Pity A City

It is hard to fathom this man Jonah. God had seen the repentance of the Ninevites and had, in turn, ‘repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them’. However, the lifting of judgment greatly displeased the prophet. The appointed forty days had not yet expired so Jonah decided to wait to see what would become of Nineveh. He left the city and settled some distance away under a makeshift shelter to watch what might unfold.

A bruised prophet

There seems to have been no need for Jonah to depart from the city and likely the inhabitants of the place would have been happy to care for such a spokesman from the Lord. Jonah, however, appears to have retained his sullen and superior attitude. At first Jonah was said to be angry, his prevailing emotion now is said to be grief. He prefers solitude and even hardship to the company of the Ninevites. 

A forbearing Lord

The Lord had a different plan. He intended to further educate his servant and in doing so provide the church of all ages with a beautiful example of God’s love, grace and pity for His needy people. The booth Jonah had built for himself seems to have been inadequate to give him shade and keep him cool. As Jonah waited the Lord caused a gourd to grow up in the night. The plant was sufficiently large to provide the prophet with shade in the heat of the day. 

A lesson from gourd

This gourd is a picture of God’s providential mercy shown to His people in this life. As the prophet nursed his grievances and wrestled with his inward emotions God supplied a gourd to block the heat under which the prophet suffered. Jonah was very glad for the shade. The Lord who prepared a great fish to deliver Jonah from the sea now prepared a plant to sustain him under the blazing sun. Jonah enjoyed the comfort of the gourd but he does not appear to acknowledge the hand of God in its provision.

Seeing God’s hand

Having provided some respite for Jonah the Lord now sent an affliction in the very thing that was his comfort. Neither the comfort nor the affliction arose by chance. A worm to destroy the gourd was prepared by the Lord so that both blessing and trial comes by divine direction and appointment. As the gourd withered, the Lord added a vehement east wind to aggravate the prophet’s discomfort. Without shade and under the hot sun Jonah fainted and wished to die.

A man and his gourd

Now God speaks to bring home to Jonah his lesson. He asks, ‘Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?’ Jonah answers that he is right to be angry. He had enjoyed the comfort the gourd provided. He liked its shade and wished it to remain as long as it was useful. Jonah admits he had an interest in the wellbeing and continuance of the gourd. Its removal and destruction distressed him. With this Jonah supplied the opening for which the Lord patiently waited.

God and His people

Jonah had pity on a gourd, a mere plant. It was not his gourd. He had done no work on it to make it grow yet because it suited him he would have preserved it had it been in his power to do so. What is this gourd to a great city like Nineveh? The gourd sprung up in a night while Nineveh is reputed to be the oldest city in the world. What is one single plant compared to a multitude of people comprising at least one hundred and twenty thousand infant children and all the city’s wealth, represented as livestock and cattle. If Jonah saw no value in Nineveh, God did.

Time to reflect

Jonah does not answer the Lord’s question but perhaps his silence speaks louder than words. He penned this confession under the direction of God the Holy Spirit and left a record of these extraordinary events which otherwise would not have been known. Doing so he exposed his own sin, anger, prejudice and ignorance. We may thus infer Jonah’s repentance from the testimony he wrote and bequeathed to the church.

Lessons that endure

In our thoughts tomorrow we shall consider how Jonah points us to the sovereignty of God in salvation and Christ’s love and pity for poor lost sinners. We shall mention the Father’s daily mercies for His people, and how blessings and afflictions are both prepared, in God’s will, for our good. We shall note Christ’s condescension to teach us lessons that deepen our knowledge of grace and salvation. We shall acknowledge there is forgiveness with God in the Lord Jesus Christ that He may be feared, revered and approached for mercy.

Amen.