But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.
(5) There may have been in Jonah a deep desire for the destruction of Nineveh that could be used by himself as an example of God's anger with sin, such an example being, in Jonah's mind, the very last hope of arresting the degeneracy and rebellion of Israel against God. With the conversion of Nineveh, his hope of converting Israel through the use of such a terrible example was frustrated, leaving him nothing to look forward to (in regard to Israel) except their ultimate overthrow by the faithful God whose will they had so consistently violated.  It was this hopelessness of Jonah on behalf of Israel that angered him, according to some.  As Jamieson said: