The Book of Jonah. Pt. 6

Good evening to each one of our Readers!

Our forecast is calling for more heavy rains tonight and tomorrow. Flood warnings are posted and many roads in low lying areas are closed. We are fortunate to live on top of a valley in our community so rising water will not be a problem for us. 

Please pray for the safety of other residents in North East Ohio who do live in low lying areas, that they would be careful when driving and be aware of their surroundings and potential dangers of flooding. 

We will wrap up our study of the book of Jonah with this post. In the last post, we saw that there was a tremendous response to the preaching of Jonah. Most pastors that I know would be overwhelmed with joy at such a stupendous harvest of souls.

How did Jonah react to the Ninevites repentance? 

Jonah 4:1 "But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

The hardness of Jonah's heart returned with a vengeance. Jonah’s hard, rebellious spirit is utterly astonishing. Let us look at a few of the words from this text to see the intensity of his emotions. 

The word "displeased" is a compound Hebrew word meaning to flow out like a fountain gushing with pressurized water or to be making a loud noise like a flood that is breaking out, crushing all that stands in its way.

The word "exceeding" means a great magnitude of irritation or vexed pride. The word "anger" refers to a burning anger erupting from the heart.

Jonah's response revealed a heart that was full of:

Excessive anger & hatred.

Personal desire for vengeance.

Deep seated prejudice against Assyrians.

Lack of submission to the Lord.

Lack of compassion for the lost.

The word of God has much to say to us about an angry spirit. Jonah was filled with anger and hatred. He is so uncaring about lost souls that he is going to argue with God, as we shall see.

PROVERBS 22:24-25 ²⁴ Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: ²⁵ Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.

PROVERBS 29:22 ²² An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.

ECCLESIASTES 7:9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools. 

     

Jehovah gently rebukes His prophet.

JONAH 4:4 "Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?"     

Jehovah gently reminds Jonah of His holiness and wrath against sinners. If Jehovah was not merciful, no one could stand before Him.

Jehovah is going to teach Jonah an object lesson with a gourd.

Jehovah caused a gourd to grow and provide some shelter for Jonah, as the prophet sat pouting like a child under the harsh heat of the summer sun. Jonah was temporarily happy because of the gourd, but God proceeded to destroy it with a worm.   

Jonah was watching to see if God would destroy Nineveh. He wanted God to destroy them because he was angry and filled with hatred toward the Assyrians.

JONAH 4:5-6  So 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.  And the LORD God 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 exceeding glad of the gourd.  But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. 

God made the gourd as He saw fit and Jonah enjoyed the benefits of the gourd. God chose to destroy the gourd He had made but Jonah’s response was self-pity. He wanted to die and he chose to stay angry and bitter in his heart. He failed to recognize that Jehovah exercises unfettered and sovereign control over His creation. 

JONAH 4:7-8 ⁷But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
⁸And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. 

God used the gourd to rebuke Jonah for questioning his sovereign expression of being merciful, yet just. Jonah had a temper tantrum. He declared that he had the right to be angry even if he died in the process. 

The object lesson is that Jonah has pity and sadness for the gourd that died. Yet, Jonah did not make the gourd, did not sustain the gourd and did not give life to the gourd. Jehovah was trying to help him see that all the lost souls in Nineveh were of infinitely more value than the plant. 

JONAH 4:9-11 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, 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 gourd represents the Assyrians.  Jonah did not give them life, God did; they grew because Jehovah allowed them to; they sinned and God gave them a choice: repent or die; they repented and God was merciful. 

Paul reminds us that no one is going to stand before Creator God and demand any answers. It will not happen. He made us and He does not have to answer to us for anything. Pharaoh was hard hearted but God used him for His sovereign purposes. The Romans built a powerful empire and enslaved many nations but God used Roman roads and laws to help spread the gospel of Christ. 

ROMANS 9:20-21 "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?"    

"Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?" 

Points to Ponder......

 1. THE REBELLIOUS SPIRIT IS CHANGED ONLY BY YIELDING TO GOD’S WORD

JAMES 1:17-25 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:
For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. 

2. EMOTIONAL REACTIONS TO PEOPLE OR CIRCUMSTANCES MUST BE PUT OFF

COLOSSIANS 3:8-15 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.

 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. 

3. OUR EMOTIONS MUST BE SUBJECT TO OUR LORD'S SCRUTINY

PSALMS 26:1-12   Psalm of David.
Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.
Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.
For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth.
I have not sat with vain persons, neither will I go in with dissemblers.
 I have hated the congregation of evil doers; and will not sit with the wicked.
 I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:
 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.
 LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.
Gather not my soul with sinners, nor my life with bloody men:
In whose hands is mischief, and their right hand is full of bribes.
But as for me, I will walk in mine integrity: redeem me, and be merciful unto me.
My foot standeth in an even place: in the congregations will I bless the LORD.

4. WHAT FLOWS OUT OF OUR HEART SHOULD REFLECT OUR LORD’S PRESENCE IN OUR HEART

Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

Well, Dear Readers, we have come to the end of this book of Jonah. The ending in Jonah 4:11 seems abrupt and we do not know what happened next. Jonah failed miserably in many ways, much like we do. Yet on occasion, he exhibited faith and a desire to do the will of God, just like we do.  

Jonathon Storment wrote "Jonah is a book written to good people. It’s a warning that those of us who are willing to spend our lives serving the Lord, can also be the most prone to forget the very nature of the Lord. After years and years of service, we start to forget just how much we need God. We find ourselves, just like Jonah, sitting in our safety zone, looking down on the sinful city — a place desperately in need of God — and complaining when we lose a creature comfort."  

God included this book in the Bible so that we can learn from it. We can learn from the examples of bad attitudes and avoid  them. Also, we can  see what is good in His eyes and follow after that. 

The book ends the way that it does so that we clearly see the heart and passion of Jehovah for saving sinners, even the most diabolical ones. Do we have that heart or do we secretly hope that they suffer for their sins? A thought provoking ending indeed!

Bob