Jonah 4
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CHAPTER 4
Jonah’s Anger at the Lord’s Compassion (4:1–11)
1–4 Jonah was angry because he now realized that God was going to spare Nineveh. He said to God, in effect: “This is what I was afraid would happen, because you are inclined to show compassion like this—even to people who don’t deserve it.” Jonah felt totally let down; he had predicted Nineveh’s destruction, but now it wasn’t going to happen. Israel’s worst enemy, Assyria, would be emboldened. Jonah saw no future; he felt betrayed by God. He wanted to die (verse 3).
Jonah wasn’t the only prophet to express such feelings (see 1 Kings 19:3–4; Jeremiah 20:7–10,14–18). But Jonah was also questioning God’s basic nature as a gracious and compassionate God (verse 2), slow to anger and abounding in love (see Exodus 34:6). Jonah wanted that love to be shown only to Israel; if God loved the Ninevites, it must mean (in Jonah’s view) that Israel had lost its special standing with God. If so, what more was there to live for?
God gently rebuked Jonah’s wrong attitude (verse 4). Indeed, the wrongness of Jonah’s attitude is the main lesson of the book. We the readers are meant to examine our own attitudes toward God and toward our enemies. It’s not easy to love one’s enemy, but that is precisely what we are commanded to do (Matthew 5:43–44; Luke 6:27–28).
5–8 Jonah evidently hoped that God would “change His mind” once more; he went out in the desert east of Nineveh to watch what would happen to the city (verse 5). He built a shelter with stones to protect himself from the hot wind, but it had no roof; so God provided a vine to give Jonah shade (verse 6). But within a day God also provided a worm, which chewed the vine and killed it. Now Jonah was in even greater distress than before; he was angry that God had caused the vine to die. Jonah, who earlier had thanked God for saving his life, was once again asking God to end it—and all for the loss of a vine!
9–11 Again the Lord rebuked his prophet. Jonah cared more for that vine than he cared for Nineveh’s 120,000 people and their cattle. The people were like small children who couldn’t tell their right hand from their left, who could barely tell right from wrong. Shouldn’t God be concerned for such people and their animals? Shouldn’t He want them to live and not die? The answer, of course, is “Yes.” God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked; rather, He desires that they turn from their ways and live (Ezekiel 18:2123; 33:11).
In these last two verses we reach the climax of the book of Jonah; we glimpse the heart of God. Just as Jonah cared for that single vine, so God cares for every living thing on earth. He doesn’t care only for Israel—as the Israelites thought; He cares for everyone. Indeed, He chose Israel not just for its own sake but so that it might be a blessing to all peoples (Genesis 12:3). This is the heart of the missionary call, and here in this little book we have met Israel’s first “missionary” to the GENTILES. And though Jonah was at times disobedient, angry, unloving, and depressed, God still used him to gather in the single greatest missionary harvest in history. And He has been sending imperfect missionaries into the harvest fields ever since.
1 A prophet is much more than a foreteller of the future. A prophet is one who has a special ear for God’s voice; he receives revelations from God and then transmits them to the people. Jonah was a true prophet in the fullest sense. For further discussion, see Word List:Prophecy, Prophet.
2The great fish mentioned in verse 17 may have been a whale. Whales are known to have swallowed humans. In one instance that has been verified, a man survived for ten hours inside a whale’s stomach and made a full recovery from his ordeal. Therefore, it is not necessary to suppose that Jonah’s survival for three days and three nights was a physical impossibility.
Furthermore, the expression “three days and three nights” does not necessarily mean “seventy-two hours.” According to Middle Eastern reckoning, three days and nights can mean one full day and parts of two others. This is why Jesus compared Jonah’s “three days” in the fish with His own “three days” in the tomb (Matthew 12:40).
3In verse 4, Jonah expresses his intention to look again toward God’s holy temple, the temple in Jerusalem (see 1 Kings 8:37–39). In verse 7, Jonah says that his prayer rose up to God’s holy temple, God’s “temple” in heaven. God’s earthly temple is a representation of His heavenly “temple,” His heavenly rule. For further discussion of God’s temple, see 1 Kings 6:1 and comment.
4For a discussion of what it means to truly repent, see Word List: Repentance.
5Fasting and putting on sackcloth were signs of repentance and mourning.
6All Christians should remember this truth: it is not our eloquence, our techniques, our qualifications that win people to Christ; it is God. It is God who opens people’s hearts to respond to our message (see Acts 16:14).
7The Ninevites believed God (verse 5). This doesn’t necessarily mean that they were truly converted to the faith of Israel. Neither does it mean their repentance was permanent. However, they did react according to the spiritual understanding they had, and God honored that and spared them—just the opposite of what Jonah had wanted!
Jesus Himself commended the Ninevites for repenting when they heard Jonah’s preaching and contrasted them with the Jews of His day who rejected the preaching of One who was much greater than Jonah (Matthew 12:41).
8Bible scholars have proposed a number of “natural” explanations as to why the Ninevites were so quick to repent, some or all of which could be true. It is known, for example, that around the time Jonah visited Nineveh there had been a major earthquake and a total eclipse in Assyria. Furthermore, Assyria had been under attack from strong enemies in the north. Finally, it’s possible that Jonah’s appearance itself was the “spark” that ignited the Ninevites’ response; perhaps they had heard about Jonah and the great fish. But all of this is speculation; whether or not any of these “natural” factors played a part, it was still God who caused them and who made it possible for the Ninevites to repent.