CRITICAL NOTES.]
Jonah 4:11. Spare] Pity; Lit. to be affected by the sight of a thing; then to be concerned; take pity or compassion upon one. Nineveh contained an immense population, a great number of children; and “if this did not produce a suitable impression upon the mind of the prophet, the number even of irrational animals is adverted to, the latter being far superior in point of mechanism and utility to the shrub for which he was so much concerned” [Elzaz]. “What could Jonah say to this? He was obliged to keep silence, defeated, as it were, by his own sentence” [Luther]. The history breaks off abruptly, but an insight of God’s compassion for all nations is gained. Mercy is the last note sounded. Let us attend to the sign of the prophet, and love him who said, “Behold, a greater than Jonas is here!”
HOMILETICS
GOD’S CARE FOR CHILDREN.—Jonah 4:11
The mention of children and cattle in the description of the city indicates more than its greatness, proves the tender mercy of God, and affords no ground for the defence of his innocent shrub. God estimates cities, not according to wealth and splendour, but the character of its population. “Here,” says one, “was a reason for sparing the city, and for bringing the adults to repentance in order to save it.”
I. Children have a distinct rank assigned to them. They are distinguished from matter, and raised higher than brutes. Hence they must not be looked upon as cumber or hindrance to the welfare of humanity. Many regard them in the mass, and give them no distinct rank in the scale of being. Christianity differs in sublime distinction from ancient Polytheism and modern materialism in its loving aspect towards little children—teaches that they are not to be regarded as incipient organisms in human form, but as immortal beings, and of celestial beauty. “For of such is the kingdom of heaven.”
II. Children have special claims upon us. Men talk of them as “little children,” so many incarnate trifles or common-places of humanity. Such treatment is neither justified by religion nor reason. Life in its lowest forms involves mystery; but if we recognize infants as manifesting a Divine purpose, and taking a definite rank in creation, we shall feel that certain reverence is due to them. Their innocency is pleasing, and their influence powerful. Upon their character and training depend the happiness of society and the destiny of nations. Few parents are base enough to injure their children, but parental neglect and sinful apathy prevail in every home. Children’s claims are forgotten or ignored, and we are still under the moral implication of Christ—“Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones.”
III. God’s mercy to children is an example to us. Priority and prominence are given to the children, and God appeals strongly to Jonah’s human sympathy. That heart must be desperately hard that cannot feel for the injury and death of infants. Herod’s outrage brands him with infamy in every age. But God does not play merely upon Jonah’s feelings. He shows his regard for children, and reveals his true character as a gracious God. Christ displayed Divine love by taking them into his arms and blessing them. God’s providence over children should urge us to care for them. His pity for them in pain and danger should be a model for parental conduct, and an encouragement to cultivate true disposition of heart. Christ recommended true virtues; set a child in the midst of his disciples, and taught that Christian life was a life of childhood. “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
GOD’S CARE FOR OXEN.—Jonah 4:11
In addition to children there were also “much cattle,” of infinitely more value than Jonah’s gourd, and perfectly innocent of the crimes of which the Ninevites were guilty.
I. Here we have an argument for mercy to beasts. The city must be spared for the sake of the cattle even. Little children and dumb creatures intercede for man and must be pitied. “Doth God take care for oxen?” Yes, to teach us to be merciful to them (1 Corinthians 9:9; Deuteronomy 25:4). How unlike God are those who neglect them and inflict needless sufferings upon them. Men whom God preserves daily from the punishment of sin wreak their rage upon their beasts, starve and torture them for selfish ends, or kill them in sport and cruelty. “A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast; but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.”
II. Here we have an argument for mercy to men. God’s care for cattle suggests his greater mercy to men. It is a perversion of sympathy when persons bestow upon brutes an extravagance of kindness which they refuse to children and men Stables and kennels are often more comfortable than cottages; animals are petted while the poor starve. “God would have us love and pity not merely our own gourds, but all his creatures—men, women, children, and even cattle—according to their respective worth in his sight.” The selfish man shrinks up in envy and cold indifference, but “blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES
Here we have a picture of the weak protecting the strong, infants shielding the parents. Ungodly families are often spared for the sake of the little ones in them. Justice calls for the punishment of the wicked, but mercy delays lest the innocent should suffer with the guilty.
Many great and fruitful truths lie couchant here. It is manifest, for example, that infants are regarded by God as personally innocent. They inherit many of the consequences, but do not share the guilt of Adam’s sin. God here seems to say: “What have they done?” They have had no part in the guilt of the city. Would you bring a storm of judgment upon them? It is manifest, also, that unconscious beings may have, really have, a great moral power and place in the universe. When men or women all through the city were “crying mightily to God,” there was a cry mightier, although inarticulate, going up from six-score thousand unconscious suppliants. The infants of Nineveh did what all her armed men could not do—they helped to turn away the wrath of God, and to draw down his mercy. This reference to the infants tells us that life is good. It is implied that it is in itself a blessing—a thing to be desired to make one wise. The Prophet had said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” In an indirect manner God says, “It is better to live than to die,” better even for infants to live, although they might die without tasting the bitterness of death. Better to live, even in a place like Nineveh, where the wickedness is only arrested for a little, and not extinguished, than not to live at all [Raleigh].
The whole chapter is a wonderful exhibition of Divine mercy. I. Mercy is displayed. Displayed to Jew and Gentile, young and old. Mercy towards a guilty city, and an ungrateful servant. II. Mercy is vindicated.
1. Against the ignorance of man.
2. Against the selfishness of man. We substitute justice for love. It is true that God hates sin; but he is merciful, and prefers pity to punishment. As we do not see the world in the blackness of a thunder-storm, so we do not know God in the outpouring of his wrath. “Fear never made the childish nature good. March winds never made the buds blossom—only April showers; it is not the father’s severity, but the mother’s love, that makes the child repent.”
The mercy of God concerns us infinitely. We are personally interested in this argument and in this demonstration, as much as Jonah, as much as the Ninevites. Is there anything else in which we have half the interest that we all have in this? This is the very foundation of our hope; it is the bright charter of our salvation. We enter only by this door. Without the mercy of God we are clean gone for ever. By this mercy we are spared. By this mercy, in its forms of forbearance, and forgiveness, and renewal, we hope one day to reach complete redemption [Raleigh].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4
Jonah 4:9-11. The teachings of Nature, which unbelievers vaunt as all-sufficient, have never led mankind to a correct knowledge of God, nor produced holy feeling; and they never can. But they may prepare for the Word, and be used to convey it, illustrate it, and fix it in the memory. God schooling Jonah in patient, tender love, and through him preparing instruction for Israel and for us, uses Nature to prepare the way for the lessons of the Word. As when he sent Nathan to David with a parable, to make David condemn himself out of his own mouth, so to Jonah he sends the gourd and the worm, the wind and the sunshine, to prepare the way for making his better feelings condemn his worse. He will make his pity for the plant explain God’s pity for Nineveh, and condemn Jonah’s want of pity for that multitude of souls [Mitchel].
This wonderful book of Jonah has given us a picture of the human heart, not in its lowest degradation, but taught by revelation, restrained by conscience, influenced more or less by piety, but stripped of its disguises and company dress. God takes us behind the scenes to show us how in Nature his hand and purpose are working by storm and sunshine, fish and worm, and so puts a window for us in the heart of man. Jonah speaks out to God, and acts out before us, and writes down for us to read, without suppression, palliation, or extenuation, the sinful thoughts which other men have, but do not make known. We have at once a picture of God’s character, and a mirror in which to behold our own [Ibid]. In the book of Jonah we have thus a panorama of historical facts, pregnant with the most important instruction. Its lessons constitute the staple of the teaching of the later prophets, and contain the leading thoughts which were developed in their writings, imbedded in the mind of Israel, and expounded by Christ and his apostles.