Jonah 4.1-Jonah Is Infuriated with God's Decision to Spare the Lives of the Ninevites (Doctrinal Bible Church in Huntsville, Alabama)
Doctrinal Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday March 29, 2026
Jonah Series: Jonah 4:1-Jonah Is Infuriated With God’s Decision To Spare The Lives Of The Ninevites
Lesson # 37
Chapter four contains the sixth and seventh scenes in the book of Jonah and thus contains two divisions.
The first appears in verses 1-4, which records Jonah’s angry reaction to the Lord sparing the Ninevites and the second appears in verses 5-11.
In chapter four, we see for the first time a conversation between the Lord and Jonah whereas in Jonah 1:1-3, only the Lord speaks and in chapter 2, only Jonah speaks.
In contrast to chapter 2, which paints Jonah in a positive light, chapter 4 paints the prophet in a negative light.
The conversation between the Lord and Jonah in chapter 4 gives the reader insight into the character of both.
In the first and third chapters, the Lord issues only commands (1:2; 3:2) but in chapter 4, He only asks questions and makes statements.
In the first and third chapters, the Lord is directing Jonah’s actions through commands but in chapter 4 He is seeking to persuade him to change the prophet’s attitude towards the Ninevites through questions and statements (4:4, 9a, 11).
Jonah 4:1 records that Jonah thought it was evil on the part of God, in fact, a great evil, which made him furious that the Lord did not destroy Nineveh because the Ninevites repented.
Jonah 4:1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, “O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 But the Lord replied, “Have you any right to be angry?” 5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?” “I do,” he said. “I am angry enough to die.” 10 But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?” (NIV84)
Jonah’s angry reaction to the Lord sparing the Ninevites is an example of Israelite national pride and self-righteousness.
The question posed by Jonah in 4:2 expresses the prophet’s convictions that the Lord refrain from destroying the Ninevites since in his opinion they are too wicked.
Jonah is comparing himself to the Ninevites and concludes that he and his Jewish countrymen are superior to the Ninevites.
However, he fails to see that God concludes that both groups have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23) and that there is none righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10).
Jonah is not judging himself and Israel according to God’s perfect holy standards but rather he is doing so by comparing himself to the Ninevites.
In chapter 4, the Lord is teaching Jonah that He has compassion for all men and not just Israel including the wicked Assyrians.
Jonah 4:1 describes the prophet’s reaction to the Lord’s decision to spare the city of Nineveh, which is recorded in Jonah 3:10.
This verse begins a new emphasis in the narrative.
In scene six (4:1-4), we have the angry reaction of Jonah because the Lord exercised His mercy and grace with respect to the Assyrians, who were the Nazis of the eighth century B.C.
In scene five (3:3b-10), the prophet is never mentioned but in scene six, he dominates.
However, in the seventh and final scene (4:4-11), the focus shifts to Yahweh and the lessons He taught Jonah.
Jonah 4:1 stands in direct contrast with the preceding statement, which is Jonah 3:10, which records that when God saw the actions of the Ninevites and that they repented from their wicked behavior, He relented concerning the judgment He threatened them with.
The contrast is between Jonah’s angry reaction with what should have been his reaction, namely, joy and thanksgiving.
The verb rā∙ʿǎʿ (רָעַע) means “to be unjust” and is used here of Jonah considering God to be unjust for not destroying the Ninevites and for exercising mercy and grace towards them and forgiving them of their sins when they believed in Him and repented from their evil behavior.
The word does not mean “to be evil” since this would have Jonah ascribing evil to God which the prophet knows is totally absent from the character of God.
Rather, the word means “to be unjust” since in context, he is referring to God’s decision to relent when the Ninevites repented.
This is indicated by the context since in 4:6, God provides Jonah with the qiqayon plant in an attempt to persuade the prophet that He was justified in sparing the lives of the Ninevites (4:10–11).
In fact, the noun form of the word appears in Jonah 3:10 where it means “judgment” speaking of God’s decision to relent from destroying Nineveh.
“Greatly displeased” is composed of the noun rā∙ʿā(h) (רָעָה), “displeased,” which is modified by the adjective gā∙ḏôl (גָּדֹול), “greatly.”
The noun rā∙ʿā(h) means “unjust” and is referring to God’s decision to not destroy Nineveh and the adjective gā∙ḏôl is modifying this noun and denotes that Jonah considered this decision by God as a “great” injustice.
The noun rā∙ʿā(h) functions as a cognate accusative emphasizing the intensity of Jonah’s displeasure with God’s decision to spare the Ninevites.
“Became angry” is the verb ḥā∙rā(h) (חָרָה), which means “to be infuriated” and is used of Jonah’s great anger or rage with respect to God’s decision to spare the lives of the Ninevites.
To summarize, this verse begins the sixth scene in the narrative and presents the contrast between Jonah’s angry reaction with what should have been his reaction, namely, joy and thanksgiving.
The Lord’s decision to spare the lives of the Ninevites infuriated Jonah, which was due to Jonah’s self-righteousness.
He, like Israel was no better than the Assyrians since there is none righteous according to God’s perfect holiness standards.
Jonah was treated in grace and mercy by the Lord after Jonah rebelled against His command to go to Nineveh.
Like the Ninevites, Jonah was worthy of death in the eyes of a holy God since both were disobedient to God and in fact, Jonah more so since he like the rest of Israel were given great privileges by God (See Romans 9:1-5).
They were given the Law in writing while in contrast the Gentiles did not have it in writing and thus Jonah stood more condemned than the Ninevites since he like the rest of Israel received greater revelation from God than the Ninevites and the rest of the Gentile world.
The Gentiles had creation and the inherent law within them but in stark contrast, the Jews have the temple worship, their forefathers were the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
They were the recipients of the covenant promises made to these men since they were their racial descendants and the Lord promised that the Messiah would be a Jew.
Therefore, Jonah, like the rest of Israel was under great condemnation because they received greater revelation concerning God and His ways than the Ninevites who were Gentiles.
The prophet thanked the Lord for exercising grace towards him but he is infuriated when God exercises that same grace towards those he considers to be better than.
Jonah repented with respect to his attitude towards God and in particular obeying Him as demonstrated in 3:1-4.
However, he still hasn’t repented with respect to his attitude towards the Ninevites because he is self-righteous as demonstrated by his anger in 4:1-4.
