Tag: Jonah

How to connect the Old and New Testament through backstory

Recognizing how to connect the Old and New Testament through backstory gives us another Scripture pairing tool with which to build our Bible knowledge.

Scripture pairings

In our series of Scripture pairings, verses from the Old Testament and New Testament complement one another and enhance the meaning or what we experience from them.  This week we’ll pair two passages through backstory, to find deeper understanding in the New Testament passage from a storyline in the Old Testament.

We can gain greater insight from a Bible passage when we know the backstory, the plotline referenced or alluded to in the verses we’re reading. This week we’ll look for clues as to the originating storyline from the Old Testament and how it helps us understand the New Testament verses in our look at Scripture pairings.

Gospel of Matthew

In the Gospel of Matthew, the first book of the New Testament, Jesus is speaking to some Pharisees and teachers of the law when he shares these words:

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40 NIV

Jonah and Jesus

Have you heard of Jonah? If not, that’s okay, in this verse Jesus shares a highlight of Jonah’s plight.

Maybe you recognize this fish tale from a children’s Bible story. Did you know this comes from the Old Testament?

If we look at this one verse from Matthew, do you see the phrase “three days and three nights” repeated?

The Son of Man is Jesus. He compares Jonah’s journey into the depths with His own. Jesus makes the comparison between Jonah’s stint in the fish to the time frame Jesus’ body will be buried. For Jesus, that’s the span between His death on the cross (crucifixion) and His rising from the dead (resurrection) three days later.

Where to find Jonah’s story

We now have a sense of who Jonah is, but where do we find his story?

The verse that precedes this one refers to the “prophet Jonah.”

Old Testament Prophet

If you weren’t sure where to find Jonah’s story in the Bible, this phrase points us toward the Prophets of the Old Testament.

The Prophets, the long list of mostly hard to pronounce names at the end of the Old Testament, would have been a part of the Scriptures with which the people of Jesus day would have been familiar.

Minor Prophet

If we look in the table of contents in our Bible or flip pages until we find it, we’ll see Jonah near the end of the Old Testament in the Minor Prophets section. These are the shorter prophetic books, in fact, Jonah is only one page front and back in my Bible. His story is short enough to read in one sitting.

Jonah’s story

There’s more we could say about Jonah, but for now consider reading his story if you don’t yet know it. Since my Bible study group started with the Old Testament, we were familiar with Jonah’s story when we came to the reference in Matthew.

Here’s the verse from Jonah:

“Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:17 NIV

We’ve merely highlighted the connection between these two verses from this storyline. For a fuller picture of the comparison, read the book of Jonah and Matthew 10:38-41.

Greater depth to passage

When we connect the Old and New Testament through backstory we enhance our understanding of each passage. In this case, the Old Testament storyline provides a backdrop for the New Testament teaching from Jesus. His own words in the Matthew passage also bring greater depth to the Old Testament verses.

Tool for understanding

This is one of my favorite kinds of match ups. Once you know the story from the Old Testament you can set New Testament Scripture against that backdrop. If you remember the storyline, you have one more tool for understanding the New Testament passage and a way to step back and view the backdrop. Jesus used examples familiar to his listeners. When we know the story he draws from, we gain greater insight too.

Find deeper significance

We can find deeper significance in the passage when we recognize the story connection between the Old and New Testament.

A few more clues

Searching for backstory pairs well with finding phrases that clue us in when a quote in the New Testament is from a prophetic book in the Old Testament. That’s the skill we looked at here:

Scripture pairing – Old Testament quoted in the New Testament

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A bike and the Bible – Daniel and the Minor Prophets – part 13

The Book of Daniel, followed by the Minor Prophets, including Joel and Jonah, is the next phase of this journey through the Bible, and concludes the Old Testament.

After the series of tunnels on the bike ride, we came to a gate. In some ways this signified the next phase of the ride, kind of how Daniel transitions us from the Major to the Minor Prophets.

Major Prophet Daniel

Daniel is the last of the line-up of the Major Prophets. His book is shorter than the two that precede it. Rather than start with visions as Jeremiah and Ezekiel did, Daniel starts with a narrative which for me makes it easier to follow.

2 Kings connects to Major Prophets

As with the other Major Prophets, Daniel’s opening verses help us place it in the time of the kings. Just an aside, I think when I first read through 1 and 2 Kings I slogged through them. Since then I have referred back to 2 Kings often as I look for the connecting points to the Prophets.

Daniel

The Book of Daniel gives a bit of this young man’s back story before he begins to interpret the dreams of a king. The second half of this book consists of Daniel’s own dreams and their interpretations.

I appreciate that God gave Daniel (and us) the interpretation of the dreams. I’m not always quick to catch the vision of what Scripture says. I’m thankful when God spells it out for me.

Trestle

A series of trestles followed the gate on the bike ride. If you recall from my mention of Isaiah, you might remember my first experience with a trestle was rather tentative. I could barely look over the edge. By the time we reached the one with the creek I was leaning over the side.

Minor Prophets Joel Jonah

Having made it through the Major Prophets, this look into the Minor Prophets was somewhat easier. The Minor Prophets like Joel and Jonah are shorter in length, but the messages God gave each of them still pack a punch.

Message

The Minor Prophets are a mixed bag of visions which refers not only to what message God revealed through each prophet, but also how God gave instructions to each of them. Often the prophecy that God revealed was a warning if things didn’t change.

Joel

Imagery of a locust plague is found in Joel. If you think about the passage in Exodus 10 that describes the first mention of a locust plague, you can get a sense of how terrifying this warning was.

Acts

Joel is also quoted in the book of Acts during Pentecost. (See Acts 2:16-18) Here is the passage that originates in Joel:

 “And afterward,
    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
    your old men will dream dreams,
    your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
    I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” Joel 2:28-29 NIV

Acts is in the New Testament and follows the Gospels. Joel is just one place in Scripture that establishes a connection between the Old and New Testament.

Jonah

If you want a good grasp on a Minor Prophet, read Jonah. His story is familiar and only four chapters long. It walks through God’s call for Jonah to deliver a message of warning in Nineveh and what transpires when he ultimately does. There’s a whole lot more in the middle, but these are the book-ends of this narrative.

Minor Prophets

Here are the names of the Minor Prophets:

Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi

Malachi

Malachi concludes the Minor Prophets and the Old Testament.

Congratulations! If you’ve been riding along you just made it through the Old Testament!

I still had a good portion of the bike ride to go, but this is certainly a milestone on the journey through the Bible.

Catching up?

A bike and the Bible – Jeremiah Lamentations Ezekiel – part 12

A bike and the Bible – Ecclesiastes Song of Songs Isaiah – part 11