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Jonah Obeys the Lord
and
Jonah's Anger and God's
  Mercy

   Jonah 3.10 and 4.1-11

   Good News Translation (GNT)

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   Jonah 3.10
10  God saw what they did; he saw that they had
   given up their wicked behavior.
   So he changed his mind and did not punish
   them as he had said he would.

   Jonah 4.1-11
   Jonah's Anger and God's Mercy
  1  Jonah was very unhappy about this
   and became angry.
  2  So he prayed, "Lord, didn't I say before I left
   home that this is just what you would do?
   That's why I did my best to run away to Spain!
   I knew that you are a loving and merciful God,
   always patient, always kind, and always ready
   to change your mind and not punish.
  3  Now then, Lord, let me die. I am better off
   dead than alive."

  4  The Lord answered, "What right do you have
   to be angry?"

  5  Jonah went out east of the city and sat down.
   He made a shelter for himself and sat in its
   shade, waiting to see what would happen to
   Nineveh.
  6  Then the Lord God made a plant grow up over
   Jonah to give him some shade, so that he
   would be more comfortable. Jonah was    extremely pleased with the plant.
  7  But at dawn the next day,
   at God's command, a worm attacked the plant,
   and it died.
  8  After the sun had risen, God sent a hot
   east wind, and Jonah was about to faint from
   the heat of the sun beating down on his head.
   So he wished he were dead. [a]
   "I am better off dead than alive," he said.
  9  But God said to him, "What right do you have
   to be angry about the plant?"

   Jonah replied, "I have every right
   to be angry - angry enough to die!"

;10  The Lord said to him, "This plant grew up in
   one night and disappeared the next; you didn't
   do anything for it and you didn't make it grow -
   yet you feel sorry for it!
;11  How much more, then, should I have
   pity on Nineveh, that great city. After all,
   it has more than 120,000 innocent children
   in it, as well as many animals!"

   Footnotes
   Jonah 4:8 wished he were dead;
   or prayed that he would die.

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Taken from 'word-on-the-web' supplied by the
Scripture Union

Jonah's Anger
and God's Mercy

     Jonah 3.10 and 4.1-11

In this chapter we read that, at the repentance
of the Ninevites, God relented concerning the punishment he had threatened to bring upon them.

Jonah wants a God of fixed boundaries, who punishes evil, who has favourites, who fits his expectations.

God is too good to allow this, so he uses Jonah's circumstances and even physical discomfort to challenge Jonah's attitude and help him grow in his understanding of and appreciation for God's love and grace.

Do I doubt God's forgiveness?
Am I sure that, if I repent, God will forgive?
Or do I feel that what I've done
(especially given that I'm a believer, perhaps)
is a bit too hard to forgive?

Chapter 3 verse 10 tells us, of course, that God did relent. If God can forgive oppressive tyrants and cruel kings, then he can forgive me.

How often do we hear expressions like
'how could God let this happen?'

Most of us have sometimes expressed such thoughts and known those who have even given up their faith because of resentment against God.

We can sympathise with the strength of Jonah's feelings here, but it is interesting that his anger was not because God allowed him to be thrown into the sea or swallowed by a fish, but because God had forgiven Nineveh.

He had expected this to happen - but he really, really did not like it.

Nineveh did not deserve mercy, and therefore God was quite wrong to show it to them!
The irony of the fact that Jonah himself had been shown undeserved mercy seems to have been lost on him.

Like almost every other human being
Jonah classified sins.

The lesson that all sin offends against God's righteousness - and a leaky jug is useless whether the hole is tiny or big - is a hard one to learn.

What is encouraging here is the further trouble that God takes to get his point across to Jonah. It was important, to God, that Jonah understood what God was doing and why.

Jonah was upset when a plant died because it could no longer shelter him. At no time does Jonah stop to consider the plight of the people of Nineveh. Surely he could understand that God was upset when a city had to be destroyed so the possibility of them serving him was lost?

People and their salvation really matter to God.

At the end of the story, God provides a tree to give shade to Jonah and then he removes it. Disproportionately angry over the fact that the tree, that sheltered, him has gone, Jonah has lost all perspective.

God's concern, however, is for the survival and welfare of others, human and animal.

The book of Jonah invites the prophet and the reader to share God's concern, to disregard our selfish preoccupations and live compassionately and generously toward all in God's world.

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