Jonah's Anger and God's Compassion

Jonah 4 ESV

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” 5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Jonah was told to go to Nineveh by God. He refused and ran, faced death, had his life spared, and then was told a second time to take God’s Word to the Ninevites. The message was simple, “Yet 40 days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown”.

From the very beginning, we see a man of God who did not want to do God’s Will. He looked at the Ninevites as enemies of Israel. They were violent, cruel, and Jonah would have rather them been destroyed. He paid dearly for his disobedience, but chose to take God’s message to them the second time and not risk a recurring discipline by God.

The Word was taken to Nineveh, the people of Nineveh believed, repented, and God saw them, accepted their repentance, and chose to stay His destruction of Nineveh for a period of time.

Now Jonah got mad at God for allowing the Ninevites to repent and not be destroyed. He definitely was not carrying out what Christ says would be the most important commandment.

John 13:34 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

He didn’t want his enemies to receive the same mercy and grace that even HE had received from God.

Goodness, have we ever known God was calling us to do something that we did not want to do, and then got mad when we were chastised, or God did not answer other prayers, or when God answers the prayer and it isn’t what we expected? Maybe we get mad or at least aggravated when it seems as though everyone else has prayers answered when ours remain unanswered. Maybe we don’t think others are worthy of the same mercy and grace we have received, the same as Jonah. Whatever the case, God gives us the command to love others as we love ourselves. And that includes showing mercy and grace even to those who WE think may not deserve it.

Jonah’s Tantrum

Jonah 4:1–3 ESV

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

We see Jonah’s first prayer in Jonah 2:1-9 “1 Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, 2 saying, “I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. 3 For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5 The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head 6 at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God. 7 When my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. 8 Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. 9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!””

He cried out to God for His deliverance out of the belly of the whale. A punishment that came as the direct result of his disobedience towards God. Yet he is grateful for God’s grace and mercy. Now, we see a different prayer when he is displeased with God’s grace and mercy towards the Ninevites.

Can you believe the change in Jonah? He was displeased - the word used to describe this was a morally objectionable behavior. Jonah carried out with his sinful behavior with his anger towards God for His mercy of staying the destruction of Nineveh. And this prayer “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” WHAT??? God, I knew you were going to do it! I knew you were going to show that bunch of thugs mercy, and here it is, you’ve done it! Just like I knew you were going to do! Now, what do you have to say for yourself?

Can you believe the attitude of this so-called prophet of God? God, I appreciate You extending ME mercy when I disobeyed you, but how DARE you extend mercy to our enemies! I had to wrap my head around this one, and The New American Commentary made it to where I could understand it better. “What pleased God displeased Jonah”.

Notice the words of this crazy prayer “therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live”. Oh the drama!!! Maybe it was more than he could handle, thinking he had a hand in spreading the Word of God that spared the Ninevites from destruction. Maybe he was more concerned about himself and his reputation than God’s Will. Maybe Jonah was just carnal, and not looking at God’s divine will for the people of Nineveh.

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

God allowed even the enemy of Israel a chance at repentance.

Oh my, church, how many things today displease us because they are pleasing to God? How many of us get caught up in what WE want instead of what GOD wants? And are we more concerned about how we will look or how it will impact me rather than how others will come to know Christ as their personal Savior? Even those that we may view as enemies deserve an opportunity to repent and be saved.

God’s Lesson

Jonah 4:4–8 ESV

4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” 5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

I love God’s response - Really? How do you justify being angry at God? He knew Jonah could not justify his actions, it wasn’t a “righteous indignation” like we see in

Ephesians 4:26 ESV

26 Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,

Here, Jonah sinned in his actions and response towards God’s mercy and grace for the Ninevites.

As Jonah walked out of the city, he goes to sulk. Not only did God spare them, then He chastised me. So I’m going to go pout. He built himself a shelter to keep the sun off him, and sat there waiting for God to do something. “till he should see what would become of the city” leads me to believe that he expected God to come to his side and recognize the Ninevites did not deserve grace or mercy and would destroy them anyways. He was still mad, still mad at God, and still pouting over Nineveh. Maybe in his mind he was thinking, I’ll show God, they’ll turn back to their wickedness and He won’t have any other option but to destroy them. It’s all speculation, looking at these verses, as scripture really doesn’t tell us what Jonah’s response to God’s question was, but we see his attitude and reaction by leaving the city and building a lean-to so he could watch what happened next. Rather than examining himself as the Lord had wished, he examined the city to see if they were the ones who would change. Using words we can relate to, Jonah “stubbed up” against God and just sat down and waited to see who was right.

The next verses show God’s response to Jonah’s stubbornness. God appointed a vine to grow over Jonah’s little shack. The vine was to serve a purpose, an example that God would use to teach Jonah a valuable lesson of God’s provision. No doubt the shed Jonah built provided shade, but as the heat bore down on it, the leaves withered, fell off, and the shade once provided was no longer as refreshing. The vine provided extra shade to give extra comfort to the pouting prophet. Yet, this miraculous plant that sprouted and grew in a day would soon be eaten by a God appointed worm, leaving the pouting prophet with no protection from the Assyrian heat and sun that beat down on him until he was faint, weak from the beating, scorching sun.

Jonah was experiencing the destruction of his infrastructure as a continuation of his attitude in sin towards God. What he wanted for Nineveh, he was experiencing himself. I find it interesting, that the book of Jonah speaks of destruction throughout the book but the only destruction we read of is this vine. Again we see Jonah crying out to God “It is better for me to die than to live”.

Have we ever allowed ourselves to be so caught up in what we want, or what we think that we overlook God’s will for our lives OR for the lives of others? Do we allow our own thoughts and desires to shadow what God wants done - that everyone would have an opportunity to hear the Gospel message. As Jonah again tells God it is better to die than to live, and now God gives His reasoning.

God’s Compassionate Rebuke

Jonah 4:9–11 ESV

9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

When God asked Jonah the first time if he had a justifiable reason to be mad, we see no response. Here, Jonah responds. Yes, I am justified in my anger, and I am angry enough to die.

God is trying to get Jonah to see where he has a flaw in his thinking. Again, we are seeing the pouting prophets posturing and God being a compassionate teacher. Jonah was more concerned about his physical comfort than the repentance of a city. Jonah’s just mad at God because he can be mad but he failed to see that we have no right to demand God do for us and not do for others. But God continues to point out where Jonah’s thinking is outside God’s Will.

“You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

God tries to get Jonah to understand the flaws in his thinking. You’re more worried about a vine that you haven’t invested the first thing in than a nation that I (God) have invested it all in. Jonah was focused only on himself and his nation, but not on the rest of creation outside of Israel.

This goes to show God extends mercy and grace to even to those we may consider least likely. He will work to see that the salvation is accomplished if there is willingness on the creation’s part.

Closing

I wish there was a Paul Harvey moment here where we could hear the “rest of the story”. It seems like Jonah’s ending is incomplete, but the book ends with a clear contrast between the ways of God and the ways of Jonah.

Jonah threw a tantrum over God showing mercy and grace to a city and population he thought didn’t deserve it. God gives a lesson to Jonah about receiving something you didn’t earn or deserve and how our way of thinking much change from our thoughts and opinions to the thoughts of God. Jonah had no compassion for the ones he thought didn’t deserve it, but we see God extending mercy, grace, and compassion to all.