Jonah is arguably the most important book in all the Old Testament, and I don’t think people have meditated on what it really means for God to tell Jonah, “Doest thou well to be angry?”

The mystical truth about the Book of Jonah is the fact that Jonah's heart is the real city of Nineveh: angry, wicked and closed off to God. And it was the Nineveh within Jonah that God was intent on destroying. The only person tormented by hellfire in that entire story was Jonah.

And the conclusion of the book is God telling Jonah: "I care more about cattle than you do about people." Jonah was being absolutely raked through the coals by God. How is it that Jonah was tormented by God? It is simply the revelation that Jonah hates man and God doesn't.

And when you hate those who deserve hell, God telling you "Doest thou well to be angry?" is its own hellfire. As Christ said to Jonah's heart: "Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of."

In his desire to watch hell descend upon others, Jonah himself descends into hell.