Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jonah 4:5
So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
5. So Jonah went out of the city ] It has been proposed to take the verbs in this verse as pluperfects: “Now Jonah had gone out of the city, and abode on the east side of the city, &c.” The verse will then be a parenthesis introduced to relate what had really taken place before Jonah’s anger and complaint. In point of time it will precede the first verse of the chapter. It is doubtful, however, whether such a rendering is grammatically allowable; nor is there any reason for adopting it. The course of the narrative flows regularly on throughout the chapter. Jonah while still in the city comes to know that Nineveh will be spared. In bitter displeasure he complains to God, and is rebuked ( Jon 4:1-4). Still cherishing the hope of vengeance, fostered possibly by the question in Jon 4:4, which his distempered mind might interpret to mean, “Do not judge too hastily what My purposes may be,” he will not abandon the city altogether. He will linger yet awhile in its precincts, and watch what its fate shall be.
on the east side of the city ] where it was skirted by hills. Probably he chose some eminence from which he could command a view of the city.
a booth ] of twigs and branches, such as the Israelites were directed to dwell in for seven days at the feast of tabernacles (Lev 23:42; Neh 8:14-16). Such were the “tabernacles” which St Peter proposed to make on the Mount of Transfiguration.
till he might see what would become of the city ] We are not told whether this was before or after the forty days had expired. If it was before, then we must suppose that Jonah, and possibly the Ninevites also, had some direct intimation that God would spare the city, and that Jonah in his reluctance to accept the result still tarried in the neighbourhood, in the hope that on the appointed day the blow would fall. If however we suppose that the forty days had elapsed without the threatened judgment being executed, and that it was by this that Jonah and the Ninevites knew that God had repented Him of the evil, we can only conclude that Jonah hoped for some later punishment upon the people of Nineveh, provoked it might be by their speedy relapse into sin. “The days being now past, after which it was time that the things foretold should be accomplished, and His anger as yet taking no effect, Jonah understood that a respite of the evil has been granted them, on their willingness to repent, but thinks that some effect of His displeasure would come, since the pains of their repentance had not equalled their offences. So thinking in himself apparently, he departs from the city, and waits to see what will become of them.” St Cyr. quoted by Pusey.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
So Jonah went out of the city – o, The form of the words implies (as in the English Version), that this took place after Jonah was convinced that God would spare Nineveh; and since there is no intimation that he knew it by revelation, then it was probably after the 40 days . The days being now past, after which it was time that the things foretold should be accomplished, and His anger as yet taking no effect, Jonah understood that God had pity on Nineveh. Still he does not give up all hope, and thinks that a respite of the evil has been granted them on their willingness to repent, but that some effect of His displeasure would come, since the pains of their repentance bad not equalled their offences. So thinking in himself apparently, he departs from the city, and waits to see what will become of them. He expected apparently that it would either fall by an earthquake, or be burned with fire, like Sodom . Jonah, in that he built him a tabernale and sat over against Nineveh, awaiting what should happen to it, wore a different, foresignifying character. For he prefigured the carnal people of Israel. For these too were sad at the salvation of the Ninevites, i. e., the redemption and deliverance of the Gentiles. Whence Christ came to call, not the righteous but sinners to repentance. But the over-shadowing gourd over his head was the promises of the Old Testament or those offices in which, as the apostle says, there was a shadow of good things to come, protecting them in the land of promise from temporal evils; all which are now emptied and faded. And now that people, having lost the temple at Jerusalem and the priesthood and sacrifice (all which was a shadow of that which was to come) in its captive dispersion, is scorched by a vehement heat of tribulation, as Jonah by the heat of the sun, and grieves greatly; and yet the salvation of the pagan and the penitent is accounted of more moment than its grief, and the shadow which it loved.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jon 4:5-11
So Jonah went out of the city.
Gods expostulation with Jonah
We may presume that Jonah had two reasons for going out of Nineveh. One was, that he might provide for his personal safety. The other, that he might witness the execution of Jehovahs threatening, and be a spectator of the ruin which he had himself predicted. With this view he went to the east side of Nineveh, perhaps because there was an eminence where he would be secure from danger, and from which he could survey the wide extent of the devoted city. Whatever were the images of ruin which presented themselves to the mind of Jonah, it is certain that he looked, nay, that he longed, for the destruction of the city. What a contrast to our blessed Lord looking down upon Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. What forbearance and condescension Jonah had experienced at Gods hand! The very mildness of the Divine expostulation ought to have made him ashamed of his folly and perverseness. But Gods reproof was disregarded, and we have now to notice the other method which God adopted in order to bring him to a better mind. The gourd relieved Jonah from much physical suffering, and by diverting his attention from the bitter disappointment over which he had been brooding, it helped materially to tranquillise his mind. Brief, however, was the stay of the gourd, and of his tranquillity. A worm ruined the gourd. Afflictions seldom come single. Sun and wind followed loss of gourd. Jonah felt his very life a burden. When men set their hearts upon earthly treasures, and forget their obligations to the Giver of all good, they are ill prepared for encountering adversity. Then their days are days of darkness, and they become weary of life without being prepared for death. What was the design of the peculiar trial to which Jonah was subjected? The trial was sent to convince him of his sin in wishing the destruction of Nineveh in opposition to the will of God, and for the sake of maintaining his own credit as a prophet. Instruction had to come to him by the way of chastisement. But pride perverts the understanding, and passion darkens it; and when these unhappy influences are at work, men, when visited with trouble, are slow to perceive the end for which God afflicts them. Thus it was with Jonah. See Gods reproof of the prophet, as given in verse 11. He had sighed very bitterly over the premature decay of the mere gourd; should he not have had pity on the populous city? Thus God reproved Jonah, and condescended to vindicate His own procedure. With His solemn and touching expostulation the book closes. Learn from the case of this prophet the indispensable necessity of cultivating an humble and self-denying spirit, and of guarding with holy jealousy against any such feelings as would prompt us, on the one hand, to arraign the equity of Jehovahs dispensations, when they seem to be averse to our personal comfort or our fancied honour, or would prevent us, on the other, from cherishing compassion for any of our fellow-creatures, or even for the beasts that perish. And let us be encouraged, by the view here given us of the character of God, to approach Him, in the exercise of faith and penitence, by the way of His appointment. He delighteth in mercy. Beware lest we should be found to despise the goodness and forbearance of God. (David Couper.)
Out of sympathy with God
From first to last, in this book, we have an exhibition of Gods mercy in all its greatness and heavenly grandeur, and, as contrasted with this in the most forcible way, an exhibition of mans littleness. The exhibition of mercy on Gods part is of the richest and most gracious kind. Jonah in his conduct was but a representative of his nation. What he did and felt as an individual, they would have done and felt as a nation in like circumstances; and the one great purpose of the book seems to be to prove how wrong he was in his unwillingness to appreciate Gods mercy towards the Gentiles, in order that his fellow-countrymen, who had exactly the same ideas, might take a warning from him, and give up their exclusive spirit and haughty bearing towards other nations. We are often in danger of sinning in the same way as Jonah and the Jewish people. There are times when we are inclined to take narrow and exclusive views of Gods mercy.
I. Jonahs displeasure. He went out, and sat on the east of the city. He made himself a booth, a mere hut of branches. There he sat and watched the city to see what would become of it. He had hoped, perhaps, that fire would come from heaven and destroy Nineveh, as Sodom was destroyed of old. But no such hope was to be realised. The fortieth day arrived, and no destruction took place. Why was Jonah so displeased at this grand exercise of Gods mercy, at this triumph of mercy over judgment? In some measure it may be accounted for on natural causes. He may have been experiencing that depression of spirit which is the natural result of physical weakness, produced by bodily or mental toil. Mistaken zeal for God may also in part account for the prophets displeasure. He may have fancied that the Ninevites were not in a fit state to appreciate mercy. Personal pride also had some share in it. It is hard for a man, even when a prophet of God, to forget himself in doing Gods work. He was afraid that the Ninevites would despise him as a prophet of lies. A more satisfactory reason than these must be found. Jonahs displeasure resulted from the fact that his exclusive love for his own country and his own people caused him to have no sympathy with this extension of Gods mercy to a Gentile people. To his way of thinking, Ninevehs being spared, was like the strengthening and prospering, of his countrys greatest enemy. Taking such a view of the case, he had no sympathy whatever with God s mercy being extended to them. In God s dealings with Nineveh there was a glorious revelation of many mercies yet in store for the Gentiles. If Jonah saw that vision, that first fruits of mercy to the Gentiles, he turned away from the sight and shut his eyes. It did not agree with another vision, a picture of his own fancy–the lasting greatness of the Jewish people as the exclusive people of God. Jonah came to a better mind afterwards. His heart was enlarged, and his sympathies widened, when God spoke to him. It was then that he wrote this story.
II. Gods plea in vindication of his sparing mercy. There is something wonderful in this condescension on Gods part to argue with the prophet and to justify Himself. He shows him the folly and the wrongness of his displeasure. But He has to prepare Jonahs mind first of all.
1. He begins by taking away Jonahs displeasure. An angry man cannot look all round a question; he takes a one-sided view, and keeps to that. And Jonah, before he can see the full meaning of Gods mercy, must become calm, and rid himself of all his vexation. This God did when He prepared the gourd, and caused it to overshadow the prophet. This plant is of exceedingly quick growth. It is chiefly remarkable for its leaves. Only one leaf grows on a branch, but, being large, sometimes measuring more than a foot, and spread out in the shape of an open hand, their collective shade would afford excellent shelter from the heat of the sun. There was nothing miraculous in the fact of this plant springing up beside Jonahs resting-place, but if the words be taken literally, the development of the plant so quickly is certainly miraculous. The Ruler of nature is here working, not contrary to, but in harmony with, and yet above, natural law. Under the shelter of this plant Jonahs spirits revive, displeasure vanishes, and he who yesterday was exceedingly displeased is now found exceeding glad. Jonah is now in a better state of mind to listen to God.
2. But God has something more to do before He speaks to Jonah. Comfort is to be followed again by discomfort. The gourd withers, and a vehement east wind arises. This was not as our east winds. It was the sultry and oppressive wind which blows in the summer months across the vast Arabian desert, and produces universal languor and relaxation. Thus exposed, the prophet sinks down into weariness and languor. Sorrow comes over him, and he longs to die. Now the voice of God comes to him. Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? Let us have a clear idea of the point on which Gods argument turns. It is neither the gourd nor the worm that God lays hold of in His plea, but Jonahs sorrow for the gourd. The gourd was a loss to the man, for which he grieved. But it was more and better than a selfish regret. Man has a sympathy with all life, not only in the animal, but also in the vegetable world. Jonah pitied the gourd, with its short life. Then came further sublime Divine pleadings. In the light of heaven Jonah now sees his unreasonableness. All his fault lay in not allowing God to have the same sympathies as he had himself. What was a gourd compared with the great city of Nineveh? Yet Jonah pitied the one, and was angry because God had pity upon the other; Jonah was all wrong, and he sees it now and is silent. Silently and in shame he rises and goes home to his country and to his people, to tell them how wrong he was, that they might know how right God was. (James Menzies.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. So Jonah went out of the city] I believe this refers to what had already passed; and I therefore agree with Bp. Newcome, who translates, “Now Jonah HAD gone out of the city, and HAD sat,” c. for there are many instances where verbs in the preterite form have this force, the vau here turning the future into the preterite. And the passage is here to be understood thus: When he had delivered his message he left the city, and went and made himself a tent, or got under some shelter on the east side of the city, and there he was determined to remain till he should see what would become of the city. But when the forty days had expired, and he saw no evidence of the Divine wrath, he became angry, and expostulated with God as above. The fifth verse should be read in a parenthesis, or be considered as beginning the chapter.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
So, when the Lord had taken notice and reproved the passions of Jonah, and made some impression on his mind for the present,
Jonah went out of the city; discontented in himself, and doubtful of the issue whether God would be more tender of the life of multitudes or of Jonahs credit, the prophet withdrew himself, and waits; how long we have not any ground of conjecture.
And sat; put himself into a posture of waiting, and therefore, to repose himself, rather sat than stood.
On the east side of the city; which in likelihood was some higher ground, the city standing on the east banks of Tigris; the further he went east, the higher the ground was, and the safer, from the uncertain manner of the citys overthrow.
Made him a booth; some small and mean shed for shade and shelter, usually made of green boughs.
And sat under it in the shadow; these boughs, thus pitched and made into a booth, afforded some shadow, in which Jonah reposed him.
Till he might see what would become of the city: by this passage it should seem the forty days were not fully expired, nor yet wanted much of expiring, and Jonah seems resolved there to expect the event of the city.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. made him a booththat is, atemporary hut of branches and leaves, so slightly formed as to beopen to the wind and sun’s heat.
see what would become of thecityThe term of forty days had not yet elapsed, and Jonah didnot know that anything more than a suspension, or mitigation, ofjudgment had been granted to Nineveh. Therefore, not fromsullennesss, but in order to watch the event from a neighboringstation, he lodged in the booth. As a stranger, he did not know thedepth of Nineveh’s repentance; besides, from the Old Testamentstandpoint he knew that chastening judgments often followed, as inDavid’s case (2Sa 12:10-12;2Sa 12:14), even where sin hadbeen repented of. To show him what he knew not, the largeness andcompleteness of God’s mercy to penitent Nineveh, and thereasonableness of it, God made his booth a school of discipline togive him more enlightened views.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So Jonah went out of the city,…. Had not the inhabitants of it repented, he had done right to go out of it, and shake the dust of his feet against it; or, in such a case, had he gone out of it, as Lot out of Sodom, when just going to be overthrown; but Jonah went out in a sullen fit, because it was to be spared; though some render the words, “now Jonah had gone out of the city” a; that is, before all this passed, recorded in the preceding verses; and so Aben Ezra observes, that the Scripture returns here to make mention of the affairs of Jonah, and what happened before the accomplishment of the forty days:
and sat on the east side of the city; where he might have very probably a good sight of it; and which lay the reverse of the road to his own country; that, if the inhabitants should pursue him, they would miss of him; which some suppose he might be in fear of, should their city be destroyed:
and there made him a booth; of the boughs of trees, which he erected, not to continue in, but for a short time, expecting in a few days the issue of his prediction:
and sat under it in the shadow; to shelter him from the heat of the sun:
till he might see what would become of the city; or, “what would be done in” it, or “with” it b; if this was after he knew that the Lord had repented of the evil he threatened, and was disposed to show mercy to the city; and which, as Kimchi thinks, was revealed to him by the spirit of prophecy; then he sat here, expecting the repentance of the Ninevites would be a short lived one; be like the goodness of Ephraim and Judah, as the morning cloud, and early dew that passes away; and that then God would change his dispensations towards them again, as he had done; or however he might expect, that though the city was not totally overthrown, yet that there would be something done; some lesser judgment fall upon them, as a token of the divine displeasure, and which might save his credit as a prophet
a “exicrat autem”, Mercerus; “exivit”, Cocceius. b “quid esset futurum in civitate”, Montanus, Junius Tremellius, Tarnovius “quid fieret in ea urbe”, Vatablus.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The Prophet’s Discontent; The Withering of the Prophet’s Gourd; God’s Remonstrance with Jonah. | B. C. 840. |
5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. 6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. 7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. 8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. 9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. 10 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: 11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
Jonah persists here in his discontent; for the beginning of strife both with God and man is as the letting forth of waters, the breach grows wider and wider, and, when passion gets head, bad is made worse; it should therefore be silenced and suppressed at first. We have here,
I. Jonah’s sullen expectation of the fate of Nineveh. We may suppose that the Ninevites, giving credit to the message he brought, were ready to give entertainment to the messenger that brought it, and to show him respect, that they would have made him welcome to the best of their houses and tables. But Jonah was out of humour, would not accept their kindness, nor behave towards them with common civility, which one might have feared would have prejudiced them against him and his word; but when there is not only the treasure put into earthen vessels, but the trust lodged with men subject to like passions as we are, and yet the point gained, it must be owned that the excellency of the power appears so much the more to be of God and not of man. Jonah retires, goes out of the city, sits alone, and keeps silence, because he sees the Ninevites repent and reform, v. 5. Perhaps he told those about him that he went out of the city for fear of perishing in the ruins of it; but he went to see what would become of the city, as Abraham went up to see what would become of Sodom, Gen. xix. 27. The forty days were now expiring, or had expired, and Jonah hoped that, if Nineveh was not overthrown, yet some judgement or other would come upon it, sufficient to save his credit; however, it was with great uneasiness that he waited the issue. He would not sojourn in a house, expecting it would fall upon his head, but he made himself a booth of the boughs of trees, and sat in that, though there he would lie exposed to wind and weather. Note, It is common for those that have fretful uneasy spirits industriously to create inconveniences themselves, that, resolving to complain, they may still have something to complain of.
II. God’s gracious provision for his shelter and refreshment when he thus foolishly afflicted himself and was still adding yet more and more to his own affliction, v. 6. Jonah was sitting in his booth, fretting at the cold of the night and the heat of the day, which were both grievous to him, and God might have said, It is his own choice, his own doing, a house of his own building, let him make the best of it; but he looked on him with compassion, as the tender mother does on the froward child, and relieved him against the grievances which he by his own wilfulness created to himself. He prepared a gourd, a plant with broad leaves, and full of them, that suddenly grew up, and covered his hut or booth, so as to keep off much of the injury of the cold and heat. It was a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief, that, being refreshed in body, he might the better guard against the uneasiness of his mind, which outward crosses and troubles are often the occasion and increase of. See how tender God is of his people in their afflictions, yea, though they are foolish and froward, nor is he extreme to mark what they do amiss. God had before prepared a great fish to secure Jonah from the injuries of the water, and here a great gourd to secure him from the injuries of the air; for he is the protector of his people against evils of every kind, has the command of plants as well as animals, and can soon prepare them, to make them serve his purposes, can make their growth sudden, which, in a course of nature, is slow and gradual. A gourd, one would think, was but a slender fortification at the best, yet Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd; for, 1. It was really at that time a great comfort to him. A thing in itself small and inconsiderable, yet, coming seasonably, may be to us a very valuable blessing. A gourd in the right place may do us more service than a cedar. The least creatures may be great plagues (as flies and lice were to Pharaoh) or great comforts (as the gourd to Jonah), according as God is pleased to make them. 2. He being now much under the power of imagination took a greater complacency in it than there was cause for. He was exceedingly glad of it, was proud of it, and triumphed in it. Note, Persons of strong passions, as they are apt to be cast down with a trifle that crosses them, so they are apt to be lifted up with a trifle that pleases them. A small toy will serve sometimes to pacify a cross child, as the gourd did Jonah. But wisdom and grace would teach us both to weep for our troubles as though we wept not, and to rejoice in our comforts as though we rejoiced not. Creature-comforts we ought to enjoy and be thankful for, but we need not be exceedingly glad of them; it is God only that must be our exceeding joy, Ps. xliii. 4.
III. The sudden loss of this provision which God had made for his refreshment, and the return of his trouble, Jon 4:7; Jon 4:8. God that had provided comfort for him provided also an affliction for him in that very thing which was his comfort; the affliction did not come by chance, but by divine direction and appointment. 1. God prepared a worm to destroy the gourd. He that gave took away, and Jonah ought to have blessed his name in both; but because, when he took the comfort of the gourd, he did not give God the praise of it, God deprived him of the benefit of it, and justly. See what all our creature-comforts are, and what we may expect them to be; they are gourds, have their root in the earth, are but a thin and slender defence compared with the rock of ages; they are withering things; they perish in the using, and we are soon deprived of the comfort of them. The gourd withered the next day after it sprang up; our comforts come forth like flowers and are soon cut down. When we please ourselves most with them, and promise ourselves most from them, we are disappointed. A little thing withers them; a small worm at the root destroys a large gourd. Something unseen and undiscerned does it. Our gourds wither, and we know not what to attribute it to. And perhaps those wither first that we have been more exceedingly glad of; that proves least safe that is most dear. God did not send an angel to pluck up Jonah’s gourd, but sent a worm to smite it; there it grew still, but it stood him in no stead. Perhaps our creature-comforts are continued to us, but they are embittered; the creature is continued, but the comfort is gone; and the remains, or ruins of it rather, do but upbraid us with our folly in being exceedingly glad of it. 2. He prepared a wind to make Jonah feel the want of the gourd, v. 8. It was a vehement east wind, which drove the heat of the rising sun violently upon the head of Jonah. This wind was not as a fan to abate the heat, but as bellows to make it more intense. Thus poor Jonah lay open to sun and wind.
IV. The further fret that this put Jonah into (v. 8): He fainted, and wished in himself that he might die. “If the gourd be killed, if the gourd be dead, kill me too, let me die with the gourd.” Foolish man, that thinks his life bound up in the life of a weed! Note, It is just that those who love to complain should never be left without something to complain of, that their folly may be manifested and corrected, and, if possible, cured. And see here how the passions that run into an extreme one way commonly run into an extreme the other way. Jonah, who was in transports of joy when the gourd flourished, is in pangs of grief when the gourd has withered. Inordinate affection lays a foundation for inordinate affliction; what we are over-fond of when we have it we are apt to over-grieve for when we lose it, and we may see our folly in both.
V. The rebuke God gave him for this; he again reasoned with him: Dost thou well to be angry for the gourd? v. 9. Note, The withering of a gourd is a thing which it does not become us to be angry at. When afflicting providences deprive us of our relations, possessions, and enjoyments, we must bear it patiently, must not be angry at God, must not be angry for the gourd. It is comparatively but a small loss, the loss of a shadow; that is the most we can make of it. It was a gourd, a withering thing; we could expect no other than that it should wither. Our being angry for the withering of it will not recover it; we ourselves shall shortly wither like it. If one gourd be withered, another gourd may spring up in the room of it; but that which should especially silence our discontent is that though our gourd be gone our God is not gone, and there is enough in him to make up all our losses.
Let us therefore own that we do ill, that we do very ill, to be angry for the gourd; and let us under such events quiet ourselves as a child that is weaned from his mother.
VI. His justification of his passion and discontent; and it is very strange, v. 9. He said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. It is bad to speak amiss, yet if it be in haste, if what is said amiss be speedily recalled and unsaid again, it is the more excusable; but to speak amiss and stand to it is bad indeed. So Jonah did here, though God himself rebuked him, and by appealing to his conscience expected he would rebuke himself. See what brutish things ungoverned passions are, and how much it is our interest, and ought to be our endeavour, to chain up these roaring lions and ranging bears. Sin and death are two very dreadful things, yet Jonah, in his heat, makes light of them both. 1. He has so little regard for God as to fly in the face of his authority, and to say that he did well in that which God said was ill done. Passion often over-rules conscience, and forces it, when it is appealed to, to give a false judgment, as Jonah here did. 2. He has so little regard to himself as to abandon his own life, and to think it no harm to indulge his passion even to death, to kill himself with fretting. We read of wrath that kills the foolish man, and envy that slays the silly one (Job v. 2), and foolish silly ones indeed those are that cut their own throats with their own passions, that fret themselves into consumptions and other weaknesses, and put themselves into fevers with their own intemperate heats.
VII. The improvement of it against him for his conviction that he did ill to murmur at the sparing of Nineveh. Out of his own mouth God will judge him; and we have reason to think it overcame him; for he made no reply, but, we hope, returned to his right mind and recovered his temper, though he could not keep it, and all was well. Now,
1. Let us see how God argued with him (Jon 4:10; Jon 4:11): “Thou hast had pity on the gourd, hast spared it” (so the word is), “didst what thou couldst, and wouldst have done more, to keep it alive, and saidst, What a pity it is that this gourd should ever wither! and should not I then spare Nineveh? Should not I have as much compassion upon that as thou hadst upon the gourd, and forbid the earthquake which would ruin that, as thou wouldst have forbidden the worm that smote the gourd? Consider,” (1.) “The gourd thou hadst pity on was but one; but the inhabitants of Nineveh, whom I have pity on, are numerous.” It is a great city and very populous, as appears by the number of the infants, suppose from two years old and under; there are 120,000 such in Nineveh, that have not come to so much use of understanding as to know their right hand from their left, for they are yet but babes. These are taken notice of because the age of infants is commonly looked upon as the age of innocence. So many there were in Nineveh that had not been guilty of any actual transgression, and consequently had not themselves contributed to the common guilt, and yet, if Nineveh had been overthrown, they would all have been involved in the common calamity; “and shall not I spare Nineveh then, with an eye to them?” God has a tender regard to little children, and is ready to pity and succour them, nay, here a whole city is spared for their sakes, which may encourage parents to present their children to God by faith and prayer, that though they are not capable of doing him any service (for they cannot discern between their right hand and their left, between good and evil, sin and duty), yet they are capable of participating in his favours and of obtaining salvation. The great Saviour discovered a particular kindness for the children that were brought to him, when he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them. Nay, God took notice of the abundance of cattle too that were in Nineveh, which he had more reason to pity and spare than Jonah had to pity and to spare the gourd, inasmuch as the animal life is more excellent than the vegetable. (2.) The gourd which Jonah was concerned for was none of his own; it was that for which he did not labour and which he made not to grow; but the persons in Nineveh whom God had compassion on were all the work of his own hands, whose being he was the author of, whose lives he was the preserver of, whom he planted and made to grow; he made them, and his they were, and therefore he had much more reason to have compassion on them, for he cannot despise the work of his own hands (Job x. 3); and thus Job there argues with him (Jon 4:8; Jon 4:9), Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me, have made me as the clay; and wilt thou destroy me, wilt thou bring me into dust again? And thus he here argues with himself. (3.) The gourd which Jonah had pity on was of a sudden growth, and therefore of less value; it came up in a night, it was the son of a night (so the word is); but Nineveh is an ancient city, of many ages standing, and therefore cannot be so easily given up; “the persons I spare have been many years in growing up, not so soon reared as the gourd; and shall not I then have pity on those that have been so many years the care of my providence, so many years my tenants?” (4.) The gourd which Jonah had pity on perished in a night; it withered, and there was an end of it. But the precious souls in Nineveh that God had pity on are not so short-lived; they are immortal, and therefore to be carefully and tenderly considered. One soul is of more value than the whole world, and the gain of the world will not countervail the loss of it; surely then one soul is of more value than many gourds, of more value than many sparrows; so God accounts, and so should we, and therefore have a greater concern for the children of men than for any of the inferior creatures, and for our own and others’ precious souls than for any of the riches and enjoyments of this world.
2. From all this we may learn, (1.) That though God may suffer his people to fall into sin, yet he will not suffer them to lie still in it, but will take a course effectually to show them their error, and to bring them to themselves and to their right mind again. We have reason to hope that Jonah, after this, was well reconciled to the sparing of Nineveh, and was as well pleased with it as ever he had been displeased. (2.) That God will justify himself in the methods of his grace towards repenting returning sinners as well as in the course his justice takes with those that persist in their rebellion; though there be those that murmur at the mercy of God, because they do not understand it (for his thoughts and ways therein are as far above ours as heaven above the earth), yet he will make it evident that therein he acts like himself, and will be justified when he speaks. See what pains he takes with Jonah to convince him that it is very fit that Nineveh should be spared. Jonah had said, I do well to be angry, but he could not prove it. God says and proves it, I do well to be merciful; and it is a great encouragement to poor sinners to hope that they shall find mercy with him, that he is so ready to justify himself in showing mercy and to triumph in those whom he makes the monuments of it, against those whose eye is evil because his is good. Such murmurers shall be made to understand this doctrine, that, how narrow soever their souls, their principles, are, and how willing soever they are to engross divine grace to themselves and those of their own way, there is one Lord over all, that is rich in mercy to all that call upon him, and in every nation, in Nineveh as well as in Israel, he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him; he that repents, and turns from his evil way, shall find mercy with him.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
It may be here doubted whether Jonah had waited till the forty days had passed, and whether that time had arrived; for if we say that he went out of the city before the fortieth day, another question arises, how could he have known what would be? for we have not yet found that he had been informed by any oracular communication. But the words which we have noticed intimate that it was then known by the event itself, that God had spared the city from destruction; for in the last lecture it was said, that God had repented of the evil he had declared and had not done it. It hence appears that Jonah had not gone out of the city until the forty days had passed. But there comes again another question, what need had he to sit near the city, for it was evident enough that the purpose of God had changed, or at least that the sentence Jonah had pronounced was changed? he ought not then to have seated himself near the city as though he was doubtful.
But I am inclined to adopt the conjecture, that Jonah went out after the fortieth day, for the words seem to countenance it. With regard to the question, why he yet doubted the event, when time seemed to have proved it, the answer may be readily given: though indeed the forty days had passed, yet Jonah stood as it were perplexed, because he could not as yet feel assured that what he had before proclaimed according to God’s command would be without its effect. I therefore doubt not but that Jonah was held perplexed by this thought, “Thou hast declared nothing rashly; how can it then be, that what God wished to be proclaimed by his own command and in his own name, should be now in vain, with no corresponding effect?” Since then Jonah had respect to God’s command, he could not immediately extricate himself from his doubts. This then was the cause why he sat waiting: it was, because he thought that though God’s vengeance was suspended, his preaching would not yet be in vain, but that the ruin of the city was at hand. This therefore was the reason why he still waited after the prefixed time, as though the event was still doubtful.
Now that this may be more evident, let us bear in mind that the purpose of God was hidden, so that Jonah understood not all the parts of his vocation. God, then, when he threatened ruin to the Ninevites, designed to speak conditionally: for what could have been the benefit of the word, unless this condition was added, — that the Ninevites, if they repented, should be saved? There would otherwise have been no need of a Prophet; the Lord might have executed the judgment which the Ninevites deserved, had he not intended to regard their salvation. If any one objects by saying that a preacher was sent to render them inexcusable, — this would have been unusual; for God had executed all his other judgments without any previous denunciation, I mean, with regard to heathen nations: it was the peculiar privilege of the Church that the Prophets ever denounced the punishments which were at hand; but to other nations God made it known that he was their Judge, though he did not send Prophets to warn them. There was then included a condition, with regard to God’s purpose, when he commanded the Ninevites to be terrified by so express a declaration. But Jonah was, so to speak, too literal a teacher; for he did not include what he ought to have done, — that there was room for repentance, and that the city would be saved, if the Ninevites repented of their wickedness. Since then Jonah had learned only one half of his office, it is no wonder that his mind was still in doubt, and could not feel assured as to the issue; for he had nothing but the event, God had not yet made known to him what he would do. Let us now proceed —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(5) So Jonah went out.The explanation given in the preceding note avoids the necessity of giving the verb in this clause a pluperfect force, which else would be necessary to account for the prophets continued expectation of the destruction of Nineveh after his irritation at the Divine clemency towards it.
Boothi.e., of boughs, like those used at the Feast of Tabernacles. (See next Note.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. Jonah’s reply is not given, but evidently he continued to sulk. He would have nothing more to do with the city; hence he withdrew and determined to watch further developments, hoping, perhaps, that his announcement of destruction would yet be fulfilled.
East side Probably on some elevation from which he might overlook the city.
Made him a booth He evidently intended to remain for some time.
Till he might see Von Orelli supposes that when Jonah left the city the forty days had not yet expired, and that the prophet determined to wait for the expiration of the fixed period to see whether judgment would be executed. It is more likely, however, that Jonah discovered the will of God to save the city from the nonfulfillment of the prophecy at the end of the forty days. Only then his anger was aroused; nevertheless he hoped in his heart that the judgment was not withdrawn, but only postponed.
In this hope he was again disappointed; instead he was taught another lesson of the divine mercy.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made for himself a shelter, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.’
Perhaps Jonah had taken YHWH’s words as signifying that maybe he was being too impatient when in fact YHWH had plans to deal with Nineveh after all. This is really the only thing that can explain why Jonah went out to a mountain on the east of Nineveh in order to ‘see what would become of the city’. And because it was very hot he made himself a shelter of boughs and leaves, and sat under its shade awaiting events.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jon 4:5-8. So Jonah went out, &c. Now Jonah had gone outand he sat, &c. The author of the Observations asks upon this difficult passage, Did Jonah make himself a booth of boughs, in which to wait the event of his prophesy; and did the gourd come up in one single night afterward?So our version supposes, and this is also Lowth’s opinion. But had this really been the case, one cannot easily conjecture why the coming up of the gourd should have given him such an exquisite pleasure, or its destruction so much pain, when he had his booth to shelter him, which he had before thought very sufficient. By the description given of this country by Thevenot, who travelled in it, it should seem, that the lands on the Mesopotamian side of the Tigris, opposite to where Nineveh stood, are low; for they are cultivated and watered by means of little ditches, into which the water is poured out of the river; consequently it might be, and probably was, for the sake of the view he might have of the city, that Jonah placed himself on the east side of Nineveh, rather than on the west in Mesopotamia, towards his own country; and not, as Lowth imagines, the better to escape the pursuit of the Ninevites, in case they should follow him to take him. There is not the least ground to imagine that Jonah had any such jealousy. The side of Mesopotamia, says Thevenot, is well sowed; but the Curdistan shore barren and uncultivated. This made a shelter of more importance to Jonah, few or no trees, we may presume, growing in this barren place, under which Jonah might have placed himself on the withering of the gourd. This accounts for his uneasiness; but then it will not be easy to conjecture whence he could get boughs to make himself a booth. This, joined with the consideration that the word sukkah translated booth, sometimes signifies a shelter, in the preparing of which no art is used, as in Jer 25:38. Job 38:40 and that the words, the Lord prepared a gourd, may also signify, he had prepared one; might lead us to think that this gourd, which Jonah found in this desert place, was the booth under which he placed himself, and all that he had, making it his defence against the heat; the perishing of which, in course, must give him great pain; especially when we consider the intolerable heat of the country; which is such, that Thevenot informs us, he did not go to visit the reputed tomb of Jonah, on the east side of the Tigris, on that account, there being hardly a possibility of stirring abroad two hours after the sun is risen, till an hour after it is set, the walls being so hot, that half a foot from them the heat feels as if it proceeded from hot iron. Concerning the kind of plant, whose shade was so refreshing to Jonah, I do not take upon me to form any conjecture. And as to some of the abovementioned particulars, it is but right to acknowledge, that Rauwolff gives a very different account from Thevenot, if he be rightly translated; for in Mr. Ray’s collection he is represented as saying, that they sow the greatest part of the corn there, on the eastern side of the Tigris, and that the Mesopotamian side is so sandy and dry, that you would think you were in the middle of the deserts of Arabia. Thevenot, however, is generally acknowledged to have been an accurate observer; and his account, from a view of the above remarks, seems to throw light on the history of Jonah, and may, on that account, be believed to be a just one. See Observations, p. 86. To these remarks we may just add, that though the Hebrew word kikaion, is rendered by many versions a gourd, yet it seems properly to mean the ricinus, or palma-christi. It is described by St. Jerome as a kind of shrub, having broad leaves like the vine, affording a very thick shade, and supported by its own stem. It grows, says he, very commonly in Palestine, and chiefly in sandy places; and if one throws the seed upon the ground, it thrives wonderfully fast, and, within a few days after the plant appears, one sees a little tree. There can be no doubt, however, that this was miraculously raised and prepared for Jonah, as well as the great fish; for the same word is made use of upon both occasions. See chap. Jon 1:17. The reader will find in Scheuchzer, tom. 7: p. 466 a curious plate and account of the ricinus.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1203
JONAHS GOURD
Jon 4:5-9. So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm, when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
WHETHER we look into the sacred volume or to the world around us, we are almost at a loss to say which is the greater, the depravity of man, or the tender mercy of our God In the brief history which we have of the Prophet Jonah, they are both exhibited to our view in the most striking colours. Had Jonah been a professed heathen, we should have wondered less at his impiety: but being an Israelite, yea, a prophet too of the Most High God, and, we would fondly hope, a good man upon the whole, we are amazed at the very extraordinary wickedness which he manifested, and no less at the astonishing forbearance exercised by Almighty God towards him. In the former part of his history we have an account of his declining to execute the commission which God had given him to preach to the Ninevites, and, notwithstanding that rebellious conduct, his preservation in the belly of a fish. In the passage which we have now read, we see his perverseness carried to an extent that seems absolutely incredible, and Gods condescension to him keeping pace with his enormities. It relates his conduct in reference to a gourd which God had caused to spring up over him, and which withered within a few hours after it had comforted him with its refreshing shade. That we may place the matter in a clear point of view, we shall notice,
I.
His inordinate joy at the acquisition of the gourd
He was at this time in a most deplorable state of mind
[He had preached to the Ninevites, and his word had been attended with such power, that the whole city repented, and turned to the Lord with weeping and with mourning and with fasting. This, instead of exciting gratitude in the heart of Jonah, filled him only with rage; because he thought that God, in consideration of their penitence, would shew mercy to them, and that, in consequence of the judgments with which he had threatened them not being executed upon them, he himself should appear an impostor. It was of small importance that there were above a million of souls in the city: the destruction of them was of no moment in his eyes, in comparison of his own honour: he hoped therefore that God would at least inflict some signal judgment upon them, sufficient to attest the truth of his menaces, and to support his credit as a true prophet. With the hope of seeing his wishes realized, he made a booth on the outside of the city, and sat there to see what would become of the city.]
Then it was that God caused a gourd to spring up suddenly, and cover the booth
[What amazing condescension! How much rather might we have expected that God would have sent a lion to destroy him, as he had before done to a disobedient prophet! But instead of visiting his iniquity as it deserved, God consulted only his comfort; yes, this very man, who was so exceedingly displeased with Gods mercy to the Ninevites, that he could not endure his life, and begged of God to strike him dead; this very man, I say, was such an object of Gods attention, as to have a gourd raised up over his head to deliver him from his grief. It should seem as if there was a contest between God and him; he striving to exhaust the patience of Jehovah, and Jehovah striving to overcome by love the obstinacy and obduracy of his heart.]
In the acquisition of this gourd Jonah exceedingly rejoiced
[Had we been told that he was exceedingly thankful to his God, we should have been ready to applaud his gratitude: but he saw not Gods hand in the mercy vouchsafed to him: it was his own comfort only that he cared about: and in the gift alone did he rejoice, forgetful of the Giver. The idea of a million of souls being saved from perishing in their sins gave him no pleasure: but the being more effectually screened from the heat of the sun himself, made him exceeding glad. Had his mind been at all in a right state, his own comfort and convenience would have been swallowed up in thankfulness, for the preservation of so many souls, and for having been made the honoured instrument of their deliverance: but love for ourselves, and indifference about others, always bear a proportion to each other in the mind of man: and their connexion with each other was never more strongly seen than on this occasion.]
His inordinate joy at the acquisition of the gourd was more than equalled by,
II.
His intemperate sorrow at the loss of it
God, seeing the ingratitude of Jonah, withdrew the gift soon after it had been been bestowed
[He prepared a worm, which smote the gourd, so that it withered as suddenly as it had grown up. And where is there any gourd without a worm at the root of it? Our comforts may continue for a longer season than Jonahs; but there is in every creature-comfort a tendency to decay; and our most sanguine expectations are usually followed by the most bitter disappointments. Indeed God has wisely and graciously ordained, that abiding happiness shall not be found in any thing but Him alone: and the withdrawment of this comfort was in reality a greater blessing than its continuance would have been; since the gourd could only impart a transient comfort to his body; whereas the removal of it tended to humble and improve his soul.]
But the impatient spirit of Jonah only raged and complained the more
[As soon as the heat became oppressive to him, Jonah renewed his former wish for death; and, when reproved by God for his impiety, he vindicated himself in the very presence of his God, and declared, that he did well to be angry, even unto death. Who would conceive that such impiety as this should exist in the heart of any man, but especially of one who had received such signal mercies as he, and been so honoured as an instrument of good to others? But hereby God did indeed shew, that the excellency of the power was of him alone, and that he can work by whomsoever he will. It seems strange too, that, when God appealed to his conscience, an enlightened man could possibly be so blinded by passion as to give judgment in his own favour in such a case. But man has neither reason nor conscience, when biassed by his own lusts: and his very appeals to God can be little more depended on than the testimony of a man who is deliberately deceitful. But this we may observe in general, that the more there is of unhallowed boldness in any mans confidence, the more it is to be suspected; and the more ready he is to wish himself dead, the more unfit he is for death and judgment.]
Thus far our attention has been almost exclusively turned to Jonah: but. that we may bring the matter home more directly to our own business and bosoms. we would suggest a reflection or two. arising out of the subject:
1.
What selfishness is there in the heart of man!
[One would be ready to account this record a libel upon human nature. if we did not know assuredly that it is a true history. without any exaggeration or mistake. It appears incredible. that such inhumanity should exist in the heart of man. as that he should wish for the destruction of a million of souls. only that his own word might be verified; and that he should be so vexed by his disappointment. as to wish for death and pray to God to terminate his life. Nor would one conceive it possible that a temporary inconvenience. which had in fact originated solely in his own absurd and impious conduct. should so irritate and inflame his mind. as to make him insult. to his very face. his almighty and all-gracious Reprover. But we know little of ourselves. if we do not recognize much of our own character in that of Jonah. We have had reported to us. time after time. the calamities of others and have felt no more than if the most trifling occurrences had been related: or if we have felt at all. it has been only for a moment and the tale has soon become as if it had passed before the flood. But. on the other hand. if any thing has arisen to thwart our own interests or inclinations. though it has been of less consequence than Jonahs gourd. we have laid it to heart and been so irritated or grieved by it. that our very sleep has gone from us. Particularly if any thing has occurred that was likely to lower our reputation in the world. how keenly have we felt it. so as almost to be weary even of life! Or if any thing wherein we promised ourselves much happiness have been withdrawn from us. as wife or child. how little have we been able to say. The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord! Alas! we have more resembled Jonah. than Job: our every thought has been swallowed up in self: and neither God nor man have been regarded by us. any farther than they might subserve our selfish and carnal ends. Let us then in Jonah see our own character as in a glass and let this view of it humble us in the dust.]
2.
What mercy is there in the heart of God!
[This is the improvement which God himself makes of the subject. Jonah had complained of God for exercising mercy towards the repentant Ninevites; and God vindicates himself against the accusations of Jonah. In doing this. he touches with exquisite tenderness the sin of Jonah; and represents him not as actuated by selfishness and impiety, but as merely having pity on the gourd. What a beautiful example does this afford us, who ought to extenuate, rather than to aggravate, the faults of our bitterest enemies! His argument on the occasion is this: If you have had pity on a poor worthless gourd, for which you never laboured, and in which you have only a slight and transient interest, how much more am I justified in having pity on a million of the human race, (six-score thousand of whom have never done good or evil,) and on multitudes of cattle also, which must have been involved in any calamity inflicted on that large city! This argument is similar to one used in the Epistle to the Hebrews [Note: Chap. 9:13, 14.], and says in effect, If you were right in pitying a thing of no value, how much more am I in sparing what is of more value than ten thousand worlds! This argument, especially as addressed to the self-justifying Jonah, was unanswerable: and the truth contained in it is consolatory to every child of man. God is a God of infinite mercy: he may, he will, spare all who truly repent. Whatever judgments he has denounced against sin and sinners, the execution of them depends solely on the sinners themselves: if they repent, sooner shall God cease to exist, than cease to exercise mercy towards them. Let this encourage transgressors of every class: let it encourage the abandoned to repent; and those who profess godliness to repent also: for all need this consoling truth, that God willeth not the death of any sinner, but rather that he turn from his wickedness and live. Know then, both from his dealings with the Ninevites, and his forbearance towards his perverse prophet, that He is abundant in goodness and truth, and that where sin has abounded, his grace shall much more abound.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
I cannot sufficiently admire, nor adore, the condescending benignity of the Lord, in the tender method the Lord took to recover the Prophet from his petulance. Reader! look at the Lord in those gracious acts, and then say what a blessed proof is here given of his own character; the Lord, the Lord God! merciful and gracious, long suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Exo 34:5-6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jon 4:5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
Ver. 5. So Jonah went out of the city ] As not yet knowing what God might do, though he found him inclinable to show them mercy upon their repentance. Or he might think, haply, that these Ninevites were only sermon sick, penitent indeed for the present, but it was too good to hold long: these seemingly righteous men would soon fall from their righteousness, and then be destroyed, though for present somewhat favoured of God. Mercer reads the text in the pluperfect tense, and makes it a hysteron proteron, a thus, exierat autem Ionas; but Jonah had gone out of the city, sc. before he had shown himself so hot and hasty against God, and brawled with him as above. Others think that when he saw which way the squares were like to go, he flung out of the city in a great pout: and if God had fetched him again with a sharp blow on the ear (as Queen Elizabeth did the Earl of Essex, her favourite, when being crossed by her of his will, he uncivilly turned his back, as it were in contempt), he had done him no wrong. But God is longsuffering; he considereth whereof we are made, and with what strong corruptions we are beset. He knows that sin hath a strong heart, and will not easily be done to death; that nothing cleaves more pertinaciously or is more inexpugnable than a strong lust, whether it be worldliness, wantonness, passionateness, pride, ambition, revenge, or the like: these Jebusites will not easily be driven out; these sturdy rebels will hardly be subdued; these stick closest, as a shirt doth to a leprous body, and cannot be done off but with great ado. Now if Jonah be of a choleric constitution, and soon kindled; if this evil of his nature have been confirmed by custom (a second nature); if Satan stir up the coals, and say to him, as the people did to Pilate, “Do as thou ever hast done”; God graciously considereth all this, and beareth with his evil manners.
And sat on the east side of the city
And there made him a booth
And sat under it in the shadow
Till he might see what would become of the city
a A figure of speech in which the word or phrase that should properly come last is put first. D
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jon 4:5-8
5Then 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. 6So 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. 7But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered. 8When 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.
Jon 4:5 he made a shelter This is the word booth (BDB 697), which refers to a temporary shelter such as was used in the Feast of Tabernacles (cf. Lev 23:40-42). God provided a better shade by means of the plant (probably a castor bean plant, but this word occurs only in this context, cf. Jon 4:6). In desert areas shade can make a temperature difference of sixty degrees! This again shows God’s love versus Jonah’s anger.
Jon 4:6 appointed This does not mean that God created here, but that He assigned (BDB 584, KB 599, Piel IMPERFECT, cf. Jon 4:6-8) an existing creation a task to perform (cf. Jon 1:17). God is in control of nature (i.e., a plant, Jon 4:6; a worm, Jon 4:7; and a scorching east [cf. Gen 41:6] wind, Jon 4:8; as well as a great fish, Jon 1:17).
Jonah was extremely happy This is a COGNATE ACCUSATIVE (BDB 970, VERB and NOUN), like Jon 4:1, greatly displeased or Jon 1:16, feared greatly.
Jon 4:8 scorching east wind This refers to the sirocco, which is a hot, dry, dusty, strong east wind from the desert (cf. Exo 10:13), which could easily destroy foliage. It usually is used in judgment contexts (e.g., Psa 48:7; Jer 18:17; Eze 17:10; Hos 13:15).
The term scorching (BDB 362) is used only here in the OT. BDB says, we make no attempt to explain. However, KB 353, gives the ancient translations:
1. Septuagint, Peshitta, and Vulgate have scorching or muggy
2. the Aramaic Targums have silent (cf. NRSV)
Ultimately KB (slightly changed the MT by one consonant) says sharp or scorching (wind), meaning hot. The term appears once in the DSS meaning east wind.
NASBhe became faint
NKJVhe grew faint
NRSVhe was faint
TEVabout to faint
NJBhe was overcome
This point of unconsciousness (i.e., faint, cf. Amos 8;13) parallels his experience in the great fish (cf. Jon 2:7). Here sunstroke was the cause (cf. Isa 49:10).
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
made him = made for himself.
booth = hut.
become of = happen to. Hoping for its overthrow.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jonah: Jon 1:5, 1Ki 19:9, 1Ki 19:13, Isa 57:17, Jer 20:9
till: Gen 19:27, Gen 19:28, Jer 17:15, Jer 17:16, Luk 19:41-44
Reciprocal: Isa 16:3 – make Isa 25:5 – as the heat
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jon 4:5. Having heen denied his request, and being given to understand that the Lord was determined to go through with His plan, Jonah wondered what the fate of Nineveh would be now that it had exhibited the signs of penitence and God had reversed his threat. So he went outside the city and took a position under a temporary shelter from the sun, there to maintain a season of “watchful waiting.”
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
4:5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, {e} till he might see what would become of the city.
(e) For he doubted as yet whether God would show them mercy or not, and therefore after forty days he departed out of the city, to see what God would do.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
D. God’s rebuke of Jonah for his attitude 4:5-9
The Lord proceeded to teach Jonah His ways and to confront him with his attitude problem.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
We might have expected Jonah to leave what so angered him quickly, as Elijah had fled from Israel and sought refuge far from it to the south. Why did Jonah construct a shelter and sit down to watch what would happen to Nineveh? The same Hebrew word for shelter (sukka) describes the leafy structures that the Israelites made for themselves for the feast of Tabernacles (Lev 23:40-42; Neh 8:14-18; cf. Mar 9:5). Did Jonah think that judgment might fall anyway, or was he waiting for God to clarify His actions? Perhaps he hoped that the Ninevites’ repentance would evaporate quickly and that God would then call him to pronounce the judgment that he so wanted to see. Jonah did not know if the Ninevites’ repentance would be sufficient to postpone God’s judgment (cf. Gen 18:22-33). He evidently took up residence somewhere on the slopes of the mountains that rise to the east of Nineveh to gain a good view of whatever might happen. Perhaps he expected to witness another spectacular judgment such as befell Sodom and Gomorrah. His shelter proved to be a classroom for the prophet similar to what the town dump had been for Job.