Jonah 4.5-7-Jonah Sets Up Camp East Of Nineveh And The Lord Provides Him With A Plant For Shade And Then Takes It Away
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday December 12, 2010
Jonah: Jonah 4:5-7-Jonah Sets Up Camp East Of Nineveh And The Lord Provides Him With A Plant For Shade But Then Takes It Away
Lesson # 57
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 3:10.
This morning we will note Jonah 4:5-7.
Jonah 4:5 records Jonah departing Nineveh and then setting up camp, facing east of the city in order to see if the Lord would destroy the city or not.
Jonah 3:10, “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it. 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. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.’ 4 The Lord said, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry?’ 5 Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.” (NASU)
Jonah 4:5 records no oral response by Jonah to the Lord’s rhetorical question that appears in verse 4.
However, the actions taken by the prophet demonstrate that he has rejected the Lord’s decision to spare the Ninevites.
His actions recorded in this verse demonstrate that he does not agree with the Lord’s rhetorical question that makes clear that Jonah is not justified in his anger toward God’s decision.
Jonah’s conduct here in 4:5 is consistent with the way he has handled himself in his relationship to the Lord.
In 1:3, Jonah does not verbally respond to the Lord’s command but does so through his actions by taking a ship Tarshish and not going to Nineveh.
The prophet expresses his anger to the Lord by his actions rather than with words, which is what we call a “passive-aggressive” response.
Therefore, Jonah’s silence and the actions he takes in response to the Lord’s rhetorical question express his anger with respect to God’s decision to spare the Ninevites.
His conduct here in 4:5 makes clear to God and the reader that Jonah believes that this anger is justified and that he feels that God made the wrong decision.
The silent treatment that he gives by refusing to respond to His rhetorical question expresses the depth of his rage against the decision to spare Nineveh.
Jonah 4:5 emphasizes Jonah’s stubborn rejection of God’s grace policy towards the Ninevites, which is why he waits to see if God will destroy the city.
The prophet’s actions are an expression of his stubborn rejection of God’s grace policy towards the Ninevites and the Gentiles as a whole.
He rejects God’s grace policy towards the Ninevites because of his nationalistic pride and self righteousness.
His actions serve as a silent protest to this policy.
Jonah 4:6 records the Lord providing a plant for Jonah, which grows up over him and functions as shade for the prophet, consequently, this makes him extremely delighted.
Jonah 4:6, “So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.” (NASU)
The expression “Lord God” speaks of several concepts.
First of all, it combines the attributes of transcendence and immanence since the former is denoted by the noun ʾělō·hîm, “God” and the latter is denoted by Yahweh, “Lord,” thus it emphasizes with the reader that the transcendent God is intervening in the life of Jonah.
Secondly, the expression emphasizes with the reader that the prophet Jonah is no better or worse than the Ninevites and is being treating according to the Lord’s grace policy just as the Ninevites were.
This is indicated in that the noun ʾělō·hîm, “God” is used in relation to the Gentiles and the Yahweh, “Lord” is used in relation to God’s covenant people Israel.
So in a subtle way this expression speaks of the principle communicated by Paul in Romans 3:29 that God is not only the God of the Jews but also the Gentiles.
“A plant” is the masculine singular form of the noun qî∙qāy∙wōn (קִיקָיוֹן) (kee-kaw-yone), which refers to the castor oil plant, which is indigenous to the Middle East and can reach the height of ten to fifteen feet and its stalk is soft and can be easily killed by insects.
The plant’s flowers are yellow and pink and are arranged along stalklike protuberances and its large palmate leaves would have provided Jonah an excellent shield from the sun.
The daily maximum temperature in Mesopotamia is approximately 110 degrees, thus this plant was a great relief for the prophet.
By providing this plant, God is not only delivering Jonah from the sun but more importantly, his deliverance from his bad attitude towards the Ninevites.
“Discomfort” is the noun rā∙ʿā(h) (רָעָה), which means “evil” and is used with reference to not only Jonah’s suffering from the extreme heat of the sun but also his suffering from possessing an evil attitude towards God’s grace policy with respect to the Ninevites.
In Jonah 4:6, we have the Lord responding to Jonah’s anger with grace and love.
The Lord does not speak to Jonah but rather responds to the prophet’s silent angry protest with silent gracious, compassionate and loving action.
The Lord uses the plant as a visual aid to teach Jonah about grace.
Undoubtedly, Jonah recognized that God was being merciful to him and giving him a gift that he did not deserve and enjoyed God being gracious to him but not others and specifically, not his enemies.
Jonah is excited about the great miracle of the plant but not about the greater miracle, namely that of the Ninevites getting saved by believing in the Lord and repenting from their infamous evil way of living.
His extreme delight because of the shade the plant provided him stands in stark contrast to his being infuriated by the Lord’s decision to relent and spare the Ninevites.
This should have caused him extreme joy since human beings are of more value than a plant.
He is very happy when the Lord delivered him from drowning even though he was insubordinate yet he is infuriated when the Lord spares the Ninevites.
This demonstrates just how self-centered Jonah is which is an indication that he is living according to his sin nature and is deceived by Satan’s cosmic system.
Jonah 4:6 also teaches that the Lord not only was attempting to deliver Jonah from the scorching Middle Eastern sun but more importantly, He was attempting to deliver the prophet from his evil attitude towards His grace policy with regards to the Ninevites.
This is indicated by the dialogue that follows in verses 7-11 where the Lord is teaching Jonah about His grace policy.
So the Lord provided this plant since the prophet’s make shift shelter, which he built from brush or leaves was flimsy at best and thus he needed something better.
Secondly and more importantly, the Lord wanted to use this plant as an object lesson to teach Jonah about His grace policy.
He wants the prophet to see the Ninevites and all men from His perspective (John 3:16; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9).
Jonah 4:7 records God sending a worm to attack the plant so that it dried up.
Jonah 4:7, “But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.” (NASU)
“A worm” is the feminine singular form of the noun tô∙lē∙ʿā(h) (תֹּולֵעָה) (to-law), which is a general term for any several species of creeping invertebrate, which consumes organic matter.
It may refer to the black caterpillar that is plentiful in the region around Nineveh. Worms can strip a plant of its foliage in a single night.
Jonah 4:7 contains another irony in that this plant, which caused Jonah to be extremely delighted was destroyed by God whereas the Ninevites who the prophet hated and caused him misery, were not destroyed.
By killing this plant, the Lord was attempting to deliver Jonah from his evil attitude towards His grace policy with regards to the Ninevites.
This is indicated by the dialogue in verses 7-11 where the Lord is teaching Jonah about His grace policy.
In verse 7, by killing this plant with the worm, God is treating Jonah the way the prophet wished that God had treated the Ninevites.
Again, Jonah loves when God treats him in grace but not the Ninevites.
Jonah was undeserving like the Ninevites, yet he thinks that God was wrong to extend grace to them.
This is due again to his self-righteousness in that he is comparing himself to the Ninevites and concluding that he is better than them, however, if he compared himself and the Ninevites to God’s perfect holy standards, he would have to conclude that he is no better than the Ninevites.
Consequently, if he acknowledged this fact, he would have no problem with God treating the Ninevites in grace since he too who was undeserving of being delivered from death, had been the beneficiary of God’s grace.