“Lesson 33: Sharing the Gospel with the World,” Old Testament Gospel Doctrine Teacher’s Manual, 162

1. Introduction

a) Speaking of two prophets today – Jonah and Micah

i) Sometimes called "minor prophets", not because their message was not important, but because records of much of what they did are not included in the Bible.

ii) Some scholars have speculated that Jonah was not a real person and his story is only an allegory or a parable.

(1) Christ spoke of Jonah

(a) Reading 1 – Matthew 12:38-40

38 ¶ Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee.

39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas:

40 For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

1. Jonah in the belly of the whale for three days before he came out alive

2. Christ in the tomb for three days before he came out as resurrected being

(2) One of Jonah's prophesies is mentioned as being fulfilled in 2 Kings 14:25

iii) Important when dealing with Jonah not to get so caught up speculation about the great fish and a fast-growing gourd plant and miss the bigger messages.

2. Jonah Receives a Mission Call

a) Reading 2 – Jonah 1:1-2

1 Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

b) ASK – Can anyone tell us about Nineveh?

i) Capital of the Assyrian Empire

ii) Reading 3 – Nahum 3:1-5

1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not;

2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.

3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses:

4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.

5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the Lord of hosts; and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.

iii) Nineveh was not only wicked, but the Assyrians had a terrible reputation for torture and bloodshed in their conquests and when tributes were not paid to them. Their victims included the people of Israel and Judah.

(1) At the time of Jonah, Assyria had probably already taken some of the people of the Northern Kingdom – Israel – into captivity.

(2) Would eventually take almost all the people of the Northern Kingdom captive – the Ten Tribes

iv) A call to Nineveh in Jonah's day would be the approximate equivalent of someone today receiving a call to Tehran or Karachi with instructions to stand on the street corner and tell all the people that they were worshipping false idols and they needed to change their religious beliefs.

c) Jonah's Response to the Call

i) Reading 4 – Jonah 1:3

3 But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.

(1) The location of Tarshish is not clear, but everyone agrees that it was a long way from Nineveh

(2) Some have speculated that Jonah wasn't seeking to be released as prophet, but wanted someplace to hide out until an unpleasant situation passed him by.

ii) Dave Hatton – Speak about concerns he had before he and Evonne went on a mission to the West Indies

iii) While Jonah was on the ship to Tarshish, a great storm arose and, after casting lots, it was clear that Jonah was the cause of the storm, which endangered the ship and the lives of all aboard.

iv) Reading 5 – Jonah 1:10-17

10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

11 ¶ Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.

12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.

14 Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.

15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.

16 Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.

17 ¶ Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

v) Jonah has a lot of time to think and pray while in the belly of the great fish

(1) Reading 6 – Jonah 2:1-9

1 Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly,

2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.

7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.

vi) The great fish spits Jonah on the shore and he receives a second call to go to Nineveh. This time he obeys.

vii) ASK – This is a mission call for Jonah, a call to preach the gospel to people who are not familiar with it or are not living it. Are there any easy missions?

3. Nineveh Repents

a) Reading 7 – Jonah 3:3-8

3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.

4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

5 ¶ So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

b) God's response to the actions of the people of Nineveh

i) READ – Jonah 3:10 – Note Footnote C

10 ¶ And God ^asaw their works, that they ^bturned from their evil way; ^cand God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it ^dnot.

ii) Footnote C – Joseph Smith Translation - And God ^asaw their works, that they ^bturned from their evil way "and repented; and God turned away the evil that he had said he would bring upon them."

(1) The people are repenting, not God

c) Jonah's response to God's forgiveness

i) Reading 8 - Jonah 4:1-3

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

2 And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

3 Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

(1) ASK - What's going on with Jonah here?

(2) ASK – Do we ever have problems forgiving people who have harmed us even when we know the Lord has forgiven them?

ii) Interesting story of the gourd – footnote says Castor Bean Plant, which is a fast-growing bushy plant which can become as large as a small tree. – Jonah 4, beginning in verse 6

(1) Jonah builds a shed outside of Nineveh and the Lord causes a gourd to grow very rapidly and provide shade for Jonah, which Jonah appreciates very much.

(2) God then causes a worm to eat the plant so it dies and Jonah is left in the hot sun, augmented by an East wind, which makes him very hot and Jonah wants to die because the plant is lost.

(3) The Lord then asks Jonah if it makes sense to worry more about the death of a plant than the death of 120,000 people in Nineveh. Jonah is worried about the plant and the Lord is worried about the people of Nineveh.

4. Micah Prophesies

a) About Micah

i) About 740-697 BC

ii) About 40 years after Jonah

iii) The Northern Kingdom – Israel – first had some of its people taken into captivity by Assyria in 721 BC – 20 years after Micah began prophesying

iv) Began his work when Hosea was also a prophet

v) Isaiah was also a contemporary prophet with Micah – 740-701 BC

vi) Micah prophesied about the destruction of both Israel – Northern Kingdom – and Judah – Southern Kingdom

(1) Prophesies of Israel began to be fulfilled during Micah's lifetime

(2) Jerusalem was destroyed and Judah taken captive by the Babylonians in 587 BC.

b) Micah's prophesies concerning the Savior

i) Reading 9 – Micah 5:2

2 But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

(1) This was the only Old Testament prophesy that identified the birthplace of the Messiah

c) Micah's Prophesies Concerning Latter-day Israel

i) Reading 10 – Micah 2:12-13

12 ¶ I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.

13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them.

(1) Bozrah – Footnote C – the Hebrew word means "the sheepfold."

ii) Reading 11 – Micah 4:1-7

1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.

2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

3 ¶ And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.

5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

6 In that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;

7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.

(1) We have a very similar scripture from Micah's contemporary, Isaiah – Isaiah 2:2-3

(2) READ – Speaking of these two scriptures, President Hinckly said:

Ever since the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated, we have interpreted that scripture from Isaiah, repeated again in Micah (see Micah 4:1–2), as applying to this sacred house of the Lord. And of this place, since the day of its dedication, an ever-increasing number from across the world have said in effect, “Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He might teach us of His ways, that we might walk in His paths.”

I believe and testify that it is the mission of this Church to stand as an ensign to the nations and a light to the world. We have had placed upon us a great, all-encompassing mandate from which we cannot shrink nor turn aside. We accept that mandate and are determined to fulfill it, and with the help of God we shall do it.

There are forces all around us that would deter us from that effort. The world is constantly crowding in on us. From all sides we feel the pressure to soften our stance, to give in here a little and there a little.

We must never lose sight of our objective. We must ever keep before us the goal which the Lord has set for us. (Gordon B. Hinckley, “An Ensign to the Nations, a Light to the World,” Liahona, Nov 2003, 82–85)

iii) Reading 12 – Micah 5:7-9

7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

8 ¶ And the ^aremnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a ^blion among the beasts of the forest, as a young ^clion among the flocks of ^dsheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

9 Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.

iv) READ - In 1842 the Prophet Joseph Smith declared, “No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (History of the Church, 4:540).

5. Conclusion