We looked recently at the Hebrew idiom אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם (erekh appayim) which literally means “long of nose.” In English, it is commonly rendered as “slow to anger.” The meaning of the idiom is that one is patient, whereas one who is quickly angered is “short-nosed.” God’s patience, or longsuffering, is evident throughout the ages.

In the Book of Jonah is recorded the fascinating story of God’s longsuffering extended to sinners. There is some debate over the exact time that Jonah ministered, but it is clear that the Assyrians were already a prosperous and ascending power in the Fertile Crescent. They were also cruel and immoral people.

The God of Israel was angered at the Assyrians’ ways, and the time came that He called Jonah to go confront the people of Nineveh regarding their sin. According to Jonah 1:2, the Lord God commanded His prophet to go preach to the sinful Assyrians: “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.”

Jonah the prophet certainly had no qualms about God’s being angry at the Assyrians! As the natural enemies of his people, he also hated and despised them. Thus, not wanting to go to these brutal people, Jonah, in rebellion against God’s direction, took passage from Joppa on a ship bound in the opposite direction.

But even in the midst of the Mediterranean Sea, the long arm of Jehovah could still reach Jonah. Soon a storm arose and the fleeing, rebellious prophet was cast by the frightened crewmen into the angry waves. God was ready, as He “had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah” (Jonah 1:17).

From the depths of the sea and the belly of the great fish, the repentant prophet cried out, acknowledging his sin, begging God for forgiveness, and promising to pay what he had vowed. God heard his pleas, and “spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land” (Jonah 2:10).

Set again upon the course of duty, Jonah journeyed to the great, populous city of Nineveh. Upon his arrival, he began delivering God’s message. “And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jonah 3:4).

Some might think that the “worst preacher” preached the “worst message” to the “worst people.” The message contained only eight words and offered no extension of hope, no offer of salvation, and no invitation to repentance. Yet, the Lord’s power to use this straightforward message from this man to these people is an evidence of the power and necessity of the Holy Spirit to open human hearts to see their need for repentance. If God could use Jonah, He can certainly use us!

The conversion of the Ninevites is described in Jonah 3:7–9. The Assyrian king commanded, “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?”

God heard and did turn away from His fierce anger! In a display of His longsuffering, He spared the wicked city of Nineveh. According to Jonah 3:10, “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”

However, one man was not happy with God’s display of longsuffering to the sinful Assyrians! That man was Jonah. According to Jonah 4:1, “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.” If God was “long of nose,” Jonah was certainly “short of nose”! His anger waxed hot! He was angry at the Assyrians for their repentance. He was angry at God for His longsuffering and forgiveness.

The angry, disappointed prophet actually pointed his finger at God’s longsuffering in a cry of complaint. “And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jonah 4:2–3).

The Lord’s rebuke in verse 4 came in the form of a question. “Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?”

How many times has the Lord said that to you? Are you ever like Jonah—angry at the world, angry at sinners, angry at your enemies, angry at those who have offended you, angry at election returns, angry at others, and ultimately, angry at God? Maybe in your own mind you justify your anger. Jonah certainly could have justified his anger toward the wicked enemies of his people. But God asks you as He asked the prophet, “Doest thou well to be angry?”

Did Jonah answer the Lord’s question? No. Instead, “Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd” (Jonah 4:5–6).

Jonah was happy about the gourd to shade him but angry at the sparing of Nineveh. He wanted God’s mercy extended to him but not to the Assyrians.

The account continues in Jonah 4:7–8. “But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.”

The Lord then came again to Jonah with a similar question, confronting His servant about his anger. “And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?” This time Jonah answered, justifying himself. “I do well to be angry, even unto death” (Jonah 4:9).

In the final two verses of this Old Testament account, the longsuffering Lord showed Jonah his inconsistency and selfishness. “Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:10–11).

In reading the Book of Jonah, one matter is often and easily overlooked. Obviously, God’s longsuffering was extended to Nineveh. The Lord was, as Jonah testified, “a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.” This attribute of God’s was the very thing that made Jonah angry! But what about God’s patience that He extended to Jonah?

Jonah also deserved God’s wrath. He deserved to be thrown overboard on that stormy sea. Similarly, as God’s children, we must realize that the same longsuffering that God extends to us He also extends to others who are still in their sinful condition. May the Lord help us to become more patient, slower to anger, and more eager to see the restoration of sinners. The next time you are tempted to be angry, remember the question posed by Jehovah to Jonah, “Doest thou well to be angry?”