Jonah 4:1
Outline:
I. \\#Jonah 1:1-2:10\\ Jonah’s Disobedience
A. \\#Jonah 1:1-2\\ The Call from God
B. \\#Jonah 1:3\\ The Willfulness of Jonah
C. \\#Jonah 1:4-2:10\\ The Hand of God
II. \\#Jonah 3:1-3:10 \\Jonah’s Obedience
III. \\#Jonah 4:1-11\\ Jonah’s Displeasure - Instead of being grieved that
Nineveh was spared, Jonah should have been encouraged at the prospect
that Israel might also be spared. After all, if God was merciful enough
to spare the Ninevites, would He not be merciful to Israel if they
repented? It was likely that Jonah was so grieved because, in his heart,
he knew Israel would never repent.
Notes:
I. Jonah’s displeasure \\#4:1-11\\.
A. \\#Jon 4:1-5\\ Jonah Was Unhappy.
1. \\#4:1\\ "But it displeased Jonah" - Jonah was displease and very
angry with God that the sinners of Nineveh would be spared. Jonah
may have repented over running from God, but he had not repented
over trying to manage God’s business.
2. \\#4:2\\ "…was this not my saying…?" - Jonah had anticipated this
result and it was what had caused him to flee in the first place.
a. "for I knew that thou art a gracious God… merciful, slow to
anger, of a great kindness, and repentest… of evil."
b. Jonah knew that God would forgive any people who repented, even
enemies of the Jews.
c. This passage points to God’s available forgiveness to any people
of any race or ethnicity who will repent of sin and seek God.
Grace has always been available to anyone who would receive it.
d. This passage also shows that repentance, not sacrifice, is what
brings forgiveness. While they may have done so, there is no
record of these people offering sacrifices and no way they
offered an acceptable sacrifice according to the Law.
3. \\#4:3\\ "…it is better for me to die" - Jonah would AGAIN rather
die that see the Assyrians spared. It is difficult to image the
magnitude of Jonah’s grief unless it was due to the knowledge that
Assyria would one day destroy Israel.
4. \\#4:4\\ "Doest thou well to be angry?" - God does not argue with
Jonah but neither does He judge or ignore Jonah.
a. The fact that God would deal with Jonah at all is an indication of
how godly a man Jonah was.
b. God speaks but one question to Jonah. There are times when a
multitude of words can not change a person’s heart.
5. \\#4:5\\ "So Jonah went out of the city… till he might see what would
become of the city"
a. Jonah made a BOOTH and went to wait for the forty days to be up,
hoping that when they were, God would still smite the city.
b. Jonah may have had some faults, but they were not a lack of faith
or a lack of knowledge of God. Not only did he knew God’s
mercy and kindness very well, but he also knew God kept His
word. If God said forty days, He meant forty days.
B. \\#Jon 4:6-11\\ God demonstrates His desire to be merciful.
1. \\#4:6-8\\ God had a plan.
a. "God prepared a gourd"
(1) God causes a gourd (a tall plant with board leaves which is
indigenous to that area) to grow over Jonah in one night
\\#4:6, 10\\.
(2) "So Jonah was exceedingly glad" -This was an act of unmerited
mercy in which Jonah immediately took great comfort.
b. \\#4:7\\ "But God prepared a worm" - Once Jonah took comfort in
the gourd, God prepared a worm to destroy it, perhaps as soon as
the next night.
c \\#4:8\\ "God prepared a vehement east wind"
(1) Then God deliberately made Jonah’s situation difficult. The
heat of the sun and the hot wind made Jonah’s wait very
uncomfortable.
(2) Jonah "fainted, and wished in himself to die" - Jonah’s spirit
was so low that even without his comfortable situation, he
was depressed. Being hot and miserable only added to his
despondent mental case.
2. \\#Jon 4:9-11\\ God had a point.
a. \\#4:9\\ "Doest thou well to be angry?"
(1) God repeats His question.
(2) "I do well to be angry, even unto death." This time, Jonah
answers God. Jonah is so filled with anger that he only
seeks to justify himself.
b. \\#4:10-11\\ "Then the Lord said"
(1) \\#4:10\\ "Thou hast had pity on the gourd" - God’s point was
that if Jonah could hurt after losing a gourd - a plant in
which he had invested nothing…
(2) \\#4:11\\ "…should I not spare Nineveh…?" …could God
not long after the 120,000 of ignorant Ninevites?
c. God is making three points in this text.
(1) \\#4:10\\ By mentioning that Jonah had done no work on the
gourd, God was implying that He had invested something into
the Ninevites. God works on the behalf of all people His
wonders to perform.
(2) \\#4:10\\ By mentioning Jonah’s PITY for the gourd, God was
implying that He had love and compassion on the Ninevites.
(3) \\#4:11\\ By mentioning that the Ninevites could not "discern
between their right hand and their left hand," God was
implying Nineveh’s sin was in part due to their ignorance.
We who have been blessed to have God’s Law and, even more,
to be taught from it, are truly blessed.
3. After God makes His points, the book of Jonah just ends.
C. Conclusions - It is interesting that many comment concerning Jonah that
it seems "unfinished." The reader is left to wonder what happened to
Jonah. Did he get over his bitterness? Did he go back into the city to
help the people? Did he remain on the hillside hoping for the worst?
Jesus gave us a parable that raises similar questions in \\Luke 15:25-32\\
which raises similar questions. Did the faithful brother get over his
bitterness? Did he go into the party and welcome his brother? Did he
remain on the porch hoping his brother would go away?
Could it be that there is a common application to both of these accounts?
1. Similarities
a. In both accounts, there are sinner(s).
b. In both accounts, the sinner(s) repent.
c. In both accounts, the story by passes what seems to be a good
place to stop and opts a less glamorous closing. This would
imply that the endings have an important reason for being
included.
d. In both accounts, those of Jewish descent are portrayed as angry
when goodness and mercy are freely given to the undeserving.
e. In both accounts, the Bestower of mercy shares that He has enough
love for both the faithful and the repentant.
f. In both accounts, the story seems left unfinished.
2. Possibilities
a. Jonah was angry at God for allowing the Gentiles to be forgiven
\\#Jon 4:4\\. God shares that He has love and pity, even for
the Assyrians.
b. Jesus’ parable in Luke is directed at the Jews. Evidently, it was
in anticipation of their anger for allowing the Gentiles to be
forgiven. The father wanted his son to know that He had enough
love for both sons.
c. It appears that in both of these stories, God is teaching the
Jewish people that He has love enough for all who come to Him -
Jews and Gentiles alike.
d. The fact that the story is not finished might indicate that God
is leaving the ending up to each individual Jew. He can either
be angry with God for allowing the Gentiles a place in God’s
forgiveness (which only hurts him) or else he can rejoice in
God’s goodness and partake of that mercy as well!
e. It may be that the Book of Jonah may be a prophetical type of the
Jews about their rejection of Christ and their anger at God for
allowing "heathen" people to come to Him.
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