Jonah chapter 4

vs 1

A strange situation that occurs when we actually don't trust God as much as we think we do. When we think God has done something wrong, we are saying that we know better.

vs 2

The question that arises, of course, is what is it that displeased Jonah? This is an important part of the book. God's dealings with Jonah take up far more space than God's dealings with Nineveh.

Does Jonah not like that God is compassionate and merciful? No, because he was very happy with God being merciful to him.

Does Jonah not like God dealing with people who are not Israelites? Not necessarily - we learn that those on the boat to Tarshish, who were not Hebrews, worshipped God, basically as a result of Jonah telling them about God.

Does Jonah not like God showing compassion on Israel's enemy? I think there is something in this. It's not that Jonah is racist - but he has just become the prophet who saved Israel's enemies from God's judgment. And Jonah knew God would relent, because He knows that God is like that.

vs 3

So as far as Jonah is concerned now, that's his life done. Why would God ask him to do such a thing? He's angry with how God does things.

vs 4

God's reply at this stage is simple: Jonah doesn't have a right to be angry, because God's will supercedes all. At the end of the day, regardless of what God's will is, you have to follow it. Now, we learn more about who God is and how his will affects the decision-making here, but for now, this is the quick lesson.

vs 5

His shelter, for reasons we find later, can't have been very good. He knew that God was going to relent, but he was keen to watch anyway, just in case the odd boulder of brimstone fell down and smote the city.

vs 6

Your own personal comfort can make a big difference to how you feel about things. Jonah had to go a long way, to a place that was foreign to him, and he wasn't keen on it. Now he's sitting there with a crappy shelter, fuming. But God grows a gourd over him (I assume it has big leaves or something) and he smiles a little. Perhaps he thinks that God doing this thing means that his waiting and watching is vindicated. More likely, of course, God is just continuing to be gracious - and again, Jonah is happy with it when it is him getting the grace.

vs 7

So now the worm is happy with God! But Jonah will probably be less so.

vs 8

God almost sounds like he is torturing Jonah with this weather change. Jonah gets so uncomfortable that, once again, he wants to die. This time, it's not because of hundreds of thousands of enemies that are saved, but because he gets sunstroke.

vs 9

Specifically about the gourd, mind.

Jonah's opinion is that yes, he is allowed to be angry with God because of God's actions. Now, there's a fine line here. David writes psalms that express his dissatisfaction with his situation, but they are less about being angry with God, and more about questioning God. Jonah is just plain angry, thinks it's unfair.

vs 10

Of course, Jonah doesn't care about the gourd's wellbeing at all -he cares about his comfort.

vs 11

There again with the animals! Once again, we have a very typical Hebrew rhetorical question. It's not really exactly a rhetorical question, because it is supposed to have an obvious answer. In this case, yes, God should care. It shows that in God's mind, people come first, not God's people come first. God has a heart for Nineveh, and gives them a chance. He doesn't have a long history of being their God and pulling them out of Egypt, he didn't give them laws and prophets (although God does somewhere that I can't remember talk about how he had staged similar exodus actions for other nations). But God does send them a prophet and his message and give them a chance at repentance.