3:10-4:4
Ob and In:
1. God saw...God relented...did not destroy them 3:10 God has a reason for His relenting
2. The emotion of Jonah:
a. displeased terribly, v.1
(NET) Heb “It was evil to Jonah, a great evil.” The cognate accusative construction רוַיֵּרע … רָעָהַ (vayyera’ … ra’ah) emphasizes the great magnitude of his displeasure (e.g., Neh 2:10 for the identical construction; see IBHS 167 §10.2.1g). The verb רָעַע (ra’a’) means “to be displeasing”
became very angry v.1
(NET) Heb “it burned to him.” The verb חָרָה (kharah, “to burn”) functions figuratively here (hypocatastasis) referring to anger (BDB 354 s.v. חָרָה). It is related to the noun חֲרוֹן (kharon, “heat/burning”) in the phrase “the heat of his anger” in 3:9. The repetition of the root highlights the contrast in attitudes between Jonah and God: God’s burning anger “cooled off” when the Ninevites repented, but Jonah’s anger was “kindled” when God did not destroy Nineveh.
Conclusion: 3 words to describe the displeasure and burning anger of Jonah when God relented.
b. this is what I thought...this is what I tried to prevent...because I knew you...so now kill me...because I would rather die than live
(NET) “Is this not my saying while I was in my own country?” The rhetorical question implies a positive answer (“Yes, this was the very thing that Jonah had anticipated would happen all along!”) so it is rendered as an emphatic declaration in the translation.
Conclusion: a)Based on what he knew about God, he anticipated God relenting and thus he tried to prevent. This implied that he think God was not right (in a moral sense) or he did not like what God was going to do (in an emotional sense).
b) Now when it really happened, either his justice was so violated that he rather die or he was so displeased that he rather die. Both cases may have some overlapped.
c) Jonah's blind spot: Based on what he knew about God (gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy), he only applied that to the Nineveh when he tried to flee to Tarshish. How about himself? If God is not what he knew (gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in mercy) then God would not have save him from the deep ocean. So he should not be angry emotionally. God might be not morally correct in saving the sinners, but if He did not do that then Jonah should not be saved neither.
3. God's answer: v.4 The LORD said, “Are you really so very angry?”
The word, "angry" was used in v.1 for Jonah's terribly displeasure, and burn anger.
(NET) (1) It may mean “to do [something] rightly” in terms of ethical right and wrong
(BDB) art thou rightly angry?
(NET) (2) It may be used as an adverb meaning “well, utterly, thoroughly” (BDB 405 s.v. 3; HALOT 408 s.v. 5; e.g., Deut 9:21; 13:15; 17:4; 19:18; 27:8; 1 Sam 16:17; 2 Kgs 11:18; Prov 15:2; Isa 23:16; Jer 1:12; Ezek 33:32; Mic 7:3). This view is adopted by other English versions: “Are you that deeply grieved?” (JPS, NJPS); “Are you so angry?” (NEB). This is also the approach of the Tg. Jonah 4:4: “Are you that greatly angered?” Whether or not Jonah had the right to be angry about the death of the plant is a trivial issue. Instead the dialogue focuses on the depth of Jonah’s anger: he would rather be dead than alive (vv. 3, 8) and he concludes by saying that he was as angry as he could possibly be (v. 9; see note on עַד־מָוֶת [’ad-mavet, “to death”] in v. 9). the LORD then uses an a fortiori argument (from lesser to greater): Jonah was very upset that the plant had died (v. 10), likewise God was very concerned about averting the destruction of Nineveh (v. 11).
Reflection: Is our emotion based on the true knowledge of God with no blind spot? Do we have the right emotion, the extent that we rather die? This is not the first time Jonah rather die. In ch 1 he did and then when he tasted death he cried out to God. He did not want to die. Now, he thought he was so violated that he rather die. Did he really want to die? Are we being responsible for our emotion?
Jonah 4:5-11
Ob and In:
1. Repeated words:
a. Jonah made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade v.5, God appointed the plant to grow over him to be a shade over his head v.6
b. the plant rescue Jonah from his misery, 3:8, 10, 4:2 (4:1)
rescue=(NET) God’s primary motivation was to create a situation to “rescue” Jonah from his bad attitude. Nevertheless, the narrator’s choice of the somewhat ambiguous consonantal form להציל might have been done to create a wordplay on נָצַל (“to rescue, deliver”) and צָלַל (“to shade”). Jonah thought that God was providing him shade, but God was really working to deliver him from his evil attitude, as the ensuing dialogue indicates.
misery=(NET) The narrator has used several meanings of רָעָה in 3:8–4:2, namely, “moral evil” (3:8, 10) and “calamity, disaster” (3:9, 10; 4:2), as well as the related verb רָעַע (ra’a’, “to be displeasing”; see 4:1). Here the narrator puns on the meaning “discomfort” created by the scorching desert heat, but God’s primary motivation is to “deliver” Jonah—not from something as trivial as physical discomfort from heat—but from his sinful attitude about God’s willingness to spare Nineveh. This gives the term an especially ironic twist: Jonah is only concerned about being delivered from his physical “discomfort,” while God wants to deliver him from his “evil attitude.”
c. very delighted v.6
(NET) Heb “he rejoiced with great joy.” The cognate accusative construction repeats the verb and noun of the consonantal root שׂמח (smkh, “rejoice”) for emphasis; it means “he rejoiced with great joy” or “he was greatly delighted” (see IBHS 167 §10.2.1g). This cognate accusative construction ironically mirrors the identical syntax of v. 1, “he was angry with great anger.” The narrator repeated this construction to emphasize the contrast between Jonah’s anger that Nineveh was spared and his joy that his discomfort was relieved.
d. "So he despaired of life, and said, “I would rather die than live!” v.8 repeated from v.3
2. What was the problem of Jonah:
Is it related to his love towards the live of the little plant vs the live of the Ninevites?
v.6 Now Jonah was very delighted about the little plant.
v.9 “Are you really so very angry about the little plant?”
If yes, then God just needed to sent the worm to attack the little plant to make His point, but God also sent the hot wind and Jonah complained when he grew faint from the hot sun not when the plant died.
In other words, Jonah was angry/delight about the comfort or the value of the little plant to him.
3. What was the problem of Jonah as God pointed out:
a. v.10a “You were upset about this little plant
upset=(CHALOT) be troubled about
little=(NET) Jonah’s misplaced priorities look exceedingly foolish and self-centered in comparison to God’s global concern about the fate of 120,000 pagans.
b. v. 10b something for which you did not work, nor did you do anything to make it grow
Jonah did not see that God is the owner of the little plant, not him. If the owner not upset about its death, why would he? On the other hand, Jonah faith to see that God is also the Creator of the Ninevites. Even though they were the enemies of Israel, or they treated other people with cruelty God is still their Creator and have loving kindness to them. He gave them chance to repent.
c. v.10c It grew up overnight and died the next day.
The plant's life was so short compare with the human's soul
Reflection: Jonah did not realized his misery was not the heat of the sun, but his sinful attitude. Do I misplace the focus of my problem?
Jonah's emotion was tied to his own comfort, not the salvation of other people's from God's judgment. Am I like that?
One of Jonah's foolishness is that he did not see the ownership of the plant belongs to the LORD, not him. Have I fail to see the ownership of some problems and wrongfully put my emotion over that?
Jonah was foolish and self-centered in putting his joy over a little plant over the salvation of the enormous city. Have I wrongfully put my joy for a self-centered reason? Have I wrongfully put my emotion for a foolish reason (not in proportion)?
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