Why did Jonah become angry? (v. 1-3)

Jonah knew that when a message of destruction is preached that Israel would repent. (This is different than a simple message to repent, Jonah was told to proclaim destruction, not repentance.) He knew then that Nineveh would repent if he were to preach their. Israel was suppose to be a light to the world, but instead they saw themselves as being better than the world. Jonah was offended that God might provide salvation to gentiles, so he fled to Tarshish in an effort to prevent that from happening. Being obedient to God offended his own pride so much that he would rather die than witness the salvation of the gentile nation.

Submit, therefore, to the will of God. Even in areas that don’t appear to be sin we can put our pride above God’s will. It is easy for this to happen in the church. We can decide that we want to be a part of a certain ministry or event and refuse to listen to God’s call if it is leading us away from it.

Does Jonah have a right to be angry? (v. 4)

God asks this question in order to answer it. The rest of the chapter is focused on answering this question.

The circumstances. (v. 5-8)

Jonah did not know at this point if God was going to withhold his hand from Nineveh or not. We can assume that Jonah spend the better part of 40 days in Nineveh and is now leaving the city in order to be safe from the destruction if God follows through.

We can make assumptions about the character of God as Jonah did, but we cannot know for sure what His will is until He does it. We are to be obedient when we are called and can then wait to see God’s plan be done.
Jonah was aware that the sun would be a problem in the scorching desert so he built a shack or a booth to sit under in order to get out of the sun. We know Jonah had no intention of staying long because he did not build a complete structure. A booth is missing a side. This was so that Jonah could look out. It is also the means that God uses to bring peril upon Jonah. Since Jonah was to the east of the city, he would have had the opening on the west side so that he could watch the city. God brings an east wind which blew strait into Jonah’s window so that he had no protection at all from the elements of the desert.

Why did God save Nineveh? (v. 9-11)

The plant provided shade for Jonah so he was upset when it was gone even though he did not do anything to get the plant nor did he deserve it. God is comparing Himself to Jonah. God is saying that up to this point, He has done nothing to make Nineveh grow, but since it has grown to such a large number of people, He would be upset if He destroyed it since there is so much benefit to allowing it to remain in existence. We know that Assyria played a large role in the exile. They were also used by God to reveal the wickedness in the hearts of Israel.

The application is simply that where God did not predetermine existence, he does decide when to give and take away life. And He is here working in the world in order to complete His plan.

Conclusion.

The major theological conclusion from Jonah is bi-fold. First, God has complete control over his plan. He is working in this world so that His plan will be done. We see this throughout Jonah, but especially in this last chapter. Second, salvation is for all. Even in the times of Israel, salvation was available to all people. We see this both with the Ninevites and with the sailors in chapter 1. The application which we must derive from this book is that we should always be seeking God’s purpose for our lives; the purpose that he has set aside for us to do to further His kingdom. An underlying theme throughout the book is that we must set aside our own presuppositions about God in order to fully give ourselves over to do His work.

The book of Jonah is left at a bit of a cliff hanger. We don’t know if Jonah finally repented of His self idolization or if he took it to his grave. At any rate, we know that God’s will has been done on earth and that He is still working towards the completion of His plan. It is likely that it was left this way in order to prevent us from justifying our own unwillingness to follow God’s direction at the hope of future repentance.

Image Credits: Brent Nelson, flickr.com

Submit to God's Plan: The Conclusion of Jonah