Two Key Questions From Your Detailed Observations Of Jonah
Following the suggestions in part 3, select one or two key questions from your detailed observation of Jonah 4:1-11 and interpret the passage by answering that question using evidential premises and inferences:
Jonah 4:6 “Then the LORD God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant.” (NIV)
Observation: This plant is Lord appointed. God made a provision for this plant to protect Jonah.
Question: What was Jonah supposed to understand from the episode with the gourd?
This verse is confusing since Jonah had previously built a shelter for securing shade. Jonah displayed happiness when God allows a plant to grow up and provide shade “to take …show more content…
Perhaps Jonah was too comfortable of the temporary relief of the gourd. The mistake he made was his affection for his comforts as he is not fully delivered by the plant. A change in his mood doesn’t solve his problem. He was happy for the provision of the plant, though he apparently doesn’t recognize it as having come from the hand of God. We are often the same way when God provides for us.
Jonah 4:7 “But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered.” (NIV)
Observation: God appointed and now destroys the plant. God appoints a harassing element. The word “smote” appears to demonstrate anger.
Question: Why did God want something killed that He just created?
The worm’s mission is merely to attack the fast-growing plant so that it withers, and Jonah is deprived of his shade. This reveals that the plant was intended to serve God’s resolve, and not just for Jonah’s comfort. “Fortunately, God will be just as blunt with us. He will shatter our comfort if that will place us in the best place to meet him. As long as we are surrounded by our sense of control and importance, we will not know God as …show more content…
In verse 11 God addresses what was the heart of the matter. He informed Jonah that he neither created nor sustained the plant about which he was so greatly concerned. One hundred and twenty thousand people of Nineveh were not capable of clear moral discernment. However, they became the achievement of God’s creative genius. God, who knows when a sparrow falls from heaven, is even concerned about the cattle. Jonah’s perspective wasn’t what it should have been because it wasn’t the same as his God’s. Lost people matter to God.
How does it illumine the message of the book of Jonah?
The theme of the Book of Jonah and of Jonah 4 centers around the question, “Do you do well to be angry?” Or another way to state it, “Did you deserve what I (God) gave you?” When God commands, God will act according to the human response. When God acts, God will speak regarding the negative human response. Therefore, Jonah 4 is not a chapter of its own, but the core meaning of the entire book, centered around God’s dialog, “What right do you have to be angry?” Jonah 4 represents the moralistic purpose of the book and has the greatest impact on the intended
Jonah 4:6 “Then the LORD God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant.” (NIV)
Observation: This plant is Lord appointed. God made a provision for this plant to protect Jonah.
Question: What was Jonah supposed to understand from the episode with the gourd?
This verse is confusing since Jonah had previously built a shelter for securing shade. Jonah displayed happiness when God allows a plant to grow up and provide shade “to take …show more content…
Perhaps Jonah was too comfortable of the temporary relief of the gourd. The mistake he made was his affection for his comforts as he is not fully delivered by the plant. A change in his mood doesn’t solve his problem. He was happy for the provision of the plant, though he apparently doesn’t recognize it as having come from the hand of God. We are often the same way when God provides for us.
Jonah 4:7 “But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered.” (NIV)
Observation: God appointed and now destroys the plant. God appoints a harassing element. The word “smote” appears to demonstrate anger.
Question: Why did God want something killed that He just created?
The worm’s mission is merely to attack the fast-growing plant so that it withers, and Jonah is deprived of his shade. This reveals that the plant was intended to serve God’s resolve, and not just for Jonah’s comfort. “Fortunately, God will be just as blunt with us. He will shatter our comfort if that will place us in the best place to meet him. As long as we are surrounded by our sense of control and importance, we will not know God as …show more content…
In verse 11 God addresses what was the heart of the matter. He informed Jonah that he neither created nor sustained the plant about which he was so greatly concerned. One hundred and twenty thousand people of Nineveh were not capable of clear moral discernment. However, they became the achievement of God’s creative genius. God, who knows when a sparrow falls from heaven, is even concerned about the cattle. Jonah’s perspective wasn’t what it should have been because it wasn’t the same as his God’s. Lost people matter to God.
How does it illumine the message of the book of Jonah?
The theme of the Book of Jonah and of Jonah 4 centers around the question, “Do you do well to be angry?” Or another way to state it, “Did you deserve what I (God) gave you?” When God commands, God will act according to the human response. When God acts, God will speak regarding the negative human response. Therefore, Jonah 4 is not a chapter of its own, but the core meaning of the entire book, centered around God’s dialog, “What right do you have to be angry?” Jonah 4 represents the moralistic purpose of the book and has the greatest impact on the intended