Fishing in Joppa
Jonah 1:3
"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."
Acts 10: 5
"And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter."
Special bonus today...two Scripture verses! Whenever place is mentioned in the Bible, it is often useful to overlay the historical significance of the same location in different biblical eras to see if God is speaking to us in a deeper way about a lesson of spiritual significance. For instance, with Bethlehem being the "House of Bread" in the Davidic lineage "bakery", there was a bread to come after David that was to be "Manna from Heaven." What often may look as arbitrary or a coincidence from our end can be a quite intentional message from God.
Both Jonah and Peter were spoken to by God. It is not every day that God speaks to a man audibly. When God does, it is imperative to listen. In both men's story, the city of Joppa played center stage (BTW, Joppa is now part of the city of Tel Aviv and Joppa is now known as Jaffa).
As the principal port city of Israel, Joppa was and is a place of commerce. As such, it had/has a cosmopolitan character of different cultures. It was a place where the world of the Jews and the Gentiles met. Fishing was a major industry then and today. See this article about an injustice regarding fishing in modern Israel. Is it possible for Evangelicals to speak of justice and mercy into the Jewish and Palestinian conflict? I think the Gospel imperative requires it. Is there a middle ground possible?
Jonah was being disobedient and unloving when he went to Joppa as he was running away from God and Nineveh; Peter was in town, out of obedience and love, to comfort the early disciples upon the death of Dorcas (Tabitha). More than just offering condolences and kind words, Peter's comfort included bringing her back from the dead. Many in Joppa believed in the Lord. Now, that is some major succour beyond just flowers and a card!
Word of the Day (a new feature to help expand our vocab) Succour - Help or assistance, esp in time of difficulty.
Part of the reason that simple formulas for the Christian life don't work is what may be true for me may not be true for you. Outside of the moral realm where issues are black and white (or a lot more black and white than obstinate man admits), once we get into the realm of who, what, where, and why type of questions, the deciding factor is wisdom. Jonah was not to be in Joppa, Peter was. One was running away from God's purposes, one was running towards God's purposes.
Peter brought a message of hope and healing. The raising of Dorcas from the dead was soon followed by God speaking to Peter in a vision while he was praying on a roof, about taking this message of hope outside the Jewish circle "sea." The Lord, using unclean animals as word pictures--or a flannelgraph in the sky; flannelgraph was the premodern equivalent of Power Point for the child crowd--Peter was now to go from being a catcher and cleaner of lawful "Jewish fish" to being one whose net was wider and included unclean people...the message of the Gospel is what would make them clean.
Although I am hardly an angler, I know that fishing of fish and for people is not clean work...it is messy. Let us not reverse the cause for the consequence. The nets and boats, our outreach, will get messy. We clean em up after we get them in the boat.
Interesting that Jonah became bait for a whale rather than the fisherman of souls. There is an irony there worthy of pondering.
"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."
Acts 10: 5
"And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter."
Special bonus today...two Scripture verses! Whenever place is mentioned in the Bible, it is often useful to overlay the historical significance of the same location in different biblical eras to see if God is speaking to us in a deeper way about a lesson of spiritual significance. For instance, with Bethlehem being the "House of Bread" in the Davidic lineage "bakery", there was a bread to come after David that was to be "Manna from Heaven." What often may look as arbitrary or a coincidence from our end can be a quite intentional message from God.
Both Jonah and Peter were spoken to by God. It is not every day that God speaks to a man audibly. When God does, it is imperative to listen. In both men's story, the city of Joppa played center stage (BTW, Joppa is now part of the city of Tel Aviv and Joppa is now known as Jaffa).
As the principal port city of Israel, Joppa was and is a place of commerce. As such, it had/has a cosmopolitan character of different cultures. It was a place where the world of the Jews and the Gentiles met. Fishing was a major industry then and today. See this article about an injustice regarding fishing in modern Israel. Is it possible for Evangelicals to speak of justice and mercy into the Jewish and Palestinian conflict? I think the Gospel imperative requires it. Is there a middle ground possible?
Jonah was being disobedient and unloving when he went to Joppa as he was running away from God and Nineveh; Peter was in town, out of obedience and love, to comfort the early disciples upon the death of Dorcas (Tabitha). More than just offering condolences and kind words, Peter's comfort included bringing her back from the dead. Many in Joppa believed in the Lord. Now, that is some major succour beyond just flowers and a card!
Word of the Day (a new feature to help expand our vocab) Succour - Help or assistance, esp in time of difficulty.
Part of the reason that simple formulas for the Christian life don't work is what may be true for me may not be true for you. Outside of the moral realm where issues are black and white (or a lot more black and white than obstinate man admits), once we get into the realm of who, what, where, and why type of questions, the deciding factor is wisdom. Jonah was not to be in Joppa, Peter was. One was running away from God's purposes, one was running towards God's purposes.
Peter brought a message of hope and healing. The raising of Dorcas from the dead was soon followed by God speaking to Peter in a vision while he was praying on a roof, about taking this message of hope outside the Jewish circle "sea." The Lord, using unclean animals as word pictures--or a flannelgraph in the sky; flannelgraph was the premodern equivalent of Power Point for the child crowd--Peter was now to go from being a catcher and cleaner of lawful "Jewish fish" to being one whose net was wider and included unclean people...the message of the Gospel is what would make them clean.
Although I am hardly an angler, I know that fishing of fish and for people is not clean work...it is messy. Let us not reverse the cause for the consequence. The nets and boats, our outreach, will get messy. We clean em up after we get them in the boat.
Interesting that Jonah became bait for a whale rather than the fisherman of souls. There is an irony there worthy of pondering.
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