5. How does Jonah react to his assignment, and with what result?

⁵ Jonah assigned to Nineveh but runs away (1:1-16). “And the word of Jehovah began to occur to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying: ‘Get up, go to Nineveh the great city, and proclaim against her that their badness has come up before me.’” (1:1, 2) Does Jonah relish this assignment? Not one bit! He runs away in the opposite direction, taking a ship for Tarshish, possibly identified with Spain. Jonah’s ship meets up with a great storm. In fear the mariners call for aid, “each one to his god,” while Jonah sleeps in the ship’s hold. (1:5) After arousing Jonah, they cast lots in an attempt to discover who is responsible for their plight. The lot falls upon Jonah. It is now that he makes known to them that he is a Hebrew, a worshiper of Jehovah, and that he is running away from his God-given task. He invites them to hurl him into the sea. After making further efforts to bring the ship through, they at last pitch Jonah overboard. The sea stops its raging.

 9. What attitude and course of Jonah should stand as a warning to us?

⁹ Jonah’s course of action and its outcome should stand as a warning to us. He ran away from God-given work; he should have put his hand to the task and trusted in God to uphold him. (Jonah 1:3; Luke 9:62; Prov. 14:26; Isa. 6:8) When he got going in the wrong direction, he showed a negative attitude in failing to identify himself freely to the mariners as a worshiper of “Jehovah the God of the heavens.” He had lost his boldness. (Jonah 1:7-9; Eph. 6:19, 20) Jonah’s self-centeredness led him to regard Jehovah’s mercy toward Nineveh as a personal affront; he tried to save face by telling Jehovah that he had known all along that this would be the outcome​—so why send him as prophet? He was reproved for this disrespectful, complaining attitude, so we should benefit from his experience and refrain from finding fault with Jehovah’s showing mercy or with his way of doing things.​—Jonah 4:1-4, 7-9; Phil. 2:13, 14; 1 Cor. 10:10.