Jonah 4:2

My Notes

What Does Jonah 4:2 Mean?

Jonah is furious — and his fury reveals one of the most theologically honest confessions in the Bible. He's angry that God spared Nineveh. And his prayer explains why he ran in the first place. "Was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country?" — Jonah isn't surprised by God's mercy. He predicted it. He knew from the beginning that if he preached, Nineveh would repent, and God would forgive. That's why he ran.

"Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish" — Jonah's flight wasn't cowardice. It was theology. He fled because he knew God was merciful. He didn't want Nineveh to repent and be forgiven. He wanted them destroyed. And he knew — correctly — that God wouldn't destroy a repentant city. The only way to ensure Nineveh's judgment was to withhold the message. So he ran.

"For I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil" — Jonah quotes Exodus 34:6-7, the foundational self-revelation of God's character. Gracious. Merciful. Slow to anger. Great kindness. Repenting of evil. It's one of the most beautiful descriptions of God in Scripture — and Jonah throws it at God as a complaint. He uses God's own character description as an accusation: You're too merciful. I knew You'd forgive them. That's the problem.

The irony is devastating: Jonah had received every one of these attributes himself (rescued from the sea, from the fish, from death). The mercy he enjoyed personally is the mercy he resents when extended to others.

Reflection Questions

• 1.Is there a 'Nineveh' in your life — a person or group you'd rather see judged than forgiven? Who is it, and why?
• 2.Jonah quotes God's most beautiful attributes as a complaint. Have you ever resented God's mercy toward someone you thought deserved punishment?
• 3.Jonah received enormous mercy himself but resented it in others. Where are you enjoying grace personally while withholding it from someone else?
• 4.God asks Jonah 'do you do well to be angry?' If God asked you that about someone you want punished, what would your honest answer be?

Devotional

Jonah ran from God — not because he was afraid of Nineveh, but because he was afraid God would be kind to them.

That's the confession that makes Jonah the most honest book in the Bible about the human heart's relationship with grace. Jonah knew God was merciful. He'd experienced that mercy himself — swallowed by a fish and spit out alive, given a second chance when he didn't deserve one. And his response to God's mercy toward someone else was: I hate this. I knew You'd do this. That's why I ran.

"For I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful." Jonah quotes the most beautiful creed in the Old Testament — God's self-description from Sinai — and uses it as a weapon. You're too gracious. You're too merciful. You're too slow to anger with people I think deserve faster anger. Your great kindness extends to people I don't think deserve any kindness.

The honesty is uncomfortable because it's familiar. We love God's mercy when it's for us. We struggle with God's mercy when it's for them — whoever "them" is. The enemy we want punished. The person who wronged us. The group we've decided is beyond redemption. The Nineveh we want destroyed. And God — gracious, merciful, slow to anger, of great kindness — extends the same mercy to them that He extended to us. And something in us, if we're honest, reacts exactly like Jonah: I knew You'd do this.

The cure for Jonah's anger is the question God asks him at the end: "Doest thou well to be angry?" (v. 4). Are you right to resent my mercy? The mercy you received — from the storm, from the fish, from death itself — is the same mercy you're angry about. The only difference is the recipient.

Commentary

Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.

Cross References

Related passages throughout Scripture