Will the real Jonah please stand up!  Jonah is one of the most perplexing personalities we find in the Bible.  It is hard to determine just what kind of man he was.  At first, he revealed himself as a rebellious prophet, not willing to put God’s will before his own.  Then, when he was forced to pay for his sin and finds himself drowning in the depths of the sea, he demonstrated great faith by praying to God for deliverance.  One begins to think that maybe Jonah was not such a bad guy after all.  Next, we find Jonah boldly going into one of the evilest cities on earth and proclaiming a message of repentance.  That certainly took a great deal of courage.  But now, in the final chapter of the book of Jonah, we see a most troubling picture of a man, void of common compassion and love for his fellowman.

An unloving spirit is never very pretty.  It is always selfish and self-centered.  Jonah’s response to the mercy of God shown to the Ninevites is nothing short of appalling.

Jonah 4:1 (ESV)
¹  But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.

The ESV footnote tells us that the Hebrew here is “it was exceedingly evil to Jonah.”  Jonah was angry with God.  He felt it was evil for God to change His mind and not bring disaster upon the Ninevites.  He even admits that the fear that God would do such a thing is what caused him to run from his responsibility in the first place.

Jonah 4:2 (ESV)
²  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.

Wow!  We have to at least admire Jonah for his boldness.  He shares his anger toward God’s behavior with the Lord Himself.  Nevertheless, his contempt for the grace and mercy of God offered to the Ninevites is astounding, especially when we consider that he loved those characteristics in God when he was the beneficiary of them.  It was only a short time before, that Jonah was thanking God for his own deliverance (Jonah 2:1-10).

Did the Ninevites deserve the mercy that God extended toward them?  Of course not, but then, neither did Jonah.  Grace is always unmerited.  The hypocrisy of Jonah is obvious, but his hatred is blinding his eyes to it.  He is so distraught that he wants to die (ver. 3).  Imagine hating people so much that you would rather die than to see God have mercy on them.  It is not a pretty picture.

We must love the souls of men—all men, regardless of color, creed, race, or religion.  There is a huge difference in hating the sin and hating the sinner.  Jonah did not seem to understand this, but we must.  We serve a God who loved us while we were sinners (Romans 5:6-8).

Not only should we preach the gospel to all the lost, but when one obeys the gospel, we should rejoice.  Jesus said, “…there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10).  To do otherwise is to demonstrate pure ugliness, and it will put our own souls at risk.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.