What is the context?
Jonah leaves the city, makes a shelter east of it and waits to see what will happen. God appoints a vine to give him shade, and he is greatly pleased.
The next morning God appoints a worm that attacks the plant, then a scorching east wind. Without the shade, Jonah grows faint and again says he would rather die.
The repeated word appointed belongs to מָנָה, manah (mah-NAH), which in these passages means appoint or assign; see Brown–Driver–Briggs. The fish, plant, worm and wind serve God’s purpose in the story. Through the comfort Jonah welcomes and the loss he resents, God brings his misplaced concern into the open.
Asked whether he has a right to be angry about the plant, Jonah insists that he does. His response prepares the comparison with Nineveh in God’s closing words.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Henry and Wesley understand the plant and its loss as a lesson in the fragility of personal comforts and Jonah’s need for greater mercy. The question about his anger exposes how deeply his own discomfort affects him.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.