Jonah 4 Part 1 - Jonah’s Anger
Jonah 4 Part 1 - Jonah’s Anger
Jonah 4:1-3 - We cannot put conditions on our obedience to God or be angry because of God’s compassion
“But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. 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. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.””
Jonah 4:1-3 NASB1995
Well, well, well….We now see how the prophet Jonah reacts to the sequence of events in Nineveh. He preaches (probably very well), the people from the King on down repent and even put sackcloth and ashes on their animals, and God relents and does not send a calamity (at least not at that point in history). I admit to being amused by a couple of summaries of this short minor prophet book that I found in Precept Austin:
Jonah 1: Jonah Planning
Jonah 2: Jonah Praying
Jonah 3: Jonah Preaching
Jonah 4: Jonah Pouting
Or this one:
Jonah 1: I won’t go
Jonah 2: Ok, I’ll go
Jonah 3: Here I am
Jonah 4: I knew I shouldn’t have come
Jonah is angry that God has not yet destroyed over a million men, women and children and all of their animals. Going down another Hebrew bunny trail, the Hebrew word used in this case (and again later in Chapter 4) is חרה or charah which is (according to the complex Brown-Driver-Briggs Lexicon) an impersonal, perfect verb (Qal) of this primitive root word, meaning to burn or kindle (with anger).
Our prophet, quite frankly, is a self-centered misanthrope, who prefers death to the mercy that God has brought to Nineveh, which he himself acknowledges that he knew that God was gracious and compassionate, which he now uses as the excuse for why he fled to begin with. Jonah wants God to bless the people of Israel and Judah exclusively and punish everyone else, especially those places that are the enemies of the “people of God”.
Enduring Word commentary captures these verses in Jonah 4 perfectly:
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.
It displeased Jonah: This was strange because usually the preacher is pleased when the congregation repents, but Jonah wasn’t. There was something about the whole matter that displeased Jonah.
Exceedingly, and he became angry: Not only was this strange, it was very strange, because Jonah was very upset at the success of his preaching. We should not miss Jonah’s intensity here, because the language in the original Hebrew is strong.
So he prayed to the LORD, and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!”
I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm: Jonah was angry because God granted repentance to the Ninevites, and the Assyrians were enemies of Judah and Israel. Jonah wanted God to bring judgment upon these people he hated.
Jonathan Swift wrote a verse that expressed Jonah’s frame of mind:
We are God’s chosen few,
All others will be damned;
There is no place in heaven for you,
We can’t have heaven crammed.Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Jonah knew that God was full of grace and mercy, and that was why he was afraid to tell the people of Nineveh. This was at least part of the reason why Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh – he was afraid they would repent, when all along he wanted God to judge the Assyrian capital.
Jonah himself called on the mercy of God and enjoyed the mercy of God when it was extended Ito Jonah. Now he resents it when it is extended to others. What if God treated Jonah the way Jonah wanted God to treat the people of Nineveh?
For it is better for me to die than to live: The repentance and salvation of the people of Nineveh were so painful to Jonah that he would have rather died than think about it. He also states that this was the reason that he fled the call – not out of fear that he would be ineffective, but fear that he would be effective!
The Jonathan Swift verse referenced by David Guzik is so appropriate. Are we sanctimonious, thinking that our salvation is “in the bag”, so to speak, and looking down and condemning others for their spiritual imperfections? Or do we obey a compassionate, loving God, who wants His salvation preached to all creation? Jonah is a childish brat (I have no idea how old this prophet was when he was sent on this mission) and I fear that I can also be a childish brat and run away when it comes to obedience. Am I afraid of being effective?
A testimony that I saw recently really pointed out how we want things on our terms and not in obedience to God, regardless of our circumstances. The person in the testimony wanted healing and prayed to God that “if he was healed, he would serve”. I was immediately taken aback by those words. A condition was put on obedience and service. One might as well pray “if I win the Lottery, I will give a lot of it to God”. God is not a deal maker or wish grantor (are you listening, Jonah?) - He is the sovereign, all-powerful, all-knowing, holy, mysterious Creator. I tremble at the thought at putting conditions on obedience, but I still sometimes act like Jonah, because I am caught up in only seeing the small picture of my life in the here and now.
So how does God respond to Jonah and his tantrum? My next devotional examines Jonah 4:4, where God asks Jonah if it is right that he should be angry.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Please help me to see that your ways of compassion and grace and lovingkindness are beyond my understanding. I am so grateful for your mercy and the gift of salvation. Help me to share that gift with others and not put conditions on my obedience. In Jesus name, Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission.