Глава 4

1–4. The grief of the prophet Jonah on the occasion of the pardon of Nineveh. 5–11. And God admonishing him. John 4:1. Jonah was greatly upset by this and was irritated. John 4:2. And he prayed to the Lord and said: Oh, Lord! Isn’t this what I said when I was still in my country? That is why I ran to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a good and merciful God, long-suffering and abounding in mercy, and that You are sorry for the calamity. John 4:3. And now, Lord, take my soul from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. John 4:4. And the Lord said: Has this really grieved you so much? The beginning of chapter IV stands in close connection with the last words of the previous one: “God regretted the disaster... and did not bring it” (Jon. 3:10) to Nineveh; The prophet Jonah learned about this, probably because the forty-day period had successfully expired for the city, and so he “was greatly upset by this and was irritated” (Jon. 4:1). That Jonah was upset by nothing other than the pardon of the pagans - the Ninevites - his prayer leaves no doubt about this. In it, he says that the very thing that he feared happened when he was still in his country, which is why he fled to Tarshish: “for I knew that You are a good and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and you regret the disaster” (v. 2). Thus, the prophet Jonah at the end of the book appeared before us the same as we saw him at the beginning: not wanting the salvation of the pagans and even grumbling about God’s merciful judgment for them, as if all the signs passed without a trace for him and his obedience to Jehovah was not the conviction of his soul. Now he recognizes himself as right in his thoughts about the pagans, and God is not in truth merciful to them and, not being able to survive this disagreement, asks God for his death: “and now, Lord, take my soul, for it is better for me to die than to live” (verse 3). This return to national Jewish thoughts and feelings occurred in the prophet Jonah, perhaps because he personally in Nineveh saw the immeasurable depth of the moral corruption of the pagans, but either did not notice the fruits of repentance or did not believe in their sincerity and strength. As an impressionable and always sincere person, who did not know how to do anything halfway, but gave himself entirely to every feeling, Jonah expresses his protest against the pardon of unworthy, in his opinion, pagans in the most harsh form. In this case, he may have imitated the prophet Elijah, whom he may have known personally, when he also asked for death if God did not want to destroy the Israelites who had apostatized from Him (1 Kings 19:3–14). John 4:5. And Jonah went out of the city, and sat down on the east side of the city, and made himself a booth there, and sat under it in the shade, to see what would happen to the city. Jonah probably hoped that his prayer, expressing indignation at the pardon of Nineveh, would be heard by God and the city, although belatedly (not after 40 days), would still be punished. Therefore, he left the city and sat down on the eastern side of it, “to see what would happen to the city.” John 4:6. And the Lord God made a plant grow, and it rose above Jonah, so that there would be a shadow over his head and to save him from his grief; Jonah was very happy about this plant. John 4:7. And God arranged it so that the next day, when dawn appeared, a worm undermined the plant, and it withered. John 4:8. When the sun rose, God brought in a hot east wind, and the sun began to scorch Jonah’s head, so that he became exhausted and asked for death, and said: “It is better for me to die than to live.” John 4:9. And God said to Jonah: Are you really so upset about the plant? He said: he was very upset, even to the point of death. John 4:10. Then the Lord said: you regret the plant that you did not work on and that you did not grow, which grew in one night and disappeared in the same night: John 4:11. Should I not have pity on Nineveh, a great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot distinguish their right hand from their left, and a multitude of cattle? Before admonishing Jonah about his murmuring against God's mercy towards the Ninevites, God made him himself feel pity for the plant that grew over his head. Then he said that if he felt sorry for the dried plant, then doesn’t the city in which there are more than one hundred thousand innocent children deserve more pity and mercy? This simple story in itself causes difficulty only because it is unclear how to understand the growth and withering of the plant over Jonah’s head, whether to consider it a natural phenomenon or a miracle. The miraculous nature of the phenomenon seems to be indicated by the fact that this plant grew and withered unnaturally quickly (“it grew in one night and disappeared in the same night”), and then, in this case, the direct participation of God is repeatedly noted (“God arranged it so…” “the Lord made it grow…”). However, these data are not decisive: the Bible often says about natural phenomena that they occur according to the will of God, for according to religious consciousness everything in the world takes place according to the action of God (Matthew 10:30; see note on article 4, chapter 1). Expression 10 tbsp. there is no need to understand the rapid growth of a plant, “which grew in one night and disappeared in the same night” with literal precision; it could be used hyperbolically to express the idea of ​​​​the insignificance of a plant compared to human life (Is. 40:6; Ps. 102:15). The natural nature of the phenomenon seems to be indicated by the fact that the writer speaks about various natural factors that perform this or that action: a worm undermines the plant, it dries up from the hot east wind. Then, the miracle is not implied by the very course of the story: it was not needed to admonish the prophet, and in the natural order he also learned compassion, as in the miraculous. The plant referred to here is designated in the Hebrew text by the word kijkajon, which is usually derived from the Egyptian kjkj. It is possible that the Jews became acquainted with this plant in Egypt, therefore, having met it in their homeland, they called it a word converted from Egyptian. This plant is described by Herodotus, Pliny and Blessed. Jerome. They all agree that it has a grassy stem, broad leaves, reaches a height of 8-12 feet, grows and fades quickly. Thus, this is not a pumpkin or ivy, as it appears in the Slavic and Latin translations, but a special plant, called palma Christi in botany. You might be interested in: