Jonah 4, God of the OT vs God of the NT???

Sometimes there is a claimed dichotomy between the God of the OT (mean and cruel) and the God of the NT (loving).  That is the view of someone who has not read and believed the OT or NT.  Jonah gives evidence of this as well as his own “learning experience” on the matter.  In Jonah 4:2 he describes God’s reputation as “One who relents from doing harm.”  This comes from the “name of God” in Ex. 34:6-7, and from OT history.  In Jonah 4:10-11 the LORD Himself makes the point of His great love, contrasting Jonah’s “pity” for a plant and His “pity” for Nineveh. A comprehensive study of this word, Heb. hus, will help us see God who on occasion showed no pity and at other times did show pity.

·       Gen. 45:20: first use, God told Jacob not to be concerned about his good because he would have the best of Egypt.

·       Deuteronomy: In the law there was to be no “pity” on the people of Canaan (7:16), idolators (13:8), murderers (19:13), false witnesses (19:21), or a woman who, in a fight, grabbed  a man’s genitals (25:12).

·       1 Sam. 24:10: David spared Saul when he could have killed him.

·       Neh. 13:22: Nehemiah asks God to spare according to His great mercy.

·       Psalm 72:13: The LORD will spare the poor and needy.

·       Isa. 13:18: Those who carry out the LORD’s retribution on Babylon will have no pity (the more common term for compassion in the OT, raham) on children in the womb, will not spare their children.

·       Jer. 13:14; 21:7 twice joins three terms, denying pity (hamal, 41x), sparing and mercy (raham, 47x) to the people of Judah.  The variety of terms demonstrates the love of God in the OT.

·       Ezek. 5:11; 7:4,9; 8:18; 9:5,10: In each passage the LORD says, “My eye will not spare, nor will I have any pity (hamal).”

·       Ezek. 16:5: When “no eye pitied” Israel (in her beginning days) or had compassion (hamal), God did. In 20:17 God spared Israel, not destroying her, when she sinned, and when they were in the wilderness.

·       Ezek. 24:14: As the siege of Jerusalem began the LORD said He would not “hold back” (para, let go) judgment, spare nor “repent” (naham, be sorry, regret) because of Judah’s sinful ways.

·       Joel 2:17: The priests pray, “Spare Your people” lest the nations doubt You.

Which brings us back to Jonah.  Those who doubt God’s love fail to see it towards His people and any people who seek or fear Him, and they fail to understand the extent of sin in situations where the LORD had no pity, either for His people or for the nations.  Review the Name in Ex. 34:6-7.  It’s all there!  It’s the same God we see in Jesus who overturned the tables in the temple and predicted the coming destruction of Jerusalem.  The same, yesterday, today and forever!