At the very beginning of our study of Jonah, we encountered two questions about Jonah’s strange behavior in the book. When asked by God to go preach judgment against the evil city of Nineveh, Jonah instead got on a boat and headed to Tarshish.

The first question, then, was, “Why would Jonah go to Tarshish instead of obey God and preach judgment against his enemies, the Ninevites?”

And then Jonah’s behavior got even stranger. It seemed that Jonah had a death wish. Through his words and actions in Jonah 1–2, Jonah made it quite clear that he wanted to die. He had a death wish.

So the second question was “Why does Jonah want to die?”

In this study of Jonah 4:3, we finally discover the answer to both questions. And the answer is shocking. So shocking, in fact, most fail to see it. But I will point it out to you in this study.

Now Yahweh, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.”

Those who are part of my online discipleship group may download the MP3 audio file for this podcast and view the podcast transcript below.

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