Jonah 4:3

Jonah felt so angry that he asked God to take his life (cf. Jonah 1:12; Jonah 4:8-9). Elijah had previously voiced the same request (1 Kings 19:4), but we must be careful not to read Elijah’s reasons into Jonah’s request. Both prophets obviously became extremely discouraged. Both evidently felt that what God had done through their ministries was different from what they wanted to see happen. Elijah had wanted to see a complete national revival, but Jonah had wanted to see complete national destruction. The sinfulness of people discouraged Elijah whereas the goodness of God depressed Jonah. How could Jonah return to Israel and announce that God was not going to judge the nation that had been such an enemy of the Israelites for so long? God had to teach Elijah to view things from His perspective, and He proceeded to teach Jonah the same thing.