Jonah 4:3

Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me,.... Or, "my soul" (x).

Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

Therefore, Heb. And now; now presently, let no time slip. O Lord, who art, as the only Author, so the great Arbiter of life; the mighty and eternal God. His sovereignty was enough to command Jonah’ s reverence, but Jonah forgets himself and his God. Take, I beseech thee, life from me: in a peevish humour Jonah is weary of his life, and prays for death; yet in this request some mixture there is of grace with passion; somewhat of mercy from God to Jonah, in that he doth not give him up to his own passion; and Jonah, as weary as he is, yet will live till God will take away his life. It is better for me to die; it is more desirable to me to die and be buried, for then my prophesying that never came to pass will be soon forgotten; however, I shall never more blush at the rebukes the world will cast upon me. Than to live, disgraced and upbraided by atheists and hardened sinners, who will reflect the lie upon me or on my God.

Jonah 4:3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for [it is] better for me to die than to live.Ver. 3. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me] A pitiful peevish prayer, such as was that of Job, and that of Jeremiah above noted; to which may be added Sarah’ s hasty wish for God to arbitrate between her and her husband; Moses’ quibbling with God, till at length he was angry, Exodus 4:10; Exodus 4:14; Elias’ s desire to die out of discontent, &c. What a deal of filth and of flesh clogs and cleaves to our best performances! Hence David so prays for his prayers, and Nehemiah for pardon of his reformations. Anger is ever an evil counsellor; but when it creeps into our prayers it corrupts them worse than vinegar doth the vessel wherein it standeth. "Submit yourselves therefore to God," as Jonah should have done, "resist this devil" of pride and passion, "and he will flee from you," James 4:7; as by giving place to impatience ye "give place to the devil," Ephesians 4:26, who else by his vile injections, or at least by his vain impertinencies, will so spoil and mar our duties that we may well wonder they are not cast back as dirt into our faces. Sure it is that if the Holy Ghost had not his hand in our prayers there would not be the least goodness in them; no, not uprightness and truth, without which Christ would never present them, or the Father accept them. For it is better for me to die than to live] sc. in that disgrace that I shall now undergo of being a false prophet, not henceforth to be believed. Lo, this was it that troubled the man so much, as it did likewise Moses, Exodus 4:1, "They will not believe me; for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee." But God should have been trusted by them for that, and his call obeyed howsoever, without consults or disputes; careless of their own credit, so that God might be exalted. True it is that a man had better die with honour than live in disgrace truly so called. "It were better for me to die," saith holy Paul, "than that any man should make my glorying void," 1 Corinthians 9:15. Provident we must be (but not overly tender) to preserve our reputation; learning of the unjust steward by lawful (though he did by unlawful) means to do it; for our Saviour noted this defect in the children of light, that herein they were not often as wise as they should be, Luke 16:8. But Jonah was too heady and hasty in this wish of his death; because his credit, as he thought, was cracked, and he should be looked upon as a liar. But was the Euge of a good conscience nothing to him? was God’ s approbation of no value, nor the good esteem of his faithful people?

(3) Take, I beseech thee.—We naturally refer to the history of Elijah for a similar weariness and disgust of life. (Comp. also the case of Moses, Numbers 11:15). It should be noticed, as a contrast of Hebrew with heathen feeling, that none of these men in their loathing of life contemplated the possibility of suicide.

Verse 3. Take, I beseech thee, my life from me] קח נא את נפשי kach na eth naphshi, "Take, I beseech thee, even my soul." Do not let me survive this disgrace. Thou hast spared this city. I thought thou wouldst do so, because thou art merciful and gracious, and it was on this account that I refused to go at first, as I knew that thou mightest change thy purpose, though thou hadst commanded me to make an absolute denunciation of judgment. God has left this example on record to show that an inconsiderate man is not fit to be employed in his work; and he chose this one example that it might serve as an endless warning to his Church to employ no man in the work of the ministry that is not scripturally acquainted with God's justice and mercy.

3. take … my life from me] So had Moses prayed (Numbers 11:15) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:4), both with better cause, and in nobler spirit, but both in the same utter weariness of life as Jonah. No one of them, however, attempts to take his own life. They all regard it as a sacred deposit, entrusted to them by God and only to be relinquished at His bidding, or in accordance with His will. Comp. Jonah 4:8 below.

Therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech Thee my life from me - He had rather die, than see the evil which was to come upon his country. Impatient though he was, he still cast himself upon God.

3, 4. Therefore now — Since he is discredited as a prophet (Deuteronomy 18:21-22), life is no longer worth living; yet he does not think of taking his own life; he asks Him who gave it to take it away.