Jonah 4:1-11

4:1-3 | In Hebrew, the word angry means “boiling or burning.” Jonah burned with anger, wanting God to judge Ninevah, not extend grace.

4:2 | Jonah’s “confession” – ironically rooted in events where God offered mercy to sinful Israel (Ex. 34:6-7; Num. 14:18) – was more a complaint than a prayer. God had shown Himself to be exactly who Jonah knew He was; gracious and merciful; One willing to withhold a judgment He has promised; a God who is slow to anger. But instead of rejoicing at this display of God’s character, Jonah despised God’s lovingkindness when extended to those he hates.

4:3 | Experts in human behavior have noted a link between hatred for others and pity for oneself. Jonah wanted to die because the Ninevites had repented. The core of Jonah’s concern is revealed in his words: It is better for me. Jonah could not have God’s heart for others because he was consumed with himself.

4:4 | By human standards, God should have fired Jonah as a prophet. But instead, God reached out to him and said, “Let me ask you a question.” To ask is often more effective than to accuse.

4:5 | Jonah not only walked out of the revival, but left the place of God’s blessing – the city – because he was unwilling to further participate in Nineveh’s repentance. He then retreated to a shelter on Nineveh’s east side, to see what would become of the city. Secretly, he still hoped God would rain down destruction on the Ninevites.

4:6-8 | Previously, God sent a storm and prepared a great fish for Jonah. Here, God prepared three more things: a plant, a plant-destroying worm, and a violent, scorching east wind to reveal Jonah’s self-centered attitude and to remind him of his total dependance on God.

4:6 | The plant was probably the castor oil vine that grows along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. Its leaves are about the size of a person’s hand, big enough to provide covering from the sun’s rays. God prepared this shade for Jonah because the shelter Johah built was so inadequate that it caused him misery.

4:8-9 | For a second time in this chapter, Jonah claims it would be better for him to die. That God’s incredible love and mercy would anger Jonah reveals his problem from the beginning: Jonah knew a lot about God, but he did not really know God.

4:10-11 | God used Jonah’s experience with the gourd to provoke pity in the prophet (Ps. 72:13) and then used the gourd as an object lesson to teach Jonah why He did not destroy the Ninevites. In effect, God said to Jonah, “You had pity for one soulless gourd, and yet you are angry with Me for sparing one hundred and twenty thousand souls.” This number may well represent the children within Nineveh’s larger population at the time, though some scholars believe it references the city’s entire population.

4:11 | An idiom normally used of children (persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left) is probably applied here to adults to emphasize the Ninevites’ moral ignorance. (They were still culpable in God’s sight, however.) This may be one of the reasons God decided to extend them mercy. The book ends with a critical question: Is it right to have more concern for temporal things than the eternal destiny of human souls? In Jonah’s focus on the momentary gift of a plant for shade, he failed to understand God’s eternal compassion for a world in need of Him.