Called to preach judgment against Nineveh, Jonah flees in the opposite direction — only for a divinely sent storm, the piety of pagan sailors, and the belly of a great fish to expose the contradiction at the heart of a prophet who fears the LORD but will not obey him.
Old Testament
Jonah
Written about the prophet Jonah, who ministered during the reign of Jeroboam II (roughly 8th century B.C.). Jonah tells how God sent a reluctant prophet to Nineveh — Israel's enemy — and reveals that God's mercy extends beyond Israel to all nations who repent.
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From the belly of the fish, Jonah prays a psalm of deliverance with surprising confidence; vomited back onto dry land and recommissioned, he delivers the briefest sermon in prophetic history — and witnesses the most sweeping repentance.
Furious that God spared Nineveh, Jonah retreats to sulk east of the city — and God uses a plant, a worm, and a scorching wind to ask the question the entire book has been building toward: should not the Creator pity what he has made?