Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jonah 4:6
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.
6. prepared ] Rather, appointed. And so in Jon 4:7-8. See Jon 1:17, note.
a gourd ] This is the only place in the Old Testament in which the Hebrew word here translated gourd occurs. It is quite a different word which is rendered gourd in 2Ki 4:39, and (of architectural ornaments) in 1Ki 6:18 (margin), 1Ki 7:24. It is an old controversy, dating back as far as the times of Jerome and Augustine, whether Jonah’s plant was a gourd or not. It is now generally admitted that it was not, but that the plant intended is the ricinus communis or castor-oil plant. This plant satisfies all the requirements of the history. The name kikayon here used in the Hebrew is akin to the word kikeia or kiki (Herodot. II. 94), which ancient authors tell us was used by the Egyptians and others for the castor-oil plant. That plant is a native of North Africa, Arabia, Syria and Palestine, and is said by travellers to grow abundantly and to a great size in the neighbourhood of the Tigris. It is succulent, with a hollow stem, and has broad vine-like leaves (much larger, however, than those of the vine), which from their supposed resemblance to the extended palm of the hand have gained for the plant the name of Palma Christi, or palmchrist. It grows with such extraordinary rapidity that under favourable conditions it rises to about eight feet within five or six months, while in America it has been known to reach the height of thirteen feet in less than three months. Jerome also bears testimony to the rapidity of its growth. It is, he says, “a shrub with broad leaves like vine-leaves. It gives a very dense shade, and supports itself on its own stem. It grows most abundantly in Palestine, especially in sandy spots. If you cast the seed into the ground, it is soon quickened, rises marvellously into a tree, and in a few days what you had beheld a herb you look up to a shrub.” Pusey.
made it to come up ] Or, it came up. The naturally rapid growth of the plant was miraculously accelerated. As in other miracles of Holy Scripture Almighty God at once resembled nature and exceeded nature. “We know that God, when He does anything beyond the course of nature, does nevertheless come near to nature in His working. This is not indeed always the case; but we shall find for the most part that God has so worked as to outdo the course of nature, and yet not to desert nature altogether. So too in this place, I do not doubt that God chose a plant, which would quickly grow up even to such a height as this, and yet that He surpassed the wonted course of nature.” (Calvin.) In like manner, our Lord, when at the marriage-feast in Cana He turned the water into wine, “was working in the line of (above, indeed, but not across or counter to) His more ordinary workings, which we see daily around us, the unnoticed miracles of every-day nature.” “He made wine that day at the marriage in those six water-pots which He had commanded to be filled with water, Who every year makes it in the vines. For as what the servants had put into the water-pots was turned into wine by the working of the Lord, so too what the clouds pour forth is turned into wine by the working of the same Lord. This however, we do not wonder at, because it happens every year: its frequency has made it cease to be a marvel.” St Augustine, quoted by Trench On the Miracles.
a shadow over his head ] His booth or hut, made as we have seen of twigs and branches, the leaves of which would naturally soon wither, was far from being impervious to the rays of the sun. The living plant rising above the booth and covering it with its broad shadow would prove a most welcome addition.
from his grief ] Lit. his evil, the same word as in Jon 4:1. The gloomy and dissatisfied condition of his mind had been aggravated by physical causes. The heat and closeness of his booth had added to the weariness and oppression of his spirit. The palmchrist with its refreshing shade by ministering to his bodily comfort had tended also to calm and soothe the agitation of his mind. We need not look for any deeper meaning in the words. It is surely a mistake to say that Jonah “must have looked upon its sudden growth as a fruit of God’s goodness towards him (as it was) and then perhaps went on to think (as people do) that this favour of God showed that He meant in the end to grant him what his heart was set upon.” (Pusey.) The object of the writer is not to tell us what inferences Jonah drew from the sudden growth of the plant, but what was the object and intention of Almighty God in causing it to grow up over him. He sent it to refresh him as a step in His lesson of correction and amendment; He did not send it to mislead him. The force of the rebuke in Jon 4:10-11, in which the chapter culminates and which turns entirely upon Jonah’s joy and grief for the plant, is greatly weakened if we import into that joy and grief such moral elements.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And the Lord God prepared a gourd – , (a palm-christ, English margin, rightly.) . God again commanded the gourd, as he did the whale, willing only that this should be. Forthwith it springs up beautiful and full of flower, and straightway was a roof to the whole booth, and anoints him so to speak with joy, with its deep shade. The prophet rejoices at it exceedingly, as being a great and thankworthy thing. See now herein too the simplicity of his mind. For he was grieved exceedingly, because what he had prophesied came not to pass; he rejoiced exceedingly for a plant. A blameless mind is lightly moved to gladness or sorrow. You will see this in children. For as people who are not strong, easily fall, if someone gives them no very strong push, but touches them as it were with a lighter hand, so too the guileless mind is easily carried away by anything which delights or grieves it. Little as the shelter of the palm-christ was in itself, Jonah must have looked upon its sudden growth, as a fruit of Gods goodness toward him, (as it was) and then perhaps went on to think (as people do) that this favor of God showed that He meant, in the end, to grant him what his heart was set upon. Those of impulsive temperaments are ever interpreting the acts of Gods Providence, as bearing on what they strongly desire. Or again, they argue, God throws this or that in our way; therefore He means us not to relinquish it for His sake, but to have it. By this sudden miraculous shelter against the burning Assyrian sun, which God provided for Jonah, He favored his waiting on there. So Jonah may have thought, interpreting rightly that God willed him to stay; wrongly, why He so willed. Jonah was to wait, not to see what he desired, but to receive, and be the channel of the instruction which God meant to convey to him and through him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jon 4:6
And the Lord God prepared a gourd.
The Eastern gourd
Is there any gourd in Palestine of growth so rapid as to lay a foundation for the statement that Jonahs grew up in a night? Certainly not. Without any of that anxiety about the how and the possible in miracles, we may remark that there is an economical propriety in selecting this vine rather than any other, and for several reasons. It is very commonly used for trailing over temporary arbours. It grows with extraordinary rapidity. In a few days after it has fairly begun to run the whole arbour is covered. It forms a shade absolutely impenetrable to the suns rays, even at noonday. It flourishes best in the very hottest part of summer; and, lastly, when injured or cut, it withers away with equal rapidity. In selecting the gourd, therefore, there is not only an adherence to verisimilitude, which is always becoming, but there is also an economy, if we may so speak, in the expenditure of miraculous agency. The question is not about power at all. The same God who caused the gourd to grow in a night could make a cedar do so likewise; but this would be a wide departure from the general method of miraculous interposition, which is to employ it no further than is necessary to secure the result required. Is there any reason to suppose that, after all, it was not a gourd, but some other plant–that of the castor-bean, for example, as many learned critics have concluded? Orientals never dream of training a castor-oil plant over a booth, or planting it for a shade, and they would have but small respect for any one who did. It is in no way adapted for that purpose, while thousands of arbours are covered with various creepers of the general gourd family. As to ancient translations, the Septuagint gives colocynth, a general name for gourd; and the Vulgate, castor-bean. (Thomsons Land and Book.)
Jonah and his gourd
Learn–
1. That all our comforts, small and great, come from God.
2. As our comforts, so also do our trials, come from God.
3. Every gourd of earth, every enjoyment here, has a worm at its root.
4. There is a plant, better than any gourd of earth, under the shadow of which we may live in peace and die in hope.
That plant is Christ. (E. Blencowe, M. A.)
Jonahs gourd
Here the Lord doth first give Jonah matter of delight in a plant miraculously raised up to cover his booth, and keep him from the heat which increased his grief. Then again, his passion is stirred up by occasion of the Lords sudden removal of the gourd, and raising such a wind as might effectually make the sunbeams beat upon him. By all which the Lord lays a ground of more sensible reproving of him for his former bitterness. Doctrine–
1. A spirit once broken and embittered with troubles is easily grieved and stirred up.
2. The Lord, in healing the infirmities of His people, uses first to lance their sores, and discover more of their putrefaction, before He apply any healing plasters; therefore is Jonahs passion more kindled ere the former distemper be healed.
3. God in His holy providence may ensnare men who are wilfully given to passions, with more occasions to vent more of their corruptions.
4. From this sending of the gourd and the worm, and the effects of it in Jonah, we may see–
(1) The vanity of all earthly delights, in that they all carry a worm of instability in their root, which in short time will turn upside down all the expectations which men have from them.
(2) Much delight in earthly contentments is ordinarily a fore runner of much sorrow in their removal.
(3) Passion given way unto will soon turn men furious and absurd. So little are men themselves in their passions. (George Hutcheson.)
Jonahs gourd; or the vanity of all earthly enjoyments
There is that in the conduct of Jonah which claims our pity and provokes our resentment; especially when we see him have more regard for his own honour than for the lives of so many thousands that know not their right hand from their left. Perhaps, in passing our censure upon him, we shall condemn ourselves. Is it an uncommon thing, to find Christians in the same spirit? The history records an instance of God s pity in the provision of the gourd. But the swiftly growing plant more swiftly faded. This reminds us of the vanity of all earthly enjoyments. What are they, even the best of them, but as the gourd that grew up in a night and perished in a night? We refer to those pleasures which have their root in corruption and luxury. But it is also true of those enjoyments which are consistent with virtue and piety. Which of them can afford us more than a momentary delight? Mutability is the characteristic of all things under the sun. The scene is ever shifting, and like the vagaries of a dream, which only appear to amuse for a moment, and then are gone. Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. He set great store by it, more than by the lives of all the inhabitants of Nineveh. And how apt are we, like him, to overrate our comforts! We forget that our happiness has its root in the earth. There lurks a worm at the root of every gourd. Sin has marred our happiness and given the death-sting to all our comforts. Sometimes our enjoyments are our punishments. Where is the heart that does not ache at the loss of some earthly good? The same God who prepared the gourd prepared the worm. The hand of God is to be acknowledged in all our pleasures, and in all our so-called calamities. He does not measure His kindness by our merit. Blessings that come in the ordinary way deserve our sincere acknowledgments; much more should we be thankful for undeserved favours. But we often complain of the evils we suffer that God sends to us. We look to second causes, and fret as though there were no God to rule in the earth. There cannot be good or evil without the Divine permission. The gourd grew up in a night; might not this circumstance have taught Jonah to expect it as suddenly to decay? Pleasures that are quick in their growth seldom last long. The vanity and uncertainty of all our earthly enjoyments show us that error lies somewhere, and where should we look for it but in the nature of man? Whence is mans misery but from his inordinate attachment to the creature? God Himself is our only end. Let our trims remind us of our sins, and we shall see in the end that God has been correcting us for our profit, that compassion has guided the rod to recall us to our proper resting-place. Here we learn the importance of religious principle. Without it, what can we do in a changing world where all perishes in the using, and is sometimes blasted by the touch? Religion will produce a satisfaction in the mind which no evil can disturb; let the worm destroy, let the gourd wither, let all natural things take their course, or perish by violence, yet the well-principled man shall be happy without them all, for none of these things are essential to his bliss; having God for his portion and choice, he is blessed. (Owen Morris.)
Earthly comforts
From the history of the prophet thus brought to a close we learn–
I. Not to prize earthly comforts too highly. Jonah finds comfort in life only from the gourd which God had suffered to grow up. Improve this.
1. Let us remember that all our comforts spring but from the earth.
2. Earthly comforts are only gourds; they rise up suddenly, and aa suddenly decay.
3. Earthly comforts have a worm at their root. They carry in themselves the seeds of their own dissolution. The very means by which we are supported in life have in them the seeds of disease, decay, and death.
4. Earthly comforts are short in their duration. As they rose like the gourd, so, like that, they may wither in a night.
II. Not to be grieved overmuch at the removal of earthly blessings.
1. Consider their real character.
2. We should believe that there is much wisdom and mercy in their removal.
3. Remember that God can either restore these things to us, or give us better in their stead.
4. We should look forward to a better and more enduring substance.
III. Learn from our own troubles to feel for others.
1. Learn to pity those who have not such comforts as we have.
2. To mourn on account of those who are losing their souls. Let the people of God seek resignation to His will. (W. Cooper.)
Emblems of mans earthly good, and Gods disciplinary procedure
.
I. Emblem of mans earthly good. The gourd represents this. It was like it in its development, its decay, and its destruction. It came out of the earth. It came out by Divine agency. The decaying agent was mean. The decay was prompt. The work was done in secret.
II. Emblem of Gods disciplinary procedure.
1. God disciplines man by facts.
2. These facts are varied in their character.
3. These facts are adapted to their end. Learn–
(1) Not to trust in earthly good.
(2) Improve under the disciplinary influences of heaven. (Preachers Finger-post.)
The history of Jonahs gourd
I. The springing up of this gourd. This took place under very remarkable and truly affecting circumstances.
1. Learn that a gracious God sometimes visits us with mercies when we have reason to expect judgments. Rage drives Jonah out of Nineveh into the scorching heat of an eastern sun, and there, while he is quarrelling with God and asking for death, springs up suddenly a wide-spreading plant to shelter and comfort him. In seasons like these faith is weak, and a compassionate God stoops to its weakness. He gives the soul sensible indications of His love, recalls it to its duty and happiness, by mercies which it can feel and understand.
2. There is no want of His servants too small for God to notice, and no suffering too light for Him to relieve. Jonahs worthless head is as much an object of His concern as Jonahs guilty soul. In no point do we mistake more than in this. This matter, we say, is too contemptible to be taken to God. We limit, we dishonour God when we say, This is too small for Him. The care He invites us to roll on Him is, all our care.
3. The Lord often reveals His greatness by the mode in which He imparts comfort and manifests compassion. Refer to those dispensations of Providence, those unexpected deliverances, and blessings and comforts which every servant of God occasionally experiences: things occurring so that he must be blind who does not see in them the Divine hand. We have not to run after goodness and mercy.
II. The effect produced on the prophets mind by this inter-position of God on his behalf. Jonah rejoiced in the gourd with great joy
1. Well may we wonder at the folly of that heart which could take so much pleasure in so mean a thing; but there is still greater reason to wonder at its amazing selfishness. This history is like a libel on human nature.
2. The ingratitude of the human heart. We too have often forgotten God in the comforts He has given us. Those very comforts have been the causes of our forgetting Him. They have separated between Christ and our soul.
III. The withering of this overvalued gourd.
1. All earthly comforts are short-lived; they are frail and perishing. They often die while we are rejoicing in them.
2. The comfort that most delights us is generally the first to perish. The mercies we lose the soonest are those we love the best. This is the testimony of fact.
3. Our comforts are often taken from us when they appear to be the most needed. Our prop gives way when we are the weakest. The gourd withers in the morning, just when the sun is beginning to scorch.
4. Our comforts often perish from unforeseen and very inconsiderable causes. A trifle–a worm–destroys them. Such is the history of this miraculous plant–it sprang up, it gave delight, it brought into sight the baseness of the human heart, and then it withered. Is not this the history of every comfort the earth yields? It speaks to us all. It bids us care less about a passing world. It calls us to seek after that refuge and comfort of which no creature, either small or great, can rob us. Is there such a refuge? Yes. It is in Christ Jesus, in a manifested, incarnate God; in His cross and righteousness and spirit, in union and intercourse with Him. And it is nowhere else. A crucified Jesus is the one only remedy for all human ills, the one only source of all solid happiness. (C. Bradley.)
The preparations of God
Let the subject be–The precise personal action of God in the discipline, or teaching troubles, of His people. The Lords teaching by grouping and combination. One teaching suggested to us by these combinations of God is the need of profound humility in judging any of His dealings while they are going on; and of unlimited faith in Him as the preparer and arranger of everything. In no case do we know the whole of a matter. We see but one part, and do not understand the relation of that part to the whole. Jonah did not know what real relationship that gourd had to him. We are taught that we must not quarrel with any one dealing of God. We must not think there is failure because one part of a dealing is, to all appearance, not doing its work. Though one mean and another has apparently come short in your hand, view God in combination, and do not despair. God taught Jonah by a combination of facts, by personal experiences, personal suffering. The incidents of our lives are instinct with educational power. Only, we must see God in them. Alas! that lifes facts are so barren of teaching to many. Men fail to read their own lives. By this education of facts Gods teaching is very penetrating. Observe also the grouping together of opposites–of pleasure and pain; God reproduces in daily life–the gourd, the worm, the wind. Often we see light and darkness; or conversely, darkness and light mingled in our homes, our business, our relationships, and our only way of being at peace, and being helped heavenward by all that comes, is by seeing in them the preparations of the Lord. The same thoughtfulness by which God arranged the prophets teaching arranges ours, if only we will learn. The same sovereignty which has the gourd, the worm, and the wind at command has things great and small, all ready to do us good. The same patience in waiting while His combination of circumstances were doing their work is waiting on us now. (P. H. Power, M. A.)
So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
Gladness is not gratitude
The sequel shows clearly that the prophet had not one spark of gratitude to God for His merciful interposition in his extremity. He was glad of the gourd, which, springing up in a night, sheltered him from the burning rays of a fierce sun, but not thankful to God whose goodness had provided it; the feeling was purely selfish and sensual, destitute utterly of piety. Glad of the gift, but not a thought of the Giver; for as soon as the gourd withered away he was angry, and wished for death, and bitterly complained to God, and justified his folly and petulance.
In all this, Jonah is a type of multitudes of nominal Christians–glad because of Gods great mercies, but never grateful; the temporal gift, but not the Divine Giver, is thought of. (Homiletic Monthly.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 6. And the Lord God prepared a gourd] I believe this should be rendered in the preterpluperfect tense. The Lord HAD prepared – this plant, kikayon. It had in the course of God’s providence been planted and grown up in that place, though perhaps not yet in full leaf; and Jonah made that his tent. And its thick branches and large leaves made it an ample shelter for him, and because it was such, he rejoiced greatly on the account. But what was the kikayon? The best judges say the ricinus or palma Christi, from which we get what is vulgarly called castor oil, is meant. It is a tree as large as the olive, has leaves which are like those of the vine, and is also quick of growth. This in all probability was the plant in question, which had been already planted, though it had not attained its proper growth, and was not then in full leaf. Celsus, in his Hierobot., says it grows to the height of an olive tree; the trunk and branches are hollow like a kex, and the leaves sometimes as broad as the rim of a hat. It must be of a soft or spongy substance, for it is said to grow surprisingly fast. See Taylor under the root, 1670. But it is evident there was something supernatural in the growth of this plant, for it is stated to have come up in a night; though the Chaldee understands the passage thus: “It was here last night, and it withered this night.” In one night it might have blown and expanded its leaves considerably, though the plant had existed before, but not in full bloom till the time that Jonah required it for a shelter.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Prepared; commanded that in the place where Jonahs booth stood, this herb, or spreading plant, should spring up to be a shade when the gathered boughs are withered.
A gourd: it is not certain what this was; some say ivy; others say it was palma christi, or five-leaved, whose leaves are so set as to resemble a mans hand, or a wild vine or colocyntha; nor is it very material we should search further into the nature of this in the text, it was some wild plant with long and broad leaves, which suddenly grew, spread itself, and made a good shade.
Made it to come up; God gate it a speedy growth, and directed the growth that it should cover the top of the booth, and be a shade to Jonah against the vehemence of the sun, which did shine very parchingly hot in those countries.
To deliver him from his grief; to give some ease to his mind, refresh his natural spirits, much discomposed by the violence of his passions and by the violent heat of the sun. It is probable this grief was some extreme fit of continued head-ache.
Exceeding glad; as vehement in his joy now as in his grief before; he was a man of great affections, whatever moved them.
Of the gourd; his ease by the gourd made him glad of it, and I observe that here is no mention made of Jonahs seeing God in it.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
6. gourdHebrew, kikaion;the Egyptian kiki, the “ricinus” or castor-oilplant, commonly called “palm-christ” (palma-christi).It grows from eight to ten feet high. Only one leaf grows on abranch, but that leaf being often more than a foot large, thecollective leaves give good shelter from the heat. It grows rapidly,and fades as suddenly when injured.
to deliver him from hisgriefIt was therefore grief, not selfish anger, whichJonah felt (see on Jon 4:1).Some external comforts will often turn the mind away from itssorrowful bent.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Lord God prepared a gourd,…. So the Septuagint render the word; but some say that a worm will not touch that; Jerom renders it an ivy; but neither the gourd nor that rise upwards without some props to support them. The Hebrew word is “kikaion”, the same with the “kiki”, or “cici”, of Herodotus c, Dioscorides d, Strabo e, and Pliny f; a plant frequent in Egypt, of which the Egyptians made an oil; hence the Talmudists g make mention of the oil of “kik”, which Reshlakish says is the “kikaion” of Jonah; and which is the same that the Arabians call “alcheroa” or “alcherva”, according to Samuel ben Hophni h, Maimonides i, Bartenora k, and Jerom l; and which is well known to be the “ricinus”, or “palma Christi”; and which, by the description of it, according to all the above writers, bids fairest m to be here intended; it rising up to the height of a tree, an olive tree, having very large broad leaves, like those of vines, or of plantain; and springing up suddenly, as Pliny says it does in Spain; and Clusius affirms he saw at the straits of Gibraltar a ricinus of the thickness of a man, and of the height of three men; and Bellonius, who travelled through Syria and Palestine, saw one in Crete of the size of a tree; and Dietericus n, who relates the above, says he saw himself, in a garden at Leyden, well furnished and enriched with exotic plants, an American ricinus, the stalk of which was hollow, weak, and soft, and the leaves almost a foot and a half; and which Adolphus Vorstius, he adds, took to be the same which Jonah had for a shade; with which agrees what Dioscorides o says, that there is a sort of it which grows large like a tree, and as high as a fig tree; the leaves of it are like those of a palm tree, though broader, smoother, and blacker; the branches and trunk of it are hollow like a reed: and what may seem more to confirm this is, that a certain number of grains of the seed of the ricinus very much provoke vomiting; which, if true, as Marinus p observes, the word here used may be derived from , which signifies to vomit; from whence is the word , vomiting; and the first radical being here doubled may increase the signification, and show it to be a great emetic; and the like virtue of the ricinus is observed by others q. Jerom allegorizes it of the ceremonial law, under the shadow of which Israel dwelt for a while; and then was abrogated by Christ, who says he was a worm, and no man: but it is better to apply it to outward mercies and earthly enjoyments, which like this plant spring out of the earth, and have their root in it, and are of the nature of it, and therefore minded by earthly and carnal men above all others; they are thin, slight, and slender things; there is no solidity and substance in them, like the kiki, whose stalk is hollow as a reed, as Dioscorides says; they are light and empty things, vanity and vexation of spirit; spring up suddenly sometimes, and are gone as soon; some men come to riches and honour at once, and rise up to a very great pitch of both, and quickly fall into poverty and disgrace again; for these are very uncertain perishing things, like this herb or plant, or even as grass, which soon withers away. They are indeed of God, who is the Father of mercies, and are the gifts of his providence, and not the merit of men; they are disposed of according to his will, and “prepared” by him in his purposes, and given forth according to them, and in his covenant to his own special people, and are to them blessings indeed:
and made [it] to come up over Jonah; over his head, as follows; and it may be over the booth he had built, which was become in a manner useless; the leaves of the boughs of which it was made being withered with the heat of the sun; it came over him so as to cover him all over; which may denote both the necessity of outward mercies, as food and raiment, which the Lord knows his people have need of; and the sufficiency of them he grants, with which they should be content:
that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief; either from the vexation of mind at the repentance of the Ninevites, and the mercy shown them; this being a refreshment unto him, and which he might take as a new token of the Lord’s favourable regard to him, after the offence he had given him, and gentle reproof for it; or from the headache, with which he was thought to have been afflicted, through his vexation; or by the heat of the sun; or rather it was to shelter him from the heat of the sun, and the distress that gave him: so outward mercies, like a reviving and refreshing shadow, exhilarate the spirits, and are a defence against the injuries and insults of men, and a preservative from the grief and distress which poverty brings with it:
so Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd; or, “rejoiced with a great joy” r; he was excessively and above measure glad of it, because of its usefulness to him: outward mercies are what we should be thankful for; and it is good for men to rejoice in their labours, and enjoy the good of them; to eat their bread with a merry heart and cheerfulness; but should not be elevated with them beyond measure, lifted up with pride, and boast and glory of them, and rejoice in such boastings, which is evil; or rejoice in them as their portion, placing their happiness therein, which is to rejoice in a thing of naught; or to overrate mercies, and show more affection for them than for God himself, the giver of them, who only should be our “exceeding joy”; and, when this is the case, it is much if they are not quickly taken away, as Jonah’s gourd was, as follows:
c Euterpe, sive l. 2. c. 94. d L. 4. c. 164. e Geograph. l. 17. p. 566. f Nat. Hist. l. 15. c. 7. g Misa. Sabbat, c. 2. sect. 1. T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 21. 2. h In Kimchi in loc. i In Misna Sabbat, c. 2. sect. 1. k In ib. l In loc. m Vid. Weidlingt. Dissert. de Kikaion, apud Thesaur. Theolog. Phil. Dissert. vol. 1. p. 989. Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 2. c. 24. p. 293, 294. & l. 4. c. 27. p. 623. & Geograph. par. 1. col. 918, 919. & Liveleum in loc. n Antiqu. Bibl. par. 1. p. 82. o Apud Calmet’s Dictionary, in the word “Kikaion”. p Arca Noae, tom. 2. fol. 135. q Hillerus in Hierophytico, par. 1. p. 453. apud Burkium in loc. r – “et laetatus est—-magna laetitia”, Pagninus, Montanus “et laetabaturque laetitia magna”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “gavisus est gaudio magno”, Burkius,
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jehovah-God appointed a Qiqayon, which grew up over Jonah, to give him shade over his head, “to deliver him from his evil.” The Qiqayon, which Luther renders gourd ( Krbiss) after the lxx, but describes in his commentary on the book of Jonah as the vitis alba, is, according to Jerome, the shrub called Elkeroa in Syriac, a very common shrub in Palestine, which grows in sandy places, having broad leaves that throw a pleasant shadow, and which shoots up to a considerable height in a very few days.
(Note: Jerome describes it thus: “A kind of bush or shrub, having broad leaves like vine leaves, casting a very dense shadow, and sustaining itself by its trunk, which grows very abundantly in Palestine, and chiefly in sandy places. If placed in sowing land, being quickly nourished, it grows up into a tree, and in a very few days what you saw as nothing but a herb you now look upon as a small tree.”)
The Elkeroa, however, which Niebuhr also saw at Basra ( Beschrieb. v. Arab. p. 148) and describes in a similar manner, is the ricinus or palma Christi , the miraculous tree; and, according to Kimchi and the Talmudists, it was the Kik or Kiki of the Egyptians, from which an oil was obtained according to Herodotus (ii. 94) and Pliny ( Hits. n. xv. 7), as was the case according to Niebuhr with the Elkeroa. Its rapid growth is also mentioned by Pliny, who calls it ricinus (see Ges. thes. p. 1214). God caused this shrub to grow up with miraculous rapidity, to such a height that it cast a shade upon Jonah’s head, to procure him deliverance ( ) “from his evil,” i.e., not from the burning heat of the sun ( ab aestu solis ), from which he suffered in the hut which he had run up so hastily with twigs, but from his displeasure or vexation, the evil from which he suffered according to Jon 4:3 (Rosenmller, Hitzig). The variation in the names of the Deity in Jon 4:6-9 is worthy of notice. The creation of the miraculous tree to give shade to Jonah is ascribed to Jehovah-Elohim in Jon 4:6. This composite name, which occurs very rarely except in Genesis 2 and 3 (see comm. on Gen 2:4), is chosen here to help the transition from Jehovah in Jon 4:4 to Elohim in Jon 4:7, Jon 4:8. Jehovah, who replies to the prophet concerning his discontented complaint (Jon 4:4) as Elohim, i.e., as the divine creative power, causes the miraculous tree to spring up, to heal Jonah of his chagrin. And to the same end h-Elohim, i.e., the personal God, prepares the worm which punctures the miraculous tree and causes it to wither away (Jon 4:7); and this is also helped by the east wind appointed by Elohim, i.e., the Deity ruling over nature (Jon 4:8), to bring about the correction of the prophet, who was murmuring against God. Hence the different names of God are employed with thoughtful deliberation. Jonah rejoiced exceedingly at the miraculous growth of the shrub which provided for him, because he probably saw therein a sign of the goodness of God and of the divine approval of his intention to wait for the destruction of Nineveh. But this joy was not to last long.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Before I proceed to treat on the contents of these verses, I will say a few things on the word קיקיון, kikiun; for there were formerly some disputes respecting this word. Some render it, a gourd; ( eucurbitam) others think it to have been a cucumber. Free conjectures are commonly made respecting obscure and unknown things. However, the first rendering has been the received one: and Augustine says, that a tumult arose in some church, when the Bishop rend the new interpretation of Jerome, who said that it was the ivy. Those men were certainly thoughtless and foolish who were so offended for a matter so trifling; for they ought to have more carefully inquired which version was the best and most correct. And Augustine did not act so very wisely in this affair; for superstition so possessed him, that he was unwilling that the received version of the Old Testament should be changed. He indeed willingly allowed Jerome to translate the New Testament from the Greek original; but he would not have the Old Testament to be touched; for he entertained a suspicion of the Jews, — that as they were the most inveterate enemies of the faith, they would have tried to falsify the Law and the Prophets. As then Augustine had this suspicion, he preferred retaining the common version. And Jerome relates that he was traduced at Rome, because he had rendered it ivy instead of gourd; but he answered Augustine in a very severe and almost an angry manner; and he inveighed in high displeasure against some Cornelius and another by the name of Asinius Polio, who had accused him at Rome as one guilty of sacrilege, because he had changed this word. I cannot allege in excuse, that they peevishly rejected what was probable. But as to the thing itself, I would rather retain in this place the word gourd, or cucumber, than to cause any disturbance by a thing of no moment. Jerome himself confesses, that it was not ivy; for he says, that it was a kind of a shrub, and that it grows everywhere in Syria; he says that it was a shrub supported by its own stem, which is not the case with ivy; for the ivy, except it cleaves to a wall or to a tree, creeps on the ground. It could not then have been the ivy; and he ought not to have so translated it. He excuses himself and says, that if he had put down the Hebrew word, many would have dreamt it to have been a beast or a serpent. He therefore wished to put down something that was known. But he might also have caused many doubts: “Why! ivy is said to have ascended over the head of Jonah, and to have afforded him a shade; how could this have been?” Now I wonder why Jerome says in one place that the shrub was called in his time Cicion in the Syrian language; and he says in another place in his Commentaries, that it was called in the same language Elkeroa; which we see to be wholly different from the word קיקיון, kikiun. Now when he answered Augustine I doubt not but that he dissembled; for he knew that Augustine did not understand Hebrew: he therefore trifled with him as with a child, because he was ignorant. It seems to have been a new gloss, I know not what, invented at the time for his own convenience: I doubt not but that he at the moment formed the word, as there is some affinity between קיקיון, kikiun, and cicion. However it may have been, whether it was a gourd or a shrub, it is not necessary to dispute much how it could have grown so soon into so great a size. Jerome says, that it was a shrub with many leaves, and that it grew to the size of a vine. Be it so; but this shrub grows not in one day, nor in two, nor in three days.
It must have therefore been something extraordinary. Neither the ivy, nor the gourd, nor any shrub, nor any tree, could have grown so quickly as to afford a cover to the head of Jonah: nor did this shrub alone give shelter to Jonah’s head; for it is more probable, that it was derived also from the booth which he had made for himself. Jonah then not only sheltered himself under the shrub, but had the booth as an additional cover, when he was not sufficiently defended from the heat of the sun. Hence God added this shrub to the shade afforded by the booth: for in those regions, as we know, the sun is very hot; and further, it was, as we shall see, an extraordinary heat.
I wished to say thus much of the word ivy; and I have spoken more than I intended; but as there have been contentions formerly on the subject, I wished to notice what may be satisfactory even to curious readers. I come now to what is contained in this passage.
Jonah tells us that a gourds or a cucumber, or an ivy, was prepared by the Lord. There is no doubt but that this shrub grew in a manner unusual, that it might be a cover to the booth of Jonah. So I view the passage. But God, we know, approaches nature, whenever he does anything beyond what nature is: this is not indeed always the case; but we generally find that God so works, as that he exceeds the course of nature, and yet from nature he does not wholly depart. For when in the desert he intended to collect together a great quantity of quails, that he might give meat to the people, he raised wind from the east, (Num 11:31.) How often the winds blew without bringing such an abundance of birds? It was therefore a miracle: but yet God did not wholly cast aside the assistance of nature; hence he made use of the wind; and yet the wind could not of itself bring these birds. So also in this place, God had chosen, I have no doubt, a herb, which soon ascended to a great height, and yet far surpassed the usual course of nature. In this sense, then, it is that God is said to have prepared the קיקיון, kikiun, (56) and to have made it to ascend over Jonah’s head, that it might be for a shade to his head and free him from his distress.
(56) Much has been written on the character of this plant. Modern critics have pretended to determine that it was the Ricinus , commonly called Palma Christi . It matters not what it was: its growth was doubtless miraculous. It may have been an indigenous plant, it may have been such a plant as never grew before or after. Two things are evident — God prepared it, and prepared it to shelter Jonah. In a translation it would have been better either to retain the original name, or to give it the general name of a plant or shrub. To call it a gourd, an ivy, or a cucumber, is to convey an incorrect idea. — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(6) Prepared.See Note, Jon. 1:17.
A gourd.So the LXX. render the Hebrew qiqaion, which, since the time of Jerome, has been usually identified with the Arabic el keroa, the castor-oil tree (Ricinus communis, or Palma Christi; see margin). It is a large shrub, having large palmate leaves, with serrated lobes, and spikes of blossoms which produce the seed, whence the well-known medicinal oil is extracted, in small rough husks. The strongest argument in favour of this view is the proposed derivation of the Hebrew name from the Egyptian kiki, and the rabbinical name for castor-oil, kiki-oil.[22] In spite of this etymological argument, Dr. Tristram says: Practical reasons cause me to lean strongly to the rendering of our English version, gourd, i.e., the bottle gourd (Cucurbita pepo). In Palestine the vernacularnames are almost identical in sound, kurah being the gourd, khurwah the castor-oil tree. But the gourd is very commonly employed in Palestine for the purpose of shading arbours. Its rapid growth and large leaves render it admirably adapted for training on trellis-work . . . But the plant withers as rapidly as it shoots, and after a storm or any injury to its stem, its fruit may be seen hanging from the leafless tendrils, which so lately concealed it, a type of melancholy desolation (Nat Hist. of the Bible, p. 449).
[22] A Semitic origin for the word is rendered probable by its discovery under the form, quqanitu, on a small tablet which the Babylonian king Marduk-bal-iddin (Merodach-baladan) ordered to be set in a garden. (See letters of Dr. F. Delitzsch, to the Athenum of May 26th and June 9th, 1883.)
Made it to come up.Rather, it came up.
Deliver.In the original there is a play of words on this word and shadow.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
6. Jehovah God As in Gen 2:4. Both names are used to indicate that God, mentioned as supreme so frequently in the book, and Jehovah, the God of Jonah, are identical.
Prepared See on Jon 1:17 (compare Jon 4:7).
Gourd This translation of the Hebrew word, which occurs only here (6-10), is based upon LXX. The plant meant is the Palma Christi, or castor-oil plant ( Ricinus communis). It is described by Jerome as being very abundant in Palestine, growing especially in sandy places. The same author (so also Pliny) calls attention to its rapid growth: “In a very few days what you saw as nothing but a herb you now look upon as a small tree.” Its broad leaves are admirably adapted to protect against the sun.
Made it to come up Or, it came up over the booth erected by Jonah; thus it protected the prophet’s head against the rays of the sun.
To deliver him from his grief R.V., “from his evil case.” A.V. seems to have in mind the displeasure of Jonah (Jon 4:1), as if the offered shade could remove the irritation and displeasure. But his trouble was so deep-seated that the “gourd” could hardly do away with it.
It is better to think of the heat of the sun beating upon the prophet’s head. This affliction (so the Hebrew might be rendered), which may have increased the bitterness of his spirit, the plant was to remove. Most commentators consider the words a later interpolation.
Jonah was exceeding glad When the sun burned him no longer. It is not unlikely that with the heat went some of his bitterness.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And YHWH God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, in order that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his evil situation.’
The shelter had clearly failed to protect Jonah as the ship had failed to protect the mariners, and their own religion had failed to protect the Assyrians. So ‘YHWH God’, Jonah’s covenant God and the One Who was God over all things, (or alternately the God of foreigners as depicted in chapters 1 & 3), had been busy preparing a gourd in order more effectively to shelter Jonah from ‘his evil situation’ (i.e. the hot sun). The purpose of this was clearly because of the insufficiency of his own provision. It represented the mercy of God.
Various suggestions have been made as to what this gourd was, for it was clearly quick-growing and provided good shelter. One suggestion is that it was a castor oil plant. This is a rapidly growing plant that provides adequate shelter from the sun and yet withers easily if manhandled. Another suggestion which some consider fits the context better is the bottle gourd. It may already have been partly grown (it had been ‘prepared by YHWH’) with the quick growth that made it provide direct shade for Jonah then occurring rapidly. Castor oil plants grow very rapidly. The expression ‘son of a night’ (Jon 4:10) may only indicate the extra growth which became apparent in the morning, with it being unnoticed until then. Whatever it was, it provided Jonah with the necessary shade which his shelter had clearly failed to provide. It was God’s merciful provision for his need. This was in order to deliver him from the heat of the sun.
It is significant that Jonah was suffering here from an ‘evil situation’, as he and the mariners had suffered under an ‘evil situation’ in Jon 1:7-8, and as the Assyrians were suffering under an ‘evil situation’ in Jon 1:1; Jon 3:10. This is a prophecy about delivery from ‘evil situations’. And in each case God’s mercy was required in order to remedy it.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
‘So Jonah was extremely glad because of the gourd.’
We are told that Jonah was extremely glad because of the gourd. It had made his wait much more comfortable, and in the mercy of God had relieved him from his ‘evil situation’.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jon 4:6 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.
Ver. 6. And the Lord God prepared a gourd ] sc. after that his booth was dried up, and the leaves withered, God, by his providence, and not without a miracle (because without seed, and so suddenly), furnished Jonah with his gourd or ivy bush, or white vine, or the plant called Palma Christi, or Pentedactylon, because it resembleth a man’s hand with five fingers; something it was, but what is not certainly known. Kimchi thus describeth it: Est herba longis et altis frondibus umbrosa: It is a herb or plant that yieldeth good shade with its long and large leaves. And many years before him, one Rabba, son of Hanna, said, that it grows by the water’s side, is commonly set for shade’s sake before tavern doors, and that oil is made of the seeds of it.
And made it to come up over Jonah
To deliver him from his grief
So Jonah was exceeding glad
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
God. Hebrew. Elohim (i.e. Creator). App-4.
prepared = appointed: as in verses: Jon 4:7, Jon 4:8, Jon 4:17.
gourd. Hebrew. kikayon. Art Egyptian word.
shadow. to deliver him. Note the Figure of speech Paronomasia (App-6). Hebrew. tzel. le hatztzel.
grief = evil, or evil ease. Heb ra’a’. App-44.
was exceeding glad. Note the Figure of speech Polyptoton (App-6) for emphasis. Hebrew = rejoiced with great rejoicing.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
prepared
Four prepared things. Jon 1:17; Jon 4:6; Jon 4:7; Jon 4:8
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the Lord: Jon 1:17, Psa 103:10-14
gourd: or, palmcrist, Heb. Kikajon, [Strong’s H7021], probably the palma Christi, called kiki or kouki by the Egyptians, and Elkherod by the Arabs, from which caster oil is extracted. It is as large as the olive tree, has leaves like those of a vine, sometimes as broad as the brim of a hat, and is of very quick growth.
So: Est 5:9, Pro 23:5, Isa 39:2, Amo 6:13, Luk 10:20, 1Co 7:30
was exceeding glad: Heb. rejoiced with great joy
Reciprocal: Isa 25:5 – as the heat Jon 4:8 – that God
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE PREPARATIONS OF GOD
The Lord God prepared.
Jon 4:6-8
There is often great looseness and want of precision in our thoughts about God and His actings.
And these always produce their natural effectsviz., a loss of power; so that we do not attain to what we might be, simply because we do not know what God is. This, then, being the case, all portions of Scripture which bring God before us very personally are precious. They give a precision to our thoughts; they draw us from theories to facts; they make us to feel that we have to do with the living Beingwe, thinking beings, with One Who thinkswe, feeling beings, with One Who feelswe, acting beings, with One Who acts.
And thus, speaking reverently, we understand God more, by knowing that He and we have these things in commonthe power of action, and feeling, and thought. But we must go further than believing that God has all these powers; we must believe that they are all in exercisein a higher state of activity than we can possibly conceive; and more than thatthat they are all brought to bear on us, and our interests, and our affairs.
Now, in this passage let us confine our thoughts to one branch of this subjectviz., The action, and that the precise personal action, of God in the discipline or teaching troubles of His people.
This is brought before us by the threefold mention of God, and the threefold statement of His direct movement in the troubles of Jonah. The Lord prepared a gourd. But God prepared a worm. God prepared a vehement east wind. And we know what all this preparation was for. It was to teach by personal feeling a wayward, and selfish, and God-dishonouring servant of the Lordone who had indeed learned something of the Most High in the terrors of the storm and the prison-house of the whale. But oh! how little of Him, really! for he grudged Him the highest manifestation of Himself in mercy.
I. First of all observethe Lords teaching by grouping and combination.We are so coarse and unskilled that we are generally for going direct at teaching. We do not understand delicate combinations. To us the gourd would be a gourd, the worm a worm, an east wind the east wind, and no more; to God they are parts of a whole, to be grouped and fitted together, and made to work in harmony, each observing a certain order in appearing on the scene, and fulfilling exactly its own proper part, and nothing more.
II. One teaching suggested to us by these combinations of God is the need of profound humility in judging any of His dealings while they are going on; and of unlimited faith in Him as the preparer and arranger of everything. For it is true that in no case do we know the whole of the matter. We are seeing but one part of it; and do not understand the relation of that one part to the whole.
Gods ways are in the great deep. What I do thou knowest not now. These are the voices which come to us from the Word.
Jonah did not know what real relationship that gourd had to him. He probably knew nothing about the gourd at all. The east wind he looked on only as an enemy, even as, no doubt, he had looked upon the gourd as a friend; but friendly gourd, and fierce, unfriendly wind, and silent, gnawing worm, were all one whole, to school his heart for God.
III. We are thus taught that we must not quarrel with any one dealing of God.We are very apt to pick out one event and another in the history of our lives, and say, Oh! if such had not happened! Or we take a vexatious event out of the little history of the day, and say, Such and such a catastrophe would not have occurred if so and so had not happened. When the east wind has blown, we blame the worm. But we must take a larger view of things. He who would understand the dealings of God must have a mind that can embrace great things like the vehement east wind, and little things like a gnawing worm; they are all links of the same chain, and combinations of the wisdom of God.
IV. Another teaching is this. We must not think there is failure, because one part of a dealing is to all appearance not doing its work.Who saw the worm at its task? And when it had done, it had not cast down the gourd; it had only left it in a fit state for the east wind to work upon. And that was all that it had been prepared for. It was never intended to cut down the gourd; when it laid down the work another instrument was prepared to take it up. How full of teaching this is for us! It is as though God would say to us, He who begins is not of necessity to finish My work.
Rev. P. B. Power.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Jon 4:6. Gourd is from qtyqayown which Strong defines, The gourd (as nauseous).” He also says it is derived from another Hebrew word that means To vomit. 1 shall quote from Smiths Bible Dictionary on the subject. The plant which ia intended by this word, and which afforded shade to the prophet Jonah before Nineveh, is the Ricinus communis, or castor-oil plant, which, a native of Asia, is now naturalized in America Africa and the south of Europe. This plant varies considerably in size, being in India a tree, hut in England seldom attaining a greater height than three or four feet. The leaves are large and palmate [shaped like a palm leaf), with serrated [notched) lobes, and would form an excellent shelter for the sun- stricken prophet. The seeds contain the oil so well known under the name of. ‘castor oil, which has for ages been in high repute as a medicine. It is now thought by many that the plant meant is a vine of the cucumber family, a genuine gourd, which is much used for shade in the East. I have quoted the entire paragraph which presents the two opinions as to the plant meant by the gourd, in order to give the reader the benefit of the doubt. The marginal rendering in the common Bible favors the first of the two descriptions, likewise the definition of Strong which refers to the feeling of nausea or act of vomiting, which would agree with one effect of the castor bean. However, in either case the plant would furnish additional protection from the strong rays of the sun which could penetrate through the booth that Jonah was enabled to make for the moment. The double arrangement for shade would provide the advantage of insulation between the booth and the plant somewhat like a tent under a tree. The situation accomplished the Lords pur-pose, for It, is stated that Jonah was exceeding glad of [because of] the gourd.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
4:6 And the LORD God prepared a {f} 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.
(f) Which was a further means to cover him from the heat of the sun, as he remained in his booth.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
God continued to manifest compassion for Jonah by providing him with a shading plant that relieved the discomfort (Heb. ra’ah) of the blistering Mesopotamian sun. This is the only time that we read that Jonah was happy, and it was because he was physically comfortable. His anger grew out of his personal discomfort resulting from God’s mercy on the Ninevites. The Hebrew word ra’ah, translated "discomfort" here, is the same word translated "evil" when it describes the Ninevites’ evil (Jon 1:2; Jon 3:8) and "displeased" when it describes Jonah’s displeasure over God’s decision to spare the city. Jonah’s attitudes were as evil in God’s sight as the Ninevites’ actions. It is impossible to identify the exact plant that God provided, and it is inconsequential. Some commentators speculate that it was probably the castor bean plant, which in Mesopotamia grows rapidly to 12 feet tall and has large leaves.
Notice the shift in the name of God again from Yahweh to Elohim in this verse. This is one of the rare appearances of the compound name "LORD God" in Scripture (cf. Genesis 2; Genesis 3; et al.). Its use here may help make a transition. God dealt with Jonah as He deals with all humanity in what follows.