of the cross, we can understand how both Ruth and Jonah played an important role in the plan of salvation. And maybe this will shed light on our own call as members of the body of Christ.
what is the biblical meaning of “call”?
Call is one of the most common words in the Bible, representing over twenty different words in the Hebrew and Greek text.
In the Bible, calling is basically a summons by which a person enters into some relationship with God.
- In strict Calvinist circles, this doctrine is also known as irresistible grace.
- For instance, from the Shorter Catechism:
Q. 31. What is effectual calling?
A. Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doeth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel.