Jonah 4.2-4-Jonah Reveals His Motivation For Disobeying And Prays For Death But The Lord Responds With A Question That Rebukes Him
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday December 5, 2010
Jonah: Jonah 4:2-4-Jonah Reveals His Motivation For Disobeying And Prays For Death But The Lord Responds With A Question That Rebukes Him
Lesson # 53
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 4:1.
This morning we will study Jonah 4:2-4, which records Jonah revealing his motivation for initially disobeying the Lord’s command to go to Nineveh and announce judgment against its inhabitants.
Jonah 4:1, “But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.” (NASU)
“He prayed to the Lord and said” presents an action taken by Jonah that was the result of his considering it unjust of the Lord to not destroy Nineveh.
This statement indicates that Jonah’s prayer in which he voices his complaint to the Lord for sparing the lives of the Ninevites was the direct consequence of considering the Lord’s decision to relent as unjust.
“Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country?” is a rhetorical question that serves as an indictment against God’s decision to spare the Ninevites.
It indicates that prior to receiving orders from the Lord to go to Nineveh, Jonah had the conviction that the Lord would spare the lives of the Ninevites when they believed in Him and repented of their evil way of living.
“Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish” is a causal clause indicating that Jonah fled to Tarshish to prevent the Lord from sparing the lives of the Ninevites “because” he knew that the Lord was gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in mercy and one who relents concerning judgment.
“For I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity” presents the reason why Jonah fled to Tarshish previously.
The verb yā∙ḏǎʿ, “I knew” means “to known by faith,” thus “to hold a conviction” regarding God’s character.
A “conviction” is a “strong persuasion or belief” (Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition).
Here the verb yā∙ḏǎʿ refers to the conviction that Jonah possessed regarding the character of Yahweh.
“Gracious” is the adjective ḥǎn∙nûn (חַנּוּן) (khan-noon), which speaks of God’s grace policy and describes God as imparting unmerited blessings to sinners based upon the merits of the object of the sinner’s faith.
“Compassionate” is the adjective rǎ∙ḥûm (רַחוּם) (rakh-oom), which means “merciful” in the sense that He is compassionate towards sinners and pardons them by withholding judgment when they believe in Son Jesus Christ.
The adjective ḥǎn∙nûn, “gracious” and the adjective rǎ∙ḥûm, “compassionate” both appear in Exodus 34:6-7.
“Slow to anger” is composed of the masculine singular construct form of the noun ʾā∙rēḵ (אָרֵךְ) (aw-rake), “slow to” and the masculine dual singular form of the noun ʾǎp̄ (אַף) (af), “anger.”
These two words describe God as giving the sinner every chance to avoid facing His righteous indignation and speaks of the fact that He delays in exercising it so that the sinner can turn to Him in faith.
God’s righteous indignation is His attitude toward any thought, word, or action of His moral rational creatures, whether mankind and angels, that is opposed to His holiness and manifests itself in actions that judge and punish the guilty.
God’s righteous indignation is the legitimate anger towards evil and sin since both are contrary to His holiness or perfect character and nature.
In fact, God’s righteous indignation expresses His holiness.
“Abundant in lovingkindness” is composed of the masculine singular construct form of the noun rǎḇ (רַב) (rab), “abundant in” and the masculine singular form of the noun ḥě∙sěḏ (חֶסֶד) (kheh-sed), “lovingkindness.”
The noun ḥě∙sěḏ means “unconditional love” describing God as loyal or faithful to His covenants with men and characterizes how God acts towards His covenant people Israel.
The noun rǎḇ means “transcendent,” which means “to go beyond ordinary limits of; overpass; exceed.”
These two words describe God as loyal or faithful to His covenants with men and characterize how God acts towards His covenant people Israel and that this love goes beyond ordinary limits of human love.
They describe God’s unconditional love as transcending the standards of human love so that God’s love is incomparable.
“One who relents concerning calamity” describes God as one who graciously does not act upon His decision to judge or condemn whether an individual, a group of individuals, or a nation in order that they might turn to Him in faith.
In Jonah 4:3, the prophet complains to the Lord in prayer that he’d rather die than live and see Him spare the lives of the Ninevites.
Jonah 4:3, “Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.” (NASU)
This verse expresses an inference from the fact that God had exercised His grace policy towards the Ninevites.
It expresses an inference from the fact that the Lord was merciful towards the Ninevites and was slow to exercise His righteous indignation towards them.
The statement expresses the inference from the fact that God exercised His transcendent unconditional love towards them and graciously relented from judging them.
“Please” is the particle of entreaty nā(ʾ) (נָא) (naw), which means “please” in the sense of “I beg of you” and is used of Jonah addressing Yahweh and emphasizes Jonah’s desire to die and expresses the urgency and the intensity of his prayer.
“Take my life from me” refers to the Lord ending the existence of Jonah’s soul in his physical body, thus ending his life on earth.
“For death is better to me than life” presents the reason for Jonah’s request that the Lord end his life on earth and expresses the idea that for Jonah physical death is superior to living.
Jonah’s prayer reveals that the prophet does not have the same perspective as God with regards to the human race and specifically in relation to the Gentiles.
Like Jonah’s angry reaction to the Lord sparing the Ninevites, the prophet’s prayer is an example of Israelite national pride and self-righteousness.
Jonah hates the idea of God sparing the lives of the Ninevites and treating them in grace because he is comparing the righteousness of himself and Israel to the lack of righteousness on the part of the Ninevites.
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 comparing himself to the Ninevites.
In Jonah 4:4, the Lord responds to Jonah’s anger with a rhetorical question.
Jonah 4:4, “The Lord said, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry?’” (NASU)
Verse 4 is an adversative clause that contains a rhetorical question that demands a negative response from Jonah.
“Do you have good reason to be angry?” implies that the Lord was right to extend grace to the Ninevites when they turned to Him in faith and consequently repented from their evil way of living since this decision was consistent with His character and nature and grace policy towards the entire human race.
Thus, the question in a gentle manner, rebukes the prophet’s bad attitude towards the Lord’s decision to spare the lives of the Ninevites when they believed in Him and repented from their evil way of living.
The Lord’s question is designed to get Jonah to come around to His point of view regarding the Ninevites.
He doesn’t condemn Jonah but through this question is actually inviting Jonah to condemn himself and admit he is wrong about his negative attitude towards His decision to spare the Ninevites.
Notice that the Lord does not even reply to Jonah’s request to die since this was utterly ridiculous and was simply the prophet expressing his frustration with the Lord’s decision to extend grace and forgiveness to the Ninevites.
Jonah is inconsistent with regards to his understanding regarding the character and nature of God with respect to the entire human race and specifically the Ninevites.
The fact that Jonah never replies as well his conduct later on in the scene indicates that the prophet is still infuriated and thus implacable.
The Lord is being patient and tolerant with Jonah as well as magnanimous with him, which are all expressions of His great love.
