Bird's-eye view
The book of Jonah concludes not with a tidy resolution, but with a pointed question from God that hangs in the air, demanding an answer not just from the prophet, but from every reader since. Having witnessed the greatest evangelistic crusade in history, Jonah is not celebrating in the streets of Nineveh. He is outside the city, stewing in a theological sulk. God has just dismantled his last remaining comfort, a gourd vine, and now presses the prophet on the disordered state of his affections. This final exchange reveals the central lesson of the book: the vast, immeasurable, and often scandalous pity of God, which stands in stark contrast to the pinched, self-righteous, and tribalistic sentiments of man, even a man of God like Jonah.
The argument God makes is a divine a fortiori, from the lesser to the greater. If Jonah can have such an intense emotional reaction over a trivial plant, how much more should the Creator of all things have compassion on a great city teeming with souls He has made? The passage is a final rebuke to Jonah's sinful nationalism and a glorious defense of God's sovereign freedom to show mercy to whom He will show mercy, even to the bloodthirsty Assyrians. It forces us to confront our own petty loyalties and to marvel at a God whose love is not constrained by our prejudices.
Outline
- 1. The Divine Confrontation (v. 9)
- a. God's Searching Question (v. 9a)
- b. Jonah's Petulant Answer (v. 9b)
- 2. The Divine Argument (vv. 10-11)
- a. The Lesser Case: Jonah's Pity for a Plant (v. 10)
- b. The Greater Case: God's Pity for a City (v. 11)
- c. The Unanswered Question (v. 11b)
Context In Jonah
This passage is the climax and conclusion of the entire book. Jonah's flight to Tarshish in chapter 1 was motivated by his desire to prevent Nineveh's repentance, because he knew God was gracious and merciful (Jon. 4:2). His prayer from the fish in chapter 2 was a cry of deliverance, but not necessarily a sign of a softened heart toward the Ninevites. His preaching in chapter 3 was brutally efficient and successful, much to his chagrin. Chapter 4 opens with Jonah's explicit anger at God's mercy. He sets up a booth east of the city to see what would become of it, perhaps still hoping for fire and brimstone. God's provision of the plant was a temporary comfort, and its removal was a deliberate object lesson. The final three verses, therefore, are the culmination of God's patient instruction of His rebellious prophet, designed to expose the sinfulness of his perspective and exalt the boundlessness of divine compassion.
Verse by Verse Commentary
9 Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.”
God's question is simple and surgical. "Do you have good reason?" The Hebrew is literally, "Is it thoroughly good for you to be angry?" God is asking Jonah to inspect the legitimacy of his own emotional state. We are emotional creatures, but our emotions are not self-justifying. They must be brought to the bar of God's Word and examined. Is this a righteous anger, or is it a selfish tantrum? God is not mocking Jonah; He is catechizing him. He is a Father teaching His son.
Jonah's response is breathtaking in its insolence. "I have good reason." He doubles down. He is not just angry, he is angry "even to death." This is the language of utter despair, the same sentiment he expressed in verse 3. But notice the cause. Before, he was angry that a great city was spared from damnation. Now, he is angry that his favorite plant died. The prophet's moral compass is spinning wildly. His passions are entirely disordered. He feels more for a gourd than for hundreds of thousands of human souls. This is what happens when our theological convictions, even orthodox ones about God's justice, become detached from God's heart. They curdle into a self-righteous poison.
10 Then Yahweh said, “You had pity on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came to be overnight and perished overnight.
Here God begins His final argument, and it is a masterpiece of divine reasoning. He starts with Jonah's own premise, his "pity" for the plant. The word for pity here is chus, a deep, heartfelt compassion. God acknowledges Jonah's feeling, but then immediately deconstructs its foundation. Look at the fourfold description of this plant. First, Jonah did not "work" for it. He didn't till the soil, plant the seed, or water it. Second, he did not "cause it to grow." The life of the plant was entirely outside his power. Third, it was ephemeral, a son of a night, coming into being in a night. Fourth, it perished just as quickly. It was a temporary, unearned, and fleeting blessing.
Jonah's investment in this plant was zero. His affection for it was entirely based on the comfort it provided him. It was a selfish pity. God is gently showing Jonah that his great passion is expended on a thing of no lasting value, a thing to which he has no deep connection, and a thing that cost him nothing. The stage is now set for the great contrast.
11 So should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?”
This is the checkmate. The "So should I not" is the pivot upon which the whole book turns. God applies the same verb, chus, to Himself. "Should I not have pity?" God then lays out His reasons, and every one of them is the polar opposite of Jonah's reasons for pitying the plant. First, consider the object: not a plant, but "Nineveh, the great city." This is a metropolis, a center of human culture and life, albeit a wicked one.
Second, consider the inhabitants. God did work for them. He created every single one of them. He knit them together in their mothers' wombs (Ps. 139:13). Unlike Jonah and the plant, God has a Creator's investment in these people. He caused them to grow. He is the one who gives life and breath to all things (Acts 17:25).
Third, God points to their spiritual state. There are more than 120,000 who "do not know the difference between their right and left hand." This is likely a reference to young children, but it speaks more broadly to the utter spiritual ignorance of the entire populace. They are morally lost, wandering in darkness. They are without excuse for their sin, certainly, but their condition is one of helpless ignorance from God's perspective. It is this very helplessness that invites His pity. They are not just rebels; they are lost children who need a father.
And then, in a final stroke of breathtaking grace, God adds, "as well as many animals." The pity of God is not limited to humanity. The Creator has a tender regard for all that He has made. The groaning creation finds its compassionate Lord here (Rom. 8:20-22). This detail should have shattered Jonah's narrow, man-centered, Israel-centered worldview. God's covenant with Israel was never intended to be a lockbox for His blessings, but rather a channel of blessing for the entire world, including the beasts of the field.
The book ends here. There is no record of Jonah's reply. We are left with the question hanging in the air, because the question is for us. Do we have good reason to be angry when God shows mercy to our enemies? Do we rejoice when the prodigal comes home, or do we, like the older brother, stand outside the party, stewing in our own sense of justice? The book of Jonah is a mirror, forcing us to see the petty, pouting prophet in ourselves, and then to turn our eyes to the glorious, compassionate, and sovereignly merciful God.
Application
The final lesson of Jonah is a profound rebuke to all forms of tribalism that masquerade as theological faithfulness. It is possible to have all the right doctrines about God's justice and holiness, and yet have a heart that is completely out of step with the heart of God. Jonah was a prophet of God, he knew the law, he knew the character of God (4:2), and yet he despised the grace of God when it was extended to the wrong people.
We must examine our own hearts. Who are our Ninevites? Is it the political party on the other side? Is it the secular university? Is it the liberal denomination down the street? Is it the nation our country is at odds with? Do we secretly, or not so secretly, wish for their destruction rather than their repentance? If so, God's question comes to us: "Should I not have pity?"
The gospel is the ultimate answer to Jonah's problem. For a greater than Jonah is here (Matt. 12:41). Jesus Christ did not sit outside the city hoping for its destruction. He went into the city, to Jerusalem, and wept over it (Luke 19:41). And on the cross, He became the object of God's wrath so that mercy could be extended to Ninevites everywhere, from every tribe and tongue and nation. He delights in repentance, and there is joy in His presence over one sinner who repents. Our mission, then, is not to hoard the grace of God for our own tribe, but to proclaim it freely to all, knowing that our God is a God of great pity, whose mercy triumphs over judgment.