Jonah 2
DOYLYChap. II. ver. 1. Then Jonah prayed &c.] This prayer hath much more the appearance of a thanksgiving after a deliverance: and indeed could scarce be used before, whatever change be made in the tenses, unless we suppose it prophetic of the deliverance. Had it not been inserted in the history, many things in it would be understood metaphorically, as in the Psalms. Abp. Secker. It appears to be the prayer of Jonah, as he wrote it after he came out of the fish, but as he had conceived it before in the fish’s belly. Danaus.
Jonah 2:2
- — out of the belly of hell] Out of that place of unspeakable horreur, wherein I was for the time buried, as in the belly of a living and moving grave. Bp. Hall. The word rendered “hell” signifies the state of the dead. It may be most properly rendered the “grave” here, as in the margin: the belly of the fish was to Jonah as a grave. W. Lowth.
Jonah 2:4
- Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; &c.] My first apprehensions were, that as I had justly forfeited thy favour by my disobedience; so Thou wouldest cast
Jonah 2:6
- — the bottoms of the mountains;] The bottom of the sea, where the foundations of the mountains lie. See Ps. xxiv. 2. W. Lowth.
— the earth with her bars was about me for ever;] I thought that the earth had barred me out, and excluded me wholly from ever seeing the firm land again. Dr. Stokes.
Jonah 2:8
- They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.] They that trust in idols, often called by the names of “vanity” and “lies,” (see Ps. xxxi. 6; Jer. x. 8; xvi. 19;) forsake Him, who alone is able to shew them mercy, and protect them in the time of danger. W. Lowth. In Ps. exliv. 2, according to the marginal translation, the Psalmist calls God “his mercy,” or the Author of mercy to him. See also Ps. lix. 10. 17. Abp. Newcome.
Jonah 2:10
- And the Lord spake unto the fish, &c.] God’s almighty power is represented in Scripture as bringing things to pass by his bare will and command; see Gen. i. 3; Rom. iv. 17. W. Lowth. See also the note on Gen. i. 3.
The fish obeyeth and delivereth Jonah, that hereby we also may learn to obey God, and to acknowledge all things to be subject to his power, and to reverence and stand in awe of Him, and to worship and fear Him. Danaus.
Chap. III. ver. 3. — Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.] Diodorus Siculus informs us, that Nineveh was 480 furlongs in compass, which makes sixty of our miles: so that it was bigger
At the Ninevites’ repentance God repenteth of the evil. Before CHRIST about 862. a Matt. 12. 41. Luke 11. 32.