Exegetical Thoughts and Biblical Theology

In Jonah, Yahweh speaks to Jonah (Jon. 1:1; 3:1; 4:4, 9, 10), revealing Himself as a personal being who communicates directly to his prophet and through him to gentile sinners for their salvation. Yahweh speaks to the fish and it obeys (Jon. 2:10), revealing His ability to communicate to His non-human creation and its submission to Him. Jonah seeks to flee from Yahweh’s presence (Jon. 1:3) and learns that Yahweh is no less present on the way to Tarshish, in a fish’s belly, or in Assyria than He is in Jonah’s homeland (Jon. 4:2a). What David describes (Psa. 139:7-12), Jonah experiences. Yahweh is omnipresent . Yahweh’s sovereignty is evident in hurling a storm (Jon. 1:4) then quieting its raging (Jon. 1:15). He controls the lot to locate a sinner (Jon. 1:7; cf. Prov. 16:33) and guides His prophet to save pagan sailors (Jon. 1:12). He appoints a fish to swallow the fugitive (Jon. 1:17), a plant to grow for shade (Jon. 4:6), a worm t...

Back in 2007 I wrote a blog on Caleb's concubines , in which I mistakenly identified the Caleb of 1 Chron. 2 as Caleb the son of Jephunneh who wholly followed God. More careful reading of the genealogies this year exposed my mistake. The Caleb of 1 Chron. 2:46 is not the same as the Caleb who wholly followed God (1 Chron. 4:15). I have corrected my old post, and hereby "apologize" to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for getting him mixed up with the lecherous Caleb, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah. I should have read the genealogies more carefully!