Forty days more...
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"...Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" (Jonah 3:4).
Eugene Peterson uses his imagination in examining the word "forty." He contends that Jonah did not denounce Nineveh's sin and wickedness but rather called into question the city's future.
Peterson explains what he means: " 'Forty' is a stock biblical word that has hope at its core. Forty days is a period for testing the reality of one's life -- examining it for truth, for authenticity. 'Is this a real life, or just some cheap imitation passed off on me by a sleight-of-hand culture? Is what I am doing and saying my own or just borrowed from people who know less than I do about who I am and what I am for? Is God skillfully shaping and wisely guiding my life or have I let my untutored whims and infantile sins reduce me to the lowest common denominator? Is this the way I want to spend the rest of my life?' "
Forty days was a time of testing for Elijah and for Jesus in the wilderness; even so it was a time of testing for Nineveh.
Eugene Peterson uses his imagination in examining the word "forty." He contends that Jonah did not denounce Nineveh's sin and wickedness but rather called into question the city's future.
Peterson explains what he means: " 'Forty' is a stock biblical word that has hope at its core. Forty days is a period for testing the reality of one's life -- examining it for truth, for authenticity. 'Is this a real life, or just some cheap imitation passed off on me by a sleight-of-hand culture? Is what I am doing and saying my own or just borrowed from people who know less than I do about who I am and what I am for? Is God skillfully shaping and wisely guiding my life or have I let my untutored whims and infantile sins reduce me to the lowest common denominator? Is this the way I want to spend the rest of my life?' "
Forty days was a time of testing for Elijah and for Jesus in the wilderness; even so it was a time of testing for Nineveh.
