"So Jonah went out of the city"
Text: Jonah 4:5
WALKING AWAY
Jonah did not give God an answer to His query. Once before, he ran away from the Lord. This time round, he walked out of the city of Nineveh. He had stopped preaching to the Ninevites! Jonah seemed to think that he could resolve problems by walking away!
“So Jonah went out of the city and sat on the east side of the city.
There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade,
till he might see what would become of the city. And the LORD
God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah,
that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery.
So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.”
Jonah 4:5-6
1. “So Jonah went out of the city”
a) He never did like Nineveh nor the inhabitants.
b) He had done his part in preaching (or so he felt).
c) He did not want to have anything further to do with the Ninevites.
2. “And sat on the east side of the city”
a) He would have a vantage view of the city.
b) The weather was hot.
c) He made a simple shelter and sought shade from it.
3. “Till he might see what would become of the city”
a) Had the people really repented?
b) Would God really spare the wicked city of Nineveh?
c) Perhaps the repentance of the Ninevites was not genuine.
d) Perhaps the Lord would still destroy the city.
e) He did not want to teach the Ninevites more about the Lord God.
4. The gracious and merciful LORD God
a) He saw how Jonah was feeling miserable under the heat.
b) He created a special plant that grew instantly to provide the shade Jonah desired.
5. Jonah was grateful for the plant
a) Though he was still fuming inside he felt grateful for the shade the plant provided.
b) Jonah was a deeply conflicted man. He could feel gratitude but he still nursed a deep-seated anger problem!