_But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry._ THE SHORTNESS OF HUMAN CHARITY Why is Jonah so much offended and so very angry? Surely there is here some great dishonour to God; or some great enormity or departure from the immutable and unchanging law of everlasting righteousness, goo... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he prayed unto the Lord, and said._ THE SECRET OF JONAH In this verse we have the key to the whole Book of Jonah; the secret, the motive both of his character and of his mission. God had sent the prophet to Nineveh, to threaten the inhabitants of that wicked city with the doom due to their sin... [ Continue Reading ]
_It is better for me to die than to live._ IS LIFE WORTH LIVING Jonah’s mission, though in some respects strange and terrible, was one of mercy, to lead the Ninevites to repentance; and Jonah knew this from the first. The Lord could have found another messenger, but He had chosen this man for His p... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry._ ANGER REPROVED Jonah’s anger was not justifiable; for it rose high against God, and quarrelled with the dispensations of His providence and grace. A man is known by his temper, as much as by his speech and behaviour. The temper of Jonah was peculi... [ Continue Reading ]
_So Jonah went out of the city._ GOD’S EXPOSTULATION WITH JONAH We may presume that Jonah had two reasons for going out of Nineveh. One was, that he might provide for his personal safety. The other, that he might witness the execution of Jehovah’s threatening, and be a spectator of the ruin which h... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the Lord God prepared a gourd._ THE EASTERN GOURD Is there any gourd in Palestine of growth so rapid as to lay a foundation for the statement that Jonah’s grew up in a night? Certainly not. Without any of that anxiety about the how and the _possible _in miracles, we may remark that there is an... [ Continue Reading ]
_But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day._ THE PREPARED WORM Just when Jonah had felt the delight of the shadowing foliage, and had begun to promise himself a most comfortable retreat against an Assyrian sun, the broad-leaved gourd withered. What caused this calamity? A worm. No... [ Continue Reading ]
_He fainted and wished in himself to die._ JONAH’S WOE It would be difficult to say whether the tokens of God’s holy justice, or of His abounding mercy, be the more numerous in the Scriptures. But all doubt is dispelled the moment that we understand the Gospel of our salvation. We can no longer qu... [ Continue Reading ]
_Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?_ JEHOVAH’S APPEAL TO JONAH I. Jonah’s then mood. “God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry?” 1. Observe the point of this appeal. To be grieved for the gourd was to be grieved for himself. 2. The compliment involved in this Divine appeal. God mad... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou hast had pity on the gourd._ JONAH’S GOURD There is no mention of Israel in this Book of Jonah. It is concerned solely about the welfare of a foreign nation. There can be no doubt that the spirit of the book is entirely opposed to Jewish feeling. While its form is historical, in substance it... [ Continue Reading ]
_And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city._ GREAT CITIES; OR OUR FELLOW-CREATURES Jonah’s disquietude had arisen from a strange cause; it was from the exercise of God’s mercy in sparing the lives and the city of a mighty people. Jonah could not bear that his message should seem not to take... [ Continue Reading ]