The Man Caught By a Fish

Quality Religious Books for Children series based on Jonah for children. The story of the "man caught by a fish" is not just a tale about some poor fool who found out you can't run away from God and then was rescued in a fantastic way–by a huge fish. The main interest of the Book of Jonah is the pagan city of Nineveh and how God and an upright believer felt about the people there. To a righteous Israelite like Jonah the Assyrian capital of Nineveh was just a den of wickedness, a people who did not believe in the true God. They were outsiders who in his view had no claim on the concern and compassion of those who were "in." The Ninevites were strange and morally corrupt. Why bother with them? Yet God does now share Jonah's feelings of superiority and indifference. God is a "gracious God and merciful". God has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that he may turn from his way and live. God's concern and love reach far beyond the people who belong to God already. God also has "other sheep" and makes God's people responsible for them.

Arch Book #59-1136