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The similarities between Jonah and the Elijah-Elisha narrative run deeper still. Consider the following parallels between Elijah and Jonah: “both flee, both are faced with death, both fall asleep into a deep sleep, both sit under a tree and ask to die, and both are associated with a forty-day activity.”8 Like Elijah-Elisha, Jonah not only prophesies concerning the king of Israel, but also on foreign soil concerning its king/kingdom (1 Kgs 19:15; 2 Kgs 8:7-15; Jonah 3:1-4). Interestingly, Elisha proclaims the desired recovery of the deathly ill king of Syria, while knowing that God’s plan ultimately entails the king’s death (2 Kgs 8:10). Sadly, this outcome will extend the divine discipline of Israel, which evil comes through the hands of the usurper who murders the Syrian king on the day after the announcement of the favorable prophecy (2 Kgs 8:11-15; cf. 10:32-33). Similarly, Jonah reluctantly announces his desired ruin of the royal city of Assyria, while knowing that God would rather extend mercy to a repentant Nineveh (Jonah 3:4; 4:2). Shockingly, the entire city repents and turns from its evil way on the very day of the unfavorable oracle, which results in the Lord turning from the evil he was going to bring upon it.
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