And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
God puts the direct question to Jonah whether he is right to be angry over the gourd, and Jonah answers back that he is right to be angry, even to the point of death, even wishing to die. His defense of his anger over the withered gourd is a claim that his fury is justified to the very end. The exchange lays bare how deeply he feels for the plant that briefly sheltered him.
His grief and anger over losing that brief shade expose self-centered pity and deep concern for his own comfort over its loss. He grieves the loss of the plant while resenting mercy toward Nineveh and losing sight of the lives at stake. His pity is misplaced because he mourns a plant he did not grow, while resisting and failing to value and grieve the people of Nineveh. God uses the question about the gourd to set Jonah's pity for the plant against divine compassion for Nineveh, a great city whose people and cattle would be spared. The gourd is made to show the difference between his pity for a plant and compassion for the city.
The failure is that he has not grieved over people who might perish and who need mercy and help. His anger reflects disappointment after Nineveh was spared and a focus on personal humiliation rather than on mercy in allowing more time for people to hear the warning and prepare. His grief and anger over the gourd carry that disappointment that the city was not overthrown. His response stands as a warning against letting personal humiliation or sorrow obscure mercy and purpose, since it is an example of discouragement and selfish sorrow rather than rejoicing that the world had been granted more time.
God puts the direct question to Jonah whether he is right to be angry over the gourd, and Jonah answers back that he is right to be angry, even to the point of death, even wishing to die. His defense of his anger over the withered gourd is a claim that his fury is justified to the very end. The exchange lays bare how deeply he feels for the plant that briefly sheltered him.
His grief and anger over losing that brief shade expose self-centered pity and deep concern for his own comfort over its loss. He grieves the loss of the plant while resenting mercy toward Nineveh and losing sight of the lives at stake. His pity is misplaced because he mourns a plant he did not grow, while resisting and failing to value and grieve the people of Nineveh. God uses the question about the gourd to set Jonah's pity for the plant against divine compassion for Nineveh, a great city whose people and cattle would be spared. The gourd is made to show the difference between his pity for a plant and compassion for the city.
The failure is that he has not grieved over people who might perish and who need mercy and help. His anger reflects disappointment after Nineveh was spared and a focus on personal humiliation rather than on mercy in allowing more time for people to hear the warning and prepare. His grief and anger over the gourd carry that disappointment that the city was not overthrown. His response stands as a warning against letting personal humiliation or sorrow obscure mercy and purpose, since it is an example of discouragement and selfish sorrow rather than rejoicing that the world had been granted more time.