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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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on the Whole Bible</h1>
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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[<A HREF="MHC32003.HTM">Previous</A>]
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<TD ALIGN="RIGHT" VALIGN="TOP">
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>J O N A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. IV.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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We read, with a great deal of pleasure, in the close of the foregoing
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chapter, concerning the repentance of Nineveh; but in this chapter we
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read, with a great deal of uneasiness, concerning the sin of Jonah;
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and, as there is joy in heaven and earth for the conversion of sinners,
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so there is grief for the follies and infirmities of saints. In all the
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book of God we scarcely find a "servant of the Lord" (and such a one we
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are sure Jonah was, for the scripture calls him so) so very much out of
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temper as he is here, so very peevish and provoking to God himself. In
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the first chapter we had him fleeing from the face of God; but here we
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have him, in effect, flying in the face of God; and, which is more
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grieving to us, there we had an account of his repentance and return to
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God; but here, though no doubt he did repent, yet, as in Solomon's
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case, no account is left us of his recovering himself; but, while we
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read with wonder of his perverseness, we read with no less wonder of
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God's tenderness towards him, by which it appeared that he had not cast
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him off. Here is,
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I. Jonah's repining at God's mercy to Nineveh, and the fret he was in
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about it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:1-3">ver. 1-3</A>.
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II. The gentle reproof God gave him for it,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:4">ver. 4</A>.
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III. Jonah's discontent at the withering of the gourd, and his
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justifying himself in that discontent,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:5-9">ver. 5-9</A>.
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IV. God's improving it for his conviction, that he ought not to be
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angry at the sparing of Nineveh,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:10-11">ver. 10-11</A>.
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Man's badness and God's goodness serve here for a foil to each other,
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that the former may appear the more exceedingly sinful and the latter
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the more exceedingly gracious.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Jon4_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jon4_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jon4_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jon4_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Prophet's Discontent.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 840.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
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2 And he prayed unto the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, and said, I pray thee, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>,
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<I>was</I> not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore
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I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou <I>art</I> a
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gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,
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and repentest thee of the evil.
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3 Therefore now, O L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, take, I beseech thee, my life from me;
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for <I>it is</I> better for me to die than to live.
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4 Then said the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, Doest thou well to be angry?
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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See here,
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I. How unjustly Jonah quarrelled with God for his mercy to Nineveh,
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upon their repentance. This gives us occasion to suspect that Jonah had
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only delivered the message of wrath against the Ninevites, and had not
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at all assisted or encouraged them in their repentance, as one would
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think he should have done; for when they did repent, and found
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mercy,</P>
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<P>
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1. Jonah grudged them the mercy they found
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>):
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<I>It displeased Jonah exceedingly;</I> and (would you think it?) <I>he
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was very angry,</I> was in a great heat about it. It was very wrong,
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(1.) That he had so little government of himself as to be displeased
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and very angry; he had <I>no rule over his own spirit,</I> and
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therefore, as a city broken down, lay exposed to temptations and
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snares.
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(2.) That he had so little reverence of God as to be displeased and
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angry at what he did, as David was when the Lord had made a breach upon
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Uzza; whatever pleases God should please us, and, though we cannot
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account for it, yet we must acquiesce in it.
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(3.) That he had so little affection for men as to be displeased and
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very angry at the conversion of the Ninevites and their reception into
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the divine favour. This was the sin of the scribes and Pharisees, who
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murmured at our Saviour because he entertained publicans and sinners;
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but <I>is our eye evil because his is good?</I> But why was Jonah so
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uneasy at it, that the Ninevites repented and were spared? It cannot be
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expected that we should give any good reason for a thing so very absurd
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and unreasonable; no, nor any thing that has the face or colour of a
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reason; but we may conjecture what the provocation was. Hot spirits are
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usually high spirits. <I>Only by pride comes contention</I> both with
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God and man. It was a point of honour that Jonah stood upon and that
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made him angry.
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[1.] He was jealous for the honour of his country; the repentance and
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reformation of Nineveh shamed the obstinacy of Israel that repented
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not, but <I>hated to be reformed;</I> and the favour God had shown to
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these Gentiles, upon their repentance, was an ill omen to the Jewish
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nation, as if they should be (as at length they were) rejected and cast
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out of the church and the Gentiles substituted in their room. When it
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was intimated to St. Peter himself that he should make no difference
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between Jews and Gentiles he startled at the thing, and said, <I>Not
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so, Lord;</I> no marvel then that Jonah looked upon it with regret that
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Nineveh should become a favourite. Jonah herein had <I>a zeal for
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God</I> as the God of Israel in a particular manner, <I>but not
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according to knowledge.</I> Note, Many are displeased with God under
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pretence of concern for his glory.
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[2.] He was jealous for his own honour, fearing lest, if Nineveh was
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not destroyed within forty days, he should be accounted a false
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prophet, and stigmatized accordingly; whereas he needed not be under
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any discontent about that, for in the threatening of ruin it was
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implied that, for the preventing of it, they should repent, and, if
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they did, it should be prevented. And no one will complain of being
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deceived by him that is better than his word; and he would rather gain
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honour among them, by being instrumental to save them, than fall under
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any disgrace. But melancholy men (and such a one Jonah seems to have
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been) are apt to make themselves uneasy by fancying evils to themselves
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that are not, nor are ever likely to be. Most of our frets, as well as
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our frights, are owing to the power of imagination; and those are to be
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pitied as perfect bond-slaves that are under the power of such a
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tyrant.</P>
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<P>
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2. He quarreled with God about it. When his heart was hot within him,
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he <I>spoke unadvisedly with his lips;</I> and here he tells us what he
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said
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:2,3"><I>v.</I> 2, 3</A>):
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He <I>prayed unto the Lord,</I> but it is a very awkward prayer, not
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like that which he prayed in the fish's belly; for affliction teaches
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us to pray submissively, which Jonah now forgot to do. Being in
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discontent, he applied to the duty of prayer, as he used to do in his
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troubles, but his corruptions got head of his graces, and, when he
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should have been praying for benefit by the mercy of God himself, he
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was complaining of the benefit others had by that mercy. Nothing could
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be spoken more unbecomingly.
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(1.) He now begins to justify himself in fleeing <I>from the presence
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of the Lord,</I> when he was first ordered to go to Nineveh, for which
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he had before, with good reason, condemned himself: "<I>Lord,</I>" said
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he, "<I>was not this my saying when I was in my own country?</I> Did I
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not foresee that if I went to preach to Nineveh they would repent, and
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thou wouldst forgive them, and then thy word would be reflected upon
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and reproached as yea and nay?" What a strange sort of man was Jonah,
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to dread the success of his ministry! Many have been tempted to
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withdraw from their work because they had despaired of doing good by
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it, but Jonah declined preaching because he was afraid of doing good by
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it; and still he persists in the same corrupt notion, for, it seems,
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the whale's belly itself could not cure him of it. It was his saying
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when he was <I>in his own country,</I> but it was a bad saying; yet
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here he stands to it, and, very unlike the other prophets, <I>desires
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the woeful day</I> which he had foretold and grieves because it does
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not come. Even Christ's disciples <I>know not what manner of spirit
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they are of;</I> those did not who wished for fire from heaven upon the
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city that did not receive them, much less did Jonah, who wished for
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fire from heaven upon the city that did receive him,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+9:55">Luke ix. 55</A>.
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Jonah thinks he has reason to complain of that, when it is done, which
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he was before afraid of; so hard is it to get a root of bitterness
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plucked out of the mind, when once it is fastened there. And why did
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Jonah expect that God would spare Nineveh? <I>Because I knew that thou
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was a gracious God,</I> indulgent and easily pleased, that <I>thou wast
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slow to anger and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the
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evil.</I> All this is very true; and Jonah could not but know it by
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God's proclamation of his name and the experiences of all ages; but it
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is strange and very unaccountable that that which all the saints had
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made the matter of their joy and praise Jonah should make the matter of
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reflection upon God, as if that were an imperfection of the divine
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nature which is indeed the greatest glory of it--that God <I>is
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gracious and merciful.</I> The servant that said, <I>I knew thee to be
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a hard man,</I> said that which was false, and yet, had it been true,
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it was not the proper matter of a complaint; but Jonah, though he says
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what is true, yet, speaking it by way of reproach, speaks very
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absurdly. Those have a spirit of contention and contradiction indeed
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that can find in their hearts to quarrel with the goodness of God, and
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his sparing pardoning mercy, to which we all owe it that we are out of
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hell. This is making that to be to us <I>a savour of death unto
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death</I> which ought to be <I>a savour of life unto life.</I>
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(2.) In a passion, he wishes for death
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>),
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a strange expression of his causeless passion! "<I>Now, O Lord! take,
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I beseech thee, my life from me.</I> If Nineveh must live, let me die,
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rather than see thy word and mine disproved, rather than see the glory
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of Israel transferred to the Gentiles," as if there were not grace
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enough in God both for Jews and Gentiles, or as if his countrymen were
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the further off from mercy for the Ninevites being taken into favour.
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When the prophet Elijah had laboured in vain, he wished he might die,
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and it was his infirmity,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=1Ki+19:4">1 Kings xix. 4</A>.
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But Jonah labours to good purpose, saves a great city from ruin, and
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yet wishes he may die, as if, having done much good, he were afraid of
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living to do more; he <I>sees of the travail of his soul, and is
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dissatisfied.</I> What a perverse spirit is mingled with every word he
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says! When Jonah was brought alive out of the whale's belly, he thought
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life a very valuable mercy, and was thankful to that God who brought up
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<I>his life from corruption,</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+2:6"><I>ch.</I> ii. 6</A>),
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and a great blessing his life had been to Nineveh; yet now, for that
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very reason, it became a burden to himself and he begs to be eased of
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it, pleading, <I>It is better for me to die than to live.</I> Such a
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word as this may be the language of grace, as it was in Paul, who
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desired to depart and be with Christ, <I>which is far better;</I> but
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here it was the language of folly, and passion, and strong corruption;
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and so much the worse,
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[1.] Jonah being now in the midst of his usefulness, and therefore fit
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to live. He was one whose ministry God wonderfully owned and prospered.
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The conversion of Nineveh might give him hopes of being instrumental to
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convert the whole kingdom of Assyria; it was therefore very absurd for
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him to wish he might die when he had a prospect of living to so good a
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purpose and could be so ill spared.
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[2.] Jonah being now so much out of temper and therefore unfit to die.
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How durst he think of dying, and going to appear before God's
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judgment-seat, when he was actually quarrelling with him? Was this a
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frame of spirit proper for a man to go out of the world in? But those
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who passionately desire death commonly have least reason to do it, as
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being very much unprepared for it. Our business is to get ready to die
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by doing the work of life, and then to refer ourselves to God to take
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away our life when and how he pleases.</P>
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<P>
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II. See how justly God reproved Jonah for this heat that he was in
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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The Lord said, <I>Doest thou well to be angry? Is doing well a
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displeasure to thee?</I> so some read it. What! dost thou repent of thy
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good deeds? God might justly have rejected him for this impious heat
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which he was in, might justly have taken him at his word, and have
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struck him dead when he wished to die; but he vouchsafes to reason with
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him for his conviction and to bring him to a better temper, as the
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father of the prodigal reasoned with his elder son, when, as Jonah
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here, he murmured at the remission and reception of his brother.
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<I>Doest thou well to be angry?</I> See how mildly the great God speaks
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to this foolish man, to teach us to restore those that have fallen with
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a <I>spirit of meekness,</I> and with <I>soft answers</I> to <I>turn
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away wrath.</I> God appeals to himself and to his own conscience:
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"<I>Doest thou well?</I> Thou knowest thou does not." We should often
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put this question to ourselves, Is it well to say thus, to do thus? Can
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I justify it? Must I not unsay it and undo it again by repentance, or
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be undone forever? Ask,
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1. Do I well to be angry? When passion is up, let it meet with this
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check, "Do I well to be so soon angry, so often angry, so long angry,
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to put myself into such a heat, and to give others such ill language in
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my anger? Is this well, that I suffer these headstrong passions to get
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dominion over me?"
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2. "Do I well to be angry at the mercy of God to repenting sinners?"
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That was Jonah's crime. Do we do well to be angry at that which is so
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much for the glory of God and the advancement of his kingdom among
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men--to be angry at that which angels rejoice in and for which abundant
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thanksgivings will be rendered to God? We do ill to be angry at that
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grace which we ourselves need and are undone without; if room were not
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left for repentance, and hope given of pardon upon repentance, what
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would become of us? Let the conversion of sinners, which is the joy of
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heaven, be our joy, and never our grief.</P>
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<A NAME="Jon4_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jon4_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jon4_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jon4_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jon4_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jon4_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Jon4_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>The Prophet's Discontent; The Withering of the Prophet's Gourd; God's Remonstrance with Jonah.</I></FONT></TD>
|
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<TD VALIGN=BOTTOM ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 840.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of
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the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the
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shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
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6 And the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God prepared a gourd, and made <I>it</I> to come up
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over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver
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him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.
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7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day,
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and it smote the gourd that it withered.
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8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God
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prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of
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Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said,
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<I>It is</I> better for me to die than to live.
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9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the
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gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, <I>even</I> unto death.
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10 Then said the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the
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which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came
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up in a night, and perished in a night:
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11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are
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more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between
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their right hand and their left hand; and <I>also</I> much cattle?
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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Jonah persists here in his discontent; for the <I>beginning of
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strife</I> both with God and man <I>is as the letting forth of
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waters,</I> the breach grows wider and wider, and, when passion gets
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head, bad is made worse; it should therefore be silenced and suppressed
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at first. We have here,</P>
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<P>
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|
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I. Jonah's sullen expectation of the fate of Nineveh. We may suppose
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that the Ninevites, giving credit to the message he brought, were ready
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to give entertainment to the messenger that brought it, and to show him
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respect, that they would have made him welcome to the best of their
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houses and tables. But Jonah was out of humour, would not accept their
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kindness, nor behave towards them with common civility, which one might
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have feared would have prejudiced them against him and his word; but
|
|
when there is not only the <I>treasure</I> put into <I>earthen
|
|
vessels,</I> but the trust lodged with men <I>subject to like passions
|
|
as we are,</I> and yet the point gained, it must be owned that the
|
|
<I>excellency of the power</I> appears so much the more to be of God
|
|
<I>and not of man.</I> Jonah retires, <I>goes out of the city,</I> sits
|
|
alone, and keeps silence, because he sees the Ninevites repent and
|
|
reform,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>.
|
|
|
|
Perhaps he told those about him that he went out of the city for fear
|
|
of perishing in the ruins of it; but he went to <I>see what would
|
|
become of the city,</I> as Abraham went up to see what would become of
|
|
Sodom,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+19:27">Gen. xix. 27</A>.
|
|
|
|
The forty days were now expiring, or had expired, and Jonah hoped that,
|
|
if Nineveh was not overthrown, yet some judgement or other would come
|
|
upon it, sufficient to save his credit; however, it was with great
|
|
uneasiness that he waited the issue. He would not sojourn in a house,
|
|
expecting it would fall upon his head, but he <I>made himself a
|
|
booth</I> of the boughs of trees, and sat in that, though there he
|
|
would lie exposed to wind and weather. Note, It is common for those
|
|
that have fretful uneasy spirits industriously to create inconveniences
|
|
themselves, that, resolving to complain, they may still have something
|
|
to complain of.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. God's gracious provision for his shelter and refreshment when he
|
|
thus foolishly afflicted himself and was still adding yet more and more
|
|
to his own affliction,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Jonah was sitting in his booth, fretting at the cold of the night and
|
|
the heat of the day, which were both grievous to him, and God might
|
|
have said, It is his own choice, his own doing, a house of his own
|
|
building, let him make the best of it; but he looked on him with
|
|
compassion, as the tender mother does on the froward child, and
|
|
relieved him against the grievances which he by his own wilfulness
|
|
created to himself. He <I>prepared a gourd,</I> a plant with broad
|
|
leaves, and full of them, that suddenly grew up, and covered his hut or
|
|
booth, so as to keep off much of the injury of the cold and heat. It
|
|
was <I>a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief,</I> that,
|
|
being refreshed in body, he might the better guard against the
|
|
uneasiness of his mind, which outward crosses and troubles are often
|
|
the occasion and increase of. See how tender God is of his people in
|
|
their afflictions, yea, though they are foolish and froward, nor is he
|
|
<I>extreme to mark what they do amiss.</I> God had before <I>prepared a
|
|
great fish</I> to secure Jonah from the injuries of the water, and here
|
|
a great gourd to secure him from the injuries of the air; for he is the
|
|
protector of his people against evils of every kind, has the command of
|
|
plants as well as animals, and can soon prepare them, to make them
|
|
serve his purposes, can make their growth sudden, which, in a course of
|
|
nature, is slow and gradual. A gourd, one would think, was but a
|
|
slender fortification at the best, yet Jonah <I>was exceedingly glad of
|
|
the gourd;</I> for,
|
|
|
|
1. It was really at that time a great comfort to him. A thing in itself
|
|
small and inconsiderable, yet, coming seasonably, may be to us a very
|
|
valuable blessing. A gourd in the right place may do us more service
|
|
than a cedar. The least creatures may be great plagues (as flies and
|
|
lice were to Pharaoh) or great comforts (as the gourd to Jonah),
|
|
according as God is pleased to make them.
|
|
|
|
2. He being now much under the power of imagination took a greater
|
|
complacency in it than there was cause for. He was exceedingly glad of
|
|
it, was proud of it, and triumphed in it. Note, Persons of strong
|
|
passions, as they are apt to be cast down with a trifle that crosses
|
|
them, so they are apt to be lifted up with a trifle that pleases them.
|
|
A small toy will serve sometimes to pacify a cross child, as the gourd
|
|
did Jonah. But wisdom and grace would teach us both to <I>weep</I> for
|
|
our troubles <I>as though we wept not,</I> and to <I>rejoice</I> in our
|
|
comforts <I>as though we rejoiced not.</I> Creature-comforts we ought
|
|
to enjoy and be thankful for, but we need not be exceedingly glad of
|
|
them; it is God only that must be our <I>exceeding joy,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+43:4">
|
|
Ps. xliii. 4</A>.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. The sudden loss of this provision which God had made for his
|
|
refreshment, and the return of his trouble,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:7,8"><I>v.</I> 7, 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
God that had provided comfort for him provided also an affliction for
|
|
him in that very thing which was his comfort; the affliction did not
|
|
come by chance, but by divine direction and appointment.
|
|
|
|
1. God <I>prepared a worm</I> to destroy the gourd. He that gave took
|
|
away, and Jonah ought to have <I>blessed his name</I> in both; but
|
|
because, when he took the comfort of the gourd, he did not give God the
|
|
praise of it, God deprived him of the benefit of it, and justly. See
|
|
what all our creature-comforts are, and what we may expect them to be;
|
|
they are gourds, have their root in the earth, are but a thin and
|
|
slender defence compared with the <I>rock of ages;</I> they are
|
|
withering things; they perish in the using, and we are soon deprived of
|
|
the comfort of them. The gourd withered the next day after it sprang
|
|
up; our comforts <I>come forth like flowers and are soon cut down.</I>
|
|
When we please ourselves most with them, and promise ourselves most
|
|
from them, we are disappointed. A little thing withers them; a small
|
|
worm at the root destroys a large gourd. Something unseen and
|
|
undiscerned does it. Our gourds wither, and we know not what to
|
|
attribute it to. And perhaps those wither first that we have been more
|
|
exceedingly glad of; that proves least safe that is most dear. God did
|
|
not send an angel to pluck up Jonah's gourd, but sent a worm to smite
|
|
it; there it grew still, but it stood him in no stead. Perhaps our
|
|
creature-comforts are continued to us, but they are embittered; the
|
|
creature is continued, but the comfort is gone; and the remains, or
|
|
ruins of it rather, do but upbraid us with our folly in being
|
|
exceedingly glad of it.
|
|
|
|
2. He <I>prepared a wind</I> to make Jonah feel the want of the gourd,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>.
|
|
|
|
It was a <I>vehement east wind,</I> which drove the heat of the rising
|
|
sun violently upon the head of Jonah. This wind was not as a fan to
|
|
abate the heat, but as bellows to make it more intense. Thus poor Jonah
|
|
lay open to sun and wind.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
IV. The further fret that this put Jonah into
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:8"><I>v.</I> 8</A>):
|
|
|
|
He <I>fainted, and wished in himself that he might die.</I> "If the
|
|
gourd be killed, if the gourd be dead, kill me too, <I>let me die with
|
|
the gourd.</I>" Foolish man, that thinks his life bound up in the life
|
|
of a weed! Note, It is just that those who love to complain should
|
|
never be left without something to complain of, that their folly may be
|
|
manifested and corrected, and, if possible, cured. And see here how the
|
|
passions that run into an extreme one way commonly run into an extreme
|
|
the other way. Jonah, who was in transports of joy when the gourd
|
|
flourished, is in pangs of grief when the gourd has withered.
|
|
Inordinate affection lays a foundation for inordinate affliction; what
|
|
we are over-fond of when we have it we are apt to over-grieve for when
|
|
we lose it, and we may see our folly in both.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
V. The rebuke God gave him for this; he again reasoned with him:
|
|
<I>Dost thou well to be angry for the gourd?</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
Note, The withering of a gourd is a thing which it does not become us
|
|
to be angry at. When afflicting providences deprive us of our
|
|
relations, possessions, and enjoyments, we must bear it patiently, must
|
|
not be angry at God, must not be angry <I>for the gourd.</I> It is
|
|
comparatively but a small loss, the loss of a shadow; that is the most
|
|
we can make of it. It was a gourd, a withering thing; we could expect
|
|
no other than that it should wither. Our being angry for the withering
|
|
of it will not recover it; we ourselves shall shortly wither like it.
|
|
If one gourd be withered, another gourd may spring up in the room of
|
|
it; but that which should especially silence our discontent is that
|
|
though our gourd be gone our God is not gone, and there is enough in
|
|
him to make up all our losses.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Let us therefore own that we do ill, that we do very ill, to be angry
|
|
for the gourd; and let us under such events quiet ourselves <I>as a
|
|
child that is weaned from his mother.</I></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. His justification of his passion and discontent; and it is very
|
|
strange,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:9"><I>v.</I> 9</A>.
|
|
|
|
He said, <I>I do well to be angry, even unto death.</I> It is bad to
|
|
speak amiss, yet if it be in haste, if what is said amiss be speedily
|
|
recalled and unsaid again, it is the more excusable; but to speak amiss
|
|
and stand to it is bad indeed. So Jonah did here, though God himself
|
|
rebuked him, and by appealing to his conscience expected he would
|
|
rebuke himself. See what brutish things ungoverned passions are, and
|
|
how much it is our interest, and ought to be our endeavour, to chain up
|
|
these roaring lions and ranging bears. <I>Sin</I> and <I>death</I> are
|
|
two very dreadful things, yet Jonah, in his heat, makes light of them
|
|
both.
|
|
|
|
1. He has so little regard for God as to fly in the face of his
|
|
authority, and to say that he did well in that which God said was ill
|
|
done. Passion often over-rules conscience, and forces it, when it is
|
|
appealed to, to give a false judgment, as Jonah here did.
|
|
|
|
2. He has so little regard to himself as to abandon his own life, and
|
|
to think it no harm to indulge his passion even to death, to kill
|
|
himself with fretting. We read of <I>wrath</I> that <I>kills the
|
|
foolish man,</I> and <I>envy</I> that <I>slays the silly one</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+5:2">Job v. 2</A>),
|
|
|
|
and foolish silly ones indeed those are that cut their own throats with
|
|
their own passions, that fret themselves into consumptions and other
|
|
weaknesses, and put themselves into fevers with their own intemperate
|
|
heats.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VII. The improvement of it against him for his conviction that he did
|
|
ill to murmur at the sparing of Nineveh. Out of his own mouth God will
|
|
judge him; and we have reason to think it overcame him; for he made no
|
|
reply, but, we hope, returned to his right mind and recovered his
|
|
temper, though he could not keep it, and all was well. Now,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. Let us see how God argued with him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:10,11"><I>v.</I> 10, 11</A>):
|
|
|
|
"<I>Thou hast had pity on the gourd,</I> hast <I>spared</I> it" (so the
|
|
word is), "didst what thou couldst, and wouldst have done more, to keep
|
|
it alive, and saidst, <I>What a pity it is</I> that this gourd should
|
|
ever wither! and <I>should not I then spare Nineveh?</I> Should not I
|
|
have as much compassion upon that as thou hadst upon the gourd, and
|
|
forbid the earthquake which would ruin that, as thou wouldst have
|
|
forbidden the worm that smote the gourd? Consider,"
|
|
|
|
(1.) "The gourd thou hadst pity on was but one; but the inhabitants of
|
|
Nineveh, whom I have pity on, are numerous." It is a great city and
|
|
very populous, as appears by the number of the infants, suppose from
|
|
two years old and under; there are 120,000 such in Nineveh, that have
|
|
not come to so much use of understanding as to know <I>their right hand
|
|
from their left,</I> for they are yet but babes. These are taken notice
|
|
of because the age of infants is commonly looked upon as the age of
|
|
innocence. So many there were in Nineveh that had not been guilty of
|
|
any actual transgression, and consequently had not themselves
|
|
contributed to the common guilt, and yet, if Nineveh had been
|
|
overthrown, they would all have been involved in the common calamity;
|
|
"and <I>shall not I spare</I> Nineveh then, with an eye to them?" God
|
|
has a tender regard to little children, and is ready to pity and
|
|
succour them, nay, here a whole city is spared for their sakes, which
|
|
may encourage parents to present their children to God by faith and
|
|
prayer, that though they are not capable of doing him any service (for
|
|
they cannot discern <I>between their right hand and their left,</I>
|
|
between good and evil, sin and duty), yet they are capable of
|
|
participating in his favours and of obtaining salvation. The great
|
|
Saviour discovered a particular kindness for the children that were
|
|
brought to him, when he <I>took them up in his arms, put his hands upon
|
|
them, and blessed them.</I> Nay, God took notice of the abundance of
|
|
cattle too that were in Nineveh, which he had more reason to pity and
|
|
spare than Jonah had to pity and to spare the gourd, inasmuch as the
|
|
animal life is more excellent than the vegetable.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The gourd which Jonah was concerned for was none of his own; it
|
|
was that for which he did not labour and which he made not to grow; but
|
|
the persons in Nineveh whom God had compassion on were all the <I>work
|
|
of his own hands,</I> whose being he was the author of, whose lives he
|
|
was the preserver of, whom he planted and made to grow; he made them,
|
|
and his they were, and therefore he had much more reason to have
|
|
compassion on them, for he cannot <I>despise the work of his own
|
|
hands</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+10:3">Job x. 3</A>);
|
|
|
|
and thus Job there argues with him
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jon+4:8,9"><I>v.</I> 8, 9</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>Thy hands have made me, and fashioned me,</I> have <I>made me as the
|
|
clay;</I> and <I>wilt thou destroy</I> me, <I>wilt thou bring me into
|
|
dust again?</I> And thus he here argues with himself.
|
|
|
|
(3.) The gourd which Jonah had pity on was of a sudden growth, and
|
|
therefore of less value; it <I>came up in a night, it was the son of a
|
|
night</I> (so the word is); but Nineveh is an ancient city, of many
|
|
ages standing, and therefore cannot be so easily given up; "the persons
|
|
I spare have been many years in growing up, not so soon reared as the
|
|
gourd; and shall not I then have pity on those that have been so many
|
|
years the care of my providence, so many years my tenants?"
|
|
|
|
(4.) The gourd which Jonah had pity on <I>perished in a night;</I> it
|
|
withered, and there was an end of it. But the precious souls in
|
|
Nineveh that God had pity on are not so short-lived; they are immortal,
|
|
and therefore to be carefully and tenderly considered. One soul is of
|
|
more value than the whole world, and the gain of the world will not
|
|
countervail the loss of it; surely then one soul is of more value than
|
|
many gourds, of more value than many sparrows; so God accounts, and so
|
|
should we, and therefore have a greater concern for the children of men
|
|
than for any of the inferior creatures, and for our own and others'
|
|
precious souls than for any of the riches and enjoyments of this
|
|
world.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. From all this we may learn,
|
|
|
|
(1.) That though God may suffer his people to fall into sin, yet he
|
|
will not suffer them to lie still in it, but will take a course
|
|
effectually to show them their error, and to bring them to themselves
|
|
and to their right mind again. We have reason to hope that Jonah, after
|
|
this, was well reconciled to the sparing of Nineveh, and was as well
|
|
pleased with it as ever he had been displeased.
|
|
|
|
(2.) That God will justify himself in the methods of his grace towards
|
|
repenting returning sinners as well as in the course his justice takes
|
|
with those that persist in their rebellion; though there be those that
|
|
murmur at the mercy of God, because they do not understand it (for his
|
|
thoughts and ways therein are as far above ours as heaven above the
|
|
earth), yet he will make it evident that therein he acts like himself,
|
|
and will be <I>justified when he speaks.</I> See what pains he takes
|
|
with Jonah to convince him that it is very fit that Nineveh should be
|
|
spared. Jonah had said, <I>I do well to be angry,</I> but he could not
|
|
prove it. God says and proves it, <I>I do well to be merciful;</I> and
|
|
it is a great encouragement to poor sinners to hope that they shall
|
|
find mercy with him, that he is so ready to justify himself in showing
|
|
mercy and to triumph in those whom he makes the monuments of it,
|
|
against those whose eye is evil because his is good. Such murmurers
|
|
shall be made to understand this doctrine, that, how narrow soever
|
|
their souls, their principles, are, and how willing soever they are to
|
|
engross divine grace to themselves and those of their own way, there is
|
|
one <I>Lord over all, that is rich in mercy to all that call upon
|
|
him,</I> and in <I>every nation,</I> in Nineveh as well as in Israel,
|
|
<I>he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him;</I> he
|
|
that repents, and turns from his evil way, shall find mercy with
|
|
him.</P>
|
|
|
|
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