The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-29

| I1e1SAhlS' II. L., OF the Beirut MISSION
4 Press, and We talked over the Jonah
story. He advanced the theory that
the fish which held the prophet for at
least parts of three days. was a surviv-
ing monster of the antediluvian per-
tod. He is of the opinion that in the
depth OF the sea there may be such
survivals, and that they may be re-
sponsible for whatever truth there is
in the occasional apparently well-au-
thenticated stories of sea-serpents.
one of these days a monster may be
round to put an entirely new complex
ion upon the episode of Jonah's
strange return to the mission from
which he was fleeing. Even though
the story be regarded as parable, the
teaching remains the same, that man
cannot get away from God.
Back to the Task.
Like most foreign missionaries
Jonah found that his call involved a
deal of travel. Nineveh lay weeks
away to the East. When Jehovahs
call came to him a second time, re-
newing the first command, only this
time falling upon obedient ears, Jonah
had set out upon a long and toilsome
journey, almost as long as that taken
| by the patriarch Abram, when he
heard and needed the call of God.
Probably Jonah'5 route was the one
am at this moment following, the his
| tortc one between Syria and the East.
He went up the smiling valley of the
! Orontes to Aleppo, that ancient and
acknowledgement city at the cross
roads. Then afoot or by animal, he
slowly made his way across the Eu-
pirates q hope he also had day of
rest by the beautiful pools Of Abra-
ham at Urfa, the old Edessa), until he
came to the Tigris There, I have no
doubt, he followed the method of
transportation which was in use in his
day. and which is still employed; he
1T11n 10 -fxTnT on q
of inflated goat skins. I am on such a
craft, a "kelek," it is called, and I
have just reached Nineveh. I have
been more than ten days on the way.
Obviously, the Bible means, when it
says that "Nineveh was an exceeding
great city, of three days journey" that
it took this long to walk through or
around it. Therein it accords with
modern archaeological discoveries,
which have proved the city to be more
than fifty miles in circumference. as L
have myself seen. Thus we read that
Jonah began to enter into the city
a days Journey" All this lies on the
surface, yet 1 have by my side a book
showing that it would be impossible
for Jonah to go from the Mediter-
ranean to Nineveh by water. OF course
it would; every Hebrew rustic knew
what this acute writer thinks himself
so clever for having just learned. In
the widespread ruins of Nineveh, now
farm land there are two hills, one Sem
nacherib's palace, and the other the
reputed tomb of Jonah, still called
'"Nebi Yunis," after the prophet.
There are many preachers today in
the great metropolis who can sympa-
thize with Jonah in his dread of at
tempting to move a great city. 1t Is at
once the hardest and the most i'm
portant religious undertaking of the
time. The modern cry, Save the city
and you save the nation" was es-
pecially applicable to Nineveh- Assy-
ria had succeeded to Babylonia's SUI
premacy. Its sway was to cover al
most the whole of the known world.
But although its power ran far (only
few days ago I bought an Assyrian
coin in a village on the upper Tigris),
Assyria essentially was Nineveh. And
Nineveh, the magnificent, was also the
wicked. It Is well that both teachers
and scholars in our Sunday schools are
ignorant of the character of the wick
edness Of this ancient city. Humanity
speaking, the task to which Jonah was
called was impossible.
The Prophet in the Streets.
Newly awake to the sole supremacy |
of loyalty to the commands of God, !
the prophet assayed his task. What a !
sensation this foreigner must have !
created among the proud and pleas |
ure-Ioving and self-assured citizens of
Nineveh as he went through its streets |
needless of their magnifcence, crying |
his message of doom, "Yet forty days, |
and Nineveh overthrown!' Some !
thoroughly modern persons may arise |
and object to the harshness OF Jonah's
deliverance; would it not be better for |
him to proclaim the innate divinity of
man, and other teachings of sweetness
and light? But the message which |
alone could stir Nineveh-and some
times it seems the message that our |
modern cities most need-was this one |
of the wrath of an offended God. Only |
they who accept Jehovah as Lord have
q right to call Him Father. Penitence
and pardon must precede fellowship. |
And Nineveh, startled. heard, and |
needed, and the visitation of wrath |
was averted Jonah had succeeded in
what he had thought impossible Then |
he grew offended because his own
face" was hurt. He had a petty pride |
in seeing his prophecy exactly full |
filed, rather than joy in the saliva
ton of the people. He was as proud |
of his sermon as many modern
preacher So in a fit of sulks that was
partly physical reaction, Jonah went
off and wished that he might die. Shall |
we liken him to those narrow denom-
who are keen to see the |
heather converted, but it must be in |
their way. and to their own particular
sect Like many another missionary
since. Jonah had to be taught the les
son of observation-disclosures
"FTor the love of God is broader
Than the measure Of mans mind,
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind"