The morning Manna will be provided at 6am. Thanks.

Studying Mission in the SSnet.org series Lesson 5, may the Holy Spirit be the speaker to your heart.

The Topic today is: “Mission as Jonah running away from God but landed at the Assyrian capital region of Niniveh included in the capital at Calneh for Morning Manna of the Sabbath School Lesson Mission”.

The Opening Hymn will be 229 "Spirit of the Living God."

The Sabbath School Quarterly, downloadable from SSnet.org in the Teacher's Edition is on pages 58-59.

The SSnet.org site allows anyone, anywhere to read the lesson in their own language. Choose your own language to see God speaking also to your heart.

Why do you not click on this now?

https://www.adultbiblestudyguide.org/pdf.php?file=2023:4Q:SE:PDFs:EAQ423_05.pdf

---This week the focus of our lesson is Jonah. A number of items can be listed here to be careful.

---Firstly, the date for Jonah is not in the time of Sennacherib (Sunday of the lesson).

---It is true that after his father’s death, Sennacherib was scared that his father’s new capital at Dur Sharrukin may have ghosts unfriendly to him, so he moved the capital to Niniveh and rebuilt it. His father Sargon's body was never found. (Suggested by E. Frahm JCS 51 [1999]: 73-90).

---Sennacherib complained in texts that the ancestors did not keep the city in good order.

---Many texts are telling of his rebuilding programs at the city. Text 22 from the source below tells how Sennacherib complained that the palaces were poorly constructed in the past. So he borrowed fashion from other nations for his new wings to the palaces. Sennacherib's problem is that he was superstitious, scared to die, and distrusted everyone. He lived with a fear to be rejected by all. The fear killed him eventually. 

---Source: A. Kirk Grayson and J. Novotny, The Royal Inscriptions of Sennacherib, King of Assyria (704-681 BC), Part I. The Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period Volume 3/1 Eisenbrauns 2012. Downloaded from the internet on the 12^th of March 2023 at https://www.academia.edu/46447118/The_Royal_Inscriptions_of_Sennacherib_King_of_Assyria_704_681_BC_Part_1_Royal_Inscriptions_of_the_Neo_Assyrian_Period_Vol_3_Winona_Lake_Eisenbrauns_with_Kirk_Grayson_

---Fear regarding the Assyrians accounts for any of the times of Assyrian History, not only in the time of Sennacherib.

---The geomorphology of the country accounts for this problem with them.

---They were situated in dry plains so that their climate was not enough to supply them with all the commodities they needed to survive.

---So they were always invading other nations to “steal” capital, taxes, fruits and vegetables and brain-drain elites that could come and “invent” in their area for them to live easier.

---Of course Sennacherib was following in the tracks of previous kings before that did the same.

---Brian Oded indicated that the mass-deportation programs really started in the days of Ashurnaṣirpal II in the ninth century BC.

---It was in the days of Ashurnasipal II (883-859 BCE) that the capital moved from Ashur on the west Tigris to the east Tigris at Calnu or Calah or Nimrud which is just above the Upper Zab.

---This is still a distance from Niniveh and Ashur. Now if Niniveh was three days large, then the whole region could have been called originally Niniveh in that time sothat where the King stayed and where Jonah started was seen as the same central command.

--- So it was also under their wing but they neglected it at times.

---There is no need to search for a weak king that would just fall prey to Jonah‘s God. 

---Ashurnasirpal could have, but will it be reported in cuneiform what Jonah said when Jonah‘s sermon did not come to pass because God decided not to destroy the land?

---It will not. The era of mass-deportations as policy started with Ashurnasirpal II and came to an end with Sennacherib‘s death (B. Oded 1979).

---People say, how can Niniveh be three days large by walking when one look at archaeology? From Calnu to Niniveh is quite a distance.

---Second point. Ask literature evangelists why it takes them three days to do a small town selling books.

---These dictators of that area were very scared what the gods may do or not do to them. They consulted magicians and soothsayers to tell them what the future hold for them.

---They compiled special texts, called ― Hemerological Texts that told the king for one year in advance on a 30 day basis per month, in total 360 days per year, what he should eat or not eat and what he should do to avoid tragedy.

---Sackcloth and fasting. God listened to them. He accepted their plea.

---Is your pastor too busy with daily activities that he is “running away” from spiritual tasks at the Church? Pray for him. Pray for his family. God can bring Him back to his tasks. Correct?