Jonah 4:1-3: Translation and Comments

Jonah 4:1-3

1 And it was displeasing to Jonah, a great disaster and he became angry with regard to it.

2 And he prayed to YHWH and he said, “Oh YHWH, is this not my word while I was in my land? Therefore I did the first time to flee to Tarshish for I know that you are a gracious God and compassionate, slow to anger [lit. slow of nose] and abounding steadfast love and one who relents concerning the calamity.  

3 And now YHWH, please take my life from me because my death is better than my life.”

Comments

 

This is a really small section of Jonah, the smallest of this series. 

At the end of Jonah 3, Nineveh repented of their wicked deeds in response to Jonah’s brief message, “Still forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” In response to their repentance, God withdrew his impending punishment from the city and did not destroy it. This turn of events is what Jonah believed would happen and was the reason why he tried to run away to Tarshish in chapter 1. Thus at the start of chapter 4, all that has happened is very displeasing to Jonah. The Hebrew of 4:1 contains a play on words between the verb ‘displeasing’ (raʿaʿ) and noun ‘disaster’ (raʿah). The repetition of the similar sound helps to link the two words together, emphasising that Jonah was extremely unhappy about this, seeing it as a disaster rather than a miracle (as the Ninevites would have seen it). 

His unhappiness leads him to become angry as well. This was a part of Jonah that was not reformed while he was in the fish. He would still prefer to see Israel’s enemies destroyed than God graciously spare them because they repented. Jonah has not really understood what God was trying to do, despite his time in the fish’s stomach, and his prayer displaying his gratitude to God for saving him.

It is possible that he was also angry because his prophecy would not come true now and therefore he would appear to be a false prophet. This could be harmful to his reputation, especially when he returned to Israel. However, if this did happen he would not be the first nor the last of God’s prophets to be ignored by Israel, whether or not their prophecies came true (see Jer 42-43, where Jeremiah’s prophecy concerning what will happen to the Jews who go to Egypt is ignored even though his prophecy about the fall of the Jerusalem was just fulfilled).

Just like when he was trapped in the fish, Jonah prays to God, this time from his anger. The two prayers are very different. In Jonah 2, Jonah’s prayer was one of thanksgiving at being rescued from a hopeless situation. Here in 4:2 it is a prayer of complaint, much like those seen in Jeremiah (Jer 12:1-4; 15:10-18). He complains to YHWH, reminding him that this was the reason that he tried to flee to Tarshish in the first place. He knew that YHWH was a gracious God, compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, who often relents before inflicting calamity (Jon 4:2). This is almost a direct quotation of Ex 34:6 which reads, “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding is steadfast love and faithfulness” (NRSV). In Exodus this is part of a proclamation made by God about himself to Moses. In Jonah is a complaint against God because he has dared to deal with Israel’s enemies the same way he deals with Israel. Israel received many second changes when they responded to the words of God’s prophets and the destruction of both the Northern and Southern Kingdoms of Israel was relented of many times by God despite the fact that they always turned away from God again after the danger had passed.
 
Jonah’s prayer in 4:2 starts with a Hebrew particle of entreaty (ʾanah), translated as ‘oh’ here. However, he does not make his request of God until 4:3. He asks God to take his life, as death is better than life. Even while drowning in the sea he did not make this request of God, instead he praised God for saving his life (2:10). God does not do as Jonah requests, thus answering his prayer with a negative rather than an affirmative as he often does when such requests are made. This request for death shows how little understanding Jonah had of what God was trying to do. Because Nineveh was not destroyed and God had acted to save Israel’s enemies (just like Jonah had predicted he would when he was first told to go to Nineveh) Jonah sees no reason left to live. His lack of understanding is further teased out when God confronts him in 4:4-11, using a plant to illustrate his point.

The next and final section is Jonah 4:4-11. We are almost there now.