Bird's-eye view
In this final chapter of Jonah's prophetic record, we find the prophet in a state of infantile rebellion against the staggering mercy of God. Having successfully preached a message of repentance that turned an entire pagan metropolis to God, Jonah is not celebrating; he is sulking. The passage before us is a masterclass in divine pedagogy. God, in His absolute sovereignty, orchestrates a series of object lessons for His pouting prophet. He is not content to leave Jonah stewing in his sinful nationalism and self-pity. Instead, He engages him directly, using the created order, a plant, a worm, a wind, and the sun, to expose the profound corruption of Jonah's heart. The central issue is one of misplaced pity. Jonah has great compassion for his temporary physical comfort, symbolized by the shade plant, but has no compassion for the eternal souls of over a hundred thousand Ninevites. This is God cornering His prophet, forcing him to confront the grotesque disparity between his own petty concerns and the boundless, merciful heart of the Creator.
The entire scene is a divinely-appointed tutorial on the nature of God's love and the nature of man's sin. Every element is under God's direct and meticulous control. He appoints the plant, the worm, and the wind. This is not random chance; it is a precisely calibrated lesson plan. The passage serves as the climax of the book's central theme: God's mercy extends beyond the borders of Israel, and His servants must learn to rejoice in that mercy, even when it is shown to their enemies. Jonah, the rebellious prophet, stands in for a rebellious Israel, and God's patient instruction is a call to all His people in every age to align their hearts with His.
Outline
- 1. The Prophet's Pout (Jonah 4:5-8)
- a. The Waiting Game: Jonah's Perch (Jonah 4:5)
- b. The Appointed Comfort: God's Gift of a Plant (Jonah 4:6)
- c. The Appointed Grief: God's Agent of a Worm (Jonah 4:7)
- d. The Appointed Misery: God's Scorching Wind (Jonah 4:8)
Context In Jonah
This passage is the culmination of the entire book. In chapter one, Jonah fled from God's call to preach to Nineveh because he knew God was merciful and feared He might forgive them. After the dramatic episode with the storm and the great fish, chapter two records Jonah's prayer of deliverance from the belly of Sheol. In chapter three, Jonah finally obeys, preaches a five-word sermon in Hebrew, and the entire city of Nineveh, from the king down, repents in sackcloth and ashes. God sees their repentance and relents from the disaster He had threatened. Chapter four opens with Jonah's reaction to this great success: he is exceedingly displeased and angry. He complains to God that this is precisely why he ran away in the first place, he knew God was gracious and merciful. God's initial response is a probing question: "Is it right for you to be angry?" Our text, verses 5-8, is God's practical demonstration designed to answer that very question and to reveal the deep-seated sin in His prophet's heart.
Key Issues
- The Sovereignty of God in Providence
- The Sin of Self-Pity and Sulking
- The Nature of Righteous vs. Unrighteous Anger
- God's Didactic Use of Creation
- The Disparity Between God's Mercy and Man's
- The Problem of Nationalism in God's Servant
God's Appointed Kindergarten
One of the central glories of this book is the absolute and meticulous sovereignty of God. Nothing happens by accident. In chapter one, God "hurled" a great wind upon the sea. He "appointed" a great fish to swallow Jonah. Here in chapter four, the same verb is used three more times. God "appointed" a plant. He "appointed" a worm. He "appointed" a scorching east wind. The entire created order is God's kindergarten classroom, and Jonah is the sole student, a student who is failing the course on basic compassion.
This is a profound illustration of what theologians call providence. God is not a distant, deistic clockmaker who wound up the world and let it run. He is intimately involved in every detail, from the direction of the wind to the appetite of a single worm. And His purpose is always wise and good, even when it involves our discomfort. He is teaching Jonah, and us, a lesson. He is using creaturely things, things Jonah can see and feel, to reveal the invisible state of Jonah's heart. Jonah is angry at God's mercy, so God gives him a small mercy (the plant) and then takes it away, provoking an anger that mirrors his first anger, but this time over something laughably trivial. This allows God to hold up a mirror to His prophet and say, "See? This is what your heart is like."
Verse by Verse Commentary
5 Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of the city. And there he made a booth for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.
Jonah is done preaching, but he is not done pouting. He leaves the city, finds a spot on a hill to the east, and sets up a little temporary shelter. He has become a spectator. What is he waiting for? He is hoping against hope that the repentance of Nineveh will not stick. He is waiting for the fire to fall. He preached a message of doom, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown", and by golly, he wants to see some overthrowing. His attitude is that of a child who has been forced to apologize but is now sitting with his arms crossed, waiting for his brother to mess up so he can say, "See! I told you so." This is not the posture of a faithful prophet; it is the posture of a man whose reputation and nationalistic pride have become idols, more important to him than the salvation of thousands of souls.
6 So Yahweh God appointed a plant, and it came up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his miserable evil. And Jonah was extremely glad about the plant.
Here we see the tender mercy of God, even toward His disobedient servant. The text says Yahweh God "appointed" a plant. This was a direct, miraculous intervention. The purpose was twofold: to provide physical shade and to "deliver him from his miserable evil." The Hebrew word for "miserable evil" is ra'ah, the same word used for Nineveh's wickedness and for Jonah's own displeasure. God is giving Jonah a physical comfort to alleviate his spiritual sickness, his vexation. And Jonah's reaction is telling. He was "extremely glad." The Hebrew indicates a massive, joyful celebration. He was angry about the salvation of a city, but he is ecstatic about a leafy vine. His emotional life is completely inverted. He rejoices in a trivial, temporary comfort and despises an eternal, glorious display of divine mercy. This is a perfect picture of fallen human nature. We get bent out of shape about eternal matters and are made giddy by creature comforts.
7 But God appointed a worm at the breaking of dawn the next day, and it struck the plant, and it dried up.
The Lord who gives is the Lord who takes away. Just as sovereignly as God appointed the plant, He now appoints a worm. Notice the timing: "at the breaking of dawn." God's providence is precise. A single, anonymous worm becomes God's instrument to advance His lesson plan. The worm strikes the plant, and it withers. The source of Jonah's great joy is gone as quickly as it came. God is demonstrating to Jonah the fleeting nature of all earthly comforts. He is setting the stage for the final confrontation. The joy that is rooted in the creature and not the Creator is a joy that a worm can destroy.
8 Then it happened that as the sun rose up, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun struck down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and asked with all his soul to die and said, “Death is better to me than life.”
Now the third movement of God's symphony of instruction begins. God appoints a "scorching east wind." This is not just a bad weather day; it is a divinely commissioned assault. The combination of the hot desert wind and the direct sun beating on his unprotected head is too much for Jonah. He becomes faint and, for the second time in the chapter, wishes for death. "Death is better to me than life." Think of the absurdity. He wants to die, not because of some great theological despair or persecution, but because his plant died and he has a headache. His comfort is gone, and so his will to live is gone. This is the very bottom of his selfish tantrum. God has successfully brought Jonah's internal sin out into the open. The prophet who was angry that a city of sinners was allowed to live is now angry enough to die because his shade is gone. The contrast is now stark and undeniable, and God is ready to press the point home.
Application
This little story is a potent diagnostic tool for our own hearts. How often do we act like Jonah? We can get more upset about a dent in our car than we do about a neighbor who is perishing without Christ. We can be filled with joy over a pay raise or a good meal, but remain cold and unmoved by the news that God is saving people in a nation we consider our enemy. Jonah's sin is the sin of misplaced affections and a shrunken heart.
God's lesson to Jonah is His lesson to us. He is constantly using the "plants" and "worms" of our lives, the small comforts He gives and the small irritations He sends, to teach us about Himself and about the state of our own souls. When a small trial makes us want to quit, it reveals how much we were trusting in our own comfort instead of in God. When God blesses our enemies, and we feel a twinge of resentment, it reveals a heart that has not yet grasped the sheer, unmerited grace that saved us. The application is to pray for a heart that aligns with God's heart. We are to pray for a heart that grieves over what grieves Him, sin and unbelief, and rejoices over what He rejoices in, repentance and salvation. We must learn to love people more than plants, and to love God's glory more than our own comfort.