Since being on the race, I’ve been reading through the bible. Not word for word, because that felt too intimidating. Instead I am reading through a 180 day “highlight” plan. It takes a few chapters from every book in the bible, adds an in depth study, and uses this to tie the entire story of the bible together as a whole cohesive story. It’s been very cool to dive more into the old testament and see the ways it directly contributes to the gospel. One day in Cambodia, just days after our weekend trip to Phnom Phen, this plan led me to reading Jonah.
You’ve likely heard of Jonah because of its thrilling-yet-child-friendly plot. Prophet finds himself in a dangerous storm, thrown into the sea. Giant whale sent by God swallows prophet. Prophet gets spit up on shore safely and uses him to save a city because God is good. Hooray. (Personally I love the Veggie Tales version of this story, check it out if you haven’t seen it.) If you’re anything like me, you’ve looked at Jonah as a bit of a brat. God calls him specifically to do something, but he turns and runs the other way. Even after he does what The Lord has asked, he is bitter and angry at God’s compassion. He may be a brat, but he is nothing if not relatable. I’ve used the term “Jonah called” to describe things that I knew God was calling me to, but that I didn’t want to do. I would tell people, “I really don’t want to do this, but it’s clear that I am supposed to. I know that if I do anything else, God will block my efforts the way he blocked Jonah’s journey to Tarshish.” I thought the lesson to be learned was about Jonah and his stubbornness. Through reading it again, with historical context and in the middle of Cambodia, I know now that more can be learned by shining the spotlight on the Assyrians of Ninevah.
The “Assyrian War Machine” was the most efficient military force of it’s time. An ancient encyclopedia says of the Assyrians “The secret to its success was a professionally trained standing army, iron weapons, advanced engineering skills, effective tactics, and, most importantly, a complete ruthlessness which came to characterize them. A phrase oft-repeated by Assyrian kings in their inscriptions regarding military conquests is “I destroyed, devastated, and burned with fire.” The armies were dominating God’s people throughout the Old Testament. They were hated and feared, and it is no wonder Jonah didn’t want to go there. My bible says “Assyrian soldiers have no qualms about “scorched earth” tactics. Typically, after destroying an enemies fields and cities, they slaughter the conquered peoples or hammer iron hooks through their noses or lower lips and lead them away as slaves. Jonah wants no part in giving such bullies a chance to repent.” It may seem harsh that Jonah wanted to withhold redemption from a whole people group, especially knowing the revival that his eventual declaration brought from our modern perspective.
My bible’s study on Jonah says “to appreciate Jonah’s perspective, think of nations known for human rights abuses in more recent times: Nazi Germany, Cambodia, China, Rwanda, Iraq, Yugoslavia…” My stomach dropped, and my eyes were opened. Just days before I had been 7 hours away in the capital city, taking a historical tour of the most tragic places I have ever been, S-21 Prison and The Killing Fields of the Kmer Rouge.
In the 1970’s, the Kmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot took control of Cambodia. This regime killed more than a fourth of the population in less than 5 years. Women and children were not exempt. In an attempt to start the country over, the killing focused on those with promise. Future leaders, the educated, the talented; anyone with a future ahead of them was brutally murdered. It handicapped the country and it’s development as a society, and was totally barbaric. Torture, dehumanization, and violent mass killings were common. Under the glare of floodlights and to the soundtrack of blaring music of the revolution, the regime obliterated the entire livelihood of the country. You can read more about our experience at the killing fields in my teammate Audrey’s blog here. http://audreykeith.theworldrace.org/post/a-look-at-history-the-cambodian-genocide
Living in community with some of the most wonderful brothers and sisters I could ask for, Cambodians who were directly effected by the atrocities that occurred in their country just a generation ago, I hate Pol Pot. I understand Jonah’s contempt for the people of Ninevah. I empathize with his scorn for the idea that they deserved to be reached. After The Lord has used Jonah to speak to the Ninevites, and Jonah is angry at the compassion He’s shown, God asks, “is it right for you to be angry?” (4:4)
How many more people would have been killed by these armies if they hadn’t been reached? How many of the “one hundred and twenty thousand people” reached by Jonah’s message would have eternally suffered if Jonah had refused based on hatred and bitterness. When God calls me to reach these people, the perpetrators and not the victims or evil, will I respond with hate or with love? Do I want it my way, or God’s way? Jonah admits that he tried to forestall God’s plan. “I knew you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.” (4:2) The poet Robert Frost said, “After Jonah, you could never trust God not to be merciful again.”
Slowly but surely God’s been changing my heart and teaching me this lesson of mercy for the oppressor, beginning with my blog before launch, “Why I Love Brock Turner.” As I walked through the Killing Fields, I cried for the victims. However, I was more heartbroken for the criminals. How lost do you have to be to commit such acts against other humans? And who would love someone like that? Who would have the courage to follow a call to redeem these people? I’d love to say I would be, but how can anyone know?
Interestingly enough, while researching for this blog, I discovered that the Christians who are being persecuted through genocide in the Middle East today are remnants from the very people group that Assyrians come from. I don’t have a good way to end this blog. Genocide is awful and the more I’ve dug into it the more I’ve seen how cyclical it can be. I recommend you educate yourself about modern day genocide, and try to think about it from the perspective of “how could we reach these people in the way that God reached Nineveh through Jonah, preferably with less stubbornness? How could we love the hated? How could we stop this through systematically and genuinely loving people?”
Here’s some starling and sobering information on modern day genocide, and the people who desperately need to be reached.
http://www.ipahp.org/index.php?en_acts-of-genocide
