The Bible

 

Jonah 4

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1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

2 He prayed to Yahweh, and said, "Please, Yahweh, wasn't this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.

3 Therefore now, Yahweh, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live."

4 Yahweh said, "Is it right for you to be angry?"

5 Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city.

6 Yahweh God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine.

7 But God prepared a worm at dawn the next day, and it chewed on the vine, so that it withered.

8 It happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah's head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, "It is better for me to die than to live."

9 God said to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?" He said, "I am right to be angry, even to death."

10 Yahweh said, "You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night.

11 Shouldn't I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can't discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?"

   

Commentary

 

Sun

  

The 'sun' in the Word, when referring to the Lord, signifies His divine love and wisdom. Because the sun represents the Lord, with respect to His divine love wisdom, since ancient times even to the present day, worship is done and temples are built facing the rising sun. The sun signifies celestial and spiritual love and also the Lord regarding His divine love, and so the good of love from Him. In the opposite sense, it signifies a denial of the Lord's divinity, and so adulteration of the good of love.

In Genesis 15:12, 19:23, this signifies the time and state before consummation; for the sun signifies the Lord, and the celestial things of love and charity; so its setting represents the last time of the church. Its rising signifies a coming of the Lord, and the first period of a new church. (Arcana Coelestia 1837, 1859)

In Jeremiah 8:1, this signifies self-love and its lusts. (Arcana Coelestia 2441)

In Revelation 12:1, this signifies love. (Arcana Coelestia 253, Arcana Coelestia 3272[2])

Sun signifies the good of love. (Arcana Coelestia 4918[3]

(References: Apocalypse Explained 709)