Jonah 4:1-11 · Jonah’s Anger at the Lord’s Compassion

1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord, "O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O Lord , take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."

4 But the Lord replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"

5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."

9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?" "I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."

10 But the Lord said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

Jonah’s Unjustified Anger and God’s Response
Jonah 4:1-11
One Volume
by Gary M. Burge
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4:1–4 · Jonah’s unjustified anger toward God’s sparing of Nineveh: Jonah demonstrates his arrogance and his lack of understanding as he reacts with unjustified anger after the Lord revokes his judgment toward Assyria. The Hebrew term for “evil” in Jonah 3:8, 10 recurs in 4:1, supporting the connection between God’s earlier act and Jonah’s presumptuous reaction to what he perceives as a great injustice or “evil” (NIV “to Jonah this seemed very wrong”). Ironically, God’s compassion lessens his divine wrath in 3:9–10, while the anger of Jonah, a mere mortal, is further inflamed. Jonah affirms his knowledge of God’s gracious and compassionate character, employing the formula in Exodus 34:6–7 describing divine attributes. The formula was first uttered in its fullest form to Moses; partial form…

Baker Publishing Group, The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary, by Gary M. Burge