God. Hebrew. Elohim (i.e. Creator). App-4 . prepared = appointed: as in verses: Jonah 4:7 , Jonah 4:8 , Jon 4:17 . gourd. Hebrew. kikayon . Art Egyptian word. shadow. to deliver him. Note the Figure of speech Paronomasia ( App-6 ). Hebrew. tzel. le hatztzel. grief = evil, or evil ease. Heb ra'a'. App-44 . was exceeding glad. Note the Figure of speech Polyptoton ( App-6 ) for emphasis. Hebrew = rejoiced with great rejoicing. read more
worm. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of the Part), App-6 , for a blight of such; as in Deuteronomy 28:39 . They were appointed during the night, and came at sunrise. read more
"And Jehovah God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his evil case. So Jonah was exceeding glad because of the gourd.""God prepared a gourd ..." All kinds of fanciful "explanations" of this have been attempted, one of the favorite devices being that of making this "gourd" to be a "castor bean plant," the remarkably rapid growth of which leads some scholars to accept it as the "gourd" mentioned here. These notions... read more
"But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered."Here, too, the record plainly refers to a supernatural event, that of God's preparing and commissioning a worm to destroy the gourd which had enjoyed such a short period of growth. This also is one of the "six supportive miracles" mentioned under Jonah 4:6, above.This worm struck effectively against the very source of Jonah's great gladness, which, strangely enough, was not connected in any way... read more
Jonah 4:5-8. So Jonah went out, &c.— Now Jonah had gone out—and he sat, &c. The author of the Observations asks upon this difficult passage, Did Jonah make himself a booth of boughs, in which to wait the event of his prophesy; and did the gourd come up in one single night afterward?—So our version supposes, and this is also Lowth's opinion. But had this really been the case, one cannot easily conjecture why the coming up of the gourd should have given him such an exquisite pleasure, or... read more
6. gourd—Hebrew, kikaion; the Egyptian kiki, the "ricinus" or castor-oil plant, commonly called "palm-christ" (palma-christi). It grows from eight to ten feet high. Only one leaf grows on a branch, but that leaf being often more than a foot large, the collective leaves give good shelter from the heat. It grows rapidly, and fades as suddenly when injured. to deliver him from his grief—It was therefore grief, not selfish anger, which Jonah felt (see on Jonah 4:1). Some external comforts will... read more
7. a worm—of a particular kind, deadly to the ricinus. A small worm at the root destroys a large gourd. So it takes but little to make our creature comforts wither. It should silence discontent to remember, that when our gourd is gone, our God is not gone. the next day—after Jonah was so "exceeding glad" (compare :-). read more
D. God’s rebuke of Jonah for his attitude 4:5-9The Lord proceeded to teach Jonah His ways and to confront him with his attitude problem. read more
God continued to manifest compassion for Jonah by providing him with a shading plant that relieved the discomfort (Heb. ra’ah) of the blistering Mesopotamian sun. This is the only time that we read that Jonah was happy, and it was because he was physically comfortable. His anger grew out of his personal discomfort resulting from God’s mercy on the Ninevites. The Hebrew word ra’ah, translated "discomfort" here, is the same word translated "evil" when it describes the Ninevites’ evil (Jonah 1:2;... read more
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Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Jonah 4:1-11
A lesson about mercy (4:1-11)It now became clear why Jonah did not want to preach in Nineveh. He wanted the Ninevites to be destroyed, not spared; he wanted them to be punished, not forgiven. He knew that God was merciful to sinners, but he wanted this divine blessing reserved solely for the people of Israel. He would rather die than see Gentiles forgiven the same as Israelites (4:1-3).God wanted to make Jonah see that he had no right to be angry, but Jonah refused to listen. Apparently still... read more