Verse 1. "But
it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry."
We now get to the reason WHY Jonah ran
away from the call of the Lord in the first place. He
simply did not like the Assyrians, whether they lived in Nineveh
or not, and he had been and was at the moment - very angry that
God had forgiven these enemies of the nation Israel. I
have met Christians in various situations who don't like each
other. We are supposed to love others, but all too often
we don't, which is the reason why the whole world does not turn
to the Lord - they see no real change in those who are in the
body of Christ.
Jesus prayed about that need in John
17:23 - He asked the Father "that they
may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that
You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
When we dislike other Christians based on some obscure doctrinal
point, the world observes us and decides that the Father did
not really send the Son after all. If the nations see
that we really have God's love in us, revival will sweep the
world and millions will be saved. But the visible church
is unfortunately very much like Jonah. The message we
send is that we are "displeased."
Pray for revival to start - with us.
Verse 2. "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."
The Book of Jonah was written by the
prophet Jonah, or someone very close to him who wrote down his
experiences. There is no other explanation for this verse.
Someone else might know the outward facts of what had happened
to the man, but a prayer like this one - only Jonah and the
Lord knew about the exchange that was taking place at the moment
between God and this man. Either he wrote it or told someone
close to him about it.
Note that Jonah KNEW the character of
the Lord in ways that we all should. Many have looked
at the so-called "Old Testament God" as hard and judgmental,
but this verse reveals the heart of almighty God, then and now.
He is "gracious and compassionate"
today, just as He was at the time of Jonah. He is "slow to anger." If the various Canaanite tribes
had been willing to turn from their idolatrous practices, God
would have spared them, just as He spared the people of Nineveh.
Verse 3. "Therefore
now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better
to me than life."
If we had to choose just one characteristic
that described the personality and nature of the prophet named
Jonah, it would likely be that he suffered from depression.
Depressed people often want to end their own lives and we see
this symptom in Jonah, over and over. Dr. Charles Stanley
has pointed out that the true cause of depression is anger.
We feel angry about something we have no control over and it
makes us sad to the point where we become chronically depressed.
Jonah knew that God would forgive the
sins of the people of Nineveh and he did not want that to happen
because Nineveh was a danger to his people, the nation Israel.
He was a patriot to the extent that when the call of God came
to him, he ran away. And when that did not work out, he
tried to have himself killed. The worst has happened from
his perspective, and now he wants to die once more.
Verse 4. "The
Lord said, 'Do you have good reason to be angry?'"
Jonah the prophet is being asked by
the Lord to consider whether or not his anger is reasonable.
At the point of this verse the man is deeply depressed once
more, even though he knew that God is good and has good intentions
for us all. There is so much ANGER in humanity and it
is often just "habit." We deal with our problems by being
angry about them. Anger, expressed in depression, is like
a faucet that we turn on, and then we do not know how to turn
it off.
Do YOU have a reason to be angry at
the Lord? What are the circumstances in YOUR life that
give you "good reason" to carry
a deep and abiding anger at God? Are you too short or
too tall? Were you born to the wrong parents? In
the wrong country? Are you not rich enough? Handsome
enough? Are you ill? Jonah was still angry.
He did not change his mind when he became willing to obey God's
command that he speak certain words of repentance and healing
to the Assyrians in Nineveh. His direction in life had
been altered, but his heart did not change, even a bit.
Verse 5. "Then
Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made
a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he
could see what would happen in the city.
Where would Jonah go next? What
would he do? He had no direct command from the Lord, and
if he went back to his people, he might be branded a traitor
for his words of repentance to the Gentiles (non-Jews) in Nineveh,
who were the enemies of Israel. He did not know what to
do, so he simply went out through a city gate, made a "shelter" for himself and sat under its shade.
He would wait to see what would happen in Nineveh.
The area of Nineveh was and is a desert,
and at the moment of this verse it was the HOT time of year.
This was some kind of booth he built; a tent-like structure
made of branches that were interlaced, but it did not fully
keep out the sun. And at this moment he decided that perhaps
he did not truly know the mind and intentions of God after all.
Possibly, he thought, God STILL might destroy Nineveh at the
end of the forty days. He now, as many do, doubted the
mercy of God that he had reflected upon in Verse 2.
Lord, forgive us for the times we
have doubted You. You are good and You have good intentions
for us all. We place our trust in You right now.
Thank You for forgiveness and restoration. We praise Your
Holy Name. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Audio Bible Study - Jonah 4:6-11
Verse 6. "So the
Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a
shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And
Jonah was extremely happy about the plant."
In a true sense, Nineveh, where Jonah
sat at the moment, was the "neighbor" of Jonah's country, and
Jonah resented the kind of "neighbor" Nineveh had been.
The Assyrians in Nineveh had wronged Israel by many attacks
on its armies and cities. Though he was angry at them
and was unforgiving, yet a thread of compassion lived on in
the man. He LIKED the plant that was growing upward, weaving
itself through the shelter of sticks he had built. He
was not unlike the many who seem to like their dog, cat, plants
and the flowers in their garden, more than they like their neighbors,
relatives and friends.
Note also that Jonah, who tended to
be unforgiving and was unrelentingly angry at anyone who was
an enemy of Israel, also tended to become unexpectedly elated
and happy about some minor event. He was a person who
became very depressed at times and at other moments, could become
what might be called "manic" in personality. We will meet
Jonah in eternity and that will be good, but we might have avoided
him if we were his neighbors while he was here on earth.
Verse 7. "But
God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked
the plant and it withered."
If you are an ungrateful person, God
might remove something of value from you, until you learn to
be thankful for what you have. God was not done with this
prophet named Jonah. At best the man was difficult in
personality; a person given to deep depression and excessive
elation. God's decision to send THIS man and no other
to warn the Ninevites of impending doom and offer them forgiveness
had brought out the very worst in his personality. Finally,
reluctantly the man had gone to Nineveh to speak the words told
to him by God.
You may wonder, why did God not send
somebody else? Surely there were others in Israel who
would have been more willing, more agreeable than Jonah?
On the other hand, perhaps he WAS the only one. Possibly
he was the best and most willing the nation had to offer at
that time. When we look at the "body of Christ," the church
today, what do we see? What is our attitude toward OUR
enemies, who might have done us harm in the past? Are
we forgiving? As individuals and as the church, are we
like Jonah?
And note that similar to the large "fish" that God used to bring Jonah back into His will,
He now sent a tiny "worm" into
Jonah's life. Does God use the creatures and things of
nature to reveal His will on this earth? Yes He does.
He is doing a work in all of our lives through the persons,
things and events around us, just like He did with Jonah.
Verse 8. "When
the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the
sun beat down on Jonah's head so that he became faint and begged
with all his soul to die, saying, 'Death is better to me than
life.'"
Jonah's position to the east of the
city of Nineveh (Verse 5), placed him directly in the path of
the hot annual winds that blew with great violence from the
east and northeast. He was exposed to the direct rays
of the sun and the inhabitants of that land ALL sought shade
during the day, unless driven outside by necessity. He
was extremely thirsty and was on the verge of fainting at the
moment.
Note again the strong will of this man,
Jonah. Once again he was struggling, wrestling with God
over the control of his destiny. He wanted to do what
he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it! And like many
a potential suicide, he wanted to control at least SOMETHING
of his life, even if it was only his death, the end of life!
Have you been like that? Are you that way right now?
Try something different - Let go of control and trust in the
Lord! See if He does not do something beautiful in YOUR
life. Let yourself live for God's purposes instead of
merely your own.
Verse 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.'"
Jonah's words in this verse bear an
interesting similarity to the Lord's words in Mark 14:34, spoken
to His disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane - "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death."
He then asked His disciples to "stay here
and watch" with Him. Like Jonah, Jesus asked the
Father to "take this cup from Me"
(Mark 14:36), but it is at this point that the responses of
Jonah and Jesus sharply differed. Jesus continued, "Nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will" be
done.
You can if you want, argue that Jonah
was just a man, whereas Jesus Christ was God! And that
is not only true, it's exactly the point. Only God can
fully bend to the will of God, and that's why we need Him so
desperately when the circumstances of life are about to swallow
us and when the "worm" (Verse 7)
seems to eat up all we have. Your will is not enough to
sustain or protect you. You need the Lord, for only He
can bring you through.
Verse 10. "Then
the Lord said, 'You had compassion on the plant for which you
did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came
up overnight and perished overnight.'"
As mentioned in the commentary on Verse
6, there are many people who care more for pets and plants than
they do for people. To care for the natural things of
this world is a very good thing and we should all have a concern
for our natural resources. But even more we should care
for those in humanity. Jesus commanded us to "love one another" (John 13:34) and He followed that
statement with: "By this all will know
that you are My disciples, IF you have love for one another"
(John 13:35). Why would people trust that the invisible
God loves us, if His people who are visible have no love?
Additionally, we are to love and be
grateful to the God who not only created the animal and plant
kingdoms, but He also created you and me. In Deuteronomy
6:5, you are commanded to "love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all
your might." Jonah loved the Lord, but he also
second-guessed everything that the Lord intended and did.
It's time for us all to give up our purposes, in favor of the
intentions of the One who lovingly enabled us to have a will
in the first place.
Verse 11. "Should
I not have compassion 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?"
Though it says the people of Nineveh
did "not know the difference between their
right and left hand," they were not in any way stupid.
Nineveh, which was the capital of the mighty Assyrian Empire,
contained an intelligent, creative people, gifted in many ways.
But to God, FAITH is a key sign of intelligence and so is love.
Up to the time of this Book of Jonah, the Ninevites did not
know the meaning of faith. Also note God's concern for
animals. Part of His compassion was for the people of
Nineveh and He was also concerned for the animals there.
Many have noted, by the way, the abrupt
ending of this book. It just breaks off at this point.
It's not unusual - the Book of Acts breaks off in a similar
manner and so do many Books in the Bible. We don't know
what happened to Jonah, though we do have a lot of information
in secular history that tells us what happened to Nineveh.
The fact is that the Book of Jonah is not really about Jonah.
It's about God and the mercy He has for us all. If He
forgave the Ninevites on the basis of their repentance; if He
tolerated Jonah and accepted this stubborn man who resisted
God, He will do the same for you and me.
Father, we give ourselves to You right now. We want
YOUR will for our lives, and so we trust in the Son and receive
the forgiveness so freely offered in Him. Thank You.
We praise Your Holy Name. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Ron Beckham,
Pastor
Friday Study Ministries
The First Church On The Net
www.FridayStudy.org www.FirstChurchOnTheNet.org "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans
5:8)
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