mh_parser/vol_split/32 - Jonah/Chapter 4.xml

<div2 id="Jonah.v" n="v" next="Mic" prev="Jonah.iv" progress="86.06%" title="Chapter IV">
<h2 id="Jonah.v-p0.1">J O N A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Jonah.v-p0.2">CHAP. IV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Jonah.v-p1" shownumber="no">We read, with a great deal of pleasure, in the
close of the foregoing chapter, concerning the repentance of
Nineveh; but in this chapter we read, with a great deal of
uneasiness, concerning the sin of Jonah; and, as there is joy in
heaven and earth for the conversion of sinners, so there is grief
for the follies and infirmities of saints. In all the book of God
we scarcely find a "servant of the Lord" (and such a one we are
sure Jonah was, for the scripture calls him so) so very much out of
temper as he is here, so very peevish and provoking to God himself.
In the first chapter we had him fleeing from the face of God; but
here we have him, in effect, flying in the face of God; and, which
is more grieving to us, there we had an account of his repentance
and return to God; but here, though no doubt he did repent, yet, as
in Solomon's case, no account is left us of his recovering himself;
but, while we read with wonder of his perverseness, we read with no
less wonder of God's tenderness towards him, by which it appeared
that he had not cast him off. Here is, I. Jonah's repining at God's
mercy to Nineveh, and the fret he was in about it, <scripRef id="Jonah.v-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.1-Jonah.4.3" parsed="|Jonah|4|1|4|3" passage="Jon 4:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. The gentle reproof God
gave him for it, <scripRef id="Jonah.v-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.4" parsed="|Jonah|4|4|0|0" passage="Jon 4:4">ver. 4</scripRef>.
III. Jonah's discontent at the withering of the gourd, and his
justifying himself in that discontent, <scripRef id="Jonah.v-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.5-Jonah.4.9" parsed="|Jonah|4|5|4|9" passage="Jon 4:5-9">ver. 5-9</scripRef>. IV. God's improving it for his
conviction, that he ought not to be angry at the sparing of
Nineveh, <scripRef id="Jonah.v-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.10-Jonah.4.11" parsed="|Jonah|4|10|4|11" passage="Jon 4:10-11">ver. 10-11</scripRef>.
Man's badness and God's goodness serve here for a foil to each
other, that the former may appear the more exceedingly sinful and
the latter the more exceedingly gracious.</p>
<scripCom id="Jonah.v-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4" parsed="|Jonah|4|0|0|0" passage="Jon 4" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Jonah.v-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.1-Jonah.4.4" parsed="|Jonah|4|1|4|4" passage="Jon 4:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jonah.v-p1.7">
<h4 id="Jonah.v-p1.8">The Prophet's Discontent. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jonah.v-p1.9">b. c.</span> 840.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jonah.v-p2" shownumber="no">1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he
was very angry.   2 And he prayed unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jonah.v-p2.1">Lord</span>, and said, I pray thee, <span class="smallcaps" id="Jonah.v-p2.2">O Lord</span>, <i>was</i> not this my saying, when I
was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I
knew that thou <i>art</i> a gracious God, and merciful, slow to
anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.
  3 Therefore now, <span class="smallcaps" id="Jonah.v-p2.3">O Lord</span>,
take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for <i>it is</i> better for
me to die than to live.   4 Then said the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jonah.v-p2.4">Lord</span>, Doest thou well to be angry?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p3" shownumber="no">See here, I. How unjustly Jonah quarrelled
with God for his mercy to Nineveh, upon their repentance. This
gives us occasion to suspect that Jonah had only delivered the
message of wrath against the Ninevites, and had not at all assisted
or encouraged them in their repentance, as one would think he
should have done; for when they did repent, and found mercy,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p4" shownumber="no">1. Jonah grudged them the mercy they found
(<scripRef id="Jonah.v-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.1" parsed="|Jonah|4|1|0|0" passage="Jon 4:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>): <i>It
displeased Jonah exceedingly;</i> and (would you think it?) <i>he
was very angry,</i> was in a great heat about it. It was very
wrong, (1.) That he had so little government of himself as to be
displeased and very angry; he had <i>no rule over his own
spirit,</i> and therefore, as a city broken down, lay exposed to
temptations and snares. (2.) That he had so little reverence of God
as to be displeased and angry at what he did, as David was when the
Lord had made a breach upon Uzza; whatever pleases God should
please us, and, though we cannot account for it, yet we must
acquiesce in it. (3.) That he had so little affection for men as to
be displeased and very angry at the conversion of the Ninevites and
their reception into the divine favour. This was the sin of the
scribes and Pharisees, who murmured at our Saviour because he
entertained publicans and sinners; but <i>is our eye evil because
his is good?</i> But why was Jonah so uneasy at it, that the
Ninevites repented and were spared? It cannot be expected that we
should give any good reason for a thing so very absurd and
unreasonable; no, nor any thing that has the face or colour of a
reason; but we may conjecture what the provocation was. Hot spirits
are usually high spirits. <i>Only by pride comes contention</i>
both with God and man. It was a point of honour that Jonah stood
upon and that made him angry. [1.] He was jealous for the honour of
his country; the repentance and reformation of Nineveh shamed the
obstinacy of Israel that repented not, but <i>hated to be
reformed;</i> and the favour God had shown to these Gentiles, upon
their repentance, was an ill omen to the Jewish nation, as if they
should be (as at length they were) rejected and cast out of the
church and the Gentiles substituted in their room. When it was
intimated to St. Peter himself that he should make no difference
between Jews and Gentiles he startled at the thing, and said,
<i>Not so, Lord;</i> no marvel then that Jonah looked upon it with
regret that Nineveh should become a favourite. Jonah herein had
<i>a zeal for God</i> as the God of Israel in a particular manner,
<i>but not according to knowledge.</i> Note, Many are displeased
with God under pretence of concern for his glory. [2.] He was
jealous for his own honour, fearing lest, if Nineveh was not
destroyed within forty days, he should be accounted a false
prophet, and stigmatized accordingly; whereas he needed not be
under any discontent about that, for in the threatening of ruin it
was implied that, for the preventing of it, they should repent,
and, if they did, it should be prevented. And no one will complain
of being deceived by him that is better than his word; and he would
rather gain honour among them, by being instrumental to save them,
than fall under any disgrace. But melancholy men (and such a one
Jonah seems to have been) are apt to make themselves uneasy by
fancying evils to themselves that are not, nor are ever likely to
be. Most of our frets, as well as our frights, are owing to the
power of imagination; and those are to be pitied as perfect
bond-slaves that are under the power of such a tyrant.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p5" shownumber="no">2. He quarreled with God about it. When his
heart was hot within him, he <i>spoke unadvisedly with his
lips;</i> and here he tells us what he said (<scripRef id="Jonah.v-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.2-Jonah.4.3" parsed="|Jonah|4|2|4|3" passage="Jon 4:2,3"><i>v.</i> 2, 3</scripRef>): He <i>prayed unto the
Lord,</i> but it is a very awkward prayer, not like that which he
prayed in the fish's belly; for affliction teaches us to pray
submissively, which Jonah now forgot to do. Being in discontent, he
applied to the duty of prayer, as he used to do in his troubles,
but his corruptions got head of his graces, and, when he should
have been praying for benefit by the mercy of God himself, he was
complaining of the benefit others had by that mercy. Nothing could
be spoken more unbecomingly. (1.) He now begins to justify himself
in fleeing <i>from the presence of the Lord,</i> when he was first
ordered to go to Nineveh, for which he had before, with good
reason, condemned himself: "<i>Lord,</i>" said he, "<i>was not this
my saying when I was in my own country?</i> Did I not foresee that
if I went to preach to Nineveh they would repent, and thou wouldst
forgive them, and then thy word would be reflected upon and
reproached as yea and nay?" What a strange sort of man was Jonah,
to dread the success of his ministry! Many have been tempted to
withdraw from their work because they had despaired of doing good
by it, but Jonah declined preaching because he was afraid of doing
good by it; and still he persists in the same corrupt notion, for,
it seems, the whale's belly itself could not cure him of it. It was
his saying when he was <i>in his own country,</i> but it was a bad
saying; yet here he stands to it, and, very unlike the other
prophets, <i>desires the woeful day</i> which he had foretold and
grieves because it does not come. Even Christ's disciples <i>know
not what manner of spirit they are of;</i> those did not who wished
for fire from heaven upon the city that did not receive them, much
less did Jonah, who wished for fire from heaven upon the city that
did receive him, <scripRef id="Jonah.v-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.9.55" parsed="|Luke|9|55|0|0" passage="Lu 9:55">Luke ix.
55</scripRef>. Jonah thinks he has reason to complain of that, when
it is done, which he was before afraid of; so hard is it to get a
root of bitterness plucked out of the mind, when once it is
fastened there. And why did Jonah expect that God would spare
Nineveh? <i>Because I knew that thou was a gracious God,</i>
indulgent and easily pleased, that <i>thou wast slow to anger and
of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.</i> All this is
very true; and Jonah could not but know it by God's proclamation of
his name and the experiences of all ages; but it is strange and
very unaccountable that that which all the saints had made the
matter of their joy and praise Jonah should make the matter of
reflection upon God, as if that were an imperfection of the divine
nature which is indeed the greatest glory of it—that God <i>is
gracious and merciful.</i> The servant that said, <i>I knew thee to
be a hard man,</i> said that which was false, and yet, had it been
true, it was not the proper matter of a complaint; but Jonah,
though he says what is true, yet, speaking it by way of reproach,
speaks very absurdly. Those have a spirit of contention and
contradiction indeed that can find in their hearts to quarrel with
the goodness of God, and his sparing pardoning mercy, to which we
all owe it that we are out of hell. This is making that to be to us
<i>a savour of death unto death</i> which ought to be <i>a savour
of life unto life.</i> (2.) In a passion, he wishes for death
(<scripRef id="Jonah.v-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.3" parsed="|Jonah|4|3|0|0" passage="Jon 4:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), a strange
expression of his causeless passion! "<i>Now, O Lord! take, I
beseech thee, my life from me.</i> If Nineveh must live, let me
die, rather than see thy word and mine disproved, rather than see
the glory of Israel transferred to the Gentiles," as if there were
not grace enough in God both for Jews and Gentiles, or as if his
countrymen were the further off from mercy for the Ninevites being
taken into favour. When the prophet Elijah had laboured in vain, he
wished he might die, and it was his infirmity, <scripRef id="Jonah.v-p5.4" osisRef="Bible:1Kgs.19.4" parsed="|1Kgs|19|4|0|0" passage="1Ki 19:4">1 Kings xix. 4</scripRef>. But Jonah labours to good
purpose, saves a great city from ruin, and yet wishes he may die,
as if, having done much good, he were afraid of living to do more;
he <i>sees of the travail of his soul, and is dissatisfied.</i>
What a perverse spirit is mingled with every word he says! When
Jonah was brought alive out of the whale's belly, he thought life a
very valuable mercy, and was thankful to that God who brought up
<i>his life from corruption,</i> (<scripRef id="Jonah.v-p5.5" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.2.6" parsed="|Jonah|2|6|0|0" passage="Jon 2:6"><i>ch.</i> ii. 6</scripRef>), and a great blessing his
life had been to Nineveh; yet now, for that very reason, it became
a burden to himself and he begs to be eased of it, pleading, <i>It
is better for me to die than to live.</i> Such a word as this may
be the language of grace, as it was in Paul, who desired to depart
and be with Christ, <i>which is far better;</i> but here it was the
language of folly, and passion, and strong corruption; and so much
the worse, [1.] Jonah being now in the midst of his usefulness, and
therefore fit to live. He was one whose ministry God wonderfully
owned and prospered. The conversion of Nineveh might give him hopes
of being instrumental to convert the whole kingdom of Assyria; it
was therefore very absurd for him to wish he might die when he had
a prospect of living to so good a purpose and could be so ill
spared. [2.] Jonah being now so much out of temper and therefore
unfit to die. How durst he think of dying, and going to appear
before God's judgment-seat, when he was actually quarrelling with
him? Was this a frame of spirit proper for a man to go out of the
world in? But those who passionately desire death commonly have
least reason to do it, as being very much unprepared for it. Our
business is to get ready to die by doing the work of life, and then
to refer ourselves to God to take away our life when and how he
pleases.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p6" shownumber="no">II. See how justly God reproved Jonah for
this heat that he was in (<scripRef id="Jonah.v-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.4" parsed="|Jonah|4|4|0|0" passage="Jon 4:4"><i>v.</i>
4</scripRef>): The Lord said, <i>Doest thou well to be angry? Is
doing well a displeasure to thee?</i> so some read it. What! dost
thou repent of thy good deeds? God might justly have rejected him
for this impious heat which he was in, might justly have taken him
at his word, and have struck him dead when he wished to die; but he
vouchsafes to reason with him for his conviction and to bring him
to a better temper, as the father of the prodigal reasoned with his
elder son, when, as Jonah here, he murmured at the remission and
reception of his brother. <i>Doest thou well to be angry?</i> See
how mildly the great God speaks to this foolish man, to teach us to
restore those that have fallen with a <i>spirit of meekness,</i>
and with <i>soft answers</i> to <i>turn away wrath.</i> God appeals
to himself and to his own conscience: "<i>Doest thou well?</i> Thou
knowest thou does not." We should often put this question to
ourselves, Is it well to say thus, to do thus? Can I justify it?
Must I not unsay it and undo it again by repentance, or be undone
forever? Ask, 1. Do I well to be angry? When passion is up, let it
meet with this check, "Do I well to be so soon angry, so often
angry, so long angry, to put myself into such a heat, and to give
others such ill language in my anger? Is this well, that I suffer
these headstrong passions to get dominion over me?" 2. "Do I well
to be angry at the mercy of God to repenting sinners?" That was
Jonah's crime. Do we do well to be angry at that which is so much
for the glory of God and the advancement of his kingdom among
men—to be angry at that which angels rejoice in and for which
abundant thanksgivings will be rendered to God? We do ill to be
angry at that grace which we ourselves need and are undone without;
if room were not left for repentance, and hope given of pardon upon
repentance, what would become of us? Let the conversion of sinners,
which is the joy of heaven, be our joy, and never our grief.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jonah.v-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.5-Jonah.4.11" parsed="|Jonah|4|5|4|11" passage="Jon 4:5-11" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jonah.v-p6.3">
<h4 id="Jonah.v-p6.4">The Prophet's Discontent; The Withering of
the Prophet's Gourd; God's Remonstrance with Jonah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jonah.v-p6.5">b.
c.</span> 840.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jonah.v-p7" shownumber="no">5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the
east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it
in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
  6 And the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jonah.v-p7.1">Lord</span> God prepared a
gourd, and made <i>it</i> to come up over Jonah, that it might be a
shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was
exceeding glad of the gourd.   7 But God prepared a worm when
the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it
withered.   8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise,
that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the
head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and
said, <i>It is</i> better for me to die than to live.   9 And
God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And
he said, I do well to be angry, <i>even</i> unto death.   10
Then said the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jonah.v-p7.2">Lord</span>, Thou hast had
pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither
madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
  11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein
are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between
their right hand and their left hand; and <i>also</i> much
cattle?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p8" shownumber="no">Jonah persists here in his discontent; for
the <i>beginning of strife</i> both with God and man <i>is as the
letting forth of waters,</i> the breach grows wider and wider, and,
when passion gets head, bad is made worse; it should therefore be
silenced and suppressed at first. We have here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p9" shownumber="no">I. Jonah's sullen expectation of the fate
of Nineveh. We may suppose that the Ninevites, giving credit to the
message he brought, were ready to give entertainment to the
messenger that brought it, and to show him respect, that they would
have made him welcome to the best of their houses and tables. But
Jonah was out of humour, would not accept their kindness, nor
behave towards them with common civility, which one might 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, <scripRef id="Jonah.v-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.5" parsed="|Jonah|4|5|0|0" passage="Jon 4:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>. 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, <scripRef id="Jonah.v-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.19.27" parsed="|Gen|19|27|0|0" passage="Ge 19:27">Gen. xix.
27</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p10" shownumber="no">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,
<scripRef id="Jonah.v-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.6" parsed="|Jonah|4|6|0|0" passage="Jon 4:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. 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>
<scripRef id="Jonah.v-p10.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.43.4" parsed="|Ps|43|4|0|0" passage="Ps 43:4">Ps. xliii. 4</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p11" shownumber="no">III. The sudden loss of this provision
which God had made for his refreshment, and the return of his
trouble, <scripRef id="Jonah.v-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.7-Jonah.4.8" parsed="|Jonah|4|7|4|8" passage="Jon 4:7,8"><i>v.</i> 7, 8</scripRef>.
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, <scripRef id="Jonah.v-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.8" parsed="|Jonah|4|8|0|0" passage="Jon 4:8"><i>v.</i>
8</scripRef>. 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 class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p12" shownumber="no">IV. The further fret that this put Jonah
into (<scripRef id="Jonah.v-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.8" parsed="|Jonah|4|8|0|0" passage="Jon 4:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): 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 class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p13" shownumber="no">V. The rebuke God gave him for this; he
again reasoned with him: <i>Dost thou well to be angry for the
gourd?</i> <scripRef id="Jonah.v-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.9" parsed="|Jonah|4|9|0|0" passage="Jon 4:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>.
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 class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p14" shownumber="no">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 class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p15" shownumber="no">VI. His justification of his passion and
discontent; and it is very strange, <scripRef id="Jonah.v-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.9" parsed="|Jonah|4|9|0|0" passage="Jon 4:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. 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> (<scripRef id="Jonah.v-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.5.2" parsed="|Job|5|2|0|0" passage="Job 5:2">Job v.
2</scripRef>), 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 class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p16" shownumber="no">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 class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p17" shownumber="no">1. Let us see how God argued with him
(<scripRef id="Jonah.v-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.10-Jonah.4.11" parsed="|Jonah|4|10|4|11" passage="Jon 4:10,11"><i>v.</i> 10, 11</scripRef>):
"<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> (<scripRef id="Jonah.v-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Job.10.3" parsed="|Job|10|3|0|0" passage="Job 10:3">Job x.
3</scripRef>); and thus Job there argues with him (<scripRef id="Jonah.v-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.8-Jonah.4.9" parsed="|Jonah|4|8|4|9" passage="Jon 4:8,9"><i>v.</i> 8, 9</scripRef>), <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 class="indent" id="Jonah.v-p18" shownumber="no">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>
</div></div2>