Jehovah and the General Lee

Bo and Luke Duke fishtail around the turn, pedal to the metal, the General Lee kicking up a cloud of dirt road dust.  Behind them, trying desperately to keep up, is Hazzard County's finest, Sheriff Roscoe P. Coltrane.  Ahead of them, just across the Chickasaw County line, waits Sheriff "Big Ed" Little.  It's decision time.  Aaaaand… cut to commercial!

Or, in this  case, commentary on the Minor Prophets.  While some liberal scholars put the story of Jonah in the same category of plausibility as the General Lee actually making all those canyon jumps, I'm interested in another connection between the reluctant prophet and the good ol' boys.  It comes out in verses like…

• "Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD" (1:3).

• "All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god" (1:5).

• "Get up and call on your god! Maybe he will take notice of us, and we will not perish" (1:6).

• "Tell us, who is responsible for making all this trouble for us? What do you do? Where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?" (1:8)

The comments of the sailors, as well as Jonah's attempt to escape the presence of Jehovah, reveal  a cultural setting of polytheism with a belief that the various deities operated much like local law enforcement.  Cross the county line and, for better or for worse, you're no longer in the jurisdiction of Dagon, Marduk, Baal or whatever god ruled the territory you just departed.

As the story unfolds, Jonah (who probably already knew better… see 1:9) and the sailors come to realize that Jehovah is neither bound in presence nor limited in power by geographical borders.  As David wrote in Psalm 139 - "Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast."

It's unlikely that anyone reading this blog holds a polytheistic worldview built on the concept of regionalized deities.  But it's quite likely that many of us, despite the fact that we know better, still try to "run from God" or exclude Him from certain "locations" in our lives.  In fact, I recently heard someone make the comment, "Oops… I better not say that word in church.  It's God's house."  I asked them about saying "that word" in general and the response was, "He doesn't care what I say 'out there'."

It has been said that, "If God isn't Lord of all, He isn't Lord at all."  In reality, Jehovah God IS Lord of all, whether we acknowledge it or not.  We can't make a run for the border whenever we feel like living in a manner that displeases Him.  And if we do, the "God of heaven, who made the sea and the land" has global authority and infinite ability to use any number of speed traps, road blocks and detours to put us right back where He wants us.

Yeeeeehaaaww!