Jonah Chapters 3-4/Commentary

The Book of Jonah Chapters 3-4 Chapter 3

3:1 “Now the very fact that the Lord spoke again to Jonah is quite revealing.

First of all, the command manifested Jehovah’s continued love and concern for the heathen Ninevites. He had no intention of abandoning this great city simply because of one prophet’s disobedience and waywardness” (Banks p. 71). “God did not dismiss His disobedient servant. Nor did He wait until Jonah had of his own accord set out for Nineveh…He does not inform Jonah of His purpose. The prophet’s and preacher’s duty is to preach not his own mind, but only whatever the Lord tells him (Jeremiah 1:7,9) and to leave the success or non-success of his preaching to the Lord” (Laetsch pp. 233-234). God doesn’t compromise, even when one of His prophets has some prejudice.

Often we speak of God as being the God of the second chance, but actually, if we would look at our own lives and the lives of others, God is the God of the 999 th chance. No man or woman who ends up lost will be able to complain that they didn’t have any opportunities to evaluate their life or change.

3:2 Three times in this book the city of Nineveh is called a great city (1:2; 3:2; 4:11). The city itself was surrounded by an inner way and an outer wall. The huge inner wall was 50 feet wide and 100 feet high and was about eight miles in circumference. The words “great city” probably included Nineveh and also its administrative environs (i.e., the suburbs of Rehoboth, Ir, Calah and Resen).

3:2 “Proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you”: Here is the duty of the prophet, to speak only what God says (Jeremiah 1:7). In like manner, today, we must determine to speak and preach only what God has revealed (1 Peter 4:11). “The prophet’s and preacher’s duty is to preach not his own mind, but only whatever the Lord tells him and to leave the success or non-success of his preaching to the Lord” (Laetsch p. 234). “We live in an age in which society tends to dictate to the preacher (what to preach, or what is important), and social

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pressure and modern theological trends” (Banks p. 73). We tend to forget that it is the preacher’s task to preach God’s Word (2 Timothy 4:2-4).

3:3 This time there was no attempt on the part of Jonah to avoid his responsibility, having heard the command, Jonah arose and went. The word “was” in this verse doesn’t mean that Nineveh no longer existed when the book of Jonah was written (see John 11:18). The three days journey does not necessarily refer to the diameter of the city, but rather, to the length of time required to preach to all the people. It would take Jonah three days to complete his mission, going from one part of the city to another and addressing various crowds which would gather.

3:4 The message through Jonah was clear and simple, in 40 days the entire city of Nineveh would be destroyed. God always speaks to man in language that man can understand—for man’s survival depends upon it (Matthew 4:4; Romans 1:16). “The verb translated ‘shall be overthrown’ means literally to turn or overturn. The tense of the verb indicates thoroughness—a complete destruction or overturning of the city’s foundation is meant….it is interesting to note that this same verb is used to describe the destruction of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah” (Banks p. 80). Observe how God doesn’t spring a surprise judgment, but like Noah’s generation, gives the people warning, which leaves the door open for repentance.

3:5 Apparently the words of Jonah spread rapidly through every quarter of the city. The people believed what Jonah said, and in addition, they allowed such conviction to move them to repent. This included people from every social strata. Jesus confirms the truthfulness of this verse in Matthew 12:41. Various critics say that the conversion account of the Ninevites cannot be true, yet Jesus, who was there, said it was true (Matthew 12:41). People who stumble at accepting such an immediate and general conversion of the entire city, are people who do not think that the gospel can change a man (Romans 1:16), compare with Acts 18:10.

3:6 Even the king humbled himself and put on sackcloth, which was a coarse, rough, dark-colored cloth, usually made of goat hair or camel hair. He put on sackcloth, just like one of his lowest servants and further demonstrated the humbling of himself before God by sitting in ashes.

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At times people will argue or talk as if people outside of Christ are so far removed from understanding the truth that it is virtually impossible to reach them. Or, it would take years or decades to bring them out of all their misconceptions. Yet here we find a pagan people who immediately humble themselves when they hear the word of God. In addition see such passages as 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 and 1 Timothy 1:13ff.

3:7-8 The king further issues a decree that everyone, even including all the animals must put on sackcloth and fast. “The covering of the animals was a custom practiced in mourning for the death of a great person” (Hailey p. 77).

3:8 “turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands”: “This indicates that the national conscience recognized that the overthrow of the city would be a just retribution on them for their wickedness” (Hailey p. 77). The verse also informs us that most people outside of Christ know that they are not right with God, people are not ignorant of their sins. The king also understood the basic truth that true repentance is more than wearing sackcloth and fasting, true repentance must involve the forsaking of sin (Matthew 3:8; 2 Corinthians 7:10). “The king was not satisfied with mere ritual manifestation of repentance.

He ordered a change of conduct on the part of his people….The particular wickedness of which Nineveh was guilty was ‘violence’. Violence is social injustice, it is trampling the rights of other people, it is man’s inhumanity to his fellowman. In their foreign policy the Assyrians were more ruthless than any people in the ancient world” (Smith p. 117).

Some have tried to deny the historical truthfulness of this book, because the king is called the king of Nineveh, when it is argued that he should have been called the king of Assyria. Such an argument is arrogant, for is assumes that such rulers were never called “the king of Nineveh”. For many years, there was no historical evidence that the Assyrian king Sargon, mentioned in Isaiah 20:1 had ever existed. But such evidence finally has surfaced. Numerous critics have been proven wrong in the past for accusing the Bible of inaccuracies, especially when unearthed secular records revealing that the Bible was right all along.

Insisting that every statement in Scripture be confirmed by secular testimony simply camouflages a hard-heart of unbelief.

3:9 “Who knows, God may turn and relent..”: And Jeremiah had specifically said that God would do exactly this if a nation turned from its evil ways (Jeremiah 18:7-8). This pagan king understood that mercy was conditional. In

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addition, the very fact that Nineveh had been given warning would seem to suggest that this judgment could be avoided “We see here the value of judgment preaching. Some people are dismayed by ‘hellfire and brimstone’ preaching, and claim that it does great harm. They say that it is medieval and that it creates fear and feelings of guilt” (Banks pp. 94-95).

Yet fear and guilt are good if they lead people to repentance. If we don’t preach on these things, people will end up fearing and feeling guilt for eternity! In hell people will feel both very afraid and very guilty.

3:10 Here we see God’s desire that people turn from their wicked ways and live (Ezekiel 18:21-23; 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9). God isn’t just waiting for people to slip up so He can condemn them, rather God only exercises His judgment when people have refused to change. This chapter clearly reveals a God who has compassion even for the most cruel and hardened unbeliever. If such people will only repent, God will be merciful. “It reveals His readiness to forgive and to spare; but it also gives us the other side of the picture which reveals God’s fierce hatred for sin, cruelty, and corruption. Nations of today would do well to learn this lesson so graphically made known and so clearly declared by all the prophets” (Hailey p. 77).

Chapter 4 4:1 Instead of rejoicing with God over the repentance of a whole city of sinners (Luke 15:7), Jonah was angry. Noah preached for years and yet only saved his own household. Jonah preached for three days and converted the world capital of a superpower, and yet He is unhappy! The word translated “greatly displeased” is derived from a verb meaning “to be evil” or “to be bad”. From Jonah’s viewpoint the deliverance of Nineveh was evil, and it vexed and irritated him. The word “angry”, means to “burn”. Hence, Jonah is seething with anger.

In Jonah’s mind sparing the city was “wrong”, it was just plain wrong!

4:2 For the first time in the book we are told why Jonah had first fled from God. He turns to God in prayer, but not a prayer of gratitude, praise, or adoration, but a prayer of bitter resentment. His complaint was not that God was too harsh, but rather, that He was too merciful. Jonah knows well the definition which God had given of Himself (Exodus 34:6ff). The reason that Jonah had fled the first time, is that he knew that God was giving the city of Nineveh a chance to repent and if the people did repent, God would spare the city, and Jonah didn’t want this city spared.

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Jonah is blinded by his anger. He forgot that he had just been an object of God’s mercy (chapter 2), and now he doesn’t want mercy shown to others (Matthew 18). It is tempting to think that the sins of other people are more evil or offensive to God than our own sins. It is also tempting to think that other people don’t deserve a second chance, when God has given us hundreds of second chances.

Jonah isn’t impressed with God’s grace, if that grace is extended to people who were the enemies of Israel. Jonah doesn’t feel that God is very practical is giving a nation a second chance, seeing that such a nation might destroy Israel in the future. At this point Jonah doesn’t have any confidence in God’s wisdom or the way He runs the world. In like manner, even Christians can get upset at God’s moral ruling of this world when they see ‘good’ people dying young and when evil people prosper and the faithful struggle to make ends meet. If we think that “doctrine” gets in the way of church growth or being “successful”, then we are thinking just like Jonah.

4:3 “Please take my life”: If this is what God is going to do, if this is how God is going to run the world, then Jonah doesn’t want to have any part of it. He would rather die then serve such a God. Not only was Jonah upset that the salvation of Nineveh meant the future destruction of Israel, but Jonah’s pride might have been hurt. He had announced that Nineveh would be destroyed and now such a prophesy would not happen. Maybe he thinks that God had made a fool of him or that he had become a laughingstock to other people.

4:4 Instead of sending this ungrateful prophet back in the belly of the fish, God appeals to Jonah. Jonah forgot that the same patience manifested to the people in Nineveh is the same mercy being displayed to him right now.

4:4 “Do you have good reason to be angry?”: What a wonderful question, and it is a question that we need to ask ourselves more often. We tend to justify our anger, and think the people that we are angry with don’t deserve any mercy.

Jonah’s anger is like the spirit of the elder brother in the account of the Prodigal son (Luke 15). The verse implies that Jonah’s anger isn’t justified. It’s not the intensity of his anger that is wrong, rather, it is the reason why he is angry. “A person should never angrily question what God does, even when it differs from what he expects or wants” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 1471). No response is given by Jonah, indicating that maybe deep down Jonah knew that his anger was unjustified.

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4:5 Jonah heads out of the city and builds himself a booth on the east side. There he sat, not praying for the salvation of the city, nor to gather strength to preach to others, but that he might see what would become of the city. He cannot accept the fact that God will spare this city which had been so cruel. He still longs for the day that Nineveh would be destroyed. Jonah looks very childish in these verses, and this is exactly how we look when we refuse to accept God’s teachings in our lives. It appears that Jonah had started a “sit-in” or protest, and is almost trying to persuade God to do otherwise. Do we try to change God’s mind about something by feeling sorry or ourselves, lashing out at others, being angry, and so on?

4:6 Apparently the shelter that Jonah had built wasn’t much protection from the hot sun, so God caused a large plant to grow up and provide dense shade for Jonah. As a result, Jonah was not just happy, but extremely happy.

4:7-8 God then caused a worm to destroy the plant and it withered. Later than day God caused a scorching east wind to arise and Jonah begged to have his life taken.

4:9 God now asks if Jonah had just cause to be angry about what had happened to the plant. Jonah had lost all his patience with God and shot back the answer, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death”. “Those who are victims of selfpity are not hesitant to defend their negative attitude even to deity!” (Smith p.

121). This reveals something. The real root of unjustified and sinful anger is an anger directed towards God. Next time you find yourself being selfishly angry, ask yourself, “Who am I really blaming?”

4:10-11 God was using the plant for a simple illustration, with the attempt to trying to “convert” His own prophet. Jonah was really happy about a simple plant, which had lasted only a day. Yet, this same Jonah has absolutely no compassion for men and women created in the image of God, and an entire city of them, which contains over 120,000 young children!

Jonah cared more for a vine than for human lives! He cared more for his own personal comfort than the eternal destiny of thousands of people. What about us? “Whereas Jonah had thought God was absurd in sparing the Assyrians, God exposed Jonah as the one whose thinking was absurd” (Bible Knowledge Comm. p. 1472).

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4:10 “which you did not work, and which you did not cause to grow”: Jonah had become attached to something which he hadn’t lifted a finger to produce, and which only lasted one day. He is thus inexcusable for not having the same compassion for the souls of men. People sometimes try to excuse their lack of compassion, zeal, and emotion for the things of God by saying, “I’m not an emotional, sensitive, etc…person”. Yet this same person will demonstrate tremendous compassion, zeal, and so on concerning some earthly thing.

4:11 “who do not know the difference between their right and left hand”: That is, little children too young to have reached the age of discretion. In addition, note that God’s compassion even extends to the animal creation (Matthew 6:26; 10:29; Luke 12:6). The physical consequences of human sin do affect the animals as well. When God judges nations, animals die and suffer.

Conclusion “With this question the book of Jonah closes. The prophet rather abruptly drops the curtain and draws a veil over his further life’s history. Naturally we ask, Did Jonah repent of his stubborn opposition? Jonah does not answer this question directly” (Laetsch p. 243). If Jonah is the human instrument that God used to write this book then it would appear that Jonah did repent. And this frank and self-humiliating confession of his sin was penned (along with other purposes), with the hope that others would avoid the pitfall of such bigotry and complaining. From history we learn that the city of Nineveh eventually went back to her old ways and was finally destroyed by God in 612 B.C. Hence, we can only repent for our own generation, and each generation must be raised with respect towards God and His Word. The fact that our nation might be judged in the future doesn’t mean that our efforts are worthless, rather, we can prevent such a judgment in our own time.

And finally, as you finish reading this book, are any of us more concerned about the “plants” in our lives than the human beings in our lives? Are we more excited about some human hobby than the souls of lost men and women?

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