Ezekiel 18 and Matthew 5; Stages 2-3 pursuing goodness rather than badness to annihilate evil.

Highlights:

1.       V2 descendants feel despair due to Judaism’s bad behavior.

2.       V5-8 good behavior means not eating sacrificial foods, worshipping idols, being promiscuous, harming someone, not fulfilling promises, robbing, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, charging interest, wronging someone, or judging someone falsely.

a.       Goodness may and can be pursued by both the weak and the strong.

b.       The code of Ur-Nammu, 4100 years ago, cautioned elites not to take advantage of the poor, widows, and orphans.

c.       Religions and nations devised philanthropy and welfare, in order to skim the revenues.

3.       V10-13 if a son chooses bad behavior (toward his brother[i]), he will die.

4.       V14-17 if a son chooses good behavior, despite his father’s offenses, the son will live.

5.       V18-20 each person will live or die, contingent on whether they choose goodness not badness

a.       V21-23 those who reform from badness to goodness live

b.       V24-28 those who reformed but returned to badness die

6.       V29- Judaism is wrong to doubt goodness.

A.      Perhaps 1700 years later, in Matthew 5, an advanced-ancient expression of goodness is attributed to Yeshua (an ancient Judean name yet repressed feature of Judaism).

a.       V3-10 suggests good behavior is key to both life and mystery

b.       V22 opposes anger toward a brother.

c.       V48 suggests pursuit of perfectly good behavior.

d.       The Judeo-Christian who closes their mind to Yeshua rejects at least 55%, perhaps 90% of humankind’s happenings. Consider taking 14 minutes for https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na22KkydPRs.

                                                               i.      People who reject Yeshua cannot acquire his influence to goodness.

B.      I support other civic citizen’s opportunities to heartfelt hopes:  It takes un-like-mindedness to address mystery and chaos.

a.       I am grateful that I fell in love with a reliable Louisiana French Catholic woman.

b.       But I never relinquished my opportunity to discover and practice goodness.

c.       Consequently, in my 82^nd year, I overcame a 75-year hope to feel I am like-minded; thanks to Nomads, discovered Yeshua; and more warmly pursue his influence.

d.       I perceive many people, non-believers and believers, pursue goodness without discovering Yeshua.

C.      Yeshua-influence dominates happenings on earth because of goodness-which-motivates good behavior.

a.       Consider, for example, Matthew 18:15-17, process for resolving human-conflict.

                                                               i.      Forgiveness without processing V15 terminates Yeshua’s influence.

                                                             ii.      Completion through V17 can conclude in negotiated division on earth.

b.       A couple years later, consider Matthew 18:18: there is no higher power.

D.      If Ralph Waldo Emerson had lived beyond age 79 and pursued civic collaboration, he might have discovered Yeshua and been more impactful in “Divinity School Address”, 1784.

a.       Harvard banned him for 30 years, until he became famous on other topics.

b.       Also, he did not cite Jesus’ speech and instruction to good behavior.

Note: Genesis 16:11-12 erroneously suggests that it is OK for Isaac, the second born, to regard Ishmael “a donkey of a man”. The younger son ought-not slight the older. Perhaps Middle-East peace will lead to retraction of Genesis 16’s harm as well as attention to goodness-which-motivates-good-behavior to humankind.         1And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

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[i] Genesis 16:11-12, "Behold, you will conceive and bear a son, and you shall name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your affliction. And he will be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be upon all, and everyone's hand upon him, and before all his brothers he will dwell."

Jonah: two different societies motivate Jonah to improve personal goodness

Preface.

Scholars think Jonah lived about 2800 years ago. The Sumerian Perception developed about 5500 years ago:  On earth, humankind has the power, authority, and responsibility (PAR) to pursue goodness to life.

I think the Book of Jonah primitively expresses the consequences of fearing PAR and looking to mysterious higher power to usurp human opportunity to good behavior. Moreover, both ship mates and citizens of Nineveh shame Jonah to improve personal goodness.

In Christian literature, Paul, the opportunist-entrepreneur, projected Yeshua’s precocious political savvy (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeshua) onto Jewish literature to pretend ancient prophecy. On such pretense, Paul constructed Christ. The Jewish apostles whom Yeshua chose fall prey to Paul the self-appointed spokesman for the Gentiles. See the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15. 

Today, there are perhaps 0.2 million Messianic Jews (Christians) and 14.5 million other Jews. I wonder if there are any Jews who think Yeshua will return to be king and priest for Israel.

Key thoughts:

1:1-3 Jonah observed wickedness in Nineveh and thought [“the word of the Lord”] he should influence them to goodness but did not act.

1:4-9 Consequently in trouble, he told his companions his intentions might not have been moral [“I fear the Lord God of heaven”]. Companions each prayed to “his god”.

1:12 Jonah professed guilt.

1:14-16 Jonah’s companions independently prayed and sacrificed to “the Lord” (rather than their “gods” per V5), then threw Jonah into the sea.

2:2-11 Jonah prayed and sacrificed to “the Lord his God” for rescuing him.

3:1-4 Jonah thought again [“the word of the Lord”] he should influence them to goodness and this time, Jonah went to Nineveh and predicted doom because of evil behavior.

3:5-10 The “people of Nineveh believed in God” and influenced the king. “God” observed the reform and “the Lord” relented.

4:1-9 Jonah was displeased that the people of Nineveh independently effected reform, making public Jonah’s doubt of “a gracious and merciful God”. He complained to “the Lord” and “the Lord God” responded with a shade tree that withered.

4:10-11 “And the Lord” explained mercy to Nineveh, who chose reform despite ignorance.

The text: Green highlight for emphasis, orange letters re-Pauline Christ)
Jonah 1 https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/16183/jewish/Chapter-1.htm

1And the word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai, saying:

2Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim against it, for their evil has come before Me.

3And Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from before the Lord, and he went down to Joppa, found a ship going to Tarshish, paid its hire, and went down into it to come with them to Tarshish from before the Lord.

4Now the Lord cast a mighty wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, and the ship threatened to be broken up.

5And the sailors were frightened, and each one cried out to his god, and they cast the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them, and Jonah went down to the ship's hold, lay down, and fell fast asleep.

6And the captain approached him and said to him, "Why do you sleep? Get up, call out to your God, perhaps God will think about us, and we will not perish."

7And they said, each one to his fellow, "Come, let's cast lots, so that we will know because of whom this evil has befallen us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

8And they said to him, "Tell us now, because of whom has this evil befallen us? What is your work and whence do you come? What is your land, and from what people are you?"

9And he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven, Who made the sea and the dry land."

10And the men were very frightened, and they said to him, "What is this that you have done?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from before the Lord, because he had told them.

11And they said to him, "What shall we do with you, so that the sea subside from upon us, since the sea is becoming stormier?"

12And he said to them, "Pick me up and cast me into the sea, so that the sea may subside from upon you, for I know that, because of me, this mighty tempest is upon you."

13And the men rowed vigorously to return to dry land, but they could not, for the sea was becoming stormier upon them.

14And they called to the Lord and said, "Please, O Lord, let us not perish for the life of this man, and do not place upon us innocent blood, for You, O Lord, as You wish, You have done."

15And they picked Jonah up and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased storming.

16And the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they made sacrifices to the Lord and made vows.

Jonah 2

1And the Lord appointed a huge fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

2And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God, from the belly of the fish.

3And he said: I called out from my distress to the Lord, and He answered me; from the belly of the grave I cried out, You heard my voice.

4And You cast me into the deep in the heart of the seas, and a river surrounded me; all Your breakers and Your waves passed over me.

5And I said, "I have been driven away from before Your eyes," Indeed, I will continue to gaze upon Your Holy Temple.

6Water has surrounded me even to the soul, the deep encompassed me; the Red Sea hangs over my head.

7To the bottom of the mountains I descended, the earth-its bars are closed on me forever; but You brought up my life from Gehinnom, O Lord, my God.

8When my soul grew faint upon me, I remembered the Lord: and my prayer came to You to Your Holy Temple.

9Those who keep worthless futilities abandon their kindness.

10But I-with a voice of thanks will I sacrifice to You; what I vowed I will pay, for the salvation of the Lord.

11And the Lord said to the fish, and it spewed Jonah onto the dry land.

Jonah 3

1And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying:

2Arise, go to Nineveh the great city, and proclaim upon it the proclamation that I speak to you.

3And Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a walk of three days.

4And Jonah commenced to come into the city, one day's walk, and he proclaimed and said, "In another forty days Nineveh shall be overturned!"

5And the people of Nineveh believed in God, and they proclaimed a fast and donned sackcloth, from their greatest to their smallest.

6And the word reached the king of Nineveh, whereupon he rose from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat on the ashes.

7And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh: By the counsel of the king and his nobles, saying: Neither man nor beast, neither cattle nor sheep shall taste anything; they shall not graze, neither shall they drink water.

8And they shall cover themselves with sackcloth, both man and beast, and they shall call mightily to God, and everyone shall repent of his evil way and of the dishonest gain which is in their hands.

9Whoever knows shall repent, and God will relent, and He will return from His burning wrath, and we will not perish.

10And God saw their deeds, that they had repented of their evil way, and the Lord relented concerning the evil that He had spoken to do to them, and He did not do it.

Jonah 4

1Now it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was grieved.

2And he prayed to the Lord and said, "Please, O Lord, was this not my contention while I was still on my land? For this reason I had hastened to flee to Tarshish, for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, with much kindness, and relenting of evil.

3And now, O Lord, take now my soul from me, for my death is better than my life."

4And the Lord said: Are you deeply grieved?

5And Jonah had gone out of the city, and had stationed himself on the east of the city, and there he made himself a hut and sat under it in the shade until he would see what would happen in the city.

6Now the Lord God appointed a kikayon, and it grew up over Jonah to be shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort, and Jonah was overjoyed with the kikayon.

7Now God appointed a worm at the rise of dawn on the morrow, and the worm attacked the kikayon, and it withered.

8Now it came to pass when the sun shone, that God appointed a stilling east wind, and the sun beat on Jonah's head, and he fainted, and he begged to die, and he said, "My death is better than my life."

9And God said to Jonah; Are you very grieved about the kikayon? And he said, "I am very grieved even to death."

10And the Lord said: You took pity on the kikayon, for which you did not toil nor did you make it grow, which one night came into being and the next night perished.

11Now should I not take pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are many more than one hundred twenty thousand people who do not know their right hand from their left, and many beasts as well?   [Genesis 1:26-28, chabad.org: I read Judeo-Christian literature to consider and apply perhaps 5500 year old Sumerian political philosophy, religiously referenced by Semite (pre-Israel) scribes of 3900 years ago, in Genesis 1:26-28, in my paraphrase and extension to civic integrity:   Female-and-male-human-being may and can choose to practice the power, the authority, and the responsibility to pursue goodness and constrain wickedness on earth. Civic citizens may and can develop statutory justice. I call this the Sumerian Perception. Political and religious philosopher Yeshua affirmed Genesis 1:26-28, contributing ideas in each Matthew 18:18 (no peace-power above humankind), Matthew 19:3-8 (mutual spousal-loyalty and unity not to be divided), Matthew 5:48 (in good behavior, pursue personal perfection, which also affirms Deuteronomy 18:13), Matthew 19:4-6 again (don’t divide/lessen goodness), John 10:34 (humans who resist and avoid wickedness are gods facing death, as in Psalm 82:1-7), and in other direct dialogue, such as “go and sin no more”. Psalm 82 says nothing about resurrection, which could be church doctrine only. Discussion I think Genesis 1:26-28 informs humankind to flourish in goodness rather than accommodate badness and allow evil. Quoting chabad.org below, And God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and they shall rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the heaven and over the animals and over all the earth and over all the creeping things that creep upon the earth." And God created man in His image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the sky and all the living creatures that crawl on the earth." Accepting the power, the authority, and the responsibility to have dominion over life on earth is human being (verb). Reliable human-beings discover and practice goodness to actual reality. Sumer-mythology holds that 3 goddesses and 3 gods -- Namma, An, Ki, Enki, Ninhursag, and Gestu – both created and activated existence. A list of major Sumerian gods and relation to primitive opinion about the beginning follows: Name Gender Earth/Psychology Feature Power Offspring 1 Nammu goddess* primeval waters creation An and Ki 2 An god* sky universal authority, kings gods &godesses 3 Ki goddess* earth gods &godesses 4 Enlil god wind, air, storms creator,father,caring judge Nanna & Utu 5 Nanna god moon light,divine justice plants 6 Utu god sun,justice,truth,morality light,divine justice plants 7 Inanna goddess love,beauty,eros,justice,war escaped the underworld 8 Ereshkigal goddess death,doom Underworld 9 Enki god* water,male fertility,wisdom Prophesied Great Flood civilization.art 10 Gula goddess healing Doctors surgery 11 Ninhursag goddess* mountains,rocky ground royal guardian wildlife 12 Gestu god* blood of humankind intelligence The pronoun and plurality change in Genesis 1:26-28 may be an artifact of the ancient scribe’s confusion if not weakness in transitioning primitive polytheism to the monotheistic opinion. Genesis 1 marks discovery by polytheistic Sumer civilization, which I call “The Sumerian Perception” and transitions to a Semitic-speaking faction’s pursuit of monotheism, which leads to Israel’s Hashem then on to Christianity’s blood sacrifice, appropriately the Judeo-Christian Perception Note: unlike chabad.org, quoted above,  OJB uses “Elohim” in Genesis 1 and 2, excepting “G-d” in 1:24-31. V 27 seems to equate the two entities. Septuagint uses “ὁ θεὸς”, or “God” throughout Genesis 1. I use “The phrase, the god or whatever constrains human choice”, hoping to express religious humility to whatever the god is. Again, since theism is a human construct, I use the phrase, “the god, whatever it may be”, to express objection to any doctrinal God yet reserve humility to ineluctable evidence and remaining unknowns about that which constrains the consequences of human choices. Make no mistake, I write opinion, because I do not know the ineluctable truth.]