The change of plans greatly upsent Jonah, and he became very angry. So he complained to the Lord about it: ‘Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.’”  — Jonah 4:2-3 (NLT)

What is going on here? Jonah is EXTREMELY angry at God because of His compassion and unfailing love.  Jonah is saying that he would rather die than see God spare the Ninevites instead of wiping out their entire nation… men, women, children, and animals. What???  How can a prophet of God be so filled with hatred for an entire nation of people? The literal meaning of his anger expresses that it burned inside of him.  This is pretty strong emotion over God’s compassion towards someone else!

The verses that follow show Jonah not really recovering from his anger. The end of the book of Jonah leaves us hangin’, wanting to know more about what happens.

We don’t know why Jonah hates them so much.  Here’s what we DO know about Ninevah:

The city is a huge enemy of Israel, spanning back as long as the people in Bible times can remember.They worshipped many gods & goddesses, with temples all throughout the city honoring horrific & unspeakable practices.They were known for great wealth, elite status, and power.

What do we know about Jonah? We know nothing of his past, only that he was a prophet who so staunchly refused to obey God’s request that he instead ran in the OPPOSITE direction of where God told him to go.

Before you judge Jonah, have you ever hated someone that much? Maybe not exactly like Jonah, where you would rather die than see them benefit from God’s love, but where you want to see them PUNISHED for how horrible they are, instead of seeing them receive mercy?  Has someone ever hurt you so severely that you wish only the worst on them… their family… their descendants… their cats… their dogs… the fleas that are on their dogs… and any other creature living in their house?  (I know I exaggerate a little, but still…)

I’m ashamed to say that I have felt like Jonah. Hear me on this, though: we don’t want to end up like Jonah! We don’t want to be so consumed by this hate & anger that it burns everything inside us to ash and we are left with nothing resembling love and compassion inside. We would be nothing but a miserable shell of a person. Where is the joy in living like that? Jonah was depressed, angry, and wretched. I know I don’t want to live like that, do you?