Board index ‹ Specific Bible verses, texts, and passages ‹ Jonah

[Salam]

Jonah successfully convinces the entire city of Nineveh to repent, but waits outside the city in expectation of its destruction. Why? Wouldn't there be salvation after repentance? Or could repentant sinners still be chastised?

[jimwalton]

The Ninevites were Israel’s enemies. Jonah had no love for them. He wanted to see them destroyed. After they repented, Jonah was angry not only because the people of Nineveh repented but also because he knows that God will show them mercy. In Jonah 4.2, we hear his complaint to God: “I knew you were compassionate and would show mercy.” Jonah doesn’t want them spared; he wants them destroyed, and that’s why he’s angry. He knows there is salvation after repentance, but he doesn’t want it offered to the Ninevites.

Basically the story of Jonah shows that he is an anti-prophet. He’s the first missionary the Bible records: the first and the worst. He refuses to carry the message, he despises the people to whom he was sent to preach, he has a cold heart, and he’s angry when God shows mercy. But God held to His choice of picking Jonah and making him follow through because of the important lessons God wanted to teach.