Jonah 4:2

"And he prayed unto Jehovah, and said, I pray thee, O Jehovah, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I hasted to flee unto Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

"He prayed ..." Even when men are not in harmony with God's will they often continue to use the old forms of worship and prayer to God.

"This is true to life in every age, for the most thorough-going rejection of God's will often takes place in persons who observe the forms of piety, and in their own minds count themselves believers."[11]

If, as we have mentioned, Jonah believed that the destruction of Nineveh might have resulted in Israel's conversion, he was totally wrong. God's summary intervention on behalf of the chosen people had been dramatic and spectacular on a number of occasions, and no such thing had ever had the slightest influence in arresting the sinful course of Israel. As Butler said, "Everything of this sort had already been tried with Israel, and still their hearts waxed hard and cold."[12]

"Gracious ... merciful ... slow to anger ... etc." How terrible is the thought that Jonah made these very attributes of the loving God the basis of rejecting his will!

"Jonah is here quoting the `Thirteen Attributes' (Exodus 34:6,7 and Joel 2:13); he may have memorized them as a child, but he did not want to accept them."[13]