INTRODUCTION: In this chapter, God gave Jonah a lesson in mercy. Jonah knew the evil Nineveh had done and probably knew of the evil Nineveh would do to Israel. As such, he wished that the city be destroyed and was angry when God had pity on the city. But God gave Jonah the lesson of the gourd. Jonah came to rely on the shadow of the gourd and was angry when it was removed. God then contrasted the pity Jonah had on the gourd with His pity on the great city of Nineveh and all its inhabitants.

1. JONAH’S ANGER AT GOD’S MERCY (Jonah 4:1-4 [1] But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. [2] 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. [3] Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. [4] Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
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1. Jonah’s Reaction (Jonah 4:1But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
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1. Jonah’s displeasure at Nineveh’s deliverance (Jonah 3:9-10 [9] Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? [10] And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
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2. Jonah’s anger at the Lord; compare the anger of the elder brother upon the father’s reception of the prodigal son (Luke 15:25-30 [25] Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. [26] And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. [27] And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. [28] And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. [29] And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: [30] But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
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2. Jonah’s Reminder (Jonah 4:2And 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.
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1. The character of Jonah’s prayer
1. His prayer included the giving of arguments, the reminder of earlier comments, and other elements of discussion. We often limit prayer to elevated words of praise and petition. However, God’s men used prayer to talk to God in earnest. They would even argue things over with God (Jeremiah 12:1Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
   See All...; Habakkuk 1:1-4 [1] The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. [2] O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! [3] Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. [4] Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.
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2. He knew that God would forgive Nineveh if they repented. This, in fact, was the point of contention between Jonah and the Lord and it was the reason that Jonah fled from the Lord. He evidently thought that if he refused to warn the people of Nineveh, then the Lord would certainly destroy them.
3. Jonah, being a prophet, probably knew of the coming destruction of his own country and people by the hand of the Assyrians (whose capital city was Nineveh). Jonah is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.
   See All.... One chapter later, in 2 Kings 15:19-20 [19] And Pul the king of Assyria came against the land: and Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, that his hand might be with him to confirm the kingdom in his hand. [20] And Menahem exacted the money of Israel, even of all the mighty men of wealth, of each man fifty shekels of silver, to give to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria turned back, and stayed not there in the land.
   See All..., 29, the Assyrians are requiring tribute from Israel and carrying the people of many regions into captivity. By 2 Kings 17:22-24 [22] For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them; [23] Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day. [24] And the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel: and they possessed Samaria, and dwelt in the cities thereof.
   See All..., the entire nation of Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrians. It is no wonder that Jonah hated the people of Nineveh and desired their destruction.
2. The character of Jonah’s God
1. The character of God was a given for Jonah. He knew the kind of God he served. To him, it was an unchangeable reality.
2. Here is the God Jonah knew (Exodus 34:6-7 [6] And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, [7] Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
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1. Gracious
2. Merciful
3. Slow to anger
4. Of great kindness
5. Repenting from evil. Note: This does not mean that God repents from sin as man does. The evil refers to the bringing of bad things on others in judgment. Repenting refers to a turning or change in direction. Jonah knew that God could intend to bring evil on someone in judgment, but was always ready to turn from this intention if those about to be judged repented of their wicked ways.
3. Jonah’s Request (Jonah 4:3Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.
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1. That God would take his life (Numbers 11:15And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.
   See All...; 1 Kings 19:4But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.
   See All...; Job 6:8-9 [8] Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! [9] Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
   See All...; Jeremiah 20:14-18 [14] Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed. [15] Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad. [16] And let that man be as the cities which the LORD overthrew, and repented not: and let him hear the cry in the morning, and the shouting at noontide; [17] Because he slew me not from the womb; or that my mother might have been my grave, and her womb to be always great with me. [18] Wherefore came I forth out of the womb to see labour and sorrow, that my days should be consumed with shame?
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2. He thought it better to die than to live knowing that Nineveh had received God’s mercy.
4. God’s Response (Jonah 4:4Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
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1. Doest thou well to be angry? Note: Consider the similarity in God’s conversation with Cain (Genesis 4:7If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.
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2. At this point, Jonah ignored God’s question.
2. JONAH’S ANGER OVER THE GOURD (Jonah 4:5-8 [5] 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. [6] 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. [7] But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. [8] And 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.
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1. Jonah Made a Booth (Jonah 4:5So 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.
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1. He went out of the city.
2. He sat on the east side of the city; the rising sun would be behind his back.
3. He made a booth; a crude shelter which could have given only partial shade.
4. He sat in the shadow of the booth; Note: He sat in the shadow of the works of his own hands. How much better to be hidden under the shadow of the wings of God (Psalm 17:8Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings,
   See All...; Psalm 57:1Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.
   See All...; Psalm 91:1He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
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5. He sought to see what God would do with the city; he must have still had hope that the city would be destroyed at the end of the forty days.
2. God Prepared a Gourd (Jonah 4:6And 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.
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1. God prepared a great fish in chapter one. Here He prepared a gourd, a worm, and a wind. The Lord works in the things around us.
2. The gourd became a shadow over the head of Jonah.
1. To deliver him from his grief
2. Of which he was exceeding glad
3. God Prepared a Worm (Jonah 4:7But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
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1. God prepared a worm the next morning.
2. The worm smote the gourd so that it withered.
4. God Prepared a Wind (Jonah 4:8And 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.
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1. The sending of an east wind (Genesis 41:6And, behold, seven thin ears and blasted with the east wind sprung up after them.
   See All...; Ezekiel 19:12But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
   See All...; Hosea 13:15Though he be fruitful among his brethren, an east wind shall come, the wind of the LORD shall come up from the wilderness, and his spring shall become dry, and his fountain shall be dried up: he shall spoil the treasure of all pleasant vessels.
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2. The beating of the sun on Jonah
3. The fainting of Jonah and his wish to die
4. Note: God worked through several means to bring Jonah back to the same statement he made earlier. This gave God the opportunity to once again ask the question that was first ignored by Jonah.
3. JONAH’S LESSON FROM THE GOURD (Jonah 4:9-11 [9] 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. [10] 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: [11] And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
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1. Jonah’s Anger (Jonah 4:9And 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.
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1. Doest thou well to be angry (Jonah 4:4Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
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2. I do well to be angry; he would not answer about Nineveh but he answered concerning the gourd.
2. Jonah’s Pity (Jonah 4:10Then 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:
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1. He had not laboured for the gourd.
2. He had not caused the gourd to grow.
3. The gourd came up in a night and perished in a night.
4. Yet, he had pity on the gourd.
3. God’s Pity (Jonah 4:11And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
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1. The Lord had pity on the great city of Nineveh.
2. The Lord saw the innocent souls of Nineveh.
1. 120,000 children – persons that could not discern the left and right
2. Much cattle
3. Notes
1. God compared His pity with the pity of Jonah. The Lord certainly looks at things in a higher manner than man.
2. God responded to the repentance of the king and people of Nineveh, but according to this verse, what made Him so ready to forgive was the great number of innocent ones in the city.

CONCLUSION: Jonah should have been submissive to the will of God, but he still demonstrated rebellion. What would it have taken for you to yield to the will of God?