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Jonah's Gourd

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hillsbororiver:

Does anyone see part of a familiar tact or pattern used by God throughout scripture/history?
   

 Jonah 4

 1But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

 2And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

 3Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

 4Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?

 5So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

 6And 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.

 7But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

 8And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

 9And 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.

 10Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

 11And 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?

 I have been fascinated by this chapter for a while (especially taking into consideration the previous chapter), there seems tp be much here that deals with our journey.

 Peace,

 Joe

P.S.
 
gourd
   
1: any of a family (Cucurbitaceae, the gourd family) of chiefly herbaceous tendril-bearing vines including the cucumber, melon, squash, and pumpkin

2: the fruit of a gourd : pepo ; especially : any of various hard-rinded inedible fruits of plants of two genera (Lagenaria and Cucurbita) often used for ornament or for vessels and utensils
— out of one's gourd also off one's gourd : crazy

Akira329:
Funny you mentioned this chapter Joe.
Me and Marques once discussed this. :D

Antaiwan

Akira329:
Just when things seem to be going MY way, I am beaten down again.
A very repetitive pattern in the lives of those whom God loves and whom he loves he chastises.

Antaiwan

Beloved:
John Newton, 1779, from Olney Hymns, vol. 1, hymn 75

As once for Jonah, so the Lord
To soothe and cheer my mournful hours,
Prepared for me a pleasing gourd,
Cool was its shade, and sweet its flow'rs.

To prize his gift was surely right;
But through the folly of my heart,
It hid the Giver from my sight,
And soon my joy was changed to smart.

While I admired its beauteous form,
Its pleasant shade and graceful fruit;
The Lord, displeased, sent forth a worm,
Unseen, to prey upon the root.

I trembled when I saw it fade,
But guilt restrained the murm'ring word;
My folly I confessed, and prayed,
Forgive my sin, and spare my gourd.

His wondrous love can ne'er be told,
He heard me and relieved my pain;
His word the threat'ning worm controlled,
And bid my gourd revive again.

Now, Lord, my gourd is mine no more,
'Tis thine, who only couldst it raise;
The idol of my heart before,
Henceforth shall flourish to thy praise.
 

A lot to be said about the gourd,but here is this set of lyrics in the meantime

beloved

Beloved:
There are so many things about this Book. But in light of your last thread....Patience

Here is Jonah, a prophet of Israel, sent to Nineveh to preach repentance...
Jonah =  a dove; he that oppresses; destroyer

Jonah tries to evade God, He does not want to go to this cesspool kingdom and so he runs off.  God causes the storm and Jonah knows the storm occurred because of him so he talks the crew into casting him overboard so God will punish only him for his disobedience.

In the water he is eaten by a great sea creature, after three days of hearburn...this fish vomits Jonah in the right place...He then goes to Nineveh and preaches ... the king and people repent

Jonah then goes and build a booth and sits to see what is going to happen next.. He sits there on the east and God causes a shade plant to come and then a worm to destroy it...Jonah loses it...Jonah knows God is causing all of this and is not one bit happy about any of it.

he knew God was Good and Faithful and would save these worthless people who have a fish god. He was angry because God removed the shade....The one bit of creature comfort that he had. 

God has shown abundant mercy and patience to a stubborn narrow minded man who has blatantly opposed His will.

This book shows that God can cause anyone not just Israel to repent and He will draw them to him. 

Jonah was a shadow of the Resurrection of Jesus,  He drew Jonah out of the Fish and Nineveh out of their fish God ...

God was/ is patient withl Israel and He is/ has been extremely patient with Christianity and the Unbelievers. He has a plan and His Word will not come back void.

After that talk with God, Jonah repented and wrote his story.  In Judism it is read on the day of atonement even today.

I think it odd that the religious folk ( pharisees, Nicodemus and Nathan his disciple at the time of Jesus...said that no prophet came from Galilee when Jonah's family came 50 miles north of Nazareth.  He is not a major prophet but a minor and he is also mentioned in 2 Kings.

beloved

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