Title: Jonah's Disliked Posture/4 Chapter 1-4
Contents Chapter 4 Exposition
Text: Chapter 4 1-4
Title: Jonah's Disliked Posture
Jonah speaks of God's grace like this, and confesses that God is a God of great kindness, and that "he turns from his will and does not bring disaster" = verse 2
Then he protests, if that were the case, then why did you catch himself as he fled to Tarshish?
1, Jonah acknowledges God's mercy
‘The Lord is gracious and merciful’
Jonah knew that the Lord would forgive and that he would not destroy Nineveh.
He did not need any special divine revelation to know it.
This is because mercy is in accord with God's disposition and prophetic doctrine.
The LORD is 1. Gracious 2. Merciful 3. Slow to anger 4. Great lovingkindness 5. Relenting from evil = Verse 2
2, there is Jonah's appeal
“Now, O Lord, take my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Jonah said that it would be better for him to die than to witness the afflictions of his people.
Hopefully it's an expression of prayer
Elijah also escaped Jezebel and went into the wilderness, and sat under a broom tree, and prayed for death, and said, "It is enough, O LORD; take my life now." 1 Kings 19:4
This is not the appeal of Jonah alone, but the appearance of God's workers sometimes.
3, there is an answer from the Lord
“He said to the Lord, ‘What is your anger worth?”
This includes proof
Jonah's protest is completely unreasonable.
Jehovah never answers Jonah's protest
Jehovah’s expression of how Jonah’s anger was proper indicates that Jonah’s posture was not appropriate
This means that Jonah's anger is not great or serious, and that Jonah's protest against Jehovah's work is unjust.
Obedience is absolute in God's work