The reader might assume that the Lord's deliverance of the Ninevites from imminent doom is the climax of the story. This is not the case. The most important lesson of the book deals with God's people and specifically God's instruments, not humanity in general.
4:1 The whole situation displeased Jonah and made him angry, the Ninevites' repentance and God's withholding judgment from them.
"Jonah finds that the time-fuse does not work on the prophetic bomb he planted in Nineveh."65
This is the first clue since Jonah repented and went to Nineveh that his heart was still not completely right with God. One can do the will of God without doing it with the right attitude, and that is the focus of the remainder of the book. The repentance and good deeds of the Ninevites pleased God, but they displeased His representative. They made God happy, but they made Jonah angry. A literal translation might be, "It was evil to Jonah with great evil."Until now evil (Heb. ra'ah) described the Ninevites, but now it marks the prophet. Consequently Jonah now became evil in God's eyes and in need of punishment as the Ninevites had (cf. Rom. 2:1), but God showed Jonah the same compassion He had shown the Ninevites.
"The word butpoints up the contrast between God's compassion (3:10) and Jonah's displeasure, and between God's turning fromHis anger (3:9-10) and Jonah's turning toanger."66
Why did Jonah become so angry? Who was he to complain? He had only recently been very happy that God had saved him from destruction (cf. Matt. 18:23-35). It was not primarily because his announced judgment failed to materialize and so raised questions about his authenticity as a true prophet (cf. Deut. 18:21-22). Almost all prophecies of impending doom in the Bible assume that those being judged will remain unmoved. Divine punishment is avoidable provided people repent (cf. Jer. 3:22; 18:8; 26:2-6; Ezek. 18:21-22, 30-32; 3:10-15).67Jonah undoubtedly became angry because he wanted God to judge the Ninevites and thereby remove a threat to the nation of Israel. If he was aware of Hosea and Amos' prophecies, he would have known that Assyria would invade and defeat Israel (Hos. 11:5; Amos 5:27).
4:2 To his credit Jonah told God why he was angry (cf. 2:1). (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.
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.
Jonah's description of God goes back to Exodus 34:6-7, a very ancient expression of God's character (cf. Num. 14:18; Neh. 9:17; Ps. 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; Joel 2:13). "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.68Compassion, 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 was not so good. Even the best of people, people such as Jonah, wish calamity on the wicked, but God does not.
4:3 Jonah felt so angry that he asked God to take his life (cf. 1:12; 4:8, 9). Elijah had previously made the same request (1 Kings 19:4), but we must be careful not to read Elijah's reasons into Jonah's request. Both prophets obviously became extremely discouraged. Both evidently felt that what God had done through their ministries was different from what they wanted to see happen. Elijah had wanted to see a complete national revival, but Jonah had wanted to see judgment on Israel's enemies. The sinfulness of people discouraged Elijah whereas the goodness of God depressed Jonah. How could Jonah return to Israel and announce that God was not going to judge the nation that had been such an enemy of the godly for so long? God had to teach Elijah to view things from His perspective, and He proceeded to teach Jonah the same thing.
4:4 God's reply did not rebuke Jonah nor did it ask what right he had to criticize God. Rather it suggested that Jonah might not be viewing the situation correctly. The Jerusalem Bible's translation, "Are you right to be angry?"captures the intent of the Hebrew text. Jonah was feeling the frustration of not understanding God's actions in the light of His character that many others have felt (e.g., Job, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, et al.). God dealt with this servant compassionately as usual.
When God's servants become angry because God is as He is, the Lord deals with them compassionately.
