102. Jonah Prays That God Will Take His Life.

Jonah Prays That God Will Take His Life. The Prayer as recorded.—Jonah 4:1-3. The Lord’s Answer.—Jonah 4:4.

We should expect to find the prophet after such a merciful preservation humble and submissive, but such was not the case. In obedience to the will of God, after his deliverance from the deep, Jonah went to the city of Nineveh; the burden of his prophecy to them was their utter destruction, unless they repented and turned to the Lord. But the ears of the Ninevites were opened, and they listened eagerly to the prophet’s words. The fame of the works God had wrought amongst the Jews had reached them, and they heard Jonah with eagerness, for we are told that from the king to his lowest subject there was fasting and prayer to God, and “turning from every evil way.”

Ought not the success of his mission to inspire Jonah with joy and gratitude? Instead of this his heart is ruffled, and he is angry at his success. It will be remembered that the Israelites held an unfounded prejudice toward the Gentiles, and the prophet no doubt, in his own mind, encouraged this feeling; he might also, in the language of another, “have had a mistaken zeal for the honor of God, and feared that as he was sent to predict destruction, it might cast an imputation on the cause in which he was engaged.” We find him angry and rebellious, and calling upon

God in this frame of mind. He seems to hasten away from the city lest he should witness the turning of the people, and retiring to a booth or tent he had raised, waited there till he should see what became eventually of the city. The winds in those hot countries are often very suffocating, as they sweep over the deserts, and come laden with its sand and heat, and this, with the fretted, impatient spirit, the prophet had nourished in his heart, made him angry and despairing.