Section IV God Reasons with Jonah
Jonah 4:1-11
Jonah's self-esteem and nationalism made him unwilling to accept God's merciful intentions for a repentant people. They caused him to resent deeply the forgiveness shown toward Nineveh. To see thousands of Israel's enemies seeking God actually enraged him.
From his low point of view all he could see was that his prediction was proved false and Israel's national enemy would be spared. He was displeased … exceedingly, and he was very angry (1). Literally: “It was evil to Jonah” and “it [displeasure ] burned to him.”
The prophet felt that if Assyria, the predicted destroyer of Israel (Hos. 9:3; 11:5, 11; Amos 5:27), were destroyed as he had prophesied, Israel would be relieved of her greatest danger. She would be free from heavy tribute, and would then be able to develop into a stronger and more influential nation. Now it seemed that, through the salvation of Israel's enemies, Jonah was announcing the destruction of his own people.
But Israel could not have been spared simply by the destruction of Nineveh. Her own sins were destroying her (cf. Matt.7:4-5).
In spite of his bad spirit, Jonah considered himself to be a faithful believer and he prayed unto the Lord (2). It is sadly true that it is not uncommon for those who observe the forms of piety and count themselves as believers to manifest unkind attitudes and reject God's will.
“Some persons suppose that the gifts of prophecy and working miracles are the highest that can be conferred on man; but they are widely mistaken, for these gifts change not the heart. Jonah had the gift of prophecy, but had not received that grace which destroys the old man and creates the soul anew in Christ Jesus. This is the love of which St. Paul speaks, which if a man have not, though he had the gift of prophecy, and could miraculously remove mountains, yet in the sight of God, and for any good himself might reap from it, it would be as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.”1
The petulant prophet blamed the Lord, not only for sparing the enemy capital, but for his own personal, disobedient flight to Tarshish. He dared to say: I fled … for I knew that thou art a gracious God … and repentest thee of the evil (2). Thus he defended his own failure by blaming God's loving-kindness. He might well have had in mind Exod. 34:6 (cf. Joel 2:13).
Jonah felt personally discredited and humiliated. Overcome with self-pity, he wanted to die rather than face the embarrassment of being a laughingstock among his own people when he returned home. He felt sure that they would judge him by the result of his prophecy. He prayed therefore: O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live (3). His reputation and prestige among narrow-minded friends and fellow countrymen were of more importance to him than the preservation of thousands of innocent people.
Elijah, on one occasion, when he saw the unfavorable outcome of events in which he was involved, also asked that he might die (1 Kings 19:4). He was, however, jealous for God and distressed because so few sought God. Jonah, on the other hand, was jealous of God and distressed because so many people sought Him (cf. Num. 11:15; Job 6:8-9).
Shortly before (2:6), the prophet was full of joy and gratitude over the preservation of his life. At that time he spoke eloquently of God's mercy. Now he despises life because that same divine mercy has been shown to others. It is tragically true that men often do not realize of what spirit they are (cf. Luke 9:55). Jonah's angry displeasure showed a lack of self-control, a lack of reverence toward God, and a lack of love for men.
How different was the attitude of Paul toward life and death! He had a desire “to depart, and to be with Christ,” but he was also willing to live, if by living he could be used of the Lord to extend His mercy to others. While death would be gain to him personally, living would be to the greater honor of Christ (Phil. 1:20-26).
God, who had rescued Jonah from death in a time of flagrant disobedience, now reasoned with him in his displeased, angry state of mind. Doest thou well to be angry? (1; cf. Jas. 1:20). The question was really: Why was Jonah angry? What ground did he have for it? The Lord was displeased with the prophet's attitude, but He did not openly rebuke him. Instead, He tried to present the situation so that Jonah would see for himself how childishly he was conducting himself and so come to change his attitude.
“What the Lord says to Jonah, He says to all who in their office of the cure of souls are angry. … If they are angry, not with men but with sins of men, if they hate and persecute, not men but the vices of men, they are rightly angry, their zeal is good. But if they are angry, not with sins but with men, if they hate, not vices but men, they are angered amiss, their zeal is bad.”2
Whether Jonah's conscience was awakened to secretly acknowledge his wrong attitude, we are not told; but it would seem that he was not deeply affected. Still sulking, he went a safe distance outside the city to see what would happen. He seemed to be hoping against hope that, even though the forty days were now past, the city might yet be destroyed. So he built himself a booth (5) or shelter of branches and leaves and sat down to watch.
Having spoken verbally, the Lord now used some “visual aids” to reach the slow-to-learn prophet. First He provided further shade against the sun's heat by preparing a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah … So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd (6). God knows how often our discouragements and shortcomings are due to physical weariness; and in His mercy He provides relief for us (cf. I Kings 19:1-8; Ps. 103:13-14). The exact nature of the plant which God gave Jonah is not clear from the Hebrew term, but it is commonly thought to have been either a castor oil plant or a variety of melon. Its miraculous speed of growth is another evidence of God's care for this reluctant prophet.
Jonah was glad for the gourd. But gladness is not necessarily gratitude; and it would seem that Jonah lacked this. His gladness was entirely selfish and sensual. He was glad for the gift, but he had no thought for the Giver. When the gift was gone, he was angry and complained to God.
Carrying the object lesson still further, God prepared a worm … and it smote the gourd that it withered (7). The boughs of the prophet's booth were probably wilted by this time too, so that he was left quite at the mercy of the sun's beating rays. To impress Jonah still more, when the sun did arise … God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished (Heb., requested) in himself to die (8). The wind referred to may well have been the sirocco, which brings both scorching heat and suffocating dust from the desert and makes life miserable, even indoors.
Jonah's mental and spiritual frustration was now augmented by further physical distress. The Lord again spoke to the prophet, who continued selfish and unfeeling, angry and unbending. In his preoccupation with himself he did not get the point that God was trying to show him. If he regretted the destruction of a mere plant which shaded only him, should he not much more regret the destruction of a whole city?
C. GOD'S CONCERN FOR ALL, 4:10-11
When the Lord spoke to Jonah, He explained what He had been demonstrating, reasoning from a lesser case to a greater. He said: Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured … which came up in a night, and perished in a night … should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle? (10-11)
There is varying opinion as to how to interpret the statement regarding the city's population. Some scholars understand the 120, 000 people mentioned to refer only to small children, and so place the total population at some 600, 000. Others, however, understand the 120, 000 to refer to people who were ignorant of God's moral law (see similar terminology in Deut. 5:32; Josh. 1:7; etc.). If this is the case, 120, 000 would represent the total population. Be that as it may, God expresses His concern for the suffering of those who cannot help themselves.
The Lord was attempting to show Jonah just how blind his religious exclusiveness had made him. He was saying to him: You had nothing to do with the origin or growth of the short-lived gourd, but you grieve over its destruction. You are displeased at the loss of the transient plant which was for the temporary enjoyment of only one individual and over which you had no control. Should I not much more pity a great and ancient city filled with immortal souls of whose being I am the Author and of whose lives I am the Preserver?
This passage linked with Luke 19:41 helps us to see God's attitude toward cities. We know they are the centers of crime and iniquity. Cities are centers of poverty and degradation. But God loves them. He yearns over them. This seems particularly relevant in view of the continued urbanization of our world. Perhaps the tendency of the evangelical Church to shun the city and seek the suburbs is not in keeping with the compassionate concern of our Lord. G. Campbell Morgan wrote: “God has not forsaken the city. He is still sending His prophets, His messengers, His Son. Moreover, He is, by His Holy Spirit, the actual and ever-present force for the relieving of every condition of evil and sorrow. No problem is too complex for His wisdom, no opposing force too mighty for His power, no darkness too dense for His light, no trifle too trivial for His notice. He is working for its regeneration. What, then, is the responsibility of the city? What does the Church of Christ exist for? For the select few who today worship within the buildings called by His name? Then in God's name close the doors! Such churches have no mission, and should cease to exist. The Church of Christ exists to reveal God and to act in concert with Him.”3
Most of us at times are inclined, like Jonah, to overvalue the less important things of life, those which are temporal. We are also inclined, even when thinking about spiritual things, to do so in their relation to ourselves, our loved ones, our friends, our social group. But God's concern, which includes both the temporal and the spiritual, reaches out to the last person in all the world. It is not the will of our Father “that any should perish” (II Pet. 3:9).
The knowledge of this divine attitude prompted Paul to cry out: “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33) A more recent poet has written:
… the love of God is broader
Than the measure of man's mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind (F. W. Faber).
God's love constrained the apostle to leave his all that he might be an ambassador for the King of Love (Phil. 3:8). He would fully agree with the words recently written by S. C. Yoder: “To have been an effective preacher in Jonah's time, in the early church, the middle ages, or in modern times, one like Jonah must die to the lusts, the attractions, allurements, emoluments, and rewards which man has to offer and be content with the compensations that God has to give.”4
The love of God in our hearts will constrain us to that full commitment which God sought from Jonah and which He received so joyfully from Paul. It will attune our ears to His voice so that we shall hear God's call to a worldwide witness to His salvation. We shall hear His call to a solemn, sacred stewardship of life and possessions. Our measure of response to God's call is, in fact, the measure of our love for Him.