Tusite Sanuali 24, 2023
The
Prophetic and Feathered Jonah
Ko e
Palofita mo e Manupuna ko Siona
GENESIS 8:11
AND
THE DOVE CAME BACK TO [NOAH] IN THE EVENING, AND BEHOLD, IN HER MOUTH WAS A
FRESHLY PLUCKED OLIVE LEAF. SO NOAH KNEW THAT THE WATERS HAD SUBSIDED FROM THE
EARTH.
SENESI 8:11
pea
ha‘u ‘a e lupe kiate ia fe‘unga mo ‘ene efiafi; pea tā kuo ‘i hono ngutu ha
lou‘i ‘ōlive mata: pea ‘ilo ai ‘e Noa kuo manifi ‘a e vai ‘i he fonua.
The Hebrew
y is usually written as an English
j. Thus Jonah is Yonah. His name means
"dove," though this pigheaded prophet exhibited a decidedly more
hawkish personality. Part of his story has him aboard a ship, ravaged by a
raging sea. In that way, he is connected with another ship and another sea.
Noah released two birds from his ship: a raven and a dove (yonah). One preached bad news, as it
were: the waters were not dried up. But the dove preached good news, sporting
an olive leaf in her beak when she returned. Finally, the floodwaters had
subsided.
Biblical
stories, read side by side, often produce fascinating results. Like the bird
yonah, the prophet Yonah will bring peace, but the bird does it with an olive
branch while the prophet does it by being cast into the sea itself! Both bird
and man, however, unite as smaller parts of a larger story: the story of a
Savior who compared his three days in the tomb to Jonah's three days in the
fish, and on whom the dove of the Spirit would land at the Jordan to mark him
as God's chosen peace for us all.
Holy
Spirit, preacher of peace, proclaim and establish peace in our turbulent
hearts.
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