Jonah is a one-of-a-kind prophet, displaying God's amazing ability to use sinful men in His service. Were it not for some historical parallels and the Lord Jesus himself mentioning "the sign of Jonah" three times in the gospels (in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses it will be established), it would be easy to believe this was "a whale of a tale," merely a literary fiction. But it cannot be that. The sum of God's word is truth (Psalm 119:160). There is a very important reason that this book is in the canon, and we must not run from the truth of God's word.
The principle established in Exodus 23 was for Jonah, as it is for all of God's people in all times and places:

“Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.
“But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
Exodus 23:20–22

The Angel of YHWH, Malachi, is God's presence with us - Immanuel, the Word Incarnate - and we are to listen and obey. In fact, as Jenny and I have just learned from studying Hebrew, "listening to the voice" and obeying are one and the same in that language! 
Christians, when we are honest we are all a bit too much like Jonah. "All we like sheep have gone astray." Let us rejoice in God's mercy to all, and be the feet that bring the joyful gospel of peace to all mankind.
Here is a fantastic summary (I learned a great deal from it!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLIabZc0O4c

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