Jonah 4

LovebirdsFlying · Sunday at 12:14 PM

I feel excited. I’m getting ready for church to start, and the sermon will be on Jonah 4. Our pastor goes through one OT book, then one NT, and walks us through the entire book.

I have heard sermons on Jonah before. They all boil it down to, “God said go. Jonah said no. Hehehehe, isn’t that clever, I made a rhyme!” They get as far as the fish coughs him up, and he goes anyway. Lesson, never disobey God! Sometimes they get to Nineveh repenting, God sparing them, and Jonah being ticked off about that.

But I have never in my years heard a sermon on the plant and the worm.

Here goes.

David Lamb · Monday at 2:46 AM

LovebirdsFlying said:
I feel excited. I’m getting ready for church to start, and the sermon will be on Jonah 4. Our pastor goes through one OT book, then one NT, and walks us through the entire book.

I have heard sermons on Jonah before. They all boil it down to, “God said go. Jonah said no. Hehehehe, isn’t that clever, I made a rhyme!” They get as far as the fish coughs him up, and he goes anyway. Lesson, never disobey God! Sometimes they get to Nineveh repenting, God sparing them, and Jonah being ticked off about that.

But I have never in my years heard a sermon on the plant and the worm.

Here goes.

Yes, that is one of the values of preaching through whole books of the bible, rather than just picking out a text verses here and there.

LovebirdsFlying · Tuesday at 1:48 AM

Yes, I like the way our church does things. This is how you know the sermon is directly from the Word of God. Years ago, I remember visiting a church where the pastor structured his sermons around a chapter in the Bible, which he would have his wife read out loud, little by little, to the congregation. She'd read a verse or two, he'd expound on it, then he'd cue her to read on, and verse by verse, he'd deliver the message. I liked that method too. Not only is it a guarantee the sermon is coming straight from the Bible, but they're working as a team, and she's an active part of his ministry.

I had read Jonah 4 myself, but until the pastor pointed it out, I had missed or didn't know:

Jonah knew all along that if the Ninevites changed their ways, God would spare them and not destroy the city. He didn't want to take a chance that they might! That's why he had refused to go in the first place. Not because he was afraid for his safety in such a large, dangerous city, or anything like that. Just because he hated those people that much! He'd rather let a whole city be destroyed without warning, and all its people lost, than to see them turn to God.
When Jonah settled on the edge of the city and built that baked clay shelter, he was probably still hoping to watch something happen. Wanted a front row view of the destruction, maybe?
God showed mercy on Jonah by providing that vine, which of course a worm destroyed the next day. It was the same way in which He provided the fish to swallow Jonah, so he wasn't drowned. Jonah was only temporarily inside that fish, and he was only temporarily under that vine.
Let's not get so caught up in our vines that we forget, the worm and the scorching wind also come from God. Even if it feels miserable, what He sends is for our good. In Jonah's case, God wanted to teach him he should care about a city full of people at least as much as he cares about some plant that rose and fell in a day. He's feeling sorry for this vine because it got eaten by a worm, and yet he would have thought nothing of seeing all those people destroyed? And why was he so angry? Because the vine had provided him comfort and shelter? Then it isn't the vine he's concerned about, is it?

Aaron112 · Tuesday at 1:58 AM

LovebirdsFlying said:
provided the fish to swallow Jonah, so he wasn't drowned.

Jonah died. 3 days and 3 nights, just as Jesus did . Yahweh brought each one back from the grave, as written.
Difficult to find the true description of what happened in/to Jonah anywhere online (maybe even more difficult in person?). Jesus is very well able to reveal the truth though.

Aaron112 · Tuesday at 2:07 AM

LovebirdsFlying said:
on the plant and the worm.

Jonah 4:7 Commentaries: But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.

"Pulpit Commentary
Verse 7. - Prepared (see note on ver. 6). A worm. Either a single worm which punctured the stem and caused the plant to wither, or the word is used collectively, as in Deuteronomy 28:39, for "worms." A single warm night, with a moist atmosphere, will suffice to produce a host of caterpillars, which in an incredibly short time strip a plant of all its leaves. When the morning rose. At the very earliest dawn, before the actual rising of the sun (comp. Judges 9:33). Jonah seems to have enjoyed the shelter of the gourd one whole day. The withering of the plant came about in a natural way, but was ordered by God at a certain time in order to give Jonah the intended lesson. Jonah 4:7"

David Lamb · Tuesday at 2:11 AM

Aaron112 said:
Jonah died. 3 days and 3 nights, just as Jesus did . Yahweh brought each one back from the grave, as written.
Difficult to find the true description of what happened in/to Jonah anywhere online (maybe even more difficult in person?). Jesus is very well able to reveal the truth though.

The bible doesn't tell us that Jonah died in the fish. Indeed, it says that he prayed from the fish's belly:

“17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. 2:1 ¶ Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly.” (Jon 1:17-2:1 NKJV)

Aaron112 · Tuesday at 2:19 AM

Not quite. Sorry.
If you care to find out, and are able to get and read an online or in print copy of "The Rich Man and Lazarus" by Bullinger, it may help. (it may not also, if you continue to trust tradition(the biggest obstacle, or one of the biggest, keeping people from truth)

David Lamb · Tuesday at 2:28 AM

Aaron112 said:
Not quite. Sorry.
If you care to find out, and are able to get and read an online or in print copy of "The Rich Man and Lazarus" by Bullinger, it may help. (it may not also, if you continue to trust tradition(the biggest obstacle, or one of the biggest, keeping people from truth)

You don't mention to whom you are replying, but as your post follows mine, I assume it's me. I am not sure what you mean by "Not quite." Jonah cannot have been dead in the fish's belly, because he was able to pray. Yes, Jesus used Jonah's 3 days and nights in the fish to illustrate His own 3 days and nights between His crucifixion and resurrection. But that doesn't mean Jonah died in the fish. Nothing is said of God raising him, just God causing the fish to vomit Jonah out onto dry land. Immediately, we are told that God gave Jonah His command for the second time to go and preach to Nineveh:

10 So the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry [land].
1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it
the message that I tell you.

Aaron112 · Tuesday at 2:51 AM

Jonah, and the Great Fish - Believer.com

John wrote: I understand Jonah's account of 3 days in the belly of the great fish to be likened to that of Christ's three days in the grave, but I see one diffe...

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Jonah 4

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Jonah, and the Great Fish - Believer.com

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