Jonah 4:3

3 And now, Lord, I pray, take my life from me; for death is better to me than life.

Jonah 4:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jonah 4:3

Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me,
&c.] Or, "my soul" ^F24. This, as Drusius remarks, may be observed against those that think the soul is not immortal; for by this it appears that it my be taken from the body, and that it exists separate from it, and does not die with it; and since the body dies upon its removal, for "the body without the spirit is dead", as James says; death is expressed by this phrase, ( Job 27:8 ) ( Acts 8:33 ) ; here Jonah allows that God is the God of life, the author and giver of it, and is the sole disposer of it; it is in his own power to take it away, and not man's: so far Jonah was right, that he did not in his passion attempt to take away his own life; only desires the Lord to do it, though in that he is not to be justified; for though it may be lawful for good men to desire to die, with submission to the will of God; that they might be free from sin, and serve him without it, and be with Christ, and in the enjoyment of the divine Presence, as the Apostle Paul and others did, ( 2 Corinthians 5:6 2 Corinthians 5:8 ) ( Philippians 1:21 Philippians 1:23 ) ; but not through discontent, as Elijah, ( 1 Kings 19:4 ) ; or merely to be rid of troubles, and to be free from pain and afflictions, as Job, ( Job 6:1-3 Job 6:8 Job 6:9 ) ; and much less in a pet and passion, as Jonah here, giving this reason for it, for [it is] better for me to die than to live;
not being able to bear the reproach of being a false prophet, which he imagined would be cast upon him; or, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi, that he might not see the evil come upon Israel, which he feared the repentance of the Ninevites would be the occasion of, Jonah was in a very poor frame of spirit to die in; this would not have been dying in faith and hope in God; which graces cannot be thought to be in lively exercise in him when he was quarrelling with God; neither in love to God, with whom he was angry; nor in love to men, at whose repentance, and finding mercy with the Lord, he was displeased.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 (yvpn ta) "animam meam", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellins, Piscator, Drusius, Cocceius.

Jonah 4:3 In-Context

1 And Jonah was tormented with great torment, and was wroth. (And Jonah was greatly tormented, and was very angry, about what happened.)

2 And he prayed to the Lord, and said, Lord, I beseech, whether this is not my word, when I was yet in my land? For this thing I purposed for to flee into Tarshish; for I know, that thou, God, art meek and merciful, patient, and of much merciful doing, and forgiving of malice. (And he prayed to the Lord, and said, Lord, I beseech thee, was this not just what I said would happen, when I was still in my own land? For this very reason I fled to Tarshish; for I knew, that thou, God, art humble and merciful, patient, and of much merciful doing, and forgiving of malice.)

3 And now, Lord, I pray, take my life from me; for death is better to me than life.

4 And the Lord said, Guessest thou, whether thou art well wroth? (And the Lord said, Thinkest thou, that thou art right to be so angry?)

5 And Jonah went out of the city, and sat against the east of the city, and made to him a shadowing place there; and sat under it in shadow, till he saw what befell to the city. (And Jonah went out of the city, and sat down to the east of it, and made a place of shade for himself; and he sat there in the shadows/and he sat there in the shade, until he saw what befell the city.)