In this chapter, God gives Jonah a lesson in mercy. Jonah knew the evil Nineveh had done and probably knew of the evil Nineveh would do to Israel. As such, he wished that the city be destroyed and was angry when God had pity on the city.
This passage records the reigns of five kings of Israel and one king of Judah (in addition to the reign of Azariah of Judah in the first seven verses of the chapter). It is mostly a story of conspiracies and short reigns.
Joash (Jehoash) became king at the age of seven and reigned for forty years. He did well most of his reign until Jehoiada the priest died. At this time, he followed the princes of Judah to his destruction. Joash is one of many kings in the history of Judah who began well but turned from the Lord late in his reign. He even went to the point of murdering the son of the one who had saved his life and put him on the throne. We must all strive to continue faithful to the Lord to the end of our days.
Perhaps the most prevalent sin of the Christian today is that of complaining. It is in our nature. How many things have we murmured or complained about today and we were not even conscious of it? In our heart we have strategically placed complaining as one of the smaller sins or perhaps not even sin at all. God, however, has a different outlook on the matter and we would do well to adopt God’s viewpoint versus our own. God tells us in His word “And having food and raiment let us be therewith content”, and in another place He says “and be ye thankful”. Complaining is not so. As such we ought to learn what the scriptures say about complaining and take heed to its warnings.
God's people had sinned and He sent fiery serpents among them which bit them. However, God also gave a way of escape to those who would look and live.
