Daily Thoughts from Jonah: Should Not I Pity Nineveh? (Jonah 4:5-11)

Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”  (Jonah 4:5-11 ESV)

Jonah cares more for his own comfort than he does for the many people of Nineveh.  God shows him how He is the source of Jonah’s comfort but also the God who cares for people and even for animals.  Do you see God as someone who is concerned about cows, as someone who worries about what would happen to these herds when His judgment came on this city?

Again Yahweh asks Jonah if he does well to be angry.  Jonah looks like a petulant little child throwing a tantrum, making bold statements that he doesn’t even mean about preferring to die.  Though we do not see repentance in his words, the fact that Jonah wrote or helped someone to write this book tells us that he saw his own foolishness finally and gave us this window into his soul and ours.

Christ has given us the Great Commission, the charge to go into all the world and preach the gospel, thinking nothing of our own comfort.  There are so many who need Him.  We cannot shrink from taking the good news even (or especially) to our enemies.

Patrick was kidnapped at age 16 from Britain by Irish pirates and made a slave in Ireland, escaping after six years and returning to his family, a new follower of Jesus Christ.  He became a pastor, and then a missionary as he returned to Ireland, the place of his former captivity, because he saw the spiritual darkness of that land and knew they needed Jesus just like he did.

Elisabeth Elliot’s husband Jim had been killed by the Auca tribesmen he was trying to reach with the gospel, so she picked up where he left off, going to this people and showing them the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ.  Many came to faith.

Who are your Irish pirates, your Auca tribesmen, your Ninevites?