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The message of JonahIs it true?THE MESSAGE OF JONAH I really love my 'Bible Speaks Today' commentaries. As a preacher who tries to faithfully expound and relevantly apply the purpose of each portion of Scripture, it has been a great advantage to have the help of a series that essentially approaches the text that way. So I eagerly look forward to each new book and snap them up as soon as I see them. But I have to confess some disappointment with this one. Not that there aren't good things in it, for there are, and at times in abundance. I particularly appreciated the underscoring of the depth and complexity of the believer's experiences, and the magnifying of the graciousness of God. Yet having read and used it to help me preach through Jonah at my home church, I have misgivings. More Christians are aware today of the need for 'genre sensitivity', that is carefully reading something with an awareness of what type of literature it is (e.g. a 'Whodunit?' will be understood differently from a police report even if both deal with a murder). Undoubtedly this has improved our 'handling' of the biblical text. But in this commentary I think there is far too much of 'it could be this (real history), or it could be that (myth, parable), but it doesn't really matter either way and you can take it as you want'. It is true that some of the Lord's stories were 'real to life' but not about 'actual people' (the rich man and Lazarus for example). But are there strong indications in the text of Jonah to suggest it is this kind of story? Most Christians have not thought so. What I was reading here brought back memories of Francis Schaeffer's warning that a methodology that let the Bible be 'spiritually true' but not 'historically true', was creeping back into evangelicalism. I also thought the book was too long and too wordy. I found myself scanning over quite long sections wanting to get to grips with more substance. Allied to this was the feeling that the application to today's context seemed less penetrating than other books in the series, and than other commentaries on this book. You will certainly buy this if you are a BST series collector, and you may consider buying it if you intend to preach on Jonah. But beyond that I think there are other more reliable guides to the Book of Jonah. Ray Evans © Evangelicals Now - December 2003 |