The Worm
Jonah 4:5-9
5 Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city. 6 Now the Lord God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant. 7 But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered.8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” 9 But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.”
The Lord appoints a worm to take away the plant that Jonah delights in.
Why?
Because Jonah is missing the point. The Lord has given the plant to Jonah as a gift, but Jonah cares more about the gift than the giver. So, the Lord takes away the plant.
What’s interesting in the Hebrew phrase, translated here as “to save him from his discomfort” (v.6). What it literally says in Hebrew is “to save him from his evil.” So, the Lord is trying to get Jonah’s attention by whatever means necessary so as to save Jonah from persisting in his evil ways. (Previously, the Lord used the great fish!)
Yet another example of the lengths to which the Lord will go to reach people.
