Well, I don't believe I'm exaggerating about Jonah's anger and temper problem. I'm just giving you my observations from chapter 4 where the Bible is explicit about what is on Jonah's mind.
- Verse 1 clearly states that Jonah was furious and displeased with God that He had mercy on the Nineveh people.
- Verse 2 is an "I told you so" to God. Jonah tells God that the whole reason he ran in the opposite direction in the first place is that he knew God would be merciful to them. He did not want them spared. He wanted them destroyed. We see that in Jonah's specific words. “That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity”
- Verse 3 says Jonah was so furious at the mercy of God towards the people of Nineveh that he told God that he wanted to die. He obeyed God and preached to those people, but his heart wasn't in it.
- Verse 4 is God asking Jonah if he thinks he has a right to be furious.
- In verse 5, Jonah doesn't answer God's question, but in stereotypical tantrum form, he spins away, covers up, and sits down and watches the city of Nineveh waiting for God to destroy it. He refuses to accept the fact that God has had mercy on these people and won't even answer God's question.
- In verse 6, God provides his own covering, very reminiscent to me of a mother who lays a quilt over a child - who is angry because she won't let him have a cookie before lunch - and who is pouting and refusing to talk to her and lying on the bed waiting for her to give in and give him what he wants. He gives her the silent treatment thinking she will give in. Jonah was pleased with the plant just like that little child throwing the emotional tantrum is pleased with his mother when she covers him up thinking she's beginning to cave. She brought him the quilt, next she'll bring him the cookie - so he thinks.
- But in verse 7, God brings a worm to destroy the plant. It's time for Jonah to get over it, get a grip on who is in charge here, and get up. Just like the mother who now knows its time for her child to get up and she removes the quilt from him - but he, like Jonah stays put and is still pouting.
- Verse 8 says that God is doing what a good father does. He sends a scorching wind and Jonah almost faints from it, but still will not get up. Sometimes a father has to put a little "scorch" on the behind of a child who is persistently showing a bad attitude and disrespect to the fathers instructions.
- Verse 9 is where God asked Jonah a question again - "Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?" This time Jonah answers the question, showing he is STILL angry at God and still having an emotional tantrum. The answer to God's question from Jonah is evident of the immaturity he is displaying. Jonah says, "Yes, I'm angry about it [the plant]!! I'm angry enough to DIE!" Really? Jonah is so mad over the plant that he wants to die?
What his is showing is that he is so mad at God for showing mercy to the Nineveh people that he wants to die over it. - Verse 10 and 11 is God showing Jonah how foolish his anger is. He tells Jonah that if he [Jonah] has the right to be angry over a plant that he only had for one day, should God be able to have compassion on a people that He created?
That's an awfully potent hate. We don't see if Jonah had a change of heart - the story is open ended. I used to wonder why God left it that way, but today, I think he wants us to put ourselves in Jonah's place and see that we need to change.
