We have followed the delightful work of God’s Spirit dealing with men in this little book and turning them completely round. We have seen the heathen sailors turned from their idols to the true and living God. We have seen the self-willed and disobedient prophet turned from his journey westward to Tarshish and made ready and willing to go in the opposite direction to Nineveh. We have seen the king and people of Nineveh turn from their wicked ways and in deep humiliation and repentance seek the God who had sent Jonah to them.
The three lovely chapters we have considered are like an invitation from the Lord Himself to us, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found that which I had lost.” (Luke 15:6, 96And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. (Luke 15:6)
9And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. (Luke 15:9).) If our hearts are at all in tune with the joys of heaven, what can we do but mightily rejoice to see so many sinners repenting?
Then comes the fourth chapter. It seems to be so terribly “out of tune” that, to the natural mind, it might seem altogether out of place and an utterly wrong ending to such a book. These are the thoughts of nature; and as we ponder this brief chapter with which our book closes, surely we are compelled to confess that the grace of God, with which this whole book glistens, shines out here almost more brilliantly than in any other part. May the Lord open our eyes to see Himself, as we ponder these last few verses of this lovely story!
As we have noted, the chapters that have passed before our view have been like a call from the Lord Himself to rejoice with Him over repenting sinners. Of all those who are called to share this joy of heaven, we would think that none would have rejoiced like the prophet Jonah himself. We would expect his mouth to have been filled with laughter and his tongue with singing, as he saw the grace of God—that grace that turned his very sin to such blessing that a whole ship’s company turned to the Lord. Then, in spite of all his failure, the Lord honored His servant by letting him be the means of turning the whole of a great city to the true and living God. Surely he should have been a happy man! Such was not the case, however.
“And it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.” chap. 4:1. “Displeased exceedingly, and angry:” What a condition for a prophet of Jehovah, one who had just been the instrument in the hand of Jehovah for such a mighty work! With whom was he so exceedingly displeased? With whom was he very angry? Sad, sad to say, it was with Jehovah Himself. Why was he so displeased and so angry? It was because Jehovah had not destroyed the city of Nineveh, because Jehovah had shown grace and mercy to these repenting sinners.
If ever a man had needed the grace and mercy of Jehovah it was Jonah himself, down in the belly of the great fish. He had been shown that grace and mercy, but now he was unwilling that others should receive what he himself had so mightily needed and had so freely been given.
It reminds us of the elder son in Luke 15:2828And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him. (Luke 15:28)—“He was angry, and would not go in.” Angry with whom? Angry with his father. Why was he so angry with his father? Because he had received back his repentant brother and not said a word about his sins—he had shown grace and mercy, instead of judgment. So the elder brother was angry and would not go in. He may have meant to insult his brother, but in reality it was his father whom he insulted.
Beloved friends, do we not see a picture of ourselves in these two men? Have you not known of a brother who has been angry and would not go to the meeting, because of something of which he did not approve? He may have meant to show that he was exceedingly displeased and very angry with one of his brethren, but in reality the insult is toward his Lord. Who is the center? Who is the attraction at the meeting? Is it our brethren, or is it the Lord?
The whole scene is so sad and so strange, and yet when we look at our own hearts, we know very well that this sad fourth chapter of Jonah is absolutely true to life. Jonah felt that his reputation as a prophet was gone. He had foretold that in forty days Nineveh would be overthrown, and now God had repented of the evil that He said He would do, and He did it not, and Jonah’s word had not come true. How often have we been displeased and angry and sulky (just like Jonah) over something that God Himself has allowed in our lives, which we feel has affected our reputation? With my eyes on myself, away from God, how very large “I” become in my own sight.
Listen to Jonah’s prayer and count the number of times he speaks of himself: “And he prayed unto Jehovah, and said, Ah, Jehovah, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I was minded to flee at first unto Tarshish; for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving-kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil. And now, Jehovah, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” vv.2-3. Nine times he speaks of himself. How the prophet here again reminds us of the elder brother in Luke 15:2929And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: (Luke 15:29) JND Trans.—“Behold, so many years I serve thee, and never have I transgressed a commandment of thine; and to me hast thou never given a kid that I might make merry with my friends.” The same object is before them both—self, that hateful self, that self that ever remains with writer and reader and Jonah alike.
One would have thought that such experiences as those through which Jonah had so lately passed would have “eradicated” the old nature (as some would have us believe). Alas! The old nature was just as strong in Jonah as ever it had been, and it comes out in a fit of bad temper, such as you and I have very likely experienced in ourselves. It comes out to tell us with all the force and weight of God’s own Word that the doctrine of the eradication of the old nature, the doctrine of “sinless perfection,” is nothing but a myth, a lie of the devil, to deceive men. If ever a man should have had the old Jonah die, and only the new Jonah live, it was our prophet; but the fourth chapter lets us see that the old Jonah was just as much alive as he ever was. If we are honest, we have to confess that the same is true of us. Jonah is a mighty witness to the truth of the word, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.” 1 John 1:88If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1 John 1:8).
“It displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed.” vv.1-2. Displeasure and anger do not make a very good beginning to prayer, so perhaps we need not wonder when we hear what he prayed. Though he addressed his words to God, it is only too evident that his eyes were on himself, and on what he fancied were his wrongs. You will remember that this is not the first prayer of Jonah to which we have listened. How different was this prayer from the one sent up to God from the belly of the great fish! At that time his eyes were toward God’s holy mountain. He was looking away from self to God, but now he was looking away from God to self. It may be that we have prayed in a very similar state of mind. It may be that we have gone to God to complain or to accuse, instead of to beseech. It may be that instead of lifting up our eyes to heaven, as our Lord did when He prayed (John 17:11These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: (John 17:1)), we have turned our eyes down to ourselves, or around to our brethren, and the sights that we see in either case almost surely make us displeased and angry.
Let us look for a moment at Jonah’s prayer. Surely it was only grace that could call it a prayer, for we will see that there was little about it that conformed to a true prayer. He begins: “Ah, Jehovah, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country?” This is a question, not a prayer—and a question put to Jehovah in order to justify himself for the very sin and disobedience that had already brought such terrible chastisement on him and of which we thought he had truly repented. Then note these words, “My saying... my country.” Can we not see the pride of self and pride of country just sticking out here? Are we any better? Which of us does not naturally like to speak of himself and repeat “my saying,” tell what I have said, and prove that I was right? It might have been one of us speaking, instead of Jonah the prophet: only then we would not be so hard on the speaker. And Jonah had quite forgotten that, after all, the country was God’s country and not his. The Lord had definitely said of that particular country, “The land is Mine.” Lev. 25:2323The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is mine; for ye are strangers and sojourners with me. (Leviticus 25:23).
What was it that Jonah had said in “my country”? Why was he minded to flee unto Tarshish? He tells us himself: “For I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving-kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil.” What a glorious character! and how true it was, and is! Yes, truly Jonah knew his God. You will recall that another could say, “I feared thee, because thou art an austere man.” Luke 19:2121For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. (Luke 19:21). How little did this servant know his master! Jonah was a true servant of the Lord and truly knew his Master’s character. This was before he set out for Tarshish at all. One is inclined to think that Jonah had had experiences of the Lord’s grace and mercy to himself even before he had tasted of it so very deeply in the belly of the fish. The disobedient, rebellious and sulky nature of the prophet may have manifested itself before the days of which this little book tells us, and the prophet had learned deeply and truly to know his Master and Lord. It is good that we should know Him thus; it gives us a confidence in Him, and brings us back to Him in shame and sorrow, even as this same knowledge of his Master brought Peter back to Him. We will never be disappointed in Him, when we come back to Him, pleading this character no matter how great the sin and the failure. Ponder those five characteristics, and let them sink down deeply into our hearts:
“A gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving-kindness, and repentest Thee of the evil.”
One marvels that Jonah should wish to flee from the presence of such a God, instead of enjoying the sunshine of His love and favor. Why should he wish to escape from Him? It would seem that he well knew that, if the guilty city of Nineveh should repent, the Lord would also repent of the evil and not do it. On the one hand, “my saying” as to the destruction of the city would not come true, and Jonah’s reputation as a prophet would be affected. And on the other hand, it may well be that Jonah’s eye looked down the years and saw that, before so very long, “my country” would be desolated by the very city he now hoped to see destroyed. They are both motives that touch us very closely: loss of reputation and loss of our country would carry very great weight with almost every one of us and move us to do strange things indeed.
So we see that Jonah’s displeasure and his anger were caused by God’s abundant mercy and because God did not bring a terrible punishment on a rival nation, whom Jonah wished to see destroyed. If we are honest, I suppose that most of us know full well that in our own hearts we have been guilty of the very same thoughts with regard to nations that are rivals of our own.
Perhaps we should make a remark on what Jonah says of God: “Thou... repentest Thee of the evil.” We have already pointed out that repentance in man means to “think again,” or a change of thought or a change of mind. In another place in Scripture, we read: “The Hope of Israel will not lie nor repent; for He is not a man, that He should repent.” 1 Sam. 15:2929And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent. (1 Samuel 15:29) JND Trans. What then does Jonah mean when he says, “Thou... repentest Thee of the evil”? It does not mean a change of mind on God’s part, but a change of action caused by a change of mind on man’s part. God sends warnings to man in order that man may change his mind, may repent, so that God may change His action from judgment to mercy. God has not changed His mind. God’s mind has ever been toward mercy: “Thou art a gracious God, and merciful;” but man’s sin must bring down the righteous judgment of God, even though He is slow to anger. There is only one way of escape, and that is by repentance on the part of sinful man. With this object in view God sends warnings to individuals and to nations. If they hear and repent, then God may act according to the desires of His heart and show mercy. If man will not repent, there is no other way, and judgment must fall.
Let us look further at Jonah’s prayer. He continues: “And now, Jehovah, take, I beseech Thee, my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” v.3. This is the only request in Jonah’s prayer, a request that he might die. Why? Because he could not have his own way. Self-will and disappointment made him long to give up his honorable position as prophet and servant of Jehovah, a witness to Him even in a foreign land, and escape all his troubles in death. It was very wrong and very cowardly—just the kind of thing we do. When things go all wrong, and we do not get our own way, and we are disappointed and discouraged, then we sigh, and hope that the Lord may soon come and take us away to heaven. The writer has to confess that he has done just the same thing as Jonah, and very possibly the reader is little better. If we allow it, how the sword of the Spirit cuts us, and how truly it is “a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb. 4:1212For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).
Jonah is not the only prophet of Jehovah who in a fit of disappointment had prayed that he might die. You remember Elijah had prayed, “It is enough: now, Jehovah, take my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” 1 Kings 19:44But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers. (1 Kings 19:4) JND Trans. We, too, have had similar thoughts when we have been utterly disappointed with ourselves. How different if all our hopes had been in our Lord, and we had truly learned the lesson that “in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.” Rom. 7:1818For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. (Romans 7:18).
How gracious is Jehovah, whether to Jonah or to Elijah or to us! He might well have sharply rebuked Jonah for such a prayer as that, or for coming into His presence in displeasure and anger. How gracious is His reply to another question, too: “Doest thou well to be angry?” v.4. Jonah did the very best thing he could have done—he was silent. His mouth was closed. How graciously the Lord answered Elijah’s prayer! This time the Lord was silent, and instead of a reply in words, He gave him sweet refreshing sleep under a broom-bush and then fed him with a cake baked on hot stones. Was it baked by the same One who prepared the fish on the fire of coals and the bread in John 21? He refreshed him with a cruse of water also. That prayer of Elijah’s was never answered, for in place of taking away his life in death, as he had wished, the Lord took him home without passing through death at all, in His own chariot of fire. How gently and graciously the Lord has answered us in our times of disappointment and discouragement, giving us better than all we could ask or think, each one may bear witness for himself! But we can all unite in singing:
“How good is the God we adore,
Our faithful, unchangeable Friend,
Whose love is as great as His power,
And knows neither measure nor end!”
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“And Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city” (that was the side farthest from the land of Israel), “and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city.” v.5. I suppose about the worst thing we can do after we have finished preaching is to go and settle ourselves down as comfortably as we can, doing nothing, while we wait to see what the results may be. Our place is to deliver God’s message, leave the results with Him and pass on to other service for the same blessed Master.
The grace of God still followed the self-willed prophet. “And Jehovah Elohim prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his trouble.” v.6.
How very gracious and kind of Jehovah to do this! He always knows our frame and ever remembers that we are dust. He deigns to minister to our physical needs, whether rest and food for Elijah, or shade for Jonah. Notice, it was Jehovah Elohim Himself who prepared this gourd. Perhaps this would tell not only of His faithful loving-kindness but also of His power. It was not the first thing Jehovah had prepared for His erring servant. He had prepared the “great fish.” He had sent forth the “great wind,” and now He prepared a gourd. Great things and small things are alike to our God. He can prepare the one as easily as the other. How often are we tempted to say in our hearts that such and such a thing is too great to expect God to do for us, even if we may have learned to trust Him about the little things. Again, we may have learned to know that our God is able and willing to work in our behalf in the “great” things, but we would be ashamed to expect our God to be interested in a gourd—that is too trifling a thing! It is a blessed lesson to learn that all are alike to Him.
“And Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd.” v.6. Not only was he “glad,” but he was “exceeding glad” because of the gourd, as he had been “exceedingly displeased” because of God’s mercy. How we delight in those temporal mercies that add to our ease and comfort! The luxuries of the present day are often to us what Jonah’s gourd was to him—the cause of exceeding gladness.
“But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd, that it withered.”
Whether a whale or a worm, the same word is used: God “prepared” them both. As we see those things which have added to our ease and pleasure fade and die, we may do well to consider whether it is our own loving God who Himself has prepared the worm to make them pass away. We may learn lessons in adversity, in scorching suns, in poverty and want, that we never could have learned in prosperity and ease and luxury.
There was worse to come—a withered gourd and a tropical sun were bad enough; but now God prepared something more. “And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, so that he fainted.”
God had only “sent out” the “great wind” into the sea, but this “sultry east wind” was specially prepared by the hand of God Himself to teach a lesson Jonah might otherwise never have learned. The vehemence and the sultriness of that wind had been weighed and measured by God’s own hand. We too may learn a lesson here that some of those things that we call “misfortunes” are specially prepared for us by the hand of God Himself. Though it is true (as we may see in the case of Job) that Satan also may send trouble and disaster and loss, that Satan also may cause a “great wind” (Job 1:1919And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. (Job 1:19)), yet whether it be Job or whether it be one of us, we may take all these things from the hand of God. We may always remember that it is true that “all things work together for good to them that love God.” Rom. 8:2828And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28). It is also true that “all things are for your sakes” (2 Cor. 4:1515For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. (2 Corinthians 4:15)), and we may always say, “all things are of God.” 2 Cor. 5:1818And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (2 Corinthians 5:18). So Jonah himself bore witness that it was God Himself who prepared both the worm and the sultry east wind: and we may well believe that the time came when he accepted both from God’s loving hand and thanked Him for them.
It is perhaps worthy of note to see how God’s activity in this little book is described:
“The word of Jehovah came unto Jonah.” chap. 1:1.
“Jehovah sent out a great wind.” chap. 1:4.
“Jehovah prepared a great fish.” chap. 1:17.
“Jehovah commanded the fish, and it vomited out Jonah.” chap. 2:10.
“The word of Jehovah came unto Jonah the second time.” chap. 3:1.
“God [Elohim] saw their works.” chap. 3:10.
“God [Elohim] repented of the evil.” chap. 3:10.
“Jehovah said, Doest thou well to be angry?” chap. 4:4.
“Jehovah Elohim prepared a gourd.” chap. 4:6.
“God [Elohim] prepared a worm.” chap. 4:7.
“God [Elohim] prepared a sultry east wind.” chap. 4:8.
“God [Elohim] said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?” chap. 4:9.
“Jehovah said, Thou hast pity on the gourd.” chap. 4:10.
We cannot leave the subject of what God prepared for Jonah without mention of another place specially prepared by the Lord Himself, which we doubt not Jonah also will share. The Lord Jesus said: “In My Father’s house there are many abodes; were it not so, I had told you: for I go to prepare you a place.” John 14:22In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2) JND Trans. When at home in the Father’s house and we look back over the wilderness pathway, we will then recognize many a thing and many a circumstance that the Lord has specially prepared for us. I suppose that Jonah did not realize at the time that the great fish and the gourd and the worm and the sultry east wind had each in turn been specially prepared for him. I suspect he thought they had just “happened.”
We believe it was Jonah’s own hand that wrote the little book that bears his name, for we cannot suppose it was any other: it would not be like Jonah’s Master to allow another servant to so openly disclose the faults and failings of a fellow-servant. If this be so, we may see how deeply Jonah learned before the end of his journey to take all these things from the hand of God; and what gratitude must have risen up in his heart at the tender care of his God for him. Who else would take the trouble specially to prepare a worm on purpose for himself, to teach himself a greatly needed lesson? So, I suppose, at the end of our journey when we reach the place our Lord is preparing for us, our hearts will rise up in gratitude, not alone for that prepared place, but for all His tender care along the way, for the worms, or what we now term the “misfortunes,” as well as for the gourds, or what we now call the “blessings”—both alike are specially prepared for us. Then we will be able to say, He led us by the skillfulness of His hands (Psa. 78:7272So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands. (Psalm 78:72)), and with wonder and thanksgiving we will admire the things those skilful hands are preparing for us now.
That sultry east wind was the last straw for Jonah. He fainted. It was not the first time that Jonah had fainted. Down in the fish’s belly he tells us his soul had fainted within him. (Chap. 2:7.) Then he remembered Jehovah. It is so with us, very often. As long as we have our own strength on which to lean, we do not remember Jehovah, but when our strength is gone, when we are helpless and hopeless, when we faint, then in our desperate need we “remember Jehovah.” “Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity.” The Lord had seen and heard and delivered His fainting servant before. What about this time? Did Jonah remember Jehovah again? Yes, again he turned to Jehovah, and prayed: but not this time with his eyes directed towards His holy temple in deep repentance, ready and willing to bow before Him and do His will. Sad, sad to say, Jonah had not even yet learned his lesson. Poor, weary, disappointed, fainting Jonah still struggled on in his own self-will, and once again requested for himself that he might die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.” v.8. Neither the tender pleadings and the loving care, nor the sterner lessons of the worm and the wind, had, apparently, had any effect on the sulky, self-willed prophet. It was just the same request, again uttered in anger. It is remarkable that this time it is said “God” (not Jehovah, as before) said to Jonah, “Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?” v.9. It would seem that the continued fit of bad temper has taken away the intimacy that the covenant name of Jehovah would indicate, and God now addresses him on the same ground as He had dealt with the heathen Ninevites: “God [not Jehovah] saw their works... and God repented.” chap. 3:10. It is a solemn thing to remember that if we persist in our own way and will not heed the tender strivings of the Holy Spirit, not only is the intimacy of communion lost, but we must be dealt with on other ground than that of a loving child, hearkening to its Father’s voice.
God’s question is much the same as the one He had asked Jonah before. Then he was wisely silent. Self-will and bad temper had made him grow bolder, and now he ventures to reply against God. He said, “I do well to be angry, unto death.” v.9. Foolish man! God in His grace did not take him at his word, did not answer that rash prayer. On the contrary, by a word of His mouth He illuminated the lessons of the gourd and the worm and the wind (which so far had passed unheeded), and in the most touching manner He deigned to justify to one of His own creatures His ways of grace towards the guilty city of Nineveh. It would be hard to find a brighter illustration of the character Jonah had given God, than the last two verses of our book. Abraham and Moses had taken upon themselves to reason with Jehovah (Gen. 18; Ex. 32; Num. 16); but, oh, how different their attitude! Jehovah Himself invites the guilty sinner to come and reason (Isa. 1:1818Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. (Isaiah 1:18)), but that reasoning is nothing like Jonah’s reasoning with his Maker. To us it would seem that Jonah deserved to be severely punished. If we had a naughty, self-willed child that persisted in bad temper and sulkiness, we would probably soon give it a good spanking and feel that it richly deserved its punishment; but the amazing grace of God still goes on in patience with His poor erring servant, and we believe wins the day.
Jehovah had the last word, as indeed He always must have; but listen to that last word: “Thou hast pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: and I, should not I have pity on Nineveh, the great city, wherein are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” vv. 10-11.
What a picture it is! Jonah “exceeding glad” of the gourd because it added to his own comfort, but utterly unconscious of the joy in heaven over a whole city that had repented: and even exceedingly displeased, and very angry, because it had done so and thus been saved from destruction! Jonah was far more deeply concerned with the fate of the gourd than he was with perhaps a million or more never-dying souls who had just turned to the living and true God. What a lesson for us today! How many of us are far more deeply concerned over our gourds and our flowers, our houses and our business, our motors and our radios, than we are with the millions of perishing, yet never-dying, souls all about us. How many of us are “exceeding glad” of something that adds a little more to our own comfort and ease and luxury, but we are utterly unconscious and without a care or a thought as to whether there is joy, exceeding joy, in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. And we are “exceedingly displeased” and “angry” if anything happens to disturb our comfort and upset the even tenor of our way. The heathen in their blindness may bow down to wood and stone, for all we care, provided the worms do not get into our gourds and the sultry east wind does not smite us or destroy our crops. Such is the heart of man, such is your heart and mine! Self ever takes the first place, unless the Lord has taught us to lift up our eyes and look off unto JESUS.
The Lord did not rebuke Jonah for having pity on the gourd. There was nothing wrong in that. The wrong lay in the fact that he gave more pity, more thought, more care, for a gourd that came up in a night and perished in a night than for the teeming, perishing thousands of a great city. It is not by any accident that God used that expression “perished” in a night. It is the fourth time in this little book we have heard that word “perish.” Surely there would echo back in Jonah’s mind the frantic words of that shipmaster as he roused Jonah from his sleep, “Arise, call upon thy God; perhaps God will think upon us, that we perish not.” chap. 1:6. Or again, could he ever forget the fervent prayer of those sailors as they cast him into the sea: “Let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for Thou, Jehovah, hast done as it pleased Thee.” chap. 1:14. Also, the agonized words of the people of Nineveh must have still been ringing in his ears: “Who knoweth but that God will turn and repent, and will turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?” chap. 3:9. These people all perished not. God knew they were of more value than many gourds, and He found a way that they should not perish. He was willing that the gourd which came up in a night should perish in a night, in order to teach His servant the lesson he so greatly needed. Alas, how different was that servant! He would have been willing enough for all these men to perish, if his gourd might have been saved.
Note further: “Thou hast pity on the gourd, for which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow.” v.10. What does that tell us? It tells us of God’s tender care, not for the gourd alone, but for the many thousands of Nineveh. Each individual life in that great city was precious in God’s sight. Each one was the work of God’s hand, for each one He had labored, and it was God alone who had made each one to grow. This was true not alone of the grown men and women, but of the little children and the cattle, whom God especially mentions in these verses. What a lesson this is to us as we see the vast numbers of the heathen, those utterly without God in the world. For each of these individually God has a tender care, on the ground that He has labored for them, He has made them to grow. It is truly His hand that provides them day by day with their daily bread, though they have never learned to acknowledge Him as “Father.” May the Lord help us to look on them with His own thoughts, and love them with a little of that wondrous love told out with such ringing eloquence in those words so familiar to us all: “God so loved the world!”
Of these thoughts of God and of His love Jonah seemed to be utterly ignorant and indifferent, but one believes that Jonah’s eyes were at last opened and that in the end he learned these magnificent lessons of God’s grace and love and his own utter vileness. Surely the existence of this little book, and especially this last chapter, is a witness to this fact.
The Lord could say to His disciples, as though it was so obvious they must all know it perfectly well: “Ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Matt. 10:3131Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:31). Here was Jonah placing a higher value on a gourd (more worthless than a sparrow) than on a city that was so immense that there were a hundred and twenty thousand tiny children in it (notice the Lord had counted the little children—He knew them each one) “and also much cattle.”
If it were not that it strikes home to all of us, we would be apt to despise Jonah most thoroughly. If we are honest and weigh up what we spend on ourselves and on our own comforts, ease and luxury; then compare that with what we spend on the conversion of the heathen, we may find that in reality, we, like Jonah, value our perishing gourds at a good deal higher price than we value the perishing heathen. There are some of us who go even further than that: some are even “exceedingly displeased” and “angry” with those who do have a care for these souls.
There is something peculiarly touching in those last words, “and also much cattle.” Though not numbered, like the little children, the cattle had worn sackcloth along with the people and God had seen it, and the God who does not let one sparrow fall to the ground without His knowledge shows us here His tender care for the cattle, who would have perished with their guilty owners. It is a grand truth that when a man is saved all that pertains to him is under the dominion of a new master. Pharoah wanted Israel to leave their cattle in Egypt when they went out of that country, but the magnificent answer is, “There shall not a hoof be left behind.” Ex. 10:2626Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not an hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come thither. (Exodus 10:26). That is the right way. When you were converted, were your cattle converted too? Was your business converted, and your bank account? The little children who do not know their right hand from their left, are they traveling the narrow way with you? All these were saved when the king of Nineveh and his people turned to God in repentance. That is the only right way for us to be saved also. If the little children and the cattle are not included there is something wrong.
If we are honest, the little book of Jonah hits most of us very hard indeed, but what comfort it may bring to our wounded souls to remember that Jonah’s God is our God. We have to confess that the same patience, grace and mercy that followed Jonah from start to finish have also followed us from the start, and we doubt not that they will continue with us to the end. May He deliver us from our disobedience and self-will, from our sulks and from our tempers! May He form and fashion us like unto Himself and give us a true estimate of the real value of gourds and souls of men and make us vessels, sanctified and meet for the Master’s use!
We will close our meditations on Jonah with the words of another: “It is sweet, after all, to see Jonah’s docility in the end to the voice of God, manifested by the existence of this book, in which the Spirit uses him to exhibit what is in the heart of man, as the vessel of God’s testimony, and (in contrast with the prophet, who honestly confesses all his faults) the kindness of God, to which Jonah could not elevate himself, and to which he could not submit.” (Synopsis of the Books of the Bible, J.N. Darby, Vol. 2.)
Lord, give the writer and the reader more of that sweet docility!
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“O teach me more of Thy blest ways,
Thou Holy Lamb of God!
And fix and root me in Thy grace,
As one redeemed by blood.
O tell me often of Thy love,
Of all Thy grief and pain;
And let my heart with joy confess
That thence comes all my gain.
For this, O may I freely count
Whate’er I have but loss;
The dearest object of my love,
Compared with Thee, but dross.
Engrave this deeply on my heart
With an eternal pen,
That I may, in some small degree,
Return Thy love again.”