Song Info
Genre
Charts
Peak #219
Peak in subgenre #18
Author
Peter Merz
Rights
(C) 2011 Scribe And Sage Music (BMI).
Uploaded
September 03, 2011
Track Files
MP3
MP3 4.7 MB • 128 kbps • 5:09
Story behind the song
The idea of this song is to deal with the controversial and stigmatized aspects of Christ's earthly life and ministry. In this song I initially use the Sign of Jonah to mean something negative -- just as "Jonah" has become a term for bad luck in modern English usage. There is a certain bit of irony in this. Christ himself told the sign-seeking crowds asking for a sign, "...no sign shall be given to you except the sign of Jonah the prophet". On the surface sure this just has to do with Christ being the belly of the earth for 3 days and 3 nights and Jonah being in the belly of the sea-monster for 3 days and 3 nights. But then you think about what the word/name Jonah meant originally. Well, in the original Hebrew it meant "Dove". So Christ was also saying on sign will be given to you but the sign of the Dove. Christ began His ministry with the sign of the Dove. The Holy Spirit ascended on Jesus in the form of a Dove. Also when Christ drove out the money changers from the temple on two occasions they were selling doves...the poor would sacrifice doves instead of lambs. Another Jonah Parallel occurs when Jesus is fast asleep on the boat during a storm and the disciples have to wake him (Mark 4:35-41). In Jonah 1:3-15 we are told how Jonah is fast asleep while a storm rages, after casting lots and no end of the storm in sight the crew and captain agrees to throw Jonah overboard and the storm grows calm (this is also where the bad luck moniker on Jonah has its source, as Jonah was the cause of the storm). Now another similarity is one that may not be as obvious but during the trial of Jesus this statement is made to Nicodemus who was trying to free Jesus, "Are you from Galilee, too? Search the scriptures and see for yourself-no prophet ever comes from Galilee!" (John 7:52). This statement is actually a false one. There was a prophet who came from Galilee. "He restored the border of Israel(B) from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of(C) the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant(D) Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from(E) Gath-hepher." Yep this is the same Jonah the prophet who took a reluctant ride in the belly of a whale and preached to Nineveh. It just so happens that Gath-hepher is in Galilee. Gath-hepher in Hebrew meant Wine-press of the well, a town of Lower Galilee, about 5 miles from Nazareth; the birthplace of Jonah (2 Kings 14:25); the same as Gittah-hepher (Joshua 19:13). It has been identified with the modern el-Meshed, a village on the top of a rocky hill. Here the supposed tomb of Jonah, Neby Yunas, is still pointed out. Gath-hepher means wine-press of the well....yet another similarity to Jesus who when he returns Revelation says, "Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty" (Revelation 19:15). But more immediately to the earthly life and ministry of Christ is the wine-press nature of His passion when he was beaten and crucified. So it would seem that not only was Jesus Christ a 2nd Adam, and a prophet like unto Moses, but he also was in many ways a 2nd Jonah.(And then there’s the whole the Simon Peter the most well-known of Christ’s Apostles was named “Simon Bar-Jonas or Simon the son of Jonah).
Lyrics
"SIGN OF JONAH"
Lyrics and Music by Peter Merz
Arrangement by Wayne Bowers
His hometown gave him the evil eye
Rabbi Malachi gave him four strikes
Said, "I'm not buying your pack of lies"
And pretty soon they all ran him out of town
So much for homecoming week
Hometown prophets don't get the catbird seat
When they're page one on the scandal sheet
Stigmatized before you're thrust upon the proving grounds
CHORUS 1
Born under the sign of Jonah
Won't find lady luck shining here
Born under the sign of Jonah
Who could resurrect your career
When you're born under, born under, born under
When you're born under, born under, born under
The sign of Jonah
Oh the man is a glutton and a lush
Casting out demons by Beelzebub
No prophets from Galilee hail from that hub (Or do they?)
He had the scribes and Pharisees all in a snit
For what good could come from Nazareth
He took his first steps to the winepress
Getting too chummy with the IRS
Pharisees and Sadducees always giving lip
REPEAT CHORUS 1
Bridge: When they killed him, laid him in the grave
Three days and nights in the belly of the Earth
They thought that was the end of him
But he walked away
Raised to life never to die again
The Sign of Jonah
Is now a sign of victory
Ultimate victory
INSTRUMENTAL
CHORUS 2
Born Under The Sign of Jonah
Oh you'll find the Dove flying near
Born Under the Sign of Jonah
Where death is not as it appears
When you're born under, born under, born under
When you're born under, born under, born under
The sign of Jonah
TAG
An evil and adulterous generation
Craves a sign
But no sign will be given to it
Except for the sign of Jonah
The sign of Jonah…
REPEAT TAG TWICE
The Sign of Jonah…
(C) 2011 Scribe And Sage Music (BMI). All Rights Reserved.
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