Finally, we come to the conclusion of Jonah's story—a conclusion many, unfortunately, forget, thinking his story is merely one about a massive storm, a big fish, and a sweeping revival. But the storm, fish, and revival were all designed to get Jonah right to this moment—for his benefit, but also for the benefit of every reader of Jonah.

This final chapter and episode in Jonah's story is important because it shows us that God is willing to patiently train his people, just as he patiently trained his prophet. If Jonah has been in God's school up to this point, this last movement is finals week. Jonah had an imbalanced understanding of God and his loves were disordered, so God descends in this final episode in an attempt to right Jonah's ship.

And God will do the same for us. When our view of him or our priorities are off, God will faithfully do what he can to train us, just as he trained his prophet thousands of years ago. So let's read the finale to Jonah's story with a consciousness that God is also faithful to confront and shape us when needed, especially about the very issues Jonah dealt with in this story.

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1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. 2 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.” (Jonah 4:1-3, ESV)

When Our Understanding Is Imbalanced (4:1-3)

Ongoing Argument

The first thing we note is that God is willing to train us when our understanding of him is imbalanced. We have been leading up to and commenting on this throughout our study of Jonah. Like a train car unhitched from the engine, Jonah was unhitched from what he knew about God. He was orthodox in his belief about God but unorthodox in his behavior. When it came to the way he treated the Ninevites, Jonah did not reflect God's heart at all, and this opening scene shows us why.

After Nineveh turns to God for mercy, Jonah is exceedingly displeased that God relented from the disaster he said he'd bring upon the Ninevites (1). But why did this displease Jonah so intensely?

• Jonah probably felt Assyria was a threat to his own nation, but it isn't the main reason he was angry.
• Jonah probably didn't want to return to Israel as that prophet, the one who instigated a revival among Israel's rivals, but it isn't the main reason he was angry.
• It's possible Jonah was angered that God would withhold judgment from immoral people before they had a chance to learn how to become moral—his way of obsessing over pure doctrine—but it's not the main reason he was angry.

No, Jonah tells God why he's angry (1-2). It was an argument he had against God since the beginning of the book when he was still in his country (2). He knew God was full of grace, mercy, patience, and love—and that he would try to find a way to relent from disaster (2). And this drove Jonah crazy, so he asked God to kill him—what a wild prayer!

Jonah, the prophet, is angry God allowed a massive revival in Nineveh. This would be like a musician who is angered that they are now the most listened to artist in the world or an athlete angered by winning a world championship. Jonah was used mightily by God—and prophets should be all about that—but he hated it because he didn't like God's gracious, merciful, and loving side.

Selective Reading

This is even hinted at in what Jonah said about God. When he said God was gracious, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in lovingkindness, and relenting from disaster, he was quoting Scripture. Seven times, the Old Testament described God the way Jonah did, starting with the time God put Moses in the cleft of the rock and broadcast his name to his man (Exodus 34:6-7).

But Jonah's description lacked a key feature—at the end of the attributes Jonah listed, in the original passage with Moses, God said he would "keep steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:7).

This last phrase about how God would "by no means clear the guilty" is a necessary part of God's nature. God is prone to love, grace, forgiveness, and mercy. God is faithful to keep his covenant with us. But he is also the just God who cannot merely overlook sin. As Dane Ortland wrote:

"Without (this statement), all that came before (God's mercy, grace, patience, love, and forgiveness) might be understood as mere leniency."[^1]

So Jonah's accusation is clear. He thinks God is too lenient and out of balance—that he's all grace, mercy, and love—so he doesn't even mention that part of God's nature. Because Jonah lived in the real world with real evil, he chafed at the idea God would merely turn his face from all that wickedness. He did not understand how God could go around doing what he just did for the Ninevites and still be holy and just, so he refused to mention God's justice when recounting who God is.

In Jonah's mind, God is too soft, evil should be punished, and Nineveh needed to be destroyed. In Jonah's mind, people need to trust that there is a consistent God who has an order to things. And, as Tim Keller said, "In Jonah’s mind, the issue is a theological one. There seems to be a contradiction between the justice of God and the love of God."[^2] He probably feared that news of what God did for Nineveh would get out—pretty soon, no one would think twice about evil because God is so gracious!

But Jonah's imbalanced understanding of God—his inability to see how God's love and justice, grace and holiness were not at odds with one another—was made worse by an improper ordering of Jonah's loves.

It is true that we sometimes love the wrong things—such was the case with the forbidden fruit of the garden and the forbidden sins of life today. When a person cheats on their spouse, for instance, they are loving the wrong things. But there are also times when we love lesser things more than we ought and greater things less than we should. When a person loves their career more than God, for instance, they are loving a lesser thing more than a greater thing.

But God is faithful amid our seasons of unfaithfulness, and part of his faithfulness is his ongoing patience in training us to love correctly. He works hard to reorder our loves. This is how Jonah's story concludes—God worked to reorder Jonah's loves.

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4 And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?” 5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”

When Our Loves Are Disordered (4:4-11)

God Counsels Jonah

Not only does God patiently train us when our understanding of him is imbalanced, but also when our loves are disordered. Here, Jonah's inner arguments against God have bubbled to the surface, but now God takes Jonah into his counseling office. He puts Jonah on the couch and prepares a devastating lesson for his prophet. It started when Jonah went out to the east of the city till he should see what would become of the city (5). Rather than disciple all the new believers in Nineveh, Jonah hoped God would relent from his relenting and rain down judgment on the people. He even made a booth for himself so he could wait...and wait...and wait.

But Jonah's ramshackle booth was no match for the heat of that region, so God (once again) manipulated nature to train his man by sending a plant to come up over Jonah so that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort (6). Jonah was really glad to have the plant and was really angry when God sent a worm to attack the plant, followed by a scorching east wind to pummel Jonah (7-8). Jonah was so distraught that he said—to no one in particular—"It is better for me to die than to live" (8). God asked him, again, if it was right for him to be angry (9). Defiantly, Jonah said, "Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die" (9). Wow.

Jonah is clearly a mixture within. In the belly of the fish, he rejoiced over God's grace. Here, in the scorching sun, he despaired of life. The lessons he had learned halfway through his book seemed to have evaporated with the heat of high noon and were blown away by the brutal eastern wind. Through it all, God asked, "Do you do well to be angry?"

Jonah's Love

Jonah's loves are on full display in this closing story. We are told that, when the plant appeared, Jonah was exceedingly glad (6). It is a particularly strong phrase meant to communicate that Jonah was ecstatic over this plant. He was doing cartwheels in joy over this development in his life. But for as super-pumped as he was for the plant's existence, he was equally demoralized when it was removed and he became intensely uncomfortable.

Jonah's emotions displayed his loves for all to see. Clearly, Jonah was in love with his own comfort. And, though we might expect him to appreciate a plant that shielded him from the elements—and also get a bit cranky when he is delivered over to the heat of the sun—God's point is not that Jonah shouldn't have cared about these things. It's that Jonah should have cared less about them and more about the right things.

Clearly, Jonah cared so much more for his personal comfort than he did for the saving of the lost souls of Nineveh—that was the reality deep down in Jonah's heart. He cared more for Israel's comfort and safety than he did for Assyria's conversion. Of course, he cared about his own people—that's normal. But his loves were so disordered that he buried his love for his neighbor underneath his love for himself.

What about us? Where and why and how are we angered? And do those moments of anger reveal we are often more concerned with our own peace, prosperity, and comfort than we are with the lost? And when we are frustrated that the world and its systems do not reflect Christ and his values, are we upset about it because we are concerned for people's souls or because we just don't like having to figure out how to live as a religious minority?

So God has questioned Jonah twice about his anger, but now he asks him one final question. It is the question that clinches God's argument:

10 And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11 And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:11, ESV)

God's Attachment

It is a fascinating conclusion to the book. Jonah had greatly rejoiced over the plant's presence—and became deeply sorrowful when it was removed. Now it's as if God is saying: Jonah, your anger, let’s discuss. You really couldn’t have loved this plant all that much. You didn’t work for it. You didn’t cause it to be. It came as quickly as it went. I, however, have loved these people with real love. I planted them, made them, worked for them, and want to see them turn to me.

If Jonah felt so strongly about a plant, how should God feel about an entire city of 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left? At first glance, those who don't know their right from their left sounds like little children, and there are certainly a few scholars who think that's what God is referencing. If that is the case, God is merely saying there are lots of people in Nineveh, and since he made and cares about people, he cares about Nineveh.

This perspective is helpful because many modern Christians castigate and even despise city life—but God loves cities because lots of people live there. And even though the Bible begins with stories about rebellious cities, by the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New, God's people are called to love and serve the cities of the world. And, at the end of the Bible, when future events are depicted, God's people are gathered to his holy city forever. So perhaps all God is saying here is that he loves the city of Nineveh because he loves people.

But, in even the Bible itself, the phrase "do not know their right from their left" was a Hebrew idiom that meant "to distinguish or discriminate between certain things." For instance, it is used to describe an elderly man who could not taste or distinguish good food anymore or priests who weren't teaching people to discern between clean and unclean things (2 Samuel 19:35, Ezekiel 22:26, 44:23). Since God used the same idiom here, he "seems to be indicating that Nineveh has many people who are entrapped in sinful lifestyles and don't know how to get out."[^3]

They are certainly not morally innocent or somehow not responsible for their choices—that's why Jonah appeared with the word of judgment in the first place—but they are a confused and imprisoned people, a product of their time and culture. And God had pity on them (11). It is a word that indicates attachment. Jonah was attached to the plant, but that was an involuntary response because he needed shade while under the scorching desert sun. He was attached to the plan because the plant provided a service to him.

But God is unlike us—he is without a need of any kind. He doesn't even need our love—because he is Triune, perfect love has flowed from eternity past within himself. But God chooses to pity, chooses to attach himself, chooses to love. Though he does not need us, he loves us.

And God's question here at the close of the story is a searching one: Do we think of people as stuck in and blinded by sin? Do we see them in need of rescue and of much worth because—as God said of the Ninevites—God made them? Or do we see people as enemies? Do we gloat when they fail or ridicule them when we watch their actions? To behave like this is merely a way to detach like a coward from the people God is trying to rescue. It's merely self-protectionism, a pattern of disengagement, a way to feel morally superior and—like Jonah—safeguard your own.

Remember, God saw the evil of Nineveh more than Jonah did. And he sent his prophet right into that mess, but not with instruction and education on how to turns things around morally. Jonah wasn't there to give a lost and blind people training on how to live a righteous life. Instead, God sent Jonah with a message that was designed to get them to throw themselves on God's mercy—perhaps he will relent!

And God sends us in a similar way—not with moral training in an attempt to reform humanity from the outside in—but with a gospel message that has the potential to change people from the inside out.

On a recent flight, my seat was next to a man with a major snoring problem. He snored in a way that made other passengers turn to find where the sound was coming from—and in a way that made me worried he wasn't going to make it! It got so loud and violent at one point that I couldn't stop myself from chuckling. That's when the man on the other side of me told me that it was his boss, that he was on a business trip with a few other people, and that the man had been snoring like that all week. But no one knew what to tell him. For a second, I wondered if I was the man for the job.

But God had no such problem diagnosing and addressing Jonah's previously unknown issue. Jonah had not represented God well throughout his story, and this concluding question from God was like sleep study designed to show Jonah the truth.

So the book of Jonah concludes with a searching question—one we hope eventually resonated with Jonah, and one we need today. Are our loves in the right order? Do we care deeply about lost humanity? More than we care about our own comforts? As I said, searching questions.

The Better Jonah

And the answers to those questions might discourage us. We might feel like modern Jonahs, at times misrepresenting God's nature to our world. Fortunately, Jesus came as the better than Jonah (and us). All the Old Testament heroes pointed to the better hero, one without any imperfection whatsoever, and Jonah is no exception. Jesus came from the Father and—as the Son of God and God the Son—he flawlessly represented God's heart. Jonah had little grace for people who didn't know their moral right from their left, but Jesus, while dying on the cross, prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34).

And all throughout his life and ministry, Jesus accurately showed us who God is, so much so that Hebrews calls him the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature (Hebrews 11:3).

But Jesus is also the figure who helps us solve our theological riddles. I mean, we should not be too dismissive of Jonah's quandary—he had a hard time seeing how God's grace was compatible with God's justice. And, though he was willing to accept God's grace for himself, he struggled when God extended that grace to the evil Ninevites.

If God was willing to extend mercy towards them, who in the world would he judge? And if God is also holy and righteous, isn't there a limit to his mercy and grace? And isn't justice and judgment needed, especially for those who are such a threat to others?

And, as our book ends, Jonah is still grappling with these questions about God. Just as the older brother stood dumbfounded when his father recklessly ran to his returning prodigal son, Jonah was still dumbfounded by God.

And we might expect moments where we also struggle with similar questions about God. But we have a better vantage point than Jonah because God's holiness and mercy, justice and grace are perfectly demonstrated in the cross of Christ. His cross is the one place where God completely extends his perfect love and total holiness. In the cross, God is not merely in total balance (he is always in total balance) but is totally expressed.

• How loving is God? Look at the cross—he loved you so much that he sent his only Son to die for you.

• How holy is God? Look at the cross—he is so perfect and pure that even one sin keeps us from his presence.

• How gracious and merciful is God? Look at the cross—he is so gracious that he gives himself to take our punishment.

• And how just is God? Look at the cross—he is so just that he does not dismiss even one ounce of the penalty for sin but instead consumed the entire penalty of wrath on that cross.

And now we all, Ninevites and Jonahs, must accept God's gift so that we can become his. To reject such a gift would be a sin worse than all others.

[^1]: Ortlund, Dane C. 2021. Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books. [^2]: Keller, Timothy. 2018. The Prodigal Prophet: Jonah and the Mystery of God’s Mercy. Viking. [^3]: Estelle, Bryan D. 2005. Salvation through Judgment and Mercy: The Gospel According to Jonah. Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R Publishing.