There’s nothing better than a spot of shade in the middle of a scorching summer day. (Well, except air conditioning!) The tree’s leaves protect your eyes from the sun’s bright rays; the temperature noticeably drops. You relax a bit, sigh, and are grateful. That’s the sort of respite Jonah experienced.

Jonah was no doubt tired from his experience at sea, the journey in the fish’s belly, his sermon to Nineveh, and then his flashing anger at God’s compassion (4:1–4). The prophet went “out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city” (v. 5). Perhaps even now Jonah held out some hope that God would rain down fire and brimstone—the Bible doesn’t tell us. But it does tell us that God had compassion on Jonah, the reluctant and now angry prophet. Rather than letting the sun beat down on Jonah all afternoon, God “provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort” (v. 6). Predictably at this point in the story, “Jonah was very happy about the plant” (v. 6).

Jonah’s happiness turned out to be short-lived, because the Lord intends to use the plant as an object lesson. In language reminiscent of chapter 1—when God used the sea and a giant fish to reach Jonah— God “provided a worm” to destroy the plant, and then He “provided a scorching east wind.” Finally, “the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint” (v. 8). Again, we read that Jonah longed for death: “It would be better for me to die than to live” (v. 8). It is easy to condemn Jonah at this point, but first we should examine our own hearts.

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