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Texts -- Jonah 4:3-11 (NET)

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4:3 So now , Lord , kill me instead , because I would rather die than live !” 4:4 The Lord said , “Are you really so very angry ?” 4:5 Jonah left the city and sat down east of it. He made a shelter for himself there and sat down under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city . 4:6 The Lord God appointed a little plant and caused it to grow up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to rescue him from his misery . Now Jonah was very delighted about the little plant . 4:7 So God sent a worm at dawn the next day , and it attacked the little plant so that it dried up. 4:8 When the sun began to shine , God sent a hot east wind . So the sun beat down on Jonah’s head , and he grew faint . So he despaired of life , and said , “I would rather die than live !” 4:9 God said to Jonah , “Are you really so very angry about the little plant ?” And he said , “I am as angry as I could possibly be !” 4:10 The Lord said , “You were upset about this little plant , something for which you have not worked nor did you do anything to make it grow . It grew up overnight and died the next day . 4:11 Should I not be even more concerned about Nineveh , this enormous city ? There are more than one hundred twenty thousand people in it who do not know right from wrong , as well as many animals !”

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Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • 4:11-12 The Lord also said that when this invasion would come it would descend like a violent wind from the north. It would be far more severe than an ordinary attack that the prophet compared to a gentle breeze that would wi...
  • The rest of the book is quite different from what has preceded because of its positive message. As is true of other eighth-century prophets to Israel and Judah, Amos included hope in his prophecy (cf. Isa. 40-66; Hos. 1:10-2:...
  • Jonah is the fifth of the Minor Prophets (the Book of the Twelve) in our English Bibles. It is unique among the Latter Prophets (Isaiah through Malachi) in that it is almost completely narrative similar to the histories of El...
  • The Book of Jonah does not contain the record of a prophet's message as much as the record of a prophet's experience. That feature makes Jonah distinctive among the prophetic books. This prophet's experiences are what we need...
  • I. The disobedience of the prophet chs. 1-2A. Jonah's attempt to flee from God 1:1-3B. Jonah's lack of compassion 1:4-6C. Jonah's failure to fear his sovereign God 1:7-10D. The sailors' compassion and fear of God 1:11-16D. Jo...
  • 1:4 Jonah subjected himself to dangers that Israel and the entire ancient Near East viewed as directly under divine control when he launched out on the sea. The sea to them was the embodiment of the chaotic forces that humans...
  • God gave Jonah a second chance to obey Him as He has many of His servants (e.g., Peter, John Mark, et al.).3:1 The writer did not clarify exactly when this second commission came to Jonah. It may have been immediately after J...
  • The reader might assume that the Lord's deliverance of the Ninevites from imminent doom is the climax of the story. This is not the case. The most important lesson of the book deals with God's people and specifically God's in...
  • The Lord proceeded to teach Jonah His ways and to confront him with his attitude problem.4:5 We might have expected Jonah to leave what so angered him quickly, as Elijah had fled from Israel and sought refuge far from it to t...
  • The story now reaches its climax. God revealed to Jonah how out of harmony with His own heart the prophet, though obedient, was. He contrasted Jonah's attitude with His own.Compassion (Heb. hus, concern [NIV], be sorry for [N...
  • Though God had not responded to the prophet's questions previously, He did eventually, and Habakkuk recorded His answer. The form of this revelation is an oracle.1:5 The Lord told Habakkuk and his people (plural "you"in Hebre...
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