Have You Any Right To Be Angry?
By Carri Hawkins
The story of Jonah is one we know well and is a favorite with children. Within its pages we read of the prophet’s running from the Lord, a stormy sea, a fish that swallows him, and his miraculous survival inside its belly for three days and nights. Jesus even referenced this true event in Matthew 12 and Luke 11 to the scribes, Pharisees, and to the listening crowds, so they also knew of the Jonah story. Do we remember that there was more to the story? That God asked Jonah two times if he had “good reason” to be angry?
ANGER! Just looking at that word feels dangerous and scary. Is it okay to be that? To have that? To feel that way? Is it permissible? Was it right for Jonah? Anger is indeed permissible but only in certain situations, for certain reasons, for only a short amount of time, and it must be controlled and handled carefully. Let us look at Jonah’s situation to see if he was right to be angry.
Jonah, a Jewish prophet of Israel, was told by God to go to Nineveh (a Gentile city on the Tigris River) to cry against it because their wickedness grieved the Lord. In chapter 4, Jonah revealed to the Lord the true reason he did not obey. It wasn’t that Jonah was afraid to go there but that he knew the Lord was gracious, compassionate, abundant in lovingkindness, that He was known to relent concerning calamity, and ironically, that the Lord was slow to anger! Jonah had no desire for that Assyrian Capital with its thousands of inhabitants to be spared. They were Gentiles! They were wicked, corrupt! They were heathens! They weren’t God’s chosen people! So Jonah paid passage on a boat from Joppa to Tarshish (a city in what is now Spain) in the opposite direction of Nineveh. Noah’s great-grandson Nimrod (Cush’s son who was the son of Ham) built Nineveh (Genesis 10:1-12). History tells us that Nineveh, in Jonah’s time, was at war with Urartu (a powerful nation near the Caspian Sea). Quite possibly, due to Nineveh’s state of mind regarding the war, God would have seen that they might be ready to listen. God being omniscient would have known the right time for Jonah to visit Nineveh just as He knew the right time to send Moses to Egypt and to send His beloved son Jesus to the world.
The Lord sent a storm, not anything like the sailors had ever encountered. It not only got their attention but caused them to cast lots to find out its source. Jonah! He confessed his wrongdoing, that he was running from the Lord, and told them to throw him overboard to settle the sea and save their lives. They did so with regret, but afterwards, all was as Jonah had said. The sea immediately calmed, which caused the sailors to fear the Lord. They offered sacrifices and made vows. But Jonah was also saved! The Lord prepared a fish that not only swallowed him whole but allowed him to live inside its belly for three days and three nights. While inside the fish, Jonah prayed, repented, and also made vows. He said, “But I will sacrifice to Thee with the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.” After those three days and nights, the Lord commanded the fish to vomit Jonah onto dry land.
The Lord told Jonah a second time to go to Nineveh, and this time, Jonah went straight there. The city was large and would take the prophet three days to walk it. On the first day, Jonah spoke the words the Lord told him to say, “Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The people believed in God, they fasted, they put on sackcloth from the greatest (the king & his nobles) to the least, and even covered their animals. God saw their deeds, their repentance, and relented from the calamity He had declared to do. It made Jonah ANGRY! So angry that he begged the Lord to take his life. The Lord asked Jonah “Do you have good reason to be angry?” Hadn’t Jonah been given a second chance? Hadn’t he been disobedient? Hadn’t he been saved?
Jonah’s anger took him out of the city where he built a shelter for himself so he could see what would happen to the city. Was he hoping that the people would just as quickly return to their evil ways? That God’s reprieve would be a short one? The sun and heat was intense, so God appointed a plant to grow over Jonah to shade him from the elements. It greatly comforted Jonah. But God then appointed a worm to attack the plant which caused it to wither. Next, God appointed a scorching east wind to work with the sun’s heat to beat down on Jonah’s head. Without the plant to shade him, Jonah became faint and begged the Lord with all his soul to die. God asked Jonah a second time about his anger: “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” Though Jonah had been given a reprieve from the sun’s heat via the plant, he had done nothing to produce it, tend to it, or nurture it.
Jonah’s answer was “I have good reason to be angry, even to death!”
Did Jonah have good reason? No he did not! The point God was trying to make here was not asking Jonah if he had the right (or a good reason) to be angry but was his anger right!
Yes, Jonah obeyed God by going to Nineveh, but he became angry at the Lord’s being merciful to them. Just like the Prodigal’s older brother being angry that the fatted calf and a party were given for his repentant brother’s return, so Jonah’s anger would not allow joyfulness in Nineveh’s repentance or in God’s forgiveness of them. Jonah had more concern for himself, for a plant, and for his situation than he did for the lives of other people or for their animals. God provided both the fish and the plant to save and help Jonah, for which he was thankful. But when God spared an entire city, he was angry! Jonah’s anger was sinful because it harbored no love for the Ninevites. His rejection of them caused him to flee in the opposite direction, to disobey God, to be uncaring about the deaths of thousands of people (including 120,000 children) or the eternal condition of accountable souls. God’s concern and love is for everyone no matter their age, gender, race, nationality, faith: “The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). “For there is no partiality with God” (Romans 2:11).
Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be angry and sin not.” Yes, it is okay to be angry but there is a caveat: Don’t sin! God created in us the ability to be angry because we are created in His image. Since God’s wrath was and is always justified and righteous, we, therefore, need to be careful that our anger stays within the boundaries of Colossians 3:17: “And whatever you do in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.” Ephesians 4:26 continues with: “Let not the sun go down on your anger” meaning there is a deadline. It must have a short shelf life. Scripture reminds us that, though anger is permissible, we are strongly cautioned: “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God”(James 1:19-20). Jonah’s last recorded words while in the belly of the fish were: “Salvation is from the Lord” (Jonah 2:9). Sadly, Jonah’s anger blinded him of that grace and truth for the Ninevites.