Jonah 4.9-Jonah Responds To God's Question By Saying That He Is Justified For Being Angry About The Plant, Even To Death
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Wednesday December 15, 2010
Jonah: Jonah 4:9-Jonah Responds To God’s Question By Saying He Is Justified For Being Angry About The Plant, Even To Death
Lesson # 59
Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 3:10.
This evening, we will note Jonah 4:9 and in this verse God poses a rhetorical question to Jonah that asks the prophet if he is justified for being infuriated that the plant died to which Jonah replies emphatically that he was.
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. 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. 7 But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. 8 When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, ‘Death is better to me than life.’ 9 Then God said to Jonah, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?’ And he said, ‘I have good reason to be angry, even to death.’” (NASU)
“God” is the articular masculine plural form of the noun ʾělō∙hîm (אֱלֹהִים) (el-o-heem), which emphasizes the transcendent character of God and in particular His attributes of omnipotence, sovereignty and love.
The word emphasizes with the reader that the death of the plant was according to the Lord’s sovereign control over His creation and His omnipotence over creation as well as His love for Jonah.
By killing the plant with the worm, He is teaching Jonah that he is wrong about being angry over His decision to spare the Ninevites.
He is teaching the prophet about His grace policy and that Jonah is not justified for being angry about the plant.
The noun also pertains to the fact that the Lord is Jonah’s deliverer in the sense that by killing the plant with the worm and asking this question, He is teaching the prophet about His grace policy towards the Ninevites and is attempting to deliver Jonah from his evil, self-righteous attitude towards the Ninevites.
The Lord wanted to deliver Jonah from his uncompassionate attitude toward these people.
“Do you have good reason to be angry?” is composed of the interrogative particle hǎ (הֲ־) (ha), “do,” which is prefixed to the hiphil active infinitive absolute form of the verb yā∙ṭǎḇ (יָטַב) (ya-tobe), “good reason” and the third person masculine singular qal active perfect form of the verb ḥā∙rā(h) (חָרָה) (khaw-raw), “to be angry” and the preposition le (לְ) (lamed), “have” whose object is the second person masculine singular form of the pronomial suffix ʾǎt∙tā(h) (אַתָּה) (aw-thaw), “you.”
This same exact wording appears in Jonah 4:4.
As was the case in verse 4, the interrogative particle hǎ, “do” in verse 9 is prefixed to the hiphil active infinitive absolute form of the verb yā∙ṭǎḇ, “good reason” to form a rhetorical question that demands a negative answer.
The verb yā∙ṭǎḇ means “to be justified” since the Lord is questioning as to whether or not Jonah’s anger toward the death of the plant is justified.
The verb ḥā∙rā(h) means “to be infuriated” and is used of Jonah’s great anger or rage with respect to God’s decision to kill the plant, which gave him shade.
“The plant” is the articular masculine singular form of the noun qî∙qāy∙wōn (קִיקָיוֹן) (kee-kaw-yone), which refers to the castor oil plant.
So God is asking Jonah, “Is it justified for you to be infuriated because of this little qîqāywōn plant?”
This question that God poses to Jonah begins with the same wording as the question that He posed to Jonah in verse 4.
God speaks to Jonah because He is attempting to teach Jonah about His grace policy towards the entire human race that flows from His attribute of love.
God is attempting to point out to Jonah that the prophet’s position is totally inconsistent and that His decision to spare the Ninevites was totally consistent with His character and nature and grace policy.
Stuart writes, “This question about the right to be angry is central to the whole book, and crucial to the narrator’s point in telling the story as he has. 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 the question in a way that would cause Jonah to condemn himself by his own words. Jonah did just that.” (Stuart, D. (2002). Vol. 31: Word Biblical Commentary: Hosea-Jonah; page 506)
In Jonah 4:1, we saw that Jonah was infuriated because God spared the Ninevites.
However, here in Jonah 4:9, the prophet is infuriated because God employed a worm to kill the little qîqāywōn plant that was provided him relief and protection from the blazing Middle Eastern sun.
So he is infuriated because the Ninevites were not destroyed and when the plant died, which is totally ridiculous since he places a greater value on an inanimate object than human beings who are created in the image of God.
“I have good reason to be angry” is composed of the hiphil active infinitive absolute form of the verb yā∙ṭǎḇ (יָטַב) (ya-tobe), “good reason” and the third person masculine singular qal active perfect form of the verb ḥā∙rā(h) (חָרָה) (khaw-raw), “to be angry” and the preposition le (לְ) (lamed), “have” whose object is the first person singular pronomial suffix ǎnî (אֲנִי) (an-ee), “I.”
The verb yā∙ṭǎḇ means “to be justified” since Jonah is telling God that his anger with respect to the plant dying is right.
The verb ḥā∙rā(h) means “to be infuriated” and is used of Jonah’s great anger or rage with respect to God’s decision to kill the plant with a worm.
“Even to death” is composed of the preposition ʿǎḏ (עַד) (ode), “even to” and masculine singular form of the noun mā∙wěṯ (מָוֶת) (maw-veth), “death.”
This prepositional phrase is an idiomatic expression meaning ‘to the extreme’ or simply ‘extremely [angry]’ (HALOT 563 s.v. מָוֶת 1.c).
The noun מָוֶת (‘death’) is often used as an absolute superlative with a negative sense, similar to the English expression ‘bored to death’ (IBHS 267–69 §14.5).
Therefore, we will render this prepositional phrase, “I couldn’t be more so.”
Jonah’s reply to God’s question is right to the point and emphasizes that the plant was extremely important to him since it gave him relief and protection from the oppressive Middle Eastern sun.
However, by giving such a response, God has set up the prophet since Jonah has made clear that through his own words that a plant is more important than human beings since he was upset that God spared the Ninevites yet very upset that God killed the plant.
He values a plant more than human beings, which is inconsistent with the Word of God, which declares that human beings are created in the image of God and not plants.
So with his own words, Jonah condemns himself since his attitude with regards to the Ninevites and the plant is inconsistent with the Word of God.
So Jonah turns God’s question into an affirmation and even adds a prepositional phrase to emphasize that he could not be more justified for being angry about the death of the plant.
Even though, the prophet was no doubt suffering from sun stroke and dehydration, his answer is consistent with his attitude throughout the book and in particular his anger in Jonah 4:2-3.
To summarize, Jonah 4:9 begins with a rhetorical question that is central to the narrative and critical in understanding the account.
It is setting up Jonah to condemn himself and implies that Jonah has no justification in disagreeing with God’s decision or His grace policy towards the Ninevites.
It implies that the prophet has no right to demand that God treat him well and the Ninevites badly.
Jonah is infuriated because the Ninevites were not destroyed and when the plant died.
His position is totally ridiculous since he places a greater value on an inanimate object than human beings who are created in the image of God.
Jonah replies to God’s question whereas in verse 4 he does not but rather responds with a silent protest.
His reply to God makes clear that the plant was extremely important to him since it gave him relief and protection from the oppressive Middle Eastern sun.
However, by giving such a response, Jonah has made clear through his own words that a plant is more important than human beings.
He values a plant more than human beings, which is inconsistent with the Word of God, which declares that human beings are created in the image of God and not plants.
His answer condemns him since it is inconsistent with the Word of God, which declares that human beings were created in the image of God.
Interestingly, Jonah’s last word in the narrative is the Hebrew term for “death.”
Also, once again, we have the Lord being patient and tolerant with Jonah as well as magnanimous with him, which are all expressions of His great love.