Jonah 4:6

And the Lord God prepared a gourd,.... So the Septuagint render the word; but some say that a worm will not touch that; Jerom renders it an ivy; but neither the gourd nor that rise upwards without some props to support them.

And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

Prepared; commanded that in the place where Jonah’ s booth stood, this herb, or spreading plant, should spring up to be a shade when the gathered boughs are withered. A gourd: it is not certain what this was; some say ivy; others say it was palma christi, or five-leaved, whose leaves are so set as to resemble a man’ s hand, or a wild vine or colocyntha; nor is it very material we should search further into the nature of this Nzyqyq in the text, it was some wild plant with long and broad leaves, which suddenly grew, spread itself, and made a good shade. Made it to come up; God gate it a speedy growth, and directed the growth that it should cover the top of the booth, and be a shade to Jonah against the vehemence of the sun, which did shine very parchingly hot in those countries. To deliver him from his grief; to give some ease to his mind, refresh his natural spirits, much discomposed by the violence of his passions and by the violent heat of the sun. It is probable this grief was some extreme fit of continued head-ache. Exceeding glad; as vehement in his joy now as in his grief before; he was a man of great affections, whatever moved them. Of the gourd; his ease by the gourd made him glad of it, and I observe that here is no mention made of Jonah’ s seeing God in it.

Jonah 4:6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made [it] to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.Ver. 6. And the Lord God prepared a gourd] sc. after that his booth was dried up, and the leaves withered, God, by his providence, and not without a miracle (because without seed, and so suddenly), furnished Jonah with his gourd or ivy bush, or white vine, or the plant called Palma Christi, or Pentedactylon, because it resembleth a man’ s hand with five fingers; something it was, but what is not certainly known. Kimchi thus describeth it: Est herba longis et altis frondibus umbrosa: It is a herb or plant that yieldeth good shade with its long and large leaves. And many years before him, one Rabba, son of Hanna, said, that it grows by the water’ s side, is commonly set for shade’ s sake before tavern doors, and that oil is made of the seeds of it. And made it to come up over Jonah] Not only to refresh him (who having been so lately in the whale’ s belly, was haply more tender skinned than before, and not so well able to endure the heat of the sun), but also to make way to that reproof he afterwards gave him, Jonah 4:10. Hoc enim externo signo, saith Mercer, for by this outward sign, God sporting with him, as it were, clearly convinceth him of his impatience, and admonisheth him of his duty; and this he thinketh was not done till the forty days were over. To deliver him from his grief] From his headache, caused by the heat of the sun; which yet he cursed not as the scorched Atlantes are said to do. Or to exhilarate and refresh his spirits after his self-vexing; for the hasty man never wants woe, and the envious person, because he cannot come at another man’ s heart, feedeth upon his own. Now though God chide him for his fault, yet, as a father he tendereth his infirmity, and taketh care that the "spirit fail not before him, and the soul that he had made." And it is as if he should say: Jonah goeth on frowardly in the way of his heart; "I have seen his ways and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him," Isaiah 57:16-18; as it is a rule in medicine still to maintain nature. So Jonah was exceeding glad] Heb. rejoiced with great joy, that is, supra modum, he was excessive in all his passions, which speaks him a weak man. Some think he rejoiced the more in the gourd, as conceiving that God thereby voted with him, and for him.

(6) Prepared.—See Note, Jonah 1:17. A gourd.—So the LXX. render the Hebrew qiqaion, which, since the time of Jerome, has been usually identified with the Arabic el keroa, the castor-oil tree (Ricinus communis, or Palma Christi; see margin). It is a large shrub, having large palmate leaves, with serrated lobes, and spikes of blossoms which produce the seed, whence the well-known medicinal oil is extracted, in small rough husks. The strongest argument in favour of this view is the proposed derivation of the Hebrew name from the Egyptian kiki, and the rabbinical name for castor-oil, kiki-oil.[22] In spite of this etymological argument, Dr. Tristram says: “Practical reasons cause me to lean strongly to the rendering of our English version, gourd, i.e., the bottle gourd (Cucurbita pepo). In Palestine the vernacularnames are almost identical in sound, “kurah” being the gourd, “khurwah” the castor-oil tree. But the gourd is very commonly employed in Palestine for the purpose of shading arbours. Its rapid growth and large leaves render it admirably adapted for training on trellis-work . . . But the plant withers as rapidly as it shoots, and after a storm or any injury to its stem, its fruit may be seen hanging from the leafless tendrils, which so lately concealed it, a type of melancholy desolation” (Nat Hist. of the Bible, p. 449). [22] A Semitic origin for the word is rendered probable by its discovery under the form, quqanitu, on a small tablet which the Babylonian king Marduk-bal-iddin (Merodach-baladan) ordered to be set in a garden. (See letters of Dr. F. Delitzsch, to the Athenœum of May 26th and June 9th, 1883.) Made it to come up.—Rather, it came up.Deliver.—In the original there is a play of words on this word and shadow.

Verse 6. And the Lord God prepared a gourd] I believe this should be rendered in the preterpluperfect tense. The Lord HAD prepared - this plant, קיקיון kikayon. It had in the course of God's providence been planted and grown up in that place, though perhaps not yet in full leaf; and Jonah made that his tent. And its thick branches and large leaves made it an ample shelter for him, and because it was such, he rejoiced greatly on the account. But what was the kikayon? The best judges say the ricinus or palma Christi, from which we get what is vulgarly called castor oil, is meant. It is a tree as large as the olive, has leaves which are like those of the vine, and is also quick of growth. This in all probability was the plant in question, which had been already planted, though it had not attained its proper growth, and was not then in full leaf. Celsus, in his Hierobot., says it grows to the height of an olive tree; the trunk and branches are hollow like a kex, and the leaves sometimes as broad as the rim of a hat. It must be of a soft or spongy substance, for it is said to grow surprisingly fast. See Taylor under the קיק root, 1670. But it is evident there was something supernatural in the growth of this plant, for it is stated to have come up in a night; though the Chaldee understands the passage thus: "It was here last night, and it withered this night." In one night it might have blown and expanded its leaves considerably, though the plant had existed before, but not in full bloom till the time that Jonah required it for a shelter.

6. prepared] Rather, appointed. And so in Jonah 4:7-8. See Jonah 1:17, note. a gourd] This is the only place in the Old Testament in which the Hebrew word here translated gourd occurs. It is quite a different word which is rendered gourd in 2 Kings 4:39, and (of architectural ornaments) in 1 Kings 6:18 (margin), 1 Kings 7:24. It is an old controversy, dating back as far as the times of Jerome and Augustine, whether Jonah’s plant was a gourd or not. It is now generally admitted that it was not, but that the plant intended is the ricinus communis or castor-oil plant. This plant satisfies all the requirements of the history. The name kikayon here used in the Hebrew is akin to the word kikeia or kiki (Herodot. II. 94), which ancient authors tell us was used by the Egyptians and others for the castor-oil plant. That plant is a native of North Africa, Arabia, Syria and Palestine, and is said by travellers to grow abundantly and to a great size in the neighbourhood of the Tigris. It is succulent, with a hollow stem, and has broad vine-like leaves (much larger, however, than those of the vine), which from their supposed resemblance to the extended palm of the hand have gained for the plant the name of Palma Christi, or palmchrist. It grows with such extraordinary rapidity that under favourable conditions it rises to about eight feet within five or six months, while in America it has been known to reach the height of thirteen feet in less than three months. Jerome also bears testimony to the rapidity of its growth. It is, he says, “a shrub with broad leaves like vine-leaves. It gives a very dense shade, and supports itself on its own stem. It grows most abundantly in Palestine, especially in sandy spots. If you cast the seed into the ground, it is soon quickened, rises marvellously into a tree, and in a few days what you had beheld a herb you look up to a shrub.”—Pusey. made it to come up] Or, it came up. The naturally rapid growth of the plant was miraculously accelerated. As in other miracles of Holy Scripture Almighty God at once resembled nature and exceeded nature. “We know that God, when He does anything beyond the course of nature, does nevertheless come near to nature in His working.

And the Lord God prepared a gourd - , (a palm-christ, English margin, rightly.) . “God again commanded the gourd, as he did the whale, willing only that this should be.

6. Jehovah God — As in Genesis 2:4. Both names are used to indicate that God, mentioned as supreme so frequently in the book, and Jehovah, the God of Jonah, are identical. Prepared —See on Jonah 1:17 (compare Jonah 4:7).