God wanted Jonah to go to Nineveh and wanted him to go before the people of the great city. Because of all the wickedness that was happening before the Lord
Jonah didn’t obey the orders of God and instead of going to Nineveh, he went to Tarshish to escape the presence of the Lord.
God punished Jonah by having a great fish swallow up Jonah. He was in the belly of the fish for three days and nights.
Seaweed
Stormy Sea
Jonah was very ashamed of himself and he was probably very sorrowful for what he did earlier. He may have been repenting.
In Jonah chapter 1, God wanted Jonah to go to the great city of Nineveh to cry against the people for their sins and the wicked things they were doing. But Jonah didn’t obey the Lord orders and he tried to flee from the Lord. Jonah went to Tarshish and he found a ship and paid a fee to ride. While he was on the ship, a mighty wind was sent out into the sea. Everyone on the ship was frightened and started to worship their god. Jonah was sleep doing this time, so one of the shipmasters woke Jonah up and questioned him. Soon they let Jonah off the ship and he was swallowed by a great fish and stayed in the stomach for three days and nights.
I think Jonah was sorry for what he had did in the previous chapter.
Jonah described the belly as deep, closed, round, and weeds wrapped about his head.
Yes, the Lord did show Jonah mercy.
In this chapter Jonah repented and asked the Lord for forgiveness. He described how it was like to be in the belly of the fish. He asked for mercy upon him and while these things happened the fish vomited out Jonah unto dry land.
Jonah did not get out of going to Nineveh, the Lord came tom him a second time and Jonah obeyed his orders.
They all believed in what Jonah was telling them. Them fell to their knees, fasted, and cried unto God. They were covered in sackcloth too.
God did show the people mercy. God could have easily destroyed the city, but he gave them another chance and sent Jonah to preach unto the people. They believed in what Jonah was saying and they fell to their knees and cried unto God.
In Jonah chapter 3 the Lord came unto Jonah the second and told him to go unto Nineveh and preach to the people of that city. So this time Jonah arose and obeyed the Lord orders. It was a three day journey. When Jonah preached to the people, the people became frightened and believed in the word of God. So all the people of the city fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest of them to the least of them. The kind of Nineveh sat in ashes and was dressed in sackcloth. The king ordered no one man or beast to eat or drink anything. He wanted them to cry unto the Lord and to be covered in sackcloth.
I think Jonah was upset because he had to go unto the great city Tarshish when he really did not want to.
God used the gourd to teach him a lesson because the Lord could have easily let Jonah become uncomfortable and hot in the sun. But he had mercy on him and made a gourd to serve as shade for Jonah.
I learned even though God is a merciful slow to anger God, that you should always obey his commands. He will not ask you to something that you are not capable of doing.
In this chapter Jonah was very angry with what the Lord wanted him to do. Jonah did what he was told anyway, but Jonah wished to die. While Jonah went to Tarshish, Jonah built a booth and sat under it. The Lord made a gourd for Jonah and sat it above him. The next day which was extremely hot, Jonah wished to die again and the Lord destroyed the gourd. Jonah became upset when the Lord destroyed the gourd and when he did not destroy the city of Ninevah.
The Lord told Jonah that his choice to show mercy upon the city of Jonah was because he created them. So how then can you become upset when I destroy a gourd, something that you neither created or labored for?