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Jonah, the Prophet Who Ran Away
129
When Jonah learned of God’s intention to spare the city, he
should have been the first to rejoice. But he allowed his mind to
dwell on the possibility of his being considered a false prophet.
The compassion God had shown toward the repentant Ninevites
“displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.” “Was not
this what I said,” he inquired of the Lord, “when I was still in my
country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that
You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in
lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.”
Once more he was overwhelmed with discouragement. Losing
sight of the interests of others, he exclaimed, “Therefore now, O
Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than
to live.”
“Then the Lord said, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’ So Jonah
went out of the city. ... There he made himself a shelter and sat
under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the
city. And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over
Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his
misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant.”
Then the Lord gave Jonah an object lesson. He “prepared a
worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. And it happened,
when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and
the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished
death for himself, and said, ‘It is better for me to die than to live.’”
Again God spoke to His prophet: “‘Is it right for you to be angry
about the plant?’ And he said, ‘It is right for me to be angry, even to
death!’
“But the Lord said, ‘You have had pity on the plant. ... And
should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one
hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between
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their right hand and their left?’”
Jonah had fulfilled his commission to warn that great city; and
though the event predicted did not come to pass, yet the message of
warning was nonetheless from God, and it accomplished the purpose
God designed. His grace was revealed among the heathen. The Lord
“saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness
and the shadow of death.” “He sent His word and healed them, and
delivered them from their destructions.”
Psalm 107:13, 14, 20
.