Jonah 4

This is the final chapter of the Book of Jonah. In Jonah 3, after the people of Nineveh repented, God relented from the disaster He had threatened (Jonah 3:10). This chapter continues with Jonah's reaction to that event.

Outline

• Verses 1–4 Jonah is greatly displeased and angry, and he prays. He says that he fled to Tarshish in the first place because he knew God would relent from sending disaster, and he asks to die. The LORD asks, "Doest thou well to be angry?"
• Verses 5–9 Jonah builds a booth on the east side of the city and waits to see what will become of it. God provides a gourd vine for shade, and Jonah is exceedingly glad. At dawn the next day a worm attacks the vine so that it withers, and when the sun rises, Jonah, faint from a vehement east wind and the heat of the sun, again asks to die. God asks the same question, and Jonah answers that he does well to be angry, even unto death.
• Verses 10–11 The LORD asks: if Jonah had pity on the gourd, for which he had not labored, should not God spare Nineveh, in which are more than 120,000 persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left, and also much cattle?

Key Verses

• Jonah 4:2 "Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger" — This echoes the confession of God's character in Exodus 34:6. Jonah cites this very confession as his reason for fleeing.
• Jonah 4:11 "And should not I spare Nineveh...?" — The Book of Jonah ends with this question, and Jonah's answer is not recorded.

Characters and Places

• Jonah — The prophet commanded to proclaim judgment against Nineveh.
• The LORD
• Nineveh — A great city of Assyria.
• Tarshish — The distant place to which Jonah first tried to sail in order to escape God's command (Jonah 1).

Points for Reflection

• Some interpreters understand "persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left" as young children, while others take the phrase to refer to the entire population as lacking moral discernment. Consequently, interpretations also differ on what the figure of more than 120,000 represents.
• The same confession found in 4:2 also appears in Joel 2:12–14.
• Because the book ends with an open question, the notion that Jonah later changed his mind is speculation not found in the text.
• In the New Testament, Jesus refers to the repentance of the people of Nineveh (Matthew 12:41). Some readers also compare Jonah, who complains about God's mercy toward the Gentiles, with the elder son in the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

In the Korean Church

The Book of Jonah is frequently used in sermons on the theme of missions. Chapter 4 is cited as a passage expressing God's compassion for the Gentile nations, and the story of the gourd vine is also used as teaching material in Sunday school.