An Unexpected Ending

Jonah 4

Jonah 4:1–4 ESV

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

The Story of Jonah and the big fish is one that is familiar to many people especially those of us that are fairly familiar with the Bible. The thing about this book though that we often overlook and miss is the ending. See Jonah never was happy about what God chose to do here. The book actually ends on a bad note for Jonah while it is on a good note for the people that he hates.

Here in these few verses we see why Jonah ran in the first place and why he is angry now, he hated the people of Nineveh. Not only did he hate them, he knew who God was and what he would do. Look again at him angrily speaking to God; I knew you were a gracious God, I knew you were merciful, I knew you were slow to anger, I knew you were abounding in love.

Why was Jonah like this? In 2 Kings 14 we see that Jonah prophesied good things that came true to the people of Israel and was probably regarded as a national hero, going to the enemy of Israel and bringing about repentance would probably cause him to lose that status as the hero. He had become selfish.

As you read the book of Jonah ask yourself if this was today how would you respond? We see how Jonah responded but this is a great point for some self reflection.