Shouldn't I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can't discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?"
There is a New Testament counterpart to this concluding picture in Jonah of a sullen and unwilling prophet being tenderly solicited and encouraged by the Father.  It is in the parable of the prodigal son, where, it will be remembered, the elder brother, who certainly stands for Israel in the analogy, is angered and resentful because the loving father has received the prodigal and laid out a feast for him.  The elder brother remained in the field, and outside, angered and embittered, even protesting the justice of the father, and laying all kinds of harsh allegations against his brother.  The parable closes with the banquet going on inside the house, and the father going outside to entreat his elder son: