Jonah 4:1

CHAPTER IV

Jonah, dreading to be thought a false prophet, repines at God's

mercy in sparing the Ninevites, whose destruction he seems to

have expected, from his retiring to a place without the city

about the close of the forty days. But how does he glorify that

mercy which he intends to blame! And what an amiable posture

does he give of the compassion of God! 1-5. This attribute of the Deity is still farther illustrated by his

tenderness and condescension to the prophet himself, who, with

all his prophetic gifts, had much of human infirmity, 6-11.

NOTES ON CHAP. IV

Verse Jonah 4:1. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly] This hasty, and indeed inconsiderate prophet, was vexed because his prediction was not fulfiled. He had more respect to his high sense of his own honour than he had to the goodness and mercy of God. He appeared to care little whether six hundred and twenty thousand persons were destroyed or not, so he might not pass for a deceiver, or one that denounced a falsity.

And he was very angry.] Because the prediction was not literally fulfilled; for he totally lost sight of the condition.