Jonah The Reluctant Prophet

What fascinates me about the book of Jonah is how utterly AMAZING the whole story is.  God literally asks Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and speak out against it, condemning them for their wickedness.  Of course Jonah does what any sane person would do and flees instead.  What I find interesting about this is that if God was really all powerful wouldn't the people God is testing be more inclined to do what they say?  Something brings doubt into their hearts.
After Jonah flees God causes a storm and because Jonah is, in my mind, good he tells the sailors to throw him in the sea.
"He said to them, "Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you."" (Jonah 1:12)  And eventually they do.  In reading this story I couldn't help but think on where it came from and it occurred to me that it's very possible this could have been a story told amongst sailors to explain unrest in the ocean or stormy seas.
Jonah ends up being swallowed by a large fish that the Lord sends.  It says he was "in the belly of the fish three days and three nights".  This forces Jonah to finally turn to God.  When I read this I couldn't help but think about Pinocchio and it occurred to me that there definitely was a comparison between the two.
The ending of the story when looked at with Literary Criticism again draws back on the Torah.  God puts a bush over Jonah to shade him then appoints a worm to attack it.  This seems as if it could be a full circle to the burning bush Moses sees.  When Jonah gets angry about the bush we learn the lesson of this story.  "But God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?" And he said, "Yes, angry enough to die."  Then the Lord said, "You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night."" (Jonah 4:9 - 10)

David and Jonathon

The story between David and Jonathon was a wonderful gem for me to find in the Bible. It's located in Samuel 1 and Samuel 2. What I find interesting about this story is the homosexual undertones that it has to it. It says that "David loved Jonathon more than any other woman". And when Jonathon warns David of his father and tells David he must leave it states that they kiss and they both wept, though "David wept the more". What I find interesting is that I have never heard anything about this story prior to reading it which leads me to believe it is the church that does not teach this. However, the church does preach Leviticus "A man shall not lay with a man as he would a woman it is an abomination". Sounds to me like people only take from the Bible what THEY feel is right.

Judges: 13 - 16 Samson and Delilah

This section begins with: "The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years." (Judges 13:1)

Throughout these histories of the Old Testament the Israelites are constantly doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord. I find it so interesting that they are constantly being punished and constantly screwing up; not living by the law. You'd think after a while they'd understand, however a lot of these punishments that are written as the Lord's doing were historic events that the people probably blamed on the Lord to explain them.

The next part of the story is Manoah's wife telling him that an angel of God told her "You shall conceive and bear a son" and informed her not to drink or eat anything unclean. Her child shall be a nazirite to God. Manoah offers a grain offering in front of the angel and Manoah and his wife watch as the angel ascends in the flame. This mirrors the burning bush that Moses saw in the book of Exodus. They named their son Samson.

Samson is this extremely strong character who in the vineyards of Timnah tore a lion apart barehanded. This reminds me of the image found on the Rider-Waite Tarot Deck in the Major Arcana as the Strength card.

Samson eventually falls in love with Delilah; a woman in the valley of Sorek. The lords of the Philistines force her to tell them what makes Samson weak. She asks Samson repeatedly what makes him weak and he tells her repeatedly lies. What's interesting is that with each lie she believes it and tells the Philistines but then warns Samson when they are upon them. I find this very conflicting. Finally Samson tells Delilah that if his head were to be shaven he'd be able to be taken.

"She let him fall asleep on her lap; and she called a man, and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. He began to weaken, and his strength left him." (Judges 16:19)

This passage is touching and disturbing. There is little known about Delilah's intentions or why Samson so freely gives up the information. The Philistines do capture him and but he eventually destroys them and himself by knocking down two pillars of their house.