Exposition of the Whole Bible

Hebrew \ Vau is often ufed °, as exegetical and explanative; tho’ many interpreters underftand the vows as diftinét from the facrifice; and that they vowed that the God of the Hebrews fhould be their God, and that they would for the future ferve and worfhip him only; that they would become profelytes, as Yarchi; or give alms to the poor, as Kimchi; as an evidence of their fenfe of gratitude to God, the author of their mercies. were truly converted, as it feems as if they were, they were great gainers by this providence; for tho’ they loft their worldly goods, they found what was infinitely better, God to be their God and portion, and all fpiritual good things with him; and it may be obferved of the wife and wonderful providence of God, that tho” Yonab refufed to go and preach to the Gentiles at Nineveb, for which he was corrected; yet God made this difpenfation a means of converting other Gentiles. y. 17. Now the Lord had prepared a great fifb to fwallow up Fonab, &c.} Not from the creation of the world, as fay the Fews ®; for this is to be underftood, not.of the formation or making of it; but of the ordering and difpofition of it by the providence of God to be near the fhip, and its mouth open to receive ‘Yonah, as foon as he was caft forth from thence: and a great one it muft be, to take him at once into its mouth, and fwallow him down its throat, and retain him whole in its belly; and fuch great fifhes there are in the fea, particularly the carcharias or dog-fifh; the fame with Triton’s dog, faid to fwallow Hercules, in which he was three days; and which fable perhaps took its rife from hence. In Matt. xii. 40. it is faid to be a whale; but then that muft be underftood, not as the proper name of a fifth, but as common to all great fifhes; otherwife the whale, properly fo called, it is faid, has nota fwallow large enough to take down a man; tho’ fome deny this, and affert they are capable of it. Of the dalena, which is one kind of whale, it is reported %, that when it apprehends its young ones in danger, will take them, and hide them within itfelf; and then afterwards throw them out again; and certain it is, that the whale is:a very great fith, if not the greateft. Pliny ‘ {peaks of whales fix hundred feet

T HIS chapter contains the’ prayer of Yonah, when in the fithes belly; the time when he prayed; the perfon he prayed unto; and the place where, are fuggefted in y. 1. and the latter deicribed as a place of great ftraitnefs and diftrefs, and even as hell itfelf, ¥y.2. The condition he was in, when caft into the fea, and when in the belly of the fifh, which is obferved, the more to heighten the greatnefs of the deliverance, ¥. 3, %,6. The different frame of mind he was. in, fometimes almoft in defpair, and ready to faint; and~prefently exercifing faith and hope, remembring the goodnefs of the Lord, and refolving to look again to him, ¥. 4, 7, The gracious regards of God to him, in receiving, hearing, and anfwering his prayer, and bringing up his life from cor- long, and three hundred and fixty broad; and of the bones of a fifh, which were brought to Rame from Yoppa, and there fhewn as a miracle, which were forty feet long; and faid to be the bones of the monftrous fith to which Andremede at Fuppe _ was expofed ‘; which ftory feems to be hammered out of this hiftory of Zoreh; and the fame is reported by Solinus'; however, it is out of doubt that there are fifhes capable of {wallowing a man. Nierembergius ® {peaks of a fith taken near ate in Spain, a large that a man on horfeback could ftand in jts mouth; the cavity of the brain held feven men; its jaw-bones, which were kept in efcurial, were feventeen feet long; and two carcafes were found in its ftomach: he fays it was called pifcis mularis; but fome learned men took it to be the dog-fith before-mentioned; and fuch a large devouring creature is the fhark, of which the prefent bifhop of Bergen “, and others interpret this fifh here; in which fometimes has been found the body of a man, and even of a man in armour, as many writers * have obferved.. Some” think it was a crocodile, which, tho’ a river-fith, yet, for the moft part is at the entrance of rivers, and fometimes goes into the fea many miles, and is capable of {wallowing a man; fome are above thirt feet long; and in the belly of one of them, in the Indies, was found a woman with all her cloaths ° on*: and Fonab was in the belly of the fifo three days and three nights; that is, one whole natural day, confifting of twenty-four hours, and part of — two others; the ews having no other way of expreffing a natural day, but by day and night; and to this the antitype anfwers; namely, our Lord’s — being fo long in the grave; of whofe death, burial and refurrection this was a type, as appears from Matt. xii. 40. for which reafon Yonah was fo miraculoufly preferved; and a miracle it was, that he fhould not in this time be digefted in the ftomach of the creature;, that he was not fuffocated in it, but breathed and lived; and that he was able to bear the ftench of the creature’s maw;, and that he fhould have his fenfes, and be in fuch a frame of mind, as both to pray and praife; but what is it that the power of God cannot do? Here fome begin the fecond chapter, and not amifs,

HI. Deen ruption, ¥. 2, 6, 7. His refolution, let others do what they would, to praife the Lord, and give ~ him the glory of his falvation, ¥. 8. 9. and the chapter is concluded with the order for his deliverance, and the manner of it, ¥. 10. ~_ ¢ ‘ibe y. 1. Then Fonah prayed unto the Lord bis God, out of the fifhes belly.| Tho’ Fonah had been a praying man, being a good man, and a prophet — of the Lord; yet it ae he hae not pra c fome time; being difobedient to the will of he reftrained prayer before him; all the while he was going to Yoppa he prayed not; and how indeed could he have the face to pray to him, from whofe face he was fleeing? and as foon as he was in the fhip he fell afleep, and there lay till he

was waked by the fhip-mafter, who called upon him to arife, and pray to his God; but whether he did or no, is not faid;.and tho’ it is very probable he might, when convicted of his fin, and before he was caft- into the fea, and as he was cafting into it, it is not recorded; but when he was ‘in the fifhes belly, tex he prayed; where it is marvellous he fhould, or could; it was ftrange he fhould be able to breathe, and more ftrange to breathe {piritually; it was very wonderful he fhould have the exercife of his reafon, and more that he ‘ould have the exercife of grace, as faith and hop, as it appears by the following prayer he had. Prayer may be performed any where, on a mountain, in a defert, in the caves and dens of the earth, and in a prifon, as it has been; but this is the only time it ever was performed in fuch a place. “Yonah is the only man that ever prayed in a fifhes belly: and he prayed unto the Lord as bis God, not merely by creation, and as the God of nature and providence, the God of his life, and of his mercies; but as his covenant-God and Father; for tho’ he had finned againft the Lord, and had been forely chaftized by him, yet he did not take his loving-kindnefs from him, nor fuffer his faithfulnefs to fail, or break his covenant with him; covenant-intereft and relation {till continued; and Yonah had knowledge of it, and faith in it; and as this is an argument the Lord makes ufe of to engage backfliders to return unto him, it is a great encouragement to them fo to do, Fer. ii. 14, 22. In this Yonah was a type of Chrift, who, amidft his agonies, forrows and fufferings, prayed to his Father, and claimed his intereft in him as his God, Heb. v. 7. Matt. xxvii. 46. What follows contains the fum and fubftance of the prophet’s thoughts, and the ejaculations of his mind when in the fifhes belly; but were not put up in this form, but were reduced by him into it after he was delivered; as many of David’s pialms were put into the form and order they are after his deliverance from troubles, fuitable to his thoughts of things when he was in them; and indeed the following account is an hiftorical narration of facts, which were before and after his prayer, as well as of that itfelf.

y.2. And faid, &c.] Not unto the Lord in prayer, but to others, to whom he communicated what pafied. between God and him in this time of diftrefs; how he prayed to him, and was heard by him; what a condition he had been in, and how he was delivered out of it; what was his frame of mind whilft in it, fometimes defpairing, and fometimes hoping; and how thankful he was for this falvation, and was determined to praife the Lord for it: I cried by reafon of mine affliftion unto the Lord, and he heard me, or, out of my frrait*; being ftraitened in his body, and as it were in a prifon in the fifhes belly; and ftraitened in his foul, being between hope and defpair, and under the apprehenfions of the divine difpleafure. A time of affliction is a time for prayer; it brings thofe to it, that have difufed it; it made Yonab ary to his God, if not with a loud voice, yet inwardly; and his cry was powerful and piercing, it reached the heavens, and entered into the ears of the Lord of hofts, tho’ out of the depths, and out of the belly of a fifth, in the midft of the fea:

out of the belly of bell cried I, and thou héardeft my voice; Or, out of the belly of the grave»; out of the midft of it; that is, out of the belly of the fifh, which was as a grave to him, as Farchi obferves; where he lay as out of the land of the living, as one dead, and being given up for dead: and it may alfo refpect the frame of his mind, the horror.'and terror he was in, arifing from a fenfé of his fins, and the apprehenfions he had of the wrath of God, which were as'an hell in his con- {cience; and amidft all this he cried to God, and he heard him; and not only delivered him from the fifhes belly, but from thofe dreadful apprehenfions he had of his ftate and condition; and fpoke peace and pardon to him. This is a proof that this prayer or thankfgiving, be it called which it will, wa compofed, as to the form and order of it, after his deliverance; and thefe words are an appeal to God for the truth of what he had faid in the preceding claufe, and not a repetition of it in prayer; or expreffling the fame thing in different words,.

¥. 3. For thou hadf caft me into the deep, in the midft of the feas, &c.] ‘Tho’ the mariners did this, yet Yoxab atcribes it to the Lord; he knew it was he, whom he had finned againft and offended; that he was he that fent the ftorm after him into the fea; that determined the lot to fall upen him; that it was not only by his permiffion, but according to his will that he fhould be caft into it, and overcame the reluétance of the men to it, and fo worked upon them that they did it; and therefore Yonah imputes it to him, and not to them; nor does he complain of it, or murmur at it; or cenfure it as an unrighteous aCtion, or as hard, cruel and fevere; but rather mentions it, to fet off the greatnefs of his deliverance: and by this it appears, that it was far from fhore when Jonah was caft into the fea, it was the great deep; and which alfo is confirmed by the large fifh which fwallowed him, which could not fwim but in deep waters; and becaufe of the multitude of the waters, called /feas, and ia the heart * of them, as it may be rendered; and agreeably Chrift the antitype of Yonah lay in the heart of the earth, Mart. xu. 40: and the floods compaffed me about: all thy billows and thy waves paffed over me; which was his cafe as foon as caft into the fea, before the fith had fwallowed him, as well as after: this was literally true of Yonah, what David fays figuratively concerning his afflictions, and from whom the prophet feems to borrow the expreffions, Pf xlii. 7. and indeed he might ufe them alfo in a metaphorical fenfe, with a view to the afflictions of body, and forrows of death, that compafied him; and to the billows and waves of divine wrath, which in his apprehenfion lay upon him, and rolled over him..

y.4. Then I faid, I am caft out of thy fight, &c.)} Or, from before thine eyes’, the Targum, from before thy word; as David al{fo faid in his diftrefs, Pf. xxxi. 22. not but that he knew’ he was in the reach, and under the eye of his omniftience, which faw him in the fifhes belly, in the depths of the fea, for nothing can hide from that; but he thought he was no longer under the eye of his providence; and that he would no more care for him, but leave him in this forlorn condition, and riot deliver him; an and efpecially he concluded, that he would no more look upon him with an eye of love, grace, and mercy, pity and compaffion: thefe are the words of one in defpair, or near unto it; and yet a beam of light, a ray of hope, breaks in, and a holy refolution is formed, as follows: yet J will look again toward thy holy temple, not the temple at Serufalem, towards which men ufed to look when they prayed, being at a diftance from it, 1 Kings viii. 29. tho’ there may be an allufion to fuch a practice; for it can hardly be chought that Fonab, in the fifh’s belly, could tell which way the temple ftood, and look towards that; but he looked upwards and heaven-wards, he looked up to God in his holy temple in heaven; and tho’ he was afraid he would not look down upon him in a way of grace and mercy, he was refolved to look up to God in the way of prayer and fupplication; and particularly, for the further encouragement of his faith and hope, he looked to the Meffiah, the antitype of the temple, ark, and mercy-feat, and for whofe fake he might hope his prayers would be heard and anfwered.

¥.5. The waters compaffed me about, even to the foul, &c.]. Either when he was firft caft into the fea, which almoft fuffocated him, and juft ready to take away his life, could not breathe for them, as is the cafe of a man drowning; or thefe were the waters the fith drew into its belly, in fuch large quantities, that they compaffed him about, even to the endangering of his life there. So the Targum, ‘* the waters furrounded me unto death.” In this Yonah was a type of Chrift in his afflictions and forrows, which were fo many and heavy, that he is faid to be exceeding forrowful, or furrounded with forrow, even unto death, Matt. xxvi. 38. fee alfo Pf. lxix. 1. The depth clofed me round about; the great deep, the waters of the fea, both when ~he fell into it, and while in the belly of the fifh: thus alfo Chrift, his antitype, came into deep waters, where there was no ftanding, and where floods of fin, and of ungodly. men, and of divine wrath, overfiowed him; fee Pf xviii. 4, 5. and Ixix. 2. The weeds were wrapt about my head; the fea-weeds, of which there are great quantities in it, which grow at the bottom of it, to which Youah came, and from whence he rofe up again, before fwallowed by the fifh; or thefe weeds were drawn into the belly of the fifth, along with the water which it took in, and were wrapt about the head of the prophet as he lay there; or the fifh went down with him into the bottom of the fea, and lay among thofe weeds; and fo they may be faid to be wrapt about him, he being there, as follows. The Targum is, ‘* the fea of Suph being over my head;” the fame with the Red-/ea, which is fo called, P/. cvi. g. and elfewhere, and that from the weeds that were in it: and R. Faphet, as Aben Ezra obferves, fays, the fea of Suph is mixt with the fea of Foppa; that is, as a learned man ° obferves, by means of the river Rhinocorura, thro’ which the lake of Sirbon mingles with the great fea; and which lake itfelf is fo called from the weeds in it; yea, was anciently called Suph, and the fea of Suph, or mare Scirpeum, hence Sirbon: and the fame writer thinks, that the father of Andromede, {aid to be devoured by a whale about Joppa, had ‘his name of Cepheus from hence

¥. 6. I went down to the bottom of the mountains, &c.] Which are in the midft of the fea, whither the fifh carried him, and where the waters are deep; or the bottom of rocks and promontories on the fhore of the fea; and fuch vaft rocks hanging over the fea, whofe bottoms were in it, it feems are on the fhore of Joppa, near to which Fonab was caft into the fea, as Egefppus ‘ relates: the earth with her bars were about me for ever; that is, the earth with its cliffs and rocks on the fea fhore, which are as bars to the fea, that it cannot overflow it; thefe were fuch bars to Yonah, that could he have got clear of the fith’s belly, and attempted to fwim to fhore, he could’ never get to it, or over thefe bars, the rocks and cliffs, which were fo fteep and high: yet haft thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God, notwith{tanding thefe difficulties, which were infuperable by human power, and thefe feeming impoffibilities of deliverance; yet the Lord brought him out of the: fith’s belly, as out of a grave, the pit of corruption, and where he muft otherwife have lain and rotted, and freed | his foul from thofe terrors, which would have deftroyed him; and by this alfo we learn, that this form of words was compofed after he came to dry land: herein likewife he was a type of Chrift, who, tho’ laid in the grave, was not left there fo long as to fee corruption, P/- xvi. 10.

y. 7. When my foul fainted within me, &c.] Covered with grief; overwhelmed with forrow;, ready to faint and fink at the fight of his fins; and under a fenfe of the wrath and difpleafure of God, and being forfaken by him: I remembred the Lord, his covenant and promifes, his former mercies and loving-kindnefs, the gracious experiences he had had of thefe in times paft; he remembred he was a God gracious and merciful, and ready to forgive, healed the backflidings of his people, and {till loved them freely, and tenderly received and embraced them, when they returned to him: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple; into heaven itfelf, the habitation of God’s ho-

-linefs, the temple where he dwells, and is worfhipped by holy angels and glorified faints; the prayer the prophet put up in the fith’s belly, encouraged to it by remembring the mercy and g¢9o0d- nefs of God, afcended from thence, and reached the ears of the Lord of hofts in the higheft hea- x. 8. They that obferve lying vanities, forfake their own mercy, &c.| They that worfhip idols, who are nothing, mere vanity and lies, and deceive thofe that ferve them, thefe forfake the God of their lives, and of their mercies; and fo do all fuch who ferve divers lufts and pleafures, and purfue the vanities of this life; and alfo thofe who follow the dictates of carnal fenfe and reafon, to the neglect of the will of God, and obedience to his commands; which was Yonah’s cafe, and is, I think, chiefly. in— tended. The Targum, Syriac verfion, and fo Farchi, and moft interpreters, underftand it of worfhippers of idols in general, and Kimchi of the mariners of the fhip, Fonab had been in; who promifed to relinquifh their idols, but did not; and vowed to ferve the Lord, and facrifice to him, but did not perform what they promifed. But I rather think Youab refleéts upon himfelf in particular, as well as leaves this as a general inftruétion to others; that fhould they do as he had done, give way to an evil heart of unbelief, and attend to the fuggeftions of a vain mind, and confult with flefh and blood, and be directed thereby, to the difregard of God and his will; they will find, as he had done been gracious and merciful to them, and who is all goodnefs and mercy, Pf. cxliv. 3. which to do is very ungrateful to him, and injurious to themfelves; and now he being fenfible of his folly, and influenced by the grace and goodnefs of God to him, refolves to do as follows:

¥. 9. But I will facrifice unto thee with the voice of thankfgiving, &c.] Not only offer up a legal facrifice in a ceremonial way, when he came to erufalem; but along with it the {piritual facrifice of praife, which he knew was more acceptable unto God; and thus Chrift, his antitype, upon his deliverance from his enemies, Pf xxii. 22, 25. and Ixix. 30, 31: I will pay that I have vowed, when he was in his diftrefs; as that he would facrifice after the above manner, or behave in a better manner for the future than he had done; and particularly would go to Nineveh, if the Lord thought fit to fend him again: /falvation is of the Lord, this was the ground of the faith and hope of Yonab when at the worft, and the matter of his prefent praife and thankfgiving. There is one letter more in the word rendered /a/vation *, than ufual, which increafes the fenfe; and denotes, that all kind of falvation is of the Lord, temporal, {piritual, and eternal; not only this falvation from the devouring waves of the fea, and from the grave of the fith’s belly, was of the Lord; but his deliverance from the terrors of the Lord, and the fenfe he had of his wrath, and the peace and pardon he now partook of were from the Lord, as well as eternal falvation in the world to come, and the hope of it. All temporal falvations and deliverances are from the Lord, and to him the glory of them belongs; and his name fhould be praifed on account of them; which Yonah refolved to do for himfelf: and fo is fpiritual and eternal falvation; it is of Jehovah the Father, as to the original fpring and motive of it, which is his grace, and not mens works, and is owing to his wifdom, and not mens, for the plan and form of it; it is of Jehovah the Son, as to the impetration of it, who only has wrought it out; and it is of Jehovah the Spirit, as to the application of it to particular perfons; and therefore the glory of it belongs to all the three perfons, and fhould be given

HIS chapter gives an account of the renewal of Fonah’s meflage to Nineveh, and of his faithful execution of it, ¥. 1, 2, 3, 4. and of the fruit and effect of it, the converfion of the Ninevites, their faith in:God, repentance of their fins, and reformation from them, y. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. and of God’s”approbation thereof, by revoking the fentence he had pronounced upon them, y¥. 10.

y¥. 1. And the word of the Lord came unto Fonab the fecond time, &c.| Fonab having been fcourged by the Lord for his ftubbornnefs and difobedience, and being humbled under the mighty hand of God, is tried a fecond time, whether he would go on the Lord’s errand, and do his bufinefs;