Bible Study - Jonah 4
S - And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
Jonah 4:2–4 ESV
O - Commentary:
Jonah knew God is willing to forgive but he did not want his enemies to know it. Their threat of doom (3:4) could be diverted if his hearers turned to his forgiving God.
The prophet certainly had a clear grasp of God’s character, as reflected in his near-quotation of Exodus 34:6. In fact Jonah’s words about God are almost identical with Joel’s description of Him (Joel 2:13; also cf. Neh. 9:17; Pss. 103:8; 145:8). God is gracious (i.e., He longs for and favors others) and compassionate (tender in His affection), slow to anger (He does not delight in punishing the wicked; cf. 2 Peter 3:9), and abounding in love (ḥeseḏ, “loyal love, or faithfulness to a covenant”). The psalmists often spoke of God being “gracious” and “compassionate,” though sometimes in reverse order (Pss. 86:15; 103:8; 111:4; 112:4; 145:8). Jonah also said He knew God relents from sending calamity. The prophet feared that all these attributes of God would be extended toward the despicable, cruel Ninevites—and it happened!
John D. Hannah, “Jonah,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 1470.
A - We shake our heads at Jonah — how could he not want good for his enemies? But don't we do the same thing? Don't we feel that little flicker of satisfaction when our rival stumbles, when someone who wronged us finally "gets what's coming"? That flicker says more about our maturity than we'd like to admit. Watch how you celebrate other people's wins. Is it genuine? Or are you quietly measuring their success against your own? God isn't 100% for you and 90% for them. He's for them the same way He's for you — in their sin, their mess, their brokenness. He made them. He loves them. So should we.
R - Father, You love us extravagantly, and You love them the same way. Show us where we've let comparison replace celebration. Strip out the part of us that keeps score. Give us Your eyes for people — the ones You made, the ones You love, mess and all. You did that for us. Now do it through us.
