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?"
II. Jonah's refusal to preach to Gentiles is a type of the secular Israel's absolute and adamant rebellion against God in their opposition to Christ, the apostles, and the infant church.  Jonah's refusal was grounded in (a) his hatred of Gentiles, (b) his willingness to go to any length to avoid his duty, and (c) his preference of death to the hated prospect of the Gentiles accepting God. Fleshly Israel as the antitype of that refusal measured up to it fully and even went beyond it.  (a) They rejected the Christ, despite their full knowledge that he was "the heir" of God and their true and legitimate sovereign  (Matthew 21:38).  (b) They plotted and achieved the death of Christ himself through a cunning manipulation of suborned testimony, intimidated tribunals, and mob violence.  (c) They continued their opposition to the will of God, even after the resurrection of Christ, as seen in their murderous hatred of Paul, their murder of Stephen, their unscrupulous opposition to the preaching on the mission field (as recorded in Acts), and in their enlistment of the Roman government as an ally in their vain efforts to destroy Christianity!