Prophets Before the Exile LESSON 8: JONAH, THE RUNAWAY PROPHET Objective Students will understand the main theme and message of Jonah that God s love is big and encompassing, even when we think others do not deserve to be in God s family. Key Concepts When God calls and we say no, that is not always the last word on the subject. God s love extends to us even when we are rebellious and seem far from God. God loves all peoples. We may be called to tell people of God s love. Estimated Lesson Time: 55 minutes Materials The Runaway Bunny children s book Bible Prophets Journals Getting to Know Jonah (p. 98) Character Cards (p. 100) Meet the Prophet note sheets (p. 59) Teacher Preparation 1. Find a copy of the children s book, The Runaway Bunny, by Margaret Wise Brown. 2. Make copies of Getting to Know Jonah, one per student. Be sure there are enough Meet the Prophet note sheets for all students. 3. Read the entire book of Jonah before class several times, to become familiar with the highlights and be able to tell the story in your own words. 4. Make enough copies of the character cards to have one card for each student. Cut them apart. INTRODUCING THE LESSON Have a student read Psalm 139 aloud. Then have someone read The Runaway Bunny. Allow students two to three minutes to think about these two readings. Ask them to write their reflections in their Prophets Journals. If there is time, invite them to share some of the insights they have written. Encourage them to keep these in mind as they learn about Jonah. LESSON STEPS 1. Tell the story of Jonah. Distribute Meet the Prophet sheets to the students. Then open your Bible to the book of Jonah and tell the story in your own words. Augment the story with information from the Background section (pp. 70-71) and from the answer key (p. 97). 95
Have students study the book of Jonah and the handout Getting to Know Jonah, writing down responses on their Meet the Prophet sheets. Go over the questions with them, to see if they are clear. After a sufficient amount of time, invite students to share their responses in groups of three or four. Have each group identify new things they learned about the Jonah story. Make sure students add their handouts to the Prophets Journal. 2. Distribute character cards, one to each student. You will have two to four students for each card. Divide the class into groups, according to the character cards. Rearrange the seating so that each group is sitting together. Reread Jonah 3 aloud. Ask each group to share among themselves what their reaction would be if they were the character on their card. How would they feel and what might they do? Would they really believe or just be going along because everyone else is? What questions would they want to ask about what the king commanded? Then form new groups, composed of one person from each character group. Have the new groups share what their reaction to the events in Chapter 3 would be if they were the people on their cards. Then re-form into the original groupings and have people share what they heard from the mixed-group sharing. 3. Think about stereotypes. The Jonah story is partly about stereotypes. Jonah thought the Ninevites were unworthy of receiving God s message. Stereotypes prevent us from seeing other people as they really are. Stereotypes lead easily to prejudice and incorrect assumptions. Perhaps stereotypes prevented Jonah from seeing the Ninevites as real people, worthy of God s love. Ask the class to imagine that each one of them has been called by God to bring a message to the adults in today s world. How do they feel about that? Do they want to do it? Will they find excuses not to do it? What would be the challenges of getting adults to pay attention to youth? What stereotypes do students have of adults? What stereotypes do adults have of youth? How could the students overcome those challenges? Does the Jonah story help answer any of these questions? Youth trying to convince adults is one thing. What can we learn from this story about talking with people of other cultures, ethnicities, and religions? If there is time, select one of these categories and discuss what stereotypes we have of others and they of us. 4. Read Psalm 139 again silently. Ask students how this relates to the book of Jonah. Either invite them to journal their responses or discuss them as a class. EXTEND THE LESSON (This activity will extend the lesson to longer than 55 minutes.) Jonah trivia. Divide the class into two groups. Also divide the chalkboard into two halves. Each team will ask the other a trivia question from the book of Jonah. These are to be questions about persons, places or events, not questions like What is the fifth word of Jonah 2:3? Flip a coin to see which team asks first. The winner gets to choose. The asker looks through the text and asks a trivia question to a person on the other side. The person must try to answer the question without looking at the text. If the person answers the question correctly, that team may put one letter of the word Ninevite on the board. The same team gets another chance to answer a trivia question. If the person fails to answer the question, that team becomes the asker 96
and the other team tries to answer. Each person on each team takes turns asking and answering questions, so that everyone eventually participates. The team to spell Ninevite first is the winner. Variations: Someone who answers on his or her own may write down two letters. If the rest of the team helps, the person may write down only one letter if they correctly answer the question. Give each team one letter to start. When someone answers a question without help, he or she may add a letter to his or her team s word and subtract a letter from the opponents word. If the team helps, the person may only add a letter to the team s word. Choose another word, such as repentance or forgiveness. ANSWER KEY for Meet the Prophet Jonah: Prophet s name. What does this prophet s name mean? Dove Where did this prophet live? He came from Gath-Hepher, near Nazareth. When did this prophet live and who were the kings of his/her time? We are not entirely sure when Jonah lived. It may have been around the time of the prophet Elijah, or it may have been after the exiles returned to Israel from Babylon. If Jonah is the same man by that name in 2 Kings 14:25, he lived during King Jereboam s reign, around 788-747 BCE. What did this person do before becoming a prophet? He may have been a counselor to King Jereboam II ( 2 Kings 14:25), although we don t know for sure. To whom did this prophet speak? Jonah was to speak to the king of Ninevah and to the Ninevites. What was the main message of this prophet? Jonah told the Ninevites to turn from their evil ways, or calamity would come upon them. (Jonah seeks and gets deliverance from God, but God also gives deliverance to anyone who repents and recognizes God. This includes salvation for non-israelites.) How did people respond to the message? The Ninevites repented with an eagerness that the Jews often lacked. What did this prophet say that might be important for us today? Answers will vary, but could include that just like Jonah, we need to develop an attitude like God s towards our enemies. We need to take a look at our own minds and hearts in loving those who are difficult to love. (Lesson step #3 gets at this question.) What questions do you have about this prophet? Answers will vary. 97
Getting to know Jonah conflict or main challenge in the story: Main characters: places where the action occurs: list the plot twists: Identify the climax: theme of the story: Alternative title for the story: 98
Answer Key for Getting to Know Jonah Main Characters: Jonah, God, King of Ninevah (Discuss other possibilities such as the Ninevites and the whale.) Places Where the Action Occurs: On a boat headed toward Tarshish, in the sea, in the belly of a whale, Ninevah Conflict or Main Challenge in the Story: God instructs Jonah to love his enemies and give them God s message. Jonah feels uncomfortable with this and tries to run away from God. He suspects the Ninevites will repent and God will forgive them. Jonah does not want God to forgive them. List the Plot Twists: Jonah runs away by getting on a boat bound for Tarshish, the opposite direction from Ninevah. A mighty storm comes up causing Jonah to tell the sailors to throw him in the sea. A whale or big fish swallows Jonah. The fish spits Jonah out on dry land, and he finally goes to Ninevah. The Ninevites listen to Jonah and repent. The Lord appoints a bush to grow and give Jonah shade. A worm attacks the bush, and it withers. Identify the Climax: The climax is when the people of Ninevah repent. After that, the story is an explanation of God s mercy and is an anti-climax. Theme of the Story: God delivers those who repent and recognize God. Alternative Title for the Story: Some possibilities are listed below, but students should be creative! Good News for the Enemy Jonah Balks 99
Character Cards Copy and cut apart these cards. The class will imagine they are Ninevites. Hand out cards, one per person, and ask students to respond to the story in Jonah 3 as if they were the characters on their cards. They don t need to act anything out, just reflect on how they would react. You are a priest of a temple that does not worship God. You are a wise old person. You are a visitor from Egypt or another far-off country. You are a small child. You are the parent of children who are frightened by all that is happening. You are a criminal. 100