Jonah 4
4:1-2 The unexpected and overwhelming success of Jonah’s preaching resulted in Nineveh’s escape from calamity. However, this brought emotional calamity to the angry and self-pitying prophet, who wished he were dead. Jonah had initially fled from preaching to Nineveh because he feared that God, being excessively gracious and compassionate (see Ex 34:6-7), would find some lame excuse to forgive these pagan, warlike Gentiles. Now his fears had come true.
4:3-4 Take my life echoes the words of the prophet Elijah (1Kg 19:4), who despaired over the failure of his mission, just as Jonah despaired over the success of his.
4:5-8 Another factor behind Jonah’s death wish was the blisteringly hot weather and the dry east wind, making him extremely uncomfortable as he sat watching to see what God would do to Nineveh. He was also upset over the withering of a plant (Hb qiqayon, perhaps a castor-oil plant or a climbing gourd) that had sprung up to give him temporary relief from the sun.
| Hebrew pronunciation | [rah AH] |
| CSB translation | evil, disaster, trouble |
| Uses in Jonah | 9 |
| Uses in the OT | 354 |
| Focus passage | Jonah 4:1-2,6 |
Feminine ra‘ah, related to ra‘a‘ (be evil), signifies evil (Jr 2:13), disaster (Dt 31:29), or trouble (Neh 2:17). Masculine ra‘, either as noun or adjective (299x), has similar meanings. Feminine forms of adjectival ra‘ match ra‘ah, so it is hard to differentiate them. Ra‘ah more often means disaster; ra‘ more frequently concerns physical maladies. These words involve negatives, with the sense clarified by context or nouns modified. In the book of Jonah, words in this group are translated evil, trouble, disaster, and greatly displeased.
4:9-11 God used Jonah’s emotional reaction to the death of the plant as an object lesson to rebuke him for being more concerned about a plant than the destruction of a hundred and twenty thousand people who could not distinguish between their right and their left. This probably does not mean there were a hundred and twenty thousand small children in Nineveh, but rather that the people themselves were immature and uninformed morally and spiritually. God took their immaturity into consideration in his judgment. As well as many animals was a final rebuke. If Jonah could not feel compassion for Gentile people, he should at least feel sorry for the hungry livestock that were bellowing their misery (see 3:7-8). The book ends without telling us whether Jonah responded positively to the Lord’s closing reprimand.
