Bible Commentaries
Jonah 4

Verses 1-11

Jonah 4:1-11 Jonah’s Response and God’s Lesson - In this passage of Scripture, we see how angry Jonah was because God did not destroy the city of Nineveh. In his book Heaven: Close Encounters of the God Kind Jesse Duplantis describes his encounter with Jonah. This Old Testament prophet explained why he was angry. He said that he was irritated because he thought of himself more than he thought of the nature of God. [18] It is not God’s nature to destroy, but to heal and to bless.

[18] Jesse Duplantis, Heaven Close Endounters of the God Kind (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Harrison House, 1996), 109.

By placing Jonah in the belly of the whale God was able to penetrate his will, which is in the soulish realm, and he yielded to God and preached in Nineveh. However, God had not yet penetrated Jonah’s heart. Therefore, God takes Jonah through a series of events to reveal to him the condition of his own heart. God used a whale to bring Jonah face to face with his rebellion, but He used a worm to bring him face to face with his heart.