Leading from Behind - Jonah and the King

I recommend this link for your browser home page - http://dailystudybible.com/todaybib.php. It changes every day to lead you through the Bible. Today I was reading Jonah and noticed something typical of weak leadership. See if you catch it:

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water. But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands. Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.” Jonah 3:5-9

First, the greatest miracle in the book of Jonah is not the big fish, it's the immediate repentance of the wicked city of Nineveh! But did you notice - everyone in Nineveh repented, then the king got wind of it and decided to decree that everyone had to repent. That's called "leading from behind". But at least the king "got with the program" and didn't attempt to thwart God's purposes. That's more than I can say for our leadership today. The only thing the king added was that animals had to repent too. Isn't that typical of lawmakers...LOL.

Well maybe I'm being too hard on the king of that wicked city; he did call them to turn away from wickedness and violence. Oh wait, what about our current leaders? As Jesus said: The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and now something greater than Jonah is here. (Luke 11:32) OUCH!

Like Elisha

I noticed yesterday that Jesus fulfilled many signs pointed to by Elisha. Here are some examples:

1. Elisha came after Elijah in the spirit of Elijah. Jesus came after John the Baptist, who had the spirit of Elijah.
2. Elisha's first miracle was turning bitter water into drinking water. Jesus' first sign (pointing to his divinity) was turning water into wine.
3. Elisha raised a child from the dead, like Jesus did for Jairus' daughter.
4. Elisha healed a leper, like Jesus did on several occasions. Jesus also compared his ministry to that of Elisha.
5. Elisha prayed to open the eyes of the blind. Jesus opened the eyes of the blind, both spiritually and physically.
6. Elisha fed 100 men with 20 barley loaves and grain, with food left over. Jesus fed 5000 men and their families with 5 loaves and 2 fish, with 12 baskets of leftovers.

This seems to be more than coincidental but I'm not sure I've ever seen commentary on this. Perhaps the signs are pointing to Jesus as one greater than Solomon (the most powerful king), greater than Jonah (the most powerful evangelist), and greater than Elisha (the most powerful prophet).

It seems to me John had something in mind, or rather God had something planned, to be revealed by the sign at the wedding in Cana. The story seems like it could have been another story about Elisha, except that it's Jesus of Nazareth revealing his own divinity. I would be interested in your opinion if you want to leave a comment!