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A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold is as pictures of silver.(Prov.25:11) It is so important to speak the right words to people at the right time to produce the right results. When you think of apples of gold in pictures of silver, then you are thinking of wealth and excellence. When we speak wisdom into the lives of others we are making them wealthy. Therefore we must seek God for He is the source of all wisdom and He will give us just the right words needed at the right time.
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#And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein there are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand and much cattle? Jonah 4:11
The Hebrew word for sixscore Shenayim or Shettayim which stands for twenty thousand. So the total number of Ninevites is 120,000. This is a massive amount of people who have turned from their wicked ways to faith in Jehovah God. Compared to one gourd that perished that Jonah loves and wants to die over. Clearly, this tells us that God wants Jonah to love people more than things. This ends the book of Jonah with a question mark making us wonder did Jonah repent of his hatred toward the Ninevites. Well, we will start the book of Nahum which concludes the story of what happened when a generation of Ninevites grew up and forgot about the great repentance of their grandparents and returned to their wicked ways provoking the judgment of God. May we compare this to the great European revival under the great preachers as John Bunyan? America has forgotten the revival and turned to apostasy. May the Lord have mercy on us and return us to the faith of our fathers.
#Then said the LORD, thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not labored, neither madest it to grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night. Jonah 4:10
The Hebrew word for pity is Chus which means to look upon with compassion. Ezekiel 16:5 None eye pitied thee, to do any of these unto thee, to have compassion upon thee; but thou wast cast out in the open field, to the lothing of the person, in the day that thou wast born. Jehovah God told Jonah he had compassion on the gourd that he did not work for and it came up in a night and perished in a night. Clearly, Jonah loves this gourd more than the Ninevites. Lamentations 3:22,23 It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed because His compassion fails not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. Oh the mercies of the Lord endures to all generations. We are much like Jonah happy when the Lord shows mercy on us and not on our enemies. Jesus said to pray for those who despitefully use us. That is what Jonah is struggling with and I pray you are not too. Forgive and ye shall be forgiven.
#And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said I do well to be angry, even unto death. Jonah 4:9
The Hebrew word for the well is Yatab which means to be good or pleasing. Nahum 3:8. Art thou better than populous No, that was situated among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea and her wall was from the sea? Populous in Hebrew is Amon for a throng of people. So God is telling Jonah the Ninevites are like populous a throng of people that have been saved, so are you well to be angry that I have saved them? You are angry that this gourd perished unto death and this is not a fair comparison. This tells us the mental state of Jonah is not well. He needs to seek out psychological counseling. I would highly recommend that for I found myself as a minister in need of psychological help and I got it. Seeking help is a sign of strength and not weakness.
#And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted and wished in himself to die and said, it is better for me to die than to live. Jonah 4:8
The Hebrew word for vehement is Charishi which means sultry. So this sultry east wind is blowing the hot air of the sun upon Jonah and now he wishes he can die and not live. It is amazing Jonah needs psychiatric care but he has failed to get it so he blames God for destroying the gourd that protected him from this sultry east wind of the sun. This is common place for many people who have mental health and rather than getting help they medicate with drugs and alcohol. Mental hospitals are full of drug addicts who self-medicated and some end up in desperate shape. There is a shortage of mental health professionals and insurance is so costly that very few have the coverage to get the help they need. I pray that there will be parity between physical health and mental health care so that the cost will come down. The time has come for Governments to pass legislation to help people out so that they can get the help needed to allocate more beds for the mentally disabled.
#But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day and it smote the gourd that it withered. Jonah 4:7
The Hebrew word for worm is Tola which stands for the crimsom-grub. From Halal causing to howl., i.e. An oppressor. Lamentations 4:5 They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets: they that were brought up in scarlet embrace dunghills. This is what has just happened to Jonah's gourd. As the Lord has just caused this crimson-grub to eat up the gourd that Jonah loved so much and had not labored for it. This is to teach Jonah the lesson of what is important in life. We often fall in love with idols we have made than with the living God who gives us all things to enjoy
#And the LORD God prepared a gourd and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceedingly glad of the gourd. Jonah 4:6
The Hebrew word for gourd is Qiqayon which is a plant perhaps a castor-oil plant. So Jonah. is exceedingly glad for the plant that he did not have to plant and it cooled him from the heat of the sun. We could use a gourd to protect us from Elnino, as global warming will be very bad this year. Mankind continues to destroy the rainforest which was placed there by God to protect us from these greenhouse gases which cause global warming. Thank God President Biden was able to return America to the Paris Treaty to protect us from climate change. We can learn much by studying the Bible and how God placed man in the Garden of Eden in the perfect environment. Yet man sinned and now climate change is the result of our destroying the environment. Jonah is happy for the gourd but angry that the Ninevites have repented. God is not willing that any would perish but that all would come to repentance. Thank God when Jesus returns to set up His Kingdom, He will reverse the Adamic curse and restore the perfect environment and no more climate change.
#So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city and there made him a booth and sat under the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. Jonah 4:5
The Hebrew word for booth is Sukkah meaning a thicket or covert. From Cok; a hut or lair. Nehemiah 8:15 And that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount and fetch olive branches and pine branches and myrtle branches and palm branches and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. So Jonah followed the Torah and made a booth for him to observe the Ninevites to see that they had truly repented. Jonah is secretly wishing that they will return to their old ways and God will bring judgment upon them.
#Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? Jonah 4:4
The Hebrew word for Doest thou well is Yatab which means to be good or pleasing. A primitive root (causative) to make well, literally or figuratively. I Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance, or on the height of his statue; because I have refused him: for the LORD does not see as man seeth; for the man looked on the outward appearance, but the LORD looked on the heart. This is why Jehovah God knows what is in the heart of Jonah and Jonah cannot justify his anger at the Ninevites and God for not judging them. This is why we must be careful not to try and justify our actions before God. We must accept that God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy because He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. So let God be true and all men liars.
#Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. Jonah 4:3
The Hebrew word for die is Maveth which means death and ruin Hades. We are wondering why Jonah wants to die because believers in God do not take their lives; so Jonah is asking God to take him to Hades which is the compartment where Old Testament saints went to awaiting paradise. Jesus transferred Hades to paradise when He died on the cross. So for a believer who dies, he is absent from the body and present with the Lord. Some people who are suffering agonizing pain wish to die, so this is not wrong. For the Apostle Paul said to be absent from the body and present with the Lord is far better. Yet our death is an appointed time that only God knows when it will happen. So for Jonah wishing to die because the Ninevites have repented and God repented of bringing judgment upon them is no reason to want to die. So is Jonah having a mental health emergency? That is a possibility and only seeking out help from a healthcare professional can diagnose this. Clinical depression can cause one to want to die. Perhaps this is why Jonah wants to die. If you find yourself wanting to die, then do not hesitate to call 988 and counselors will direct you to the health care that you need.
#And he prayed unto the LORD and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness and repented the of the evil. Jonah 4:2
The Hebrew word for kindness is Checed meaning goodness and beauty. I Samuel 20:14 And thou shalt not only while yet I live to show me the kindness of the LORD, that I die not. What kindness. Jehovah God shows us by allowing us to live and not die. Should not Jonah be considereth of these Ninevites who have repented? As David said surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. This same God who is merciful to usward is also merciful to others. Jonah is learning how he must reciprocate that same mercy to the Ninevites. The question is did Jonah truly learn this lesson? We too must be kind and tender-hearted forgiving others just as Christ has forgiven us.
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