Jonah
Our Saviour makes frequent mention of Jonah in the Gospels. He says that the Ninevites shall one day rise in judgment against the Jews, and condemn them, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and the Jews would not hearken to Him who was greater than Jo nah. And when the Pharisees required a sign of him to prove his mission, he said he would give them no other than that of the prophet Jonah, that is to say, of his resurrection, which would complete all his miracles, and render the Jews inexcusable in their hardness of heart For a discussion of the question concerning the three days and three nights which Jonah lay in the belly of the fish, see Matt. xii. 40, and the notes there. And for Oriental and Jewish legends -awA. fabulous relations relative to the history of this prophet, see Calmet in his preface to this book.
That there are difficulties in this book every man must allow; and that learned men have differed greatly in liieir mode of interpreting the book, and explaining these difficulties, is well known. Some have considered it an allegory; referring entirely to Manasseh, and what was done before, during, and after the war with Esar-haddon, king of Assyria. Manasseh being taken prisoner by the Assyrians, and thrust into a dungeon; where, having lain three days and three nights, on his earnest prayer to God in the dungeon, he was delivered, &c. Others have thought, that instead of a. fish, a ship is meant, which had the image of a whale on tlie stei~n, and might be called Ki/rof, or the whale. Others have thought that the whole of the account of Jonah's being swallowed by a great fish, his praying in its belly, and being cast on dry land, was a dream which he had while fast asleep in the ship. See chap. i. 5. And others state that the whole book is a parable, intending to point out God's justice and mercy, and how prevalent repentance is to turn aside the threatened stroke of Divine wrath.
There is a fable, most probably of Phoenician origin, which, bearing some similitude to the history of Jonah, may have been taken from this book. Laomedon, king of Troy, having displeased Neptune, to appease him, was required to expose his daughter Hesione to be devoured by a sea-monster. She was chained to a rock, and was awaiting her fate at the next flux of the tide. In the interim Hercules slew the sea-monster, and delivered the princess. To this Lycophron, in his Cassandra, ver. 33, &c., is supposed to allude: —
" Of the lion the offspring of three nights, which the fierce dog of Triton swallowed down greedily."
The scholiasts explain this in the following manner: While the princess was standing chained to the rock, expecting the greedy dog {xapxapoc kvuv, the shark) to come and devour her, Hercules stood by ready armed; and, when the monster came forward with open mouth, he jumped directly down his throat, and spent thi-ee days m cutting and hacking liis entrails; and afterwards came out of the monster, with the loss of all the hair on his head. Cyril, in his comment, says this was occasioned by the incredible heat of the?nonster's stomach.
This fable might have been easily taken from the true history; though some liave been ready enough to intimate that the history of the prophet was taken from the fable.
The appeal made to the main facts of this history by our Lord, proves that we are to admit of no allegorical exposition of these facts. I. There was such a person as Jonah. 2. He was swallowed by a sea-monster, in whose belly he was miraculously presened three days and three nights. 3. This same prophet preached to the Ninevites; and they repented, and turned from their 'sins, under his ministry. This testimony puts an end to all mythological, allegorical, and hypothetical interpretations of those great facts. And in its Hteral sense alone, I undertake the interpretation of this book
Chronological Notes relative to this Book, upon the supposition that the repentance of the Ninevites happened in the twenty-third year of the reign of Jehu, king of Israel.
Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3142. — Year of the Julian Period, 3852. — Year since the Flood, 1486. — Year from the foundation of Solomon's temple, 150. — Year.since the division of Solomon's monarchy ijito the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 114. — Year before ihe first Olympiad, 86. — Year before the building of Rome, according to the Varronian computation, 109. — Year before the birth of Jesus Christ, 858. — Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 8G2. — Twelfth year of Charilaus, king of Lacediemon, of the family of the Proclida;. — Fifty-second year of Archelaus, king of Laceda;- mon, of the family of the Eurysthenidar. — Second year of Phereclus, perpetual archon of the Athenians. — Fourteenth year of Alladius Sylvius, king of the Albans. — Twenty-third year of Jehu, king of Israel. — Seventeenth year of Joash, king of Judah.
ronan, sent to Nineveh, flees to Tarshish, 1-3. He is overtaken by a great tempest, 4-14; thrown into the sea, 15, 16; and swallowed by a fish, in the belly of tohich he is miraculously preserved alive three days and three nights, 17.
"MOW the word of the Lord came unto " Jonah '' the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that
Verse 1. Nov: the icord of the Lord came unto Jonah] All that is certainly known about this prophet has already been laid before the reader. He was of Gath-hepher. in the tribe of Zebulun, in lower Galilee, Josh. xi.K. 13; and he prophesied in the reigns of Jeroboam the Second, and Joash, kings of Israel. Jeroboam came to the throne eight hundred and tiocntythree years before the Christian era, and reigned in Samaria /(;r/y-one years, 2 Kings xiv. 23-25. As a prophet, it is likely that he had but this one mission.
Verse 2. Go to Nineveh] This was the capital of the Assyrian empire, and one of the most ancient cities of the world. Gen. x. 10; and one of the largest, as it was three days' journey in circumference. Ancient \\Titers represent it as ohlong; being in leng-th one hundred and fifty stadia, and ninety in breadth, the compass being /o«r hundred and eighty stadia. Now as the stadium is allowed to have been equal to our furlong, eight of which make a mile, this amounts to fifty-four English miles: see on chap. iii. 3. But we must not suppose that all this space was covered with compact streets and buildings; it took in a considerable space of country, probably all the cultivated ground necessary to support all the inhabitants of that district. Calmet computes the measurement of the circumference to be equal to twenty-five French leagues. It is reported to have had walls one hundred feet high. and so broad that three chariots might run abreast upon them. It was situated on tlie Tigris, or a little to the west, or on the west side of that river. It was well peopled, and had at this time one hundred and twenty thousand persons in it reputed to be in a state of in fancy, which on a moderate computation would make the whole number 5!.r hundred thousand persons. But some, supposing that persons not being able to distinguish their right hand from their left must mean children under two years of age, and reckoning one such child for every twenty persons from that age upwards, make the population amount to two millions five hw
the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish '' from the presence of the Lord.
4 But ' the Lord "^ sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship ' was hke to be broken.
5 Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and ■" cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to hghten it of them. But Jonah was gone down " into the sides of ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.
meanest thou, (J sleeper; arise, r. Aiban., " call upon thy God, p if so be that "'■ """"'" '''• God will think upon us, that we perish not.
7 And they said every one to his fellow. Gome, and let us i cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.
8 Then said they unto him, "■ Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?
9 And he said unto them, I a?n a Hebrew, and I fear ^ the Lord, the God of heaven.
(Ired thousand. Nor can this be considered an exaggerated estimate, when we know that London, not onetenth of the size of ancient Nineveh, contains a population of upwards of one million. But calculations of this kind, relative to matters of such remote antiquity, are generally precarious, and not very useful: and ancient authors, though the only guides, are not always safe conductors. Mosul is generally supposed to be the same as the ancient Nineveh. It is in the province of Dearbekir, on the west bank of the Tigris.
Their unckedness is come tip before me.] This is u personification of evil. It ascends from earth to heaven; and stands before the Supreme Judge, to bear witness against its own delinquency, and that of the persons whom it has seduced.
Verse 3. To flee unto Tarshish] Some say Tartessus, in Spain, near the straits of Gibraltar; others, Tarsus, in Cilicia; and others, Taprobana, or the island of Ceylon, formerly called Taprobah; and Tabrolavagh in Sanscrit, to the present day.
And went down to Joppa] This place is celebrated as that where Andromeda, daughter of Cepheus, was chained to a rock, and exposed to be devoured by a sea-monster, from which she was delivered by the valour of Perseus. It is the nearest port to Jerusalem on that side of the Mediterranean.
And he found a ship] The Phoenicians carried on:t considerable trade with Tartessus, Ezek. xxvii. 12; and it was probably in one of their ships that Jonah embarked.
He paid the fare thereof] He paid for Iiis passage. This shows that there was traffic between the two places, and that each passenger paid a stated /are.
From the presence of the Lord.] He considered that God was peculiarly resident in Judea; and if he got out of that land, the Lord would most probably appoint another prophet to carry the message; for Jonah appears to have considered the enterprise as difficult and dangerous, and therefore wished to avoid it.
with a storm, which appears from the sequel to have come by the immediate direction of God.
Verse 5. Cried every man unto his god] The ship's creto were all heathens; and, it is probable, heathens who had each a different object of religious worship.
Cast forth the wares] Threw the lading overboard to lighten the ship, hoping the better to ride out the storm.
Jonah was gone down] Most probably into the hold or cabin under the deck; or where the}' had berths for passengers in the sides of the ship; something in the manner of our packets.
Was fast asleep.] Probably quite exhausted and overcome with distress, which in many cases terminates in a deep sleep. So the disciples in the garden of Gethsemane.
Arise, call upon thy God] He supposed that Jonah had his god, as well as they had theirs; and that, as the danger was imminent, every man should use the influence he had, as they were all equally involved in it.
Verse 7. Come, and let us cast loLs] This was a very ancient mode of endeavouring to find out the mind of Divine Providence; and in this case it proves that they supposed the storm to have arisen on accoiuit of some hidden crime of some person aboard.
A philosopher being at sea in a violent storm, when the crew began to call earnestly to the gods for safety, he said, "Be silent, and cease your prayers; for should the gods know that you are here, we shall all be lost."
Verse 8. Tell us — for whose cause] A very gentle method of bringing the charge home to himself, and the several questions here asked gave the utmost latitude to make the best of his own case.
him, Wliy hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
1 1 Then said they unto him, What sliall we do unto thee, that the sea ^ may be cahn unto us? for the sea " wrought, "^ and was tempestuous.
1 2 And he said unto them,? Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon
13 Nevertheless the men ^ rowed hard to bring it to the land; " but they could not: for
ful. He gave an honest testimony concerning the God he served, nhich placed him before the eyes of the sailors as infinitely higher than the objects of their adoration; for the God of Jonah was the God of heaven, ■oho made the sea and the dry land, and governed both. He also honestly told them that he was fleeing from the presence of this God, whose honourable call he had refused to obey. See ver. 10.
Verse 1 1. What shall we do unto thee] In these poor men there was an uncommon degree of humanity and tender feeling.
Verse 12. / /mow that for my sake] 1 am not worthy to live; throw me overboard. God will not quiet the storm till I am cast out of the ship. Here was deep compunction; an honest avowal of sin; and a justification of the displeasure which God had now manifested.
Verse 13. The men roived hard] Were very unwilling to proceed to this e.xtremity, and thought they would risk every thing rather than cast this disobedient prophet into the great deep.
Verse 14. They cried unto the Lord] Under a conviction that he was the self-e.Kisting Being, the Maker of the heavens and the earth, and the author of the present storm, they put up their prayers to him.
Let us not perish for this man's life] They were now about to cast him overboard; but seemed to call God to witness that it was with the utmost reluctance, and only in obedience to his command. There is a parallel passage in the Argonautics, which has been quoted to illustrate this: —
14 Wherefore they cried unto "i&nf ' the Lord, and said, We beseech "i". annum I4. thee, O Lord, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and '' lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, " hast done as it pleased thee.
15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: '^ and the sea " ceased from her raging.
1 6 Then the men ' feared the Lord exceedingly, and s offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows.
1 7 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And ''Jonah was in the ' belly of the fish three days and three nights.
' And much they doubted, in their prudent minds, Whether to kill and cast a prey to fishes Wretched Medea, and avert their fate." See Newcome.
Verse 16. Offered a sacrifice] The first perhaps ever offered on board a vessel since the ark floated on the waters of the great deluge; and it is most probable that these heathens, witnessing what was done, became sincere converts to the true God.
Verse 17. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish] inj X^ dag gadol. This could not have been a whale, for the throat of that animal can scarcely admit a man's leg; but it might have been a shark, which abounds in the Mediterranean, and whose mouth and stomach are exceedingly capacious. In several cases they have been known to swallow a man when thrown overboard. See the note on Matt. xii. 40, where the whole subject of this verse is considered at large. That days and nights do not, among the Hebrews, signify complete days and nights of /!fen<y-/o»r hours, see Esth. iv. 16, compared with chap. v. I; Judg. xiv. IT, 18. Our Lord lay in the grave one natural day, and part of two others; and it is mo.st likely that this was the precise time that Jonah was in the fish's bellv.
This chapter {except the first verse and the last, which mahe a part of the narrative) contains a beautiful prayer or hymn, formed of those devout thoughts which Jonah had in the belly of the great fish, with a thanksgiving for his miraculous deliverance.
'T^HEN Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, 2 And said, I ^ cried '' by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, "^ and he heard me: out.of the belly of ^ hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
3 ' For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the ^ midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about:? all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
4 '' Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again ' toward thy holy temple.
5 The '' waters compassed me about, even to the.soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.
Verse 1. Then Jonah prayed — out of the fish's belly] This verse makes the first o{ the second chapter in the Hebrew text.
It may be asked, " How could Jonah either pray or breathe in the stomach of the fish V Very easily, if God so willed it. And let the reader keep this constantly in view: the whole is a miracle, from Jonah's being swallowed by the fish till he was cast ashore by the same- animal. It was God that had prepared the great fi.'sh. It was the Lord that spake to the fish, and caused it to vomit Jonah upon the dry land. All is miracle.
Verse 2. Out nf the belly nf hell] Among the Hebrews SlN© sheol means the grave, any deep pit, the place of separate spirits. &c. Here the prophet represents himself as in the bottom of the sea; for so theol must be understood in this place.
Verse 3. All thy billows and thy ivaves passed over?ne.] This may be understood literally; while the fish, in whose belly ho was, sought its pleasure or sustenance in the paths of the deep, the waves and billows of the sea were rolling above. This line seems borrowed from Psa. xlii. 7.
Thy holy temple.] Then Jerusalem was not yet destroyed, for the temple was standing.
Verse 5. The waters compassed me about even to the soul] So as to seem to deprive me of life. I had no hope left.
The iceeds were wrapped about my head.] This maybe understood literallv also. He found himself in
6 I went down to the bottoms of
with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life "" from " corruption, O Lord my
7 When my sou] fainted within me I remembered the Lord: " and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
8 They that observe p lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
9 But I will 1 sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. ' Salvation is of the Lord.
10 And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
the fish's stomach, together with sea weeds, and such like marine substances, which the fish had taken for its aliment.
Verse 6. / ivent down to the bottoms of the mountains] This also may be literally understood. The fish followed the slanting base of the mountains, till they terminated in a plain at the bottom of the great deep.
The earth mth her bars] He represents himself as a prisoner in a dungeon, closed in with bars \vhich he could not remove, and which at first appeared to be forever, i. e.,the place where his life must terminate.
Yet hast thou brought up my life] The substance of this poetic prayer was composed while in the fish's belly: but afterwards the prophet appears to have thrown it into its present poetic form, and to have added some circumstances, such as that before us; for he now speaks of his deliverance from this imminent danger of death. " Thou hast brought up my life from corruption."
Verse 7. When my soul fainted] When I had given up all hope of life.
My prayer came in unto thee] Here prayer is personified, and is represented as a messenger going from the distressed, and entering into the temple of God, and standing before him. This is a very fine and delicate image. This clause is one of those w'hich I suppose the prophet to have added when he penned this prayer.
Verse 8. They that observe lying vanities] They that trust in idols, follow vain predictions, permit themselves to be influenced with foolish fears, so as to induce them to leave the path of obvious duty, forsake their own mercy. In leaving that God who is the Fountain of mercy, they abandon that measure of mercy which he had treasured up for them.
Verse 9. But I u-ill sacrifice unto thee'\ 1 will make a sincere vow, wliich, as soon as my circumstances will permit, I will faithfully execute; and therefore he adds, " I will pay that which I have vowed."
Salvation is of the Lord.] All deliverance from danger, preservation of life, recovery from sickness, and redemption of the soul from the power, guilt, and pollution of sin, is from Jehovah. He alone is the Saviour, he alone is the Deliverer; for all salvation is from the Lord.
Verse 10. And the Lord spake unto the fish] That is, by bis influence the fish swam to shore, and cast Jonah on the dry land. So the whole was a miracle from the beginning to the end; and we need not perplex ourselves to find out literal interpretations; such as, " When Jonah was thrown overboard he swam for his life, earnestly praying God to preserve him from drowning; and by hi.s providence he was thrown into a place offish — a fishing cove, where he was for a time entangled among the iveeds, and hardly escaped with his life; and when safe, he composed this poetic prayer, in metaphorical language, which some have wrongly interpreted, by supposing that he was swallowed by a fish; when jT dag should have been understood, as a. place offish, oi fishing creek," &c. Now I say the original has no such meaning in the Bible: and this gloss is plainly contrary to the letter of the text; to all sober and rational modes of interpretation, and to the express purpose for which God appears to have wrought this miracle, and to which Jesus Christ himself applies it. For as Jonah was intended for a sign to the Jews of the resurrection of Christ, tbcy were to have the proof of this scmiosis, in his lying as long in the heart of the earth as the prophet was in the belly of the fish; and all interpretations of this kind go to deny both the sign and the thing signified. Some men, because they cannot work a miracle themselves, can hardly be persuaded that God can do it.
The text, and the use made of it by Christ, most plainly teach us that ibe prophet was literally swallowed by a fish, by the order of God; and that by the Divine power he was preserved alive, for what is called three days and three nights, in the stomach of the fish; and at the conclusion of the above time that same fisli was led by the unseen power of God to the shore, and there compelled to eject the prey that he could neither kill nor digest. And how easy is all this to the almighty power of the Author and Suslaincr oi life, who has a sovereign, omnipresent, and energetic sway in the heavens and in the earth. But foolish man will affect to be wise; though, in such cases, be appears as the recently born, stupid offspring of the wild ass. It is bad to follow fancy, where there is so much at stake. Both ancients and moderns have grievously trifled with this prophet's narrative; merely because they could not rationally account for the thing, and were unwilling (and why 1) to allow any miraculous interference
Jonah is sent again to Nineveh, a city of three days'' journey, (being sixty miles in circumference, according to Diodorus Siculus,) 1-4. The inhabitants, in consequence of the prophet's preaching, repent in dust and ashes, 5-9. God, seeing that they were deeply humbled on account of their sins, and that they turned away from all their iniquities, repents of the evil with which he had threatened them, 10.
Verse 1. And the word of the Lord] The same oracle as that before given; and which, from what he had felt and seen of the justice and mercy of the Lord, he was now prepared to obey.
Verse 2. And preach unto it the preaching] Nlpl n!<""'pn nx vckera eth hakkeriah, " And cry the cry that I bid thee." Be my herald, and faithfully deliver my message. The word Kijpv^ in Greek answers to the Hebrew Xlip kore: both signifying a crier, a herald, a preacher; one that makes proclamation with a loud and earnest cry. Such was John Baptist, Isa. xl. 3; such was Jesus Christ, Jehn vii. 18-37; and such were all his apostles. And such earnestness becomes a ministry that has to do with immortal.souls, asleep an<J dc-i.d in sin, hanging on the brink of perdition, and insensible of their state. The soft-speaking, gentlc-
3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the
toned, unmoved preacher, is never likely to awaken souls. As we preach, so the people hear; scarcely receiving any counsels that appear to have no importance by the manner in which they are delivered. But tins earnestness is widely different from that noisy, blustering, screaming rant, that manifests more of the turbulence of disorderly passions, than of the rc.il inspired influence of the Spirit of God.
\'erse 3. Nineveh was an exceeding great city, of three days'' journey.] See on chap. i. 2. Strabo says, lib. xvi., Tvo/.v /isiCuv r)v ttjq HajivT.uvo^, " it was much larger than Babylon:" and Ninus, the builder, not only proposed to make it the largest city of the world, but the largest that could be built by man. See Diodor. Sic. Bib. 1. ii. And as we find, from the lowest computation, that it was at least ///y-/"ur or iij/y English miles in circumference, it would take the prophet three
R. Aiban, City, 01 three days journey. cir. annum 14. ^ ^^^ JoHah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and '' he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.
5 8o the people of Nineveh ° believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of tliem.
6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, ^ and sat in ashes.
7 ^ And he caused it to be proclaimed and
days to walk round upon the walls, and announce from them the terrible message, " Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be destroyed!"
Verse 4. Yet forty days] Both the Septuag'ml and Arabic read three days. Probably some early copyist of the Septuagint, from whom our modern editions are derived, mistook the Greek numerals /; forty for y itiree; or put the three days' journey in preaching instead of the forty days mentioned in the denunciation. One of Kennicott's M.SS., instead of □'^'^IN arbaim, forty, has U"£h'J sheloshiin, thirty: but the Hebrew text is undoubtedly the true reading; and it is followed by all the ancient versions, the Septuagint and Vulgate excepted. Thus God gives them time to think, ■reflect, take counsel, and return to him. Had they only three days'' space, the denunciation would have so completely confounded them, as to excite nothing but terror, and prevent repentance and conversion.
Verse 5. The people of Nmcveh believed God] They had no doubt that the threatening would be fulfilled, unless their speedy conversion prevented it; but, though not expressed, they knew that the threatening was conditional. " The promises and threatenings of God, which are merely personal, either to any particular man or number of men, are alway.s conditional, beciuise the wisdom of God hath thought fit to make these depend on the behaviour of men." — Dr. S. Clarke's Sermons, vol. i.
Proclaimed a fast] And never was there one so general, so deep, and so effectual. Men and women, old and young, high and low, and even the cattle themselves, all kept such a fast as the total abstinence from food implies.
Verse 6. Word came unto the king] This, some think, was Put; others, Sardanapalus his son, king of Ass3rria, who flourished in the reign of Jeroboam the Second: but it seems more probable that the monarch here alluded to was a king of Assyria contemporary with Joash. king of Judah. It was by the decree of the king that the fast was instituted, and became general.
s nobles, saying, Let neither man r. Aiban., nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any
thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
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.
9 '' Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?
10 ' And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.
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 pastes iUis egere diebus
Frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina: nulla neque
amnem Libavit quadrupes, nee graminis attigit herbam.
Ed. V. 24. " The swains forgot their sheep, nor near the brink Of running waters brought their herds to drink. The thirsty cattle of themselves abslain'd From water, and their grassy fare disdain'd."
And that they sometimes changed or reversed tha 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, JEn. xi. ver. 89.
Post bellator equus, positis insignibus, jEthon It lacrymans, guttisque humectat grandibus ora.
" Stripp'd of his trappings, and his head declined, iEthon, his generous warrior-horse, behind. Moves with a solemn, slow, majestic pace; And the big tears come rolling down his face."
Verse 9. Who can tell if God tvill turn and repent] There is at least a peradventure for our salvation. God may turn towards us, change his purpose, and save us alive. While there is life there is hope; God has no pleasure in the death of sinners; he is gracious and compassionate. Himself has prescribed repentance; if we repent, and turn to him from our iniquities, who knows then whether God will not turn, &c.
Verse 10. And God saw their works] They repented, and brought (oiih fruits meet for repentance; works which showed that they did most earnestly I repent. He therefore changed his purpose, and the city was saved. The purpose was: If the Ninevites do not return from their evil ways, and the violence that is in their hands, viithin forly days, I will destroy the city. The Ninevites did return, &c., and therefore escaped the threatened judgment. Thus we see that the threatening was conditional.
Jonah, dreading to be thought a false prophet, repines at God's mercy in sparing the Ninevites, whose destruction he seems to have expected, from his retiring to a place without the city about the close of the forty 4ays. But how docs he glorify that tnercy ivhich he intends to blame! And what an amiable picture does he give of the compassion of God! 1-5. This attribute of the Deity is still farther illustrated by his tenderness and condescension to the prophet himself, who, ivith all his prophetic gifts, had much of human infirmity, 6-11.
Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, ti^as not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I " fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a '' gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. 3 " Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech
Verse 1. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly] This hasty, and indeed inconsiderate prophet, was vexed because his prediction was not fulfilled. He had more respect to his high sense of his own honour than he had to the goodness and mercy of God. He appeared to care little whether six hundred and twenty thousand persons were destroyed or not, so he might not pass for a deceiver, or one that denounced a falsity.
And he xvas very angry.] Becau.se the prediction was not literally fulfilled; for he totally lost sight of the condition.
Verse 2. I know that thou art a gracious God] See the note on Exod. xxxiv. 6.
Verse 3. Take, T beseech thee, my life from me] 'tyaj nx S3 np kach na elh naphshi, " Take, I heseech thee, even my soul." Do not let rae survive this distrvace. Thou hast spared this city. I thought thou wouldst do so, because thou art merciful and gracious; and it was on this account that I refused to go at first, as I knew that thou mightest change thy purpose, lliough thou hadst commanded me to make an absolute denunciation of judgment. God has left this example on record to show that an inconsiderate man is not fit to be employed in his work; and he chose this one example that it might serve as an endless warning to his Church to employ no man in the work of the ministry that is not scripturally acquainted with God's justice and mercy.
Verse 4. Docst thou well to be angry 1] mn 213'nn ■j"? hahcitib harah lac, " Is anger good for thee 1" No, anger is good for no man; but an angry pieaoher,
5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.
6 And the Lord God prepared a *^ gourd, s and made it to come up over Jonah, that it
minister, bishop, or prophet, is an abominable man. He who, in denouncing the word of God against sinners, joins his own passions with the Divine threatenings, is a cruel and bad man, and should not be an overseer in God's house. A surly bishop, a peevish, passionate preacher, will bring neither glory to God, nor good to man. Dr. Taylor renders the clause, " Art thou very much grieved V A man may be very much grieved that a sinner is lost; but who but he who is of a fiendish nature will be grieved because God's mercy triumphs over judgment 1
Verse 5. So Jonah went out of the city] I believe this refers to what had already passed; and I therefore agree with Bp. Neivcome, who translates, " Now Jonah HAD gone out of the city, and had sat," &c.; fo: there are many instances where verbs in the preterits form have this force, the 1 vau here turning the future into the preterite. And the passage is here to be understood thus: When he had delivered his message he left the city, and went and made himself a tent, or got under some shelter on the east side of the city, and there he was determined to remain till he should see wliat would become of the city. But when the forty days had expired, and he saw no evidence of the Divine wrath, he became angry, and expostulated with God as above. The fifth verse should be read in a parenthesis, or be considered as beginning the chapter.
Verse 6. A7id the Lord God prepared a gourd] I believe this should be rendered in the preterphiperfect tense, The Lord had prepared — this plajit, p'p'p kikayon. It had in the course of God's jirovidence been planted and grown up in that place, though per-
Ante U. c. 109. to dchver him from liis grief. R. Alb™"'' So Jonah '' was exceeding glad
7 But God prepared a worm when tlie morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.
8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a ' vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, '' It is better for me to die than to live.
9 And God said to Jonah, ' Doest thou
haps not yet in full leaf; and Jonah made that his tent. And its thick branches and large leaves made it an ample shelter for him; and because it was such, he rejoiced greatly on the account. But what was the kikayon t The best judges say the ricinus or palma Chrisli, from which we get what is vulgarly called castor oil, is meant. It is a tree as large as the olive, has leaves which are like those of the vine, and is aiso quick of growth. This in all probability was the plan', in question, which had been already planted, though it had not attained its proper growth, and was not then in full leaf. Celsus,in his Hierohot., says it grows to the height of an olive tree; the trunk and branches are hollow like a kex, and the leaves sometimes as broad as the rim of a hat. It must be of a soft or spongy substance, for it is said to grow suprisingly fast. See Taylor under the root p"p, 1670. But it is evident there was something supernatural in the growth of this plant, for it is stated to have come vp in a night; though the Chaldee understands the passage thus: " It was here last night,.and is withered this night." In one night it might have blown and expanded its leaves considerably, though the plant had existed before, but aot in full bloom till the time that Jonah required it for a shelter.
Verse 7. But God prepared a worm] By being Biten through the root, the plant, losing its nourishment, would soon wither; and this was the case in the present instance.
Verse 8. A vehement east icind] Which was of itself of a parching, withering nature; and the sun, in addition, made it intolerable. These winds are both scorching and suiTocating in the East, for deserts of bmiiing sand lay to the east or south-east; and the easterly winds often brought such a multitude of minute particles of sand on their wings, as to add greatly to the mischief. I believe these, and the sands they carry, are the cause of the ophthalmia which prevails so much both in Egypt and India.
And he said, " I do well to be Ante u. C. 109.
10 Then said the Lord, Thou "'■ """""' '^- hast "had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which ° came up in a night, and perished in a night:
1 1 And should not I spare Nineveh, p that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons * that cannot discern between their right hand, and their left hand; and also much ' cattle?
change not the heart. Jonah had the gift of prophecy, but had not received that grace which destroys the old man and creates the soul anew in Christ Jesus. This is the love of which St. Paul speaks, which if a man have not, though he had the gift ol prophecy, and could mu-aculously remove mountains, yet in the sight of God, and for any good himself might reap from it, it would be as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. Jonah was a prophet, and yet had all his old bad tem pers about him, in a shameful predominancy. Balaam was of the same kind. So we find that God gave the gift of prophecy even to graceless men. But many of the prophets were sanctified in their nature before their call to the prophetic office, and were the most excel lent of men.
Verse 10. Which came vp in anight] St Jerome, speaking of this plant, the kikayon, assigns to it an extraordinary rapidity of growth. It delights in a sandy soil, and in a few days what was a plant grows into a large shrub. But he does not appear to have meant the ricinus; this however is the most likely. The expressions coming vp in a night and perishing in a night are only metaphorical to express speedy growth and speedy decay; and so, as we have seen, the Chaldee interprets it, S<:iniN N'Vb^l HIH \'^r\ K' V^a 'T T3N " which existed this night, but in the ne.xt night perished;" and this I am satisfied is the true import of the Hebrew phrase.
Verse 1 1. Ayid should not I spare Nineveh] In ver. 10 it is said, thou hast had pity on the gourd, i"1Dn DHN attah cH.\sT-A.; and here the Lord uses the same word, OinN k'? "JNl veani to achus, " And shall not / have pity upon Nineveh T' How much is the city better than the shrub? But besides this there are in it one hundred and twenty thousand persons! And shall I destroy them, rather than thy shade should be withered or thy toord apparently fail 1 And besides, these persons are young, and have not offended, (for they knew not the difference between their right hand and their left,) and should not I feel more pity for those innocents than thou dost for the fine flowering plant which is withered in a night, being itself exceedingly shortlived? Add to all this, they have now turned from those sins which induced me to denounce judgment against them. And should I destroy them who are now fasting and afflicting their souls; and, covered with sackcloth, are lying in the dust before me, bewailing their offences and supplicating for mercy? Learn, then, from this, that it is the incorrigibly wicked on whom my judgments must fall, and against whom they are threatened. And know, that to that mtn will I look who is of a broken and contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. Even the dumb beasts arc objects of my compassion; I will spare them for the sake of their penitent owners; and remember with the rest. That the Lord careth for oxen.
The great number of cattle to which reference is here made were for the support of the inhabitants; and probably at this time the Ninevites gathered m their cattle from the champaign pasture, expecting that some foe coming to besiege them might seize upon them for their forage, while they within might suffer the lack of all things.
No doubt that ancient Nineveh was like ancient Babylon, of which Quintus Curtius says, the buildings were not close to the walls, there being the space of an acre left between them; and in several parts there were within the walls portions of cultivated land, that, if besieged, they might have provisions to sustain the inhabitants.
And I suppose this to be true of all large ancient cities. They were rather cantons or districts than cities such as now are, only all the different inhabitants had joined together to wall in the districts for Ihe sake of mutual defence.
This last expostulation of God, it is to be hoped, produced its proper effect on the mind of this irritable prophet; and that he was fully convinced that in this, as in all other cases, God had done all things well.
From this short prophecy many useful lessons may be derived. The Ninevites were on the verge of destruction, but on their repentance were respited. They did not, however, continue under the influence of good resolutions. They relapsed, and about one hundred and fifty years afterwards, the Prophet Nahum was sent to predict the miraculous discomfiture of the Assyrian king under Sennacherib, an event which took place about 710 B. C.; and also the total destruction of Nineveh by Cyaxares and his allies, which happened about 606 B. C. Several of the ancients, by allegorizing this book, have made Jonah declafe the divinity, humanity, death, and resurrection of Christ. These points may be found in the Gospel history, their true repository; but fancy can find them any where it pleases to seek them; but he who seeks not for them will never find them here. Jonah was a type of the resurrection of Christ; nothing farther seems revealed in this prophet relative to the mysteries of Christianity.
In conclusion: while I have done the best I could to illustrate the very difficult prophet through whose work the reader has just passed, I do not pretend to say I have removed every difficulty. I am satisfied only of one thing, that I have conscientiously endeavoured to do it, and believe that I have generally succeeded; but am still fearful that several are left behind, which, though they may be accounted for from the briefness of the narrative of a great transaction, in which so many surprising particulars are included, yet, for general apprehension, might appear to have required a more distinct and circumstantial statement. I have only to add, that as several of the facts are evidently miraculous, and by the prophet stated as such, others may be probably of the same kind. On tliis ground all difllculty is removed; for God can do what he pleases. As his power is unlimited, it can meet with no impossibilities. He who gave the commission to Jonah to go and preach to the I^'inevites, and prepared the great fish to swallow the disobedient prophet, could maintain his life for three days and three nights in the belly of this marine monster; and cause it to eject him at the termination of the appointed time, on any sea-coast he might choose; and afterwards the Divine power could carry the deeply contrite and now faithful prciphot over the intervening distance between that and Nineveh, be that distance greater or less. Whatever, therefore, cannot be accounted for on mere natural principles in this book, may be referred to this supernatural agency; and this, on the ostensible principle of the prophecy itself, is at once a mode of interpretation as easy as it is rational. God gave the commission; he raised the storm; he prepared the fish which swallowed the prophet; he caused it to cast him forth on the dry land; he gave him afresh commission, carried him to the place of his destination, and miraculously produced the sheltering gourd, that came to perfection in a night, and withered in a night. This God therefore performed the other facts for which we cannot naturally account, as he did those already specified. This concession, for the admission of which both common sense and reason plead, at once solves all the real or seeming difficulties to be found in the Book of the Prophet Jonah.
IVTICAH, the Morasthite, or of Moresa, a village near the city Eleutheropolis, in the southern part of Judah, is the sixth in order of the tivelve minor prophets. He prophesied under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, for zbovX fifty years. Some have confounded him with Micaiah, son of Imlah, who lived in the kingdom of the ten tribes, under the reign of Aiiab.
The spurious Dorotheas says that Micah was buried in the burying-place of the Anakim, whose habitation had been at Hebron, and round about it. This prophet appeared almost at the same time with Isaiah, and lias even borrowed some expressions from him. Compare Isa. ii. 2 with Mic. iv 1, and Isa. xli. 15 with Mic. iv. 13.
The prophecy of Micah contains but seven chapters. He foretells the calamities of Samaria, which was taken by Shalmaneser, and reduced to a heap of stones. Afterwards he prophesies against Judah, and declares the troubles that Sennacherib should bring upon it under the reign of Hezekiah. Then he declaims against the iniquities of Samaria. He foretells the captivity of the ten tribes, and their return into their own country. The third chapter contains a pathetic invective against the princes of the house of Jacob, and the judges of the house of Israel; which seems levelled against the chief of the kingdom of Judah, the judges, the magistrates, the priests, the false prophets, &c. He upbraids them with their avarice, their injustice, and falsehood; and tells them they will be the occasion that Jerusalem shall be reduced to a heap of rubbish, and the mountain of the temple shall be as a forest. We are informed, Jer. xxvi. 18, 19, that this prophecy was pronounced in the reign of Hezekiah; and that it saved Jeremiah from death.
After these terrible denunciations, Micah speaks of the reign of the Messiah, and of the establishment of the Clirislian Church. And as the peaceable times which succeeded the return from the Babylonish captivity, and which were a figure of the reign of the Messiah, were disturbed by a tempest of a short continuance, Micah foretold it in such a manner as agrees very well with what Ezckiel says of the war of Gog against the Jews. Micah speaks in particular of the birth of the Messiah; that he was to be born at Bethlehem; and that his dominion was to extend to the utmost parts of the earth. He says that God should raise seven shepherds, who should reign by the sword over Assyria, and in the land of Nimrod; which Calmet explains of Darius, son of Hystaspes; and of the seven confederates that killed the magian, and who possessed the empire of the Persians, after the extinction of the family of Cyrus. The fifth chapter, from ver. 7 to the end, describes the flourishing estate of the Jews in their own country, from the reign of Darius, and after the Maccabees; yet in such a manner, that he mingles several things in it that can apply only to the Church of Jesus Christ.
The two last chapters of Micah contain, first, a long invective against the iniquities of Samaria: then be foretells the fall of Babylon; the re-establishment of the cities of Israel; the o-reatness of the country possessed by the Israelites; their happiness; the graces wherewith God will favour them; and all this in sucli lofty terms, that they chiefly agree with the
Christian Church. St. Jerome says that Micah was buried at Morasllii, ten furlongs from Eleutheropolis; and Sozomenes says that his tomb was revealed to Zebennus, bishop of Eleutheropolis, under the reign of Theodosius the Great. He calls the place of liis burial Beretsate, which is probably the same as Morasthi, ten furlongs from Eleutheropolis.
Bishop Newcome observes that Micah was of the kingdom of Judah, as he only makes mention of kings who reigned over that country. It is supposed that he prophesied farther on in the reign of Hczekiah than Hosea did; although chap. v. 5 was written before the captivity of the ten tribes, which happened in the sLrth year of Hezekiah. It is plain from chap i. 1, 5, 9, 13, 13, that he was sent both to Israel andJudah. Like Amos and Hosea, he reproves and threatens, with great spirit and energy, a corrupt people. Sec chap. ii. 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10; iii. 2, 3, 4, 6, 10-16; vii. 2, 3, 4. And, like Hosea, he inveighs against the princes and prophets with the highest indignation. See chap. iii. 5-7, 9-12; vii. 3. The reader will observe that these similar topics are treated of by each prophet with remarkable variety, and copiousness of expression.
We may justly admire the elegance of his diction: —