Jonah 4 Commentary (For years 9-99)

Jonah's displeasure

4:1 This displeased Jonah terribly and he became very angry.

Some think that the Book of Jonah should have ended in chapter 3. All of Nineveh turned to God. What a happy ending! However, God had not finished His work. He still had to do some work on Jonah's attitude. Jonah's attitude was very similar to that of Israel.

Jonah was quite the evangelist. His negative preaching caused the entire city of Nineveh to repent. Most evangelists would love these types of results, but not Jonah.

Jonah was not very happy about God’s change of mind. He knew from the prophecies of Amos and Hosea that Assyria would one day destroy Israel. Therefore, Jonah wanted Assyria to ignore this prophecy and be destroyed.

4:2 He prayed to the Lord and said, “Oh, Lord, this is just what I thought would happen when I was in my own country. This is what I tried to prevent by attempting to escape to Tarshish!—because I knew that you are gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and one who relents concerning threatened judgment.

Many liberals claim that Jonah did not know God. They are disagreeing with the Holy Spirit. Jonah knew that God was full of grace, compassion, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. It is the liberals who do not know God.

The Hebrew word for “gracious” is חַנּוּן (chanon), meaning gracious. It is an adjective which is only used as an attribute of God. No man on earth has ever possessed חַנּוּן (chanon).

Many commentaries like to comment that Jonah was anti-Gentile. This was simply not the case. If so, then he would not have hopped on a boat to travel to the Gentile city of Tarshish. Jonah was a nationalist. He did not want Assyria to destroy Israel, as Hosea and Amos had predicted.

4:3 So now, Lord, kill me instead, because I would rather die than live!”

Jonah had fulfilled his commission. He had seen how much better Sheol was than earth, so he was ready to go back to Sheol.

4:4 The Lord said, “Are you really so very angry?”

The point of God’s question was that Jonah had been shown a lot of grace and kindness from God, so he should not be angry. From all of the people who ever lived, God chose Jonah to die, visit Paradise, raise him from the dead, and preach a sermon which saved an entire Gentile city.

4:5 Jonah left the city and sat down east of it. He made a shelter for himself there and sat down under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city.

Instead of answering God’s question, Jonah went to the east side of the city and made him a booth in the shade. The east side of the city was elevated, so Jonah was able to choose a good view on the high ground. This booth was similar to those made at the Feast of Tabernacles. Jonah watched the city for forty days, hoping that Nineveh would return to her sins and be destroyed by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. Jonah wanted to see the fire from the sky cause death and destruction.

4:6 The Lord God appointed a little plant and caused it to grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to rescue him from his misery. Now Jonah was very delighted about the little plant.

Many like to claim that this was a castor plant, but no one knows for sure. The point is that the Lord appointed a plant to instantly grow and give shade to Jonah. It is a miracle for a plant to grow this large overnight. This was just as much a miracle as the fish that swallowed Jonah. Jonah enjoyed the shade of the plant.

4:7 So God sent a worm at dawn the next day, and it attacked the little plant so that it dried up.

The next day, God sent a worm to eat the plant. It was a miracle for one worm to eat this much plant in one day. The worm was just as much a miracle as the fish and the plant.

4:8 When the sun began to shine, God sent a hot east wind. So the sun beat down on Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. So he despaired of life, and said, “I would rather die than live!”

God sent the hot sun and wind upon Jonah. This was another supernatural miracle of God. Jonah no longer had protection from the sun, so he experienced heat exhaustion. Jonah was ready to go back to Sheol.

4:9 God said to Jonah, “Are you really so very angry about the little plant?” And he said, “I am as angry as I could possibly be!”

Jonah was so angry that he wanted to die and leave this earth.

4:10 The Lord said, “You were upset about this little plant, something for which you have not worked nor did you do anything to make it grow. It grew up overnight and died the next day.

Jonah’s concern for this inanimate plant was irrational. Many modern Americans are more concerned about pelicans, but not the abortion of millions of human babies. Many people love their dog, cat, goldfish, hamster, turtle, or plant more than they do other humans. It is important to note that humans possess a soul which will determine whether they live in heaven or hell.  This is where man's concern should be.

4:11 Should I not be even more concerned about Nineveh, this enormous city? There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not know right from wrong, as well as many animals!”

The 120,000 who did not know right from wrong were Assyrian children. This means that the entire population of Nineveh would have been around 600,000 people. God’s concern was for the animate and the rational 600,000 people of Assyria, These Assyrians were part of God’s elect. God had already chosen them before the foundations of the world to enter into His heaven. Now, it was time to preach the good news about the one true God to them so that they could hear and believe.

The Book of Jonah demonstrates the same salvation process which is found in Romans 10. One is called and sent to deliver the message. The elect hears the message. The elect believes the message.  The elect call upon God. God saves them.

Notice that God is also concerned about the animals of Assyria. Not one little sparrow will fall to the ground without notice from God.

It is important to note that even though Israel was the elect nation, God has always been saving Gentiles in mysterious ways. Israel had much more light than Nineveh. God sent several prophets to Israel, but they were all rejected.  God sent the Messiah Himself to Israel, but He was rejected as well. Israel not only rejected their own Messiah, but they called Him demon-possessed and crucified Him. In conclusion, one disobedient prophet was sent to Nineveh with one simple message and all of Nineveh was saved.