The Anger of Jonah

Introduction

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching God’s Patience

When Robert Ingersoll, the famous atheist, was lecturing, he once took out his watch and declared, “I will give God five minutes to strike me dead for the things I have said.” The minutes ticked off as he held the watch and waited. In about four-and-a-half minutes, some women began fainting, but nothing happened. When the five minutes were up, Ingersoll put the watch into his pocket. When that incident reached the ears of a certain preacher, Joseph Parker, he asked, “And did the gentleman think he could exhaust the patience of the Eternal God in five minutes?”

I believe that many of us believe that God is patient, but rarely do we think of it in terms of us. How much patience God has for us. We can look at others and examine their lives and see well clearly, God is exhibiting great patience with them. But in reflecting on how patient God is with us, we will be overcome with great joy in the Gospel. Reflecting on His patience with us rightly will bring about true worship. An appreciation of what God has done for us which we are too quick to forget.

We are forgetful people though aren’t we. And that can get us into trouble. If we forget a birthday, or an anniversary. Or an appointment and the person is left the all alone. Or we can forget to complete a task for work or assignment for school, if not forget that you were supposed to be at work or school that day. We forget and there are consequences for those things.

But what is the consequence for forget how great a salvation we have received? We do not lose our salvation. But I would say that the consequence is greater than we think.

We forget how great a sinner we are and how much God has forgiven us and so when someone upsets us we do not forgive as we should.

When we are having a tough day, we try to rely on our own strength and our own effort, when that was not how we were saved. We have a great God who we can trust. Or on the other side of the token, when things are good we become proud and think we did it on our own.

We forget the great joy of our salvation. The peace we find in Christ. And the privilege we have of being children of God. And so we dwindle in our prayer, our service, our bible reading, our evangelism.

1 Peter 1:10-12 10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

And so what ought we to do?

13 Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

We too quickly forget what God has done and what he has called us to do.

And we are reminded of that aren’t we, when we look at the life of Jonah. The most effective missionary recorded in Scriptures and yet, the unlikeliest candidate for the job. In Chapter 1 of Jonah, we saw the great responsibility God had placed on him. How he called Jonah to go to Nineveh and preach to them, but he runs. He runs away and boards a boat. And so we see that although he was commissioned, he rebelled against his call.

We continue to follow him on his sea journey to Tarshish and there we encounter him in the midst of a great and deadly storm. His life is hanging on a thread and in an act of defiance he doesn’t repent while those around him do. A startling image is impressed in our minds as we read of him thrown into the sea to die, swallowed by a great fish.

But in chapter 2, we read that he is safe in there. What mercy from God as Jonah is humbled in the great fish and God remembers Jonah.

Chapter 3, Jonah is back on land and he preaches and his message takes effect. The people repent! God full of mercy and love forgives the people and relents from the disaster that was to come upon them had they continued in their sins.

And this is truly how we want the story to end. Every story ought to end with a happy note. But chapter 4. If only for there to be three chapters then it would be a proper story. But Jonah’s story is not finished yet. Jonah is angry. An unlikely response to what God has done, but he is angry. He is more than angry, he is furious and upset with God.

But before diving into an exposition, let’s read the text.

Jonah 4:1-11

Body

Now Jonah was not upset because the people did not repent. Or even that they rejected him or attempted to take his life. No Jonah is upset for the unlikeliest reason for a missionary.

Hudson Taylor would tell those who wanted to be missionaries to China that there were three indispensable requirements for a missionary:

1. Patience

2. Patience

3. Patience

They required it, because they had to invest themselves into the lives of the people they were reaching our to with the Gospel. A slow process of answering their questions and teaching them the word. Patience.

But Jonah was not upset because he had run out of patience for the people, but he was upset because of the patience and mercy and love of God.

It is quite odd. We knew already from the beginning of the story that Jonah did not want to go to these people. He did not want to obey the call of God on his life. He ran. We knew he that. And we finally get an answer to the question we may have been wondering throughout the whole epoch. The question of why. Jonah knows God’s compassion and mercy and he did not want it to have been extended to the Ninevites.

But not only do we see God demonstrating His abundant patience with the people, we see it also expressed towards Jonah. Where in chapter 1 the seamen received mercy from God, and chapter 2 the great fish gets it, and chapter 3 the Ninevites get it, here in chapter 4, and truly throughout the whole book, Jonah gets mercy from God. God is patient with him. He does not strike down this ungrateful prophet but actually continues to provide for him.

So Jonah waves his tiny, little fist at God and says, “I told you so! I knew you were going to do this.” Can you imagine telling a sovereign, all-knowing God that you knew.

And so there is Jonah, greatly displeased and furious. And we read of him praying to God. But this is not under the same conditions as his previous prayer. In chapter 2, Jonah’s prayer is grateful, although unrepentant, Jonah acknowledges that God is sovereign and a saving God. But here in chapter 4, how quickly his prayers turn the opposite direction.

And his complaint is ironic isn’t it. Almost quoting from Ex 34:6-7.

The New American Commentary: Amos, Obadiah, Jonah 1. The Prophet’s Displeasure (4:1–3)

First, God is seen as a “gracious” (ḥannûn) God. This word communicates the attitude of the Lord toward those who are undeserving, thereby expressing benevolence in the ultimate sense. The next word used to describe God is the word “compassionate” (raḥûm). This word is translated in many ways and can mean “loving” or “merciful.” It also expresses the understanding and loving compassion of a mother to her child, hence the idea of understanding and loving favor. God is also described as “slow to anger” (ʾerek ʾappayim). This speaks to the patience and longsuffering of the Lord. Nineveh was the obvious recipient of this characteristic of the Lord. The next phrase used to describe God in this segment is “abounding in love” (rab ḥesed). The word ḥesed refers to the covenant love of God. This attribute expresses itself in redemption from sin. It encompasses the qualities of kindness, loyalty, and unfailing love. No one term in English adequately and accurately expresses the meaning of ḥesed. This covenant love issues itself in God’s being “a God who relents [niḥam] from sending calamity” (rāʿâ). Amazingly, Jonah did not use these words in praise to the Lord but as a tirade against him.

Jonah prays, frustrated with the Lord because of who God is. A God who is rich in mercy and compassion, slow to anger, faithful in love, and willing to relent from sending disaster to those who repent. And because God is that way, he wants to die!

Can you imagine that?!? He is so angry over the salvation of the Ninevites as God acts in accordance to His character and nature and would rather die. We have to be thinking, a little overdramatic there Jonah. Also, very unoriginal. When the great storm struck the boat, Jonah said “throw me overboard”. And here let me die. And we want to tell Jonah, the solution to every problem is not to die. Could be why he loved this mission, he had a problem with the Ninevites and wanted them to be destroyed.

The New American Commentary: Amos, Obadiah, Jonah 1. The Prophet’s Displeasure (4:1–3)

The words of this verse are remarkably similar to those in 1 Kgs 19:4, where Elijah also cried out wishing to die. The words also are similar to Moses’ words in Num 11:15, where he pleaded for an early death. While many have noted the similarity between Jonah’s and Elijah’s prayers, the situations were entirely different. Elijah’s prayer appears to have been founded upon the seeming failure of Yahweh worship in Israel. Israel’s sin had depressed him. The underlying cause of Jonah’s prayer was not nearly so admirable. Jonah did not wish to live any longer because God had not carried out Nineveh’s judgment. Nineveh’s redemption had depressed him.

Perhaps Jonah felt that life was horribly out of order. Nineveh was the recipient of God’s grace, and his precious Israel was destined to suffer at their hands. One writer states it well: “Here we see how bad theology may also lead to despair. If the Israelites had not had such a limited understanding of their God, an understanding that, among other things, tied together much too closely faith in God and social/political/economic prosperity, they would have been better enabled to cope with the realities of life.”

And so while Jonah may have been obedient to the command of God, he had not submitted to God in his heart. And lest we go on rebuking Jonah, do we not do the same? Do we not do the same? God reveals His will to us and stand in direct opposition to Him. We see what God has declared to be good and we want to do otherwise because of our inward desires. Do we not also try and negotiate with the God of the universe?

We see Jonah praying and may be inclined to think it is good, given his previous prayer, but the content is striking. And do we also rightly examine our own prayers?

And then we read a series of questions posed by God to Jonah:

Is it right for you to be angry? (4)

Is it right for you to be angry about the plant? (9)

Should I not care about the great city of Nineveh? (11)

Jonah does not answer the first question. But clearly, the answer is no. We reflect on his defiance. Why are you angry Jonah? Is it right for you to be angry? Is this a righteous anger and indignation that you have? Is it the same righteous anger that I had for the Ninevites, when I had planned destruction on them. And Job doesn’t respond, could he in his anger have turned his shoulder in stubbornness?

And rather than letting that question take hold of him and reflecting on himself as the Lord questions him, he makes a shade and waits to see if the people would change their ways.

And God, in His mercy provides him with a shade from a plant. The same word used here, we saw with the great fish. And just as God provides, God can take away, should He choose to. And the worm eats the plant.

The New American Commentary: Amos, Obadiah, Jonah (3) God’s Methods of Discipline (4:6–8)

One irony of this segment is that although destruction is a recurring theme of the book, the only destruction that occurs in the Book of Jonah is that of this vine. So destruction came not upon Nineveh but upon something that had become very important to Jonah, something that had brought him great joy.

So we see again nature and animals obeying God, but one man continues to be stubborn. Then in verse 8, God sends a scorching wind and even the wind obeys God, but not Jonah. And prepared a great wind, same word as in the fish and the plant and the worm.

And God asks Jonah a second question. Jonah does answer the second question posed. But in his response he reveals his folly. His foolishness. His actions have been very foolish throughout. He does everything wrong, and yet consistently God is showing mercy and compassion to him.

The New American Commentary: Amos, Obadiah, Jonah (4) The Rebuke (4:9)

Stuart is right in saying that this question is central to the whole book. “What right do we have to demand that God should favor us and not others? By reducing the question to the particular issue of the gourd, God focused it in a way that would cause Jonah to condemn himself by his own words. Jonah did just that.”

As Wolff explained, Jonah “neither wished to live under the governance of free grace (vv. 1–3), nor was he prepared to live under a government without grace (vv. 7–9).”

And a third question is posed. And it has force. This question really captures the whole theme of the book. Grace and Mercy. The shade of the vine, the deliverance of Nineveh, the salvation from the great fish and the saving of the men in the storm. All undeserved, but God does wish for destruction, but salvation!

The New American Commentary: Amos, Obadiah, Jonah (5) God’s Mercy (4:10–11)

G. V. Smith has said:

God will (and does) act in justice against sin, but His great love for every person in the world causes Him to wait patiently, to give graciously, to forgive mercifully, and to accept compassionately even the most unworthy people in the world. To experience the grace of God and not be willing to tell others of His compassion is a tragedy all must avoid. Messengers of God can neither limit the grace of God nor control its distribution, but they can prevent God’s grace from having an effect on their own lives

Conclusion

We are not given a chance to hear if Jonah does reply to God in the third question. Nor do we read what happens to him. But the point is clear, Throughout God is a saving God, (sailor, fish, Jonah, Nineveh). God is a merciful God, and God relents for those who turn to Him in sincere repentance and worship.

The hanging question or cliff hanger seems to serve three purposes:

Reveal the true focus of the story. It is not on Jonah, or the fish, but of God’s miraculous saving grace.

Pointing us to reflect on where we are. Are we like Jonah? Wanting God to act in our own way and understanding?

Pointing us to the fact that only God saves and we need a saviour. It is pointing to Jesus and sewing together a beautiful tapestry.

Let’s not be forgetful people. But let’s also not be disobedient and remembering people. Jonah knew God. He knew the character of God. And yet, we see that that was not enough. Let’s remember.

Let’s read Jonah’s prayer to close things off and I want us to stand as we read it. Please read out loud the parts that have been put in bold on the screen.

Jonah 2:2-9