Jonah 4:2

To his credit Jonah told God why he was angry (cf. Jonah 2:1; Job). Many believers try to hide their true feelings from God when they think God will not approve of those feelings. Even though the prophet had been rebellious he had a deep and intimate relationship with God.

Contrast this prayer with the one in chapter 2. This one is negative and defensive; the former one is positive and praiseful. This one focuses on Jonah, but the former one on God. This one contains no fewer than nine references to "I" or "my" in the Hebrew.

"The heart of every problem is the problem of the heart, and that’s where Jonah’s problems were to be found." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 385.]

Jonah’s motive in fleeing to Tarshish now becomes known. He was afraid that the Ninevites would repent and that God would be merciful to this ancient enemy of God’s people. By opposing the Israelites her enemies were also opposing Yahweh. This is why a godly man such as Jonah hated the Assyrians so much and why the psalmists spoke so strongly against Israel’s enemies.

"Some dismiss biblical references to God ’relenting’ from judgment as anthropomorphic, arguing that an unchangeable God would never change his mind once he has announced his intentions. But both Jonah 4:2 and Joel 2:13 list God’s capacity to ’change his mind’ as one of his fundamental attributes, one that derives from his compassion and demonstrates his love." [Note: Chisholm, Handbook of . . ., p. 414.]

Jonah’s description of God goes back to Exodus 34:6-7, a very ancient expression of God’s character (cf. Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalms 86:15; Psalms 103:8; Psalms 145:8; Joel 2:13; Nahum 1:3). "Gracious" (from the Heb. hen, grace) expresses God’s attitude toward those who have no claim on Him because they are outside any covenant relationship with Him. [Note: Ellison, "Jonah," p. 385.] Compassion, one of the themes of this story, is a trait that Jonah recognized in God but did not share with Him as he should have. Lovingkindness (Heb. hesed) refers to God’s loyal love to those who are in covenant relationship with Him. The prophet was criticizing God for good qualities that he recognized in God. He wished God were not so good.

"It was not simply the case that Jonah could not bring himself to appreciate Nineveh. Rather, to a shocking extent, he could not stand God!" [Note: Stuart, p. 503.]

"Jonah sees the deferment of judgment on Nineveh as a weakness on God’s part and disapproves strongly of sharing the Lord’s compassion with the unlovely." [Note: Baldwin, pp. 584-85.]

Even the best of people, people such as Jonah, wish calamity on the wicked, but God does not (cf. 2 Peter 3:9).