Nineveh repented and God relented.  Jonah’s mission was an amazing success – far beyond what a neutral observer could ever expect.  He seemingly learned his lesson, preached in obedience to God, received an amazing response, and saved thousands of lives from judgment.  It is now time for everyone to go home happily ever after.  Or maybe not…

Items to Consider
To understand this chapter it is important to note the Hebrew word ra’ah.  It is a complex word with multiple nuances.  It can mean evil, calamity, misery, or misfortune.  The author of Jonah uses it in several senses:

1:2        for their wickedness has come up before Me
1:7        on whose account this calamity has struck us
1:8        On whose account has this calamity struck us?
3:8        that each may turn from his wicked way
3:10      turned from their wicked way – God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared
4:1        it greatly displeased Jonah
4:2        one who relents concerning calamity
4:6        to deliver him from his discomfort

It’s important to understand the word because the author uses it to communicate the irony of Jonah’s reaction to the deliverance of the Ninevites.

Chapter 4 roughly parallels Chapter 2 as follows:
2:1-9    Jonah consumed by a fish and prays                4:1-3    Jonah consumed by anger and prays
2:10      God responds by saving him from the fish      4:5-11  God responds with plant and worm

1-3
The story continues in 4:1 with Jonah’s reaction to God’s mercy on Nineveh.  This is perhaps as shocking a verse as 3:5 where the people of Nineveh immediately repented at Jonah’s simple message (shocking verses in Jonah = 1:3, 1:17, 3:5-6, 4:1).  We expect to read of Jonah’s joy at the success of his mission and the people’s reaction to God.  Instead, the author completely shocks us with a simple statement that tells us that God’s response greatly displeases Jonah and he is very angry.

Verse 1 uses two words that correspond to God’s actions in Chapter 3.  As noted above, the word ra’ah is used both for what God relents of in 3:10 and for how Jonah sees God’s response in 4:1.  Also, Jonah’s anger in 4:1 is described using the same root as used for God’s anger in 3:9.  Thus, 3:8-4:1 could be translated as follows:

“But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his evil way and from the violence which is in his hands.  Who knows, God may turn and relent, and withdraw His burning anger so that we shall not perish?” 

When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their evil way, then God relented concerning the evil which He had declared He would bring upon them.  And He did not do it.

But it was evil to Jonah, and he burned with anger. [Jonah is absolutely furious]

Note what the author wants us to see.  God sees the Ninevites turn from their evil ways and His burning anger is quenched and He does not send evil against them.  Jonah sees God turn from the evil He was going to send on the evil Ninevites and his anger burns because it is evil to him.

God sees repentance and is merciful.

Jonah sees a lack of justice and is angry.

Jonah prays out of his anger and for the first time we find out why he fled to Tarshish when God called him at the beginning of the book (this is intentional – the author wants to shock us with the debate between Jonah and God and so did not explain Jonah’s response in Chapter 1).  Jonah tells God of his disgust at God’s actions.  He says God’s relenting is the very reason he fled for Tarshish instead of going to Nineveh.  He quotes God’s own words in Exodus 34:6-7 to describe God and tell Him why he knew that God would spare the city (contrast to the King of Nineveh who was uncertain about God’s response in 3:9 – “Who knows…” – Jonah is certain – “I knew”).

Jonah uses an amazing line of reasoning to explain his actions.  By quoting Exodus 34, he lists God’s traits that are celebrated by His people and effectively says they are a weakness in this particular instance.  God is so merciful and slow to anger that He will spare a city whose deeds so clearly cry out for justice and judgment.  He effectively says, “I had to disobey you because you are so compassionate and merciful.”

Remember that Jonah in his prayer from the belly of the fish said, “Those who regard vain idols forsake their faithfulness (chesed).”  Here he uses the same word – chesed (lovingkindness) – as a characteristic of God from Exodus 34.  To Jonah, the thought that the wicked idolaters of Nineveh get to experience the steadfast covenant love of God is horrifying.  How can that be right?

What is interesting is that the Exodus 34 dialogue between God and Moses takes place immediately after the golden calf incident.  God explains to Moses who He is – that He is merciful and gracious and slow to anger even to a nation that just broke the first two commandments within a few weeks of receiving them.  If it were not for God’s mercy in Exodus, Jonah would not even exist as God would have destroyed Israel and started over with Moses. 

The other interesting point about the Exodus passage is God says more than what Jonah relates here.  God finishes the description of Himself by saying, “…yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”  He makes it clear that His compassion does not nullify His justice.  He is slow to anger, but the wicked do not go unpunished.  The Ninevites repented and are therefore spared.  However, if (when) they return to their wickedness they will be judged.  God is not mocked.

What kind of arrogance quotes God’s words back to Him to show that He is acting wrongly?  God shows His mercy to Jonah by not reacting more strongly to this prayer.

Something else to note here.  Would you not expect that Jonah’s response to God’s call would have been, “It will never work, they will never listen, and I risk my life by going there – I am going to Tarshish.”  Instead, we find out that his response was, “It WILL work and they WILL listen so I am going to Tarshish.”  How unexpected is that?

What is behind Jonah’s intense anger?  He likely has a hard time with God extending mercy beyond the borders of Israel.  Israel is God’s chosen people – how can a pagan city be treated the same way as Israel?  [Remember, he prophesied about the expansion of Israel’s borders in II Kings 14 – his nationalism likely runs high.]  Also, the Ninevites repented after one small warning; Jonah’s home country (the Northern Kingdom) has not repented after dozens of warnings and multiple prophets.  Another angle – if Nineveh is spared that means they live to harass Israel another day.  He also is intimately familiar with the atrocities practiced by the Assyrians – how can that go unpunished?  Might he also be aware of the prophecies of Amos and Hosea foretelling the Assyrians being used by God as an instrument of judgment on Israel?

In verse 3 he tells God something that proves just how angry and disgusted he is.  He asks God to kill him (the captain on the ship, the sailors, the Ninevites all cried for God to save them – Jonah cries for God to kill him).  He would rather die than see Nineveh spared and be the agent of their salvation.  He would rather die than continue to serve a God who is willing to be merciful to the wicked Ninevites.  This is similar to what he did in Chapter 1.  By fleeing God he effectively said, “I’d rather be damned in my disobedience than provide for the rescue of the Assyrians.” 

The interesting part of his request to die is that he uses the same words as Elijah in I Kings 19:4 when he fled from Jezebel.  There Elijah wanted to die because nothing really changed in the country after his great victory over the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel.  He saw that the people did not repent and Ahab and Jezebel remained in power.  Jonah seems to be saying that like Elijah, he is discouraged as a prophet of God to the point of death.  Interestingly, Elijah was discouraged over a lack of repentance and Jonah is discouraged over too much. 

4
God responds to Jonah with no acknowledgment of his request and no answer to Jonah’s accusations (lesson from Job – God does not need to explain Himself).  He simply asks Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry?”  This is a play on words by the author.  Another way of translating this question is, “Do you do right to be angry?”  The word for “right” or “good” is the antonym of the word for “evil” or “displeased” in verse 1.  “Are you right to think I am wrong?”

This is a rhetorical question.  Jonah does not answer it and God does not press it.  The answer is clearly “no.”  However, Jonah is not yet ready to look through God’s eyes.  He is lost in his anger and can see nothing other than the lack of justice practiced on the Assyrians.  God will use another miraculous act to open his mind.

Thoughts and Observations
Jonah praised God in Chapter 2 for His mercy in delivering Jonah from the bottom of the sea.  He praised God for hearing his prayer from the belly of death.  He said he would sacrifice to Him and never forget his vows.  He finished his prayer by exulting, “Salvation is from the Lord.”  He was right in his prayer of praise, and his mind reflected a heart turned to God and overflowing with thanksgiving for the mercies and grace of the Creator.

Yet a short time later, however, he asks for death because of the undeserved mercy showered on the Ninevites.  Jonah has gone from praising God to rebuking Him; from promising sacrifices and making vows of service to resigning his office in protest of God’s actions; from saying that salvation belongs to God to saying that God has no right to save the Ninevites.  Jonah shows us once again that it is impossible to overestimate the corruption of the human heart.

In the belly of the fish, Jonah had begun to grasp the idea that all human beings are equally unworthy of God’s love and that therefore all human beings have equal access to God’s grace.  But Jonah’s apprehension of God’s grace in Chapter 2 had been mainly intellectual.  It had not penetrated his heart.  Jonah stands as a warning that human hearts never change quickly or easily, even when a person is being mentored directly by God.  – Tim Keller