Jonah

Jonah is a runaway prophet of God whose story children in Odyssey encounter through John Whittaker's Bible Room and Imagination Station at Whit's End. Sent to warn the wicked city of Nineveh, he fled the other way by ship instead. A raging storm led terrified sailors to cast lots and heave him into the sea, where a great fish swallowed him. After three days in its smelly belly, the fish spat him out. He then preached to Nineveh, and the whole city repented in sackcloth and ashes. God's mercy toward his enemies made him furious enough to wish he were dead. Sulking under a withered vine, he had to face God's question: how could he mourn a plant yet feel nothing for a city full of people? Grumpy and stubborn, Jonah serves as a lesson not merely in obedience but in compassion.