תרי עשר- יונה ד

אברבנל א רעה גדולה- he was so upset because he thought that ה' was only going to change His mind when they change their מעשים and אמונות. But he saw that they still held onto their ע''ז. Why did ה' change his mind not to destroy them? ה' needed them as a prop to destroy כ''י and to bring כ''י into גלות. ה' was watching them carefully so that they could be the שבט אפו of ה'.
וירע רעה גדולה- when he saw that ננוה was forgiven, he translated this to mean that כ''י would be destroyed. The anger was because ה' was acting forgiving and merciful with ננוה and being נוקם with ב''י.

ב sheet This is what I said and will say as long as I am alive. What does he say? All of the חסד and good that you did for ננוה isn’t because you love them or because they deserve it. It’s all about my land- you are prolonging your anger on אשור so that you could destroy כ''י. Therefore, I ran away to תרשיש because I know that the good you did for them was for the bad that is about to come on כ''י.

מ''ד ג ועתה ה'- he would rather die than see bad happen to כ''י. Since he was גורם it, he doesn’t want to see it and he would rather die.

Sheet ג He’s asking ה' to take his life- after ננוה was saved and you’re going to spill your wrath on my people and אשור will be the stick of Your wrath. I did my שליחות. From this sickness take my life because I don’t want to see the bad that is going to befall my nation. His complaint wasn’t that ה' forgave ננוה. He was complaining because ה' was destroying כ''י.

רד''ק ד ויאמר ה' ההיטב חרה לך-
1. Are you good and upset?
2. The fact that I’m doing good is making you angry. ה' is trying to show יונה the מוסר השכל of "טוב ה'..."- if this is how ה' is to ננוה, קו''ח to ב''י.

מלבי''ם ה וישב- he thought that even though the גזירה was נתבטל and the whole מהפכה didn’t happen, maybe there would be some kind of bad in the city.

מ''ד עד אשר יראה- waiting to see, maybe they didn’t keep their תשובה and the גזירה will happen.

ו מ''צ קיקיון- type of plant with wide and big leaves. The ילקוט שמעוני says that it’s so big that people could sit under it.

מהר''י קרא להציל מרעהו- when he fell into the water, the salt removed all of his hair.

אבן עזרא The enzymes and acids from the fish’s belly turned his skin very soft.

ילקוט שמעני His hair, clothing and skin were burnt.

וישמח יונה- provided relief for his pain.

מלבי''ם וישמח יונה על הקיקיון- took a lesson- obviously ה' wants me to remain here because something is going to happen in the city. He thought that ה' was holding him back so that he could see שלומת הרשעים:
1. ל' שלם- destroy completely.
2. ל' תשלום- see the payment.

מ''ד ז ותך- the worm cut and stopped the קיקיון from the place where it gets its nutrients. It no longer had moisture and died from the heat of the sun.

ח רוח קדים חרשית- eastern wind which silences everything.

אברבנל ט He was upset about the tremendous pain עד מות- he didn’t want to have pain before he dies.
מוסר השכל- "טוב ה' לכל ורחמיו על כל מעשיו"- showing יונה that He’s good to everyone and that his רחמנות is on all of His מעשים.

מכתב אליהו Any מצוה that a person works on, it’ll display itself in every area. If ה' is good to everyone, "טוב ה'...", then this is true about ה' in every area.

י חסת= רחמנות. Sometimes, people have רחמנות because the thing or person that he’s having רחמנות on arouses his רחמנות.

מלבי''ם חסת- when you care for something because of the benefit that you are getting out of it. יונה didn’t like the tree, he just wanted its benefits. There are a number of reasons you could have רחמנות on something:
1. You grow or raise it- he didn’t raise it. It came in one night and in one night it was destroyed. When you work for something, you care for it. Something with worth evokes רחמנות.
2. If it has value- but the קיקיון only had a use, it didn’t have any intrinsic value.
"מי יתן ירכי קדם"- I would give back anything for my previous years. This is referring to the years spent in his mother’s stomach. חז''ל say that there is no time as good as these days because you learn כל התורה כולה and understand everything. He doesn’t work and the food goes straight into him, everything is handed to him on a silver platter. So why would a person want to be born? Once a person is born, for every step along the way, he is always working hard for everything. He must learn in order to understand- this is the תכלית of the world. ה' is showing us that the point is that we must earn our keep, and enjoy the good feeling a person gets from working hard.
So, it’s a ל' of חס- you had רחמנות because you had benefit. The only thing that יונה had from the קיקיון was use- he didn’t work for it and it didn’t have any value.

יא ה' had all three reasons when it comes to ננוה:
1. "אחוס"- use- use as a שבט אפו. It says in ישעי' מג, "כל הנקרא בשמי ולכבודי בראתי יצרתיו אף עשיתיו"- anything which is called in ה'’s name= everything, is created for his כבוד. He designed it and also made it. רד''ק- ברא- יש מאין, יצר- to be מתקן the details. Everything in this world is מרבה כבוד שמים, and so is ננוה- ה' has a benefit from ננוה.
2. "ננוה"- worked for it- ה' created the people of ננוה. He was עמל and גדל them.
3. "העיר הגדולה"- has its own innate value- it was a big city with more than 120,000 people and lots of animals.

רש''י בהמה רבה- big people who are like animals- don’t recognize their creator.

אברבנל Now, ה' is answering יונה’s anger that He’s forgiving ננוה, who are still serving ע''ז, but so strict with ב''י- they’re like animals because they don’t have the תורה and aren’t ה'’s עם סגולה. Therefore, it’s not as fitting that they should get punished for serving ע''ז. ננוה had 120,0000 people who didn’t have a תורה. With the ענין of ע''ז, they don’t know between their right and left hands. They were given the שבע מצוות, but not like ב''י who got the תורה by הר סיני. ב''י heard not to serve ע''ז from the mouth of ה'- how can you compare?