Jonah 1

Jonah, being sent by God to Ninoveh, flccth to Tarshish, meets with a tempest, is thrown into the sea, and swallowed by a fish. uttered his complaint in his prayers to God, wherein ho pleaded an excuse for his disobedience to God’s first commands. Tlierefore I fled into Tarshish, &c] This made me unwilling to go upon this message to tho Ninevites, because I knew by tho declaration thou madest to Moses, (Exod. xxxiv.6.) and by several instances of thy mercy, that thou dost not always execute the punishments thou threatcnest against sinners.

Jonah 1:1

IS OW the word of the Lord came unto Jonah. Tho Hebrew reads, And the word of the Lord: it is usual in that language to begin a discourse, or a writing, with the particle And. (See the note upon Ezck. i. 1.)

Jonah 1:2

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city. Sec iii. 3. For their wickedness is come up before me.~] Hie cry of their wickedness is come up before me; as v the LXX. express the sense. (See Geii. xviii. 20. James v. 4. Rev. xviii. 5.) For this cause heinous offences arc called crying sins.

Jonah 1:3

But Jonah rose up [or went away: sec Gen. xxv. 34. Numb. xxiv. 25. to flee unto Tarshishfrom the presence of the Lord.] He might think that that impulse which wrought in the prophets might not exert itself but in the land of Judea: or he might go away out of a sudden fear, as our first parents hid themselves from the presence of God among the trees of the garden, Gen. iii. 8. It is certain that Jonah, in his sedate thoughts, acknowledged God’s omnipresence. (Sec the ninth verse of this chapter, and ii. 2.) And he found a ship going to TarshishJ] Learned men suppose that there were several places of that name noted for trade; one in Spain, another in India: and this might’ probably be in Cilicia. Ships of Tarshish generally signify any trading or merchant-ships. (See the note upon Isa. ii. 16.) The reason of Jonah’s unwillingness to undertake the delivery of the Divine message, shall be considered in the note upon iv. 2. Tlierefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me, &c] I had rather die, than live under the imputation of being a false prophet. Josephus (Antiq. lib. xiii. cap. 19.) tells a story parallel to this, concerning one Judas, an Essene, who had foretold that Antigonus should be murdered on a certain day at Straton’s Tower, which was another name for the town of Caesarea. On the very same day he saw this Antigonus in the temple, at which he fell into a great passion, and wished himself dead: but before the day was over, he received news that Antigonus was slain just under that tower of the palace in Jerusalem, which was called Straton’s Tower.

Jonah 1:5

Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god. To their several idols, as being heathens, and ignorant of the true God. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship.] Into a cabin in one of the sides of the ship. So we read that Jephthah was buried in the cities of Gilead, Judg. xii. 7. where our interpreters rightly express the sense,. in one of the cities of Gilead. So Jonah went out of the city.] The words should have been translated, Now Jonah had gone out of the city: for the particulars related in the foregoing verses happened after his departing out of the city, and sitting somewhere in view of it, expecting some extraordinary judgment should come upon it: but being disappointed, he broke out into that expostulation with God already mentioned. And sat on the east side of the city.] Probably in some solitary place, where he might not be discovered, and which did not lie in the way towards his own country, but quite opposite to it: so that if the Ninevites had a mind to have pursued him, they might not apprehend him.

Jonah 1:6

And God prepared a gourd, &c. What sort of plant or shrub this should be, was a question before St. Jerome’s time, as appears by his commentary upon the place. He translates it ivy, not that he thought it meant so, but in compliance, as he tells us, with some ancient interpreters; although the Septuagint, and all the ancient versions, agree in translating it a gourd. That it might be a shadow over his head, and deliver him from his grief] From tho burning heat of the sun, which still added to his former grief and vexation; the booth which he made at first being withered by the heat.

Jonah 1:7

Come, and let us cast lots. This was a usual method of referring things to the appointment or discovery of Providence. (See 1 Sam. x. 20, 21. xiv. 42. 44. Prov. xvi. 33. Actsi.2G.)

Jonah 1:8

Wlien the sun did arise, God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun did beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, &c. The winds in the hot countries are oftentimes more suffocating than the heat of the sun, when they blow from the sandy deserts; and they make the sunbeams give a more intense heat. The word charishith, vehement, signifies likewise silent, as it is translated in the margin. Taking it in that sense, it denotes such a wind, as causes a small motion in the air, and makes it sultry hot.

Jonah 1:9

I fear the Lord God of heaven. Or rather, Jehovah, the God of heaven; Jehovah being the peculiar name of the true God, by which he was distinguished from those who had the names of gods and lords among the heathen. Doest thou zvell to be angry for the gourd?] Dost thou think fit to persist in thine impatience, notwithstanding the punishment I have sent upon thee for thy former guilt in this kind? I do well to be angry, even unto death.] I have just cause to be angry, even to that degree as to wish myself dead. The prophet here records his own impatience, without concealing any circumstance of it, as Moses and other holy writers have done.

Jonah 1:10

Why hast thou done this?. You have been guilty of great-profanation to disobey his command, whom yourself acknowledge to be Lord and Maker of all things. Tliou hast had pity on the gourd, &c.] Thou wast concerned at the loss of that short-lived plant.

Jonah 1:11

For the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. The. Hebrew reads, The sea went, and was tempestuous; i. e. grew more and more tempestuous, as our margin reads. We find the same phrase, Exod. xix. 19. The trumpet waxed louder and louder; where.it is in the Hebrew, The trumpet was going and strengthening. And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city.] The lives of so many thousand men are much more valuable than that of a single plant. Wlierein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left.] i.e. Infants, vrtio know neither good nor evil, as it is expressed, Dent. i. 39. Isa. vii. 15. 16. If we compute these at a fifth part of the inhabitants of Nineveh, the whole sum will amount to six hundred thousand inhabitants; which are as few as can well be supposed to live in a city of such large dimensions. And also much cattle?] God’s providence extends its. care to beasts, as well as men: (sec Psal. xxxvi. 6. civ. 27, 28.) so he is willing to spare them, as well as the more noble parts of the creation. This reason seems to have silenced Jonah’s complaints, and made him sensible of his fault, in repining at God’s mercies.

Jonah 1:14

Wlierefore they cried unto the Lord. They were convinced by the account Jonah gave of himself, that the God whom he worshipped (ver. 9.) had. brought this tempest upon them: so they made their petitions to him. Let us not perish for this man’s life.] For exposing this man’s life to inevitable danger; since it is done out of extreme necessity to save ourselves, and by his own desire.

Jonah 1:16

Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly. They were convinced of the power and greatness of that God whom Jonah worshipped; which appeared both in raising this storm, and so suddenly laying it. And offered a sacrifice unto theLord, and made voivs.] The words may be translated to a plainer sense, thusJAnd offered sacrifice unto the Lord, that is, they made vows to do it as soon as they had opportunity. The copulative particle van is sometimes used by way of explication; as hath been observed in the note upon Isa. Ii. 19. (See Noldius, p. 280.) This sense suits best here.

Jonah 1:17

Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. Naturalists give an account of some sorts offish which are large enough to swallow a man; particularly the canis charcarias, or dog-fish, called by some writers lamia. (See Bochart. de Animal, lib. v. cap. 12.) And Jonah teas hi the belly of the fish three days and three nights.] The Hebrew language hath no one word to express what we call a natural day; so what the Greeks express by Nux&Vupov, they denote by a day and a night. Therefore the space of time, consisting of one whole revolution of twenty-four hours, and part of two others, is fitly expressed in that language, by three days and three flights. Such a space of time our Lord lay in the grave; and we may from thence conclude, that Jonah, who was an eminent figure of him in this particular, was no longer in the fish’s belly.