Historical questions aside, the book of Jonah lends itself to a plurality of interpretations and resists simple explanations. As with Job, one of the many messages of Jonah is that we do not know how God works.1 In a recent treatment employing more of a political lens that understands the book as a warning to empires, Philippe Guillaume writes regarding the book: “The moral is that there is no automatic retribution for individuals.”2 What follows here offers yet another approach, a psychological and spiritual one, which has enormous implications for our individual lives.
Two salient points in this vein come to the fore in Jonah and will be explicated here. Both offer a critique and mirror with which to look at ourselves and, by implication, a way to address deleterious aspects of ourselves. The first pertains to anger, a central feature of the book demonstrated by the prophet; in fact, it is his most prominent emotion. The second is that God cares for all of humanity, even the hated Assyrians, and, thus, our human desire to hoard God’s grace and not allow it to be extended to others is critiqued, which carries implications for all of us today.
Story of Jonah
The four short chapters tell the story of Jonah ben Amittai (1:1).3 We already know of the prophet from 2 Kings 14:25, which in context suggests a negative portrayal of him, as his prophecy does not come to fruition in Kings. This is perhaps why Jonah is used as the protagonist for this book. He does the opposite of what a prophet is expected to do; thus, this irony and the others that follow is why many understand the genre of this book to be a satire. The Lord instructs the prophet to go preach to Nineveh, but he immediately flees in the opposite direction, catching a ship departing from the port city of Joppa, which is part of modern-day Tel Aviv. He flees toward Tarshish in modern-day Greece. Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrians to the East in Mesopotamia by the Tigris River.
Therefore, God causes a storm to arise, which frightens the sailors to such a degree that they ultimately throw Jonah overboard. In a bit of irony again, it is the non-Yahwistic sailors who recognize the situation is the Lord’s doing and actually cry out to Yahweh (1:14). Once immersed in the sea, Jonah is swallowed up by a large fish (dag), not necessarily a whale. The prophet then prays a long, poetic prayer to God for help, and God consequently speaks to the fish which spits him up on dry land (2:10). His three-day ordeal in the belly of the fish would later be taken up and used to portray Jesus’ three days between his crucifixion and his resurrection. In fact, Jonah and the fish represent a very old motif attested to in some of the earliest Christian artwork.
Consequently, Jonah angrily capitulates and finally does as God commands. He begrudgingly travels to Nineveh and utters only one phrase: “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” This is enough to have the entire city repent, which makes God change his mind from destroying the giant city (3:10). Even the animals don sackcloth. Jonah burns with anger at God’s grace and magnanimity toward the capital of the Assyrian Empire. He even haughtily quotes Scripture to God, specifically Exodus 34:6, explaining that he knew God would be gracious (4:2). He is so angry he asks God to take his life (4:3). God then asks him, “Is it right for you to be angry?” (4:4) Interestingly, Jonah does not answer God. In his anger he flees to the outskirts of the capital city and the Lord makes a bush to give shade to the bitter man. We then read he is happy about the bush protecting him from the sun.
The following day God sends a worm to attack the bush; thus, the sun’s rays bear down upon him. Jonah is then so upset that he again explains that it is better to die! God again asks him, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush? (4:9). In what appears to approximate rage, Jonah retorts a third time:“Yes, angry enough to die.” The book concludes with a brief response from God, rebuking Jonah for his attitude. He points out that Jonah is occupied with things he did not create, things that are, in fact, to be of concern to God. God also takes him to task in his implied posture that God should not care for his creation and be gracious to all of it. Again, there is no response from Jonah after God makes his points. One is left to wonder the meaning of his silence.
Although God saved the city, it is ironic that it would later be destroyed by the Babylonians in 612 BC. For purposes of this explication, it is of note that three times the prophet asks to die and three times God answers the prophet. Twice God addresses his anger and yet in two instances the prophet remains silent when asked a question by God.
Critique of Anger
Jonah is the only prophet in Scripture to flee in the opposite direction when the word of the Lord comes upon him, perhaps not all that different from how many of us would react today. Upon Jonah’s stubborn indignation that God’s grace extends to all, even those of a different faith such as the hated Assyrians, God asks him, “Is it right for you to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4) The verse can also be translated, “Do you do well to be angry?” The latter better captures a salient point for us: anger is insidious and blocks the good!
A few lines later, Jonah 4:9 makes the same point when God tells the prophet regarding the bush that withered, which had provided him shade where he could pout about God’s generosity, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” Jonah’s anger is palpable, extreme to the point of causing him to want to die. His anger precludes being open to the goodness that follows God’s magnanimity. Is it any wonder why anger has been labeled one of the seven deadly sins? Anger blocks the ingredients necessary for wellbeing and peace. Anger also blocks our ability to forgive. Bishop Robert Barron reminds us in his new book entitled An Introduction to Prayer that not forgiving blocks the flow of God’s grace in us, which is precisely why Jesus commands us to forgive others. Perhaps that is also why forgiveness features so prominently in the Lord’s Prayer and Christ’s teaching (Matt 6:14–15).4 God’s words to Jonah are most apt because anger precludes forgiveness and without the latter there is no healing and moving forward.
God knows anger will destroy us and the world, literally; therefore, anticipating later Rabbinic techniques, God asks Jonah a couple of questions, which contain the answer. God is playing therapist and, in our parlance today, is essentially asking, “How is that anger working for you?” Of course, like Jonah, we do not do well to be angry. As Jonah wallows in his anger, he does not respond to God, perhaps suggesting its danger. Look where the anger took Jonah: he burned with it to the point of repeatedly asking God to let him die! Corrosive, indeed.
God’s question to Jonah therefore reverberates to all of us: “Do you do well to be angry?”
No doubt God is also saying: “Who are you to be angry? I created everything and all people. Can I not do with them as I see fit, in this case showing my love for all of my creation, even those you think are not worthy.”
Anger is a natural emotion and not always a sin. In fact, sometimes it is justified, as when Jesus engages the Pharisees or when he cleanses the Temple. Therapists recognize that anger is often a masking emotion betraying something underneath it. When present, it needs to be addressed. Anger enters the realm of sin when we ruminate on it and let it overtake us like Jonah clearly did, and especially when it drives behavior that itself constitutes sin or causes harm to ourselves and others. Thus, it is one of the seven deadly sins. Jesus explains in Matthew 5:21–22:
“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire.”
Regarding this text, Brant Pitre writes in his chapter regarding the sin of anger, “According to Jesus, it is not enough to avoid violence or murder. He wants to root out all anger from his disciples’ hearts, which first means getting it out of their mouths.”5 Here he notes Jesus is not talking about natural, righteous anger, which will arise in us all at times, but rather “sinful anger.” These sinful predilections arise in us because of our fallen nature and concupiscence. Recall what Jesus said in Matthew 15:11: “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.”
Thus, a major theme in Jonah has in fact been neglected and even overlooked among exegetes: namely, that the book of Jonah is a story that serves to warn humanity of the danger and sin of anger. Its corrosiveness leads even to the point of wanting to die.6 Jonah’s anger causes him to disobey God. He was mad at God for the grace he showed to others, for he wanted justice instead. God was forgoing justice, and giving something far more precious — grace. Thus, the story is also a call to action: The book of Jonah calls us to address our anger before it overtakes us.
God’s Forgiveness and Hesed Contrasted with our Selfishness
Arguably, the main point of the book of Jonah is to demonstrate that God cares for all of humanity, even the hated Assyrians.7 As a mirror via the prophet, the book has implications for our lives today, both morally and spiritually. Jonah being sent to the Ninevites would be akin to God today sending an American to Tehran, Moscow, or Beijing. We frankly miss how radical a message this book was for antiquity, for the Assyrians were hated and would later sack Israel and exile its ten tribes never to be seen again, hence the ten lost tribes of Israel. The Assyrians did not even worship God but a pantheon of gods headed by Ashur. As noted above, another huge irony in the book arises in that it is the foreigners that actually repent, and it is the Hebrew prophet that does not repent of his anger over this situation. Remember that even their animals repent based on a one-line condemnation the prophet seems to begrudgingly utter to the capital city.
The Hebrew term for God’s “loving kindness, favor or grace” is hesed, and that is precisely what God shows these foreigners, something it appears Jonah wanted solely for himself and presumably, or by extension, for his people — Israel. God is really showing great benevolence toward all of humanity in spite of this group not knowing the God of Israel and worshiping other gods, thus exhibiting idolatry, a clear violation of the First Commandment.8
God’s great hesed in this prophetic book can be contrasted by our concupiscence that sits inside each and every one of us, and often manifests itself in a robust desire to be exclusive and hoard God’s grace. Perhaps it is part and parcel of original sin. The book of Jonah critiques this nasty tendency we all possess, showing God is different than we are, wholly other, and desires to show grace to all.
This calls to mind how Jesus later will quote Leviticus 19:18 after he quotes the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4, saying we are to love our neighbor along with loving God, which sums up the law or Torah. God loves all, but Jonah does not appear to love his neighbors, the Assyrians. He hates them and desires they perish in their ignorance and sins. If he cannot have it his way, he would rather die! No wonder Jesus would need to issue his great commandment in his summary of the law recounted in all three of the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 12:28–34, Matt 22:34–46, Lk 10:25–37). The book of Jonah, therefore, critiques our desire to see justice served on our enemies and thus grace denied others so that we alone have access to grace and the truth. How cruel indeed. This is the opposite of love, for it reveals the dark truth that sometimes we would rather see others perish than be saved by God’s grace. Something is amuck with humanity, betraying our need for a savior.
The book of Jonah is well aware of the sin inside of us. We often want God for ourselves and for God to be just, but Jonah tells us God is in fact just and even better, often merciful. God does not operate the way we desire. In his mercy, God often gives humanity something far greater — hesed. Pope Francis’ pontificate reminds us that God is indeed merciful and that is a beautiful thing. In fact, to a large extent the two points argued here coincide with the central thrusts of Francis’s pontificate: namely, that God is mercy and He cares for all, especially those on the periphery and the poor. God showing hesed and mercy means God forgoes justice.9 Thank goodness we all do not get what we truly deserve.
The book is indeed a critique and counterbalance to exclusivity, the attitude that presumes we are God’s chosen and others are not, along with critiquing humanity’s desire to hoard God’s grace, the knowledge of God and God’s truths/teachings.10 It addresses the selfishness that does not want others to possess these gifts from God. It often emanates from jealousy. We are often critical of those we deem as having done something wrong and then demand God serve them with harsh punishment. We, therefore, often desire that others suffer the justice they may or may not deserve. Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15:11–32) also sheds light on this issue. This hesed of God for all is reminiscent of Paul’s words in Galatians 3:28 when he penned: “There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
Conclusion
We want justice, often selfishly, for others and from God; God gives humanity something far better, hesed. Ironically, we ask for God to grant us mercy instead of the justice we deserve every time we come to the Sacrament of Reconciliation or ask for forgiveness in prayer, yet we often do not want this for others, especially our enemies. We do not want others readily forgiven, but rather want justice to be meted out. We want God’s grace and mercy just for us and do not want to share it — we are tainted on the inside and all must fight this tendency. The shortest prophetic book in Scripture — Jonah — brings this to light and tells us that God cares for all of humanity and we should as well. God questions Jonah at the conclusion of the book, yet the prophet remains silent.
Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:10–11)
Jonah also shines a light on precisely how insidious anger is and informs us that if permitted to fester, it will destroy us. Jonah was so angry he ran from God and asked him to let him die more than once. Often the antidote for anger is forgiveness, as intimated above, which indeed is a prominent feature in the teachings of Jesus, one that makes perfect sense after analyzing this book and from simply just living in the world. The words God asks Jonah are timeless and for all: “Do you do well to be angry?” No, we do not. We all must address anger when it arises in us and also realize that God indeed cares for us all. The great prophet of irony, Jonah, provides a means by which God warns us of these insidious traits and postures we humans carry and therefore calls us to action when they arise in us.
- One should recall Isaiah 55:8–9: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Jonah does not seem to be as in-your-face with hard truths to the same extent that the book of Job is. For example, one of the main messages in Job is that life is not fair and we had better get used to it. So, Philippe Guillaume, “Is the Book of Job a Theodicy?” in The Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures in 5 Minutes (eds. P. Guillaume & D.V. Edelman; Equinox: Sheffield, 2024), 93–96. One can perhaps even argue Jonah too suggests this much in a roundabout way, but it would come across as good news in Jonah, whereas it does not in Job. Perhaps we need both books in our Bible to balance each other out. ↩
- Philippe Guillaume, “Jonah: How to Survive in the Belly of Hell?” in The Old Testament Hebrew Scriptures in 5 Minutes (eds. P. Guillaume & D.V. Edelman; Equinox: Sheffield, 2024), 355. ↩
- His name is fitting, for Jonah “son of truth” in this book bearing his name appears always to tell the truth, even expressing his displeasure toward God. He tells God toward the end of the book in Jonah 4:2 via quoting Scripture (specifically Exodus 34:6) that he knows he is just. Actually, he throws it in God’s face to some degree, betraying his anger, an emotion of Jonah and ours that will be addressed here. ↩
- Jesus shockingly suggests that our destiny is tied up with our ability to forgive, a point often forgotten but arising out of the very words of Jesus in Matt 6:14–15. ↩
- Brant Pitre, Introduction to the Spiritual Life: Walking the Path of Prayer with Jesus (New York: Image, Random House, 2021), 138. ↩
- Who has not experienced the deleterious effects of anger and had it not impact their wellbeing and relationships to the point of not being able to repair them? ↩
- To a very large extent, this was one of the central themes of Pope Francis’ Pontificate, demonstrated often by his actions. On this note, one can think of how since the start of the war in Gaza he called the only Catholic parish in Gaza every night to check on them. ↩
- Theologians have often pointed out that all sin is really a violation of the first commandment, as we put something other than God in the place of God. ↩
- God’s holiness demands justice, but God forgoes it for the sake of giving us something far more precious: mercy/grace. From the perspective of humanity, it is often harder to engage in mercy than to show justice; thank goodness this is not so with God. Doing so requires more strength, as to forgive one who has wronged you and show mercy is harder than showing justice to one who deserves it. ↩
- The book is also a counterbalance to a similar impulse in other sections of the Hebrew Scriptures, such as Ezra and Nehemiah, which holds that those who have married foreigners and even had children with them must divorce them and send both away. Nehemiah even pulls the hair out and beats some of those who have married foreigners in anger (Neh 13:25)! The Book of Ruth is also a counterbalance to the exclusivity tendency in us, along with Jonah, as we learn in Ruth that King David has Moabite blood. The book thus creates a dialectical tension with Ezra and Nehemiah, arguing against them, showing God cares for all people and groups, even foreigners that many presume are not under the care of the Lord. There are often internal debates in the Hebrew Bible addressing important issues such as these. For such, see James S. Anderson, “Creating Dialectical Tensions: Religious Developments in Persian Period Yehud Reflected in Biblical Texts,” 11–25 in Religion in the Achaemenid Persian Empire (edited by D.V. Edelman, A Fitzpatrick and Philippe Guillaume; Orientalische Religionen in der Antike; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck), 2015. ↩
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