So 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.
So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth - i:e., a temporary hut of branches and leaves, so slightly formed as to be open to the wind and sun's heat. The imperfect protection afforded by the Succah or booth at the feast of tabernacles was designed to remind the Israelites of their past pilgrim state.
And sat under it in the shadow, until he might see what would become of the city. The term of forty days had probably now elapsed: for by this time Jonah was made to see that the threat of destruction in 40 days was not to be carried into effect; and as there is no mention of it being otherwise revealed to him, we can only suppose that he knew the fact by the time appointed having passed by. But still he did not give up hope of Nineveh's overthrow; and probably he thought that nothing more than a suspension or mitigation of judgment had been granted to Nineveh. Therefore, not from sullenness, but in order to watch the event from a neighbouring station, he lodged in the booth. As a stranger, he did not know the depth of Nineveh's repentance; besides, from the Old Testament stand-point, he knew that chastening judgments often followed, as in David's case (2 Samuel 12:10-12; 2 Samuel 12:14), even where sin had been repented of. To show him what he knew not-the largeness and completeness of God's mercy to penitent Nineveh, and the reasonableness of it-God made his booth a school of discipline, to give him more enlightened views.