Jonah Reading Plan | Week 6 – Day 2
Jonah Reading Plan | Week 6 – Day 2
Jonah 4:5 – 8 ESV
Jonah’s Anger and the Lord’s Compassion
5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
(Jonah 4:5-8) God prepares an object lesson for Jonah.
a. Jonah went out of the city… till he might see what would become of the city: Jonah seems to hope that the repentance of Nineveh was lacking, and hopes that he will see the city destroyed after all. He goes out of the city for safety.
b. The LORD God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah: Just as God prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah, now He prepared a particular plant to shelter Jonah as he waited, hoping that they city would be destroyed.
i. This is the first time we find Jonah happy. “Jonah was pleased because at last, after all the compassion of God for other people, God was finally doing something for Jonah. Selfish? Of course, it was. And petty too!” (Boice).
ii. We could say that Jonah’s happiness was just as fleshly as his anger. Both were all about self.
c. The sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint: Jonah was angry with God because He brought the people of Nineveh to repentance (Jonah 4:1). The ancient Hebrew word for “angry” is literally “to be hot.” Now God would let Jonah feel some of the heat!
d. Jonah was very grateful for the plant… “It is better for me to die than to live”: When God took the plant and its pleasant shelter away from Jonah, he missed the plant so much that he wanted to die.
i. “If, dear friends, like Jonah, you want to complain, you will soon have something to complain of. People who are resolved to fret, generally make for themselves causes for fretfulness.” (Spurgeon)
ii. Jonah allowed even a silly thing like a plant to become an idol. “How often our gourds are allowed to perish, to teach us these deep lessons. In spite of all we can do to keep them green, their leaves turn more and more sere and yellow, until they droop and die” (Meyer).