But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
God prepared and sent a worm at dawn, when the morning rose the next day, to strike the gourd that had shaded and sheltered Jonah, so that it withered and left him exposed to the sun and wind. The worm struck the plant at daybreak and it withered, and the loss of the shade became the means of instruction.
The destruction of the gourd was a deliberate object lesson to teach Jonah about God's compassion, concern, and mercy for Nineveh and its people. Jonah pitied and grieved over a plant he had not grown, while God had reason to spare Nineveh. The sudden loss of shade exposed Jonah's concern for his own comfort and was meant to teach him to value the people of Nineveh, whom God wished to spare in mercy. That included its many people who could not distinguish right from wrong.
The verse belongs to the account of Jonah's grief after God spared Nineveh when the prophecy was not fulfilled as he expected. That account parallels the disappointment that followed the expected event in 1844, with Jonah's sorrow contrasted with God's mercy in granting Nineveh more time. Jonah's disappointment and sorrow surrounding the withered plant contrasts with the response called for when expectations are disappointed. Rather than dwelling selfishly on humiliation, as illustrated by the counsel to Elder Morse, one should rejoice that the world has more time to prepare and help bring sinners to repentance and salvation.
God prepared and sent a worm at dawn, when the morning rose the next day, to strike the gourd that had shaded and sheltered Jonah, so that it withered and left him exposed to the sun and wind. The worm struck the plant at daybreak and it withered, and the loss of the shade became the means of instruction.
The destruction of the gourd was a deliberate object lesson to teach Jonah about God's compassion, concern, and mercy for Nineveh and its people. Jonah pitied and grieved over a plant he had not grown, while God had reason to spare Nineveh. The sudden loss of shade exposed Jonah's concern for his own comfort and was meant to teach him to value the people of Nineveh, whom God wished to spare in mercy. That included its many people who could not distinguish right from wrong.
The verse belongs to the account of Jonah's grief after God spared Nineveh when the prophecy was not fulfilled as he expected. That account parallels the disappointment that followed the expected event in 1844, with Jonah's sorrow contrasted with God's mercy in granting Nineveh more time. Jonah's disappointment and sorrow surrounding the withered plant contrasts with the response called for when expectations are disappointed. Rather than dwelling selfishly on humiliation, as illustrated by the counsel to Elder Morse, one should rejoice that the world has more time to prepare and help bring sinners to repentance and salvation.