Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 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.
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. Nah 2:11-12; Nah 3:1, and Isa 10:13-14. The form of expression, in their hands, the hand being the instrument of violence, is the same as in Psa 7:3 (Hebrews 4), and elsewhere.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth – The gorgeous caparisons of horses, mules and camels was part of Eastern magnificence. Who knows not how mans pride is fed by the sleekness of his stud, their well-appointed trappings? Man, in his luxury and pride, would have everything reflect his glory, and minister to pomp. Self-humiliation would have everything reflect its lowliness. Sorrow would have everything answer to its sorrow. People think it strange that the horses at Nineveh were covered with sackcloth, and forget how, at the funerals of the rich, black horses are chosen and are clothed with black velvet.
And cry unto God mightily – , with might which conquereth judgment. A faint prayer does not express a strong desire, nor obtain what it does not strongly ask for, as having only half a heart.
And let them turn, every man from his evil way – Isa 59:6. See what removed that inevitable wrath. Did fasting and sackcloth alone? No, but the change of the whole life. How does this appear? From the prophets word itself. For he who spake of the wrath of God and of their fast, himself mentions the reconciliation and its cause. And God saw their works. What works? that they fasted? that they put on sackcloth? He passes by these, and says, that every one turned from his evil ways, and God repented of the evil which He had said that He would do unto them. Seest thou, that not the fast plucked them from the peril, but the change of life made God propitious to these pagan. I say this, not that we should dishonor, but that we may honor fasting. For the honor of a fast is not in abstinence from food, but in avoidance of sin. So that tie who limiteth fasting to the abstinence from food only, he it is, who above all dishonoreth it. Fastest thou? Show it me by its works. What works? askest thou? if you see a poor man, have mercy; if an enemy, be reconciled; if a friend doing well, envy him not; if a beautiful woman, pass on. Let not the mouth alone fast; let eyes too, and hearing and feet, and hands, and all the members of our bodies. Let the hands fast, clean from rapine and avarice! let the feet fast, holding back from going to unlawful sights! let the eyes fast, learning never to thrust themselves on beautiful objects, nor to look curiously on others beauty, for the food of the eye is gazing. Let the ear too fast, for the fast of the ears is not to hear detractions and calumnies. Let the mouth too fast from foul words and reproaches. For what boots it, to abstain from birds and fish, while we bite and devour our brethren? The detractor preys on his brothers flesh.
He says, each from his evil way, because, in the general mass of corruption, each man has his own special hearts sin. All were to return, but by forsaking, each, one by one, his own habitual, favorite sin.
And from the violence – Violence is singled out as the special sin of Nineveh, out of all their evil way; as the angel saith, Mar 16:7. tell His diciples and Peter. This was the giant, Goliath-sin. When this should be effaced, the rest would give way, as the Philistines fled, when their champion was fallen to the earth dead. That is in their hands, literally in their palms , the hollow of their hand. The hands being the instruments alike of using violence and of grasping its fruits, the violence cleaves to them in both ways, in its guilt and in its gains. So Job and David say, Job 16:17; 1Ch 12:17. while there was no violence in my hands; and Isaiah, the work of wickedness is in their hands. Repentance and restitution clear the hands from the guilt of the violence: restitution, which gives back what was wronged; repentance, which, for love of God, hates and quits the sins, of which it repents. Keep the winning, keep the sinning. The fruits of sin are temporal gain, eternal loss. We cannot keep the gain and escape the loss. Whoever keeps the gain of sin, loves it in its fruits, and will have them, all of them. The Hebrews had a saying , Whoso hath stolen a beam, and used it in building a great tower, must pull down the whole tower and restore the beam to its owner, i. e., restitution must be made at any cost. He, they say , who confesses a sin and does not restore the thing stolen, is like one who holds a reptile in his hands, who, if he were washed with all the water in the world, would never be purified, until he cast it out of his hands; when he has done this, the first sprinkling cleanses him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Jon 3:8
But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God.
The sin and repentance of Nineveh
We have in these words part of the means which the king of Nineveh and his nobles judged necessary for averting the calamities which threatened their city. Fasting and prayer were only subsidiary to personal reformation.
1. The guilt and danger of conduct which is at variance with the Divine requirements, and let us feel the necessity of actual reformation. These heathen felt that amendment of life was the truest devotion. There have always been persons who have cherished the expectation of acceptance with God while they continued in sin. They divorce religion and morality. They would secure Divine favour by ritual observances, while their conduct is in other respects habitually at variance with the Divine requirements. The men of Nineveh may be their reprovers, and teach them that they must reform before they can expect to be forgiven.
2. The guilt and danger of sins of injustice and violence, and the necessity of relinquishing them. These sins are specially connected with large cities. Inadequate payment of labourers. Grinding the faces of the poor. Reckless selfishness.
3. The necessity of individually relinquishing these and other sins to which we are addicted. Men naturally shut their eyes on their own deficiencies. To turn unreservedly from sin unto God is the last thing which a sinner will do. So the words are, Let them turn every one. The great question for each to determine is, not what are the defects of others, but what are his own, and how the demands and threatenings of revelation affect him in particular. The duty required of us is, that every man should mend one. The principal lesson of this history is, that we should duly impress our minds with the guilt, and incompatibility with a religious profession, of all acts of injustice and dishonesty. You cannot be in friendship with God while you are at enmity with man. (Robert Brodie.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
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.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
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 Amo 1:5.
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 Nah 3:1.
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 mans hands: see Psa 7:3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. cry . . . turnPrayerwithout reformation is a mockery of God (Psa 66:18;Isa 58:6). Prayer, on the otherhand, must precede true reformation, as we cannot turn to God fromour evil way unless God first turns us (Jer 31:18;Jer 31:19).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 taken off, and sackcloth put upon them, for the greater solemnity, of the mourning; as at this day, at the funerals of great persons, not only the horses which draw the hearse and mourning, coaches are covered with black velvet, to make the solemnity more awful: but others are led, clothed in like manner:
and cry mightily unto God; which clause stands so closely connected with the former, as if it respected beasts as well as men, who sometimes are said to cry for food in times of drought and distress, Joe 1:20; and who here might purposely be kept from food and drink, that they might cry, and so the more affect the minds of the Ninevites, in their humiliation and abasement; but men are principally meant, at least who were to cry unto God intensely and earnestly, with great ardour, fervency, and importunity; not only aloud, and with a strong voice, but with their whole heart, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it; heartily, sincerely, and devoutly, for the averting divine wrath, and the pardon of their sins, and the sparing of their city:
yea, let them turn everyone from his evil way; as well knowing that fasting and prayer would be of no avail, without leaving everyone their sinful courses, and reforming their life and manners:
and from the violence that [is] in their hands: their rapine and oppression, their thefts and robberies, and preying upon the substance of others; which seem to be the reigning vices of this city, in doing which many murders were committed also; see Na 3:1; the Jewish writers interpret this of making restitution for rapine and violence, which is a genuine fruit of repentance; see Lu 19:8. The Septuagint version understands this, not as a direction from the king to the men of Nineveh what they should do, but as a narrative of what they did; and no doubt but they did these things, put on sackcloth, fast, pray, and turn from their evil ways; yet they are the instructions of the king unto them and the orders he gave them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jonah afterwards adds, And they cried mightily (49) to God This must be confined to men; for it could not have been applied to brute animals. Men then, as well as the beasts, abstained from meat and drink, and they cried to God. This crying could not have proceeded except from fear and a religious feeling: hence, as I have said, this cannot be applied indiscriminately to the beasts as well as to men. (50) But it deserves to be noticed, that the king of Nineveh commanded the people to cry mightily to God; for we hence learn that they were really frightened, inasmuch as he speaks not here of ordinary crying, but he adds mightily, as when we say, with all our power, or as we say in French, A force, or, fort et ferme. Jonah then expresses something uncommon and extraordinary, when he tells us that it was contained in the king’s edict, that men should cry mightily to God; for it was the same as though he said, “Let all men now awake and shake off their indifference; for every one of us have hitherto greatly indulged ourselves in our vices: it is now time that fear should possess our minds, and also constrain us to deprecate the wrath of God.” And it is also worthy of being observed, that the king proposes no other remedy, but that the people should have recourse to prayer. It might indeed have been, that Jonah exhorted the Ninevites to resort to this duty of religion, etc. We may, however, undeniably conclude that it is a feeling implanted in us by nature, that when we are pressed by adversities, we implore the favor of God. This then is the only remedy in afflictions and distresses, to pray to God. But when we, taught by the Law and by the Gospel, use not this remedy, whenever God warns us and exhorts us to repentance, what shadow of excuse can we have, since heathens, even those who understood not a syllable of true religion, yet prayed to God, and the king himself commanded this with the consent of his nobles? Hence this edict of the king ought to fill us with more shame than if one adduced the same doctrine only from the word of God: for though the authority of that king is not the same with that of God, yet when that miserable and blind prince acknowledged through the dictates of nature, that God is to be pacified by prayer, what excuse, as I have said, can remain for us?
But Jonah shows more clearly afterwards, that it was no feigned repentance when the Ninevites put on sackcloth, and abstained also from meat and drink; for it follows in the kings edict, And let every one turn from his own wicked ways and from the plunder which is in their hands Here the heathen king shows for what purpose and with what design he had given orders respecting fasting and other things; it was done that the Ninevites might thus more effectually stimulate themselves to fear God; for he here exhorts them to turn from their evil way. By “way” the Scripture usually means the whole course or manner of man’s life; it was as though he said, “Let every one of you change his disposition and his conduct; let us all become new creatures.” And this is true penitence, the conversion of man to God; and this the heathen king meant. The more shameful then is their dullness who seek to pacify God by frivolous devices, as the Papists do; for while they obtrude on God trifles, I know not what, they think that these are so many expiations, and they tenaciously contend for them. They need no other judge than this heathen king, who shows that true penitence is wholly different, that it then only takes place when men become changed in mind and heart, and wholly turn to a better course of life.
Let every one then turn, he says, from his evil way, and from the plunder (51) which is in their hand. One kind of evil is here subjoined, a part being stated for the whole, for plunders were not the only things which stood in need of amendment among the Ninevites, as it is probable that they were polluted by other vices and corruptions. In a city so large, drunkenness probably prevailed, as well as luxury, and pride, and ambition, and also lusts. It cannot indeed be doubted, but that Nineveh was filled with innumerable vices: but the king, by mentioning a part for the whole, points out here the principal vice, when he says, Let every one turn from his evil way, and from his rapacity. It was the same as though he had said that the principal virtue is equity or justice, that is, when men deal with one another without doing any hurt or injury: and well would it be were this doctrine to prevail at this day among all those who falsely assume the Christian name. For the Papists, though they accumulate expiations, pass by charity; and in the whole course of life equity has hardly any place. Let them then learn, from the mouth of a heathen king, what God principally requires from men, and approves of in their life, even to abstain from plunder and from the doing of any injury. We now then perceive why rapacity was especially mentioned. But we must bear in mind that the king, as yet a novice, and hardly in a slight degree imbued with the elements of religion, through hearing what Jonah preached, gave orders to his people according to the measure of his faith and knowledge: but if he made such progress in so short a time, what excuse can we pretend, whose ears have been stunned by continual preaching for twenty or thirty years, if we yet come short of the novitiate of this king? These circumstances ought then to be carefully observed by us. Let us now proceed —
(49) בחזקח, with vigor. “ Εκτεςῶς — intensely, earnestly.” — Sept. Vehementer — vehemently.” — Grotius. “ Totis viribus — with all their powers.” — Mercerius. “ Cum intensione valida — with strong intensity” — Marckius. “In prayer,” says Henry, “we must cry mightily, with a fixedness of thought, firmness of faith, and fervor of pious and devout affections. — Ed.
(50) Yet Henry does in a manner apply this mighty crying to the beasts. “Let even the brute creatures do it according to their capacity; let their cries and moans for want of food be graciously construed as cries to God; as the cries of young ravens are, Job 38:41; and of the young lions, Psa 104:21.” — Ed.
(51) A rapacite , from robbery, extortion, plunder מז-החמס, from violence, outrage, or injustice done by force or violence: it means tyrannical injustice. “ Απο της αδικιας — from injustice,” wrong, iniquity. — Sept. But as it is said to be in their hand, it means, by a metonymy, the plunder got by injustice, exercised tyrannically.
Marckius observes that the similitude here is first taken from the feet, and then taken from the hands. The feet are no to go in the evil way, nor the hands employed in doing what is unjust. Henry explains the passage very fully and yet concisely, “ let them turn every one from his evil way — the evil way of his heart — and the evil way of his conversation; and particularly from the violence that is in their hands, — let them restore what they have unjustly taken, and make reparation for the wrong they have done, — and let them not any more oppress those they have power over, or defraud those they have dealings with.” — Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Jon 3:8. Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth The covering of horses and mules with sackcloth adds to the solemnity of a funeral. In like manner, the mournful garb of the Ninevites was an affecting circumstance in this public sorrow and humiliation. See Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 1201
REPENTANCE OF THE NINEVITES [Note: A Fast Sermon.]
Jon 3:8-10. 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. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? 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.
MEN of profane minds pour contempt on national fasts, under an idea that they can be of no use for averting of national judgments. But in my text there is abundant proof that God will hear the prayers of the contrite, and be gracious to them at the voice of their cry.
Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire, was an exceeding large city, so large, that it would occupy a man three days to walk round it and through its principal streets. The wickedness of it was great; and God, having determined that in the space of forty days he would involve it, with all its inhabitants, in destruction, he sent his servant Jonah to advertise them of their impending ruin. The prophet had proceeded but one days journey into the city, and behold, all ranks of people, from the highest to the lowest, having heard his message, trembled at Gods displeasure, and united in humbling themselves before him, if peradventure they might prevail upon him to turn from his fierce anger. The success of their efforts leads me to set before you the conduct of the Ninevites,
I.
As a record for our instruction
[Though addressed by a perfect stranger who belonged to a despised nation, the people believed his testimony, delivered to them as it was in Jehovahs name; and, though they were heathens, unused to acknowledge the one true God, they set themselves to implore mercy at his hands, and to deprecate his threatened judgments. The king and his nobles proclaimed a fast; in the observance of which all his subjects cordially concurred: and so intent were they on a due observance of the day, that all put on sackcloth from the least of them to the greatest, and even the king himself laid aside his royal robes, and clothed himself in sackcloth, and sat in ashes: nor did any of them so much as eat bread or drink water the whole day. Even the herds and the flocks were kept without any species of food or refreshment, that by their privations they might participate in the general grief, and by their moanings produce on the minds of the penitents an increased effect.
To their fasting they added prayer: yea, they cried mightily unto God. They were not content with formal unmeaning acknowledgments. They bewailed their guilt; they saw how deeply they had merited the Divine displeasure; and they strove by earnest supplications to ward off from themselves the judgments which the avenging Deity was about to inflict upon them. The sincerity of their repentance they manifested by an instantaneous reformation of their lives; all of them turning from their besetting sins, and engaging to consecrate themselves to Jehovah as a holy and obedient people. How many of them maintained their steadfastness we know not: but from the mercy vouchsafed to them in answer to their prayers, we are led to hope that many became true servants of the living God.
Thus, at all events, they sought for mercy; and thus they obtained the deliverance they implored.]
Now then let me call your attention to their conduct,
II.
As a pattern for your imitation
Sorry am I to say, that there is occasion for the same humiliation on your part, as you have seen in them
[ [Note: Here the particular occasion (war, pestilence, famine, or whatever it be) should be set forth.]; And this I am authorized to declare, that, whatever the second causes may have been, the evil itself is from the Lord: for, Is there evil in the city, and the Lord hath not dune it [Note: Amo 3:6.];? Yes, it is a chastisement from God on account of our sins: and I call upon you not only to believe this, but to hear the rod, and him that has appointed it. If we will not view the hand of God in these dispensations, we can have no hope that they shall be exchanged for mercies: but to acknowledge him in them will be the best preparation for the reception of mercies from him, and the most certain prelude to his bestowment of them.]
I must add, too, that your humiliation must resemble theirs
[In a season of affliction fasting is highly proper. We see all the most eminent saints in Scripture having recourse to this under the pressure of any heavy calamity: and, in the history before us, we behold the king, and his nobles, together with all the inhabitants of a populous city, approaching the Divine Majesty with this expression of their grief and penitence. This is a fit pattern for us at this time.
But with fasting we must engage in fervent prayer. Luke-warm petitions will never find acceptance with God. We must cry mightily unto the Lord, even with strong crying and tears, if we would obtain from him the deliverance which we so greatly need.
And, to prove the sincerity of our hearts, we must turn, everyone of us, from our besetting sins to newness of life. No fasting will be of any avail without this; no, nor will prayer be heard without it. If our humiliation be not accompanied with this, God will say to us, as to his people of old, Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness [Note: Isa 58:5-6.];? Search out then the peculiar evils which you are most accustomed to commit, and cast them off even though they be dear to you as a right hand or a right eye: and then may we hope that God will be gracious to us at the voice of our cry, and turn away from his fierce anger wherewith he has visited our guilty land.]
If you will not thus turn unto the Lord, your guilt will be greatly aggravated
[Who were the people to whom this warning was delivered? Heathens. By whom were they addressed? A perfect stranger. What hope was held out to them of averting the threatened judgments? None at all. Not so much as a constructive promise was given them by any exhortation to repent. All the encouragement they felt was derived from a mere surmise: Who Can Tell, whether God will turn from his fierce anger, that we perish not? On the mere presumption that the exercise of mercy towards them was possible, they, at the very first announcement of Gods displeasure, turned to him, as it were, with their whole hearts; and thus obtained mercy. But you, brethren, are the professed servants of God, and followers of Christ. And you have been warned ten thousand times, and that too by those whom you yourselves acknowledge as appointed of God, to watch for your souls. You have had exceeding great and precious promises also set before you, with most assured declarations from God, that no one of you shall ever seek his face in vain. Say then, whether these Ninevites will not rise up in judgment to condemn you at the last day, if you dissemble with God on this occasion, as too many of us through the whole land, it is to be feared, are doing? Look at our king and his nobles, and at his subjects throughout the empire, and say, Whether there be any resemblance between our humiliation, and that which we have noticed in these penitent heathens? In them it was produced at the very first instant: but we have been warned ten thousand times in vain. Oh! could we but see any measure of the penitence amongst us that was evinced by them, I should have no fear but that the judgments under which we labour should be removed, or sanctified to our greater good.
In the case before us, God, in reversing the sentence denounced against that city, might appear weak, or mutable, or unworthy to be feared: and, at all events his prophet would appear to them as a deceiver. But He was more careful of their welfare than of his own honour, or of his servants reputation: and having produced a change in the people, he instantly changed his dispensations towards them. Not that the change was in him: it was in them only: for the removal of his threatened judgments was rather an execution, than a reversal, of his own decrees, which from eternity have been to pardon the penitent, and to bless the contrite. But in your ease there is no such obstacle in his way: for he has told you, that if you confess your sins, lie will not only forgive them, but display and magnify his own faithfulness and justice in that very dispensation towards you [Note: 1Jn 1:9.].
To obtain national mercies, our repentance must be national: but if there be but one amongst us that truly turns to God, he shall surely obtain mercy for his own soul, and be a monument of Gods pardoning love to all eternity.
Let me however hope, that this occasion shall not he lost upon the nation at large: but that our fasting shall be sincere, our prayers fervent, our reformation radical, and our success complete.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Jon 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
Yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, &c.
And from the violence that is in their hands
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
evil wicked. Hebrew. raa App-44.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
cry: Jon 1:6, Jon 1:14, Psa 130:1, Psa 130:2
let: Isa 1:16-19, Isa 55:6, Isa 55:7, Isa 58:6, Eze 18:21-24, Eze 18:27, Eze 18:28, Eze 18:30-32, Eze 33:11, Dan 4:27, Mat 3:8, Act 3:19, Act 26:20
the violence: Isa 59:6
Reciprocal: 2Ki 19:1 – covered Jer 25:5 – Turn Jer 26:3 – so Jer 36:3 – they may Jer 36:7 – and will Joe 1:14 – cry Joe 2:16 – assemble Mat 21:29 – he repented 2Co 7:10 – repentance
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jon 3:8. This verse is a direct confession that the people of Nineveh, from the greatest of them even to the least of them (including the king), were guilty of wrong doing. Moreover, they were told what they had been doing that, was wrong, else they could not know what “evil way it was from which they were to turn.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
3:8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and {f} cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that [is] in their hands.
(f) He exhorted that the men should earnestly call to God for mercy.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Clearly the Ninevites connected the impending judgment with their own conduct. They felt that by abandoning their wickedness they could obtain some mercy from God. The Hebrew word translated "violence" (hamas) refers to the overbearing attitude and conduct of someone who has attained power over others and misuses it (cf. Gen 16:5). Assyrian soldiers were physically violent (Nah 3:1; Nah 3:3-4; cf. 2Ki 18:33-35), but so were the Chaldeans (Hab 1:9; Hab 2:8; Hab 2:17) and others who, because of conquest, could dominate others. Discrimination against minorities because they are less powerful manifests this sin. We must not forget the violence of our own times and society.
"Violence, the arbitrary infringements of human rights, is a term that occurs in the OT prophets especially in connection with cities: urban conglomeration encourages scrambling over others, like caterpillars in a jar." [Note: Allen, p. 225.]
This reference to violence recalls Gen 6:11; Gen 6:13. God had previously destroyed the world in Noah’s day because it was so violent. Now Jonah became the bearer of a message of judgment on another violent civilization.
Decorating horses and other animals has long been a popular practice. In the funeral of President John F. Kennedy a rider-less horse added a poignant touch to the procession.