Jonah was a prophet in the Old Testament who prophesied around the year 750 BC. He is a suspicious guy because he only prophesied one other time in the Scriptures, in II Kings 14. His prophecy in II Kings 14 was to King Jeroboam II, an evil king, and declared that the Northern kingdom of Israel would regain territories from their feared and hated northern neighbor, Assyria. This prophecy was eventually reversed by both Amos and Hosea who prophesied that Israel would be overtaken by Assyria... this came about in the year 722 BC. When God called Jonah to go to Nineveh, Assyria's capital, he was telling Jonah to go win over the most evil empire on earth, that was currently in a weakened state, and a hated enemy of the Jews.
Jonah found a boat that was headed for Tarshish, a city 180 degrees from Nineveh, he paid the fare, and fled from the presence of God. God caused a storm to threaten to break apart the boat, the sailors threw Jonah overboard, Jonah was swallowed by a large fish, spent three days and nights in the fish, kind of apologized while in the fish, and was eventually thrown up on the shore of Nineveh.
God called Jonah a second time, and this time Jonah did as he was commanded. He went to Nineveh and preached a five word sermon (in the Hebrew), that did not include the name of God or his mighty deeds, and still, 120,000 people and the King repented. Jonah went outside the city, hoped for its demise, and burned with anger because of the absurd grace that had saved the Ninevites. There was also a plant and a worm...but more on that later.
Even while he was being shown the same absurd grace, Jonah was angry that God had given this grace to these evil enemies. Even though Jonah was the most successful prophet and evangelist of all time, the story ends with Jonah angry at God's absurd grace.
