Jonah 4:10-11

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:

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 land; and also much cattle? - "spare," literally, 'have pity,' and so spare [ 'aachuwc (H2347)]. This is the main lesson of the book. If Jonah so pities a plant which cost him no toil to rear, and which is so short-lived and valueless, much more must Yahweh pity those hundreds of thousands of immortal men and women in great Nineveh, whom He has made with such a display of creative power, especially when many of them repent, and seeing that, if all in it were destroyed, "more than sixscore thousand" of unoffending children, besides "much cattle," would be involved in the common destruction. Compare the same argument of Abraham in behalf of Sodom, drawn from God's justice and mercy, in Genesis 18:23-1, "Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked," etc. A similar illustration from the insignificance of a plant, which today is and tomorrow is cast into the oven, and which, nevertheless, is clothed by God with surprising beauty, is given by Christ to prove that God will care for the infinitely more precious bodies and souls of men who are to live forever (Matthew 6:28).

One soul is of more value than the whole world; surely, then, one soul is of more value than many gourds. The point of comparison spiritually is, the need which Jonah for the time had of the foliage of the gourd; however he might dispense with it at other times, now it was necessary for his comfort, and almost for his life. So now that Nineveh, as a city, fears God and turns to Him, God's cause needs it, and would suffer by its overthrow, just as Jonah's material well-being suffered by the withering of the gourd. If there were any hope of Israel's being awakened by Nineveh's destruction, to fulfill her high destination of being a light to surrounding paganism, then there would not have been the same need in that respect to God's cause of Nineveh's preservation (though there would have always been need of saving the penitent).

But as Israel, after judgments, now with returning prosperity turns back to apostasy, the means needed to vindicate God's cause, and provoke Israel, if possible, to jealousy, is the example of the great capital of pagandom suddenly repenting at the first warning, and consequently being spared. Thus Israel would see the kingdom of heaven transplanted from its ancient seat to another, which would willingly yield its spiritual fruits. The tidings which Jonah brought back to his countrymen, of Nineveh's repentance and rescue, would, if believingly understood, be far more fitted than the news of its overthrow to recall Israel to the service of God. (And if Israel thus repented, her threatened overthrow by Assyria, of which Jonah was so apprehensive, would not be executed, just as Nineveh's own threatened overthrow was not executed when Nineveh repented.) Israel failed to learn the lesson, and so was cast out of her land. But even this was not an unmitigated evil.

Jonah was a type, as of Christ, so also of Israel. Jonah, though an outcast, was highly honoured of God in Nineveh; so Israel's outcast condition would prove no impediment to her serving God's cause still, if only she was faithful to God. Ezekiel and Daniel were so at Babylon: and the Jews scattered in all lands, as witnesses for the one true God, pioneered the way for Christianity, so that it spread with a rapidity which otherwise was not likely to have attended it (Fairbairn).

That cannot discern between their right hand and their left - children under three or four years old (Deuteronomy 1:39, "Your children, which had no knowledge between good and evil"). Sixscore thousand of these, allowing them to be a fifth of the whole, would give a total population of 600,000.

Much cattle - God cares even for the brute creatures, which man takes little account of. These, in wonderful Much cattle - God cares even for the brute creatures, which man takes little account of. These, in wonderful powers and in utility, are far above the shrub which Jonah is so concerned for. Yet Jonah is reckless as to their destruction and that of innocent children. The abruptness of the close of the book is more strikingly suggestive than if the thought had been followed out in detail. God's tender accents of pity are the last that fall upon the ear.

Remarks:

(1) How sad a picture of man's fallen nature it is, that what causes joy in the presence of the angels of God often causes grief and displeasure to man! The saving of the hundreds of thousands of sinners in Nineveh, which exhibited the mercy of God in its brightest colours, roused the angry zeal of Jonah. Like many, he would govern God's world better than God himself. He, who had been most of all indebted to the mercy of God, quarrels with the mercy of God, because God showed it toward Israel's enemy, Nineveh. Let us, while we condemn Jonah, remember how often we have indulged in repining against God's providence. Have we never, when our country was threatened by a foreign power, wished the destruction of that power, forgetting that, even if it were destroyed, God has other agents by whom to punish our people when they incur His wrath?

(2) The wonderful truthfulness wherewith Jonah records his own perversity, standing in such striking contrast to God's tenderness and mercy, is a striking mark of inspiration: for no uninspired man would ever have left his faults to stand forth so glaringly to the view without extenuation, or even explanation of his motives. Plainly he thinks, speaks, acts, and writes as if he had no regard to what opinion man may form of him, and only regards the all-knowing God whose censure of him he so faithfully records. We can only conjecture, though with much probability, that his motive was mistaken patriotism, which was reckless of the fate of all others, provided Israel's preservation could be ensured. Though we ought not to imitate his narrowness of spirit, yet we do well to copy his zeal for the spiritual and temporal well-being of Israel. We ought earnestly to love both the literal and the spiritual Israel, the Church, and desire the welfare of both. We also do well to imitate Jonah's comparative indifference to man's judgment, and, like him, to refer our motives to God, whether for censure or vindication. This will impart to us, whatever be our shortcomings, a holy simplicity of aim and sincerity of purpose.

(3) Jonah was taught that God is the same gracious, merciful God, slow to anger, in relation to the pagan, as He is in relation to Israel. Jonah repines at this, as sealing the doom of impenitent Israel. He forgot the good to the Ninevites which he had been the privileged instrument of. Self-will is blind to all else except its own aims. The glory of God's widely-extending mercy is ignored. So Jonah, having now fulfilled his office faithfully, though against his own will as regards the result, desires of God to release him from life, and from the prophetic office which, having failed as to Israel, is regarded by this zealous Israelite as having failed altogether. In this desire for death there was much of an impatient, hasty, and wrong spirit. They who wish to leave life, merely because they cannot have their own way in the world, are very unfit to meet God in the world to come. Our true wisdom and happiness is to make the will of God our will in everything, even in spiritual things: if His providence thwart our cherished plans, let us be sure that He designs something far better, and that our labours in His cause, though not producing the exact results that we contemplated, are nevertheless not lost, but shall work out His infinitely wiser purposes.

(4) They who give way to an impatient, fretful spirit, should ponder God's question, "Doest thou well to be angry? (Jonah 4:4.) Jonah did well to be zealous for Israel; but not well to be zealous against Nineveh when God willed to spare it. "The wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God" (James 1:20). Let us be careful that when we are angry, we sin not, by directing our anger against the men instead of against their sins. Let our zeal be the fruit of a sincern desire for the glory of God, and not the offspring of irritation at the frustration of our own plans.

(5) God dealt not with Jonah according to his perversity. God saw the root of a right faith in him, amidst the weeds of self-will which for the time overgrew it. God therefore taught him "the more excellent way" (1 Corinthians 12:31) by an appropriate discipline. The gourd rapidly produced by the power of God afforded him a refreshing shadow for a day, while he lingered near Nineveh, still hoping for its destruction. He took this as a token that God willed him to stay where he was, and so he was "exceeding glad of the gourd." With impulsive and impetuous will, he probably thought that the gourd was a sign that God after all would grant him what he so eagerly desired, the destruction of Nineveh. But the gourd withered as speedily as it had sprung up. A worm was prepared by God to smite the gourd: and then, the shadow being gone when it was most needed, the sun and the sultry east wind beat upon Jonah's head; and again, like his great predecessor Elijah, he desired to die, and dared to justify his anger before God himself. "I do well to be angry, even unto death" (Jonah 4:9). This very avowal God, in amazing condescension to Jonah's perversity, turns into the vindication of His own dealings toward Nineveh, which were the cause of the prophet's anger. Thou art grieved even unto death for a senseless gourd, reasons the patient God with His impatient servant. Shall not I, then, the all-loving God, feel concerned for the lives and souls of hundreds of thousands of immortal souls in Nineveh, the creatures of mine own hand? (Jonah 4:11.) If thou art naturally grieved at the withering of a plant which causes thee temporary shelter, shall not I care for "sixscore thousand" innocent children, who must suffer in the general calamity if Nineveh be given to destruction.

(6) God would have spared Sodom for the sake of 10 righteous men. It was therefore in consonance with His just and merciful perfections that He should spare Nineveh for the sake of the 120,000 who, by their incapacity of reasoning, were free from actual, though not from original, sin. Then, too, the mute "cattle," of whose sufferings man takes no account, are cared for by the God whose tender mercies are over all His works. Jonah's figurative gourd, the preservation of Israel through the destruction of its threatened enemy, Nineveh, was a less selfish aim than most of the aims of men of the world. But it was faulty in seeking the end proposed, at all costs, in direct opposition to the will of God, and reckless of the consequences to hundreds of thousands. How infinitely greater is the mercy of God than the mercy of even a holy man! Self taints the best of men. Even good men in good aims need to bow self-will to the will of God. Let us adore with wonder God's exceeding patience with us! Let us try to imbibe some of the spirit of all-embracing love which breathes in the last words of God in this book, so exquisitely tender and pathetic, "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 I not 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?"