Jehovah, instead of sharply disciplining His refractory servant, graciously condescended to reason with him, “Doest thou well to be angry?” Oh, the contrast between our God, Sovereign in the universe, and the petty despots of earth! Such peevish rebelliousness as Jonah manifested might have cost him his life at the hands of the latter. But God always seeks to win men's hearts, both in dealing with sinners “without” and with wayward saints “within.”
The gracious question of Jonah 4:44Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry? (Jonah 4:4) was repeated in verse 9. To the first inquiry the prophet appears to have made no answer but we have the astonishing statement, “Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow till he might see what would become of the city.” What a picture! A man who has been handled with the utmost grace by his God positively sitting down (making himself comfortable withal) in the hope that God would change His mind and destroy the city! Thus would his vanity be gratified, and his reputation as a true prophet be maintained! Wretched self-importance, almost without parallel in the history of the world!
Our thoughts travel to Another Prophet “greater than Jonah” and “greater than Moses”' (Deut. 18:1515The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; (Deuteronomy 18:15)) Who at a later date sat on a hillside overlooking a different city, guilty before God beyond any other if only because it had been for many centuries the most favored. Our Lord's last approach to Jerusalem was from the east. He followed Joshua's route from across Jordan. Arrived at Jericho (Rahab's Descendant, be it remembered, Matt. 1:55And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and Obed begat Jesse; (Matthew 1:5)), the city did not fall before Him as before Joshua, for He had “not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them!” Blessing tracked His footsteps, as Zacchaeus and Bartimaeus will be able to testify eternally. Then as He descended the Mount of Olives, and the long loved, but grievously guilty Jerusalem came into view, tears filled His eyes.“If thou hadst known even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are bid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in one every side and shall lay thee even with the ground and thy children within thee, and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knowest not the time of thy visitation” (Luke 19:41-4441And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, 42Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. 43For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, 44And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. (Luke 19:41‑44)).
Lovely manifestation of tender feeling, and that on the part of the Judge of quick and dead! He who wept over Jerusalem is the same august Person who said in Hosea's day “How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee up, Israel... Mine heart is turned within Me” (Hos. 11:88How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together. (Hosea 11:8)). If judgment must needs be, it was nevertheless painful to the divine heart to be constrained to execute it. Judgment is “His strange work” (Isa. 28:1111For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. (Isaiah 28:11)). To such gracious sentiments the heart of Jonah was a stranger. How is it with ourselves? As faithful witnesses for God, it is our duty to warn an evil world of the judgment appointed (woe unto us if we neglect to sound the warning!) but how do we do it? Is it in the stern spirit of denunciation, or is it with trembling lips and compassionate hearts? Are we unmindful of the fact that but for the infinite grace of God and the costly sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, we should ourselves be in the lake of fire? May God preserve us from the spirit of Pharisaism as we proclaim the fearful things which are certainly coming upon the world of the ungodly.
Jehovah had not yet finished with Jonah. Accordingly He “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 exceedingly glad of the gourd.” Again we say, what a God is ours! Here we have a man who deserved severe chastisement, and whom God might justly have banished from His service forever, granted special divine relief from the effects of his own bad temper. But this was not the end. The relief was short-lived, for God prepared a worm the next morning, which “smote the gourd that it withered.” Job, after immeasurable losses—property, servants, children—“fell down upon the ground and worshipped. And said, “Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither; Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah” (Job 1:20-2120Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, 21And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord. (Job 1:20‑21)). And He who suffered more than either Jonah or Job, when all was painful around Him, said, “I thank Thee, O Father; Lord of heaven and earth... even so, Father, for it seemeth good in Thy sight” (Matt. 11:25-20).
But Jonah was rebellious. Twice he tells us in his book that he prayed unto Jehovah; in the fish's belly, and in the neighborhood of Nineveh. The first was a genuine outpouring of the heart under the mighty hand of God, and it brought a speedy reply; the second was a peevish outburst because his journey to Nineveh did not result as he expected. Twice the angry man said, “It is better for me to die that to live.” It is true enough that any of us had better die than live if we are not willing to “show forth the excellencies of Him who hath called us out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:99But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: (1 Peter 2:9)). A witness who misrepresents the character of Him who sends him is worse than useless in a needy world.
The worm by the will of God did his destructive work in the early morning. Then the sun waxed hot, and a sultry east wind arose. Poor Jonah was overwhelmed, and dared to say to his Lord, “I do well to be angry, even unto death.” This drew forth Jehovah's final remonstrance: “Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it grow: which came up in a night, and perished in a night: and should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?”
The book thus closes abruptly. Jonah was left to answer the challenge as best he could, and the reader of today is left to answer it for himself. The God whom we know—blessedly revealed to us in Christ—could do no otherwise than spare a repentant city. But this did not suit the surly preacher. His personal dignity was at stake (at least so he judged), and he would prefer Nineveh to be destroyed, with its immense population of old and young, rather than his words should fall to the ground. He had pity on the gourd, a creature of a day, because it was of advantage to himself, but there was no pity in his heart for hundreds of thousands of precious souls. If Jonah wrote his book in later life, as seems probable, surely he blushed with shame as he penned its concluding chapter under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Let us not miss the lesson. Away with all pride and self-importance. Let us learn to say with Paul, “I am nothing” (2 Cor. 12:1111I am become a fool in glorying; ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you: for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing. (2 Corinthians 12:11)). The Apostle had learned the meaning of his baptism. He had with all simplicity of faith accepted the death of Christ as his own, and he willingly passed out of sight. His dignities and attainments he counted loss for Christ. It was henceforward his earnest expectation and hope that Christ might be magnified in his body, whether by life or by death. (Phil. 1:2020According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. (Philippians 1:20)).
“For me to live is Christ.”