Jonah 4 ~ save him

Nineveh is almost in the center of the orange Assyrian Nation

Probably Jonah sat under a Castor Oil plant

Jonah painted by Michelangelo Buonarroti in the Sistine Chapel

Jonah 4
Max McLean Audio Bible, English Standard Version

1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, [it was exceedingly evil to Jonah] 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 [probably the castor oil plant] and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort [his evil]. 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 had an enemy. He really did not want the Chaldeans/Assyrian /Babylonian Nation to receive mercy or to be part of their forgiveness. Judah had fallen from being the golden state of Israel and was divided, merely hoping and hopping along. Successive kings had done evil, the Scriptures had been lost and reclaimed. Various Empires threaten peace and security.

We experience this from time to time, envy of each other. We wonder if God knows what He is doing. Asaph, David’s appointed Celebrant of God, writer of the 73^rd Psalm knew about envy.

Psalm 73

2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,

my steps had nearly slipped.

3 For I was envious of the arrogant

when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no pangs until death;

their bodies are fat and sleek.

5 They are not in trouble as others are;

they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.

6 Therefore pride is their necklace;

violence covers them as a garment.

7 Their eyes swell out through fatness;

their hearts overflow with follies.

8 They scoff and speak with malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

9 They set their mouths against the heavens,

and their tongue struts through the earth.

Jonah does not even have the satisfaction of calling Nineveh heathen. Jonah didn’t want to make peace with the enemy, he wanted God to be victorious in war. God doesn’t leave Jonah to brine in his own spleen. God doesn’t suddenly become busy. God genuinely has sympathy for Jonah. God the Father hurts for the people holding fast to Him, even the reluctant Jonah. God takes time to sit with Jonah, feeling what Jonah feels. God takes time for Jonah, knowing Jonah is going to be a hero.

We have to take this up to the larger level and say God knows what is coming to Israel, His chosen people. God’s mercy for the decades of Israel’s defection is coming to a close. Seeing a larger picture, Babylon is going to grow, and eventually the seed planted in Nineveh will grow to become Nebuchadnezzar – the first king outside of the Davidic line who will have God’s blessing. Psalm 73 isn’t the Assyrian Nation, it is Israel.

Something bigger than Jonah is here. God the Father is offering salvation to all of His Children. Not just the children of Abraham. Jesus loved Jonah, and mentions him in Matthew 12 and Luke 11. The Holy Spirit of God has empowered Jonah to do amazing work. This reform is not going to be seen again until the Son of God walks the earth. Because the Jews are God’s Chosen People, this Book of Jonah is read every year in Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement.

God is so forgiving; He not only forgives racism, but anger, rebelliousness to Himself and still loves.

How will we reach out to the people we just are not thrilled with? How will we cope with our less than loving feelings? God gives us an answer in:

Psalm 8

O Lord our Governor:

how glorious is your name in all the earth!

Your majesty above the heavens is yet recounted :

by the mouths of babes and sucklings.

You have founded a strong defense against your adversaries:

to quell the enemy and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers:

the moon and the stars which you have set in order,

What is man, that you should be mindful of him :

or the son of man, that you should care for him?

Yet you have made him little less than a god :

and have crowned him with glory and honor.

You have made him the master of your handiwork :

and have put all things in subjection beneath his feet,

All sheep and oxen:

and all the creatures of the field,

The birds of the air and the fish of the sea:

and everything that moves in the pathways of the great waters.

O Lord our Governor :

how glorious is your name in all the earth!

What we share with the people we don’t rush to love, is this: God is the God of us all. We share that amazing regard. God created this person and in God’s eyes, this person is just below the Lord in the order of His creation. God is mindful of us all.

John 15:9

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

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