LET'S GO FISHING

Note: This post is still in process. It will likely be some time before it is complete. 

Uncle Kenny and Me (20's)

When I was a young boy, my beloved uncle Kenny, my mother’s twin brother, took me fishing many times. He would rent a tiny wooden rowboat with rickety painted oars that squeeked as we rowed out into Wappingers Creek. Part of our routine was to stop at a little old bait store by the water for blood worms. 

I called this post, "Let's Go Fishing" as a pun to play on the idea of how popular worms are for fishing. Obviously, this isn't a post about fishing. Nonetheless, both the fish and a type of worm in the story of prophet Jonah are significant.  This post is mostly about that "worm."

The Story

In the last chapter of the story of the prophet Jonah, in verse 4, "Jonah went out from the city and sat east of the city. There He made a sukkah and he sat under it, in the shade, until he saw what would happen in the city. 6 Then Adonai God prepared a plant and it grew up over Jonah, to give shade over his head to spare him from his discomfort. So Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But God at dawn the next day prepared a worm that crippled the plant and it withered away."

Before Adonai prepared a worm he prepared a fish. In chapter 2.2, Adonia prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

The Sign

Yeshua singles out Jonah as the "sign that he is the Messiah." In Matthew 16.4, Yeshua says, "An evil and adulterous generation clamors for a sign, yet no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." And leaving them behind, He went away." He is foreshadowing his crucifixion and resurrection.

Two Fish

There is another "fish story" that comes into play in the context of this post. John 21.3, “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Then John 21.4-5 reads -- Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered.

Yeshua told them John 21.6 to, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish." 

Pay Attention to Details

In the rest of John 21, the final chapter in the Gospel of John, we find that Yeshua had prepared a "miraculous catch" of 153 fish.  That is no random number! God can do what he wills with fish or any of his creatures. 153 is the "Measure of the Fish." 

There was a famous mathematician named Pythagoras, who lived nearly 500 years before Jesus. Pythagoras calculated the "measure of fish."

Pythagoras believed that numbers had special significance and could explain the universe.

In Matthew 27:45 we are lead to believe that there was a eclipse at the time of Yeshua's crucifixion. The Gospel reads, "Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour." 

Pythagoras geometrically modeled the shadow cast on the earth during an eclipse at the intersection of the two "circles." This is where we get the shape of the "Jesus Fish" from. 

Pythagoras, who is most well known for the Pythagorean theorem that relates the lengths of the sides of a right triangle. His calculations arrived at the knowledge of "Triangle Numbers." The 17th "Triangle number" is 153!  I call attention to 17 not only because of 153, but because of John 17. Perhaps the connection between 153 and 17 relates to why John 17 is Jesus's powerful prayer of intercession for his disciples and all who would believe in him through their message. He prays for their unity, protection from the evil one, and ultimately, that they might be with him to share his glory. This prayer, often called the High Priestly Prayer, is a testament to Jesus's love and concern for his followers.  Please take a moment to read John 17 and then come back for my further thoughts about the "worm." 

Back to Jonah and the Worm

זוַיְמַ֚ן הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ תּוֹלַ֔עַת בַּֽעֲל֥וֹת הַשַּׁ֖חַר לַֽמָּֽחֳרָ֑ת וַתַּ֥ךְ אֶת־הַקִּֽיקָי֖וֹן וַיִּיבָֽשׁ

Jonah 4:7 Now God appointed a worm at the rise of dawn on the morrow, and the worm attacked the plant (kikayon), and it withered away.

The Hebrew word for the "worm" in Jonah is תוֹלַ֣עַת (Tolyot). It is actually a crimson-grub that was used to dye cloth crimson red. It has also been called the "Scarlet Worm."

John 20 ‐ Early on the first day...

In the story with Jonah, at the rise of dawn, God appointed the worm (תוֹלַ֣עַת) to attack the plant for which Adonai said, “you did no labor or make it grow, that appeared overnight and perished overnight." 

It is said that Jonah represents Israel. If Jonah is Israel, what did the Children of Israel do to be "Chosen?"  Did Israel put the Lamp on the lamp stands for the world to see or did Israel keep the Torah for itself?

Why did Adonai command Jonah to go to Nineveh?  It seems to me that God answers these questions implicitly in the following words to Jonah. 

Jonah 4.11 (TLV) -- Now 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?

In the Book of John, the stage is explicitly set for Yeshua's crucifixion. Notice who's  mouth these prophetic words are coming out:

John 11:47-53 (TLV) -- So the ruling kohanim and Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. “What are we doing?” they asked. “This Man is performing many signs! If we let Him go on like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our holy place and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was kohen gadol that year, said to them, “You know nothing! You don’t take into account that it is better for you that one man die for the people rather than for the whole nation to be destroyed.” Now he did not say this by himself; but as the kohen gadol that year, he prophesied that Yeshua would die for the nation. And not for the nation only, but also so that He might gather together into one the scattered children of God. So from that day on, they plotted to kill Him.

Returning to the story of Jonah 4:8-9 -- When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

Go back over those words with this context: Jonah is Israel.  Remember, God "chose" Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses. Jesus was forsaken and knew he had to die for the world and that as a result of his death the Hebrew scriptures would go and grow throughout the world, not for the Nation of Israel only. 

A Very Special Worm

It is important to notice that the Hebrew tells us it is not just any type of worm. This was the "scarlet worm" (Kermes ilicis or Coccus ilicis). The Kermes worm is where we get the word crimson. This special worm was used to create red dye around the ancient Mediterranean. The scarlet worm was used to make scarlet clothes and cords, like the one used by Rahab in Jericho. In that story, the "scarlet cord" is called a Tikvah. It is also the Hebrew word for Hope. HaTikvah (The Hope) is the National Athem of Israel. 

Joshua 2:17-18 -- Now the men had said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house.

Does this special worm appear elsewhere in the Hebrew scriptures.  It certainly does. Let's look at the context: 

Psalm 22:1-8 -- My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame. But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. “He trusts in the Lord,” they say “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”

An interesting fact about the crimson worm eggs is that after they hatch they feed on the parent worm for about 3 days. During this time the mother releases a crimson/scarlet dye.

In Isaiah 1:18 (ESV) "Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool."

The so-called “scarlet thread” of redemption runs throughout the Bible—from the wrist of Judah’s son to Rahab’s cord of rope. It’s woven into priestly garments and throughout the textiles in the tabernacle. Crimson (scarlet) is a consistent clue about the Messiah.  The scarlet thread runs all the way into the Talmud, as a clue to the salvation procured by Messiah’s perfect sacrifice. The crimson-grub left it's stain on oak trees. 

During the Second Temple era, it was tradition that a scarlet thread, made from wool, was fastened to the door of the temple, and later tied to the head of the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement.

The worm that Adonai appoints in the story of Jonah invokes the blood-stained tree of the Crucified. 

One other place the worm appears, in plural form, תּוֺלָעִים versus תּוֹלַ֔עַת, is Exodus 16 speaking of the Manna. 

Exodus 16:19 -- And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses

There are others, but I will mention one more example where this תּוֹלַ֔עַת worm is mentioned: 

Isaiah 66:24 -- “And they will go out and look on the dead bodies of those who rebelled against me; the worms that eat them will not die, the fire that burns them will not be quenched, and they will be loathsome to all mankind.”

So now what do you think about the worm that ate the plant in the story of prophet Jonah? Is the "sign" any clearer?

Jonah is Israel.  And Israel resented Adonai's mercy on Nineveh.  But the story of Jonah doesn't end there. We need to know where Jonah went after Adonai asked him the question in the last paragraph.  

Jonah 4.11 --  And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?”

Conclusion

2 Kings 14:25 -- He was the one who restored the boundaries of Israel from Lebo Hamath to the Dead Sea, in accordance with the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, spoken through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath Hepher.

Jonah is Israel. The worm is the scarlet (crimson) thread that runs through the entire bible.  It is the blood of the High Priest's sacrafices and a prophetic symbol of the Messiah. The booth (sukkah) that Jonah built for shade is the tabernacle. The plant is the Shekinah--God chooses where and when to shine His Light. The Light goes where Adonia chooses. 

The Light was to go out to the world .... to all those who didn't know their left hand from their right. Adonai sent Jonah as a sign of His will. Jonah did not want to go. What would come of the Nation of Israel if the God of Israel gave mercy and strength to it's enemies? But Jonah expected the Ninevites to cling to their idols and foresake their welfare. In any event, Jonah was redemed and he knew his salvation was of God. His life belonged to Adonai. 

The story of Jonah continued after the book was written. Jonah didn't leave Niniveh. He stayed and taught. Jonah was the rabbi to the Ninevites who will stand in judgment. 

Adonai dealt with the evil Assyrians at the Walls of Jerusalem during King Hezekiah's reign.  They were used to restore the Nation's faith. What would come of the Ninevites that stayed in Niniveh? Well, over 85% of Assyrians today are Christians. Makes one wonder what Jonah was teaching them many centuries before Yeshua declared he was the sign. 

Jonah didn't understand Adonai's plans for the Nation. But he fulfilled his prophetic purpose, precisely as the Lord desired. With 5 (Hey) Hebrew words Jonah revealed and the Ninevites heard God.