Jonah 4: The prophet's shade and the city's lives

Jonah 4 reveals that the prophet's original flight was not caused by ignorance of God's character but by accurate knowledge of it. Nineveh's preservation makes Jonah exceedingly angry because he knew the LORD to be gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness. The mercy celebrated when it preserved Jonah is now objectionable when it preserves the city. God answers his wish for death first with a question and then with a small enacted comparison. Jonah sits east of Nineveh to see what will happen, becomes exceedingly glad for a plant that shades him, then loses that shade through an appointed worm and wind. The Book of Jonah links the fish, plant, worm, and wind by God's preparation of them, refusing to let only comforting agents count as divine provision. The final question places Jonah's pity for a plant he did not grow beside God's concern for Nineveh's people and animals. No answer from Jonah is supplied.