Jonah's Anger at God's Mercy
Study note
Jonah reveals the real reason he ran from God in the first place: he knew God was merciful and would spare Nineveh if they repented. As an Israelite, Jonah did not want mercy for Assyria, the nation that had terrorized his people.
1 But this made Jonah furious. He was boiling with anger. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
2 He prayed to the LORD, "See, LORD? This is exactly what I predicted back when I was still at home! That is the whole reason I ran to Tarshish! I knew you are a gracious, compassionate God who is slow to get angry and overflowing with faithful love. I knew you would change your mind about the disaster!" And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
3 "So take my life now, LORD. I would rather die than live through this." Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
4 The LORD responded, "Do you truly have a right to be this angry?" Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
The Lesson of the Plant
Study note
The plant (likely a fast-growing gourd vine) gave Jonah welcome shade in the desert heat east of the city. God used the plant, the worm, and the scorching east wind as an object lesson about compassion and priorities.
5 Jonah stomped out of the city and sat down on the east side. He threw together a little shelter, sat in its shade, and waited to see what would happen to Nineveh. So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
6 Then the LORD God caused a leafy plant to shoot up over Jonah, giving him cool shade and relief from his misery. Jonah was thrilled about that plant. And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
7 But the very next morning at dawn, God sent a worm that attacked the plant. It shriveled up and died. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
8 When the sun rose, God also sent a scorching hot wind from the east. The sun beat down so hard on Jonah's head that he nearly fainted. He wished he were dead and groaned, "I would rather die than keep going." And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.
God's Final Question
Study note
The 120,000 people 'who cannot tell their right hand from their left' likely refers to young children, highlighting the innocence of those Jonah wanted destroyed. God's closing question is left unanswered, inviting every reader to respond.
9 God asked Jonah, "Do you truly have a right to be this angry over a plant?" Jonah snapped back, "Certainly! I am angry enough to die!" And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
10 The LORD said, "You are upset about a plant that you did not plant, water, or grow. It popped up overnight and died overnight." Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
11 "So should I not care about Nineveh, this enormous city? More than 120,000 people live there who do not yet understand right from wrong — and there are countless animals too." And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?