Jonah and the Bean Stalk

The plant at in Jonah 4 is quite interesting. It is often forgotten in this story but it is very significant. As I read the story and see the emphasis on God’s grace being available for all I notice that Jonah claims to believe this and yet he does not. He believes God’s grace is available to the Ninevites and yet refuses to receive it for himself.

Twice in the narrative he asks to be killed. He believes that if he becomes a martyr; once before the trial and once after. God is testing Jonah. In chapter one God gives Jonah the grace to be his spokesperson to the people of Nineveh. Jonah refuses grace and runs away. The storm, the whale and Jonah’s final agreement to deliver the prophecy are all parts of God’s testing of Jonah’s character. Jonah has seen God’s grace to worship Him bestowed on sailors, God’s same grace to minister bestowed on Jonah once again and ultimately God’s grace of salvation bestowed on 120,000+ Ninevites.

After Jonah’s exposure to all of this outpouring of his grace; at the end of this trial, God once again tests Jonah’s character. This is the purpose of the bean plant. The bean plant is God’s provision, his blessing, his logos. The test is to gauge Jonah’s response. Will he see the bean as a blessing or as a curse?


II Corinthians 2:15-17 says this…

We are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.

It is this same concept of Christ’s embodiment bringing out the deepest parts of a person’s character which we see in the bean plant and Jonah’s response does not bode well for him. Rather than smelling the life which has been given him through grace he smells only death and for the second time seeks that death for himself.

Just like Jonah the Israelites had seen gentiles redeemed by grace through faith and yet they would not receive. The bean plant is God’s logos. It is a foreshadowing of the Christ to come.