Jonah 3:8

But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth,.... As the king was, and the people also were; and this order enjoined the same to the beasts, horses, and camels, whose rich trappings were to be

But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. And cry mightily unto God; yea, let them turn.

But let man, every man, from the greatest, the king on the throne, to the least, the beggar on the dunghill, put off his usual and softer habit, and afflict himself in coarsest garments. And beast; their horses, in which they gloried much, their camels also, both which they adorned with rich and costly clothing in their stables, and with as rich furniture for saddles, bridles, and trappings when they were used abroad, now all, in testimony of a hearty repentance, must clothe with sackcloth; the clothing of beasts must witness for men. Cry mightily unto God: beasts in distress and starving cry to God, as the young ravens and hungry lions, and so here beasts of the herd and flock cry. But it is to be referred to men lamenting their sins, deprecating judgments. imploring mercy with all earnestness and vehemency Of desire, called here a crying mightily to God, as . Let them turn; the inhabitants of Nineveh, whether traders, or who live at their ease and pleasure there, let them reform and amend their doings. Every one: the edict for ceasing from violence is as full and particular as the edict for fasting, alt are commanded to be just and righteous. From his evil way; not cease from single acts only, but change the course and habitual manner of life, called here their way: every one was vicious, and each one almost had some particular method of sin, which was his way of sinning; this must they turn from. Violence: oppression and rapine, as a chief sin, is here particularly mentioned: compare this with . That is in their hands; which acted by them is still in their bands, both in the guilt of it, the effects of it, and as publicly known as what is seen in a man’ s hands: see .

Jonah 3:8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that [is] in their hands.Ver. 8. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth] Let all best means be used for the humbling of the heart; without which what is a humbling day but a religious incongruity (saith one) and a very high provocation; like Zimri’ s act, when all the congregation were weeping before the door of the tabernacle? The beasts covered with sackcloth were as a house hung with black, to move men to mourn the more. Chrysostom tells us of a custom in his time (and it is still in use among us), that when great men were buried their horses followed the hearse clothed in black, as seeming to mourn for their masters. The coarsest weeds are fittest for fasting days; to show that but for shame we would have none, as having forfeited all; and that we look upon our better apparel but as finer covers of the foulest shame. And cry mightily unto God] Cry with a courage; let the beasts roar lustily and rend the clouds, as it were, with their clamours; want of food will make them do so. And as God can so speak as that the brute beasts shall understand him, Joe 2:11 Amos 5:8; Amos 9:4 John 2:10; so can they, after a sort, so speak or moan that he can understand them, Joe 1:20 Hosea 2:21 Psalms 147:9 : he heareth the young ravens that cry unto him, though but with a hoarse and harsh note; whence also they have their name in Hebrew. Much more will he hear men that cry unto him, if they cry mightily with intention of spirit, and extension or rather contention of speech; if they set up their note, as the noise of many waters, Revelation 19:6; if they thunder and threaten heaven, as Nazianzen saith his sister Gorgonia did; if they bounce hard at heaven’ s gates, and resolve to wring mercy from God by a holy violence, as Tertullian saith the good people of his time did, Preces fundimus, coelum tundimus, misericordium extorquemus (Tert.). "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much"; but then it must be the working, stirring, labourful prayer, as the word ενεργουμενη, James 5:16, signifieth; that strives and struggles, and strains every vein in the heart (as Elias seemed to do by that posture in prayer of "putting his head between his legs," 1 Kings 18:42); that sets to work all the faculties of the soul and all the graces of the spirit; that stirs up dust, as Jacob did; maketh a man sweat, as our Saviour; who, being in "an agony, prayed the more earnestly," Luke 22:44; not without strong crying and tears, and was heard in that he feared, Hebrews 5:7.

Verse 8. Let man and beast be covered] This was done that every object which they beheld might deepen the impression already made, and cause them to mourn after a godly sort. Virgil tells us that the mourning for the death of Julius Caesar was so general, that the cattle neither ate nor drank: - Non ulli pastos illis egere diebus Frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina: nulla neque amnem Libavit quadrupes, nec graminis attigit herbam. Ecl. v. 24. "The swains forgot their sheep, nor near the brink Of running waters brought their herds to drink. The thirsty cattle of themselves abstain'd, From water, and their grassy fare disdain'd." DRYDEN. And that they sometimes changed: or reversed the harness and ornaments of cattle, as indicative of mourning, we have a proof in Virgil's description of the funeral procession in honour of Pallas, slain by Turnus, AEn. xi. ver. 89. Post bellator equus, positis insignibus, AEthon It lacrymans, guttisque humectat grandibus ora. "Stripp'd of his trappings, and his head declined, AEthon, his generous warrior-horse, behind, Moves with a solemn, slow, majestic pace; And the big tears come rolling down his face."

8. and cry mightily] These words are to be restricted to “man.” They do not include, as some have thought (comparing Joe 1:18; Joe 1:20), “beast” as well. The addition “mightily” favours the restriction, and so also does the exact order of the Hebrew: “Let them be clothed with sackcloth, man and beast (the parenthesis is inserted here as qualifying what precedes only), and let them cry … and let them turn,” &c. let them turn] The prominence of the moral element in the repentance of heathen Nineveh is very striking. Complete as was the outward act of humiliation, the king’s decree implies that it would be worthless without a corresponding moral reformation. The tenth verse tells us that it was to this that God had respect, “He saw their works, that they turned from their evil way,” and the heathen king seems clearly to have understood that it would be so. Here again, the favourable light in which these heathen show, in comparison with the chosen people, is most marked. Frequent and indignant is the remonstrance of the Hebrew prophets against the attempt of their countrymen to gain the favour or avert the displeasure of Almighty God by fasting and sackcloth, while the heart remained unchanged and the life unrenewed. “Is it such a fast that I have chosen?” is God’s own indignant question to His people by the prophet Isaiah (ch. 58). the violence that is in their hands] “Violence” was their chief sin, as all we learn of the Assyrians, both from sacred and secular history, shows. Comp. Nahum 2:11-12; Nahum 3:1, and Isaiah 10:13-14. The form of expression, in their hands, the hand being the instrument of violence, is the same as in Psalms 7:3 (Hebrews 4), and elsewhere.

Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth - The gorgeous caparisons of horses, mules and camels was part of Eastern magnificence.

5-9. The effect of the preaching. The effects were immediate. The Ninevites believed God and humbled themselves before him in sincere repentance. Believed God — Or, believed in God (Genesis 15:6).