A few days ago I was rummaging through my childhood closet and noticed a piece of paper with some handwriting I didn’t recognise. When I pulled out the paper to take a closer look, this is what a read:
‘Ninevah city was a city of sin
The jazzing and the jiving made a terrible din
Beat groups playing a rock and roll
And the Lord when He heard it said ‘Bless my Soul!’’
Any guesses? Here’s some more……
‘The people wouldn’t listen, danced night and day
No time for work, no time to pray
They went on dancing by day and night
‘Till the Lord he said ‘Well this ‘aint right!’’
Yes, it was the words to that classic Childrens’ choral piece ‘Jonah Man Jazz’, which tells the bible story of Jonah. I vaguely remember performing it with my Sunday school class exactly one million years ago. Well, maybe not that long ago, but it certainly seems that way. I do remember there were a lot of words to memorize and I felt quite proud of myself once it was over. I guess I was so proud that I decided to keep the song sheet in my closet (aka The Time Capsule).
Reading back through just the first few paragraphs of Jonah Man Jazz made me laugh. I know there’s a certain amount of poetic licence involved with making things rhyme and this also needs to be tailored for a PG crowd, but take a look at the ‘sins’ the Ninevites were guilty of……
1) Jazzing
2) Jiving
3) Playing rock and roll music
4) Dancing
It’s rebellious stuff indeed. It certainly makes me question every marriage celebration I’ve ever been to! Another favourite line is ‘A city dancing, dancing and romancing, all too obviously to virtue must be blind!’
It may be relevant that Jonah Man Jazz was written in 1966, in the midst of the ‘sex, drugs and rock and roll’ social revolution. So maybe ‘dancing and romancing’ was a polite euphemism for a lot more than that. It probably also signified a spirit of rebellion against anything organised, especially organised religion. The church needed to oppose this rebellion and anything associated with it! ‘Dancing and romancing’ was definitely off the list.
The Ninevites were probably just as rebellious as the teenagers of the ‘60’s. The writer of Jonah Man Jazz (Michael Hurd) was using the most relevant description of sin (rebellion) that he could, or at least one which connected most with his audience at the time, to get the point across.
Yes, times have changed. Our tendency towards rebellion is still there, but I’m very happy to be able to play music and dance (maybe even ‘romance’!?) without condemnation!
Philomena
Philomena,
Reminds me of when I went to Wheaton. We used to joke that married people couldn't have sex because it might lead to dancing! I agree with you -- Christians can have lots of fun and still honor the Lord.
Enjoy!
Posted by: Lucy | June 02, 2008 at 12:27 PM