There’s nothing better than a spot of shade in the middle of a scorching summer day. (Well, except air conditioning!) The tree’s leaves protect your eyes from the sun’s bright rays; the temperature noticeably drops. You relax a bit, sigh, and are grateful. That’s the sort of respite Jonah experienced.

Jonah was no doubt tired from his experience at sea, the journey in the fish’s belly, his sermon to Nineveh, and then his flashing anger at God’s compassion (4:1–4). The prophet went “out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city” (v. 5). Perhaps even now Jonah held out some hope that God would rain down fire and brimstone—the Bible doesn’t tell us. But it does tell us that God had compassion on Jonah, the reluctant and now angry prophet. Rather than letting the sun beat down on Jonah all afternoon, God “provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort” (v. 6). Predictably at this point in the story, “Jonah was very happy about the plant” (v. 6).

Jonah’s happiness turned out to be short-lived, because the Lord intends to use the plant as an object lesson. In language reminiscent of chapter 1—when God used the sea and a giant fish to reach Jonah— God “provided a worm” to destroy the plant, and then He “provided a scorching east wind.” Finally, “the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint” (v. 8). Again, we read that Jonah longed for death: “It would be better for me to die than to live” (v. 8). It is easy to condemn Jonah at this point, but first we should examine our own hearts.

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It is easy to be thankful for God’s love and patience with us, but how do we feel when God extends that same long-suffering compassion to our enemies? As Jonah thought about God’s grace to the people of Nineveh, he became angry. The Lord’s response to their repentance, which was completely consistent with His character, “seemed very wrong” to Jonah (v. 1). Jonah became so angry, in fact, that he declared “it is better for me to die than to live” (v. 4).

The Lord had heard Nineveh’s repentance and “did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3:10). This made Jonah angry—“this seemed very wrong, and he became angry” (v. 1). The prophet clearly knew that God was “a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (v. 2). In fact, Jonah was quoting the Lord’s own words back to Him, words first spoken to Moses in Exodus 34:6–8, just after the Lord relented from destroying the Israelites. You read that right! God spoke these same words to Moses after the golden calf incident (Exodus 32), when the people of Israel cast an idol to worship, while Moses was receiving the Law atop Mount Sinai.

Think about that. Jonah knew that God showed compassion to Israel after they committed gross idolatry and “indulge[d] in revelry” (Ex. 32:2–5). Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh because he didn’t want God to show that same compassion to the Ninevites. Put another way, Jonah was pleased to accept God’s mercy for himself and his own people, but he loathed the thought of God also showing kindness to people outside of Jonah’s group. Jonah’s theology only went skin deep.

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Uncertainty was a hallmark of ancient Near Eastern religion. The worshipers of false gods never really knew how to please—and appease—the gods they worshiped. If a worshiper of such gods could figure out 1) which god they had angered, 2) how they had angered him or her, 3) and what would make that god happy, even then they still couldn’t be sure that they would be forgiven. What a terrible way to live. The true God, however, is different, and “when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened” (v. 10).

The New Testament book of Hebrews drives home God’s approachability and willingness to forgive sinners. Not only is He compassionate toward repentant sinners—just like we see in the book of Jonah—but God has also given people “a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God” (Heb. 4:14). This high priest can “empathize with our weakness” because He “has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (v. 15). And rather than causing us to shrink back from approaching God, Jesus our high priest enables us to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (v. 16).

Neither the sailors in Jonah 1 nor the king of Nineveh in chapter 3 knew if God would forgive them because a God who would forgive and who had made Himself known was foreign to their worldview. Our God is utterly and entirely different, and He welcomes us to His “throne of grace” and invites us into intimate relationship with Him. What a gift that we don’t have to wonder whether or not the Father will forgive us!

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