The Pulpit Commentary — Jonah — Section 85

HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-S.-Repining at God's mercy, A. more mixed character .than .Jonah's it would not be easy to imagine. God's treatment of him, God's language to him, prove that he we.s regarded as a servant, as a prophet, of the Lord. His ownJ.rayers and tbanksgi'l'ings indioated a nature in happy fellowship with the Etern . Yet how lacking in human charity, in trne submissiveness, in unselfishness! True to nature, the portrait is one very suggestive to the thoughtful reader, who is anxious to escnpe 1Je)f and to serve God. ' I. THE CAUSE OF REPTh'TNG. 1. Jonah's fear was reali:>:ed. 2. Jonah's plans were defeated. 3. Jonah's self-importance was wounded. His sin lay here-be tbouuht little or nothing of the Ninevites, much or altogether of himself. So devoted was"110 to his own dignity, so filled with a sense of the importance of men's estimate of himself that be had no pity, no thought, for those to whom he was commissioned. The rcai explanation is here hinted of much of the repining, murmuring, discontent, which prevail among those professedly religious. Men would complain less frequently and bitterly, did they think less of themselves and more of their fellow-men, were they more ready to forget themselves in desiring and seeking the welfare of others. II. THE FRUIT OF REPINING. 1. Anger and displeasure. 2. Vexation and dejection. Moses and Elijah, before Jonah, had asked that life might be taken away. Ardent souls, when disappointed, are prone to despondency. But it is one thing to despond because labour is unsuccessful ; another thing to despond because men are saved. Because Nineveh was spared, Jonah fain would die. Had Nineveh perished, he would have been willing to live. IIL THE SIN OF REPINING. This appears from the fact, so plainly stated by Jonah himself, that the Divine forbearance and mercy were made the ground of dissatisfaction &nd complaint. If men murmur at the exercise of God's most gracious attributes, they ean have no clearer proof of their want of sympathy with what is best, and no plainer indication of the urgent duty of repentance and hnmiliation. Ver. 2.-T/w long-suffering of God. The magnificent description of the Divine character is given in language familiar to the pious Hebrews, as is apparent from its almost exact coincidence with other passages of Old Tes,tam,ent Scriptare. Nothing could more conclusively contradict the common impression that the old covenant was one of justice only and not of mercy. The language, occuning as it. does in close eonnection with the repining of the prophet, appears strangely out Qf place. It .is 1rurprising that Jonah could have spoken thus of God without feeling himself reproved and silenced- How could he have reflected upon the mercy and kindness of God, and have continued to cherish regret because his threats were not fulfilled, because a great city was spared? I. THE BENEVOLENT ATTRIBUTES OF GoD, By a redundancy of language, testifying to the depth of appreciation felt, the Lord is declared to be: 1. Gracious. 2. Merciful. a. Of great kindness. lL THE .At9I'IONS IN WHICH GoD EXPRESSES HIS BENEVOLENT ATTBIBtlTE,B. L He defers the execution of bis just indignation against sinners. The narrative gives an im- 11reseive instance of this; but it is the lesson of all history. 2. He changes hie purposes of wrath into purposes of mercy. Such was the case with :Nineveh. Such .is the case with humanity at large. Ver. 4.-.Anger f'ebuked. The Prophet Jonah was a singularly complex being. On the one hand, he evidently reverenced and tru~ted the Lord; yet, on the other hand, be acted disobediently, and he cherished feelings which were in the highest degree discreditable to one who enjoyed his opportunitiPs of knowing the Divine character 1rnd purposes. The inquiry, the expostulation, of the text indicates God's. displeasure with bis servant; yet the form in which it shapes itself shows that God wished rather that Jonah shot1ld rebuke himself, that his conscience should be awakened to condemn tbe attitude which he had assumed. l. ANGER 16 !~ IT6ELF AN EMOTION WHICH MAY BE EITHER GOOD OR EVIL, God <CII; 1V, 1-11.] 1'11E BOOK OF JO"N AH. 83