Jonah 4

Jonah 4 is the fourth (and the last) chapter of the Book of Jonah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.^[1][2] This book contains the prophecies spoken by the prophet Jonah, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.^[3][4]

Text

• The original text is written in Hebrew language.
• This chapter is divided into 11 verses.

Textual versions

The whole Book of Jonah in Latin as a part of Codex Gigas, made around 13th century.

Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter in Hebrew language:

• Masoretic Text (10th century)
• Dead Sea Scrolls: (2nd century BC)^[5][6]
  • 4Q82 (4QXII^g): extant: verses 5-11^[5]
  • Wadi Murabba’at (MurXII): extant: verses 1‑11^[5]

Ancient translations in Koine Greek:

• Septuagint (3rd century BC)
• Dead Sea Scrolls: (2nd century BC)^[5]
  • Naḥal Ḥever (8ḤevXII^gr): extant: verses 1-2, 5^[5]
• Theodotion version (~AD 180)

Structure

NKJV groups this chapter into:

• Jonah 4:1-4 = Jonah’s Anger and God’s Kindness
• Jonah 4:5-11 = Lessons from a plant

Verse 6

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 exceeding glad of the gourd.^[7]

• "Gourd": Hebrew kikayon, exact identity unknown^[8] (here only in the Old Testament); Septuagint, κολοκύνθη," pumpkin;" Vulgate, hedera; Aquila and Theodotion, κυκεών. Jerome describes this as a shrub called in Syriac elkeroa, and common in the sandy regions of Palestine. It has large leaves and grows to a considerable height in a very few days, so that a mere shrub becomes quickly a small tree. The scientific name of this plant is Ricinus communis; in Assyrian, kukanitu; in Egyptian, kiki^[9] or "cici", of Herodotus,^[10] Dioscorides,^[11] Strabo,^[12] and Pliny;^[13] a plant frequent in Egypt, of which the Egyptians made an oil.^[14] Hence the Talmudists^[15] make mention of the oil of "kik", which Reshlakish says is the "kikaion" of Jonah.^[14] A drawing of it is given in Dr Pusey's 'Commentary,' p 260. It is also known by the name of the "Palma Christi", and from its seeds is expressed "castor oil." The gourd, as Mr. Tristram testifies ('Land of Israel,' p. 37), is used universally to form trellises for shading arbours and summer houses, and affords a most effectual screen.^[9] The Arabians call it "alcheroa" or "alcherva", according to Samuel ben Hophni, Maimonides,^[16] Bartenora, and Jerome.^[14] By the description of it, according to all the above writers, bids fairest to be here intended.^[17] it rising up to the height of a tree, an olive tree, having very large broad leaves, like those of vines, or of plantain; and springing up suddenly, as Pliny says it does in Spain; and Clusius affirms he saw at the straits of Gibraltar a ricinus of the thickness of a man, and of the height of three men; and Bellonius, who travelled through Syria and Palestine, saw one in Crete of the size of a tree;^[14] and Dietericus,^[18] who relates the above, says he saw himself, in a garden at Leyden, well furnished and enriched with exotic plants, an American ricinus, the stalk of which was hollow, weak, and soft, and the leaves almost a foot and a half; and which Adolphus Vorstius, he adds, took to be the same which Jonah had for a shade; with which agrees what Dioscorides says,^[19] that there is a sort of it which grows large like a tree, and as high as a fig tree; the leaves of it are like those of a palm tree, though broader, smoother, and blacker; the branches and trunk of it are hollow like a reed: and what may seem more to confirm this is, that a certain number of grains of the seed of the ricinus very much provoke vomiting; which, if true, as Marinus observes,^[20] the word here used may be derived from which signifies to vomit; from whence is the word vomiting; and the first radical being here doubled may increase the signification, and show it to be a great emetic; and the like virtue of the ricinus is observed by others.^[21][14]

Verse 11

And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city,

wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons

that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand;

and also much cattle?^[22]

• "Six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand": that is children of tender years, who did not know which hand was the strongest and fittest for use; or, metaphorically, who had "no knowledge between good and evil" (Deuteronomy 1:39), at present incapable of moral discernment. This limitation would include children of three or four years old; and, taking these as one-fifth of the population, we should set the inhabitants at six hundred thousand in number. The multitude of these innocent children, who must needs perish if the city were destroyed, is an additional reason why it should be spared. A still further claim for compassion is appended.^[9] God who would have spared Sodom "for ten's sake," might well be thought to spare Nineveh for the 120,000's sake, in whom the inborn corruption had not developed into the malice of willful sin. If these 120,000 were the children under three years old, they were 1/5 (as is calculated) of the whole population of Nineveh. If of the 600,000 of Nineveh all were guilty, who by reason of age could be, above 1/5 were innocent of actual sin.^[23]
• "And also much cattle": God's mercy is over all his works; he preserveth man and beast (Psalm 36:6; Psalm 145:9), and as man is superior to other animals, so are cattle better than plants.^[9] God cares even for the brute creatures, of which man takes little account. These in wonderful powers and in utility are far above the shrub which Jonah is so concerned about. Yet Jonah is reckless as to their destruction and that of innocent children.^[24]

The book ends abruptly, but its object is accomplished. Jonah is silenced; he can make no reply; he can only confess that he is entirely wrong, and that God is righteous. He learns the lesson that God would have all men saved, and that that narrow-mindedness which would exclude heathen from his kingdom is displeasing to him and alien from his design.^[9]

See also

• Related Bible parts: Jonah 1, Jonah 3

Notes and references

Bibliography

External links

Jewish

• Jonah 4 Hebrew with Parallel English
• Jonah 4 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary

Christian

• Jonah 4 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate