Jonah 4 commentary

 

1: But it displeased Jonah exceedingly and he was very angry 2: And he is praying to YHWH and he is saying I pray thee O YHWH was not this my saying when I was yet in my country Because of this I fled before to Tarshish for I knew that you are a gracious EL and merciful slow to anger and of great kindness and lamenting over evil 3: Therefore now YHWH take I beseech thee my life from me for it is better for me to die than to live 4: Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?

Comments: Jonah 4:1-3 Jonah preferred death to living to see God’s mercy on the Assyrians of Nineveh. And still, the Almighty reasoned with him. Jonah 3:10 So, how can anyone say that the God of the Old Covenant was a God of wrath, while the God of the New Covenant is a God of Mercy. Because of this fallacy, many rob themselves of great blessing because they refuse to read the Old Covenant, but it is about the same God… Covenants may differ, but God is the same yesterday, today, and forever Hebrews 13:8. Jesus is God in the flesh John 1:1,14 the Almighty Revelation 1:8 (Jesus is speaking here). Jesus is God. Jesus is YHWH ELOHIM Colossians 2:9, 1 Timothy 3:16 kjv, Acts 20:28 kjv.

5: So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city and there made himself a tent and sat under it in the shade till he might see what would become of the city 6: And the YHWH ELOHIM assigned a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah that it might be a shade over his head to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd 7: And THE ELOHIM assigned a worm when the morning rose the next day and it struck the gourd that it dried up 8: And it came to pass when the sun did arise, that ELOHIM prepared a deafening east wind and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah that he fainted and wished in himself to die and said It is better for me to die than to live 9: And God said to Jonah Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said I do well to be angry even unto death

Comments: Jonah 4:9 Jonah was one stubborn fellow, and he appeared to be the only one suffering consequences. While the people of Nineveh were repenting in sackcloth and ashes, Jonah was enveloped in sinful anger and self-pity. The only one sinning, at the moment, was Jonah! Still, the merciful Lord continues to reason with him.

10: Then said YHWH You have had pity on the gourd, for the which you have not labored neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: 11: And should not I spare Nineveh that great city wherein are more than 120,000 persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand [until now they were ignorant of that which was for their good] and also much cattle?

The entire book of Jonah is a testament to the boundless mercy, compassion, and utter patience of our Creator, with both his bad-attitude-prophet and the depraved and violent Jonah 3:8 people of Nineveh who lamented their sin and repented in sackcloth and ashes at the preaching of Jonah … who could have cared less. He would have loved to see them destroyed and was angry that God spared them.

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