Wenstrom Bible Ministries Marion, Iowa Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom wenstrom

1. Wenstrom Bible MinistriesMarion, IowaPastor-Teacher Bill Wenstromwww.wenstrom.org

2. Thursday December 9, 2010Jonah: Jonah 4:7-God Sends A Worm To Attack The Plant So That It Dried UpLesson # 56

3. Please turn in your Bibles to Jonah 3:10.

4. Next, we will note Jonah 4:7, which records God sending a worm to attack the plant so that it dried up.

5. Jonah 3:10, “When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.

6. 4:1 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry.

7. 2 He prayed to the Lord and said, ‘Please Lord, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.

8. 3 Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.’

9. 4 The Lord said, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry?’

10. 5 Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.

11. 6 So the Lord God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.

12. 7 But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.

13. 8 When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with all his soul to die, saying, ‘Death is better to me than life.’

14. 9 Then God said to Jonah, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?’ And he said, ‘I have good reason to be angry, even to death.’

15. 10 Then the Lord said, ‘You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight.

16. 11 Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?’” (NASU)

17. Let’s now look at verse 7 in detail.Jonah 4:7, “But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.” (NASU)

18. “But God appointed a worm” is composed of the conjunction wa (וָ) (wa), “but,” which is prefixed to the third person masculine singular piel active imperfect form of the verb mā∙nā(h) (מָנָה) (men-aw), “appointed” and the articular masculine plural form of the noun ʾělō∙hîm (אֱלֹהִים) (el-o-heem), “God” and the feminine singular form of the noun tô∙lē∙ʿā(h) (תֹּולֵעָה) (to-law), “a worm.”

19. This is an adversative clause that is presenting a contrast between God providing this plant for Jonah with His taking it away from Jonah.

20. The noun ʾělō∙hîm emphasizes the transcendent character of God and in particular His attributes of omnipotence, sovereignty and love.

21. The word emphasizes with the reader that the sending of the worm to attack and kill this plant expresses the Lord’s sovereign control over His creation and His omnipotence over creation as well as His love for Jonah.

22. By taking this plant away from Jonah, He is teaching Jonah about His grace policy.

23. The noun ʾělō∙hîm also pertains to the fact that the Lord is Jonah’s deliverer in the sense that by killing this plant with the worm in order to teach Jonah about His grace policy towards the Ninevites, He is delivering Jonah from his evil, self-righteous attitude towards the Ninevites.

24. The Lord wanted to deliver Jonah from his uncompassionate attitude toward these people.

25. The verb mā∙nā(h) means “to commission” in the sense that the Lord appointed or assigned a worm for the specific purpose or task of attacking the plant so as to kill it.

26. It emphasizes with the reader the Lord’s sovereign control over His creation and His omnipotence over creation.

27. The noun tô∙lē∙ʿā(h) is a general term for any several species of creeping invertebrate, which consumes organic matter.

28. This term, which is translated by the NASU as “worm” is translated various ways since the particular species of crawling invertebrate is uncertain.

29. It may refer to the black caterpillar that is plentiful in the region around Nineveh.

30. Worms can strip a plant of its foliage in a single night.

31. Jonah 4:7, “But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.” (NASU)

32. “When dawn came the next day” is composed of the preposition be (בְּ) (beth), “when” and qal active infinitive construct form of the verb ʿā∙lā(h) (עָלָה) (aw-law), “came” and the articular masculine singular form of the noun šǎ∙ḥǎr (שַׁחַר) (shakh-ar), “dawn” and the preposition le (לְ) (lamed) whose object is the articular feminine singular form of the noun mā∙ḥǒrāṯ (מָחֳרָת) (mokh-or-awth), “the nextday.”

33. The noun šǎ∙ḥǎr means “dawn” referring to the daybreak or just prior to sunrise or in other words the early time of the morning when the first rays of light are seen in the eastern horizon.

34. The verb ʿā∙lā(h) means “to arise” and is used of the dawn “arising” the day after the Lord provided Jonah with the plant to protect him from the sun.

35. The noun mā∙ḥǒrāṯ means “the next day” since it refers to the day following the present day of the narrative in the future.

36. It is the object of the preposition le, which marks of a particular point in time by which something happens.

37. In our context, it marks the particular point in time when the worm that God commissioned attacked the plant in order to kill it.

38. “And it attacked the plant” is composed of the conjunction wa (וָ) (wa), “and,” which is prefixed to the third person feminine singular hiphil active imperfect form of the verb nā∙ḵā(h) (נָכָה) (naw-kaw), “it attacked” and the object marker ʾēṯ (אֵת) (oath) and the articular masculine singular form of the noun qî∙qāy∙wōn (קִיקָיוֹן) (kee-kaw-yone), “a plant.”

39. This clause emphasizes to the reader the purpose of this worm.

40. The verb nā∙ḵā(h) means “to attack” and is used of the worm attacking the plant so that as a result it died.

41. The New American Commentary, “The destructive effect of worms on many types of vegetation is well known. The cutworm can easily destroy the stem of a plant and can do so almost immediately.” (The New American Commentary: Amos, Obadiah, Jonah; page 279)

42. The noun qî∙qāy∙wōn is again the castor oil plant or ricinus communis, which is indigenous to the Middle East.

43. This plant as we noted in verse 6 can reach the height of ten to fifteen feet and its stalk is soft and can be easily killed by insects.

44. Its large palmate leaves would have provided Jonah an excellent shield from the sun.

45. The plant’s flowers are yellow and pink and are arranged along stalklike protuberances.

46. Jonah 4:7, “But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.” (NASU)

47. “And it withered” is composed of the conjunction wa (וָ) (wa), “and,” which is prefixed to the third person masculine singular qal active imperfect form of the verb yā∙ḇēš (יָבֵשׁ) (yaw-bashe), “it withered.”

48. This is a result clause that indicates that the plant withered as a result of the worm attacking it.

49. The verb yā∙ḇēš means “to dry up, to be withered” or in other words, to be in a state of relatively little or no moisture.

50. The word emphasizes God’s sovereignty over creation in that He can cause this plant to die by means of this worm.