Albert Barnes Commentary Jonah 4:8

"And it came to pass, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live." — Jonah 4:8 (ASV)

God prepared a vehement — (The English margin, following the Chaldee, notes “silent,” that is, “sultry”).

East wind — The winds in the East, blowing over the sand deserts, intensely increase the distress of the heat. A sojourner describes an Assyrian summer on two occasions.

He writes: “The change to summer had been as rapid as that which ushered in the spring. The verdure of the plain had perished almost in a day. Hot winds, coming from the desert, had burned up and carried away the shrubs. The heat was now almost intolerable. Violent whirlwinds occasionally swept over the face of the country.”

The sojourner continues: “The spring was now fast passing away; the heat became daily greater; the grain was cut; and the plains and hills put on their summer clothing of dull parched yellow. The pasture is withered, the herbage fails; the green grass is not. It was also the season of the Sherghis, or burning winds from the south, which occasionally swept over the face of the country, driving in their short-lived fury everything before them.”

The sojourner adds, “We all went below ground soon after the sun had risen, and remained there in the tunnels without again seeking the open air until it was far down in the Western horizon.”

The “Sherghi” must be the East wind, Sherki, from which the Sirocco is derived. At Sulimania in Kurdistan (about 2.5 degrees east of Nineveh, and 0.75 of a degree south), it is reported that “the so much dreaded Sherki seems to blow from any quarter, from east to northeast. It is greatly feared for its violence and relaxing qualities,” and described as “hot, stormy and singularly relaxing and dispiriting.” Suffocating heat is a characteristic of these vehement winds.

Morier relates an experience at Bushire. He continues, “Again from the 23rd to the 25th, the wind blew violently from the southeast accompanied by a most suffocating heat, and continued to blow with the same strength until the next day at noon, when it suddenly veered round to the northwest with a violence equal to what it had blown from the opposite point.”

And again, Morier writes (p. 97), “When there was a perfect calm, partial and strong currents of air would arise and form whirlwinds which produced high columns of sand all over the plain. They are regarded as the sign of great heat. Their strength varied greatly. Frequently they threw down our tents.”

Burckhardt, while professedly attempting to lessen the general impression regarding these winds, says, “The worst effect (of the Semoum, “a violent southeast wind”) is that it dries up the water in the skins, and thus endangers the traveler’s safety. In one morning, one-third of the contents of a full water skin was evaporated. I always observed the whole atmosphere appear as if in a state of combustion; the dust and sand are carried high into the air, which assumes a reddish, bluish, or yellowish tint, according to the nature and color of the ground from which the dust arises. The Semoum is not always accompanied by whirlwinds: in its less violent degree, it will blow for hours with little force, although with oppressive heat; when the whirlwind raises the dust, it then increases several degrees in heat. In the Semoum at Esne, the thermometer rose to 121 degrees in the shade, but the air seldom remains longer than a quarter of an hour in that state or longer than the whirlwind lasts. The most disagreeable effect of the Semoum upon man is that it stops perspiration, dries up the palate, and produces great restlessness.” (Travels in Nubia, pp. 204-205).

“A gale of wind blew from the southward and eastward with such violence, that three of our largest tents were leveled with the ground. The wind brought with it such hot currents of air, that we thought it might be the precursor of the “Samoun” described by Chardin, but on inquiry, we found that the autumn was generally the season for that wind. The “Sam” wind commits great ravages in this district. It blows at night from about midnight to sunrise, comes in a hot blast, and is afterward succeeded by a cold one.”

“About 6 years ago, there was a “sam” during the summer months which so totally burned up all the grain, then near its maturity, that no animal would eat a blade of it, nor touch any of its grain.”

The sun beat upon the head of Jonah — “Few European travelers can brave the perpendicular rays of an Assyrian sun. Even the well-seasoned Arab seeks the shade during the day and journeys by night, unless driven out at noontide by necessity or the love of war.”

He wished in himself to die — (literally, he asked for himself to die). He prayed for death. It was still the same dependence upon God, even in his self-will. He did not complain, but prayed God to end his life here. When men are already vexed in soul by deep inward griefs, a little thing often oversets patience. Jonah’s hopes had been revived by the mercy of the gourd; they perished with it. Perhaps he recalled his great predecessor, Elijah, how he too wished to die when it seemed that his mission was fruitless. They differed in love.

Elijah’s preaching, miracles, toil, and sufferings seemed to him not only to be in vain but (as they must, if in vain) to add to the guilt of his people. God also corrected him by showing him his own short-sightedness: that he did not know of “the seven thousand who had not bowed their knees unto Baal,” who were, in part, doubtless, “the travail of his soul.”

Jonah’s mission to his own people also seemed to be fruitless; his hopes for their well-being were at an end. The temporal mercies of which he had been the prophet were exhausted; Nineveh was spared; his last hope was gone; the future scourge of his people was maintained in its might.

The soul shrinks into itself at the sight of the impending visitation of its country. But Elijah’s zeal was for his people only and the glory of God in it, and so it was pure love. Jonah’s zeal was directed against the Ninevites, and so had to be purified.