Exploring the Meaning of Jonah 4
Por New Christian Bible Study Staff
In this fourth chapter of the Book of Jonah, (Jonah 4), the prophet Jonah has a strange reaction to his success. He's angry, and sulky. He thinks he knows better than God does. What is this story about?
Rev. George McCurdy, in his exegesis of this chapter, offers a summary in his Study Guide for the Book of Jonah, which is available for free as a .pdf, for your use. Below, we've excerpted part of his summary, and edited it for use in this context.
The people of the Jewish church in Jonah's time didn't want to reconsider their belief in their "most-favored-nation status." They challenged the Lord. They couldn't understand why He wanted to save their enemies in Nineveh.
Despite the hard lessons in chapters 1 and 2, and his success as described in chapter 3, Jonah still thought he knew better than the Lord. He thought that God was being too soft and loving -- too forgiving -- and that He needed to come around to Jonah’s tougher view.
Jonah got so angry and vengeful that he preferred to die rather than approve of the Lord’s way to save the Ninevites. His self-love wanted shade -- protection for its concepts. The Lord needed to bring such thinking to an end; the worm brought about death to the gourd from within. The Lord then sent a vehement east wind, that represents a blowing away of the stagnant thinking of the church.
The Lord's heavenly sun shone upon Jonah, but he felt faint. Here, Jonah's insistence on his own troubling view of things made him uncomfortable with the Lord’s view. The Divine guidance offered him a way to learn to enjoy the success of his neighbors as his own, but he wouldn't take it.
For us, then -- what? This story is telling us that we can't just keep the truths of the Word for ourselves; we have to go to Nineveh and share them. And then, if people start to hear them, and use them to turn their lives around, we can't allow ourselves to get resentful that the Lord accepts their repentance and forgives them. It's a very human reaction; think of the disciples vying to be first in the Lord's command structure (Luke 9:46), or the brother of the prodigal son (Luke 15:28-29), or the workers in the vineyard who had worked all day for a denarius (Matthew 20:10-12). But... it's not a good reaction. The Lord doesn't admire it in Jonah, and doesn't admire it when it crops up in our minds, either.
Rev. Martin Pennington recommends several explanatory passages from Swedenborg's theological writings:
"Shade or shadow means the perception of good and truth lies in obscurity." (Arcana Coelestia 2367)
"A vine is spiritual good (the spiritual church)". (Arcana Coelestia 217)
"A worm represents falsity gnawing away and tormenting one." (Arcana Coelestia 8481)
"'And the sun grew hot' in the contrary sense means self-love and love of the world." (Arcana Coelestia 8487)
And... here's a link to an interesting (audio) sermon on this chapter, by Rev. Todd Beiswenger.
Luke 14
1
And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him.
2
And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy.
3
And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath day?
4
And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go;
5
And answered them, saying, Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the sabbath day?
6
And they could not answer him again to these things.
7
And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them,
8
When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;
9
And he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room.
10
But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.
11
For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
12
Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
13
But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
14
And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.
15
And when one of them that sat at meat with him heard these things, he said unto him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.
16
Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
17
And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
18
And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
19
And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
20
And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
21
So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
22
And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
23
And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
24
For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
25
And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them,
26
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
27
And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
28
For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?
29
Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him,
30
Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish.
31
Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
32
Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.
33
So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
34
Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?
35
It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
