Jonah Under the Gourd

Jonah Under the Gourd

Jonah 4:5–6 KJV 1900

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. 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.

1. Jonah having delivered his message, went out of the city and sat down to see what would happen.

He had no love for Nineveh, and he did not want Nineveh to heed his word, nor to repent, for Jonah knew that God was “merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.”

Ask your self if this is you?

Do you delight in the fall and failure of others?

Proverbs 24:17 KJV 1900

Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, And let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth:

Thus when Nineveh repented and God spared the city, Jonah held controversy (disagreement) with God.

He bemoaned (to express discontent and sorrow, regret,disapproval) his very life and prayed to die.

Jonah 4:2 KJV 1900

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.

Luke 9:54 KJV 1900

And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did?

Luke 9:55 KJV 1900

But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of.

The attitude of Jonah

Jonah 4:3 KJV 1900

Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

Is this a picture of America?

Jonah 4:4–5 KJV 1900

Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry? 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.

Jonah 4:6 KJV 1900

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.

Castor-oil plant. It grows in the East to the height of eight to twelve feet, and one species much higher. Its leaves are large, and have six or seven divisions, whence its name of Palma Christi.

Over the angered Prophet God prepared a gourd.

Jonah 4:6 KJV 1900

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.

The hot sun had been blistering his head, the winds had been scorching his face, so he was glad for the gourd.

How strange it was that Jonah wanted a protecting gourd for himself, and unrelenting judgments for Nineveh.

Have you meant anyone lately with this type of attitude?

There are four things prepared in this story.

(1) The great fish was prepared;

(2) The gourd was prepared;

(3) The worm was prepared, and

(4) The east wind was prepared.

God brought about just those things that were needed to manifest His grace.

Jonah 4:7 KJV 1900

But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

Jonah 4:8 KJV 1900

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.

When the worm came and the east wind followed, poor Jonah was at his row’s end; he fainted and longed to die.

Then God once more had Jonah where He could speak to him.

The belly of the fish had sufficed to bring Jonah to the place of obedience, but the gourd and the worm and the hot wind were needed to bring Jonah to appreciate the compassionate heart of God.

And God said: “Thou hast had pity for the gourd * * and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six-score thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?”

Nowhere in the Bible can we look any deeper in-to the heart of our blessed God than here.

His goodness and His severity is set forth, side by side. His threatened judgments on Nineveh; His storm, His hot sun and winds, all reveal His wrath against sin:

His prepared fish, His prepared gourd, and His “should not I spare Nineveh?” all reveal the exceeding riches of His mercy and of His grace.

Stop one moment, in conclusion, and meditate upon those two expressions which reveal to us the accumulative reasons that God gives for sparing Nineveh. “Six score thousand children” (who cannot discern their right hand from their left). “Much cattle.”

Children and cattle, both are encompassed by the compassionate God. My God is a God of all grace, to Him I bend the knee, and worship and adore His name.