CHART

JONAH

Chapter I.

Jonah pursued:

a) By a storm, v. 1-4. b) By marines, v. 5-16. c) By a fish-whale, v. 17.

Chapter II

Jonah’s cries:

a) His plea and complaint, v. 1-5. b) His confession, confidence, release, v. 6-10..

Chapter III

Jonah’s commitment:

a) His recommission, v. 1. 2. b) His obedience, v. 3, 4. c) His note of Nineveh’s repentance, v. 5-9. d) His note of God’s withheld judgment, v. 10.

Chapter IV

Jonah’s pouting–God’s response:

a) Jonah’s bitterness, v. 1-3. b) God’s inquiry of Jonah, v. 4. c) Jonah’s booth, v. 5. d) God’s gourd-vine, worm, and east wind, v. 6-8. e) God’s second and third inquiry of Jonah v. 9-11.

WHO WRITES?

The Book of Jonah was written by the prophet Jonah, Jon 1:1. He was the son of Amittai, a prophet of the Lord in Gath-hepher, located some three miles north of Nazareth, in Galilee. The traditional tomb of Jonah is located about two miles from Siphhoris, just north of Nazareth in Galilee today. The main road from Nazareth to Tiberias passes near it. It is acknowledged by Jews, Christians and Moslems as the area of Jonah’s home residence in Galilee, 2Ki 14:25. Jonah was a bigoted Jew, at first unwilling to acknowledge any redemptive interest in the Gentile city of Nineveh. Jesus vouched for the historical certainty of his character, Mat 12:39-41.

TO WHOM?

The message of God was given to Jonah to be spoken to the wicked Gentiles of the city of Nineveh, calling them to repentance, to avoid their destruction, Jon 1:2. Nineveh was the capitol city of the Assyrian kingdom. It was located on the east bank of the Tigris river about 250 miles north of the city of Babylon, Jon 3:2-3.

ABOUT WHAT?

The message of Jonah was about the exceeding wickedness of the people of Nineveh and God’s specific call for them to repent, Jon 1:2; Jon 3:1-2; Jon 3:8-10. God desired to show mercy to the Gentiles, at their repentance, since Israel had refused to repent and turn from her idolatry. The book consists of only four chapters, containing 48 verses, revealing the hostility of Jonah’s heart, a reflection of that of the Jews in general, against God and the Gentile world. While they themselves were no better than the Gentiles in nature or behavior.

The four chapters are presented as follows:

Chapter 1. Jonah pursued;

Chapter 2. Jonah cries;

Chapter 3. Jonah’s commitment;

Chapter 4. Jonah’s pouting before God:

ABOUT WHAT?

The prophet writes and speaks by Divine Inspiration: He speaks of his own sins and chastisement, the specific experience of Divine chastisement he endured, mercy he received, and the second call he had to preach God’s message to heathen Gentiles, in the mighty city of Nineveh. He speaks of Divine miracles and his part in center stage of eight miracles as follows:

1. The raging storm at sea, Jon 1:4.

2. The falling of the lot on Jonah, Jon 1:7.

3. The instant calming of the sea, Jon 1:15.

4. The prepared sea monster (whale) to swallow Jonah, Jon 1:17.

5. Jonah’s deliverance (remission) from the sea monster, Jon 2:10.

6. The God-prepared gourd vine, Jon 4:6.

7. The God-prepared worm, Jon 4:7:

8. The scorching east wind, Jon 4:8.

These miracles attest the existence of a miracle-working God whom Jonah represented in his message of repentance. Most of these type of miracles were done by Jesus Christ in person, when He came. And Jesus identified Himself as that person of whom Jonah’s salvation from death was a prefigure, Jon 2:10; Mat 16:4; Mat 12:39-41.

WHEN?

Jonah lived and prophesied 800-749 B.C. in th reign of Jeroboam II, about the height of the 300 years that the Assyrian Empire held world-wide sway, 900-607 B.C. Jonah was therefore used of the Lord to prolong the life of the enemy power that was to be later used to exterminate and take captive his own people, the Jews of both the Northern and Southern kingdoms of Israel.

WHAT WAS THE OCCASION?

It appears that the occasion of this prophecy was at least twofold:

1) First, it was designed to show that God cared for the repentance of Gentiles as surely as that of the Jews, that both Jews and Gentiles were included in His provision for redemption and service, Rom 1:14-16.

2) Second, it was designed to show that a greater deliverer than Jonah was to come out of Israel, to assure the redemption of Gentiles and Jews, to be finally attested by the resurrection of Jesus, His eventual reign over the house of Israel, upon David’s throne forever, Luk 1:32; 1Co 15:24-28.

JONAH – CHAPTER 1

JONAH PURSUED – (RUNNING FROM GOD)

HIS FIRST COMMISSION, V. 1, 2

Verses 1, 2:

Verse 1 asserts that God spoke to Jonah, who was the son of Amittai, a priest of Gath-hepher, a village town in Galilee, located about three miles north of Nazareth, 2Ki 14:25; Jos 19:13; God spoke to prophets in ancient times, as He did here to Jonah, Heb 1:1.

Verse 2 relates God’s first particular call and commission for Jonah to arise and leave Gath-hepher and go to Nineveh, that great city of some 60,000 population, the capitol of Assyria, on the east side of the Tigris river, some 250 miles north of the city of Babylon, Gen 10:11-12; Jon 3:2-3. He was to cry against it because of the wickedness of the people as described Mat 12:41; Luk 11:32; Ro 1;21-13. Their chief idol was the bull-god, with the head of a man, and the wings of a bird.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

As I have before observed, Jonah seems here indirectly to intimate, (9) that he had been previously called to the office of a teacher; for it is the same as though he had said, that he framed this history as a part of his ordinary function. The word of God then was not for the first time communicated to Jonah, when he was sent to Nineveh; but it pleased God, when he was already a Prophet, to employ him among other nations. It might have been then, that he was sent to Nineveh, that the Lord, being wearied with the obstinacy of his own people, might afford an example of pious docility on the part of a heathen and uncircumcised nation, in order to render the Israelites more inexcusable. They made a profession of true religion, they boasted that they were a holy people; circumcision was also to them a symbol and a pledge of God’s covenant; yet they despised all the Prophets, so that their teaching among them was wholly useless. It is then probable that this Prophet was taken away from them, that the Ninevites by their example might increase the sin of Israel, for in three days they turned to God, after Jonah had preached to them: but among the Israelites and their kindred he had, during a long time, effected nothing, when yet his authority had been sufficiently ratified, and thus, as we have already said, in their favor: for Jonah had predicted, that the kingdom of Israel would as yet stand; and however much they deserved to perish, yet the Lord fulfilled what he had promised by the mouth at his servant. They ought then to have embraced his doctrine, not only because it was divine, but especially because the Lord had been pleased to show his love to them.

I do not indeed doubt, but that the ingratitude of the people was in this manner arraigned, since the Ninevites repented at the preaching of Jonah, and that for a short time, while the Israelites ever hardened themselves in their obstinacy. And hence some have refinedly expounded that passage in Mat 12:39, ‘This perverse generation seeketh a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it, except the sign of Jonah the Prophet,’ as though this intimated, that the Gospel was to be preached to the Gentiles, inasmuch as Jonah was taken away from his own nation, and was given as a teacher to foreign and heathen nations. They therefore suppose, that we are to understand this as a prophecy respecting the future call of the Gentiles, as though Christ had said, that he would hereafter go to the Gentiles, after having found the wickedness of the chosen people past recovery. But as Christ expressly applies this comparison, we ought not to draw his words here and there. (10) He indeed confines the similitude to one particular thing, that is, “As Jonah had been three days in the whale’s bowels, so also he would be three days in the bowels of the earth;” as though he had said, that in this he would be like to Jonah, for he would be a Prophet brought to life again. And this was said designedly by Christ, because he saw that he was despised by the Jews, and that his labors were in vain: “Since ye now hear me not, and regard me as nothing, know that I shall be hereafter a new Prophet, even after my resurrection; so at length I shall begin to speak more effectually both to the Jews and to the Gentiles, as Jonah converted Nineveh, after having returned again to life.” This then is the simple meaning of the passage. Hence Jonah was not a type of Christ, because he was sent away unto the Gentiles, but because he returned to life again, after having for some time exercised his office as a Prophet among the people of Israel. They then who say that his going forth was a token of the call of the Gentiles, adduce indeed what is plausible, but it seems to be supported by no solid reason; for it was in fact an extraordinary thing. God, then, had not as yet openly showed what he would do at the coming of Christ. When Naaman the Syrian was converted to the faith, (2Kg 5:15) and a few others, God changed nothing in his ordinary proceedings: for there ever existed the special call of the race of Abraham, and religion was ever confined within the ancient limits; and it remained ever true, that God had not done to other nations as he had to the Jews, for he had revealed to them his judgments, (Psa 147:20.) It was therefore God’s will that the adoption of the race of Abraham should continue unaltered to the conning of Christ, so that the Jews might excel all other nations, and differ from them through a gratuitous privilege, as the holy and elect people of God.

Those who adopt the contrary opinion say, that the Ninevites were converted to the Lord without circumcision. This is true; but I know not whether that was a true and legitimate conversion, which is hereafter mentioned; and of this, the Lord being willing, I shall again speak more fully: but it seems more probable, that they were induced by the reproofs and threatening of the Prophet, suppliantly to deprecate the impending wrath of God: hence God once forgave them; what took place afterwards does not clearly appear. It is certainly not probable that the whole city was converted to the Lord: for soon after that city became exceedingly hostile both to the Israelites and the Jews; and the Church of God was by the Ninevites continually harassed with slaughters. Since it was so, there is certainly no reason to think, that they had really and from the heart repented. But I put off a full discussion of this subject until we come to another passage. Let us go on now with our text.

(9) Calvin lays no great stress on the circumstance of the Book commencing with a ו, but states what he thinks as its probable import. The fact that other Books, such as Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, Ezekiel, and other books, begin thus, is no proof that the copulative here does not intimate what is here stated. Marckius and Cocceius think that it imports a connection between the different Books of Scripture; and if so, why may it not intimate a connection between this Book and the former Prophecy of Jonah? Junius and Tremelius render the ו “when,” and connect it with “then” at the beginning of the third verse; and it may be so construed at the beginning of most of the other Books. Adopting this rendering, we may translate thus, —

1. When the word of Jehovah came to Johah, the son of Amittai, saying

2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against her, for there wickedness has ascended before me.

3. Then Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish, from the presence of Jehovah, and went down to Joppa,” etc.

This reads connected, and the passage admits of this construction, for the copulative ו in Hebrew, when repeated, may very frequently be thus rendered, the first by “when,” and the second by “then.” — Ed.

(10) Marckius wisely says on another subject, but on a similar occasion, “ Extra Scripturam autem audacter hic sapiat nemo;” — “but let no one be here rashly wise beyond Scripture.” — Ed.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

JONAH AT SEA

Jon 1:1-3

IN beginning this series of talks on the Book of Jonah, my purpose is threefold. First, to familiarize you with this Book of the Bible. One of the weaknesses of present-day Bible study exists in the circumstance that so few people study carefully even a single Book of the sixty-six that go to make it up.

In the next place I want to expose the absurdities contained in the critics attacks upon this volume of Sacred Writ. And, finally, I hope to see the Holy Spirit reach mens hearts with its messages, that souls may be saved.

There is every reason to believe that this Book wears its authors name. The objections that have been urged against this opinionthree or four in numberare too flimsy for thoughtful people to give them any serious consideration. The objection that if Jonah was its author he would speak of himself in the first person instead of in the third, as Dr. Pusey has said, belongs to the babyhood of criticism. Since Caesar, Xenophen, Solomon, Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Amos, Daniel, Haggai, John, Peter, and Paul, every one write of themselves in the third person, do the critics stand ready to part with Caesars Commentaries, Xenophens Anabasis, The Pentateuch, The Proverbs, The Psalms, The Prophecies, The Gospels, and The Epistles?

Again, the objection that we hear nothing else of this Prophet Jonah, and consequently may question whether such a one existed, is adequately answered by referring to 2Ki 14:25, where we read of Jeroboam, who was then on the throne, that

He restored the border of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the Sea of the plain, according to the Word of the Lord God of Israel, which He spake by the hand of His servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the Prophet, which was of Gath-hepher.

The claim of some that had Jonah been the author he would have dealt less severely with his own character, rounding off its rough corners and deftly concealing its defects, is a criticism born of the lack of appreciation of prophetic character. Moses never dreamed of shielding himself when it came to the making of the record of his mistakes. David in the 51st Psalm paints his own sin in crimson colors, and instead of attempting to paliate his guilt, prays for pardon; while the Apostle Peter is supposed to have seen and consented to the faithful record of his own cowardly conduct.

The truth is that if anybody else than Jonah had been the author of this Book the Prophet would have fared better and the truth worse.

The name Jonah signifies a dove, and when first given doubtless meant to his mother gentleness and love. But, in the process of time, it came to be more significant still, as this man mourned as the dove mourns, as he witnessed the Wickedness of his own peopleIsrael.

It may seem a strange circumstance that a man who was a Prophet of Israel should receive an appointment to preach to the Gentiles of a great heathen city. But we must remember that from the beginning it was Gods custom to give to Israels Gentile neighbors an opportunity of salvation through the proclamation of His truth. To the Canaanites He preached by the character and faith of Abraham; to the Egyptians by the mouths of Joseph and Moses; to the Assyrians by Elisha; and to Nebuchadnezzar, Darius and Cyrus, and their respective kingdoms, by Daniel. If Israel had been either faithful students of Divine providence or careful observers of the Divine practice, they would have understood from the first what sounded so strangely in their ears when declared by the Apostle Peter, namely

That God is no respecter of persons;

But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him (Act 10:34-35),

There are four thoughts around which all the lessons of this first chapter may be arrangedJonahs Commission; Jonahs Resignation; Jonahs Experience; and Jonahs Judgment.

HIS COMMISSION

Now the Word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before Me (Jon 1:1-2),

It was from the Lord.

Now the Word of the Lord came unto Jonah, saying.

There are those who question whether men ever receive direct communication from God. But, to call that into question is to dethrone every Prophet and Apostle of Old and New Testament, for the one claim which they all make in common is that of being commissioned by the Lord. To call that into question is to dethrone God Himself, for what rational man could admit that there was a God in Heaven, of infinite wisdom and unlimited power, whose chief attribute was love, and at the same time deny that such a God would be interested in men and communicate to them His mind? And I am among those who believe that God is speaking to men today; speaking to His prophets preachersby the still, small voice of the Spirit, and yet by a voice so distinct that they cannot misunderstand, commissioning them to cry aloud against wickedness and call men to repentance. He speaks to the unsaved so that they understand Him, and calls upon them to repent and return to the Lord that they might be saved.

It is the greatest wickedness on the part of the saved, and the greatest folly on the part of the sinner when either shuts his ears against that voice, and refuses to hear the commission, or respond to the call.

This commission was definitely expressed,

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it.

There is no uncertainty in the sound. There is no question as to the language. Men often talk about their perfect disposition to do the will of God if only they could know what it was. All such speeches charge God with unfaithfulness or indifference, and prove the men who make them to be insincere.

If any man will do His mil, he shall know, is the statement of the Holy Word, and it has been a thousand times corroborated by sincere souls. When God called Moses, He made Himself so understood that Moses had no rest until he accepted the divinely-appointed ministry; when God called Samuel, He kept repeating it over and over until Samuel did understand; when God commissioned Peter to the Gentiles, even Peters Jewish prejudices could not obscure for him the will of his Lord; and when God convicted Saul, He distinctly questioned, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me? And God, who is the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever has not changed His method.

Every now and then we meet a man who tells us that the reason he is not a Christian is because God has not called him as yet, and we cannot help wondering what he has been doing with his ears that he has failed to hear the call to repentance, the call to faith, the call to obedience; and we cannot help fearing that he has been doing as a friend in Chicago used to do. He was deaf in one ear, and when he laid down to sleep, he found it easy to shut out all disagreeable sounds by burying the good ear in the pillow and turning the bad one up. And the man who has never heard God calling him has unquestionably his deaf ear toward Heaven, for God has made the ages ring with this sentence,

Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

I dare say there are few who, if they had now to give an account of the deeds done in the body, could honestly excuse themselves for not having accepted Christ upon the ground that they had never had a call from God. Not a one who hears me shall ever be able again to give that excuse and be honest, for here is Gods Word to you,

Come now, and let us reason together, and though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa 1:18).

The execution of this commission required courage. In order to appreciate how much courage, one must keep in mind some of the facts of this bit of history.

It was five hundred miles over mountains, through trackless forests, and across burning deserts to Nineveh; and there is no hint in the record that he was to have other means of transportation than to go on foot. The elements of air and water might smite him with disease; the wild beast might leap upon him from his place of hiding; the highway robbers might treat him as they did the man on his way to Jericho. If he escaped all this, and after weeks of travel reached Nineveh, he then had to confront people who were the sworn enemies of his nation; whose Paganism was utterly opposed to the faith of Israel, and cry in the streets of that city,

Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall he overthrown, exciting thereby the probable anger of men who were famed far and wide for their violence and bloodshed. The simple truth is that to be Gods at all requires courage.

The weakness of the present-day Christianity comes partly in consequence of the denial of this fact. People have come to think that Christ requires us to give up nothing when we become His, and take up nothing. On the contrary, Christ requires us to give up everything that can possibly militate against absolute obedience to His will, and take up the Cross, His Cross, the Cross on which self is to be crucified. The most potent reason unconverted men have for rejecting Jesus is at this very point. They know what true Christianity means. They know that faithfulness to God will often transfix the flesh and the lusts thereof. They know that the Christianity of Jesus Christ will excite criticism, raise opposition, and imperil interests that are dear. And, in lack of courage, they refuse to respond to the call.

Dr. Van Dyke is right in claiming it requires bravery to be truthful, generous, just, pure, kind, or loyal; right in saying, courage is essential to guard the best forces of the soul, and clear the way of their action.

Courage, the highest gift that scorns to bend To mean devices for a sordid end;Courage, an independent spark from Heavens throne,By which the soul stands raised, triumphant, high alone;The spring of all true acts is seated here,All falsehoods draw their sordid birth from fear.

HIS RESIGNATION

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord (Jon 1:3).

In other words, Jonah resigned his office as Prophet. Heretofore he had been fulfilling that office as we saw by the reference to 2Ki 14:25. But now God requires of him a difficult thing, and he prefers to resign rather than attempt it. That is the secret of a great many resignations. Jonah knew perfectly well that he could not get away from the presence of the Lord, for Jonah was familiar with the Psalm in which David had said,

Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence?

If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea;

Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand shall hold me (Psa 139:7; Psa 139:9-10).

Jonah knew it to be the truth. He fled, therefore, not so much from the presence of God as from the appointment of God. It meant a good deal to lay down the Prophets office at that time. It was one of the most honored offices known to Israel.

It means no less to lay down the prophets office at this time. The world has no office so honorable, and the Church none more so. It is easy to run back over the Old Testament times and show what a prominent part a Prophet played in national as well as ecclesiastical history; but it is equally easy to run back over the immediate centuries of the past to show that preachers of the Gospel of the Son of God have exercised an equal, if not a greater power.

Germany has no such debt to any other dead as she owes to Martin Luther, whose labors and opinions made possible her schools of learning and her improved religion. Italy will never sing sweetly enough to sound all the praises due Savonarola for his protest against political corruption and ecclesiastical crimes; while Switzerland is what she is, and ought to be far more and better, because John Calvin dwelt at Geneva.

I have been going up and down the eastern coast from Maine to Richmond, and no man can go through the coast cities and regard their churches and schools without remembering that John Cotton, John Harvard, Roger Williams, Jonathan Edwards, Increase and Cotton Mather, had more to do with molding new American thought and life, with making possible the universities and churches that are at once the pride and preservation of the people, than the men of all other employments and professions combined.

Yet, Jonah resigned this honorable office rather than keep it, and attempt a difficult task. He was afraid of the six hundred thousand heathen he had to facefierce, terrible fellows they were! No wonder he feared them; and many a modern preacher has called attention to Jonahs cowardice, and held him up to the public as weak, to resign himself the very first time he had to face three opponents. Jonah was a giant beside most of us. His worst cowardice was better than our best courage, and yet he was not justified in being cowardly.

No man is justified in being cowardly. The grand Martin Luther gave us the better illustration of a true prophet when he boldly professed himself willing to face all the devils of hell, if need be, and confidently believing that if he had God with him he would conquer.

There was a sense in which Jonah sought to flee the Divine Presence.

He knew, of course, as we all know, that there was no place in the universe where God was not. In the abstract he would have consented to what God said by the mouth of Amos (Amo 9:1-3) as true,

He that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he that escapeth of them shall not he delivered.

Though they dig into hell, thence shall Mine hand take them; though they climb up to Heaven, thence will I bring them down:

And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from My sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:

And yet, all this truth to the contrary notwithstanding, Jonah did what every disobedient servant is prone to do,tried to run away from God. Circumstances seemed to favor his endeavor, for when he went down to Joppa, he found a ship going to Tarshish. That is no sign he is doing right! The devil will always have a ship ready when a man wants to sail away from God. We want always to remember that it is far more important to know where a man is going and why he is going there, than it is that he should be getting on swiftly.

It is related that Huxley used to tell how, on one occasion when the British Science Association met in Dublin, he was late in reaching the day; and, fearing lest he might miss the opening address, he ran from his train to a jaunting-car, and jumping in cried to the driver, Drive fast, I am in a hurry. The Irish cabman slashed his horse with his whip and went spinning down the street. Presently Mr. Huxley noticed that he was not going toward the place of meeting, and calling out to the cabman, he said, Driver, do you know where I want to go? No, yer honor, I dont; but I am driving fast as yer told me.

It may be a good deal easier at the outset to take ship for Tarshish than to walk to Nineveh. But, if the latter would leave you in His company, you are foolish if you set sail. You cannot pay the fare for any such privileges.

Jonah thought he had paid the fare and the ship captain supposed the same, but they were both mistaken. There was more to be paid, as each of them soon realized. The most expensive sail that any man ever takes is when he sails away from God. No matter how smooth it is when he first starts, nor how cheaply he can commence his voyage, he will be rocked in a storm before he has finished it, and shortly find himself a hopeless bankrupt, compelled to cast all his wares overboard, and forced to follow them by going overboard himself.

Louis Albert Banks says, Go ask the young man who has been tampering with strong drink until his nerves are unsteady, his mothers or his wifes heart is broken, his position lost, what the fare was from Joppa to Tarshish. Go ask the young man who was arrested last week for forgery and is lying in jail waiting for his trial, his good name blighted, his promising business career forever destroyed, his home draped in shame, his conscience burning with remorse, what the fare is from Joppa to Tarshish.

Years ago when I was in New Albany, Ill., I conferred with, and helped him in a little matter, to collect some of the statistics that Dr. J. W. Clokey wrought into that little book, Dying at the Top. Being interested in it, I came into possession of a volume, and was profoundly moved as I perused its pages. Nothing said in the volume stirred me more than his description of what the drink demon did for J. J. Talbot, at one time a minister of the Gospel, later a brilliant, but drinking lawyer, and eventually a dying drunkard. His love of drink separated him from his wife, caused his children to be taken from him, sent his old mother into her grave with a broken heart Just before he died he said to Mr. Colfax, referring to all these losses of position as preacher, of honor as a lawyer, of love as a husband, of affection as a father, and of benediction as a son, and of respect as a citizen, and fellowship as a friend,

Now that the struggle is over, I can survey the field and measure the loss. I had position high and holy * * I had business large and lucrative * * I had money ample for all necessities * * I had a home adorned with all that the most exquisite taste could suggest. I had children, beautifulto me at leastas a dream of the morning * * I had a wife whose charms of mind and person were such that to see her was to remember, and to know her was to love * * I had a mother whose choicest delight was the reflection that the lessons which she had taught at her knee had taken root in the heart of her youngest born. But the thunderbolt reached me even there, and there it did its most cruel work * * and while her boy raved in his wild delirium two thousand miles away, the pitying angels pushed the golden gates ajar, and the mother of the drunkard entered into rest. Thus I stand a clergyman without a cure; a barrister without brief or business; a father without a child; a husband without a wife; a son without a parent; a man with scarcely a friend; a soul without a hopeall swallowed up in the maelstrom of drink!

Oh, young men, young women, if God is calling you, and you know what He wants you to do, dont sail away from Him! As you prize holiness here, as you hope for happiness hereafter, as you value the life of the soul itself, dont sail away from Him; but in answer to His call, say as Samuel said, Here am I; and if He have duties that He is clearly defining for you, say as Isaiah said, Lord, here am I, send me.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL NOTES.] And (now)] a continuation of the Hebrew writings, not an independent part.

Jon. 1:2. That] Heb. the city, the great, the art, a demonstrative force. Nineveh] Cf. Gen. 10:11, Smiths Bib. Dict. Arise] A term of excitement.

HOMILETICS

THE GREAT COMMISSION.Jon. 1:1-2

The word came suddenly, unexpectedly, and authoritatively to Jonah. He thought of quietly remaining in his own land. For ages God had confined his revelations to Israel. But he is the Ruler of all nations. His kingdom is not local and geographical like the gods of the heathens. Among the Gentiles the gospel must be preached (Rom. 3:28); and Jonah is sent to the most renowned city of the Gentile world.

I. The commission of Jonah. Go to Nineveh, that great city.

1. It was sovereign. The word came to Jonah, apparently the most unlikely for the work. God elects his own agents, appoints their duty and their place, and gives no account of his matters to us. Some have more work to do and more honour than others. Let all be content in their sphere, instead of longing for greater distinction and condemning the less privileged. Greater service would bring greater responsibility, and greater failure greater condemnation. God gives to every one according to his ability, and in sovereign authority demands implicit obedience. Arise, go.

2. It was arduous. There was great danger. Jonah might be ridiculed. It was a new and unheard-of enterprise. Nineveh was great in pride and splendour, wealth and population. For centuries it had been growing in power and population. The monarchs of Assyria had filled it with the spoils of empires. It had no equal, and sat as a queen in splendour. Nahum predicted the destruction of the city from a distance, but Jonah must go into it. It requires self-denial to go as a missionary to heathens now, with higher civilization and greater advantages. Jonahs mission was more difficult and trying. Social relations and selfish pursuits must give way to every command of God.

3. It was clear. Though brief and without explanation, the call was definite. With military precision the word is utteredGo; the field is revealedNineveh; and obedience is expectedArise. The word often comes to us with positive demands upon our time and purse. There has been no doubt or uncertainty. Let us feel its convincing and confirming power.

4. It was urgent. Arise. Delay strengthens doubt and increases difficulty. Carnal reasoning and natural reluctance have few better counsellors than procrastination. If we loiter, we may desert the duty, and the enemy be encouraged to tempt again. Gothe city is exposed to judgment, and men may perish. The Kings business requires haste. Run, speak to that young man.

II. The reason for Jonahs commission. For the wickedness, &c.

1. Great cities are often filled with wickedness. Power gives license and custom begets authority. Examples are pernicious, and evil communications corrupt good manners. Nineveh was filled with pride and alienated from God. She oppressed the poor and helpless (Jon. 3:8; Nah. 3:1-3). Blood and robbery, idolatry and witchcraft, stained her glory. She drew not near to God. Are our great cities and towns free from luxury and pomp, irreligion and injustice?

2. God sees the wickedness of great cities. They are not too great for the omniscient eye of the Great Judge. All sins go up before him, and are registered for judgment in his book of remembrance. Enormous guilt cries like the blood of Abel for interference. God specially takes cognizance of places above human restraint, and manifests holy indignation at their wickedness. Sodom and Gomorrah, Babylon and unburied Nineveh, are warnings to this generation.

3. The wickedness of great cities must be exposed. Cry against it. Individuals cannot hide themselves in communities, nor cities throw their responsibility upon nations. Every sin is searched out, found, and reproved. Jonah was not to go and teach philosophy, palliate, or compromise with sin, but to cry against it. Denounce the idolatry and predict the ruin of Nineveh. With intense feeling and earnestness he must give the alarm; proclaim with the voice of the herald the danger. Many people cannot cry; they have not force of soul; they are not endowed for extreme effort, says one. We must wink at no sin; expose drunkenness and profligacy; with lip and life, amid insult and indifference, cry aloud and spare not. God may conceal the danger of our duty, and touch our most sensitive feelings to test our faith and discipline our hearts, but never flee away, lest he punish you. Fear not; certainly I will be with thee.

HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES

The word. This phrase seems to represent the word of the Lord, as an atmosphere of kindling holy thought, a sphere of spiritual truth encompassing the Prophet, illuminating and moving his whole soul, and finally taking shape in language of exhortation, or prediction, or teaching, or resolve, as the case might be [Liddon].

Wickedness. God is brought before us in these words as he sits above this waterflood of crime, as he remaineth in the moral world, a King for ever. He is the Great Judge, unseen by man, but witnessing all human acts, and words, and motives; seated now upon his throne of judgment: and each crime of each member of that vast community mounts upwards, and is registered in his heavenly court [Wordsworth].

Let us call on our souls, when plain duty is before us, to arise and go about it: speedily, if we do not wish Satan to stop us from it (1Sa. 21:8; Psa. 119:60); heartily, if we desire God to accept our service (Ecc. 9:10); and cheerfully, if we would have comfort in doing it (Rom. 12:8). Jonah was called to immediate and hearty service. Such should be our obedience to every command of our Divine Master [Sibthorp].

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 1

Jon. 1:1. The name Jonah signifies a dove. But there is not much of mourning love, of which the dove has always been taken as the symbol in the record. The name might express his fathers feeling; as applied to himself it seems a misnomer. The hawk, the raven, or the vulture would seem to be more truly symbolical. But let us not forget that he tells his own tale, after the things recorded are past: that he tells it very expressly to the glory of Gods mercy, with which designedly he sets his own hardness and thoughtless cruelty in contrast [Raleigh]. There is but one reason for the mission stated here; but several others in reservesome gently hinted, some unrevealed until after ages [Raleigh].

Jon. 1:2. Jonah and his arise giveth a warning to us all, for we have all a Nineveh to go into. Magistrates, arise and go to the gate to execute Gods judgments. Ministers, arise and go to the gospel to do the works of evangelists. People, arise and go to your trades, &c. [King].

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

GODS MESSENGER RUNNING FROM GODTHE COMMISSION OF JONAH

TEXT: Jon. 1:1-2

1

Now the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

2

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

QUERIES

a.

Who was Jonahwhere did he livewhen did he live?

b.

Why send a Jewish prophet to a Gentile city?

PARAPHRASE

And now at Jehovahs appointed time in the course of events the word of Jehovah was communicated to Jonah, the son of Amittai, Jehovah said to Jonah, Arise and go with haste to that great Gentile city of Nineveh, in Assyria, and preach My sentence of judgment against it; for the wickedness of the people is great and it has come up before Me.

SUMMARY

Jehovahs righteous judgment is about to fall upon Nineveh but He commissions Jonah to go with a final message of repentance, which, if heeded, will bring salvation from the impending judgment.

COMMENT

Jon. 1:1-2 . . . THE WORD OF JEHOVAH CAME SAYING . . . GO TO NINEVAH . . . AND CRY AGAINST IT . . . The story of Jonah, beginning with the conjunction vav, unites with all the preceding history of Gods scheme of redemption and thus becomes one more pearl of great price fitted to the whole string of pearls which form the priceless revelation of Gods grace to man. It has a specific purpose to serve, it is not incongruous. It reminds the Jews of their election to be a witness to the nations; it proclaims Gods sovereignty over all peoples; it typifies the Messiahs humiliation and glorification; and it prophesies Israels chastening to come. It is Gods trumpet blast warning both Jew and Gentile of their responsibilities toward Him at a critical time in the scheme of redemption.

The city of Nineveh, according to Diodorus, was the greatest city of antiquity. It had a population of about 600,000 and was some 80 miles in circumference. Upon its walls, 100 feet high, flanked with 1500 towers, each 200 feet high, four chariots could drive abreast. It filled, together with the adjoining suburbs, the whole space between the rivers Tigris, Khoer, the Upper or Great Zab, the Gasr Su, and the mountainous boundary of the valley of the Tigris on the east. This great metropolis occupied an area of about 18 square miles.

The first mention of Nineveh is in Gen. 10:11 where it is stated that Nimrod (or Asshur) went out into Assyria, and builded Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen, adding, the same is the great city. It is very probable that the Nineveh of Jonahs day consisted of all these cities in one great city. The first king of any greatness in Nineveh was Assur-nasipal II (885860 B.C.) who was warlike and cruel but who welded Assyria into the best fighting machine of the ancient world. Shalmaneser II (860825 B.C.) was the first Assyrian king to come in conflict with Israel. Ahab fought him and Jehu paid him tribute. Then came Shansi-adad (825808 B.C.) and then Adad-nirari (808783 B.C.). Adad-nirari is undoubtedly the person who was king when Jonah went to cry against that great city. There are archaeological records to indicate that Adad-Nirari made reforms in his empire similar to those of Amenophis IV in Egypt. And, under the reigns of the three kings following Adad-Nirari (Shalmaneser III, 783771 B.C.; Assur-dayan, 771753 B.C.; Assur-lush, 753747 B.C.) there was a letup in Assyrian conquests. In this period Israel recovered lost territory, 2Ki. 14:25. These are hints that Jonahs influence on Nineveh was profound.

About 100 years later, under Sennacherib (705681 B.C.) Nineveh blossomed into beauty and splendor that she had never known, Sennacherib built his palace which covered 8 acres and was elevated on a brick platform 90 feet above the city level. Flights of marble steps led up all four sides of the palace and each entrance was flanked by five pairs of human headed beasts, lions and other figures. These palace ruins show numerous halls, rooms and passages, many of which were faced with slabs of coarse alabaster, sculptured in relief with military operations, hunting-scenes, mythological figures, etc.
Assur-banipal (668626), one of Assyrias last, but greatest kings, built one of the ancient worlds greatest libraries. It contained originally over 100,000 volumes. It was thoroughly cataloged and indexed and specific volumes were easily referred to. Archaeologists have found magnifying glasses supplied to read the many texts which, because of voluminous amount of material, had to be written in small characters. Among these volumes were such works as grammars, dictionaries, interlinear translations, works on astronomy relating observations of eclipses and the like, religious texts, legal texts including the code of Hammurabi, scientific works in taxonomy, geography and medicine, poetry, epics on the great Deluge and the Creation, fiscal documents relating to collection of taxes and works of various other natures.
About 612 B.C. Nineveh was destroyed by a coalition of armies from the Babylonians and Medes. It happened exactly as Nahum, the prophet, predicted it. Its destruction was so complete that even its site was forgotten. When Xenophon and his 10,000 passed by 200 years later he thought the mounds were the ruins of some Parthian city. When Alexander the Great fought the famous battle of Arbela, 331 B.C., near the site of Nineveh, he did not know there had ever been a city there.

To this cruel, cold-blooded, profligate, power-worshipping, materialistic, animistic metropolis God sent Jonah. Jonah was commanded to preach against that great city. Their wickedness cried out to the whole earth and God saw it just as He had seen it before (Gen. 6:5; Gen. 18:20-21). The wickedness of every man and every nation is a cry against God. But God has, by sending His Word, cried out against all wickedness (cf. Rom. 1:18 ff). Who will win in this struggle? Men cry their rebellions against GodGod cries His judgments upon men. Whose voice shall be finally heard? The Bible says Gods cry will prevail and history confirms it!

But why send Jonah to a foreign nation? Did he not have enough to do in preaching to his own people? No doubt he had preached to Israel time and time again of Gods judgment to come upon them because of their materialism, rebellion and unbelief. But his preaching had fallen upon sin-deafened ears. Nothing he said, however scathing, could turn them from their headlong plunge into heathenism. But look again at Nineveh. Its power and security, its prolificacy and licentiousness had become a by-word throughout the whole world. It was the subject upon every lipthe fear in every heart. Whatever might be achieved there by God through His prophet would not be as a thing done in a corner! The report of whatever should be accomplished there at Jonahs preaching would be reported throughout the world!
If by this one call to repentance Jonah should effect the repentance of this Gentile city, what a lesson that would be to the sin-calloused hearts of Israel. It should reveal to Israel the perverseness and foolishness of her behaviour toward her loving Godit should make her ashamed. If it did not so shame her into repentance then there was nothing left for God to do but cast Israel out as one no longer worthy to be called a child and receive and honor the recovered and penitent prodigal, Nineveh. This is precisely the use Jesus made of the preaching of Jonah at Nineveh and its results. Jesus told the Jews of His own generation that the people of Nineveh would rise up in the judgment to condemn them, because they had repented at Jonahs preaching; while He, a greater than Jonah, spoke only to cold and unconcerned hearts. The lesson to be learned from the response of the Gentiles should be even more graphic to the Jews of Jonahs day. The Ninevites surrendered to the call of God and ceased from their sins while the covenant people despised Gods word and His prophet and hardened their hearts fearing Him not. Israel then could only learn that repentance, such as expressed by Nineveh, would bring salivation. The only other alternative was certain, sure and just retribution from the God they insisted upon spurning.

This is a principle common to all ages. Jesus used it over and over again (Mat. 8:10-12; Mat. 22:1-14; Mat. 21:33-41); Paul reiterated it again and again both by example and precept (Act. 13:46-47; Act. 28:24-28; Romans 11, etc.). This principle is: God is not now nor was He ever a respecter of persons, But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him (Act. 10:34). When God chose the seed of Abraham He intended to bless not simply the physical offspring of Abraham but the spiritual seed of Abraham. The people of Israel in Jonahs day were in very real danger of forgetting this truth. Jonah is merely illustrating by an object-lesson this great truth which Hosea would later prophesy (Hos. 1:10; Hos. 2:23) and which Paul would quote in Rom. 9:19-26. When God judged and redeemed Israel it was a revelationa lessonto all mankind at large. Just as Israel, in apostatizing, became as the heathen falling under the judgment of God, so Israel in being redeemed upon her repentance was equally a promise to all Gentiles of their redemption if they should repent. In the case of Jonahs preaching to the Gentiles and bringing about their repentance and salvation it was this same lesson in reverseteaching the principle which those who should have known it best had so readily forgotten!

This was why Jonah was sent. God would use the repentance and salvation of Nineveh as a last effort of a loving Father to provoke a recalcitrant child (Israel) to shame and to a jealousy that would penitently seek the favor of its Father (cf. Rom. 10:19). But Jonah, so intent upon his own opinion as how to best accomplish Israels repentance (which would be by a catastrophic display of Gods wrath upon the sin of Nineveh), was found running ahead of God.

Another prophet, enamored of his own ideas as to how best bring about the purposes of God, was also found running ahead of God in a similar way and received a similar rebuke (cf. 1Ki. 19:9-14). The Jewish concept of the Messiah was one of a mighty military despot who would come to bring the retribution of God upon the Gentiles thus calling Israel to repentance but the Messiah came with the still small voice and the Jews, having already formed their concepts, rejected Him. We shall have more to say of this later.

QUIZ

1.

How does this singularly unique book of Jonah fit into the whole revelation of God?

2.

How great was the city of Ninevehpopulation, area, militarily?

3.

Who was the king of Assyria when Jonah preached against its capitol city?

4.

What was the eventual fate of the city of Nineveh?

5.

Why was Jonah sent to a Gentile city to preach against it?

6.

Are there any illustrations of other ages and other people of Gods purpose in Jonahs commission? Name some!

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

JONAHS DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT.

(1) Now . . .More strictly, And; but the English quite adequately represents the Hebrew style of beginning a narrative, whether it formed a book by itself, or merely continued an historical account. (See the opening of Exodus, Leviticus, and other historical books; Eze. 1:1; and comp. 1Ki. 17:1, &c.)

Jonah the son of Amittai.See Introduction.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

JONAH’S COMMISSION; HIS DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT, Jon 1:1-16.

Jonah, the son of Amittai, is commissioned by Jehovah to preach to the Ninevites (Jon 1:1-2); he disobeys and embarks on a vessel sailing in the opposite direction (Jon 1:3). A severe tempest arises which threatens to destroy the vessel; to save it the sailors cast the cargo overboard (Jon 1:4-5).

The captain appeals to Jonah to pray to his God for help (Jon 1:6). When the tempest continues the sailors decide to find out by lot on whose account the calamity has befallen them. The lot falls on Jonah (Jon 1:7). On inquiry he tells that he is a servant of Jehovah (Jon 1:8-9). The information fills them with fear, but when no relief comes they finally cast him overboard (Jon 1:10-15). The sea becomes calm, and the sailors worship Jehovah (Jon 1:16).

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jonah’s commission and disobedience, Jon 1:1-3.

Unlike the majority of the other Minor Prophets, the Book of Jonah has no formal title, Jon 1:1 being an integral part of the narrative (compare Hag 1:1; Zec 1:1).

Now Literally, And. The prophecy of Ezekiel and several of the historical books begin in the same manner. The occurrence of this “and” is one reason why the Book of Jonah has been considered an extract from a larger book (see p. 331), the beginning of which is omitted. The exact force of “and” is not clear, but the above conclusion is warranted no more in this case than it would be in the case of Ezekiel.

Word of Jehovah See on Hos 1:1; Joe 1:1.

Came How, is not stated.

Jonah the son of Amittai See p. 311. 2. The commission.

Nineveh One of the chief cities of the Assyrian empire. It is mentioned as early as 2700 B.C. in the inscriptions of Gudea of Lagas. So far as we know, it became a royal residence about 1100 B.C., and it continued to be such until the reign of Ashur-nasir-pal (about 880 B.C.), when Calah was rebuilt. It resumed its chief place under Sennacherib (705-681), and for nearly a century its glory and magnificence continued, until it was destroyed in 607-606 (compare the prophecy of Nahum). Its ruins consist chiefly of two great mounds, Kouyunjik and Nebi Yunus, on the eastern shore of the Tigris, north of the greater Zab, opposite the modern town of Mosul.

Great In size and power (see on Jon 3:3; compare Jon 3:2; Jon 4:11).

Cry against Implies that his message is to be one of judgment (chapters 3, 4).

Their wickedness is come up before me Their iniquity is so great that tidings of it have reached even to heaven, the dwelling place of Jehovah (Gen 18:21; 1Sa 5:12). He can endure it no longer.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Now the word of YHWH came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,’

As a prophet of YHWH Jonah received ‘the word of YHWH’. We are rarely given any explanation of how the word of YHWH was given and we are not justified in most cases in assuming that the prophet went into a state of ecstasy. Indeed it could be argued that among Hebrew prophets that was so rare an occurrence that it was only when it did happen that it was described in depth. Many have received the word of God since that day in the quietness of prayer and meditation, and there is no real reason for seeing the genuine prophets of YHWH as receiving it in any other way, except in exceptional circumstances. Elijah (e.g. 1Ki 17:11-14) and Elisha (2Ki 4:27) certainly expected that the word of YHWH would often come to them without any fuss. We have only to compare the approach of Elijah in contrast with the prophets of Baal to recognise that not all prophets functioned in the same way (1Ki 18:26; 1Ki 18:28-29; 1Ki 18:31-38).

All that we know of Jonah, apart from what is in this prophecy, is found in 2Ki 14:25, where we learn that Jeroboam II ‘restored the border of Israel from Libo-Hamath to the sea of the Arabah (the Dead Sea) according to the word of YHWH, the God of Israel, which He spoke by the hand of His servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet who was of Gath-hepher.’ We thus know that he was seen as an authentic prophet in the early 8th century BC who received ‘the word of YHWH’, and probably had the ear of the king. But in view of the fact that so little was known about him it would be difficult to see why this story should be written about him if it did not have a basis in fact. Why select a prophet connected with the outwardly successful reign of Jeroboam II for such a story when the point could be got over better by choosing a prophet from another time who would have had a good cause to fear (or to object to) going to Nineveh? Thus while attempts have been made to find such a reason, they have not been considered successful.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jon 1:1-17 Jonah Flees from the Presence of the Lord In Jon 1:1-17 we have the account of Jonah being called by God to go to Nineveh, and his flight to Tarshish in an effort to flee from the presence of the Lord. The Lord responded by sending a great storm upon the ship, with Jonah being thrown over by the ship’s crew, and him being swallowed by a whale.

The Literary Element the Storm in the Plot of the Book of Jonah – Guthrie notes Ladouceur’s comment that it was a pagan belief in New Testament times that survival of a shipwreck proved a man’s innocence, suggesting Luke included this lengthy story as a defense for Paul’s innocence. [7] This view finds support from Act 28:4, which alludes to such a belief, “No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.” We also see this believe alluded to in Jon 1:4-10 when the men of the ship sought the cause of the storm in their belief that someone on board had sinned against his god. According to Jon 1:4 the men’s beliefs were accurate, because God certainly sent this storm as a form of punishment upon His servant Jonah.

[7] Donald Guthrie, New Testament Introduction (Downers Grove, Illinois: Intervarsity Press, 1990), 373. (See David Ladouceur, “Hellenistic Preconceptions of Shipwreck and Pollution as a context for Acts 27-28,” Harvard Theological Review 73, 1980, pp. 435-449; and G. B. Miles and G. Tromph, “Luke and Antiphon: The Theology of Acts 27-28 in the Light of Pagan Beliefs about Divine Retribution, Pollution and Shipwreck,” Harvard Theological Review 69, 1976, pp. 259-267.)

Jon 1:1  Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

Jon 1:1 “Nowcame” Comments – A number of books in the Old Testament begins with the common Hebrew idiom “and it came to pass” ( ), made from the conjunction ( ) “and” and the imperfect verb ( ) “to be.” Douglas Stuart identifies the books that commence with this Hebrew construction as Joshua, Judges, 1 Samuel, Ruth, Esther, Jonah and Lamentations ( LXX). [8] This phrase is used at least three hundred eighty-eight (388) times in the Old Testament to begin narrative stories, and to move the plot from one scene to another within the narrative material. Although some of the books listed above are a part of a collection of narratives that follow a chronological order, Stuart believes this opening phrase is intended to begin a new book.

[8] Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, in Word Biblical Commentary: 58 Volumes on CD-Rom, vol. 31, eds. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker (Dallas: Word Inc., 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), “Introduction: Form/Structure/Setting.”

Jon 1:1 Comments The Dates of Jonah’s Ministry – Jonah, the son of Amittai, was from the city of Gathhepher (2Ki 14:25), located in the territory in Zebulun of northern Israel (Jos 19:13). Based upon Jonah’s prophecy recorded in 2Ki 14:25, the most popular view suggests that he ministered during the early reign of Jeroboam II, king of Israel (793-53 B.C.).

2Ki 14:25, “He restored the coast of Israel from the entering of Hamath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the LORD God of Israel, which he spake by the hand of his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, which was of Gathhepher.”

Jos 19:13, “And from thence passeth on along on the east to Gittahhepher, to Ittahkazin, and goeth out to Remmonmethoar to Neah;”

Comments The Manner in which Divine Oracles were Delivered unto the Prophets – God spoke through the Old Testament prophets in various ways, as the author of the epistle of Hebrews says, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets” (Heb 1:1). The Lord spoke divine oracles ( ) through the Old Testament prophets in three general ways, as recorded in the book of Hosea, “I have also spoken by the prophets, and have multiplied visions; I have given symbols through the witness of the prophets.” (Hos 12:10) ( NKJV) In other words, the prophets spoke to Israel through the words they received, they described divine visions to the people, and they acted out as divine drama an oracle from the Lord.

(1) The Word of the Lord Came to the Prophets – God gave the prophets divine pronouncements to deliver to the people, as with Hos 1:1. The opening verses of a number of prophetic books say, “the word of the Lord came to the prophet” Thus, these prophets received a divine utterance from the Lord.

(2) The Prophets Received Divine Visions – God gave the prophets divine visions ( ), so they prophesied what they saw ( ) (to see). Thus, these two Hebrew words are found in Isa 1:1, Oba 1:1, Nah 1:1, and Hab 1:1. Ezekiel saw visions ( ) of God.

(3) God Told the Prophets to Deliver Visual Aids as Symbols of Divine Oracles – God asked the prophets to demonstrate divine oracles to the people through symbolic language. For example, Isaiah walked naked for three years as a symbol of Assyria’s dominion over Egypt and Ethiopia (Isa 20:1-6). Ezekiel demonstrated the siege of Jerusalem using clay tiles (Eze 4:1-3), then he laid on his left side for many days, then on his right side, to demonstrate that God will require Israel to bear its iniquities.

Jon 1:2  Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

Jon 1:3  But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

Jon 1:3 “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD” – Comments – In Rick Joyner’s book The Call the author meets Jonah in his vision. In this vision Jonah explains the reason he fled from the presence of God was because he had come to understand the great burning that comes with His presence. Jonah said that a great responsibility comes with being in His presence. [9] Jonah said to him that he was fleeing more from the presence of God than from the will of God.

[9] Rick Joyner, The Call (Charlotte, North Carolina: Morning Star Publications, 1999), 45.

Jon 1:4  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 like to be broken.

Jon 1:4 Scripture References There are a number of references in Scripture to God commanding the winds and the waves.

Psa 107:25-29, “For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.”

Psa 148:8, “Fire, and hail; snow, and vapour; stormy wind fulfilling his word:”

Jon 1:5  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 lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

Jon 1:5 Comments The ancient world was largely superstitious, adhering to a pantheon of pagan gods. These mariners would have looked upon these gods as “guardians” who watched over their lives.

Jon 1:6  So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

Jon 1:6 Word Study on “shipmaster” The English word “shipmaster” ( KJV) is a translation from the Hebrew phrase ( ), which phrase is unique to the Old Testament Scriptures. It is comes from the Hebrew words ( ) (H7227) and ( ) (H2259) and is translated “the chief of the ship’s governors” ( KD). Strong says the Hebrew word ( ) (H7227) means, “abundant (in quantity, size, age, number, rank, quality.” Strong says the Hebrew word ( ) (H2259) means, “a sailor.”

Jon 1:7  And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

Jon 1:7 Comments The ancient practice of casting lots was not restricted to the Jewish culture under the Mosaic Law. The books Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Nahum provide us with references in the Old Testament Scriptures to the custom of casting of lots by someone other than the people of Israel, being practiced among the Babylonians (Oba 1:11), the Ninevites (Nah 3:10), and among the sailors (Jon 1:7), which Adam Clarke suggests to be Phoenicians based on Eze 27:12. [10]

[10] Adam Clarke, The Book of the Prophet Jonah, in Adam Clarke’s Commentary, Electronic Database (Seattle, WA: Hendrickson Publishers Inc., 1996), in P.C. Study Bible, v. 3.1 [CD-ROM] (Seattle, WA: Biblesoft Inc., 1993-2000), notes on Jonah 1:3.

Joe 3:3, “And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.”

Oba 1:11, “In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.”

Nah 3:10, “Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets: and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.”

Jon 1:7, “And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.”

Eze 27:12, “Tarshish was thy merchant by reason of the multitude of all kind of riches; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they traded in thy fairs.”

The Roman soldiers who crucified Jesus Christ cast lots at the foot of the Cross (Mat 27:35, Mar 15:24, Luk 23:34, Joh 19:24). The Roman statesman Cicero (106-43 B.C.) makes numerous references to the widespread practice of casting lots among the ancient cultures in his work de divination. [11] The Jewish historian Josephus (A.D. 37-100) mentions the practice of casting lots among the Roman soldiers who had encompassed the city of Jerusalem under Titus. [12] The Roman historian Suetonius (A.D. 70-130) mentions this ancient practice among Roman leaders by appointing men to tasks by casting lots, as well as casting lots as a form of divination. [13]

[11] For example, Cicero writes, “But what nation is there, or what state, which is not influenced by the omens derived from the entrails of victims, or by the predictions of those who interpret prodigies, or strange lights, or of augurs, or astrologers, or by those who expound lots (for these are about what come under the head of art); or, again, by the prophecies derived from dreams, or soothsayers (for these two are considered natural kinds of divination)?” ( de divination 1.6) Cicero also writes, “What, now, is a lot? Much the same as the game of mora, or dice, l and other games of chance, in which luck and fortune are all in all, and reason and skill avail nothing. These games are full of trick and deceit, invented for the object of gain, superstition, or error.” ( de divination 2.41) See Cicero, The Treatises of M. T. Cicero on the Nature of the Gods; on Divination; on Fate; on the Republic; on the Laws; and on Standing for the Consulship, trans. C. D. Yonge (London: Henry G. Bohn, 1853), 146-147, 235.

[12] Josephus writes, “They also cast lots among themselves who should be upon the watch in the nighttime, and who should go all night long round the spaces that were interposed between the garrisons.” ( Wars 5.12.2)

[13] For example, Suetonius writes, “When later, on his way to Illyricum, he [Tiberius] visited the oracle of Geryon near Patavium, and drew a lot which advised him to seek an answer to his inquiries by throwing golden dice into the fount of Aponus, it came to pass that the dice which he threw showed the highest possible number and even to-day those very dice may be seen under the water.” ( Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Tiberius) Suetonius, The Lives of the Twelve Caesars by Suetonius, trans. Joseph Gavorse (New York: Modern Library, 1931), 130-131.

Jon 1:14  Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech 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.

Jon 1:14 Comments – These seamen did not want to be guilty of murder, especially when they were facing death. Therefore, they prayed for God’s mercy upon them just before throwing Jonah overboard, hoping He would accept this act in exchange for their souls. Thus, we see how Jonah serves as a type and figure of the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jon 1:15  So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.

Jon 1:15 Comments Jonah served as a type of sacrifice that the mariners offered unto YHWH. The calming of the sea testified that YHWH accepted their sacrifice. We can compare the numerous times in the Scriptures when God accepted a Jewish sacrifice with a supernatural manifestation of fire coming down and consuming the offering. For example, the angel of the Lord accepted the sacrifice of Manoah, the father of Samson by consuming it with fire.

Jdg 13:19, “So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the LORD: and the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. And Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground.”

This fire also came down and consumed the sacrifice of Moses at the dedication of the Tabernacle in the wilderness (Lev 9:24).

Lev 9:24, “And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.”

A fire from heaven consumed the sacrifice of King David at the threshing floor of Ornan.

1Ch 21:26, “And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.”

A fire also came from heaven and consumed the sacrifice of King Solomon at the dedication of the temple.

2Ch 7:1, “Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the LORD filled the house.”

Fire also consumed the sacrifice of Elijah on Mount Carmel.

1Ki 18:38, “Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”

In addition, during the time of Moses, God consumed the children of Israel with fire as a form of judgment (Num 11:1-2; Num 16:35).

Jon 1:16  Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.

Jon 1:16 Comments The calming of the sea served as an unquestionable testimony that YHWH, the God of the Israelites, received this sacrificial offering of Jonah being cast overboard. This testimony resulted in the mariners believing in YHWH and offering sacrifices and vows to him. Douglas Stuart qualifies their belief, saying, “the sailors genuinely believed in Yahweh (though hardly in a monotheistic manner).” [14] In other words, these mariners probably did not abandon their polytheism, but acknowledged YHWH as the greatest in their pantheon of gods.

[14] Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, in Word Biblical Commentary: 58 Volumes on CD-Rom, vol. 31, eds. Bruce M. Metzger, David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Barker (Dallas: Word Inc., 2002), in Libronix Digital Library System, v. 2.1c [CD-ROM] (Bellingham, WA: Libronix Corp., 2000-2004), comments on 1:4-16 – Form/Structure/Setting.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Jonah’s Commission And Flight

v. 1. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai, in a vision or by a direct revelation, saying,

v. 2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, by preaching a call to repentance; for their wickedness is come up before Me, as had that of Sodom and Gomorrah hundreds of years before. Cf Gen 18:20. The name Nineveh was applied to a complex of four ancient cities, including Nineveh proper, which lay between the Tigris River and a low range of hills, about 500 miles northeast of Jerusalem. The entire length of the compound city was about twenty-five miles, while its breadth was fifteen. At that time it had more than half a million inhabitants and was the capital and metropolis of the entire heathen world.

v. 3. But Jonah, instead of showing the proper obedience to the Lord, rose up to flee unto Tarshish, Tartessus in Spain, one of the westernmost cities of the ancient world and always considered as lying on the very boundary of the earth’s inhabited area, from the presence of the Lord, from before the face of the Lord, who was thought of as having His habitation in the Temple at Jerusalem, and went down to Joppa, the harbor of Jerusalem on the Mediterranean Sea. And he found a ship going to Tarshish, for there was a lively commercial intercourse with the western metropolis even at that time on account of its trade in metals and fine products of the soil; so he paid the fare thereof, he engaged passage, and went down into it to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, thus deliberately denying his services to Jehovah, the King of Israel, chiefly because the idea of preaching repentance to a heathen nation was repugnant to him, since he feared that the Lord might show the Gentiles mercy.

v. 4. But the Lord, whose presence was by no means confined to the Land of Promise, sent out a great wind into the sea, a very severe storm, which caused the billows to rise in dangerous mountains; and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken, it was on the point of foundering.

v. 5. Then the mariners, the sailors on the boat, were afraid and cried every man unto his god, for the seamen were from various countries and worshiped various gods, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship, the freight which she was carrying, into the sea to lighten it of them, so that she would ride higher in the water and no longer be in danger of foundering. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship, into its cabin, or hold; and he lay and was fast asleep, thinking himself secure from all danger.

v. 6. So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Why should he withdraw at the time of this great peril?. Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not, by lending them His assistance and rescuing them from the impending destruction.

v. 7. And. they said every one to his fellow, after Jonah had obeyed the call of the captain, Come and let us cast lots, a common method of determining the guilt of men at that time, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us, who was to blame for the present condition of affairs. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah, the Lord Himself directing this method of determining the guilty one.

v. 8. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us, who and what was responsible for this condition of affairs. What is thine occupation? his business, which might have been of a nature to arouse the wrath of God. And whence comest thou, from what nation and people?. What is thy country? And of what people art thou? The questions are shouted in a confused mass, as always under the stress of a great emotion.

v. 9. And he said unto them, in an open confession of his guilt, I am an Hebrew, the usual name applied to the people of Israel by the surrounding nations; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, worshiping Him alone, which hath made the sea and the dry land, the one Creator of the world and all it contained.

v. 10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, filled with terror at the scope of this confession, which showed them that they were, although unwittingly, assisting Jonah in his effort to escape the Lord, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? a cry of horror and fear more than a question, for the God of the Hebrews was known as a powerful Deity. For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them, this statement having been included in the confession which he made before them. Even unbelievers quake at any evidence of the wrath of God, much as they otherwise scoff at those who worship Him.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Jon 1:1-17

Part I. THE MISSION OF JONAH. HIS DISOBEDIENCE AND PUNISHMENT.

Jon 1:1-3

1. Jonah is sent to Nineveh to cry against it; but he tries to avoid the mission, and to this end takes ship to Tarshish.

Jon 1:1

Now; or, and. Some have argued from this commencement that the Book of Jonah is a fragment, the continuation of a larger work; but it is a common formulary, linking together revelations and histories, and is continually used in the Old Testament at the beginning of independent works; e.g. Jos 1:1; Jdg 1:1; 1Sa 1:1; Est 1:1; Eze 1:1. Jonah the son of Amittai (2Ki 14:25). (See Introduction, II)

Jon 1:2

Nineveh, the capital of the kingdom of Assyria, is first mentioned in Gen 10:11, as founded by Nimrod. It stood on the left bank of the river Tigris, where it is joined by the Khosr, opposite to the present town of Mosul. The Assyrians had already become known in Syria. In B.C. 854 Shal-maneser II. had defeated at Karkar twelve kings confederate against him, among whom is reckoned Ahab King of Israel. Long before his time, Tiglath-Pileser I. had made a great expedition to the west, captured a town at the foot of Lebanon, and reached the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Jehu was compelled to pay tribute to the Assyrians; and Rimmon-nirari, who reigned from B.C. 810 to 781, held the suzerainty of Phoenicia, Samaria, Edom, and Philistia. Jonah, therefore, knew well what his country might expect at the hands of this people. That great city. It is thus called in Jon 3:2, Jon 3:3; Jon 4:11; and the epithet is added here in order to show to Jonah the importance of his mission. The size of Nineveh is variously estimated according to the sense attached to the name “Nineveh.” This appellation may be restricted to Nineveh proper, or it may comprise the four cities which lay close together in the immediate neighbourhood of each ether, and whose remains are now known as the mounds of Kouyunjik, on the southwest, directly opposite to Mosul; Nimrud, about eighteen miles to the southeast; Karamless, twelve miles to the north; and Khorsabad, the most northerly, about the same distance both from Karamless and Kouyunjik. Khorsabad, however, was not built till some hundred years after Jonah’s time. These cities are contained in an irregular parallelogram of some sixty miles in circumference. The following account of Nineveh proper is derived from Professor Rawlinson, ‘Ancient Monarchies,’ 1:252, etc.: “The ruins consist of two principal mounds, Nebbiyunus and Kouyunjik. The Kouyunjik mound, which lies nearly half a mile northwest of the others, is very much the more considerable of the two. Its shape is an irregular oval, elongated to a point towards the northeast. The surface is nearly flat; the sides slope at a steep angle, and are furrowed with numerous ravines worn in the soft material by the rains of some thirty centuries. The greatest height above the plain is ninety feet, and the area is estimated at a hundred acres. It is an artificial eminence, computed to contain 14,500,000 tons of earth, and on it were erected the palaces and temples of the Assyrian monarchs. The mound of Nebbi-yunus is at its base nearly triangular, and covers an area of nearly forty acres. It is loftier, and its sides are more precipitous than Kouyunjik, especially on the west, where it abutted on the wall of the city. The mass of earth is calculated at six and a half millions of tons. These two vast mounds are both in the same line, and abutted on the western wall of the city, which was some two and a half miles in length. Anciently it seems to have immediately overhung the Tigris, but the river has now receded to the west, leaving a plain of nearly a mile in width between its bank and the old rampart which evidently once followed the course of the river bank. The western wall is joined at fight angles by the northern rampart which runs in a straight line for seven thousand feet. At its other extremity the western wall forms a very obtuse angle with the southern, which impends over a deep ravine, and runs in a straight line for about a thousand yards, when it meets the eastern wall, which is the longest and the least regular of the four. The entire length of this side is sixteen thousand feet, or above three miles. It is divided into two portions by. the Stream of the Khosr-su; which, coming from the northwest, finds its way through the city and then across the low plain to the Tigris. The town is thus of an oblong shape, and the circuit of its walls is somewhat less than eight miles, and the area which they include is eighteen hundred acres. This, at the computation of something less than one hundred inhabitants per acre, would ascribe to Nineveh a population of one hundred and seventy-five thousand souls” (Rawlinson, ‘Anc. Men.,’ 1. Jon 1:1-17). Cry against it. The message is given in Jon 3:4. Thus the knowledge of the true God is made known among the Gentiles. Their wickedness; i.e; as Pusey notes, their evil doing towards others, as in Nah 3:19 (see Introduction, I). Is come up before me, and appeals for punishment, as Gen 4:10; Gen 18:20, Gen 18:21; Septuagint, , “The cry of its wickedness is come up unto me.”

Jon 1:3

Tarshish; probably, Tartessus, a Phoenician city on the south coast of Spain, and therefore in the opposite direction to Nineveh. He was sent to the far east; he flees to the distant west. From the presence of the Lord; literally, from the face of Jehovah. This may mean, from God s special presence in Jerusalem or the Holy Land, as banishment from Cannaan is called “casting out of his sight” (2Ki 17:20, 2Ki 17:23; 2Ki 23:27); or, from serving the Lord as his minister (Deu 10:8), Jonah preferring to renounce his office as prophet rather than execute his mission. The former seems the most natural explanation of the phrase. Kimchi says that Jonah supposed that the spirit of prophecy would not extend beyond the land of Israel. He could never have thought to escape from God’s all-seeing eye. His repugnance to the duty imposed upon him arose partly from national prejudice, which made him loth to interfere in Gentile business, and partly, as he himself says (Jon 4:2), because he feared God’s compassion would spare the Ninevites on their repentance, and that thus his prediction would be discredited, and mercy shown to heathens already inimical to Israel, if not known to him as the future conquerors of his people. Joppa. This is the modern Jaffa (called Japho in Jos 19:46), a town on the seacoast thirty miles in a northwesterly direction from Jerusalem. “Jaffa,” says Dr. Thomson, “is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was given to Dan in the distribution of the land by Joshua, and it has been known to history ever since. It owes its existence to the low ledge of rocks which extends into the sea from the extremity of the little cape on which the city stands, and forms a small harbour. Insignificant as it is, and insecure, yet, there being no other on all this coast, it was sufficient to cause a city to spring up around it even in the earliest times, and to sustain its life through numberless changes of dynasties, races, and religions, down to the present hour. It was, in fact, the only harbour of any notoriety possessed by the Jews throughout the greater part of their national existence. To it the timber for both the temples of Jerusalem was brought from Lebanon; and no doubt a lucrative trade in cedar and pine was always carried on through it with the nations who had possession of that goodly mountain. Through it, also, nearly all the foreign commerce of the Jews was conducted, until the artificial pert of Caessarea was built by Herod . The harbour, howewer, is very inconvenient and insecure. Vessels of any considerable burden must lie out in the open road-steada very uneasy berth at all times; and even a moderate wind will oblige them to slip their cables and run out to sea, or seek anchorage at Haifa, sixty miles distant . The road-stead is liable to sudden and unexpected storms, which stir up a tumultuous sea in a very short time . The landing also is most inconvenient, and often extremely dangerous. More boats upset, and more lives are lost in the breakers at the north end of the ledge of rocks that defend the inner harbour than anywhere else on this coast.” Went down into it; [, Alex.] , “went up into it”. Went on board; or, as Jerome says, sought a hiding place in the ship (comp. verse 5). With them. With the crew. Jonah had told them (verse 10) that he was flying from God’s service, but, knowing and earing nothing about Jehovah, they took him on board when he paid his fare, and thought nothing of his private reasons for joining them

Jon 1:4-10

2. Jonah‘s foolish flight is arrested. In the midst of his fancied security God sends a great storm, and the ship is placed in imminent jeopardy. The crew try all means to save the ship, and at length cast lots to discover by this means for whose sake the tempest has been sent. The lot points out Jonah as the guilty person.

Jon 1:4

Sent out; Septuagint, , “raised;” literally, cast forth, or hurled, a great wind, like the Euroclydon of Act 27:14, and what is called nowadays a Levanter. Pusey quotes Josephus’s account of the harbour of Joppa and the neighbouring sea, which, he says, is rendered very dangerous by the sudden rise of “the black north wind” (‘Bell. Jud.,’ 3.9. 3). Here we see wind and storm fulfilling God’s word (Psa 148:8). As Tertullian says

“Si Dominum in terris fugiens, invenit in undis.”

“Flying the Lord on earth, he found him in the sea.”

Was like to be broken; literally, thought to be dashed in pieces. Wordsworth contrasts the living consciousness and apprehension of the ship with the lethargy of the prophet now lying fast asleep in the hold (Act 27:5). Septuagint, , “was in danger of being broken up.”

Jon 1:5

The mariners (mallachim). Those who have to do with the salt sea. The word is used by Ezekiel (Eze 27:9, Eze 27:27, Eze 27:29). Cried every man unto his god. They were either Phoenicians from different localities, or men of various nations; hence the multiplicity of their gods. The heathen are represented throughout the book as devout and sincere according to their lights. They cast forth the wares; Septuagint, , “cast out the furniture, or wares,” as Act 27:18,Act 27:19; Vulgate, miserunt vasa. They threw overboard probably both all spare tackling and movables, and the cargo. The freight may have been corn, which was exported in considerable quantifies from Joppa (comp. Eze 27:17), or manufactured articles from Tyre, which were exchanged with Spain for silver and other metals. To lighten it of them; literally, to lighten from against them; i.e. to ease the ship of its burden, or to ease them of their trouble, is Exo 18:22. The LXX. takes the former interpretation, , “that it might be lightened of them;” Vulgate, ut alleviaretur ab eis. The sides of the ship. The innermost parts (interiora, Vulgate) of the ship; ; “the hold”. Jonah hid himself there before the storm arose. The Hebrew word for “ship” (sephinah) is found nowhere else, and, probably from its derivation (saphan, “to cover”), implies that the vessel was decked. He lay, and was fast asleep; , “was asleep and snoring,”; dormiebat sopore gravi (Vulgate). The word used implies a very deep sleep, as that of Sisera (Jdg 4:21) or of the Assyrians (Psa 76:6). He was fatigued and worn out with mental anxiety, and now being, as he thought, secure, and longing for solitude, he lay down to sleep, unconscious of danger. Contrast this sleep in the storm with that of Christ (Mar 4:38), and that of the apostles who slept for sorrow (Luk 22:45).

Jon 1:6

The shipmaster; literally, the chief of the ropemen; Vulgate, gubernator; Septuagint, , “the look out man.” The captain. What meanest thou, O sleeper? How canst thou sleep so soundly when our danger is so imminent? If thou canst help us in no other way, at least ask the aid of Heaven. It was the duty of a prophet of the Lord to take the lead in prayer; but here the prophet’s stupor is rebuked by the heathen’s faith. Call upon thy God. The sailors’ prayers had not been answered, and they arouse Jonah, noting something special about him, perhaps his prophet’s dress, or observing that he was an Israelite, and therefore a worshipper of Jehovah, of whose power they had heard. If so be that God will think upon us. They use the word “God” with the article, ha Elohim, as if they had, in spite of their Polytheism, a dim notion of one supreme Deity. Vulgate, Si forte recogitet Deus de nobis; Septuagint, , “that God may save us.” From the apparent use, of the Hebrew word (ashath) in Jer 5:28 in the sense of “shining,” some translate here, “if perchance God will shine upon us,” i.e. be favourable to us. But the meaning given in the Anglican Version is best supported. So the psalmist says, “The Lord thinketh upon me” (Psa 40:17), implying that God succours and defends him.

Jon 1:7

Finding the storm still violent, the crew come to the conclusion that it is sent by Heaven in punishment of some crime committed by one on board; and they proceed to cast lots to discover the guilty person. Jonah doubtless had meantime complied with the captain’s request, but, as the sailors saw, without visible effect. The belief that temporal calamities are often connected with the presence of culprits, and are sent in judgment, is found in classical authors. Thus Plautus, ‘Rudena,’ 2:21

“Pol minume miror, navis si fracta est tibi,

Scelus te et sceleste parta quae vexit bona.”

“Little I wonder if the ship is wrecked
Which carries thee and thy ill-gotten wealth.”

The misfortune of the Israelites at Ai was consequent on the sin of Achan (Jos 7:1-26). Let us cast lots. Jerome says here, “The fugitive was taken by lot, not by virtue of the lots, especially of the lots of heathen men, but by the will of him who guided the uncertain lots.” For whose cause; Septuagint, . The unusual nature of the tempest showed them that it was sent in judgment. Commentators cite the story of Diagoras told by Cicero (‘De Nat. Deor.,’ 3.37). The lot fell upon Jonah. Pro 16:33, “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord”.

Jon 1:8

The mariners having, as they supposed, discovered the culprit, proceed calmly to investigate his guilt; amid the roaring of the tempest and the peril that surrounded them, they give him every opportunity of clearing himself or confessing his crime. For whose cause. Some manuscripts of the Hebrew and the Greek omit this clause as unnecessary; but, as Keil remarks, it is not superfluous, the sailors thereby wishing to induce Jonah to confess his guilt with his own mouth. In their excitement they crowd question upon question, asking him about his business, his journey, his country, his parentage. Jerome notes the pregnant brevity of these inquiries, and compares Virgil, ‘AEneid,’ 8.112, etc.

“Juvenes, quae causa subegit

Ignotas tentare vias? quo tenditis? inquit.
Qui genus? unde domo? pacemne huc fertis an arma?“

“Warriors, what cause constrained you thus to tempt
A path untrodden? Whither are ye bound?
What is your race? Where dwell ye?
Peace or war, Come ye to bring?”

(Comp. Hom; ‘Od.,’ 1:170)

What is thine occupation? His occupation, they thought, might have been one to excite the wrath of the gods; or his country and family might have been exposed to the hatred of Heaven; hence the succeeding questions.

Jon 1:9

I am an Hebrew. This is the name used by foreigners in speaking of Israelites, or by Israelites in speaking of themselves to Gentiles (see Gen 14:13; Gen 39:14; Gen 41:12; Exo 1:16; 1Sa 4:6, for the former use; and for the latter, Gen 40:15; Exo 2:7; Exo 3:18). Convinced that God had miraculously pointed him out as the culprit on whose account the storm was sent, and goaded by the stings of conscience, Jonah loses all his previous indecision and spiritual stupor, and in a manly and straightforward way confesses the truth without disguise. The LXX; reading differently, renders, , “A servant of Jehovah am I.” This makes a tautological statement with the next words, and leaves one of the sailors’ questions unanswered. I fear the Lord. I worship, reverence Jehovah, who is not a local deity like the false gods whom you adore, but the Creator of heaven and earth, the Maker and Ruler of sea and dry land. So Abraham calls the Lord the God of heaven (Gen 24:7), and Daniel (Dan 2:37, Dan 2:44) uses the same expression (comp. Psa 96:5; Jer 10:11).

Jon 1:10

Exceedingly afraid. They understand now the greatness of Jehovah and the terrible risk incurred by one who offends him. There was a widespread acknowledgment of the power of Jehovah among the heathen (see Exo 15:15; Jos 5:1; 1Sa 4:7; and comp. Judith 5:21). Why hast thou done this? better, What is this that thou hast done? (Gen 3:13). This is not a question of inquiry, for he had already told them that he had fled from the presence of the Lord; but rather an exclamation of horror and amazement at his folly and sin. That one who worshipped the Almighty Creator should disobey his command seemed to them outrageous and inexcusably criminal. The prophet does not spare himself in giving the history of the transaction. To be thus rebuked by heathen sailors must have added to the poignancy of his remorse. The presence of the Lord (see note on Jon 1:3).

Jon 1:11-16

3. On hearing. Jonah’s confession, the sailors appeal to him, as a worshipper of Jehovah, to tell them what to do to him that the storm may cease. He bids them cast him into the sea, which, after some demur and after renewed efforts to escape, they proceed to do. Upon this the storm immediately abates.

Jon 1:11

What shall we do unto thee? They recognize that the tempest was sent as a judgment on account of Jonah’s sin; at the same time, believing him to be a prophet of Jehovah, under whose wrath they were suffering, they ask his advice in this emergency; if it was a crime to receive him, what shall they do to him to expiate the offence and to appease the anger of God? That the sea may be calm unto us; literally, may be silent from upon us, so as no longer to bear down upon us. Wrought, and was tempestuous; literally, was going and was tempestuous; Septuagint, , “The sea was moving and lifting the surge still more;” Vulgate, ibat et intumescebat. That is, according to the Hebrew idiom, “grew more and more tempestuous” (comp. Exo 19:19; Pro 4:18).

Jon 1:12

Jonah, brought to a better mind, perhaps divinely inspired, pronounces his own sentence. “I know,” he says, “that the fault is mine, and deserves death, therefore take me up, and cast me forth into the sea.” He will not he his own executioner, but will patiently bear a death righteously inflicted by others, whoso safety he was endangering by his continued presence.

Jon 1:13

The generous sailors, however, are loth to execute this sentence on a prophet of the Lord, and make a supreme effort to reach the land, and thus obviate this severe alternative. Rowed hard; literally, digged (Job 24:16; Eze 12:7); Septuagint, , “used violent efforts.” They endeavoured to force their way through the waves with oars, as the use of sails was impracticable. The expression is like the classical phrases, infindere sulcos, scindere freta, arare aquas, and our “to plough the main.” To the land; to get them back to land. The wind was off shore, and they had taken down the sails, and tried to row back to the harbour. , “to return to the land”. The sea wrought (see note on Jon 1:11).

Jon 1:14

They cried unto the Lord. They prayed no longer to their gods, as before (Jon 1:5), but unto Jehovah, the God of Jonah. Let us not perish for this man’s life. Let us not incur death for taking this man’s life. They seem to know something of the Noachic law that punished murder (Gen 9:5, Gen 9:6). Lay not upon us innocent blood. Charge us not with the guilt of shedding innocent blood (Deu 21:8). For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee (1Sa 3:18). The whole affair has happened according to thy will. The tempest, the lot, the sentence, are all the working of thy providence. The prophet throughout brings into prominence the contrast between the behaviour of these heathen and his own, and would teach his nation a lesson thereby.

Jon 1:15

They took up, with a certain reverence. Ceased from her raging; literally, stood from its anger; Septuagint, , “stood from its tossing.” The sudden cessation of the storm showed that it had been sent on Jonah’s account, and that the crew had not sinned by executing the sentence upon him. Usually it takes some time for the swell to cease after the wind has sunk: here there was suddenly a great calm (Mat 8:26).

Jon 1:16

Feared the Lord. They recognized the supernatural element in the transaction, and conceived an awe and fed, of Jehovah, who had wrought these wonders Offered a sacrifice unto the Lord. Many commentators think that they sacrificed on reaching shore, as they had thrown the cargo overboard, and would have had no animal to offer. The Chaldee renders accordingly, “They said that they would offer sacrifices.” But the text implies that they sacrificed immediately on the cessation of the storm. They may naturally have had some animal on board fit for offering. And made vows. Vowed to make other offerings when it was in their power. Henderson compares Virgil, ‘AEneid,’ 3.403, etc.

“Quin, ubi transmissae steterint trans aequora classes

Et positis aris jam vota in litore solves.”

“And when thy fleet hath safely crossed the seas,
And, raising altars on the shore, thy vows
Thou shalt perform.”

It has been supposed that these sailors embraced Judaism and became proselytes. At any rate, they showed themselves in the light of believers on this occasion.

Jon 1:17

4. Cast into the sea, Jonah is swallowed alive by a great fish, is whose belly he remains unharmed three days and three nights. Had prepared; Septuagint, , “appointed;” so in Jon 4:6, Jon 4:7, Jon 4:8 (comp. Job 7:3; Dan 1:10, Dan 1:11). The fish was not created then and there, but God so ordered it that it should be at the place and should swallow Jonah. The prophet seems, from some expressions in his psalm (Jon 2:5), to have sunk to the bottom of the sea before he was swallowed by the fish. A great fish; Septuagint, (Mat 12:40). There is nothing in the word to identify the intended animal, and to call it “a whale” is simply a mistranslation. The white shark of the Mediterranean (Carcharias vulgaris), which sometimes measures twenty-five feet in length, has been known to swallow a man whole, and even a horse. This may have been the “great fish” in the text. Was in the belly of the fish. God used the natural agency of the fish, but the preservation of Jonah’s life in the animal’s belly is plainly supernatural. It is, indeed, analogous to the life of the child in its mother’s womb; but it has besides a miraculous element which is unique, unless it was an actual death and revivification, as in the ease of Lazarus. Also God ordained this transaction as a type of the resurrection of Christ. Three days and three nights; i.e; according to Hebrew usage, parts of the days and nights; i.e. one whole day, and parts of the day before and after this. Jonah was released on the third day (comp. Mat 12:40 with 1Co 15:4; and Est 4:16 with Est 5:1). The historical nature of this occurrence is substantiated by Christ’s reference to it as a figure of his own burial and resurrection. The antitype confirms the truth of the type. It is not credible that Christ would use a mere legendary tale, with no historical basis, to confirm his most solemn statement concerning the momentous fact of his resurrection.

HOMILETICS

Jon 1:2

A city’s sin.

By its very nature sin is individual, personal; for it is the estrangement of the spiritual being and life from God. Yet, as men live in communities, and as these communities possess moral qualities and habits determined by the character of the component units, there is such a thing as the sin of a tribe, of a city of a nation. This is more obvious when it is remembered that states are personified in their rulers and representatives, whose words and actions must be taken as those of the community at large. The Scriptures, from the record of the Tower of Babel downwards, exhibit national responsibility as connected with national error and unfaithfulness. Among the lessons of this Book of Jonah, this lesson regarding a nation’s moral life and accountability is not the least valuable.

I. A CITY‘S SIN IS COMPATIBLE WITH ITS POLITICAL GREATNESS. Nineveh was “that great city.” It was situated upon the noble river Tigris; it boasted a splendid and ancient history; it was of enormous extent, being, according to the historians, eighteen leagues in circumference; it had a population reckoned by hundreds of thousands; in short, it was one of the greatest and most famous of the cities of the ancient East, and was the capital of one of the most powerful of kingdoms. Recent discoveries have familiarized us with the civic life of the population of the city of Nineveh. Yet the wickedness of Nineveh was great. Magnitude, population, wealth, luxury, splendour, power,all are, alas! consistent with forgetfulness of God, and with rebellion against his authority who is King of kings and Lord of all the nations upon earth. How signally was this the case with pagan Rome! And are there not cities in professedly Christian lands, the abodes of power and of pleasure, whose sin cries aloud unto God?

II. A CITY‘S SIN IS OFTEN DISREGARDED BY HUMAN OBSERVERS, AND EVEN BY RULERS. The citizens take pride in their “gorgeous palaces,” their “solemn temples,” in magnificent public works, in stately ceremonies, in all the complicated apparatus of civilization, luxury, refinement, and enjoyment. The men in authority are content if outward order is observed, if regulations of police are respected, if the reports of health are satisfactory, if trade flourishes. But it is often forgotten that beneath this outward show of prosperity there may exist moral corruption and religious indifference, or even defiant infidelity. God may not be glorified; he may be hated and disobeyed. And yet no concern may be awakened, no contrition felt.

III. A CITY‘S SIN IS OBSERVED BY THE ALL–SEEING GOD. What graphic language is this, “Their wickedness is come up before me”! Under this old Hebrew idiom a great religious truth is discernible. Nothing escapes the notice of him who searcheth the hearts of the children of men. Not only so. God looks upon the sins of the citizens, not as a statistician or a politician might look. He is grieved with men’s irreligion; he is “angry,” i.e; “with the wicked every day.” We must not attribute to the Deity any emotions which would be unworthy of a human ruler. But it is not derogatory to God, it is honouring him, to think of him as distressed and dissatisfied with human rebellion, and to remember that his regard is that of a wise and righteous Ruler, who is concerned for the spiritual state of those whom he rules for their own good and for his glory.

IV. A CITY‘S SIN MUST BE MET BY A RIGHTEOUS TESTIMONY, REBUKE, AND WARNING. It must not be forgotten that men’s sins are often attributable to evil example, to common custom, to the force of habit, to forgetfulness and carelessness. For this reason is it needful that the preacher of righteousness should exhibit a just and lofty standard of national and individual virtue; that he should faithfully expose and denounce prevailing errors, follies, and injustice; and that he should remind men of their amenability to the tribunal of an Omniscient and Almighty Ruler. There is too little of this frank and fearless treatment of social corruption; the pulpit is to blame for this; and it is to be desired that Christian preachers should hear the Word of the Lord bidding them go and “cry against” the wickedness of great cities, and warn the citizens of the ruin they are bringing upon themselves. And above all is it important that the wicked should be summoned to repentance, and that the penitent should be directed to that Saviour who is the assurance of Divine pity, and the channel of Divine forgiveness, to all who come to him with contrite sorrow and with lowly faith.

Jon 1:3

Fleeing from the Lord.

There is something wonderfully simple in this language, and something wonderfully childish and naive in the action here described. Yet when Jonah, who should have gone eastward, turned his face towards the west, when he went down to the port of Joppa and took ship for Tarshish, though he was acting in a way sinful in itself and most disastrous for him, he was teaching for all time and for all readers of Scripture a lesson of human infirmity which is to us chiefly precious as preparing the way for a lesson of human repentance and of Divine forgiveness and acceptance.

I. THE MOTIVE WHICH LEADS MEN TO WISH TO FLEE FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD IS BAD. There are various impulses which may tend to drive men away from the all-searching eye of the Supreme. Some, like Jonah, may wish to avoid a service to which they cherish repugnance; for which, perhaps, they feel personally disqualified. Others may wish to hide their sins from One who, they know well, must regard them with displeasure. In any case, though the degree of culpability may vary, the motive is unworthy. The child should hide nothing from the Father; the Christian should never askWhere shall I hide from thy presence? but should rather rejoice in the nearness, the interest, the favour, of his Maker and Saviour.

II. THE METHOD WHICH MEN ADOPT IN ORDER TO FLEE FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD IS ABSURD. Change of place cannot take us out of the territory of the Omnipresent King. Jacob found that when at Bethel; the Lord was in that place, though he knew it not. Jonah learned that God’s hand held in its hollow the raging sea; the same hand that fashioned the dry land from which he fled. It is now more common for those who would flee from God to betake themselves to the society of the profane, the licentious, the ungodly; thus they seek at least to banish the thought of God, if they cannot escape from his all-regarding eye.

III. THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF FLEEING FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD IS OBVIOUS. That is to say, obvious to all who reflect upon the nature and the attributes of the Eternal. And it is well that all who are tempted to wish that relations between themselves and their Creator were suspended should reflect upon this impossibility. In God we live and move and have our being. We may forget him, but he does not overlook us. We may be out of harmony with his highest purposes, but we cannot cease even for one moment to be subjects of his kingdom, whether contented or discontented, loyal or rebellious.

IV. THE CONSEQUENCES OF ENDEAVOURING TO FLEE FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD ARE AFFLICTING. In his favour is life. It is well to walk in the light of the Lord. They who depart from God forsake their true happiness. The presence of the Lord of all is necessary in order to strength and success in our work. A messenger from God above all men needs the consciousness of the Divine favour; for him to flee from God is to sacrifice his life, to throw up his vocation, and, except God have mercy upon him, to destroy his spiritual prospects.

V. GOD‘S FORBEARANCE AND COMPASSION MAY BRING BACK THOSE WHO TRY TO FLEE FROM HIM. The narrative tells not only how Jonah. fled, but how God followed him; how God did indeed chasten his servant, but did not forsake him; how Providence overruled his sinful conduct and secured his spiritual good. We need not despond, even if we have, as it were, turned our back upon God. “He restoreth our soul.” He so reveals his grace that, instead of fleeing from his presence, we come to find in that presence fulness of joy.

Jon 1:4

Nature and God.

There is a Hebrew directness and energy in this language describing the storm which overtook the unfaithful prophet. Some would be satisfied to say that we have here simply a poetico-theological expression descriptive of a natural phenomenon. But surely the Hebrew idiom here employed is the vehicle of a great truth. The Lord does send the wind and raise the tempest; and the Lord also calms the waters and stills the storm.

I. THE ATHEISTIC VIEW IS THAT NATURE IS A REALITY AND GOD A FICTION. Many scientific, and non-scientific, readers too will sayThe storm did arise, but this was in accordance with natural laws, and there is no room and no need for the hypothesis of a Deity. Facts are facts, and regularities and uniformities are undeniable; but with explanations, with personal agencies, we have nothing at all to do.

II. THE PAGAN VIEW IS THAT NATURE IS THE OUTWARD EXPRESSION OF THE PRESENCE AND ACTIVITIES OF INNUMERABLE DEITIES. According to the heathen, the sea and the land, the woods and the fountains, had their several deities, whose actions accounted for all changes. In the tempest, Jonah’s fellow voyagers cried every man unto his god. The mood of the deity might vary, his purpose might change.

III. THE SUPERSTITIOUS VIEW lS THAT NATURE IS GENERALLY INDEPENDENT OF GOD, BUT IS SOMETIMES VISITED BY A DIVINE INTERFERENCE. When all things proceed in an even course, it is supposed that there is no need to presume a Divine presence. But when anything happens which is unusual, this is taken to be an evidence of the interposition of a superior Power. The calm is Nature’s work, the storm is God’s. A capricious, arbitrary Providence is the superstitious man’s deity.

IV. THE RATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS VIEW SEES GOD IN AND BEHIND NATURE IN ALL HER CHANGES. God is the Author of Nature’s laws. “The sea is his, and he made it; and his hands formed the dry land.” Divine purpose, intelligence, wisdom, benevolence, are to the thoughtful and pious mind manifest in all the scenes and operations which Nature presents to us. We need not be pantheists, and identify God and Nature, in order to see and to glorify God in all his works.

Jon 1:6

Danger and devotion.

The conduct of the seamen, who themselves, when encompassed ‘by danger and when threatened by death, both called upon their gods and besought Jonah to imitate their prayers and vows, may have been superstitious in its accessories, but it was certainly right in principle.

I. DANGER REMINDS US OF OUR OWN POWERLESSNESS. In the presence of the great forces of naturethe hurricane, the earthquake, the volcanoman feels his own physical feebleness and helplessness. He is mightier than all these forces in that he can think and feel, purpose and act, whilst they blindly and unconsciously work out a higher will. But in his body he is incapable of resisting, of measuring himself against, these tremendous powers.

II. DANGER REMINDS US OF THE UNCERTAINTY AND BREVITY OF HUMAN LIFE. By some “accident” from without, or by some “disorder” within, the life of the body will certainly be brought to a close. The lightning may smite or the waves may swallow up the healthiest framemay close the most useful and beneficent life. The treacherous sea, as in this narrative, threatens to engulf the mariner and the passenger.

To thee the love of woman has gone down,
Brave hearts and true are gathered to thy breast?

III. DANGER DRIVES THE SINNER TO SEEK GOD‘S MERCY. To many the hour of peril is the only hour of prayer. Lips that have only used the name of the Eternal Majesty in ribald profanity, when white with fear utter that name in earnest entreaty for pity and for deliverance. When human help is vain, then the godless call upon the great Helper, God. How worthless such prayer often is experience sadly teaches. “The river past, the saint forgot.” Yet it is well that men should be awakened, however rudely, from their self-sufficiency and false security.

IV. DANGER DRAWS FORTH THE CONFIDENCE AND THE PRAYERS OF THE PIOUS. How many are the records of shipwreck which tell of the peace and trust, the fortitude and hope, of the true Christian, when those around have abandoned themselves to despair l He who believes the gospel knows that God “thinks upon him,” and knows that he so thinks upon his own for good. It may be that an unexpected deliverance will be wrought; but it will be the case that, whatever the Father above may suffer to happen to the body, the soul shall be safe in heavenly keeping unto life eternal.

Jon 1:9

A good confession.

What an insight this story gives us into the life and habits of travellers in ancient times! Curiosity is always entertaining; but the inquisitiveness of these seamen bound for Tarshish, as they questioned their passenger regarding his occupation, his race, and his religion, is a revelation of their character, and affords an opportunity to the prophet to avow his religious faith. Jonah was not willing to obey God; yet he was not slow to confess God. There is much to admire in his language.

I. IT WAS AN INTELLIGENT CONFESSION. God is to many little more than a name; religion merely a form of words. There are those who are satisfied to name the name of their hereditary deity. Jonah’s acknowledgment was accompanied by statements which prove his faith to have been something more than traditional. He described the Jehovah whom he worshipped as the God of heaven, the Maker of the sea and of the land. The words remind us of the opening of the Apostles’ Creed. To confess God truly is to recognize his attributes and his method of dealing with the sons of men. It is not enough to utter mechanically a form of words.

II. IT WAS A BOLD CONFESSION. Instead of being alarmed by the dangers of the deep, the prophet seemed now to recover the self-possession which he had lost. In the presence of the angry elements and the anxious sailors, and above all in the presence of the Lord of nature and of man, Jonah confessed his God. Was there in this conduct something of the spirit embodied in the words, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him”?

III. IT WAS A REVERENT CONFESSION. “I fear the Lord;” i.e. revere, worship, and honor him. They who know him aright may well offer to him the veneration and adoration which angels delight to present. Who would not fear his great Name? Alas! that the name of God should ever pass irreverent lips!

IV. IT WAS, HOWEVER, A CONFESSION WHICH WAS INCONSISTENT WITH THE PROPHET‘S CONDUCT, AND WAS THEREFORE HIS CONDEMNATION. How was it that he, who so honourably confessed his God in the tempest, had fled from that God, and disobeyed his plain commands? Could he use this language and not feel that it censured himself for so acting as he had done? It is well that we should verbally acknowledge God, that we should sincerely confess his right over us. But it may be that when we recite our Creed, and make our confession, we shall learn to think of our frequent inconsistencies with the profession which we avow. The knowledge of God may bring us to the knowledge of ourselves; and confession may lead to penitence, and so to reconciliation.

Jon 1:12

Self-sacrifice.

Whatever difficulties the facts of this narrative may occasion in the mind of the reader, it must be admitted that it abounds with principles of the deepest interest and value. How could the lesson of self-devotion, of self-sacrifice, be more impressively taught than in the language of Jonah recorded in this verse? The unquestionable realities of federal human life, and of substitutionary suffering and sacrifice, are brought before us in a vivid and impressive form.

I. DIVINE PROVIDENCE APPOINTS THAT THE WRONG DOING OF MEN SHOULD INVOLVE SUFFERING TO THEIR FELLOW CREATURES. “For my sake,” said Jonah, “this great tempest is upon you.” No observer of human life can doubt that the greatest sufferers are not always the greatest sinners; they are often those who are brought into trouble, sorrow, and affliction through the conduct of those connected with them. The child suffers for the father’s sins; the wife, for the husband’s improvidence; the people, for their rulers’ selfishness and negligence. We may not be able to explain this fact, we may not be satisfied with explanations of it which other people accept; but it would show an ignorance of human life to question its reality.

II. THE SAME PROVIDENCE APPOINTS THAT SUFFERINGS WILLINGLY UNDERGONE BY MEN SHOULD BE THE MEANS OF BENEFIT TO OTHERS. “Cast me forth,” said Jonah, “into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you.” Here again we are brought into contact with an undoubted fact in human society. The sufferings, hardships, and self-denial of parents are the means of comfort, culture, and well being to their children. Great men benefit society by means of their labours, their self sacrifice. Few persons reap a harvest of gladness and peace and prosperity, the seed of which has net been sown with toil and with tears. It is the highest exercise of patriotism to devote one’s self to death for the country’s weal; and the highest exercise of benevolence, when called upon by duty, to die for the welfare of humanity.

III. BOTH THESE PRINCIPLES ARE MOST CONSPICUOUSLY EXEMPLIFIED IN THE SACRIFICE OF OUR DIVINE REDEEMER.

1. The sins of men brought Jesus to the cross of Calvary.

2. The sufferings of Jesus bring men to the enjoyment of the Divine favour. “By his stripes we are healed.”

Jon 1:13, Jon 1:14

Effort and prayer.

It has always been acknowledged that there was in the conduct of these heathen sailors something peculiarly generous. Although they believed themselves to have been brought into danger by the companionship of Jonah, although he himself invited them to cast him overboard and so secure their safety, this they would not do until they had exhausted every means of deliverance.

I. IN TIMES OF DIFFICULTY AND DANGER WE ARE SUMMONED TO EXERT ALL OUR POWERS FOR OUR ESCAPE AND PRESERVATION. There is a false piety which is true fatalism, which is content with prayer and indisposed to effort. But such is not the piety sanctioned in Scripture. Courage, effort, perseverance,these are the qualities which are always mentioned with commendation. In fact, effort is the use of the natural powers with which our Creator has endowed us, the employment of the means which Providence has put within our reach. In striving for safety and for success men are honouring God. Endeavours may be unsuccessful, but it is better to fail while doing our very best than to fail by sloth and negligence.

II. IN TIMES OF DIFFICULTY AND DANGER THERE IS NO RESOURCE SO PROPER AND SO PRECIOUS AS PRAYER. The conduct of these heathen sailors, as here described, is beyond all praise. What they did was to put forth every effort for their own and their fellow voyager’s safety, and then to commend themselves to the guidance and the mercy of the Most High. With their slender knowledge they could not have prayed with much intelligence; but they prayed with much good feeling towards man, with much submission towards God; and with much fervour. The lesson is obvious. Whilst we can work it is well to work in a prayerful spirit, with dependence upon God. When we can no longer work, when human effort is of no avail, then it is well to call upon God and to leave ourselves entirely in his hands.

Jon 1:16

Fear, sacrifice, and vows.

Times of danger are often times of devotion; but times of deliverance are not always times of thanksgiving. It is to the credit and honour of these seamen that when the storm ceased they acknowledged Jehovah as the Author of the calm, as the God of salvation. Three aspects of religious exercise are here presented to us.

I. REVERENCE. We cannot say that there was no superstition in the feelings and the conduct of these mariners. Probably the piety of most good men has an element of superstition. In any case, they feared the Eternal, feeling themselves to be in the presence and at the disposal of him who holds the waters in the hollow of his hand.

II. SACRIFICE. It was a thank offering, no doubt, which they presented. If they were sincere, this sacrifice was a symbol of the consecration of their whole nature, their whole life, unto God.

III. Vows. Mercy experienced in the past should lead to the expectation of mercy in the future. The season of deliverance is a suitable season for resolutions and for vows. But be it remembered, “Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay.”

HOMILIES BY J.E. HENRY

Jon 1:1-3

A despicable deserter.

“God looketh on the heart.” And none but God can. It is an obscure and tortuous place”deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Its chaos and darkness, transparent to the Divine Spirit, are impenetrable to any creature’s eye. Even the new heart is not all new. Persistent among the grace germs are bacteria of sin, inseparable and morbific. In Jonah this baneful combination is obvious. He neither loved God supremely nor his neighbour as himself. If he had, the action here recorded could never have been done, nor the feelings which prompted it have found a home in his heart. To fly from God‘s service because it involved the helping of men is a course consistent it may be with grace, but only with grace alloyed, inchoate, and overlaid with the mind of flesh.

I. IN GOD‘S ARMY IT IS EITHER DESERTION OR DUTY. “Jonah rose up, to flee from the presence of the Lord.” There was a Divine presence from which Jonah was not so ignorant as to attempt escape. He shows familiarity with the Book of Psalms (Jon 2:2-9), and doubtless knew with the psalmist (Psa 139:7-10) that there was no place outside God’s omnipresence. But there was a special presence of God in the land of Israel. He was present in gracious hearts, and in the ordinances and offices of the Church. This special and gracious presence Jonah, like Jacob (Gen 28:16), seems to have considered peculiar to the Holy Land. He had a notion probably that the institutions arising out of it were purely local also, and that flight to heathen Spain would break the spiritual connection and void his prophetic office. His flight was “not from God’s presence, but from standing before him as his minister he renounced his office” (Pusey). And the act was logical in one aspect, however criminal. Enlistment in God’s service means something. It is not playing at campaigning. It is not a kind of spiritual antumn manoeuvres, which merely give spice to a periodical outing. It incurs responsibility and involves obedience.

“I slept, and dreamed that life was beauty.
I woke, and found that life was duty.”

That all must find who are spiritually awake. There is work for all, and his task for each. And it has got to be done. In the Divine code stand the regulations of the service, and they are not to be trifled with. Idleness is out of the question; insubordination is not to be named. Jonah felt this. “He rose up to flee.” He could not point blank refuse, and stand his ground. Do something he must, when the word went forth. He will not preach, and so he has got to fly. It is so always. A man cannot remain at his post and strike work. The eye of the Master would look him through, and his presence compel obedience. The mutineer is in the same hour a deserter. He can maintain the one character only by adopting the other. Our spiritual duties arise out of our spiritual relations, and are at the same time their necessary expression. The alternative with us is “both or neither.” Refuse God’s work, and you put yourself out of his service.

II. BIGOTRY IS AN INEVITABLE WEAKENER OF THE MORAL SENSE. Some think Jonah refused to summon the Ninevites to repentance for fear they might take him at his word. Their reformation just now would not have suited his views. As heathen he disliked them, and as wicked he could use them as a foil for wicked Israel. Nineveh penitent, on the other hand, after one Divine warning, would have contrasted strongly with Israel impenitent after centuries of prophetic appeal, and he dreaded the repentance which would have been the occasion of such a damaging comparison. But this is clearly an exaggeration of Jonah’s reeling in the matter. No prophet of God, no servant of God, could connive at sin against God in order to the destruction of men. To do so would be incompatible altogether with the religious character. Still, Jonah would have been more or less than a Jew if he had not been a bigot. He would not wantonly have compassed Nineveh’s ruin. But being a bigot, and an egoist as well, he was so indifferent to the fate of the heathen city as to be ready to sacrifice it rather than risk the lowering of his own prophetic reputation, in all this we see the tokens of a weakened moral sense. Bigotry is an unequalled hardener of the heart. It is narrow, cold, sour, and carping. It denies or belittles all good outside its own ecclesiastical circle. Whilst blind to extern religious excellence, it is indifferent to extern religious attainment. It takes covert pleasure in the sins and weaknesses of rival Churches; it would regard their failure and collapse with mean complacency; and it would almost as lief see men remaining in sin as reformed by effort not its own. The tendency to look every man and Church on our own things is a natural one, and grows. And it necessarily involves the other tendency, its universe, to look away from the things of others. This is the very antipodes of the “mind of Christ.” That believes in the dignity of man as man. It sets a unique value on human life. It regards the question of a human destiny as one of stupendous interest. It makes the securing of it a personal concern. It never asks, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” for the fact is with it an axiomatic truth. Loving its neighbour as itself, its moral attitude inspires its active one”do good to all.” It regards life as wasted if not lived for men, and the time as lost in which it does not “save some.”

III. INGLORIOUS DUTY IS MOST IN DANGER OF BEING LEFT UNDONE. Jonah had an idea how his mission would end. As a prophet, he knew that Nineveh would repent, and on repentance be spared, his prophecy to the contrary notwithstanding (Jon 4:2). And the prospect was humbling to his self-love. The affair could bring him little credit. He was simply to deliver an empty threat, a threat the utterance of which would serve God’s purpose, and so prevent the necessity of carrying it out. How was he to get up a prophetic reputation by performing such a task? Warnings heeded and predictions fulfilled are the chief credentials of a prophet. The first is both in itself and in its practical results, by far the more important. But the second is more of a personal interest to the prophet as involving his credibility more directly. Hence in proportion as he is “yet carnal” and self-seeking it will bulk more largely in his regard. A Paul could say, “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord,” and mean it thoroughly. But the perfect self-sinking of the apostolic rule was an unscaled height to the egotistic prophet. He wanted a name and official distinction more than the exhibition of God’s mercy and the reformation of wicked men. Accordingly, he refused to assume an equivocal position, although he knew, and because he knew, it would lead to these prime results. And servants his counterparts are still found in God’s work. The men who “do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame” no doubt exist. But the blushes traceable to this source are a small proportion of the blushes current. He has reached a high spiritual level who no lives to God that personal considerations are as nothing in his work. Position and visibility, to say nothing of considerations more sordid still, are elements in the situation, hard to keep subordinate, harder still to ignore, when the Christian worker is making choice of fields. A place in the most distant mission field may single out a worker from the crowd, and the missionary pioneer finds temptations to pose before the Church as strong as beset the brightest metropolitan star. The large giver, moreover, or the great organizer, has as many temptations to self-seeking as either. It is so through all departments of activity and in all the walks of life. The work that brings fortune and fame will have thousands competing for a chance to do it. The only duty in practical danger of being shirked is the duty to be followed into obscure places, and done with only the eye of God to note our faithfulness.

IV. RETREAT FROM GOD IS RESOLUTE, AND AIMS AT ENTIRE ISOLATION. Josiah started at a run. He evidently meant to get away, and threw all his energy into the effort. He went, too, in a direction exactly the opposite of the one in which he had been sent. God had said, “Go northeast,” and he went southwest. He set out. moreover, for the remotest place he knew of, Spain being the “far West” of those early times. He went about it also in the most business-like way, going to Joppa, the great seaport, and booking a berth on one of the. great ships of Tarshish, to break which was the magnum opus of the east wind (Psa 48:7). All which things are no doubt an allegory. The sinner’s drawing near to God is done at a snail’s pace. Loving this sinful world, he hangs back long before he starts. Answering feebly as yet to the drawing of grace, and breaking cord after cord in the tearing of himself away, the motion toward God at first is show and painful, like that of a weak oarsman against a rapid stream. But like a stone down hill, and drawn by mighty gravitation, the motion away from God is by leaps and bounds (Rom 7:19, Rom 7:22, Rom 7:23). You have seen at the docks the seamen straining at the windlass, as, after minutes of strenuous effort, they have pulleyed a bale of merchandise high in air. And you have seen, when they let go the winch, how swiftly the handle flies and, as the rope unrolls, the bale comes rushing down. And such is retrogression in contrast to progress in the religious sphere. So much more quickly do men fall than rise, that a few days’ backsliding is enough to neutralize the growth of years. Then so opposite to God is the sinful heart that its departure from him is absolute turning back. Swerving would be bad, aberration would be worse, but regression is worst of all; and such is religious backsliding. It is spiritual tergiversation. The renegade turns his back on right, and takes a way the very opposite. He obeys Satan and follows sin, the antipodes respectively of God and good. If God’s way be light, his is darkness; if upwards, his is downwards infallibly Then there is no spiritual half-way house. God in his mercy may arrest him on the way, but the renegade starts for Tarshish, the spiritual remotest point. A stone detached from the house top has no stopping place short of the ground. Turn your back on God and heaven, and Satan and hell are, humanly speaking, your destination. Moreover, defection from God is not an aimless drifting, but intelligent and of purpose. It is a course wittingly taken and studiously kept. The deteriorated moral nature presses head and hand into its service, to survey and construct the road by which it would reach the shrine of its chosen idol. At the Joppa of occasion, advisedly sought, is chartered the ship of ways and means, to bring us to the Tarshish of accomplished sin, the goal of our godless hearts.

V. A MAN WILL ALWAYS FIND CIRCUMSTANCES FAVOURABLE TO THE COURSE HE HAS RESOLVED TO TAKE. Jonah found a ship about to sail to his destination, got accommodation on board, and had the means to provide a berth. Things seem as if arranged on purpose to facilitate his flight. Had it been otherwise, we sometimes think the prophet’s “Hegirah” might have been stopped earlier, and a good deal of suffering saved. But that would be a shallow philosophy of human action. Physical surroundings cannot thus shape our moral course. Intelligence makes its own use of them all. Purpose is formed; action is decided on; and then the circumstances are examined to see what mode of action they can most easily be made to help. The ship, the berth, and the passage money to Tarshish were available to many besides Jonah, yet he only prostituted them to the purpose of shirking duty. They lent themselves to his project, because the project had, in the first place, been adjusted to them. So if a thief finds an open window, and no policeman in sight, the circumstances are said to favour a burglary. If a would be murderer finds the same state of things, then we say the circumstances favour assassination. But if a man who would neither kill nor steal finds them so, they favour no project of his, and so are either put right or passed unheeded. Circumstances favour neither good nor evil particularly, but each man makes use of those that fit his own purpose, and passes the others by. We hear often of wicked men who are the victims of circumstance. And there are some such, no doubt. But the cases are fewer and logically weaker than you might think. Here are two country youths apprenticed in town among a godless set. One turns out a profligate, and friends pity him and say, “He got into bad hands: what bettor could we expect in such a place?” But the other, with the Same surroundings exactly, turns out, as often happens, an honest tradesman and a godly man. And if you examine you will find that he has honest men for his friends, and Christian people for his associates, and enjoys beneficial influences in every relation of life. In other words, ha is in a new set of circumstances altogether, favourable to the religious life, and which his own conduct has drawn around him. The circumstances have not made the men, but the men have practically made the circumstances. And so we reason out the truth which God reveals, “To the pure all things are pure,” etc. (Tit 1:15). We are greater than our environment. “Each man creates his own world The soul spreads its own hue over everything; the shroud or wedding garment of nature is woven in the loom of our own feelings. This universe is the image and counterpart of the souls that dwell in it. Be noble minded, and all nature repliesI am divine, the child of God; be thou too his child and noble. Be mean, and all nature dwindles into a contemptible smallness” (Robertson). “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” To you and me the world will be a new world when we are new creatures in Christ. It is not what it was, but a transfigured thing, when we view it “the eyes of our understandings being enlightened,” and make all its elements tributary to a new life in Christ.J.E.H.

Jon 1:4-10

An effective hue and cry.

We see here a man who ought to run for God endeavouring to run away from him, and also how he speeds. The flight was illogical, a fatuous attempt to get outside the sphere of omnipresence, as much of our sin is a practical endeavour to get, or imagine ourselves, beyond the cognizance of omniscience. And it was made in the blindness of egoism and carnal self willthe qualities which are generally to be found at the bottom of ministerial unfaithfulness to the message of God. A lorry off the lines attracts attention, when a whole train on them might pass unnoticed. A large proportion of the heterodoxy extant originates in or is exaggerated by a desire to catch the public eye. The evil it does to the souls of men will go on so long as there are nominal servants who have a private interest dearer to them than the Master’s work. And the personal disappointment and suffering and failure of the prophet are the experiences bound to be repeated in all cases of spiritual renegadism like it.

I. THEY RUN HARD WHOM GOD‘S JUDGMENTS CANNOT OVERTAKE. Jonah scarcely hoped to get away from God. But he did expect to get away from his work. It lay northeast, and he went southwest. He was determined not to be near the place where duty lay, lest by any chance he should be compelled to do it. In this he succeeded for the time, and he succeeded still more fully in getting morally and spiritually away from the Most High. Not depths of sea or wilds of desert could have taken him so far from God as the moral elements implied in that flight. But he found that desertion, however possible, can never be satisfactory. God’s authority is not to be run away from. He makes storms his artillery, and thunders after the runaway. He makes heathen sailors his officers, and captures him in his flight. He makes a fish’s belly his dungeon keep, and puts him in durance there, Do not for a moment dream of evading God. If you run away from his spade, you run against his sword. You can run away from sobriety, but not from the white liver and empty purse and premature grave that drunkenness brings. You can run away from purity, but not from the debilitated frame, and the cloyed appetite, and the hell of a strengthening lust with failing power to feed it. You can run away from charity, but not from the heart hardness and bitterness and gnawing unrest of all loveless souls. Disobedience accomplished means judgment on the way, and judgment on the way means judgment ahead of the transgressor, and waiting for him as the angel for wretched Balsam (Rom 2:3).

II. THE JUDGMENTS SENT AFTER THE GUILTY OFTEN FALL ON THE INNOCENT AS WELL. “Sin,” says Chrysostom, “brings the soul into much senselessness.” It brought Jonah to think that he could play off nature against its God, and escape him by the help of his own winds and tides. It brought him to pit one of the great ships of Tarshishthe East Indiamen of that timeagainst God’s east wind (Psa 48:7). But mighty merchantman or tiny skiff, it is all one to the hurricane’s blast. The prophet, so far from getting out of trouble himself, got others into it (verses 4, 5). The sailors suffered fatigue and alarm; the ship owners suffered loss of freight; other vessels near suffered dilapidations; indeed, many interests were harassed before Jonah himself was reached. That is the rule with all sin. In almost every offence against the second table of the Law our neighbour suffers first. Then, after the offender begins to suffer, his suffering in turn involves the family and social circles in which be is. The spendthrift’s poverty, the debauchee’s disease, the felon’s disgrace, go down infallibly to children, and it may be children’s children. Sinning against God you are indirectly sinning against man, and sinning against one man, you are practically sinning against all his friends and all your own. Such a following of evils does the transgressor drag after him in an ever-lengthening train.

III. THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN THE OCCASION OF GREAT PUBLIC EVIL ARE OFTEN THE LEAST CONCERNED ABOUT IT. Jonah was the coolest man on board while the big storm was raging. It was due to him, sent after him, meant to arrest his thought and step, and yet, when hardy sailors were frightened, and ignorant heathen were driven to pray, the erewhile God-fearing landsman was making himself comfortable below, and curled up fast asleep. So the men who provoked the Flood were cool and calm about it, even when Noah and his family were flying to the ark. To the Sodomites also righteous Lot, preparing to fly the coming doom, seemed but as one that mocked. The hardness produced by recent rebellion had not yet worn off. The murderer does not regret his crime nor fear the gallows while his blood is up. The excitement sustains him for a time in reckless disregard of both. But when he has had time to cool down and think, when he gets the cold iron on his wrists, and sees the outer world through iron bars, when dreams recall his victim’s death struggle or forecast the scaffold and the dangling rope, then his crime begins to look like itself, and his doom to put on its proper terrors. Jonah was still in the earlier stage. He did not see his sin yet, and he was too hot and rebellious to fear the punishment. After sin and before repentance there is an interval of unnatural insensibility, and in this interval Jonah’s sleep was taken. It is a horrid sight to see judge and jury and the court affected to tears, and the criminal as hard as iron. Yet that is the analogue of a state into which we have only to defy God in order to fall.

IV. A PRAYERLESS BACKSLIDER IS AN ASTONISHMENT EVEN TO A HEATHEN. (Verse 6) The skipper, a responsible man, and pious according to his lights, thinks Jonah, sleeping there in the crash of the storm, must be either sick or mad. Prayer, whether to false gods or the true, is a universal and instinctive religious act. And so when the great wind guns began to boom and the billowy mitrailleuses to roar in chorus, when the helpless vessel tossed like a log and creaked and strained as about to break, then began every man to cry unto his god. Even the heathen could see that it was the thing to do, and the time to do it; and when the only worshipper of the true God aboard lies silent and indifferent, the captain and crew are alike astonished. Yet it is just what a little knowledge of the human character in its relation to spiritual things would lead us to expect. The iron that has been heated soft, and cooled again in water, is harder than ever. The process has simply tempered it. So the man who has been softened in the fires of grace, and plunged again into the waters of sin, is a harder man than he was at first (Heb 6:4). There are Canas and Chorazins among us, and it will be more tolerable for the Tyres and Sidons in the judgment than for them.

V. IT IS IN THE CRISES OF LIFE THAT FALSE CONFIDENCES FAIL AND THE TRUE GOD COMES TO THE FRONT. The captain sees appeal to his own gods to be vain, and he surmises that prayer to the God of Israel might be more successful. “Call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us.” He knew of the true God as distinguished from the gods many whom he served, but only in extremity does he think of approaching him in prayer. The other gods were fair weather deities, good enough so long as you wanted nothing from them. But only the God who holds the winds in his fists will serve now. And thus, in a new sense, the extremity of man is the opportunity of God. Beliefs, moralities, observances, are made so many substitutes for the Christ of God. And they do to live with after a fashion. But you never knew a man to die comfortably with them. The last hour is apocalyptic. It unveils things. The bubble of conceit in personal merit bursts. The filthy rags fall off. The soul is flung naked, loathsome, undone, before the majesty of God. Take God in Christ for your trust this hour, and you will never know the withering curse on him that “maketh flesh his arm.”J.E.H.

Jon 1:11, Jon 1:12

A voluntary surrender.

Matters so anomalous up to this point are beginning now to resume their normal aspect. The prophet had been behaving in a most inconsequential and erratic way. His flight had been utterly out of character. He ran away from a duty in the doing of which piety would have met philanthropy, and both have had ample scope. His sleep through the storm which his own sin provoked, when death was imminent, and even the heathen sailors called in terror on their gods, was, if possible, more eccentric still Most unaccountable of all, perhaps, was the declaration, “I fear the Lord,” so sincerely made when in the very act of setting his command at naught. But now the craze is passing off. Like the prodigal at a corresponding stage of his career, we see the prophet coming to himself. The reign of law is coming back, and mind and conscience and will fall into line and begin to act by rule. These verses exhibit to us the workings of the backslider’s mind in his return to God. We see

I. THAT CALAMITY HAS COMPELLED HIM TO THINK. The sinner is seldom logical. If he were, he would be a sinner no longer. There are no valid premisses to which a sinful act will stand in the relation of a conclusion. If Jonah had reasoned out the matter before he started on his flight, he would not have started at all. He adopted on impulse a course the folly of which a single moment’s consideration would have shown. And he avoided this consideration as long as he could. It was only the impossibility of getting further that compelled him to face the question, “Why did I come so far? And was it wisely done?” It is almost invariably the practical results of a line of conduct that lead us to examine as to its intrinsic wisdom. We consult our taste in the first instance. What promises immediate pleasure or profit comes to our judgment so highly recommended by the fact, that few questions are asked. No one supposes that the drunkard takes the moral, economic, or hygienic measure of his disastrous habit before he forms it. He has a lively feeling that it is pleasant, and suits his taste, and he waives the consideration of other points till a more convenient season. It is only when his habit has brought misfortune that he really faces the question whether it is a good one or not. With his month full of the bitter fruit, be naturally begins to form an idea of the character of the tree. If the fruiting had never come, the appraising would have been left undone. There is to every sinner a day when he cannot but think. He is happy if the needs be overtakes him at the outset of his straying ere yet return has become impossible.

II. THOUGHT HAS CONVINCED HIM OF SIN. We can read a sense of guilt in every word of the arrested fugitive. His mind has awaked. In thought he has faced the situation. And his thought has not been barren. It has brought forth conviction. It would have been weak indeed if it had not. The fact of sin is patent to ordinary intelligence. And so to a certain extent is its demerit. To declare its existence and quality is the function of natural conscience; and what is conscience but reason dealing with moral truth? Of course, its diagnosis of sin is inadequate. The awful demerit of sin done against an infinite and holy God cannot be reached by mere force of thinking. It takes an enlightened eye to see it as it is, an opened heart to realize the whole truth regarding it. You must know God, in fact, in order to know sin, which is an offence against him. This, no doubt, Jonah did. There was a mote for the time being in his spiritual eye, but it had been opened once for all to see God. He came, therefore, to the contemplation of his sin with a measure of spiritual insight. And all may come to it similarly furnished. Obey the call of Scripture to “consider.” Make a sincere attempt reexamine yourself. Turn your eye inward, desiring honestly to know yourself as sinful in God’s sight. You won’t be left to your own unaided efforts and to failure. God awaits the beginning of such action to strengthen it. He awaits the attempt at such action to help it. He waits the aim at such action to move to attempt it in the strength of grace. It follows from the connection between wanting and getting in the spiritual sphere”examine, and you shall know;” for the Spirit convinces the world of sin, and that by guiding into all truth the searchers after its hidden treasures.

III. CONVICTION HAS DRIVEN HIM TO CONFESS. There is a natural egoism in men that is unfavourable to confession. You get it out of them only by a difficult process as men get water out of a still. And the reasons of this are obvious. One is that men are more or less unconscious of their own moral state. They do not realize sin. They deem it an outrage to have guilt charged home. In the impudence of their unconsciousness they would bandy words with God himself (Ma Jon 3:8). Here is evident failure to discern the sinfulness of sin. And failure is due as much to pride as to incapacity. Men are naturally prejudiced in their own favour. Faults that others see well enough they ignore, or weakly disapprove what others utterly condemn. They abide in darkness because they hate the light (Joh 3:19). Given a man who cannot see his sin if he would, and who would not if he could, and you have a case in which confession need not be named. Even grant a measure of conviction, and confession does not necessarily follow. When sin is realized in a certain degree, the sinner’s tongue is unloosed, and he tells it out with shame to God. But it does not follow that he will do it before his fellow men. That means a great deal more, is harder to do, and more reluctantly done. It is greater humiliation. It involves stronger reprobation. It implies deeper self-abasement. When it is honestly done conviction may be held to be at its intensest; in fact, to be true and adequate. Jonah’s repentance had now come to this advanced stage (verses 10, 12). “When the whip of God and the rod of his justice had overtaken Jonah, so that be now sees heaven and earth to he against him, down comes his proud heart: the sleeper now awaketh; the runaway crieth, Peccavi; contrition and confession come now tumbling upon him” (Abbot). Confession of our faults is an essential part of true repentance. To deny them is to lie, to conceal is to bolster up. When a transgressor is either sullenly silent or volubly apologetic, he has not broken with his sin. He could bear to speak the truth about it if he had definitely cast it off. Hence God makes confession a criterion of sincerity and a condition of pardon (Le 26:40-42; Jer 3:12, Jer 3:13). Hence, on occasion of sin, Aaron (Num 12:11), and Saul (1Sa 15:24), and David (2Sa 12:13), and Josiah (2Ki 22:11, 2Ki 22:13, 2Ki 22:19), and Rehoboam (2Ch 12:6, 2Ch 12:7, 2Ch 12:12), and Manasseh (2Ch 33:12, 2Ch 33:13), and Hezekiah (2Ch 32:26), and Peter (Mar 14:72), and others whose sincerity Scripture certifies, whilst it records the fact of their pardon, made free and heart-stricken confession of their fault before God and men. Sin confessed means sin discovered and reprobated and disowned. The man flings it off in the very act, declares himself at once its victim and foe. There is philosophy, therefore, and the fitness of things in the Divine deliverance, prescription and promise hand in hand, that “whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy.”

IV. HIS NEW ATTITUDE TOWARD SIN INCLUDES WILLINGNESS TO SUFFER FOR IT. The world is sometimes surprised and puzzled by a voluntary confession of murder. The self-accused criminal has been hitherto undetected and secure. People may have had their suspicions, and drawn their inferences, but it was impossible to trace the crime home. Yet at last, when investigation had been given up, and the very memory of the crime died out, the murderer comes of his own accord, confesses his crime, and delivers himself up to justice. And, the wonder and puzzlement of shallow people notwithstanding, the act is perfectly logical. The anomaly is not that he has delivered himself up at last, but that he did not do it at the first. There is an instinctive sense of justice in a man, that recognizes the unfitness of a sinner going scot free. He feels that sin produces a moral derangement which cannot continue, and which it takes punishment to readjust. He feels at war with the nature of things until this has been done. He thinks if he had once endured the penalty the balance of things would be restored, and a foundation for future peace be laid. And he actually finds it so. The very fact of telling out his guilt has already lightened the load, and there is a new restfulness in the thought that now he is going to make some amends. It is to this principle that the doctrine of the cross appeals. In Christ crucified the demand of our nature for punishment proportioned to our sin is met. We see our transgressions avenged on him, in him our penal responsibilities met, and our full amends made. Our faith in Christ is, in one aspect, our instinctive clutching at the peace of the punished minus the preliminary pain. The same principle disarms and softens chastisement. Humility feels it is deserved. Intelligence sees it is necessary. And godly sorrow for sin welcomes it as a key to the dwelling of peace from which transgression had strayed. A willingness like Jonah’s to accept the need of sin is no mean criterion of our attitude towards it, and of our whole moral bent.

V. HE THOUGHT THAT THE EVIL CONSEQUENCES OF HIS SIN COULD ONLY BE REMOVED BY HIS ENDURING ITS PUNISHMENT. There was a feeling among the sailors that some action must be taken in reference to Jonah (verse 11). Their present relation to him had involved them in a storm; what but a new relation to him could bring the calm? And the prophet himself is of the same opinion. He considers himself the mountain which attracts the storm, and that, if he were cast into the sea, its great occasion would be gone. What is this but the practical application of a revealed principle, “He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done”? The axiom applies to the righteous and the wicked alike, if in a different sense. The sin of wicked Saul is visited with punishment as final rejection and ruin. The sin of righteous David is visited with punishment as fiery trial eventuating in a contrite heart. Heathen Philistia and chosen Israel sin in almost equal degree, yet “the remnant of the Philistines” perishes (Amo 1:8), whilst “the remnant of Israel” is by suffering saved (Isa 1:8; Rom 9:27; Rom 11:5). And among natural and spiritual men alike the principle holds, cutting this way and that, with double edge: for believing sin, “the rod;” for unbelieving sin, “the sword;” for all sin, wrath in God and anguish in man (Rom 1:18; Rom 2:9). A recognition of this fact would solve some mysteries of suffering, and put an end to many “offences” and complaints. A man sins in his youth against God, and others, and his own body. By the grace of the Spirit he is brought in a little to repentance and the higher life. Is, therefore, his wrong doing undone? By no means. In some physical ailment, in some raked up imputation, in some injured fellow creature, it rises before him when his hair is white. And he is surprised at this. He thought that, after repentance and pardon, his sin was done with forever. But it Is not so. Sin once done cannot be undone. It leaves its mark on the sinnerin mind, or body, or estate, or social relations, but leaves it inevitably somewhere. The wood from which a nail has been drawn can never be as if the nail had not been driven. The nail hole is there, and there remains, do what we will. When, as with Jonah, the sin is against God directly, it has no physical concomitant, and the punishment in its physical aspect can show no connection with it. But it is neither more nor less the doing of God and the result of sin on that account. And, although in regions out of sight, a radical and natural connection still exists between penalty and crime. Its moral necessity and significance and tendency remain the same. Hence the certainty of its coming and the folly of striving to evade its stroke. Not till law natural and moral has had its amends, and all injured interests been recouped, can escape for the law breaker come. Come then it fitly and fairly may, and come then, and only then, it will (Psa 89:30-33).

1. It is not enough to confess sin in general, we must confess it in particular. There is a kind of impersonal guilt which many will freely acknowledge, by whom personal guilt is altogether ignored. If we say generally, “Your nature is corrupt,” they will own it without hesitation and without emotion. If we say, “Your conduct is bad,” they will deny the impeachment and resent it. That was not Jonah’s way. He unaffectedly confessed guilt as to the matter in hand. And it is not the way of true conviction. You confess and deny in one breath; deny in the particular what you confess in the general; which amounts to saying that a certain number of whites will make a black. But the fact is your acknowledgment is mechanical and formal, and therefore worthless. The denial, on the other hand, is intelligent and in earnest, and the deliberate expression of your mind and feeling. Accordingly, your confession as a whole means just what it says, and that isnothing.

2. Mercy should move us to confession of sin as strongly as judgment. Who will say that it was altogether the severity of God in punishing at last, and in no degree his goodness in refraining till now, that led the prophet to repentance? Not so speaks the Scripture (Rom 2:4). Mercy touches a bad heart and breaks it, a cold heart and warms it, a closed mouth and opens it. That is its normal, and ought to be its actual, effect on you. Your mercies have been neither few nor small They supply a basis for the inspired appeal, “We beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God” etc. They supply an impulse more than adequate to bring you to the kingdom. If you have resisted them, what will persuade you? The resources of grace have been well nigh expended. God’s time of striving has almost ran out. Strive to enter while you see the gate ajar, or the clang of its closing bolts may be the knell of your immortal soul.J.E.H.

Jon 1:13-16

Storm stilling extraordinary.

We see in this passage, under favourable circumstances, the workings of the heathen mind in its first glimpses of God. And the study is one of lively interest, and important withal. The sailors have, innocently and involuntarily, been made actors in a drama that is not unlike to turn out a tragedy. A stranger, pursued by the vengeance of his (to them) unknown God, has got on board their ship, and mixed them up in his troubles to the extent of bringing them to the very brink of death. From their standpoint it was rather a hard case. They might well have felt resentment and given the cold shoulder to the not guiltless occasion of their evil plight. Their prudence, their considerateness, their conscientiousness, and their ultimate devoutness are qualities that come on us as an agreeable but complete surprise. There is a philosophy of these qualities, however, which it will be worth our while to endeavour to trace out.

I. THEY SHOWED AN ENLIGHTENED REGARD FOR HUMAN LIFE. They might well have been excused if, in imminent danger of death through the guilty Jonah’s presence in their ship, they had jumped at his proposal to throw him overboard. They knew, for hean inspired prophethad told them, that he had deserved it by his crime, and that to do so would calm the sea forthwith. Yet they make no movement in that direction, but redouble their efforts at the oar in their last desperate attempt to reach the land. This course was unlike a heathen crew. Heathenism has always been reckless about shedding blood. It is the Bible that teaches, and believers in it who recognize, the sacredness of human life. Its command, “Thou shalt not kill,” is illustrated and enforced by its history and entire legislation. The murderer was to suffer death, though he should be dragged to it from the veiny horns of the altar (Num 35:31; lKi Num 2:29). The very ox that took a human life must die, and might not be eaten (Exo 21:28). Even the man who slew another by misadventure made his life forfeit to the avenger of blood if he were caught outside the city of refuge (Deu 19:5). Blood, in fact, according to Scripture, must have blood (Gen 9:5, Gen 9:6). There is no other satisfaction for it. The value of it cannot be expressed in any earthly currency. Even the whole world is no compensation for a lost life (Mar 8:36). Those principles find little place in the consciousness of heathendom. It is filled with “the habitations of cruelty.” You will get no heathen nation in any age exhibiting either in private life or public an adequate sense of the inviolability of human life. It is evident that in the case before us the sailors have been impressed by the Divine portents on the occasion, and under their impulse act for a time on a higher than the heathen plane. Not in their heathenism, but in the theism it is for the time in contact with, must we look for the explanation of their humane and generous conduct. The knowledge of God is early and inevitably practical. By it “grace is multiplied” and the “pollutions of the world” escaped (2Pe 1:2; 2Pe 2:20).

II. THEY RECOGNIZED THE BELIEVING LIFE AS SPECIALLY SACRED. It will be conceded that, other things being equal, the life of a believer is more important than that of an unbeliever. Not only has it elements and functions which are all its own, but these are intrinsically more excellent than any others. God treats it as precious in a peculiar sense (Psa 72:14; Psa 116:15), keeping count of the very hairs of his people’s heads (Mat 10:30), and using (1Co 3:21, 1Co 3:22; 2Co 4:15), and even sacrificing, the lives of the wicked for their preservation (Isa 43:4). He also safeguards it by a double rampart of threat and promise. The death or the hurt of the saints he will avenge with punishment worse than death (Luk 18:8; Mat 18:7); whilst even a cup of water to the least of them shall meet with eternal recognition and reward (Mat 10:42; Mat 25:40). Of the inviolable sacredness of the saint’s life the sailors had evidently an intuitive idea “Although himself accuse himself, and lay his fault plain before them, although winds and waves did confirm it, although the lot thrown did assure it, although in words he did desire to be cast into the water, yet those who should have done it do so ill like of the matter, that if sails or oars can serve they will back again to the landrather leave their intended journey than use any violence towards him” (Abbot). It was not on the score of his humanity merely that Jonah was so tenderly dealt with. The hurricane, the power and wrath of God speaking in it, Jonah’s revealed connection with both, his acknowledgment and denunciation of his fault, and the meek manhood of his offer to die that they might live, were all circumstances to awe and soften them. “Disobedient though he may be, Jonah they perceive is God’s prophet, and his servant still. Revering his God, they respect him. They feel that it is a solemn thing to have to do with anything that this God marks as his ownmarks as his own even by his displeasure. Hence they pause” (Martin). This is godliness in its normal operation, and realizing its “promise of the life that now is” by surrounding it with an invisible yet inviolable guard.

III. THEY SHAPED THEIR CONDUCT IN THE EMERGENCY AS FAR AS POSSIBLE BY GOD‘S. “Thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee” (verse 14). They would have spared the prophet’s life had the thing been possible. It is only when Providence fights against them, and logically shuts them up to it, that they accept the inevitable, and throw him overboard. As their words imply, they “assume that to be righteous which God will have to be done; and because they see him will it, and that he will take no nay, therefore they know it is just, and accordingly yield unto it” (Abbot). The rule of right is God’s will The expression of this in a particular case supersedes the general law. “Thou shalt not kill” and “Thou shalt not steal” are canons in the universal moral code. Yet Abraham would have killed Isaac, and Samuel killed Agag, whilst Israel spoiled the Egyptians at the command of God. Then, from the general law forbidding homicide, was excepted the whole class of cases in which it was necessary for self-defence; and to take spoil in war, or as much food from a neighbour’s field as would save the life, was excepted from the general law forbidding theft. On the same principle the execution of Jonah was legalized by the expressed will of God to that effect, and became to the sailors an act of simple duty. And their course was exemplary. Obedience to God is the highest morality. Whatever is done so is done well. It may seem anomalous and unfit. But that is only on the surface. Some of the finest passages in literature are least obviously conformable to grammatical rule. The conformity is there, and in the highest sense; it is only the tyro who cannot see it. So with actions done in the highest moral plane. The actor is too intent on doing what God says to look after the minor congruities. But the thing he does has an essential and fundamental rightness which lifts details into a new connection where they also become appropriate. “Whatsoever the Lord saith, that will we do.” The men who accentuate the “whatsoever,” and do it honestly, are seldom favourites with the crowd, but they have scaled the loftiest moral heights, where the voice of human opinion is neither listened for nor heard.

IV. THEY FOUND DELIVERANCE IN FOLLOWING GOD‘S LEAD. (Verse 15) Attempts at escape in every other direction were made persistently, but all in vain. The ship lightening, the prayers to idols, the strenuous rowing, were so many exercises in the bootless task of fighting against God. Against the wind and tide of his purpose no human power can sail. “God was pursuing this matter to his own appointed issue, and would allow no effort, however well meant, to baffle his purpose” (Martin). This obvious fact the sailors are compelled at length to recognize. Reluctantly they give up their unavailing struggle, and take the course to which all along events had been conspiring to shut them up. And on the instant the face of affairs is changed. The elemental war is hushed in peace. The hurricane in which earth and heaven reeled becomes the calm as of a tropical night. The waters which had “gaped at their widest to glut him” swallow their prey, and forthwith cease their raging. How easy the end if we only take God’s way! How swift the transition from impossibility to attainment! Yet it is just the transition from man’s way to God’s. Have we not all experiences on which by analogy the event may throw light? Aiming at a legitimate object, we adopt what seems to us a fitting course. But we never get on in it. Disappointment awaits us at every step. Disaster springs on us from every covert. It seems as if men and things were joined together in a universal conspiracy to baulk us. Discouraged at last, and bitter at heart, we take without definite intention or expectation a step in a new direction, and which circumstances seem to thrust upon us; and lo, before we are aware, and almost without an effort, our object is attained. God works, not against means but with them, not apart from means, but by them; yet everywhere and always he works his own will in his own way. As we recognize that way and take it, are we on the moral rectilinealthe shortest line between our present and God’s future.

V. THEY ARE FINALLY WON TO GOD‘S SERVICE BY THE EXHIBITION OF HIS CHARACTER. In the incidents of the day the sailors read a revelation of God. “The storm they clearly saw was in his hand; a reason for it, they saw, was in his heart. And that reason they saw as clearly as they saw the storm. His hand they saw was almighty. His heart they saw was righteous. They even became executioners of his wrath. It was a solemn initiation into the knowledge of his name” (Martin). And what but the revelation of God’s character wins men to his service everywhere (Psa 36:7; Rev 15:4; 2Co 5:14, 2Co 5:15)? Conversion has many elements leading up to and meeting in it. There is the truth, the instrument in all saving change. There is the Holy Spirit interpreting the truth and bringing it home. But there is something else to which both refer. The power of the truth, even as applied by the Holy Ghost, must lie in the subject matter of it, and that subject matter is God (Joh 5:39; Rom 1:16). God is the Infinite Beauty. God made manifest means men attracted, all minds dazzled, and all hearts won (Psa 9:10). His Character commands confidence and challenges fealty. He is one whom to know is to trust, whom to see is to love and choose. It is on this fact that inspiration founds in a familiar maxim of the kingdom (Joh 17:3). Knowledge of God is salvation, forevery saving grace inheres in it or goes with it.

VI. THEIR RELIGIOUS LIFE GAVE EVIDENCE OF ITS GENUINENESS BY FOLLOWING SCRIPTURAL LINES. (Verses 14-16) Prayer, fear, sacrifice, and vows;what essential element in religious life or worship do not these exercises cover (Act 2:21; Heb 9:22; Psa 3:1-8 :10; Isa 44:5)? In prayer is the coming to God for the things that are his gift if they come at all. In sacrifice is the coming symbolically by atonement; the only coming to which blessing is promised. Fear epitomizes the attitude and line of action in which practical religion may be summed up. A vow is a testimony that the ideal life is consecrationa pledge that they will freely give who have received so freely. We wonder at the propriety and fitness of the sailors’ entire action. They had no Bible. They learned nothing from the prophet. Yet they took a distinctly scriptural course. They rendered God service in God’s appointed way. Does it not seem as if they were somehow taught by his Holy Spirit; their minds enlightened, their hearts renewed, their activity shaped by almighty grace? As to salvation without the Bible, we must say, with a leading Reformation Symbol, that “there is no ordinary possibility” of it; but might it not be going too far to say that it is absolutely and in the nature of the case impossible? The rule is “salvation by faith, and faith by hearing;” but if the rule does not cover the case of infants, why must it be taken to cover that of all other human beings? The mere light of nature is doubtless insufficient to give saving knowledge of God; but saving enlightenment can hardly be held impossible in a mind to which God has access direct. Humility and charity will alike refuse to mark out a path for him whose “footsteps are not known.” It is ill trying to make the voyage of the religious life with a spiritual Jonah on board. Yet the Church is full of such would be navigators. There is the Jonah of a demoralizing occupationoccupation having to do, e.g; with gambling, or betting, or drunkenness, or fraudulent manufacture, and it must be thrown overboard or the ship of personal religion will go down. There is the Jonah of some pet sin, which, like Herod to Herodias, we cling to and prefer to Christ; and if we would escape the lake of fire we must “pluck it out and cast it from us.” There is above all the Jonah of an unbelieving heart. Men wilt have a religion without self-surrender; will do anything and everything but yield themselves to God. Yet they must do this, or all else is vain. Unbelief is in its nature fatal, cuts off the dead soul from its life in Christ. We ask you one questionWill you give yourself now and here to Christ? If you answer, “Yes,” you are a saved man. If you answer, “No,” we need pursue the inquiry no further, for heaven is as inaccessible to you as if Christ the Way to it had never come.J.E.H.

Jon 1:17

The sign of the Prophet Jonas.

God sees the end from the beginning. He means it from the beginning. He is moving towards it from the beginning. There are no isolated events. Each is connected with a series leading up to it. The series is so long that we cannot see its earlier steps, much less observe their direction. But nothing is surer than that from the first they have a trend toward that one which is their ultimate effect. In proof of this we have only to select a series on which we have the light of Scripture, such as that leading up to the work of Christ. There are many such series. One leads up to his birth, another to his education, another to his sufferings, another to his death; and so on. And these series lead up to it in various ways. There is a prophetic series, and a typical series, and a contributory series, and a causal series. And there are events which lead up to it in two or three of these capacities at once. Such an event is the one recorded here, as the New Testament Scriptures repeatedly affirm. Consider this event

I. AS A MIRACLE. It was clearly outside the natural order. The shark or other sea monster was “prepared” by God. It swallowed Jonah, contrary to its habit, without crushing him between its teeth. He remained alive in its stomach for days, contrary to all known physical laws. He was cast out safely on land, contrary to all natural probabilities. Seeing, as he could not but see, God’s hand in the whole thing, Jonah would learn from it:

1. The Divine resistless purpose. Throwing off allegiance, he fled from duty like a man resolved on any terms to get away. But God went after him in a way that showed he meant to have his work done. The fugitive was stopped by wind and wave and conspiring circumstances as by an adamantine wall, impossible to break through. He knew now that God was a God who cannot be baulked, and who will have his way. The same lesson we all need to learn. Much rebellion arises out of a half conscious expectation that God at last will give way, and our disobedience be all condoned. And half the afflictions we suffer are to cure us of our wilfulness and conceit of irresponsibility. They teach us that God’s arm, not ours, is strongestthat his will, not ours, must rule. When we have appropriated and endorsed the sentiment, “Not as I will, hut as thou wilt,” our life sky will clear, and the thunderclouds that. threatened a deluge will discharge themselves in fertilizing showers.

2. The Divine consistent character. Severity was conspicuous up to the point of the prophet’s immersion. After that everything spoke of goodness. There are qualities in God fitted each in its own way to move men to his service (2Co 5:11; Rom 12:1). They moved Jonah. His humble, believing, thankful prayer in the monster’s maw is a revelation, of their effect on his moral nature. And godly lives the world over and all history through are effects due to the same cause (Psa 7:17; Rom 2:4). Severity and goodness are just Divine moral excellence facing two different ways (Rom 11:22). Both have the same infinitely glorious perfection behind them, and are forceful with its inherent essential energy.

3. The Divine effective way. God had not interfered in the matter of Jonah’s disobedient flight until things had gone a certain length. He allowed him to reach Joppa, and get on board a ship, and start for Tarshish. The sinful act was completed before the punishment began. But the moment it was morally complete the stern “Thus far and no further” was spoken. And how masterly the strategy, and resourceful the strength of God appeared! The elements, the lower animals, and man alike become his ministers, and stop the runaway before and on either side. And then the measures as a whole are so exactly yet variously apposite to the purpose of checking insubordination, and compelling execution of the original command! Jonah would know more about the God with whom he had to do, and the considerations moving to implicit obedience, than he ever knew before. It is not in the Divine dealings as an exhibition of mere force, hut of force directed unalterably to ends of justice and mercy, that their chief disciplinary value lies (Rom 2:2; Rom 3:3-6; Rom 11:22). Men are moved by them in proportion as God’s perfections come out in them and shine.

II. AS A TYPE. On this point we have for an interpreter Christ himself (Mat 12:40). “Jonah was in the fish’s belly, so was Christ in the grave; Jonah came forth from thence, so did Christ rise again; his (Christ’s) rising doth bring our rising, his resurrection ours, because he was the firstfruits of all those that do sleep (1Co 15:20)” (Abbot). The analogy between Jonah’s sojourn in the deep and Christ’s in the grave is such as to fit one to be a type of the other. The analogy holds:

1. In the time of the sojourn. It was three days in each ease. In the case of Christ we know that two of these days were incomplete. He was buried in the evening of the first day, and rose on the morning of the third day. Rhetorical speech is necessarily in round numbers, and our Lord states the truth broadly without attempting to elaborate details. Why three days was the period fixed on either in type or antitype we cannot tell. It is pertinent to notice, however, that three and four are mystic numbers, and together make up seven, the number of perfection. Then three days were sufficient, and no more, to establish the fact of death in the case of Christ, and the reality of the miracle of preservation in the case of Jonah. Details of Scripture are important because they record details of a Divine procedure which are purposeful through and through.

2. In the capacity in which each sojourned. Jonah was in the fish’s belly as Christ was in the grave, in payment of the penalty of sin. Moreover, each by accomplishing this eared men from death. “Each of the processes is an atonement, an expiation, a sacrifice, pacifying the Divine Judge, satisfying Divine justice, abolishing guilt, restoring peace, effecting reconciliation” (Martin). But here the analogy ends. The type suffered for sins of his own, the blessed Antitype for sins of others. The type saved men from death of the body, the Antitype saved them from death eternal. Well might he say, on a memorable occasion, “a greater than Jonah is here”!

3. In the analogous experience of the two. The experiences were not identical. Christ literally “died and rose again according to the Scriptures.” Jonah did not actually die and rise. But he did virtually. His natural life was forfeit, and was only saved by a miracle equal to that of resurrection. His life in the deep was a supernatural life, and, therefore, practically a new one. Indeed, he applies the words “hell” (Sheol) and “corruption” (shachath) to his condition, the same words which Scripture applies to Christ’s sojourn in a state of death (Jon 2:2-6; Psa 16:10; Act 2:31). He uses them doubtless in a figurative sense, but by using them at all he treats himself as virtually a dead man. Like those of Hezekiah and Lazarus and the widow’s son (Isa 38:5; Joh 11:44; Luk 7:15), the life of Jonah from that hour was God given and new. So may be your life or mine. If God has saved you alive when men despaired of your recovery, or when but for some interposition which we call an accident it was forfeit by natural laws, then you are even as Jonah, and your remaining life, like his, is in a special sense and measure consecrate (Rom 12:1).

4. That with each it was the gate to a new life. The life of Jonah after his virtual resurrection was a new one, and greatly higher than the old. He emerges from the sea a new man, in a new relation to God, with a new purpose of heart, and a new life career opening out. “His old life is cancelled; all its guilt obliterated; all its evils interruptive of Divine fellowship and blessing abolishedleft behind in the depths of the sea. He is dead to the past; and it has no more hold on him, no more evidence against him, no more wrath in store for him” (Martin). A prominent element in this new life was the preaching to Gentile Nineveh. But for it that heathen city would have perished for lack of knowledge, So also the resurrection-life of Christ is new (Rom 6:10). Living always to God, he lives to him now in a new sense. “He was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father.” And as he rose no bond of law kept hold on him any more; no condemnation laid its taint upon him any more; the glory of his Father’s unmingled and eternal favour shone upon him now forevermore; and in his Father’s favour he had life, his risen and eternal life” (Martin). In short, the risen Saviour’s life is life in a new sphere, and a new relation and to new purpose. By that life, moreover, he enters the door which by his death he opened (Eph 2:11-17)the door of access to the Gentile world (Mat 28:16-20; Act 1:5-8). The risen Saviour gives the Scriptures to be preached to the ends of the earth, and the apostles and teachers to preach them, and the Spirit to apply them, and the Church to embody them in her Christ-like life. And thus is negotiated a wider repentance than of Nineveh, and with greater results. “God hath also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.”

III. AS A SIGN. A sign is a miracle viewed from the evidential standpoint, a Divine work regarded as authenticating a Divine truth. Jonah’s entombment served this purpose (Mat 12:39).

1. It was a sign to the Ninevites. (Luk 11:30) Jonah in Nineveh would be full of his unparalleled adventure. He would tell the people of his virtual death and rising again by the hand of God. And would not the amazing story credential the prophet as beyond dispute the messenger of God? He would declare to them how the miracle of judgment which had consigned him to the deep had been, if possible, outdone by the miracle of mercy which had saved him “from the belly of hell.” And would he not be thus a sign at once of God’s resistless vengeance on sin, and his unspeakable mercy to the penitent? From such a God the Ninevites would know what they had to expect in the one character and in the other.

2. It was the archetype of the sign of the resurrection. (Mat 12:40) The miracles of Christ were all signs The effect of them was to certify his Divine mission, and bring men to faith in his Name (Mat 27:54; Joh 11:45). On many, however, they were practically thrown away. The Jews clamoured for a sign, while signs were being wrought before their very eyes. To this blind demand of insuperable unbelief there would be one further concession. The sign of the Prophet Jonah would be repeated in the Person of Christ by the resurrection on the third day. This was an unchallengable sign of the Divine mission of our Lord (Rom 1:4). If the dead One rose, then undoubtedly that dead One must have been the Son of God (1Co 15:14). The resurrection of Christ was the Father’s sign manual to the Son’s claim to a Divine character and an accepted work. It was a sign, too, of the Divine attitude toward sin. Taken in connection, as it must be, with the death and burial, the whole was, like Jonah’s miraculous experience, a graphic ‘attestation’ of wrath against sin, removed as soon as satisfied, but inappeasable till then. If God “spared not his own Son, whom will he spare? If the sin laid on Christ is punished to the full, how much more the sin that remains on the sinner! And then, if Christ rises into a new life the moment his assumed connection with sin ends by death, shall not we, dead to our sin by the body of Christ, be raised together with him to “walk in newness of life”? The sign of the Prophet Jonah is everything to us. It means Christ credentialled, salvation finished and attested, and a sure hope springing of the resurrection unto life.

1. See how far God‘s judgments may follow deserters. Generally they include misfortune, often sickness, and sometimes death. The principle is that they must be efficacious, and so they go on till they reach their object, The distance you have gone away from God is the measure of the length to which his judgments will follow you (Col 3:25).

2. See how easily God can turn the destroyer into a preserver. Instead of killing Jonah, the fish saves his life. The Divine afflictive agencies operate in like manner. They wound only to heal; destroy the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of Jesus Christ.” Your judgments are your mercies. Let the Divine mercy they reveal be your call to the duty you owe, your recall to the service you forsake (Psa 89:30-33; Rev 3:19).

3. Realize the high things to which this sign of the Prophet Jonas calls you. The death of Christ was for the death of your sin, his life from the dead for the life of your soul (Rom 6:4; Eph 5:14).J.E.H.

HOMILIES BY W.G. BLAIKIE

Jon 1:1-3

Jonah’s call and flight.

“Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,” etc.

I. THE MAN. Jonah is introduced without a word of explanation, except (implicitly) that he was a prophet of the Lord. So also Elijah (1Ki 17:1). Their previous history is assumed. God’s servants are treated as all waiting on him to receive his orders, so that “he says to this one, Go, and he goeth, and to another, Come, and he cometh?” This is the true idea of servants; they “look unto his hand” (Psa 123:2); “stand in his house” (Psa 134:1); “stand before him” (Jer 15:1). We have a little more information about Jonah (see 2Ki 14:25). In the New Testament we have a twofold view of Jonaha sign to the Ninevites (Luk 11:30, Luk 11:32), and a type of Christ (Mat 12:40). This book is short, but of remarkable .interest. “It is long and it is short; short if we respect the smallness of the volume, but long if we respect the copious variety of excellent observations that are therein to be found: as the horribleness of sin, which was able within forty days to pluck down an utter desolation on so famous a city as Nineveh was; God’s love in forewarning them that dwelt in that place that they might be spared; the prophet’s foul fall, and his strange punishment for it; his offwardness from God, and God’s favourable inclination evermore to him; the regard which the King of Nineveh and his people did bear to God’s judgments when they were denounced; the free pardon of the Lord and his remitting of their sin upon their repentance” (Archbishop Abbot).

II. THE CALL.

1. Its source. Directly and clearly from Godthe only source of spiritual authorityan authority not to be gainsaid or trifled with. Unlike any other authority, to it implicit obedience is due.

“Theirs not to make reply;
Theirs not to reason why.”

2. Its rousing note. Arise! Implies summons to unusual exertionthe commission that follows needs great energyit is not to be executed in a listless frame”wherefore gird up the loins of your mind.” Some duties are of such a kind that unusual self-excitation is needed for them (see Heb 12:1). “The very first word he hears is ‘Arise.’ It is a word used before another verb as a term of excitement. Arise! I know you have difficulties, in yourself, in your people, in the mission to Nineveh; arise, therefore, gird up your loins, stir up thy strength, and go! (Rev. A. Raleigh, D.D) How differently has the command to arise been dealt with by different men! Moses hesitates, pleads off, at last agrees (Exo 4:1-31). Jeremiah urges his youth (Jer 1:6). Paul confers not with flesh and blood (Gal 1:16). Our Lord sets his face steadfastly to go up to Jerusalem (Luk 9:51).

3. Its sphere. “Go to Nineveh, that great city.” The prophet is sent outside the boundaries of Israel; he is a foreign missionarythe first foreign missionary after Elijah, who was sent among the Phoenicians. The field is Nineveh, probably the greatest and richest city of the world at that time. As missionary to Nineveh, Jonah occupies a remarkable positionthrough him God is to assert his claim as the God, not only of the Jews, but of the whole earth. He is to declare himself Lord of Nineveh and of all countries, and summon its inhabitants to their allegiance to him. “Suddenly, without note or warning, without preface, without explanation, assuming sovereign state as God Most High over all the earth; Jehovah, remanifesting, if not reassuming his universal supremacy, conducts, on the scale of most amazing miracle, a movement of his ceaseless government, as it extends over all nations; and that it may not fail to compel the attention of all succeeding ages, he adorns that movement with the most marvellous and romantic incident, with one of the most striking if not perplexing developments of human character, especially as occurring in a man of God, and with the symbolic death and resurrection of the agent under whose hand that movement is conducteda death and resurrection on the very type of Mesaiah’s; for Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, even as the Son of man was three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”.

4. Its purport. Cry against it; for its wickedness is come before me. “He must cry against Nineveh, not whisper in the ear as if it were to one, not speak softly as to a few, but cry as unto all: this is a general proclamation. This word ‘cry’ is used in Scripture when men are fast asleep and lulled in their sins, and awake not with a little; so that as Elijah said to the Baalites, they were to ‘Cry aloud, because Baal might be sleeping, and must be awaked;’ so the minister must cry aloud, that men may be raised from their drowsiness in sin” (Abbot). “The wickedness of Nineveh” consisted in pride, ambition, oppression, cruelty, sensuality. The Ninevites were very merciless, and practised most horrible cruelties on captives, even of the highest rank. This wickedness had come before God, denoting that it had become full (Gen 15:16), therefore intolerable. Yet to this merciless people Divine mercy was to be shown. Great cities apt to become great in sinthe power of sin becomes concentratedone sinner encourages anothersin can be more easily hidor, it may become very shamelessit is the duty of God’s servants to cry against the wickedness of such cities, their drunkenness, licentiousness, greed, sabbath breaking, etc; and proclaim God’s wrath against their sins.

III. THE CALL REFUSED. Jonah fulfilled the command to arisebut not to go against Nineveh. He shrinks from duty”He should have risen to cry, but he rose to fly” (Abbot). His reasons were probably variousone is afterwards referred to by him (Jon 4:2). Shirking duty because it is irksome and disagreeable, is too common. In ordinary life, irksome employments, when not patiently accepted, breed negligence, idleness, drunkenness, love of illicit pleasure, etc. Here is a lesson for the youngat school, or when beginning business or trade. In religious life, disagreeableness of duty is often a stumbling blockoften makes us unfaithful; we neglect to warn others because the task is disagreeable. As the remedy for this, learn to regard duty ever as the command of God, who will strengthen and carry through all who trust him. “Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord.” He could hardly have believed that Tarshish was out of God’s presence, but he acted as if he thought so. It was away from his immediate and manifested presence. There is a tendency in many to act as if God were in some places, not in othersas if God were in the church or religious meeting, but not in the marketplace, and as if they might act there as his enemies act. Edmund Burke said the humanity of England was “a thing of points and parallels.” Some break the sabbath abroad as they would not do at home. Many fly from the company of godly people, because not willing to think of God. Lurking unbelief in this. Omnipresence of God a lesson for both old and young. God is sometimes represented by conscience. Fatal is the wish to escape from Godit would be to leave all that is bright, holy, gladdening, for ways of darkness, filth, misery. If we say to God, “Depart from us” (Job 21:14), he will say to us, “Depart from me” (Mat 25:41). Jonah’s effort to escape from God’s presence seemed successful”he found a ship going to Tarshish.” Providence seemed to favour him; but this was a narrow viewprovidence must be interpreted widely. “We cannot expect smiles of approbation from Heaven any longer than we can say with Abraham’s servant, ‘I being in the way‘” (Jones of Creaton). “So he paid the fare thereof.” He had the money readyanother apparently favourable providence, and he paid it at once, for men do not grudge expense to carry out their own will, however reluctant often to spend it to carry out God’s. See the costliness of sinyet the devil’s taxes are usually paid cheerfully. Picture Jonah afloat in the Mediterraneanhis conflicting feelingsrelief, yet no relieflike a modern criminal escaping to America, with an evil conscience and dread of the telegraphhis expedition insane. “Whither can I go from thy presence?” (Psa 139:1-24). No hiding from God (Jer 23:24; Rev 6:16). Only hiding place in God (Psa 32:7). The great lesson is thisindefeasible obligation of God’s will, and man’s alienation from it and disposition to resist it (Rom 7:1-25). Hence the need of watching and prayer: “Teach me to do thy will!”W.G.B.

Jon 1:4-6

The fugitive arrested.

“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 like to be broken,” etc. “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker!” God is never at a loss for means of conquering opposition and bringing erring men to their senseshe arrests Balaam by means of a sword, David through a parable, Peter by a look, the Philippian jailor by an earthquake, Jonah by a storm. All nature is at his command. “The whole world lull of invisible couriers, robed and ready for their service.”

I. THE STORM SENT OUT BY GOD. Connection between the physical and moral world is so adjusted that the former accomplishes purposes of moral government. Storms in a sense are results of fixed law, yet instruments of Divine will”stormy wind fulfilling his word” (Psa 148:8) refitted to show men their helplessness and dependenceto reprove them for rebelling against him whose their breath is, and whose are all their ways. Many things else have same purposeillness, frustration of plans, etc. “In the day of adversity, consider.” Sin often causes storms”in one’s heart, in families, in Churches, in towns, and in nations (Jas 4:1)” (Jones). The storm was adjusted so as to answer precisely the purpose of God. The ship was not actually broken, but like to be brokenliterally, “thought to be broken”vivid image, as if creaks and groans were those of a living thing, as if the ship itself dreaded destruction.

II. CONDUCT OF THE MARINERS. “Then the mariners were afraid.” Mariners usually an intrepid race”a stiffer kind of men than most are”are now afraid. Fear drives to prayer. In a storm the forces against man are overwhelming; in such a case fear becomes inevitable, and prayer an instinct. “No man,” it has been said, “was ever an atheist in a shipwreck.” Herein is testimony to the existence of Godman in conscious helplessness invokes a higher Power. The mariners took a double coursethey both prayed and used the means available for the safety of the ship.

1. They cried every man to his god. Ignorance and superstition may mingle with more genuine feelings. “I think we have no ground for uttering one word of reproach or blame against these men. They would contrast but too favourably with many a ship’s crew that sails out of London or Liverpool. These poor heathen men prayed to their gods. Many a British sailor only swears and curses by his. They did what they could. They were true to the best instincts of the human mind” (Raleigh). The prayer of fear is not necessarily the prayer of faith; fear may be the beginning of a godly life, but is not its essence; love is the essence of true religion and of true communion with God; “perfect love casteth out fear.” If fear sets us at first to pray for ourselves, our families, our Church, our country, it must advance to something higher.

2. “They cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them.” How worthless are all earthly possessions in comparison of life! “Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath, he will give for his life;” “What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own life?” There are moments when utter worthlessness of all earthly things irresistibly flashes even on the worldly mind. Would that men thought oftener of this! Contrast the security of the Christian treasureimmovability of the Christian hope.

III. CONDUCT OF JONAH. “But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.” Apparently he avoided prayer when the mariners took to ithe could not pray. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me;” “Your sins have separated between you and your God.” A guilty conscience makes prayer impossible, till a breakdown takes place, and contrition bursts out. Note the misery of Jonahhe cannot bear to see the men praying while he himself cannot prayhe goes down to the sides of the ship. “The most wretched man in the world is the man who is afflicted, and cannot pray.” He was fast asleep. This was not unnaturalhe had been under a great strain; now comes a recoil. Sisera slept in the tent of Jaelthe disciples in the garden of Gethsemane. Jonah’s sleep was not a sign of insensibility, but a proof of the terrible constraint under which he had been acting. He had utterly exhausted himself in his struggle with God, and the very storm cannot keep him awake. Yet surely this was a strange sightthe heathen mariners praying, and the servant of God sleeping. This, indeed, was typical of the purpose for which God had sent him to Nineveh, viz. that the repentance of Nineveh might be a reproof to Israel; so the prayers of these heathen were a reproof to Jonahhe was provoked to jealousy by them that were not God’s people. Sometimes the Church is rebuked by the world; at least a contrast to the crooked ways, cross temper, and ungracious talk of professing Christians is sometimes found in the integrity, gentleness, and charity of some who make no profession. Earnestness of heathen in their religious observances is often a reproof to Christians. “Why should the Church allow the world to bear away the palm in reference to any one element of excellence whatsoevercandour, courtesy, charity, kindliness, large-mindedness, liberality, self-denial, any virtue whatsoever? Why should there be one single department of what is goodgood in any sphere, moral, physical, social, scientific, concerning which the world can with any show of fairness profess to school the Church, or say, Stand aside, for we are more at home here than you?” (Martin).

IV. CONDUCT OF THE SHIPMASTER. The absence of Jonah in time of prayer had arrested attention, and was felt to be strange and unseemly. Even the world expects Christians to do their duty. Shipmaster reproves him sharply, cries aloud against him, “What meanest thou, O sleeper?” for his sleep was not the sleep that God gives to his beloved. A rebuke often applicable still to many other classes to all at ease in Zion, to neglecters of the great salvation, to open transgressors, to worldlings, to forgetters of God, to those who think not of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come! “Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.” Jonah is called to prayerearnest prayer; he must “arise”a recumbent attitude not suitable for such prayerrather the attitude of Jacob wrestling at Peniel. A reason is given why Jonah should pray, but a hesitating reason, “if so be”if there be even a chance of prayer prevailing; this is very different from the full assurance of faith. Faith knows that God will hear, and that he ever thinks upon his own, and that they cannot perish, in the deepest sense of the word. “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and they shall never perish.” The name and work of Christ, unknown to this mariner, give confidence in prayer. The heathen mariner is here the preacher to the prophet, not the prophet to the mariner. “Let us listen to his awakening call. These words of his have aroused many a sleeper besides Jonah Hear them, sleeping soul, today. What meanest thou, O sleeper?sleeping here in this great battlefield, where souls are lost and won? In this vineyard of noblest work, where God-given talents are doubled or forfeited forever? In this treacherous sea of life, girt round with storms which might so easily break the strongest ships that float? What meanest thou?sleeping now, with noonday lights above thee, and about thee men who strive and men who pray? While the gates of heaven and hell stand open, the murky shadows of the one gathering in deeper folds, the joy bells of the other waiting to peal?” (Raleigh). Oh the unreasonableness of spiritual sleepsleep of unbeliefsleep of backsliding! “Now it is high time to awake out of sleep” (Rom 13:11).W.G.B.

Jon 1:7-10

The fugitive convicted.

“And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah,” etc. The prayers of the mariners, and Jonah’s prayer, if indeed he tried to pray (although that is hardly likely; see Jon 4:2, “Then Jonah prayed”), led to no abatement of the storm. God’s purpose was not to be accomplished in that wayJonah was not to be restored in so easy a manner. But prayer may seem to be unanswered while it is answeredit is a link in a chain. A much more profound discipline had yet to be passed through in order that Jonah might be restored and the great purpose of his mission to Nineveh attained. Let us trace the next steps in the development of the providential plan.

I. THE MARINERS RESOLVE TO CAST LOTS. (Verse 7) This is a striking step. They might have given themselves up for lost, perhaps drowning their feelings, as sailors have often done, in intoxication (if that be not an exclusively modern practice); but they resolved to make another effort to save their lives and their ship. This proceeded on the belief that this storm was caused by some man’s sin; and to find out who was the offender they determined to cast lots. A dangerous generalization, to ascribe a calamity to one man’s sin, though in this case correct. Perhaps there were unusual circumstances in the storm that led them to reason thus. “If anything should happen strangely, as while we are in this mortality we may very well expect, we can take no better course than these shipmen presently to fear lest iniquity be the author of it” (Abbot). Casting lots was a peculiar device to ascertain a secret; religious use of lots, however, is very different from the careless appeal to the lot often made (see Jos 7:16; 1Sa 10:21; Act 1:26), The lot becomes legitimate only when all the ordinary methods of settling a difficulty have failed, and nothing remains but to make a solemn appeal to God.

II. THE LOT FALLS UPON JONAH. Picture his anxiety while the lot was being casthis despair when it fell on him. This seems to have brought him to a sense of his sin: it was God’s voice, “Thou art the man!” Jonah now broke down, prostrated by the little arrow from God’s quiver. In walking through a hospital after a battle, two remarks are sometimes madeHow easy to kill! andHow difficult to kill! Some bodies almost entire, yet killed; some fearfully shattered, yet alive. So we sayHow difficult it is to humble! and How easy it is to humble! difficult for man, easy for God; man may reason, expostulate, apply truth, yet the offender may not in any degree be touched by it. A word, a look, a lot from God, makes one quite prostrate and helpless. What a power of rebuking and prostrating God may use at the last day!

III. JONAH QUESTIONED. All eyes are fixed on Jonah with eager curiosity to ascertain what he had done. The running fire of questions indicates desire for light on the strange transaction. They were chiefly anxious to know his crime, his occupation, and his country; either his personal guilt, or the guilt connected with his occupation, if it was an unlawful one, or with his country, or with his people; for there might be some horrible sin, perhaps committed of old by the people of his country, exposing them and him through them to the wrath of the gods. Why did they not act at once on the decision of the lot, and throw Jonah overboard? Probably they desired confirmation of it; it must be a painful transaction, and. they would like more authority for the step they were to take. It would be satisfactory to get Jonah to confess. It might throw light on the origin of storms, and be a useful hint for the future.

IV. JONAH‘S ANSWER. The nobler aspect of Jonah’s character now comes outperfect ingenuousness and honesty; he knows his fatedeath stares him in the faceyet there is no shrinking or fencing of any kind. He tells them:

1. He is a Hebrew, a member of the race that had so much to do with the powers above.

2. The God whom he worships is the God that made the sea and the dry land, and has absolute power over both.

3. He has fled from his presence, has offended him, and now God is showing his displeasure. Humiliating position, yet not without a certain grandeurJonah under the rebuke of God, his own conscience, and the heathen mariners. In reference to the mariners, he who might have been expected to bring them blessing has brought them trouble. His mouth is shut; he can say nothing for himself. There is something very striking in his undergoing the condemnation of the mariners. He had been afraid, apparently, of the bad opinion of the Ninevites, and had shunned his commission; but now he encounters the bad opinion of the marinerswith nothing to fall back onhis conscience and his God both against him. Yet there is a grandeur in his honest confession, in his attitude of thorough humility; there is a noble truthfulness now about him; he conceals nothing, though he must be the victim.

V. EFFECT ON THE MARINERS. They were exceedingly afraid. They felt a sense of the reality and nearness of a supernatural powerthe power of the God who made the sea and now raises it in storm. The supernatural must be always very impressivemust have subduing effect whenever God is felt to be near, as in time of pestilence. The men now felt God near, in character of the righteous, holy Judge, punishing an offendernot like heathen gods, jesting at sin, but in terrible earnest against it. They seemed to have been impressed, and converted to God, for the soul may move very rapidly; deep impressions may be made very suddenly in time of great excitement. A great lesson to Jonah; if these rough heathen sailors were so deeply impressed by the fear of God, might not the Ninevites have been so too? They said to Jonah, “Why hast thou done this?” Strange aspect of sins of God’s servants in eyes of world! God’s servants have no cloak for their sins. The question must have cut Jonah to the quick. He could only echo it in blank amazementWhy have I done this? Observe the hollowness of all apologies for sin in the hour of judgment; sin, however sweet in the mouth, is bitter in the belly; “lust, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” The horror and misery of the ship’s company are a type of the effects of sin, of one sin, by a servant of God. “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins.” O sin, what a monster art thou! what tragedies come out of thee I how dost thou involve others in ruin, as the drunkard’s family! God give us a true sense of it, and teach us to hate it in every form, and guard against its minutest seeds, lest, like the dragon’s teeth, they breed against us hosts of armed men! Let each one often put the question, in reference to his sins, “Why hast thou done this?” Sinned against God and man, and against thine own soul, and against thine own children? Better we should put the question and answer it in time, than wait till God puts it in the day of judgment.W.G.B.

Jon 1:11-17

The offender sacrificed

“Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous,” etc. A new stage of spiritual progress has been reachedyet the sea not calm. There had been prayerbut no calm followed; now there is frank confession of sin, and doubtless repentance, and acknowledgment of God even by the men, but the sea still wrought, and was tempestuous. Was it “no use” to pray and repent? No; but God’s plan was a large one, not yet completed. See the danger of impatience and despair when a blessing is delayed: “Though the vision tarry, wait for it.”

I. JONAH IS MADE HIS OWN JUDGE. “Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?” They seem to have felt, “There is one God, and Jonah is his prophet.” Fearing God, they recognized the claims of his servant, and appealed to him to pass judgment on himself”What shall we do unto thee?” Doubtless they had their own ideas, but they respected him as a prophet, and were slow to lay bands on him, and thought that, as a servant of God, he would know best what would appease his wrath. “I see chiefly in this language an appeal to the true God and the true man. Wherever the knowledge of God is clearly and truly communicated, heathenism and idols have no chance. Let God be clearly known as he is revealed, and, with very few exceptions, men cannot but believe on him . So, too, when the true man appears among men, although it may be, as in this case, coming out of untrueness and unfairness, staggering beck through the storm and penalty that he may at least die in the right way, men must yield that man reverence. The image of God is shining in him once more. He is a living and true manson of the living and true God”What shall we do unto thee?” (Raleigh).

II. THE SELF–IMPOSED SENTENCE. “Take me up, and cast me into the sea.” The coward now become a hero shows a noble and self-sacrificing spiritcontrast to former spirit. And now comes to the front the instinct of retribution. Jonah does not propose that he should be granted an opportunity to go to Nineveh and execute his commission; he felt that he was causing death to othersit was just that he should die to prevent them from dying: “I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.” But he will not be his own executioner: “Take me up, and cast me into the sea.” No man is entitled to take away his own life; no countenance either in nature or in Bible to suicide. Jonah’s death must be a judicial act, executed by others, “Cast me forth into the sea, for that is the will of God; it is my will also, for I cannot endure to see you in such danger and distress any longer on my account. You have already lost your goods because of me, and you have been for some time in peril of your Ryes; that you may suffer no more, take me up, and cast me into the sea” (Jones).

III. ANOTHER PULL FOR LIFE. “Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land.” These men gain upon usrough seamen by profession, tinged by Oriental barbarity in all likelihood, they become generous, and eager to save Jonah. Jonah’s humility, candour, and ready self-sacrifice had impressed them: “They rowed hard to bring the ship to land.” A self-sacrificing spirit draws men’s heartsturns the heathenLivingstone’s influence with natives of Africa due in no small measure to this featureremember the self-sacrifice of our Lord: “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” “Every good thing in our spirit and action has a tendency to reproduce itself in others who are in any way related to it, especially, of course, if it is called forth for their advantage. Jonah is true and noble at length. The sailors, having responsive qualities in themselves, are nobler for his nobleness, are more self-forgetful because, when the moment of stress came, he did the noblest thing a man could do for fellow menoffered his life for theirs” (Raleigh). Another step is thus gained in moral progress”the men” have become full of reverence toward God, and full of regard for his prophetbut to no purpose apparently; “for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.” A sacrifice, is indispensable. (In the men “pulling hard” some have found an emblem of sinners trying to save themselves before they resort to God’s way of sacrifice; but this lesson seems far fetched)

IV. THE MARINERS TO GOD. “Wherefore they cried unto the Lord, and said, We beseech thee, O Lord, we beseech thee,” etc. The tender conscience and devout feeling of the mariners are very remarkable. Observe:

1. Vehemence of their prayer: “They cried“they beseech God once and again.

2. They appeal to God’s justice: “Let us not perish for this man’s life.”

3. Their concern for life: “Lay not upon us innocent blood.” Shedding of blood was little thought of in those timesmassacre of innocent and guilty alike were common enough.

4. Their submissiveness to God: “For thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.” Thou hast shown thy sovereign will in the past; let it rule us now. Most profitable lesson for us all: “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Pro 3:6). Especially in reference to any step that, once taken, cannot be recalled. For if they threw Jonah overboard, it was an irrevocable act.

V. JONAH IS CAST FORTH. “So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging” They took him up, tenderly and respectfully, not pitching him overboard in a tumultuous manner. The prophet offers no resistance; one great heave, and he is eungulfed; in a little moment the sea closes on himthe men gazing after him with sorrowful, anxious faces, thinking, perhaps, “Poor man! where is he now?” It is an awful testimony to the righteousness of God; one offence has forfeited Jonah’s life. No wonder they are anxious. But their anxiety does not last long; God reveals himself at once, and very wonderfully: “The storm ceased from her raging.” The men are relieved from a double anxietyanxiety about the storm, and anxiety whether or not they have done right. “Thus died Jonah, to them, at least, the death of a criminal pursued by justice; yet the death of a repentant and righteous man; in death triumphing over death; committing himself to God in singular meekness and faith; acknowledging the justice of his doom, and relying on Divine pardon and protection; committing his body to the sea and his soul to the God whom he feared, the God of heaven, and of the sea, and of the dry land” (Martin).

VI. THE EFFECT UPON THE MEN. At last the storm ceases. What neither prayers, nor repentance, nor the change in the mind of the men had accelerated by one iota comes at once and completely after the sacrifice of one man. Fresh token of nearness of God; but not this time vindicating his justice or executing his wrath; showing his mercy and his love. Great power of mercy and love to move the heart: “The men feared the Lord exceedingly.” Awed by his presence, reassured by his mercy, they “offered a sacrifice unto the Lord, and made vows;” showed their deep sense obligation, and took steps to keep it up. The vow was probably to be performed at some future time. Thus they took precautions against evanescence of grateful feelinga useful lesson. Men “soon forget his mercies;” vows tend to keep sense of them alive after times.

VII. JONAH NOT LOST. “The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.” “Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons, and all deeps.” God had shown himself the Lord of reanimate nature; now he shows himself Lord of animate nature. The storm had been his messenger; now his messenger is the fish. This is duly in accordance with the idea of God which the whole transaction and the whole book present. Jehovah claims to be not only the God of the Hebrew, but the God of Nineveh, and of the whole earth. He is the God of heaven, “which hath made the sea and the dry land.” “The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof;” “So is this wide and great sea, wherein go things creeping innumerable, both large and small beasts.” He shows his sovereignty over the land by preparing a great fish. He bends it to his own purposesmakes the devouring monster a means of protection and preservation. The whole story has a supernatural air. If the presence of the supernatural be once admitted, the form of miracle is a mere matter of detail. Objections arising from the apparently grotesque character of this miracle am obviated if it be considered that God wished to convince Jonah of his power to protect and preserve him even in Nineveh, amid hordes of furious enemies, roused perhaps to fury by his message. He that had protected him in the body of the fish, surging up and down through the depths of the stormy sea, was able to protect him at Nineveh. The unusual character of Jonah’s mission justifies an unusual miracle. God’s manifold resources of preservationNoah in the arkMoses in the cradle of bulrushesElijah by the ravensJesus by flight into EgyptPaul through his nephew finding out conspiracy, Many more are found in Christian biography. All the powers of nature, all creatures rational and irrational, men, devils, and angels, are subject to him; and now subject to Christ: God “hath put all things under his feet, and given him to be Head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”W.G.B.

HOMILIES BY G.T. COSTER

Verse 1-ch. 4:11

Characteristics of Jonah.

The weaknesses, the secrete of character, as well as the possibilities of a man are discovered in life’s crises. Jonah’s great mission to Nineveh has revealed him to us; and who can tell how much it revealed him to himself?

I. HE WAS A MAN OF STERN TRUTHFULNESS. This book was virtually written by him. This is the testimony of antiquity; is attested by some linguistic peculiarities in the original, and by the striking details in the narrative, that only could have been known to Jonah himself. Sad and monitory is that narrative; but be it remembered that he writes it. And mark how. He conceals nothing, extenuates nothing; says the bitter worst about himself. There is no effort at explanation, no colour of apology, no relieving light, If his conduct should be a warning, let it be a warning. It is not difficult to” speak truth “to and about others. It is agreeable even to some. But to “speak truth” about one‘s selfthere is the difficulty. Truth about one’s wrongdoing, one’s wrong spirit. The black truth, without any attempt at apology or explanation. Few can do it. Jonah did it. How men hide themselves from themselves! How they tone down their evil deeds! Their sin is not as other men’s. Not so with Jonah. He seeks not, even covertly, mercy from the reader. Enough for him to “find mercy of the Lord.“

II. HE WAS A MAN OF IMAGINATION. He is ever in triumphant exaltation or despairing depression; ever in extremes. And a very little matter could remove him from one to the other. To the imaginative life has brighter lights and deeper shadows than to other men; quicker transitions, darker sorrows. Sorrows, too, are imagined that never come. Something is missed; it is deemed lost; hence vexation and annoyance. All needless; the thing is soon found. A friend is expected, is delayed; all kinds of disasters are fancied to have befallen him. Oppressive, foolish fancies! A temperament this that often hinders from action. Molehills swell into mountains, and little bushes into burly lions. That seems in some eases even to exonerate from action; men so enamoured of deeds imagined, that the deeds in reality are never done. Men sunken into mere day dreamers. Every temperament brings its own special temptation. And the imaginative, so easily gladdened or saddened, need much to pray for “the peace of God.” We can rest from the undue excitements and wearing vexations of imagination as we “rest in the Lord.”

III. JONAH WAS A MAN OF NARROW RELIGIOUS SYMPATHIES. His selfish care for his prophetic reputation, fearing lest the preservation of the Ninevites should stigmatize him as a false prophet, made him cruel. His intense uncharitable patriotism made him long for the destruction of Nineveh, his country’s enemy. Patriotism that binds us to our birthland, the scenes of memory, and of our nation’s history, is well But it is sadly, terribly ill when a man thinks that he can only truly love his own country by longing for the humiliation and harm of all others. God is the God of all the nations; the gospel is for “every creature”is to be passed on by us to those as yet unblessed by us. The story of Jonah warns us against the narrowing influence of professional and national feeling. How noble, in the comparison, is Paul, willing for Israel’s sake to be “accursed,” and yet the apostle of the Gentiles!

IV. JONAH WAS A MAN OF AN IRASCIBLE TEMPER. Uncorrected, it may be, in early life. Correction always comes sooner or later; better sooner than later. He was one soon angry, and who could be very angry. Not a pleasant man to live with. A complaining man, and fond of something to complain of. Fretful, dark, moody. Quick in a quarrel, and one who dared to quarrel with God’s goodness. A man with a spirit of contradiction, who stood by what he said. “Did I not say so? I said it in my own country.” Unlovable Jonah! A man’s termperament is with him from the beginning, and abides with him, through all changes, to the end. But temper can be corrected, and become better; be uncorrected, and become worse. It is to be watched; resisted with “all prayer,” if evil. Let temper, as well as cares, be carried to God. He can subdue it, curb its anger to peace, charm its darkness to cheerfulness.

V. WITH ALL HIS SIN, JONAH WAS A SERVANT OF THE LORD. The “root of the matter” was in him. We have gleams in this dark narrative of the better nature within him. Pleasant to believe that his later life (of which we have no record) was calm with a patience and beautiful with a charity unknown before; that “at the even time there was light.” Here, through all time, he is seen as the great missionary-prophet, and as, of all the prophets, the great Christ-type. On earth he had much to learnmuch concerning his own folly, impatience, sin; much of God’s wisdom, forbearance, perfection. And now, clear from sin, is he not learning the lesson still? For to know God is the blessed lesson of eternity. And its song (as was Jonah’s here) is, “Salvation is of the Lord.” In that song may we join at length and forever, with him and all “the goodly fellowship of the prophets”!G.T.C.

Jon 1:1, Jon 1:2

Jonah God’s messenger.

In these words we have important instruction as to God’s messengers.

I. THEIR CONTINUITY. The first word of this book is the Hebrew conjunction “and:” “And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah.” Thus begin other books of the Old Testament. How significant! The Divine messages stand not alone; they are connected with those sent before. So with the Divine messengers. Did the word of the Lord come to Abraham, Moses, Elijah? And also to Jonah! He shows poorly in comparison with them, yet he too was in “the goodly fellowship of the prophets.” We may have slight gifts and narrow opportunities, still we may be God’s messengers and in the line of the greatest of the past. Each humblest Christian worker can say, “To me also is this grace given.”

II. THE DIFFICULTIES OF GOD‘S MESSENGERS. Jonah had many. This was a novel work to which he was bidden. A great workone man to warn the millions of Nineveh. A work he could devolve on no other, and in which he was to have no human helper. He had to say a “hard saying.” Not a sermon concerning Ninevehthat he could have preached at home; nor to Nineveh; but with fearless cry against itthe city of violence, of manifold vengeance clamouring wickedness. But his great difficulty was within him, in an unwilling mind that soon revealed itself in rebellious life. We too have difficulties as God’s messengers. In the way we have to go, the people we have to address, their callous unconcern in the message we have to hear”warning every man.” But our greatest difficulty is within. To be promptly obedient. Not to hesitate, delay, argue against. Oh, to watch against the reluctant will! There is the fontal evil. No audible voice, such as may have come to the prophets, do we need today. The Spirit of Christ is with us, speaking in Scripture-illumined conscience, and in the fresh strong convictions of the soul. Let us hear and promptly heed them, willing to bear or do all to which he calls.

III. THE PRIVILEGE OF GOD‘S MESSENGERS. With all his faults Jonah is clothed with honour. He carried God’s messages to men; he was “Jonah the prophet.” We too may bear his messages, and by every right word and true deed are doing it. How privileged thus are we! Then let us “arise, go.“ Let nothing hinder, remembering whose servants we are. “Arise, go” to cottage, school class, bed of the afflicted, to warn, entreatin all bearing God’s messages; to business, to do it as in Christ’s very presence; to scenes of rest, by purity and cheerfulness to witness for God the All-holy, the All-happy One; to trials, temptations, to be in Christ’s strength stronger than all of them. “Arise, go to” all the work given you to do, and go to finish it: to sorrows, that through them you may reach the realms of rest; to death, through it to arrive at the land of life; through all to him our Master and Lord. “Where he is there we shall be also.”G.T.C.

Jon 1:3

Jonah the fugitive.

I. THE MOTIVES THAT IMPELLED HIM TO FLIGHT. We cannot know all that prevailed with him. If we knew just where the call found him, and “the spirit of his mind,” then we might be less surprised at his flight. Had he been “restraining prayer”? yielding to self-indulgence? or falling to the idolatry of his own judgmentconfident that he knew his own powers, what he could best do, where best labour? not in all things seeking that higher wisdom which is our only safe and unerring guidance? Anyway, such a man as Jonah falls only by little and little. There are many steps to reach a spiritual catastrophe. Let us be warned, then, against the first steps, however secret, that lead from God. Among the things that wrongly influenced him to flight we may suppose:

1. The novelty of the work. To be a prophet to a heathen people, to go to them as God’s messenger, was striking into a new line of duty. How different from work in Israel amid familiar surroundings!

2. It was work afar off, involving a long journey of several hundred miles. Those, too, were days of slow travelling, and Jonah too, perhaps, a poor traveller.

3. The difficulties of the work would only be beginning when Nineveh was reached. That he, a solitary man, a foreigner, should, in that city of insolent pride and pitiless violence, denounce judgment upon it, was indeed a stupendous worksomething to do and to shrink from.

4. His little success at home was not encouraging. Jeroboam may have been quickened by his prophecies to military effort and victories, but Jeroboam was still an idolater. And idolaters, as a whole, were his people. What can Jonah expect, then, in Nineveh?

5. But if the Ninevites repented, then (for they would surely be saved) Jonah would be discredited. “He had foretold doom, and, lo! deliverance.”

6. Why should Nineveh, Israel’s enemy, be spared? All the small blind patriot in Jonah kindled into revolt against the work to which he was bidden. Let Nineveh perish! And have we no excuses for flight from duty? Such a novel work, or so new to us! So far away from all our experiences! Beset with countless difficulties! Amid dangers, too, perhaps! And little likelihood of success in it! Must the work be done? Then others must do it] Excuses may be many, valid reasons there can be none, for neglecting the duty which God bids us to do.

II. THE FAVOURABLE–SEEMING CHARACTER OF CIRCUMSTANCES IN JONAH‘S FLIGHT. He left Gath-hepher; went down to the coast. No accident stopped him. In Joppa no illness delayed him. The sea was peaceful. He found just the ship he wished, and bound whither he desired. There was room for him on board. He had money enough for the passage; “so he paid the fare.” He went aboard. What could be better? Not into the book of providence must we look to know the right way from the wrong. In themselves, prosperity is no proof of the Divine favour, nor adversity of the Divine displeasure. We have a “sure word” to guide us. And had Jonah tested his conduct by God’s word, he would have known, in spite of all that seemed favourable, that he was going “the way of transgressors.” Have you success in wrong? It is none the less wrong. Things are not really, permanently favourable if God is unfavourable. Are we right with him? Then all things, storm as well as shine, shall be right with us. “Even the night shall be light about us.”

III. JONAH‘S SPIRITUAL DEGRADATION IN FLIGHT FROM DUTY. “He went down to Joppa.” Literally, down from the mountains of Zebulun, down to Joppa, and, having secured his berth, “down into it.” Spiritually, how he had been going down! Down from his moral elevation as a prophet. Down from the heights of fellowship. Down from the highlands of peace. Down from Divine service in which he had been as “upon the top of the mountains.” Down, ever less noble, beautiful, Divine! Men may “go up” in society, wealth, local influence, and yet morally be going down. By every act of duty done we ascend; by each neglected we morally descend. Having the Word of the Lord, may we have his Spirit too, that daily we may cheerfully respond to the heavenly voice that says, “Come up higher”!G.T.C.

Jon 1:4-6

Jonah reproved.

I. A TEMPESTUOUS PROVIDENCE REPROVED HIM. Jonah, aroused, creeps on deck. What a scene met him! The sea in horrible tumult. The fury of the wind. The ship

” up and down
From the base of the wave to the billow’s crown!”

The bronzed sailors wondering what would be the end! The storm is reproving him. No miraculous wind, perhaps. Still, God’s servant with strong reproof: “Guilty Jonah, awake! arise! return! To thy God; to thy work! Duty may be left; it can never be escaped till done!” Sleep had been a part of his flight. Now he was awake. Was conscience awake? Could he think? What did he think? Or was he still escaping from himself in the very tumult of the tempest that came to awake him? To not a few life is like a long slumber. Thought, imagination, love, are asleep; their noble possibilities awake only to the gains and joys of this little spot of earth and fleeting day of time. But not without reproving storms, of loss, trouble, affliction, bereavement. It is well that the man suffer loss that he be not lost. The voice of circumstances is the voice of God.

II. THE EXAMPLE OF THE SAILORS REPROVED JONAH. They, each man of them, prayed. Each to his favourite god. Earnestly, with faith in the efficacy of prayer, they “cried every man unto his god.” Prayerless Jonah (how can the backslider pray?) is reproved by those praying sailors. Their prayer is one of ignorance, ignorant earnestness. He has no prayer at all; and he, too, a prophet of the Lord! And how the heathen’s passionate cries to his god rebuke our restraint of and coldness in prayer! How the full-hearted earnestness of the illiterate Christian reproves our heartless accuracies and formal worship! How the backslider is shamed by the cry of the penitent! “Arise, call upon thy God!”

III. THE APPEAL OF THE CAPTAIN REPROVED JONAH. He, respectful in all his surprise and suppressed indignation, goes down and himself awakes Jonah. A heathen, he is faithful in all his ship. Not man or boy aboard but he calls to prayer. And even the strange passenger must be called as well. A pattern master this. He had a religious as well as secular care for those under him; was not ashamed to show his earnest spiritual interest in this strange Hebrew. A pattern for all masters and mistresses on sea and land. Jonah should have been reprover, and he is reproved; a teacher, and is being taught; prayerless, when he shouht have been leading others in prayer. “What meanest thou, O sleeper?” Thou, backslider today, why sleep? Awake to thy peril! Call upon the great Deliverer! He will think upon you. His thought shall be salvation. You shall not perish.G.T.C.

Jon 1:7-10

Jonah detected.

I. JONAH DETECTED BY THE LOT. Heathens cast that lot; still the disposal of it was of the Lord. He guided the fateful token, and so it fell to Jonah. Now that the Divine Spirit is given to those that seek him, we are released from dependence upon the indications of the lot. But still by things as little seeming as lot casting, backsliders are discovered to themselves if not to others. A cock crow detected the recreant Peter. And now by some memorial of better days, an old letter perhaps, a book inscribed with a once-cherished Christian name, or a time-yellowed ticket of Church membership, the backslider is self-detected. Oh the upbraiding days that are no more! Oh, reproaching light of the irrevocable years! Now he has sinned away the light, has grieved out of his heart the joy of the Lord. “The lot fell upon Jonah,” and he was detected.

II. JONAH DETECTED BY THE SAILORS‘ MANY QUESTIONS. “Thine occupation?” A prophet! But so faithless to the prophetic call, so unworthy of the prophetic name! “Whence comest thou?” From Gath-hepher; from high, if perilous, mission to Nineveh, seeking, as he tells them, to flee from the presence of the Lord, to escape (how guilty! how futile!) from the great universal presence. “What thy country?” The land of privilege, the Holy Land! “Of what people art thou?” Of the people of God, the people chosen to be the depository of the Divine truth, and the witnesses to the Divine character. Questions these to go home. Backslider, “what thine occupation”? You have been, it may be, a Christian worker, a teacher of the young, a speaker of the truth. And not now. Why not? “Whence comest thou?” From a pious early home? From scenes of Christian activity and service that miss you, that know you no more? “What thy country, thy people?” A citizen of this Christian country, with such opportunities to be a Christian man and to do Christ’s work among men, and yet you act as if gospel light had never shone to you, as if the news of salvation had never sounded in your ears.

III. JONAH DETECTED BY THE SAILORS‘ UNANSWERABLE QUESTION. “Why hast thou done this?” was the question that pierced deepest of all. It was unanswered. Jonah could not attempt excuses, and reason for his flight there was none. Backslider, once you could find time for Christian service; you had joy in it; you were a blessing; you were blest. Not so now. You have withdrawn from Christian work. “Why hast thou done this?” What valid reason can you give? Once you were in fellowship with God’s people. Not so now. The world’s spell is on you. You are intent on making a position, pushing the fortune of your family; pleasure is your pursuit, ambition your aim. But were you not happier in the former days than in these? “Why hast thou done this?” Once you tasted that the Lord was gracious; now you are far out on the godless, reckless deep, where there is no peace. Why is this? “Speechless” you must be. For such guilty flight reason there can be none.G.T.C.

Jon 1:11-16

The sailors conduct.

Look at those swarthy sailors. They were among Jonah’s teachers; they, too, may be among ours. From age to age in this chapter they sail the seaJonah’s friends; ours also if we will let them be, having much to say to us if we have but ears to hear. Mark

I. THEIR REVERENCE. There is nothing rough and rude about them. The storm has subdued them. What they hear from Jonah affects them. Is it not the hour of their conversion? They cease from idolatry and worship Jehovah. Hearing of Jehovah as God of heaven, earth, and sea, they were “exceedingly afraid.” He must indeed be the Lord! And that Jonah should have sought to flee from him! “What shall we do unto thee?” they ask; for through Jonah they would learn the will of God concerning him. They have no grudge against him, no scorn for him, no words of insult, no deed of violence. They reverence his God, and so show kindness to him. A pattern in this to us. Have we an offending brotherone who has offended us? Let us wrong not ourselves, nor wrong him, the better man in him, by bitterness. The wrong doer will have self-reproach enough, bitter memories enough.

II. THEIR SELF–DENYING GENEROSITY. Those sailors did what they could to save the prophet. When Jonah was at his best they were at their best. His unselfishness called out theirs; their nobility answered to his. Thus is it ever. Be kind, pure, generous, and you will help others to show kindness, and to be pure and generous. What inspiration is there in goodness! Supremely is this seen in our blessed Lord. What an encouragement to copy him that we may quicken others!

“Honour to these whose words or deeds
Thus help us in our daily needs,

And by their overflow
Raise us from what is low.”

III. THEIR PRAYERFULNESS. As heathens they had “given themselves to prayer; Hearing of Jehovah, they pray to him. They cannot save Jonah; but before they do the deprecated deed “they cried unto the Lord”all of them, earnest, importunate. They recognized God in this series of events; they would be submissive to him; they would be clear of this man’s blood; they would take no step without prayer. Nor let us. Let it be the “key of the morning and the bolt of the night.” When have we not requests to offer? needs to be supplied? When do we not need God?

IV. THEIR GODLY FEAR ATTESTED. At the sight of the sudden great calm “the men feared the Lord exceedingly.” Their fear, their faith, evidenced itself. By “a sacrifice unto the Lord” they expressed in act thankfulness for the past and present; by their “vows,” their resolution of service in the time to come. As from themselves, must have come the knowledge of the sacrifice offered and vows made, we may believe that that sacrifice to Jehovah was the first of many, and that the vows made were paid; otherwise they had not cared to have remembered or spoken of them. In these days of Christian light may we offer a daily sacrifice of our time, means, faculty, influence, to him who for us “even dared to die,” and in his strength perform the many vows that we have made.G.T.C.

Verse 17-ch. 2:10

Jonah’s De profundis.

Here the prophet is, as he is called in the Koran, “the man of the fish.” God had pity on him, and sent him into an awful school house that he might “come to himself.” A strange character was his, and a strange chastisement came upon him. God’s power was his keeperhis power “who hath a bridle for the lips of every disease, and a hook for the nostrils of death.” The external history of the man through that imprisonment is unwritten. Not so the history of his heart.

I. SEE JONAH AT PRAYER. He had slept in the ship; he is awake in the fish. He prays; he feels his misery; he sees his sin. The man is awake. In the terrible darkness of adversity he longs for the light of the Lord. In what solitude was he! Far from light of day, human voices, human sympathy. Yet there he could pray. We can pray anywhere. Jeremiah could pray in the miry pit, Daniel in the lions’ den, and Jonah in the fish amid the paths of the seas. He was in sad and extreme case. He was as a dead man out of mind; yet he can pray. What distress is ours? Our hopes may be “ready to perish.” But think of Jonah! He could have recourse to prayer. So can we. The greatest of all was Jonah’s Friend. In losing his liberty he has found his God. He prays “unto the Lord his God.” “O Lord my God” (verse 6), he cries. We, too, have the greatest of all as our Friend. None need despair with such a Helper.

II. JONAH‘S PRAYER WAS A CRY. Whether a vocal cry or not, it was the cry of his soul. In this second chapter we have a well arranged prayer. If not the exact order, we have here the substance of the requests he cried unto the Lord. What agony and horror may be in a human cry! In cries from the sea when perishing men call for a lifeboat! Jonah cried to God. What tears in his words! what distress in his tones! What hope for him, as “out of the belly of hell” (the unseen world, the place of the dead) he cried? Already he seemed numbered with the dead. The sense of God’s displeasure was the soul of his affliction. “All thy billows and waves passed over me.” Was God favourably there? “I said, I am cast out of thy sight.” That was the pang. He had sought to escape God’s presence; now he mourned the Divine absence. He had no enjoyment in his prayer, yet it was accepted. The prayer of agony ends in the voice of singing.

III. JONAH‘S PRAYER WAS ONE OF FAITH. “I will look again,” he saidmentally look again”toward thy holy temple.” How much the “temple” includedthe Law, worship, sacrifices! towards these he looked, and thus overcame his fears. Down there, in those depths, in that living tomb, by that “look” this man becomes one of the heroes of faith. He, too, like a prince prevailed. That look was seen. God was pleased with it, and accepted it. Still God sees a look when the soul is in it. Though no word be spoken, we can look unto him and be saved.

IV. JONAH‘S PRAYER WAS ONE OF THANKFULNESS. In this prayer he recalls and makes his own words from the Book of Psalms. Some of the old cries of David became the new cries of Jonah. And, marvellously preserved, his prayer was praise; and, in view of his deliverance, he vowed unto the Lord. And his vow was kept. The very subsequent writing of this chapter warrants our belief of that. And what of the vows we have made in times of peril? “Vow and pay.” Say, “I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.”

V. JONAH‘S PRAYER WAS ONE OF UTTER DEPENDENCE ON GOD. Such was his spirit, such his prayer. With “salvation is of the Lord” it ended. And by that he seems to have meant that he left all with God? He was in the best hands. In his own time and way God would save him. If he will, creatures will act contrary to their natures, as did this fish in not hurting Jonah. It God had “prepared” or appointed; and now its work was done, the prophet penitent, saved not only from death, hut also from trusting in “lying vanity,” “the deceitful promise of his own will and his own way,” no longer “forsaking his own mercy” even God, but cleaving to him. Now “the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited Jonah upon the dry land.” And the prophet is a saved mansaved body and soul, the word, his creed and To Deum, upon his lips, “Salvation is of the Lord,” Still, “he must save, and he alone.” Jesus, and no other, “shall save his people from their sins.”G.T.C.

Jon 1:17 with Jon 2:10; Jon 3:3 (cf. Mat 12:39-41)

Jonah a prophetic sign of Christ.

I. I N BOTH WE SEE A MARKED JUDGMENT OF GOD. The storm, the detection, the punishment, were all from God. Jonah was the sinner on board. Christ, “without sin,” “became sin for us.” He suffered at the hands of wicked men; yet “the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all,” “He was wounded for our transgression.” The vast world vessel went plunging on to destruction, the storm unappeased while the sin was unpunished. On!

“When lo! upon the reeling deck a weary stranger stands,
And to the dark devoted crew stretches his suppliant hands;
From the face of God, from the face of God, from the face of God ye flee;
‘Tis the blast of the breath of his nostrils that shakes this stormy sea.
But take ye me and cast me into the troubled deep,
And the wrath that is roused against you will be pacified, and sleep.”

Yes, he is our Peace! “For the transgression of my people was he stricken.”

II. JONAH, IN HIS BURIAL, WAS A SIGN OF CHRIST. Very unlike was the sea monster bearing away the prophet to the rock tomb that received the body of our Lord; yet in this they were alike, that they had been unused as tombs before. Prepared were both for the event that has made both eternally memorable. “The Lord had prepared” the fish. Joseph, unwittingly acting out the Divine purpose, had prepared the rock hewn tomb. He may have meant it for himself. God meant it for his Son. This Isaiah had foretold: “He made his grave with the rich.” The time of Jonah’s and our Lord’s burial agreed. So our Lord’s resurrection on the third day was “according to the Scriptures”to his own word and his predictive type. Jonah, cast into the deep, seemed done with. An end of him! So, to many, with Christ, when the loving Marys and “those lords of high degree” bore him to the tomb. In his living tomb Jonah miraculously lived. And though Christ’s body was dead, where was he? Still living; “doing good;” preaching the glad tidings in the unseen world (1Pe 3:19).

III. JONAH‘S RESURRECTION WAS A SIGN OF CHRIST‘S. God “spake unto the fish,” and it cast the living prophet to the shore. So “God raised from the dead” the Lord Jesus. Thus he reversed the marked judgment that, in suffering and death, had come upon his Son. He was now “highly exalted” as Prince and Saviour. Moral resurrections attest Christ’s. “Witnesses to Christ’s resurrection” are all saved men and women. They are “risen with Christ;” and by his Spirit rise.

IV. JONAH‘S MISSION TO THE GENTILES WAS A TYPE OF CHRIST‘S. Jonah was sent to the Ninevites. Christ arose to be a Saviour “to the uttermost parts of the earth.” To all nations. For every creature. His missionby many voices and ministersis going on. Its continuance declares his. Its moral victoriesover ignorance, superstition, sinattest his royal and almighty power. “All power hath been given unto me.” Jonah himself, raised from such a grave, was the sign to the Ninevites. Christ is the Sign of Christianity. Often, alas! spoken against and rejected. Happy thoseonly thosewho accept and glory in him!G.T.C.

HOMILIES BY A. ROWLAND

Jon 1:1, Jon 1:2

The call of Jonah.

We may fairly identify Jonah, the son of Amittai, with the prophet who preached in Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II. (see 2Ki 14:23-27). His name signifies “a Dove,” and it well expressed his mournful and brooding temperament. Amittai means “the Truth of God,” and it has been wisely said by a great Puritan divine, “I would that truth were every preacher’s father.” The narrative is exceedingly simple, and the Hebrew remarkably pure; while the lessons taught by the book are of profound significance, and far in advance of those we might have expected in that age of the world’s history. The revelation of God’s infinite goodness shines radiantly throughout.

1. He was merciful to the Ninevites, who were regarded as being outside the covenant; but were warned, converted, and saved.

2. He was merciful to Jonah, not cursing him for his wilful disobedience, but preserving him from peril into which his own foolish precipitancy had plunged him; graciously giving him a new commission in spite of his failure; teaching him gently, after a sinful outburst of temper; and closing the narrative of his life by a question of infinite tenderness.

3. He was merciful to the sailors, who had been heathen all their lives, but who, on turning towards him, found his deliverance near and complete.

I. THE PROPHET‘S CALL. “The word of the Lord came unto Jonah.”

1. It was a Divine call. Without it no service should ever be attempted; with it no service should be avoided. To go and preach to Nineveh would never have arisen as a conception of duty in the heart of a patriotic Israelite in those days. The generosity of the thought was Divine, not human. We, too, should listen for the words of our God, and wait for his commission. If we are true Israelites, we shall not precede the cloud, but follow it. The attitude of those who would be true prophets should be that of Samuel, when he said, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.”

2. It was a secret call. Jonah was not commissioned by courtiers, or by ecclesiastics, or by a popular assembly. Probably his proposed expedition was unknown to all of these. It is a frequent experience with a Christian to get instruction as to what he should do, when he enters into the closet, shuts to the door, and prays to the Father who seeth in secret.

II. THE PROPHET‘S SPHERE. Nineveh was at this time in the zenith of its glory. Rich, corrupt, and godless, it was the centre and focus of evil

1. The sphere was dangerous. Even in these gentler times, and amidst more phlegmatic people, moral courage is required by those who rebuke popular sins. But an Eastern mob would be likely to handle very roughly any foreigner who dared to threaten their city for its sins. Jonah had no fear of this, however, and so far sets a noble example of heroism.

2. The sphere was uncongenial. These Ninevites were dreaded and hated by the people of Israel. Even under the Christian dispensation we see frequent evidences of national jealousy and antipathy, which prevent willingness to benefit other nations; and many a man would be rebuked as unpatriotic who earnestly sought the well being of foreigners. How much more intense was such a feeling under the former dispensation! But God had room in his Fatherly heart for other peoples besides the race he had chosen for a peculiar purpose. Whenever the elect nation came into contact with others, God gave to those others some revelation of himself. He revealed himself to the Egyptians through Joseph and Moses; to the Philistines, through the sacred ark; to the Assyrians, through Elisha; and to Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, through Daniel. Those who are inspired by God’s Spirit overlook the barriers of race. The apostles did so, and were glad that God had given even to the Gentiles repentance unto life. Personal prejudices and dislikes may also sometimes hinder us in carrying on our divinely appointed work. Let us pray for willing minds and obedient hearts, that uncongenial spheres may be bravely filled.

III. THE PROPHET‘S DUTY.

1. He was to denounce the wickedness of the people. Both Nahum and Zephaniah refer to the sins of Nineveh. Its inhabitants were luxurious, riotous, addicted to witchcraft, cruel, and idolatrous. Sins vary in form, but not in nature. The vices of our own time we should specially denounce with unsparing courage.

2. He was to proclaim the nearness of God. They knew not the truth revealed to Jonah: “Their wickedness is come up before me.” Similar was the statement made about the murder of Cain and the sin of Sodom. God sets all our sins in the light of his countenance.

3. He was to announce a coming judgment. “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jon 3:4).

4. He was to be ready to receive and convey every message God gave him. “Preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.” This should be the constant attitude of all religious teachers.A.R.

Jon 1:3

The prophet’s disobedience.

Scripture never seeks to palliate the sins of the saints, but reveals them in all their wickedness. Jonah’s disobedience is exhibited in the strongest light, as being resolute and prompt, following immediately on the Divine command. He had been told to make his way to Nineveh, which lay northeast of his home, and he instantly started in the opposite direction, being determined to go as far west as he could. He “went down” from the mountain district of Zebulun, where he bred, “to Joppa”now known as Jaffa, a port on the Mediterranean. There he found a vessel on the point of sailing for Spain, which was much larger and safer than the ordinary coasters, as we may judges not only from the length of the voyage undertaken, but from such a verse as this: “Thou breakest the ships of Tarshish with an east wind;” the destruction of these great vessels by storm being evidently considered a special proof of Divine power. Tarshish was an ancient city of Spain, proverbial for its wealth, and was the exporter to Tyre, to Judaea, and other lands, of silver, iron, tin, and lead. It was known to the Greeks and Romans as Tartessus. In that distant place, mingling with the crowds which thronged its streets, occupied by the fresh strange scenes which would surround him, Jonah hoped to escape from his duty and to drown the voice of conscience. His folly and sin are suggestive of warning to all who are tempted to disobey their God.

I. MANY LIKE JONAH, FLEE FROM THE WAY IN WHICH GOD WOULD HAVE THEM GO. The expression, “to flee from the presence of the Lords” should be rendered “to flee from being before the Lord,” i.e. from standing in his presence as his servant. Jonah knew perfectly well that he would never be beyond the reach of God’s sight and power. The truths celebrated in Psa 139:1-24, he sincerely believed. But he resolved no longer to act as God’s messenger and prophet. He felt sure that his message of warning was meant to bring Nineveh to repentance, and that then the merciful God would spare the city, which, with far-seeing prescience, the prophet perceived would be the destroyer of his country. If the sins of its inhabitants were so great, they deserved to die; and if their growing power was shattered, he cared not how, . threatening danger would be averted from his native land. Just as some Englishmen, jealous of the rising power of the United States, would not have lifted a finger to avert its destruction in the late civil war, so Jonah felt about Nineveh. He determined that he at least would not be the messenger to avert its destruction; so he fled as far as he could from the appointed sphere. Examples of similar conduct are to be seen amongst us.

1. God calls men to private prayer. They hear of its benefits; they are conscious that it is a duty and a privilege. Yet they avoid solitude, or they plunge into an interesting book, or they yield themselves to sleep, just when the opportunity comes for praying to the Father who seeth in secret.

2. God calls men to his service. The work requires to be done, but they shut their eyes to it, or they leave it to others, or so absorb their time in business that God’s service is neglected.

3. God calls men to give themselves to him. At times they are almost persuaded to be Christians. But they leave the sphere in which good influences surround them, and wander away into the far country as the prodigal did.

II. IT IS NOT ALWAYS EASY TO AVOID THE GOD–APPOINTED WAY. Jonah felt that he could not remain where he was. He wished to divert his mind by travel, and to make it so difficult to journey to Nineveh that he could quiet his conscience in Tarshish by saying, “The distance is too great.” Money, time, and trouble were necessary to his disobedience. Every wrong doer has had some such experience. Around most of us God mercifully puts a protecting hedge of holy influences, which it is difficult and painful to break through. Those who are brought up in Christian homes do not find it easy to snap the bonds of love which have held them, and to get rid of the sacred memories of a hopeful childhood. They feel shocked and ashamed when they first witness scenes of vice and hear words of evil. Doubts and fears trouble them, especially at the beginning of a downward course, though all too soon they learn even to rejoice in iniquity. All such feelings and associations are among the God-appointed means for saving us from sin.

III. GOD DOES NOT RESISTLESSLY STOP THOSE WHO ARE DETERMINED TO GO WRONG. Jonah had no accident on his journey down to Joppa. He found the very ship he wanted at anchor in the harbour. He paid the fare and embarked for his destination, and when the anchors were raised and the vessel sailed out to sea, he felt that he had nothing more to do but wait, while the breeze that filled the sails would soon carry him to a distant land. Those who mean to leave the ways of unrighteousness do not meet with insuperable difficulties. They may be sometimes troubled with self-reproach, but meantime outward circumstances may appear even to favour their downward progress. If only they can stifle convictions and cast scruples to the winds while they resolutely make their way to scenes of gaiety and sin, God will work no miracle to prevent them. And the time may come when even the inward monitor is silent; for God’s voice has been heard saying, “Ephraim is joined to his idols: let him alone.”A.R.

Jon 1:4-6

The Divine interposition.

When man forsakes God, he who is infinite in mercy does not forsake man. No sooner had Adam fallen than Divine love planned a scheme of redemption. Through all the ages the voice of God has been summoning men to repentance; and in the fulness of time his only begotten Son came to seek and to save that which was lost. He deals as lovingly with individuals as with the race. Jonah was an example of this. Had a favourable voyage taken him to his destination, or had a sudden tempest drowned him in the depths of the sea, we should only have known of him as a disobedient prophet. But God dealt mercifully with him. He sent a temper which aroused him from lethargy, brought his sin before him through the remonstrances of heathen, provided for him a means of escape, and gave him a new commission as his servant. These are the facts we should now consider.

I. GOD SOMETIMES SENDS A STORM TO AROUSE A WRONG DOER. On entering the ship, Jonah went below deck; partly, no doubt, to avoid curious inquiries, and partly to rest after the long and hurried journey he had taken. Soon he sank into a heavy sleepfit emblem of the lethargy of sin. The tempest, or rather its effect on the sailors, aroused him. Many have experienced tempests within or in their outward life .which have led them afterwards to say, “He restoreth my soul.” Anxieties have been so terrible, that in an agony the convicted have cried, “Lord, save, or I perish.” Illness has come so suddenly, and death has seemed so near, that the awakened soul has asked, “What shall I do to be saved?” The forsaking of friends, the death of relatives, the failure of business, have been employed by God again and again to arouse moral thoughtfulness, and save the soul from destruction. Let us learn the lessons which such tempests can teach us. “What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, and call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.”

II. GOD EMPLOYS UNLIKELY AGENTS TO BRING A WRONG DOER TO REPENTANCE. The man who uttered the words just quoted was a heathen shipmaster, whom a Jew would despise as a Gentile dog or as an ignorant idolater. Yet but for him Jonah might have slept on till the vessel foundered. It has often been so. Naaman, the distinguished Syrian general, was taught by a slave girl. David was instructed by Abigail. The Pharisees and scribes were rebuked by the hosannas of little children in the temple. God chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and weak things to destroy things which are mighty. If we see no reason for fear or for seriousness in the tempest of life, he may arouse us by means we despise. A single phrase in a sermon which is far from eloquent, a leaflet or tract without any pretension to literary charm, an earnest word from an inferior in rank or education, the trustful prayer of a lisping child,may be used of God, as was the summons which came to Jonah from a superstitious heathen.

III. A MAN MAY BE IN GREAT DANGER WITHOUT BEING CONSCIOUS OF IT. Jonah slept. Perhaps he dreamed of happier days and of distant scenes. These seemed real to him, but the realities actually around himthe storm, the ship, the sailorswere as if they did not exist. He did not know his danger, and had forgotten in sleep his sad disobedience. Even to the sailors his sleep seemed the result of infatuation or of senselessness, and they asked (not, “What meanest thou?”), “What aileth thee, O sleeper?”as if there was something abnormally wrong with him, as indeed there was. But more strange, more fatal, is the sleep in which so many lie who believe themselves to be awake. Shrewd in business, eager in pleasure seeking, successful in study, all that they see appears for the time to be the only reality. But, like Jonah, they are in dreamland. Heaven and hell, death and judgment, an enemy of souls, and a Saviour from sin, are recognized by others, not by them. Urge all such to awake, and arise from the dead, that Christ may give them light. “Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.”

IV. GOD‘S WAY OF SALVATION IS THE ONLY ONE. It was useless for the sailors to row hard in the hope of bringing the ship to land, and equally useless for them to cast the cargo overboard. There was no safety for them or for Jonah except by the way ordained by God. Strange as it seemed to them and to us, Jonah, in all his sinfulness and helplessness, was to be cast into the sea, where none but God could save him. If the story has no other lesson, it at least teaches us the impotency of human effort to battle successfully with the storms of life. The struggles some make in their unaided strength to win salvation are vain as the efforts of these who “rowed hard to bring the ship to land.” The endeavour to get rid of besetting sins without prayer for grace is as ineffectual as the casting overboard of the burden in the ship. A simpler, stranger, means of salvation is provided for us. As Jonah was cast helpless and alone into the sea, for God to save in his own way, so we are called to such implicit trust as will prompt us to cast ourselves wholly upon Christ, in whom we shall find eternal rest.A.R.

HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS

Jon 1:1-3

God speaking to man in mercy, and man fleeing from God in disobedience.

“Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.” This is a strange book. It is not the record of a dream, nor the sketch of an allegory, but the history of a man written by himself. True, he speaks in the third person; but so did many of the old prophets, go did the Apostle Paul, and so have many great men. Intellectual children are prone to use the personal pronoun I; great intellectual men prefer writing of themselves in the third person. Speeches and books bristling with I are generally the effusions of little souls. We have here his name and that of his father, the one signifying “Dove,” and the other “the Truth of God.” Names of old were sometimes commemorative, sometimes predictive. Names now signify little. Men by great and noble deeds can, and often do, throw into the commonest names a meaning that will radiate through centuries. In these words we have two things worthy of attentionGod speaking to man in mercy, and man fleeing from God in disobedience.

I. GOD SPEAKING TO MAN IN MERCY.

1. Here he speaks. “The word of the Lord.” His word to Jonah, like his word to all men, was clear, brief, weighty, practical.

2. Here he speaks to an individual. He speaks to all men in nature, conscience, history; but in sovereignty he singles some men out for special communications. In times past he spake “unto the fathers by the prophets.”

3. Here he speaks to an individual for the sake of a community. “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city.” Why does God call it a “great” city? To men it was considered “great”great in numbers, pomp, pretensions, masonry. But to God it could only he great in sin, for sin is a great thing to God; it is a black cloud in his universe; it is the “abominable thing” which he hates. For the sake of this city, in order to effect its moral reformation, and therefore to save it, Jonah receives a commission. “Arise,” shake off thy languor, quit thyself for action, go down to this city, and “cry against it.” Be earnest. The danger is great, near at hand, and approaching every minute. Observe here two things:

(1) Man’s distinguishing faculty. What is that? The power to receive, to appreciate, and to work out the ideas of the Infinite. No other creature on earth has this power.

(2) God’s method of helping humanity. God enlightens, purifies, and ennobles man by man. We have this “treasure in earthen vessels.”

II. MAN FLEEING FROM GOD IN DISOBEDIENCE. “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tar-shish, from the presence of the Lord.” Here is a threefold revelation of man.

1. His moral freedom. God did not coerce Jonah, did not drive him to Nineveh. He merely commanded him to go, and Jonah resisted the Divine command. Man has the power to resist Goda greater power this than can be found in all the heavenly orbs or in the whole history of material organisms. This power invests man with all but infinite importance, links him to moral government. “Ye do always resist the Spirit of God.”

2. His daring depravity. He dares to attempt extricating himself, not only from his obligations to God, but from his very “presence.” Alas! men have not merely the power but the disposition to oppose God. This is their guilt and their ruin; it is what men are doing everywhere, trying to break the shackles of moral responsibility, trying to elude the Infinite.

3. His egregious folly. See the folly. His endeavouring to escape from God was:

(1) Not merely an impulse, but a resolution. Had it been a sudden wish, it would have been bad. But here is a resolution. He “rose up.” He rallied and marshalled his energies.

(2) Not merely a resolution, but an effort. He “went down to Joppa.” The probability is that he went with the greatest speed to Joppathe Jaffa of our day. Though a descent, it was rather a long journey, and would take him two or three days. When he reached the spot, how long he was about the quays in search of a suitable vessel!

(3) Not merely an effort, but a persevering effort. It was not one, or two, or three spasmodic efforts, and then over. He continued his journey from his home to Joppa, then he searched on the quays for a vessel; and when he found, as he thought, a suitable vessel, he “paid the fare thereof,” Ah! what fares men pay in the career of sin! And when he had paid the fare thereof, he “went down into it,” and there he thought himself safe. How inexpressibly foolish was all this, not only in the nature of the case, but according to results! All the efforts, as the sequence shows, not only proved futile, but brought him to the utmost distress.

CONCLUSION. The two things that you have in these verses are always going onGod in mercy speaking to man, and man in terror fleeing from God. Oh, how wrong, how foolish, the attempt to flee from the Infinite! “Whither shall I flee from thy presence?”D.T.

Jon 1:6

A rousing voice to moral sleepers.

“What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.” The incident referred to in the text is thisJonah was sent to Nineveh on a mission of mercy, sent to warn the corrupt population of their impending doom, and to call them to immediate repentance. The Divine message was not to the prophet’s mind; he was displeased, and instead of going direct to Nineveh, he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid the fare, embarked, and hasted away. While on the deep a terrible tempest arose. “The Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.” As the tempest raged Jonah was asleep, “fast asleep.” So the shipmaster came to him and said unto him, “What meanest thou, O sleeper?” etc. Moral indifferentism is the curse of the world. Three practical appeals to the morally indifferent are suggested.

I. JONAH WAS IN IMMINENT PERIL. So are you. It is said that the ship was “like to be broken.” The perils of shipwreck have often been graphically depicted; but they surpass the conceptions of all but those who have struggled in their ghastly horrors. But what are the perils of material shipwreck to the perils of a corrupt and disobedient soul? To have the body buried in the depths of the ocean is a trifle compared with the burial of the soul under the black, booming billows of moral depravity and guilt. The buried body becomes unconscious of its position, and sleeps itself into the calm bosom of its mother nature; but the soul becomes burningly conscious of its terrible situation, and struggles in vain to rise from the abyss. What is hell? I know not. I want no rolling thunders of Divine vengeance, no material fires burning on forever, to impress me with its awfulness. A soul buried in the black ocean of its own depravity, with a conscience intensely alive to its hopeless condition, struggling in vain to release itself, is the hell of all hells. Careless sinner, you are in danger of this hell! Your moral circumstances will soon be changed, a tempest is brooding, it increases with every sin. Every star in your heavens will soon be extinguished, and the sea on which you are now gliding along will be lashed into fury and will engulf you in ruin.

II. JONAH WAS UNCONSCIOUS OF HIS PERIL. So are you. Whilst the tempest was raging and the vessel ready to sink, he was “last asleep.” Carless sinner, you are unconscious of your danger! You say to yourself, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace. If you were aware of your position, you would give no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids.

1. Jonah’s unconsciousness was foolish. So is yours. How unwise was the prophet to sleep under such circumstances! He should have been on deck, alert, all ear and eye, and with hands ready to grapple with the emergencies of the terrible hour. But your folly is greater, inasmuch as your peril is more tremendous.

2. Jonah’s unconsciousness was wicked. So is yours. For the sake of his companions on board, he ought not to have been “fast asleep;” it indicated a shameful lack of interest in his fellow men. Your indifferentism is wicked. You ought to be spiritually alive and awake, not only for your own sake, but also for the sake of those around you who are in similar peril.

III. JONAH HAD A MESSENGER TO WARN HIM OF HIS PERIL. So have you. “The shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.” There are certain points of analogy between this “shipmaster” and the godly ministers that are warning you.

1. He believed in the existence and power of God. So do they. “Call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us” Great dangers seldom fail to strike the idea of God into the hearts of men, whatever their creed or character. This man believed, not only that a God existed, but that that God had raised a tempest, and had the power to subdue it. The Christly men that warn you every Sunday from the pulpits also believe in this God.

2. He believed in the efficacy of human prayer. So do they. The shipmaster said to Jonah, “Call upon thy God.” Whatsoever speculative scientists may say about prayer, one thing is clearthat it is an instinct of the soul, not a mere doctrine of the Bible; it is a law of nature, not a mere ceremony of religion. What soul does not pray when in conscious contact with overwhelming dangers? Your ministers believe in prayer; they pray for you, and urge you to pray for yourselves.

3. He believed it to be his duty to sound the warning. So do they. What right had he to interfere with the sleeping prophet, to break his slumber, and to summon him to prayer? The instincts of nature authorized him, nay, bound him to do so. Your ministers have a right to warn you; they are bound to warn you. They are commanded to “cry aloud, to lift up their voice like a trumpet,” Do you say, when godly men speak to you about your moral condition, “What business have they to interfere? My soul is my own; if I choose to throw it away, what matters it to them?” It does matter to them. You are not your own, you are not an isolated unit, you are a member of the spiritual universe; you have, therefore, no right to be dishonest, corrupt, ungodly, and throw your soul away. You were made to serve the universe, not to curse it; you cannot sin without injuring others, Every true man is bound to protest against your conduct, and to demand from you, in the name of God and this universe, an immediate reformation.

CONCLUSION. The following fact, recorded in the ‘Biblical Treasury,’ is worthy of note as an illustration: “A traveller who was pursuing his journey on the Scotch coast, was thoughtlessly induced to take the road by the sands as the most agreeable. This road, which was safe only at low tides, lay on the beach, between the sea and the lofty cliffs which bound the coast. Pleased with the view of the inrolling waves on the one hand and the abrupt and precipitous rocks on the other, he loitered on the way, unmindful of the sea which was gradually encroaching upon the intervening sands. A man, observing from the lofty cliffs the danger he was incurring, benevolently descended, and arresting his attention by a loud halloa, warned him not to proceed. ‘If you pass this spot, you will lose your last chance of escape. The tides are rising. They have already covered the road you have passed, and they are near the foot of the cliffs before you; and by this ascent alone you can escape.’ The traveller disregarded the warning. He felt sure he could make the turn in the coast in good time; and, leaving his volunteer guide, he went more rapidly on his way. Soon, however, he discovered the real danger of his position. His onward journey was arrested by the sea; he turned in haste, but to his amazement he found that the rising waters had cut off his retreat. He looked up to the cliffs; but they were inaccesible. The waters were already at his feet. He sought higher ground, but was soon driven off. His last refuge was a projecting rock; but the relentless waters rose higher and higher; they reached him; they rose to his neck; he uttered a despairing shriek for help, but no help was near, as he bad neglected his last opportunity for escape. The sea closed over. It was the closing in upon him of the night of death.”D.T.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

CHAPTER 1

[The Prophets Commission to preach against Nineveh, and his Attempt to evade it (Jon 1:1-3). A Voilent Storm arises; Alarm of the Sailors; Means adopted for their Safety; Detection of Jonah; he is thrown into the Sea, and is swallowed by a Fish (Jon 1:4-16).C. E.]

1Now [And] the word of the Lord [Jehovah] came unto [was communicated to] Jonah , 1 the son of Amittai.2 2Arise,3 go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry4 [proclaim] 3against it; for5 their wickedness is [has] come up before me. But [And] Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord [Jehovah], and went down to Jappa; and he [omit, he] found a ship6 going to Tarshish: so he paid [and paid] the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish 4from the presence of the Lord [Jehovah]. But [And] the Lord [Jehovah] sent out7 a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty [great] tempest in the sea, 5so that [and] the ship was like to be broken.8 Then [And] the mariners9 were afraid, and cried every man [each] unto his god, and cast forth the wares10 that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them.10 But [And] Jonah was gone down [had gone down] into the sides [the interior] of the ship;11 and he lay, and was fast asleep. 6So [And] the shipmaster12 came [came near] to him, and said unto [to] him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon [to] thy God, if so be that [perhaps] God13 will think upon us, that we perish not [and we shall not perish]. 7And they said every one to his fellow [to each other], Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know [and we shall know] for whose cause14 [on account of whom] this evil is upon us. So [And] they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. 8Then said they [And they said] unto [to] him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us;15 What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? 9And he said unto [to] them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord [Jehovah], the God of heaven, which [who] hath made [omit, hath] the sea and the dry land. 10Then were the men [And the men were] exceedingly afraid, and said unto [to] him, Why hast thou done this?16 [What is this thou hast done?] For the men knew that he fled [was fleeing] from the presence of the Lord [Jehovah], because he had told them. 11Then said they [And they said] unto [to] him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us [may subside from against us]? for the sea wrought and was tempestuous17 [was increasing and rushing tempestuously]. 12And he said unto [to] them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea, so shall the sea [And the sea shall] be calm unto you [subside from against you]: for I 13know that for my sake18 this great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless [And] the men rowed19 [broke through, viz., the waves] hard to bring it to the land [to bring to land]; but they could not, for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous [was increasing 14and rushing tempestuously] against them. Wherefore [And] they cried unto [to] the Lord [Jehovah], and said, We beseech thee, O Lord [O now Jehovah], let us not perish for this mans life,20 and lay not upon us innocent blood: 15for thou, O Lord [Jehovah], hast done as it pleased thee. So [And] they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased [stood] from its raging. 16Then [And] the men feared the Lord [Jehovah] exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the Lord [Jehovah], and made vows.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Jon 1:1-3. The Command and the Flight. Compare on Jon 1:1 the Introduction, 2, p. 13.

The narrative begins, according to usage, with the copula [conjunction vav. C. E.], because every event in time follows upon an antecedent one; and the record of that event is always only a continuation of something prior, and separately considered forms a fragment. (Hitzig, Compare Rth 1:1; 1Sa 1:1.)

[From the circumstance that the book commences with the conjunction , commonly rendered and, some have inferred that it is merely the fragment of a larger work, written by the same hand; but though this particle is most commonly used to connect the following sentence with something which precedes it, and is placed at the beginning of historical books to mark their connection with a foregoing narrative, as Exo 1:1; 1Ki 1:1; Ezr 1:1; yet it is also employed inchoatively where there is no connection whatever, as Rth 1:1; Est 1:1; and, as specially parallel, Eze 1:1. It serves no other purpose in such cases than merely to qualify the apocopated future, so as to make it represent the historical past tense. (Henderson, Com. on Jonah, Jon 1:1.)

This form, And the word of the Lord came to, saying, occurs over and over again, stringing together the pearls of great price of Gods revelations, and uniting this new revelation to all those which had preceded it. The word And, then joins on histories with histories, revelations with revelations, uniting in one the histories of Gods works and words, and blending the books of Holy Scripture into one Divine book. (Pusey, Com. on Jonah, Jon 1:1.)

Sometimes a book commences with the relative past form of the substantive verb, in consequence of the writers viewing it as the continuation of a preceding one (Lev 1:1; Num 1:1; Jos 1:1; Jdg 1:1). Books are also found to commence in this manner which have no actual reference to a preceding one; in such cases the writer plunges at once in medias res, regarding what he is about to record as connected to foregoing events, at least in the order of time (Eze 1:1; Jon 1:1; Rth 1:1; Est 1:1). (Nordheimers Heb. Gram. Syntax, 976, 2).C.E.]

Jon 1:2. Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, on the left bank of the Tigris, is called the great city, , here as in Gen 10:12, where the additional clause, the same is a great city, includes the four previously, separately named cities, which, in a wider sense, constituted the city of Nineveh. It was, according to Diodor. ii. 3, the greatest city of antiquity. Its circumference was four hundred and eighty furlongsone hundred and fifteen furlongs greater than that of Babylon. Its diameter was (Herodotus, v. 25)21 [?] one hundred and fifty furlongs; consequently a good days journey. Upon its walls, 100 feet high, flanked with fifteen hundred towers, each two hundred feet high, four [some say three, C. E.] chariots could drive abreast. The three days journey, which, according to Jon 3:3, one could travel within the city, cannot appear an incredible statement, if we consider that it filled, together with the adjoining cities united to it by the same fortifications, the whole space between the rivers Tigris, Khosr, the Upper or Great Zab, the Gasr Su, and the mountainous boundary of the valley of the Tigris on the east; and that the rubbish and ruin covered mounds, which indicate the locality of the desolated city, and which for twenty-five years have been accessible to the investigations of learned men, occupy an area of about eighteen square miles [German miles=378 Eng. sq. milesC. E.] Comp. Ewald, Bib. Jour., x. 52 ff.; J. Oppert, Expd. Scientifique en Msopotamie, Paris, 1862, ii. 67, 72, 82 f.; M. v. Niebuhr, Hist. of Assyria and Babylon, p. 274 ff.)

[Nineveh, according to Gen 10:11, was built by Nimrod. The verse should probably be read: Out of that land he [Nimrod] went forth into Asshur [Assyria], and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth and Calah. According to the Greek and Roman authors, it was founded by Ninus, the mythical founder of the Assyrian empire; and its name appears to be derived from his, or from that of an Assyrian deity, Nin, corresponding, it is conjectured, with the Greek Hercules. In the time of Jonah, it had probably attained to its greatest extent. It formed a trapezium, and consequently could have no one diameter. Its sharp angles lay towards the north and south, and its long sides were formed by the Tigris and the mountains. The average length was about twenty-five English miles; the average breadth, fifteen. This large extent of area includes Nineveh in its broader sense, which was a union of four large primeval cities. Nineveh proper, including the ruins of Kouyunjik, Nebbi Yunas, and Ninua, is situated at the northwestern corner, near the Tigris. Nimrud, supposed to be the later capital, and which, in the opinion of Rawlinson, Jones, and Oppert, was the ancient Calah, is at the southwestern corner, between the Tigris and Zab; a third large city, which is now without a name, and which has been explored least of all, is on the Tigris itself, from three to six English miles to the north of Nimrud; and the citadel and temple-mass, now named Khorsabad, is situated on the Khosr. (Compare Keil and Delitzsch on the Minor Prophets; Kittos Biblical Cyclopedia; Smiths Dictionary of the Bible; Layards Nineveh and its Remains; Rawlinsons Herodotus, Book I., Appendix, Essay vii.)C. E.]

Preach against it is Gods command to Jonah; that is, go and deliver to its face, a call to repentance [Eine Busspredigt]. He does not say, preach merely concerning it; for Jonah, as other prophets did, could have done that in his own land. Neither does he say merely to it; for that would have been expressed by or . But God will have him preach against Nineveh, because its wickedness had come up before Him as in former times the wickedness of Sodom and Gomorrah had done (comp. Gen 18:21, with Gen 6:5).

Jon 1:3. Jonah arose, but to flee, and that from the presence of Jehovah, that is, from the people and land of Israel, to which he imagined the presence Of God to be limited, as Jacob, when he was astonished at discovering the presence of God beyond the home of his father [Vterlichen Erde]. (Gen 28:16.)

[The belief in the omnipresence of God was a part of the faith of Abrahams house. And that God was even present here he did not first learn on this occasion (as Knobel seems to think), but it is new to him that Jehovah, as the covenant God, revealed Himself not only at the consecrated altars of his fathers, but even here. (Lange on Gen 28:16.)

It has been asked, How could a Prophet imagine that he could flee from the presence of God? Plainly he could not. Jonah, so conversant with the Psalms, doubtless knew well the Psalm of David, Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy presence? He could not but know, what every instructed Israelite knew. And so critics should have known that such could not be the meaning. The words are used, as we say, he went out of the kings presence, or the like. It is, literally, he rose to flee from being in the presence of the Lord, i. e., from standing in his presence as his servant and minister. (Introduction to the Prophet Jonah, by the Rev. E. B. Pusey, D. D., p. 247.)

Dr. Pusey illustrates his interpretation by a large number of references to the use of the expression , in the notes to the passage quoted above. The explanation of Keil and Delitzsch (Com. on Jonah, Jon 1:3) is essentially the same: from the face of Jehovah, i. e., away from the presence of the Lord, out of the land of Israel, where Jehovah dwelt in the temple, and manifested his presence (comp. Gen 4:16); not to hide himself from the omnipresent God, but to withdraw from the service of Jehovah, the God-King of Israel.

Henderson (Com. on Jonah, Jon 1:3), says: , which strictly means the face, person, or presence of Jehovah, is sometimes employed to denote the special manifestation of his presence, or certain outward and visible tokens by which He made Himself locally known. Thus God promised that his presence (), i. e., the sensible tokens of his presence, should accompany the Hebrews on their march to Canaan (Exo 33:14. Comp. Psa 9:3; Psa 68:2; Psa 68:8). It is also employed in reference to the place or region where such manifestations were vouchsafed, as Gen 4:14, where it obviously signifies the spot where the primitive worship was celebrated, and sensible proofs of the divine favor were manifested to the worshippers (1Sa 1:22; 1Sa 2:18; Psa 42:3(2)). In like manner, the place where Jacob had intimate communion with God, was called by that patriarch , the face, or manifestation of God (Gen 32:30). The interpretation, therefore, of David Kimchi, He imagined that if he went out of the land of Israel, the spirit of prophecy would not rest upon him, is perhaps not wide of the mark. Jarchi to the same effect: The Shekinah does not dwell out of the hind. Though, as Theodoret observes, he well knew that the Lord of the universe was everywhere present, yet he supposed that it was only at Jerusalem he became apparent to men; .C. E.]

The psychological motive of the flight is not mentioned. That which Jonah assigns (Jon 4:2), is hardly to be considered with Keil22 as pragmatically exact and sufficient, since in that place it rather makes the impression of being an attempt to palliate a guilty conscience, which is glad to seize upon even the semblance of right. His concern for the time being, was to throw off obedience to God, and for that purpose various motivesease, indolence, and fear of menconcurred,a state of mind of which every servant of God can readily conceive from the analogy of his own experience. That he actually intended an entire abandonment of duty, the circumstance that he fled as far as possible proves.

To Tarshish, or Tartessus,23 which was the most remote of the Phnician trading-places known in the Old Testament, and situated not far from the mouth of the Btis (Guadalquivir). He takes the direct road thither, first to Joppa, which, in the time of Solomon (2Ch 2:16), was a well-known seaport on the Mediterranean (Jos 19:46), for the purpose of there embarking in a ship, whose appointed fare () he paid.

Jon 1:4-16. God arrests Jonah. Jehovah, from whom Jonah intends to flee, is Lord of the sea, and the winds are his servants (Psa 104:4). One of these servants he sends forth in haste into the sea to draw Jonah from his purpose.

Jon 1:5. The sailors, heathen from different nations, do what behooves honest and prudent men: they pray and resort to the usual precautionary measures, by throwing the wares into the sea, in order to unburden themselves of them. ( does not refer to the wares, but to the ships company (Exo 18:22).) But he, whom the storm particularly concerns, deems himself secure in the aides of the ship, i. e., in the hold (comp. Amo 6:10; Isa 14:15). There he is fast asleep. Tam quietus est et animi tranquilli, ut ad navis interiora descendens somno placido perfruatur. (Hieronymus.) The verbs in the last sentence of the verse should be rendered in the pluperfect, as in the last clause of Jon 1:10. [Jonah had gone down into the hold, and had there fallen fast asleep.C. E.]

[This act of Jonah is regarded by most commentators as a sign of an evil conscience. Marck supposes that he had lain down to sleep, hoping the better to escape either the dangers of sea and air, or the hand of God; others that he had thrown himself down in despair, and being utterly exhausted and giving himself up for lost, had fallen asleep; or as Theodoret expresses it, being troubled with the gnawings of conscience and overpowered with mourning, he had sought comfort in sleep and fallen into a deep sleep. Jerome, on the other hand, expresses the idea that the words indicate security of mind on the part of the prophet he is not disturbed by the storm and the surrounding dangers, but has the same composed mind in the calm, or with shipwreck at hand; and whilst the rest are calling upon their gods, and casting their things overboard, he is so calm and feels so safe with his tranquil mind, that he goes down to the interior of the ship and enjoys a most placid sleep. The truth probably lies between these two views. It was not an evil conscience, or despair occasioned by the threatening of danger, which induced hm to lie down to sleep; nor was it his fearless composure in the midst of the danger of the storm, but the careless self-security with which he had embarked on the ship to flee from God, without considering that the hand of God could reach him even on the sea, and punish him for his disobedience. This security is apparent in his subsequent conduct. (Keil and Delitzsch, Com. on Jonah, Jon 1:5).

Pusey and Cowles intimate that he may have been fatigued by his journey to Joppa, and that sorrow and remorse completed what fatigue began.C. E.]

Jon 1:6. But God knows where to find each one (comp. Amo 9:2). The captain [ collect] came to him and said: What meanest thou, O sleeper? Hieronymus: Quid tu sopore deprimeris? Vox stupentis et acriter redarguentis, ac si dixisset: qunam est tibi tanti soporis causa et ratio et excusatio? cum procella somnum omnem satis interdicat et vigiliam exigat periculum?Marck.

Arise, pray to thy God. Perhaps God24 will think upon us, think mercifully that we perish not (compare the derivatives of the root (Job 12:5; Psa 146:4). The heathen is obliged to admonish the servant of God of his duty, and to remind him of the fact that his God is a merciful God.

[Pusey quotes from Chrysostom the following passage: The ship-master knew from experience, that it was no common storm, that the surges were an infliction borne down from God, and above human skill, and that there was no good in the masters skill. For the state of things needed another Master, who ordereth the heavens, and craved the guidance from on high. So then they too left oars, sails, cables, gave their hands rest from rowing, and stretched them to heaven and called upon God.C. E.]

Jon 1:7. But God intends to make a complete exposure of Jonah. [Luther fills up, in an ingenious way, the break in the continuity of thought between Jon 1:6-7. On a momentary survey of the evil, which he had caused, Jonah was filled with such a pungent feeling of repentance and confusion, that he is speechless from deep compunction, and does not, because of shame, find courage to make an open confession, because he considers the disgrace intolerable. Therefore God must suffer still something more to come to pass, in order to drive him to confession.]25 The lot falls upon him. Fugitivus hic sorte deprehenditur, non viribus sortium, sed voluntate ejus, qui sortes regebat incertas (Hieronymus.) [The fugitive is detected by lot, not from any virtue in lots themselves, but by the will of Him, who governs uncertain lots.]

Jon 1:8. His own confession must convict him, that he intended to flee from a God, of whose wide, unlimited power he could not be ignorant (Mat 12:37).

[When Jonah had been singled out by lot as the culprit, the sailors called upon him to confess his guilt, asking him at the same time about his country, his occupation, and his parentage. The repetition of the question, on whose account this calamity had befallen them, which is omitted in the LXX. (Vatican), the Soncin. prophets, and Cod. 195 of Kennicott, is found in the margin in Cod. 384, and is regarded by Grimm and Hitzig as a marginal gloss that has crept into the text. It is not superfluous, however, still less does it occasion any confusion; on the contrary, it is quite in order. The sailors wanted thereby to induce Jonah to confess with his own mouth that he was guilty, now that the lot had fallen upon him, and to disclose his crime (Ros. and others). As an indirect appeal to confess his crime, it prepares the way for the further inquiries as to his occupation, etc. They inquired about his occupation, because it might be a disreputable one, and one which excited the wrath of the gods; also about his parentage, and especially about the land and people from which he sprang, that they might pronounce a safe sentence upon his crime (Keil and Delitzsch, Com. on Jonah, Jon 1:8).

Questions so thronged have been admired in human poetry, St. Jerome says. For it is true to nature. They think that some one of them will draw forth the answer which they wish. It may be that they thought that his country, or people, or parents, were under the displeasure of God. But perhaps more naturally, they wished to know all about him, as men say. These questions must have gone home to Jonahs conscience. What is thy business? The office of prophet which he had left. Whence comest thou? From standing before God as his minister. What thy country, of what people art thou? The people of God, whom he had quitted for heathen; not to win them to God, as He commanded; but not knowing what they did, to abet him in his flight.

Jon 1:9. Jonah answers the central point to which all these questions tended: I am a Hebrew. This was the name by which Israel was known to foreigners. It is used in the Old Testament, only when they are spoken of by foreigners, or speak of themselves to foreigners, or when the sacred writers mention them in contrast with foreigners. (Pusey, Com. on Jonah, Jon 1:8-9.)

He does not say a Jew, as the Targum wrongly renders it; for that would have been false, since he was of the tribe of Zebulun, which was in the kingdom of Israel, and not of Judah; nor does he say an Israelite, lest he should be thought to be in the idolatry of that people, but a Hebrew, which was common to both (Dr. Gill, Com. on Jonah, Jon 1:9).

And I fear Jehovah, the God of heaven, which made the sea and dry land. has been rendered correctly by the LXX. , colo, revereor; and does not mean I am afraid of Jehovah against whom I have sinned (Abarbanel). By the statement, I fear, etc., he had no intention of describing himself as a righteous or innocent man (Hitzig), but simply meant to indicate his relation to God,namely, that he adored the living God who created the whole earth, and, as Creator, governed the world. For he admits directly after, that he has sinned against this God, by telling them, as we may see from Jon 1:10, of his flight from Jehovah. He had not told them as soon as he embarked in the ship, as Hitzig supposes, but does so now for the first time, when they ask about his people, his country, etc., as we may see most unmistakably from Jon 1:10, b. In Jon 1:9, Jonahs statement is not given completely; but the principal fact, namely, that he was a Hebrew and worshipped Jehovah, is followed immediately by the account of the impression which this acknowledgment made upon the heathen sailors; and the confession of his sin is mentioned afterwards as a supplement, to assign the reason for the great fear which came upon the sailors in consequence. (Keil and Delitzsch, Com. on Jonah, Jon 1:9.)C. E.]

Jon 1:10. The heathen perceive the bearing and extent of this confession. Danger teaches to take heed to the word (Isa 28:19). [See the Hebrew and Luthers German translation of Isa 28:19.C. E.] Great fear of the great God, who pursues them closely [is at their heels] seizes upon them. The second half of the verse is an explanatory clause added by the narrator, from which it is evident that the reply of Jonah (Jon 1:9), does not give the exact words that he uttered, but only their substance in condensed form. Indeed, if the question (10, a), is admitted to be intelligible, he must have told them of his flight.

[What hast thou done! , is not a question as to the nature of his sin, but an exclamation of horror at his flight from Jehovah, the God of heaven and earth, as the following explanatory clauses, , clearly show. The great fear which came upon the heathen seamen at this confession of Jonah, may be fully explained from the dangerous situation in which they found themselves, since the storm preached the omnipotence of God more powerfully than words could possibly do. (Keil and Delitsch, Com. on Jonah, Jon 1:10.)C. E.]

Jon 1:11. Still more evident is it from this verse that Jonah must have told them that he was a servant of God consecrated by a special call; for they do not cast him into the sea immediately, but apply to him with a kind of awe for instructions what to do. Moreover, afterward (Jon 1:13-14), they exert themselves most strenuously to bring him to land, to preserve his life for the execution of his divine commission; and only when they do not succeed, do they throw him into the sea.26

The participle , Jon 1:11, frequently stands as an auxiliary verb, with the idea of continuance, increase: the sea continued to rage (2Sa 3:1; 2Sa 15:12).

Jon 1:12. Jonah pronounces his own sentence. Non tergiversatur, non dissimulat, non negat, sed qui confessus erat de fuga pnam libenter assumit se cupiens perire ne propter se et ceteri pereant. (Hieronymus.) [He does not refuse, or prevaricate, or deny; but having made confession concerning his flight, he willingly submits to the punishment, desiring to perish, and not [to] let others perish on his account.] With the same resignation, with which the prophets are accustomed to announce the sad fate of their nation, he utters his own sentence as a divine oracle, and joins with the tone of prophecy the promise of deliverance.

Jon 1:13. The holier he seems to the men, the greater is their dread of putting him to death. Will not God have mercy upon them, if they restore him again to the mission, from which he was intending to escape, if they put him on shore? They row hard [, literally, broke through, namely, the surging waves] to bring the ship to dry land; Cyrill: : the object can be omitted as being easily understood, a usage common to the German.27 But they do not succeed. It must be evident to them that the word of the prophet must indeed be accomplished. He is a servant [Mann] of Jehovah, whom they are about to sacrifice; therefore it is natural that they should pray, not to their own gods, but to Jehovah to pardon them because of the victim.

Jon 1:14.O Jehovah, we beseech thee, let us not perish for the sake of the soul of this man. has not arisen from (Keil), whereby a useless accumulation of synonymous words would arise, but it is the usual particle of entreaty, contracted from ,28 which is just as readily joined with positive requests (2Ki 20:3). The pretii [the beth of price, reward, exchange.C. E.] stands here as in Mic 1:5. The added petition, impute not to us innocent blood, does not mean, suffer us not to destroy in this man an innocent person (Hitzig); but has the meaning of imputation and retribution. Against them Jonah had done no wrong; with respect to them he is guiltless; and in his mission as a prophet, he stands or falls to his God alone: this they feel; no worldly power has a right to pass sentence upon the prophet of God (Jer 26:19). [ is irregularly written with , as in Joel. 4:19.] But God showed them that they must serve Him as his executioners. For thou, O Jehovah, hast done as it pleased thee. Thou hast determined it. This is their justification. The lot and the word of the prophet are to them the finger of God.

Jon 1:15. The prediction of the prophet is fulfilled. The sea stood still [ceased] from its raging.

Jon 1:16. The result of the fulfilled prophecy is that the fear of God on the part of the heathen manifests itself in action: they offer a sacrifice and make vows,the sacrifice immediately, the vows for the time of landing.

[According to the Rabbins, Grotius, and some others, they did not actually offer a sacrifice, but only purposed to do it before Jehovah, i. e., at Jerusalem; but it is more natural to conclude that they sacrificed some animal that was on board, and vowed that they would present greater proofs of their gratitude when they returned from their voyage. Michaelis thinks they intended to perform their vows when they reached Spain.

Quin; ubi transmiss steterint trans quora classes;

Et positis aris jam vota in litore solves.neid iii. 403.

Hendersons Com. on Jonah, Jon 1:16.C. E.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL29

See Introduction 3. p. 16.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

There is no escape from the Almighty God. For (1.) He has so arranged the world, that the work of every individual is counted upon; and his work is not allowed to stand still, but must be accomplished. Jon 1:1-2. (2.) Distance is no protection against Him; for to Him belong heaven and earth, the sea and the dry land. Jon 1:3, f. 9. (3.) To Him the winds and waves are subject; for He has made all things.

Jon 1:4; Jon 1:9. (4.) To Him also are subject everywhere, in involuntary fear, the erring hearts of men (Jon 1:5-6); whoever, then, expects to find in them a refuge against God, is deceived. (5.) Even things seemingly accidental must obey Him, whenever He intends to carry out his purpose.

Jon 1:7. (6.) Everything, however far from, or near to Him it may be, must finally become an instrument in his hand (Jon 1:11-15), and coperate for the glorifying of his name. Jon 1:16.

Jon 1:1. Whoever would speak the word of God to others, must have received it himself. For the office of the ministry a regular call is requisite.

Jon 1:2. Let no man say, that there is, or can be anywhere, a sphere of life so distant, that God can entirely lose sight of it. The Lord has always an eye and a heart for those also, who are without. And he who would be his servant and has not such a heart, is a servant like Jonah, that is, an undutiful one. The sins of Nineveh are not specified. The savage desire for wars and thirst for conquest, which characterized the Assyrians, were certainly sins enough before God; yet there may have been others. Gods call to repentance is always a call of grace; his call of grace always a call to repentance. Jonah and Paul, Rom 1:5.

Jon 1:3. What God appoints to thee to do, do it without gainsaying. He who gives the burden gives also the shoulders to bear it. He who flees increases the burden. He who flees from God is foolish and commits folly. Jonah must have known in his heart that it is impossible to escape from God (Jon 1:9). It so happens that if, regardless of Divine direction, we take our own course, we will afterward be obliged to acknowledge ourselves blind and foolish.

Jon 1:4. Had the Book of Jonah originated from heathen fables, as some assert, the Lord would not have sent the wind upon the sea; but the god of heaven [Jupiter] would have made an alliance with the god of the winds [olus] and with the god of the sea [Neptune] against Jonah. How simple and sublime is the religion of the Old Testament! Distress teaches to pray. If thou dost not know and teach this, thou wilt always be a poor comforter. If the Lord seizes thy heart with violent alarms from anguish of conscience, throw thy wares into the sea. What is thine must perish, and if thou dost not surrender it, thou must thyself suffer shipwreck.

Jon 1:6. It is a sad thing and a bad sign, if the unbelieving, and those in the congregation weak in faith, must tell the minister what becomes him to do. Happy he whose conscience is awakened and quickened by an admonition so shameful to him. Of whom the Lord thinks, him He also helps (Psa 40:17 (17)). It often occurs that the Lord must say: Verily, I have not found such faith in Israel.

Jon 1:7. Human means to learn the will of God, in doubtful cases, are in themselves of no avail; but God can make use of them, if there is true earnestness in those who employ them, and if they know no better means (comp. Joshua 7). But when men, by means of prayer, can receive the Holy Spirit, then they should seek the will of God, not by lots, but by prayer (Mat 7:11).

Jon 1:8. Jonah might purposely have left his birth and vocation in darkness. Whoever engages in his calling with half a soul, likes to avoid confession; he suffers himself to be considered as a heathen, and puts himself on a level with this world. Where the fear of God is not, there is the fear of man. And moreover, the fear of man is most unprofitable. Whoever frankly and honestly, humbly and heartily, acknowledges the Lord among men, will soon discover that it is the phantom offspring of fear to imagine that one will reap from the acknowledgment only disgrace and not a blessing. Such was not even the case among the heathen; for when Jonah made his confession, they honored him (Jon 1:10-14). Reflect how many souls may be guided by the Lord to thee, to whom, by confession at proper time, thou mayest have it in thy power to render a service for eternity. The commission [of the minister] is not confined to Jerusalem and Bethel, not to the baptismal font and altar, not to the confessional and pulpit, not to canonicals; but it is in thy heart and mouth, and it shall, therefore, never depart from thee (Deu 30:14).

Jon 1:13. So has the heathen world also struggled to come to land; but it could not until Christ was buried in death (Romans 1-3).

Jon 1:15. There are deeds of violence by which Gods will is carried into effect. But it does not, therefore, follow that he who performs them is guiltless; but he stands in need of repentance and forgiveness.

Jon 1:15-16. This is also a shadow of things to come. O, that it were only come to this,that all the heathen world would thank God, that death, which swallowed up Christ, has no more power over us.

Luther: Thus God is wont, when his great wrath is at hand, to send his word before and save some. We have now the same grace and great light of the Divine word; therefore it is certain that a great destruction is near; since God intends to rescue some before it comes.

Jon 1:2. We regard the history with indifference, because we view it from without, and it does not concern us. But should the like occur in our time, we would think that we never yet heard of a more foolish and more impossible thing, than that a single man should enter such an empire, with a proclamation to repent. Now Gods works are wont to appear, at first, so foolish and impossible, that reason must despair of their accomplishment and scoff; but it is well for us to believe, for God accomplishes them.

Jon 1:3. The ancient holy fathers were especially inclined to exculpate the prophets, apostles, and great saints. But we adhere strictly and inflexibly to the Word of God, and admit that Jonah, in this instance, committed a great sin, on account of which he would have been eternally condemned, had he not, in the number of the elect, been written in the book of life. This is a signal token of grace that God seeks Jonah and punishes him so soon after his sin, and does not suffer him to profit by it, or to continue long therein.

Jon 1:5. The natural light of reason extends thus far, that it considers God kind, gracious, merciful, and mild. This is a great light; but it fails in two particulars. In the first place, it believes indeed that God has power and knowledge to do, to help, and to give; but that He is willing also to do such things for it, it knows not; therefore it does not continue steadfast in its opinion. In the second place, reason cannot correctly bestow the predicate of Deity upon that being to whom it belongs. It knows that God is; but who and what He is, who has a right to be called God, it knows not. Each one called upon his god, that is, upon the object of his fancy, or that which he considered God; therefore, they were all in error in regard to the only true God.

Jon 1:7. Where men devoid of understanding are, they set about things in a wrong, perverted way, allow the sin to remain in the mean time, and consider only how they may get rid of their anguish. This does not help: they must consequently despair. But where men of understanding are, they turn away their minds from their anguish and think mostly of their sins; they confess them and get rid of them, though they should remain eternally in anguish, and they resign themselves to it, as Jonah does here.

Jon 1:10 ff. The faith of Jonah against trials (for that he maintained his faith his deliverance proves): (1.) He takes the sin upon himself from others, and acknowledges that he alone deserved death. (2.) He consents also to be brought to shame before God. (3.) He chooses death, bitter and uncertain. If God so deal with us as to permit us to see life in death, or if He show us the place and abode of our souls, whither they must go and where they must remain, then death would not be bitter, but it would be like a leap over a shallow stream, on both sides of which one feels and sees a firm ground and shore. But now He does not show us here anything of the kind, but we must spring from the firm shore of this life into the abyss. (4.) He bears in death the wrath of God. (5.) More than this, he must die alone; he has none to comfort him; the people in the ship sail away and leave him in the midst of the sea as certainly drowned and lost. (6.) To die simply is not enough: he must yet enter the jaws of the fish.

Starke: Jon 1:1. Jonah came out of Galilee: that was, therefore, a false declaration of the Pharisees (Joh 7:52). From this, one sees how pernicious are all deep-rooted prejudices. Whoever will rightly exercise the office of the ministry must indeed be a Jonah, which, translated into English, signifies a dove. He must cherish the simplicity of the dove (Mat 10:16).

Jon 1:2. He must also not love ease, but cheerfully and willingly take upon himself toil and hardship. The greater cities are, the greater are their sins. God bears for a long time, and finds with him no unconditional decree for the destruction of the great majority and the election of a small minority.

Jon 1:3. To rest on the divine will places man in the highest tranquillity. Him who forsakes God and duty, God, on the other hand, forsakes with his grace and assistance.

Jon 1:4. If we follow our carnal nature [Fleisch und Blut], it will bring us into much company improper for us. It is no small act of kindness, if He punish the sinner severely soon after the commission of his sin. On account of the sin of one man many others often fall into great distress.

Jon 1:5. It is very proper, in danger, to make use of natural means for preservation.

Jon 1:6. Even the heathen acknowledged the power of prayer: it is a shame, if many among Christians should doubt it.

Jon 1:7. So also they acknowledged that there is a God, who rules over the human race, exercises the office of Judge among men, and, in consequence of this, brings the guilty to just punishment.God has many ways of bringing our sins to light before his face (Psa 90:8).

Jon 1:8. None should be condemned without trial. Even the law of nature grants to each one the right of defense. Just as it is a duty and necessity readily and willingly to hear those who bring us to account for our life and conduct, so also ought each Christian, as often as he is accused by his conscience and brought, as it were, before court, to consider the charges of conscience, confess his wrong, and reform.

Jon 1:9. There is nothing so secret [so fein gesponnen, so finely spun], that it shall not finally come to light (Luk 8:17). Confession of our sins should also be made, that God may be honored and glorified, and that the ignorant and unbelieving may be better instructed.

Jon 1:10. The fact that the heathen had heard from Jonah, how God held the Ninevites in abhorrence, and would destroy the whole city, with its inhabitants, if they did not repent, may have contributed (for each one could easily make the application to himself) not a little to their fear, which was merely slavish. God never does evil to the sinner, but always good. He also intends all his dealings with him for good. That which delights the sinner is not a true good, but an imaginary shadow: it is not genuine pleasure, but pure disgust [Unlust]. Why then does he sin? God knows how to propagate the true religion miraculously.

Jon 1:11. In important matters one should undertake nothing without the advice of honest teachers.

Jon 1:12. It is the nature of love not to seek its own, but rather to suffer harm than to bring others into it; rather to lose its life than to suffer the lives of the innocent to be endangered (Joh 3:16).No one should take away his own life, though he may have forfeited it.

Jon 1:13. Against the divine will no human toil nor labor can prevail.

Jon 1:14. Though in divine chastisements it is ones duty to subordinate ones will to the divine, yet one ought not, on that account, to cease to call upon God for the removal and mitigation of the chastisement.

Jon 1:15. He who has God for his enemy has all nature for his enemy; but to him who has God for his friend, all creatures bear good will. When God has executed his just sentence, then everything is again at peace.

Jon 1:16. God permits nothing so evil to come to pass, but that He knows to bring some good out of it; for his counsels are wonderful and He carries them out gloriously. Men should apply divine judgments upon others for the purpose of bringing themselves to a saving knowledge of God.

Pfaff: Jon 1:2. Great cities, great sins, great judgments; but so much the greater necessity that they be warned by the prophets of the Lord and rebuked by them.

Jon 1:3. Teacher and preacher must not shun the cross, otherwise they forsake the Lord. Thou also, my soul, must follow the call of God, though He lead thee in the paths of extreme suffering [Kreuzeswege]; and thou must not seek to escape from this call.

Jon 1:5. Tribulation drives to God, and that is the greatest blessing, which lies hidden in the cross.

Jon 1:10 ff. A single person can often bring a great calamity and the punishment of God upon a community. Therefore, it is necessary that the authorities watch and punish and remove offenses. We have good reason to entreat God that He will not punish the whole land on account of the ungodly.

Quandt: The book of Jonah is the missionary book of the Old Testament.

Jon 1:3. There is in the conduct of Jonah a twofold sin,disobedience to God and flight from God. Even Christians defy their God from dread of disgrace. Errors of the heart draw after them errors of the understanding: from religious perversity spring erroneous opinions. Flight from God is also in our time a widespread folly.

Jon 1:5. Even the sleep of Jonah belongs to his flight Judas fled still farther, when he hanged himself.

Jon 1:6. The children of the world have always a feeling that the God of the pious [Christians] is more powerful than what they, in their delusion, reverence and worship.

Jon 1:8. It is not to be overlooked that Jonah first mentions the sea. The words of Jonah are not so much a confession of faith as a confession of repentance.

Jon 1:10 ff. When the orator, Cyprian, read the history of the prophet overwhelmed by the waves, his soul was violently agitated: it became a means of his conversion; and the result was that he became an eminent teacher of the church.

F. Lambert: Jon 1:1. It gives to us miserable sinners great confidence in God that He received, among his servants, David, Jonah, Peter, Paul, and others, notwithstanding they sinned notoriously.

Rieger: Jon 1:2. Of such as, in their declension, have wandered still farther from God, it is said, their sins have come up before me; I have heard the cry of them, etc. But of them who have intimate communion with God, or in the midst of whom the Lord Jesus still walks, it is said, I know thy works.

Jon 1:3. He who has become sensible of his deficiencies, will consider the foolishness of God wiser than all human wisdom, from the fact that, in his word, instead of many notable works, which He might have mentioned as having been achieved by many of his servants, He rather exposes their weaknesses and failings; because not merely brilliant and great examples are necessary for our imitation; but also examples for our encouragement, that we may rouse ourselves from the thoughtlessness of sin, seek forgiveness, and seize the hand of God extended for our recovery. From the circumstance that Jonah immediately found a ship, according to his wish, he obstinately persists in his purpose. But even to a flight undertaken in disobedience, everything in external circumstances may accommodate itself. If a man is in the right way, it must be determined by other indications [than favoring external circumstances.C. E.]

Hieronymus: Jon 1:4. Great is he who flees in this instance; but still greater is He who pursues him.

Schmieder: Jon 1:5. Jonah is in a quiet, concealed corner of the ship. He shunned the light.

Augustine: Jon 1:9. Si homo velat, Deus revelat. Si homo tegit, Deus detegit. Si homo agnoscit, Deus ignoscit.

Rieger: Jon 1:10 ff. The entire connection of events revealed Gods just displeasure at the flight of Jonah; but at the same time it must have prepared him for the future courageous execution of his mission. For the fact that Jonah found such abundant evidence that a deep impression of the fear of God had been produced in the consciences of these strange people, and that great earnestness in calling upon God had been awakened in them, must have been adapted to prepare him to undertake, with less reluctance, the commission to preach against a strange city. The godly sorrow and repentance, which Jonah experienced, produced in him also the legitimate revenge (2Co 7:11), for he said: take me and cast me into the sea. Yet he does not throw himself into the sea. Such a difference is found between an awakened and a despairing conscience.

Schlier: Jon 1:15. He chose the sea for himself instead of going to Nineveh: the sea detained him by the hand of the Lord: the sea was the place into which the hand of the Lord plunged him for punishment.

Schmieder: Jon 1:16. This was not a genuine conversion to God; had it been, they would have abandoned forever the worship of all other gods beside Jehovah, and not merely honored Him, together with their gods, with offerings.

[Calvin: Jon 1:2. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it. God designed in this way to try Jonah, whether he would prefer his command to all the hindrances of the world. And it is a genuine proof of obedience, when we simply obey God, however numerous the obstacles which may meet us and may be suggested to our minds, and though no escape may appear to us; yea, when we follow God, as it were, with closed eyes, wherever He may lead us, and doubt not but that He will add strength to us, and stretch forth also His hand, whenever need may require, to remove all our difficulties.

Jon 1:3. All flee away from the presence of God, who do not willingly obey his commandments.

Jon 1:4. Though the Lord may involve many men in the same punishment, when He especially intends to pursue only one man, yet there is never wanting a reason why He might not call before his tribunal any one of us, even such as appear the most innocent.

Jon 1:5. Hardly any religion appears in the world, when God leaves us in an undisturbed condition.

This passage teaches, that men are constrained by necessity to seek God; so also, on the other hand, it shows that men go astray in seeking God, except they are directed by celestial truth, and also by the Spirit of God.

Marckius:30 Jon 1:3 God not only suffers the wicked to advance prosperously in their sins, but does not immediately, restore the godly in their declensions; nay, He gives them every facility for a time in their downward course, in order that they may know themselves more, and that the glory of God may become thereby more manifest. Foolish then is the sinner, who, having begun life prosperously, concludes that the end will be equally happy.

Jon 1:6. We see in this instance the great danger in which unconscious sinners are often involved, that the solace sought by them departs from them, that a dead sleep remains, and even increases under Gods judgment, and that in the performance of duty the godly are sometimes more slothful than the ungodly.

The servants of God are sometimes surpassed, reproved, and stimulated, by those far below them, yea, even by brute animals: a salutary admonition, from whatever quarter it may come, ought never to be despised.

Matthew Henry: Jon 1:3. Providence seemed, to favor his design, and gave him an opportunity to escape: we may be out of the way of duty, and yet may meet with a favorable gale. The ready way is not always the right way.

Ver 6. If the professors of religion do an ill thing, they may expect to hear of it from those who make no such profession.

Pusey: Jon 1:5. God, whom they ignorantly, worshipped, while they cried to the gods, who, they thought, disposed of them, heard them. They escaped with the loss of their wares, but God saved their lives and revealed Himself to them. God hears ignorant prayer, when ignorance is not willful and sin.

A heathen ship was a strange place for a prophet of God, not as a prophet, but as a fugitive; and so, probably, ashamed of what he had completed, he had withdrawn from sight and notice. He did not embolden himself in his sin, but shrank into himself. The conscience most commonly awakes when the sin is done. It stands aghast at itself; but Satan, if he can, cuts off its retreat. Jonah had no retreat now, unless God had made one.C. E.]

Footnotes:

[1][Jon 1:1., Jonah, signifies a dove.

[2][Jon 1:1., Amittai, means veracious, or truthful.

[3][Jon 1:2., arise, used before another verb as a term of excitement.

[4][Jon 1:2., cry, proclaim in the manner of a herald, or prophet.

[5][Jon 1:2., for, may be used here as the relative conjunction that; but it probably assigns a reason for the command, and hence it is rendered because.

[6][Jon 1:3., ship, generally any large merchant-ship.

[7][Jon 1:4., Hiphil of , to throw down at full length, to prostrate.

[8][Jon 1:4. , used metaphorically of inanimate things; to be about to do, or suffer: the ship was about to be broken, was on the point of foundering. Gesenius Heb. Lex. sub .

[9][Jon 1:5., the mariners, from , salt, the quality of the water which they navigate.

[10][Jon 1:5. , vessels, a general term comprehending wares. The suffix refers to the persons, not to the wares.

[11][Jon 1:5. , the sides, or two sides of the vessel. Sephinah is derived from Saphan, to cover: it signifies a decked vessel.

[12][Jon 1:6. , the master of the rope-men.

[13][Jon 1:6., the god, with the article.

[14][Jon 1:7., for that which is to whom: compounded of the preposition , the relative pronoun , contracted from , the preposition , and the interrogative .

[15][Jon 1:8.The words , are omitted in two of Kennicotts MSS. in the Soncin. edition of the prophets, and in the Vatican copy of the LXX.: and Kennicotts MS. 154, omits . Henderson.

[16][Jon 1:10. , What is this thou hast done! not, why hast thou done this?

[17][Jon 1:11., going, , tossing: they are both participles.

[18][Jon 1:12., on my account, compounded of the preposition , the relative , contracted as in v. 7, the preposition , and the pronominal suffix .

[19][Jon 1:13., broke through. signifies to break through a wall, and metaphorically to break through the waves.

[20][Jon 1:14., for the sake of the soul, or life, as in 2Sa 14:7. See also Deu 19:21.C. E.]

[21][Herodotus mentions Nineveh, Book I. 103, 106, 185, 193; Book II. 150.C. E.]

[22][The motive of his flight was not fear of the difficulty of carrying out the command of God, but, as Jonah himself says in Jon 4:2, anxiety lest the compassion of God should spare the sinful city in the event of its repenting. He had no wish to coperate in this; and that not merely because he knew by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that the repentance of the Gentiles would be the ruin of the Jews, and as a lover of his country, was actuated not so much by envy of the salvation of Nineveh, as by unwillingness that his own people should perish, as Jerome supposes, but also because he really grudged salvation to the Gentiles and feared lest their conversion to the living God should infringe upon the privileges of Israel above the Gentile world, and put an end to its election as the nation of God. (Keil and Delitzsch, Com. on Jonah, Jon 1:3, and note at the bottom of the page.)C. E.]

[23][Calvin is of the opinion that Tarshish means Cilicia, the principal city of which was Tarsus, the native place of the Apostle Paul. But it is now generally agreed that it was Tarshish in Spain. The name occurs in Gen 10:4, among the sons of Javan, who are supposed to have peopled the southern parts of Europe (comp. Psa 72:10; Isa 66:19). In Eze 27:12, and Jer 10:9, it is mentioned as sending to Tyre silver, iron, tin, and lead. It is mentioned in Isaiah, chap. 23. in connection with Tyre. In several passages of the Bible, ships of Tarshish are spoken of, especially in connection with Tyre. The name is probably of Phnician origin.C. E.]

[24][The Hebrew is , the God. The German retains the article, Der Gott. Pusey: He does not call Jonahs God, thy God, as Darius says to Daniel, thy God, but also the God, acknowledging the God whom Jonah worshipped to be the God.C. E.]

[25][Though it does not appear that Jonah confessed his sin to the captain of the ship, yet there is no reason to doubt that he obeyed the awakening call (Jon 1:6).C. E.]

[26][Perhaps it is too much to assume that the strenuous efforts of the sailors were put forth principally to effect the landing of the fugitive prophet; they had regard to their own safety, as the casting of Jonah into the sea proves.C. E.]

[27][The literal translation of the Hebrew is, They rowed hard to bring to the dry land. The object of the verb rendered to bring, namely, ship, is omitted.C. E.]

[28][See Hendersons Com. on Jonah, 1:14, and Gesenius Hebrew Lexicon, s. v.C. E.]

[29][For the heading of this part of the Commentary, Kleinert has chosen the compound word Reichsgedanken, which means thoughts connected with the history and development of the kingdom of God. His reasons for choosing this term in preference to dogmatisch-ethische Grundge danken are given in the Preface, pp. vi., vii.C. E.]

[30][These extracts from Marckius are taken from the notes appended to Calvins Commentary on Jonah.C. E.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

Jonah receives a call from the Lord to go to Nineveh. He fleeth to Tarshish. A storm overtakes the ship in which Jonah is embarked. At his request the mariners throw him into the sea, and he is swallowed by a fish.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

By the word of the Lord coming unto Jonah, is meant the impression made on his mind, either by vision or revelation; and Jonah perfectly understood that the direction to go to Nineveh was of the Lord. The reason for Jonah’s commission is assigned; the wickedness of the place was come up before the Lord. Reader! think what a mass of sin and iniquity rising like a cloud, must daily, hourly come up before the Lord, from every great city, and from every place! Think how precious, on this account, must be the person of the Lord Jesus, whose holiness in our nature becomes the preservative of all nature from going to instant destruction. Here it is in this sense I venture to believe the Apostle was directed to teach that Christ is the Saviour of all men; that is, in providence. For he upholds all things by the word of his power, and by him all things consist. See 1Ti 4:10 with Col 1:17 . Nineveh itself must have been a great city indeed, the chief city of the Assyrian empire, taking three days journey to go through it, and containing six-score thousand persons. Jon 3:3 and Jon 4:11 . And yet all ignorant of the Lord! Reader! What an awful thought it is now, in the present hour, of the millions that are in darkness respecting salvation! Will you not learn here from to admire and adore the Lord’s distinguishing mercy to this our land? And will you not still stand more amazed in the recollection, that amidst such fulness of gospel light as is vouchsafed our land, so much depravity should abound? Is there a nation under heaven deeper sunk in transgressions? And yet it remains! To what and to whom shall this be ascribed, but to Him whom John saw as a Lamb which had been slain. Rev 5:6 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Flight of Jonah

Jon 1

“Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai” ( Jon 1:1 ).

We are apt to think that this coming of the word of the Lord to men in ancient time was so special a circumstance that it has no application to ourselves. We think of the prophet as a solitary being; we have no doubt that Almighty God did speak to him in some special and peculiar manner; but how rarely it occurs to us that he who spoke to the prophets in times past is now speaking unto us as directly and vividly by the ministry of the Holy Ghost. The Lord comes to us as distinctly as ever he came to the old prophets. How are we to understand that the word of the Lord has come to us? Have we a strong conviction of duty? That is the word of the Lord to our hearts, as distinctly and certainly as if God had opened a door in heaven and spoken to us face to face. Knowest thou what is right? Do it as the word of the Lord. Is your life entirely a life without strong and definite convictions? Then, truly, there is something wrong at the very roots of your being. We ought to have clear persuasions of duty, and in so far as we have them we are in direct communication with the spirit of the universe. What more can we desire than to be persuaded that the thing is right? The question ought not, with sober, earnest men, to be: Is this thing expedient? Are circumstances favourable to the execution of this purpose? The one sovereign question is, with every man whose life is set in the right key, “Is this right?” Yes. Then it is a revelation from God; it is the testimony of the Holy Ghost in the heart; and, at all risks, it must be done.

“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me” ( Jon 1:2 ).

This same event comes to every man. Do not suppose that Jonah is a lonely creature afar off in the ages somewhere, having an experience unique and incommunicable. The experience of Jonah is the experience of every good man. What is your call in life? To go wherever wickedness is and cry against it. Nineveh has perished, but Ninevitish iniquity is upon our own streets, is throwing its shadow upon our own thresholds, is sending a keen wail of pain and blasphemy through the very air that blows around us! Every child of God is to be a protesting prophet. Every earnest man is to have no difficulty in finding the word of condemnation when he comes into the presence of sin. If we could realise this call all the Lord’s people would be prophets. Is it not a burden to speak against wickedness? Where is the man that dare do it? It is easy to condemn wickedness generally. The difficulty is to say to the individual sinner: “Thou art the man.” Almost anybody can stand up before a thousand people and speak against iniquity in the mass. But he must be a lion from God that dare say to the individual criminal, “I charge you, in the name of the Living One, with doing things that are wrong.” Still it is well that we should have men who stand up in the midst of cities, and who let the cities know that there are eyes upon them that see things in moral relationships and aspects and consequences; and woe betide the cities of the earth when the voice of the prophet is no longer heard in them! It is a harsh voice, it is a piercing cry; but believe it and regeneration comes, and restoration and lost peace returns, and things are set right before the face of God.

“But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” ( Jon 1:3 ).

Here is a man falling below the great occasions of life. How possible it is to be doing a little peddling work, to be mistaking fuss for energy, and an idle industry for that holy consecration which absorbs every power! A man has great difficulty in recovering himself after a lapse of that kind. There are certain hours in our experience after which all other hours are empty and poor; great critical hours that have the making of manhood in them, the determination of destiny in them; and when they come upon us, if we shrink from them, fall below the occasion, it takes a long, long time to gather one’s self up again, and to do anything in life that is really, in the sight of God, worth doing. Do not let us be keeping ourselves in reserve for some stupendous occasion. Let us make every occasion great; let us rise to it, and who can tell what may be done by energy, perseverance, devout reliance upon God, holy, undivided consecration to the dear Cross of God the Son!

“And Jonah found a ship going to Tarshish.” Circumstances may be in favour of a man, even when he is doing some bad deed. Observe that. Because some people make circumstances into a kind of Bible, and argue that it is impossible, after all, that they can be so very bad, otherwise circumstances would not have conspired as they have done to further their purposes. “Jonah went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish.” As if it were in the very act of putting off; as if it would have gone five minutes before but for a consciousness on the part of the officers that the chief passenger had not yet arrived. It had been waiting there in impatience; people had been wondering why it had not gone out to sea; the man came running down, and as soon as he got on board the vessel went, and he said to himself, “Now I cannot have done far wrong, after all, otherwise this ship would not have been made ready to my hands.” So do we misconstrue circumstances, and so foolishly sometimes do we talk about the things which are round about us in life! When a man wants to patch a quilt, in order that he may cover and conceal his iniquity, it is not difficult for him to find the pieces to patch, and the needle and thread with which to put them together. It is difficult sometimes to read circumstances. We do not wonder that the contemporaries of Jesus Christ found it difficult to understand the signs of the times, and very much easier to read the signs of the sky. We are making precisely the same blunders to-day. We set up a foregone conclusion in the mind; we say, “We will do so and so.” And having made up our mind to pursue that course, everything round about us takes hue and attitude from the determination of our own mind, and thus we come to have a kind of sovereignty in the region of detail, so that we can turn things pretty much as we please, and then say, “Now, look there.” When a man has got wrong at the centre, it is no wonder that he sets up a kind of supernatural wisdom of his own in the inferior region, that he may justify himself to himself; for, unless he be upon good terms with himself, if he consent to his own judgment, there is schism in his life, and no storm you can create outside him makes such a tumult in his soul as his own dissidence from his own soul. Wonderful, therefore, is life; perplexing are the hedgings and surroundings and groupings of life. It is very easy for a man to put circumstances before his own mind in such a light as to mislead him, to gratify his vanity, and to actually constitute a kind of pedestal on which he may stand, that he may the more readily blaspheme his God.

And Jonah paid his fare. How particular some of us are about these little pedantries of morality! We think, when we have defied the Almighty, and run away from his presence, we can go up to the counter like honest men and put down the fare. Many of us are making up by pedantries what we are wanting in the principles of our life. We have good points without having a good soul; we have beautiful characteristics, without having a solid and undoubted character. Jonah has paid his fare? Yes, but he has forsaken God! Can a man like that do anything right? No. You cannot have any rights if you have cut the bond that unites you with the throne of God, with the law of right. When men come to understand these things we shall have less pedantry in our feelings, and we shall not look at one another through the medium of little things and details and petty momentary associations. The question will be, “Art thou right with God?” Yes! Then you cannot be wrong with man. A man can do nothing right if he is wrong with God. What he does that is so-called right, is right relatively only, secondarily only; it has but a limited sphere; it is not set down to the sum total of the worth of his character.

“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 like to be broken” ( Jon 1:4 ).

From the beginning the sea has been the pavement of God, over which he has walked as if on a basement of solid gold. What agents he has! He said to the wind, “Catch them!” They were miles away. No matter. When the wind gets hold of a ship it is very difficult to unloose its fists. Oh, it does get hold! It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God! The sea is his, for he made it. Before chart of man was ever written, he made a chart for himself. You cannot escape God. All things do his will. Storm, fire, vapour, frost and morsels of ice, bitter winds, lightning in the air, trouble in the winds, earthquakes, sea storms, they are all servants in his household, and he appoints each its own work. You cannot get away from God. Whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I go up into heaven, it is the very centre of thy dwelling; and if I make my bed in hell thy shadow is over me, to say that my hiding-place has been discovered.

“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 lighten it of them” ( Jon 1:5 ).

The bad man never suffers alone. Here is a man causing a loss of property. He paid his fare! Oh, it was poorly earned money! His fare was taken out again. They cast the wares into the sea; they said, “She is too heavy; she must be disburdened; we must throw away whatever we have away it all must go!” The bad man cannot suffer alone; the bad man is the tormentor society; wickedness is the cause of social loss. It is madness for any man to rise up and say, “In doing an evil deed, I am injuring no one but myself. You are injuring everybody. You are causing loss to the universe itself. Yet all the while it appears that Jonah was asleep. There is an innocence that is too innocent. There are some signs of blamelessness which are rather too significant. There is an innocence that excites suspicion; there is a harmlessness that is so very harmless that it brings upon itself keen and just criticism.

“Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep” ( Jon 1:5 ).

So wickedness may have some alleviation. A man may have such control over himself that he may actually be able to take some of the blessings that do not belong to him. If he commit theft in heaven, what if he commit some lower theft elsewhere? It is no consequence. The second criminality is lost in the stupendous act of felony which he first committed. What a tumult there was! Every man cried out unto his god. So the ship’s master came to Jonah and said, “What meanest thou, oh sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God.” What a crying out for gods there is in the time of trouble! How self-controlled we are when there is no sorrow at our hearts, and how instinctively a man cries out after the invisible, the divine, the supernatural, when he is in any great agony!

The men knew that Jonah had fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them so. All the while they had been looking in the wrong direction for an explanation. That is precisely the mistake we are all making. When anything goes wrong, we say, “The ship must be too heavily laden with goods”; and set to work, tear out all the baggage and throw it into the sea. But the life is leaking out of the heart. What is wrong with you is your heart. This was found out, at last, in the case of Jonah. So they took up the vagabond prophet and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased from her raging; with a shudder and a sigh she shrugged back and said, “That will do!” Not till then. Nothing is settled until it is settled right. Understand that in all the relationships of life. You may cobble up a thing, but it is not settled. We are not settled in our character, in the sight of God, until we are settled on the basis of righteousness as it is found in Christ Jesus, the Man of the Cross, the Saviour of the world! The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. No man can be right till he is right with God; and being right with God, everything else will fall into its place, the sea will be at peace, and there will be no storm in his heart.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

IV

THE BOOK OF JONAH

Jonah is both the author and the hero of the book by this name. He was the son of Amittai, a reference to whom is also found in 2Ki 14:25 : “He [Jeroboam II] restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath unto the sea of the Arabah, according to the word of Jehovah, the God of Israel, which he spake by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath-hepher.” There can be no doubt as to the identity of this Jonah and the one mentioned in Jonah I: I since this name occurs nowhere else as the “son of Amittai, the prophet.” This passage not only accords with Jon 1:1 in giving the father’s name but it also gives us Jonah’s place of residence and the times in which he prophesied. The place of his birth was Gath-hepher, a town in Zebulun (Jos 19:13 ) about three, miles northeast of Nazareth which shows that he was a prophet of the Northern Kingdom. The time in which he lived is clearly shown to be the reign of Jeroboam II, the “Indian Summer” of Israel’s history after the division of the kingdom (2Ki 14:23-29 ).

There are several traditions relating to Jonah. (1) It is claimed by some that “Jonah”‘ means grieving and “Amittai” means true, from which arose the improbable opinion that Jonah was the son of the widow of Zarephath, whom Elijah raised to life, because of what she said when she received him from the dead (1Ki 17:24 ). (2) It is also supposed by some that Jonah was the boy who attended Elijah into the wilderness. (3) There is another tradition that he was the young man sent to anoint Jehu. (4) And singularly enough, there is the tradition that he was the husband of the Shunammite woman who extended hospitality to Elisha. (5) Respecting his burial place, there is a tradition that he was buried pear Nineveh and another, that he was buried at Gathhepher, his birthplace. It is needless to say that these traditions are without foundation in history but they indicate somewhat the impress of this striking character upon the literature of the world.

There is a reference to this prophecy of Jonah in Tobit 14:4-6; Tobit 14:15, an apocryphal book, in which Nineveh is said to have been overthrown according to this prophecy of Jonah. There are three references to Jonah the prophet in the Koran, viz: In chapter X, p. 157, there is a reference to the repentance of the Ninevites at the preaching of Jonah; in chapter XXXVII, p. 338, there is an account of Jonah’s commission, disobedience, and experience in the sea; in chapter LXVIII, p. 421, there is a reference to his sea experience, God’s mercy to him and his election unto righteousness. In Josephus’ Jewish Antiquities IX, 10:1-2, we have an account of Jonah’s prophecies, both to Jeroboam II and his call and prophecy to Nineveh. He adds several items of detail to the story of Jonah’s extraordinary experience in the sea, giving his objective as Tarsus in Cilicia and the point of landing as the Euxine Sea. There is little weight of authority to these statements but they indicate a conviction as to the historicity of the book of Jonah.

There are three legends that illustrate the extraordinary features of the book of Jonah, viz: (1) Hesione and Hercules, (2) Andromeda and Perseus, and (3) Saint George and the Dragon. These legends, the scenes of which are located on the Mediterranean Sea, reflect, perhaps, the impression made upon the ancient mind by this story of Jonah.

There are several scriptural references to the book, viz: 2Ki 14:25 ; Mat 12:39-41 ; Mat 16:4 ; Luk 11:29-30 , the import of which is that the book is historical and that Jonah is typical of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The purpose of this book is threefold: (1) To teach the bigoted Israelites that salvation is for the Gentiles as well as for the Jews; (2) to give a genuine lesson on repentance, as illustrated, (a) in Jonah, (b) in the Ninevites and (c) lad God himself; (3) to typify Christ. I

The occasion of this prophecy against Nineveh was the moral corruption of the Ninevites, “For their wickedness is come up before me” (Jon 1:1 ). To this, other prophets add their testimony: “Woe to the bloody city I” (Nah 3:1 ). “This is a joyous city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none else besides me” (Zep 2:15 ).

The annals of Assyria are nothing but a register of militarycampaigns, spoilations, and cruelties. Their monuments display men of calm and unmoved ferocity, whose moral and mental qualities are overborne by the faculties of the lower, brutal nature.” LATARD, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 631.

The style of this book is simple, pure Hebrew. The author believed that God prepared everything and the book bears the stamp of a simple, truthful narrative. It is not prophecy, in the strict sense of the word, but history, inserted among the prophets because written by a prophet. There is no moralizing I and no reflection. The tale is told graphically and has quite a dramatic interest, advancing in regular stages to the conclusion, and leaving an impression upon the mind as though its various scenes had been enacted before the eyes of the reader.

The miraculous element of the book is twofold: (1) the physical, (2) the moral. The physical miracles are the experience of Jonah in the sea and the incident of the gourd.

The moral miracle is the salvation of the Ninevites. There are three great doctrines illustrated in the incidents of the book. (1) There is the great doctrine of the resurrection set forth in this book symbolically. No one can doubt this who reads Mat 12:39-41 . (2) There is set forth here in the most dramatic action the great doctrine of genuine repentance. Man and beast together wear the symbols of penitence. (3) There is here illustrated God’s great, forbearing mercy, and loving-kindness. See his forbearance toward wicked Nineveh and his great loving kindness as here displayed toward a lost world.

Nineveh, the great city here referred to, was founded by Nimrod, a descendant of Ham (Gen 10:11 ; Mic 5:6 ), as a colony from Babylon which is proved by the monuments of Assyria. After this simple statement in Genesis the record is silent respecting Nineveh for a long time. The next mention of these people we find in the prophecy of Balaam (Num 24:22 ; Num 24:24 ), that Assyria should carry Israel away captive and the ships from Greece should afflict Assyria. The next reference to Assyria is found in Psa 83:8 which finds its historical reality in 2Ch 20:1-4 . This is an account of Assyria under Shalmaneser II joining with Moab and Ammon against Israel under Jehoshaphat at which time the Israelites were victorious. This is the real beginning of Assyria’s strength and greatness. Her power is now beginning to be felt for the first time in her history. This brings us in the Bible account of Assyria up to the time of Jonah and Jeroboam II, where Nineveh again enters by name on the biblical record. This reappearing of the name Nineveh is incidental, and shows that the Bible does not profess to give an orderly and systematic history of the world. The record here in Jonah says that Nineveh was a “great city.” It was located on the Tigris River and in the shape of a parallelogram, sixty miles around and three days’ journey on a straight line through it. Its walls were sixty feet high, with 1,500 towers, 200 feet high. The walls were broad enough on top to receive three chariots driving side by side. It is almost certain that this city was larger than Babylon, especially if we include in the estimate its suburbs. Jonah calls it “an exceeding great city of three days’ -journey” and with 120,000 infants, all of which indicate that Nineveh was no ordinary city.

Nineveh was destroyed by the combined forces of the Medes and Babylonians, the Median king being Cyaxares and the city was complete. Xenophon with 10,000 Greeks passed by it two centuries later and did not even mention it, unless he referred to it as one of the “uninhabited” cities of which he speaks. The remains of this city must have been in evidence in the days of the Roman emperors, since Tacitus refers to a Nineveh on the Tigris, and there is another reference to it as late as the thirteenth century.

The ruins now present a rampart and foss, four miles in circuit, with a moss-covered wall about twenty feet high. The archaeologists in recent years have done much to make Nineveh live before the minds of this generation. Their discoveries of the libraries have thrown a flood of light on the history of these people of the Far East; but the Bible account of Nineveh and the rest of the Oriental empires remains unmolested. The Ninevites worshiped the fish god and in excavating in this vicinity many stone images of a fish have been found with a man coming out of its mouth. There is evidently a connection between Jonah’s experience and these stone images. This seems to be a confirmation of the story of Jonah as a sign to the Ninevites. Since they worshiped the fish god, the Lord accredited Jonah unto them by means of such a miracle as would leave no doubt in their minds as to the superior power of Jehovah over their object of worship.

There is an abundance of literature on this book but I will name only a few of the very best helps to its interpretation. The boat commentaries are Pusey’s Minor Prophets and the “Pulpit Commentary.” The “Expositor’s Bible” is the worst that could be mentioned. Dr. A. J. Rowland’s monograph on Jonah is very fine. The article on Jonah in Smith’s Bible Dictionary is a pretty fair article. Sampey’s Syllabus is fine. A sermon on Jonah by Melville, a Scotch preacher, is able and good. Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, and Matthew Henry are also good.

The chapters constitute the divisions of the analysis of this book, as follows:

I. Jonah’s mission, disobedience, and punishment (Jon 1:1-17 )

1. His call, commission, and flight (Jon 1:1-3 )

2. God’s intervention and Jonah’s revelation (Jon 1:4-10 )

II. Jonah’s prayer, thanksgiving, and deliverance (Jon 2:1-10 )

1. His prayer (Jon 2:1-7 )

2. His thanksgiving (Jon 2:8-9 )

3. His deliverance (Jon 2:10 )

III. Jonah’s recall, obedience, and success (Jon 3:1-10 )

1. His recall (Jon 3:1-2 )

2. His obedience (Jon 3:3-4 )

3. His success (Jon 3:5-10 )

IV. Jonah’s displeasure and correction (Jon 4:1-11 )

1. His displeasure (Jon 4:1-5 )

2. His correction (Jon 4:6-11 )

The word “now” (Jon 1:1 ), is the same word in the Hebrew that is translated “and” at the beginning of several of the historical books and forms a connecting link, thus showing a continuation of history, or, as in this case, connecting revelation with revelation.

We come across the expression, “the word of Jehovah,” in our Bible first in Gen 15:1 and there it means the Son of God, the Logos of Joh 1:1 . There seems to be the same meaning here. The word of Jehovah came “saying.”

We find three parallels in the Bible to Jon 1:2 , “their wickedness has come up before me,” viz: (1) the case of Cain, (2) the case of the flood, and (3) the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, in each of which most solemn judgment followed. The striking difference in this case and those mentioned above is the repentance of the Ninevites which moved God to repentance and averted the awful judgment.

In his going from the presence of Jehovah, Jonah renounced his prophetic office; he went away from “standing before Jehovah”; gave up his credentials and “took to the woods” (waters), to Tarshish, a city in Spain, far away from the Jehovah country. Thus he thought to leave the land of Jehovah was to get away from the call of Jehovah. Alas! many a man has tried the policy of Jonah to his own sorrow. Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh, (1) because of his hatred for the idolatrous Gentiles, (2) because of his fear that God would show them mercy and his prediction would be discredited, (3) because of Nineveh’s growing strength and if spared she would become Israel’s rival and (4) because, perhaps, he feared ill treatment at the hands of the cruel and ferocious Assyrians.

In Jon 1:4 , “he paid the fare thereof,” we have a picture of the preacher renouncing his call of God upon which he must pay his own way, a hard fare indeed when one has lost the divine favor. But he sends a messenger after him, viz: a storm, and sometimes the fires of affliction are kindled all about him and sore distress comes upon him. God must be obeyed. See Psa 107:23-32 . But what the significance of “cast forth the wares” (Jon 1:5 )? This expression illustrates the fact that there is something to do besides to pray. Work is the handmaiden of prayer. Jonah’s being asleep is an illustration of a man who is guilty of sin, more especially the backslider. Sin stupefies and therefore they need to be aroused. A fine text: “O sleeper, arise.” Casting lots was one way of finding out the will of Jehovah. Compare Act 1:26 et multa al. This was simply a method of casting the vote. Jonah, understanding fully that the trouble was all on account of him, asked that they dispose of him by casting him into the sea and let him take the chance for his life, but the sailors saw only death for Jonah in such procedure and were not willing to take the risk of having upon them innocent blood. As the last resort they yielded.

There are three distinct things affirmed in Jonah 2:16, which need special notice, viz: (1) that they feared Jehovah, (2) that they offered sacrifice unto Jehovah, and (3) that they made vows, the explanation of which is, that Jonah had convinced them that Jehovah had brought the storm and therefore he was the one who was to be appeased. As to the nature of their fear, sacrifice, and vows we are not told but we are not to suppose that it was the reverential fear that brings salvation. It is probable that they acknowledged Jehovah as one of their gods after this event but there is nothing here to show that they accepted Jehovah as the only God to the exclusion of their own gods.

The fish that swallowed Jonah may have been a whale of the kind found in the Mediterranean Sea which is able to swallow a man whole, or it may have been the white shark of the same waters, as it is sometimes found in this section twenty-five feet long and has been known to swallow a man whole, and even a horse. There have been found in this sea three kinds of sea-animals that could easily swallow a man, viz: the Great Spermaceti Whale, the White Shark, and the Rorqual, one specimen of which has been found in this sea seventy-five feet long. So the contention that no whale or fish that could swallow a man is found in these parts is utterly baseless.

Jonah’s hymn is evidently made up of quotations from other passages of Scriptures which a comparison of the following passages will prove: Jon 2:2 equals Psa 120:1 ; Jon 2:3 equals Psa 42:7 ; Psa 18:4 ; Jon 2:4 equals Psa 31:22 ; Jon 2:5 equals Psa 18:40 ; Psa 18:5 ; Jon 2:7 equals Psa 18:6 (last clause) and Psa 142:3 ; Jon 2:8 equals Psa 31:6-7 . These correspondences could not have been fortuitous: the one poet must have had sounding in his mind the language of the other. Jonah evidently was well acquainted with the Psalms. “Lying vanities” in Jon 2:8 means idolatry and indicates a strong characteristic of heathen worship.

The second commission to Jonah is recorded in Jon 3:1-2 : “And the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.” The circumstances of this second commission are as follows: Jonah had had his extraordinary experience in the sea and had, doubtless, returned home, allowing sufficient time for the news of this great and singular event to reach Nineveh, thus preparing the way for Jonah’s preaching by accrediting Jonah to them in a way that would impress them with the superiority of Jonah’s God over their fish god. There are three distinct things here relative to God’s relation to the ministry that need to be emphasized, viz: (1) God calls his ministers by a direct appeal to them: “and the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah, saying”; (2) God selects the field of labor for his ministers: “Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city”; (3) God gives the message: “and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.” This is a fine example of what the preacher ought to be, viz: God-called, God-appointed, and God-instructed. With these three essentials in his life and work the minister knows no failure.

The “yet” in Jon 3:4 indicates an implied promise; that this was not an announcement of an absolute decree of God, but was a conditional decree. God repented when they repented. Note that there are three particular cases of repentance in this book: (1) the preacher repents; (2) the people repent; (3) God repents. Observe the order. When the preacher repents, the people generally repent, and when the preacher and the people repent, God always repents. The “yet” here indicates God’s attitude toward a sinner. Though he thunders the law of Sinai over the sinner’s head, it is only that the sinner may be prepared to hear the voice from Calvary. “Yet forty days and “Nineveh shall be overthrown,” but the “forty days” furnish space for repentance.

“Believed God” in Jon 3:5 is equivalent to “believed on God” and is saving faith, as with Abraham. Fasting and sackcloth are external evidences of repentance. In Jon 3:7 we see the call to real fasting and repentance. In Jon 3:8 the animals lowing for fodder were crying to God. The prayers of the people and the crying of the cattle make a powerful appeal to God. But praying and crying were not enough. “Let them turn every one from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands” and show by this his real earnestness, as in the New Testament exhortation: “Let him that stole steal no more but return what he has stolen.” Restitution is a law of forgiveness. This passage is equalled in the New Testament by John the Baptist’s preaching and Paul’s preaching at Ephesus. This is both a moral and spiritual miracle. It is the biggest case of conversion in the Old Testament on a foreign field. Jonah was the first foreign mission preacher and had but one credential. Some say people cannot be moved religiously by fear but it is a mistake. People are influenced both by the fear of punishment and by the hope of reward. The motive in Luk 15 is “Joy in heaven.” “Ye shall likewise perish except ye repent.” Preach love always, but don’t leave out hell.

Jonah was much displeased with and angry at the Lord’s attitude, but the Lord dealt gently with him giving him the lesson of the gourd (Jon 4:6-11 ). It was not right for Jonah to be angry at what God did, nor is it ever right to be angry at what God does, especially in the salvation of the people. In this connection he gives the reason for his unwillingness to go to Nineveh at the outset, but he was wrong in his attitude toward the people of Nineveh. This attitude culminated in madness at Jehovah’s attitude toward them and went to the extent of wishing for death. But it is a very cowardly thing to wish for death under such circumstances.

To this foolishness of Jonah the Lord answered that Jonah’s regard for the gourd was but a small matter compared to his regard for the 120,000 infants and the much cattle of Nineveh. This is a beautiful lesson of God’s attitude toward the irresponsible and gives us a splendid Old Testament view of God’s attribute of mercy.

As Jonah, after his resurrection, became a missionary to the Gentiles, so Christ after his resurrection declared his “all authority” and commissioned his church to go to the ends of the world. The resurrection had a marvelous effect in enlarging the commission.

QUESTIONS

1. What are the traditions relating to Jonah?

2. Who was Jonah and what the time of his writing?

3. What references to this book in literature and what is the testimony in each case?

4. What three legends may be mentioned as illustrating the extraordinary features of the story of Jonah?

5. What are the scriptural references to the book and what the import of their teaching?

6. What is the purpose of this book?

7. What is he occasion of this book and how is it proved from the history of Nineveh?

8. What of the style and character of the book?

9. What of the miraculous element of the book?

10. What doctrines illustrated by the incidents of the book?

11. Give an account of Nineveh.

12. What the form of idolatry in Nineveh at this time and what the evidence of Jonah’s impress on the Ninevites?

13. What helps on this book commended?

14. What is the analysis of this book?

15. What is the force of the word “now” of verse I?

16. Where do we first find the expression, “the word of Jehovah,” in the Bible and what does it mean there?

17. What parallels to Jon 1:2 , “their wickedness is come up before me,” do we find elsewhere in the Bible and what striking difference in this case?

18. What is the meaning of “Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of Jehovah”?

19. What Jonah’s reasons for not wanting to go to Nineveh?

20. What is the meaning and application of Jon 1:4 , “he paid the fare thereof”?

21. What is the significance in Jon 1:5 of “cast forth the wares”?

22. What is the suggestion from Jonah’s being asleep?

23. What of casting lots in Jon 1:7 ?

24. What is the remedy for the case as proposed by Jonah and how did it meet the approval of the sailors?

25. How do you explain, their fearing Jehovah and sacrificing unto him?

26. What of the fish that swallowed Jonah?

27. What is the relation of Jonah’s hymn to other passages of Scripture?

28. What is the meaning of “lying vanities” in Jon 2:8 ?

29. What Jonah’s second commission, what its circumstances and what three things in this commission, illustrative of God’s relation to the minister and his work?

30. What is the force of “yet” in Jon 3:4 ?

31. What are the points of Jon 3:5-10 ?

32. How did Jonah receive the fact of the conversion of the Ninevites and God’s mercy to them and how did God deal with him?

33. Was it right for Jonah to be angry, what the extent of his madness and what do you think of his wish?

34. What was Jehovah’s answer to all this foolishness of Jonah?

35. How is the relation of the resurrection and the commission of Christ illustrated in this book?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Jon 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

Ver. 1. Now the word of the Lord came ] Heb. And the word For with that particle “And” the Hebrews sometimes begin a discourse, as Eze 1:1 Lev 1:1 , an elegance proper to that tongue. Howbeit Hugo Cardinalis maketh this “And,” not an inceptive particle, but a copulative to many other things that were in the prophet’s mind. Others conceive it to be continuative of some other history not now extant; or at least connective of this history with the course of his ordinary calling and prophetic employment among the ten tribes, to whom he prophesied together with Hosea, Amos, and others, but with little good success, in the reign of Jeroboam II:, a prince more prosperous than pious, 2Ki 14:25 . Jonah prophesied of his prosperity and victories; whereof when no good use was made by the house of Israel, their calamity and captivity was likewise foretold by Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah; and hence some conclude that Jonah was the first of all the prophets whose writings are extant; for he lived, say they, before the battle of Joash, King of Israel, with the Syrians, about the end of the life and prophecy of Elisha, 2Ki 13:14 .

Unto Jonah the son of Amittai ] Jonah signifieth a dove, but Jonah had too little of the dove in him: plenus enim fuit effraenatis motibus, saith one; as passionate a man of an honest man as you have lightly heard of, saith another. Whether he was that “mad fellow” (as those much more mad captains called him 2Ki 9:11 ), that was sent to anoint Jehu, or else the widow of Sarepta’s son raised by Elijah (as the Hebrews will have him to be), I have not to say. But that he was a servant of the Lord we find, 2Ki 14:25 , and a type of Christ, Mat 12:40 , concerning whom he prophesied, non tam sermone quam sua quadam passione (Augustine), far more plainly than if he had by voice foretold his death and resurrection. And whereas the grandees and potentates of the world get them a great name by the death and danger of many others; Ionas his omnibus superior est, saith an interpreter, Jonah surpasseth them all in this, that by his sermon at Nineveh he preserved that great city, wherein were so many thousand persons, and so much cattle, Joh 4:11 . That he was called and sent thither by God it appeareth by this text, and Oecolampadius observeth it. He was not, saith he, of them that run before they are sent; but, being sent, he refused to run, because of the hardness of the task laid upon him, as did likewise Moses and Jeremiah, till better tutored. There is less danger in refusing to run when sent than in running unsent. But when God calleth a man to the ministry, let him not doubt or despond, though at first he find not so much encouragement. Magna semper fecerunt, qui Deo vocante docuerunt, saith Luther. They have always done great things that have followed God’s call, as did Jonah at Nineveh, and doth still in the Church of God; for among others Cyprian, that famous martyr, confesseth that he was converted from idolatry and necromancy by hearing the history of the prophet Jonah read and expounded to him by Cecilius, whom he thenceforth called novae vitro parentem, the father of his Christian life.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Jonah

GUILTY SILENCE AND ITS REWARD

Jon 1:1 – Jon 1:17 .

Jonah was apparently an older contemporary of Hosea and Amos. The Assyrian power was looming threateningly on the northern horizon, and a flash or two had already broken from that cloud. No doubt terror had wrought hate and intenser narrowness. To correct these by teaching, by an instance drawn from Assyria itself, God’s care for the Gentiles and their susceptibility to His voice, was the purpose of Jonah’s mission. He is a prophet of Israel, because the lesson of his history was for them, though his message was for Nineveh. He first taught by example the truth which Jesus proclaimed in the synagogue of Nazareth, and Peter learned on the housetop at Joppa, and Paul took as his guiding star. A truth so unwelcome and remote from popular belief needed emphasis when first proclaimed; and this singular story, as it were, underlines it for the generation which heard it first. Its place would rather have been among the narratives than the prophets, except for this aspect of it. So regarded, Jonah becomes a kind of representative of Israel; and his history sets forth large lessons as to its function among the nations, its unwillingness to discharge it, the consequences of disobedience, and the means of return to a better mind.

Note then, first, the Prophet’s unwelcome charge. There seems no sufficient reason for doubting the historical reality of Jonah’s mission to Nineveh; for we know that intercourse was not infrequent, and the silence of other records is, in their fragmentary condition, nothing wonderful. But the fact that a prophet of Israel was sent to a heathen city, and that not to denounce destruction except as a means of winning to repentance, declared emphatically God’s care for the world, and rebuked the exclusiveness which claimed Him for Israel alone. The same spirit haunts the Christian Church, and we have all need to ponder the opposite truth, till our sympathies are widened to the width of God’s universal love, and we discern that we are bound to care for all men, since He does so.

Jonah sullenly resolved not to obey God’s voice. What a glimpse into the prophetic office that gives us! The divine Spirit could be resisted, and the Prophet was no mere machine, but a living man who had to consent with his devoted will to bear the burden of the Lord. One refused, and his refusal teaches us how superb and self-sacrificing was the faithfulness of the rest. So we have each to do in regard to God’s message intrusted to us. We must bow our wills, and sink our prejudices, and sacrifice our tastes, and say, ‘Here am I; send me.’

Jonah represents the national feelings which he shared. Why did he refuse to go to Nineveh? Not because he was afraid of his life, or thought the task hopeless. He refused because he feared success. God’s goodness was being stretched rather too far, if it was going to take in Nineveh. Jonah did not want it to escape. If he had been sent to destroy it, he would probably have gone gladly. He grudged that heathen should share Israel’s privileges, and probably thought that gain to Nineveh would be loss to Israel. It was exactly the spirit of the prodigal’s elder brother. There was also working in him the concern for his own reputation, which would be damaged if the threats he uttered turned out to be thunder without lightning, by reason of the repentance of Nineveh.

Israel was set among the nations, not as a dark lantern, but as the great lampstand in the Temple court proclaimed, to ray out light to all the world. Jonah’s mission was but a concrete instance of Israel’s charge. The nation was as reluctant to fulfil the reason of its existence as the Prophet was. Both begrudged sharing privileges with heathen dogs, both thought God’s care wasted, and neither had such feelings towards the rest of the world as to be willing to be messengers of forgiveness to them. All sorts of religious exclusiveness, contemptuous estimates of other nations, and that bastard patriotism which would keep national blessings for our own country alone, are condemned by this story. In it dawns the first faint light of that sun which shone at its full when Jesus healed the Canaanite’s daughter, or when He said, ‘Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold.’

Note, next, the fatal consequences of refusal to obey the God-given charge. We need not suppose that Jonah thought that he could actually get away from God’s presence. Possibly he believed in a special presence of God in the land of Israel, or, more probably, the phrase means to escape from service. At any rate, he determined to do his flight thoroughly. Tarshish was, to a Hebrew, at the other end of the world from Nineveh. The Jews were no sailors, and the choice of the sea as means of escape indicates the obstinacy of determination in Jonah.

The storm is described with a profusion of unusual words, all apparently technical terms, picked up on board, just as Luke, in the only other account of a storm in Scripture, has done. What a difference between the two voyages! In the one, the unfaithful prophet is the cause of disaster, and the only sluggard in the ship. In the other, the Apostle, who has hazarded his life to proclaim his Lord, is the source of hope, courage, vigour, and safety. Such are the consequences of silence and of brave speech for God. No wonder that the fugitive Prophet slunk down into some dark corner, and sat bitterly brooding there, self-accused and condemned, till weariness and the relief of the tension of his journey lulled him to sleep. It was a stupid and heavy sleep. Alas for those whose only refuge from conscience is oblivion!

Over against this picture of the insensible Prophet, all unaware of the storm which may suggest the parallel insensibility of Israel to the impending divine judgments, is set the behaviour of the heathen sailors, or ‘salts,’ as the story calls them. Their conduct is part of the lesson of the book; for, heathen as they are, they have yet a sense of dependence, and they pray; they are full of courage, battling with the storm, jettisoning the cargo, and doing everything possible to save the ship. Their treatment of Jonah is generous and chivalrous. Even when they hear his crime, and know that the storm is howling like a wild beast for him, they are unwilling to throw him overboard without one more effort; and when at last they do it, their prayer is for forgiveness, inasmuch as they are but carrying out the will of Jehovah. They are so much touched by the whole incident that they offer sacrifices to the God of the Hebrews, and are, in some sense, and possibly but for a time, worshippers of Him.

All this holds the mirror up to Israel, by showing how much of human kindness and generosity, and how much of susceptibility for the truth which Israel had to declare, lay in rude hearts beyond its pale. This crew of heathen of various nationalities and religions were yet men who could be kind to a renegade Prophet, peril their lives to save his, and worship Jehovah. ‘I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel,’ is the same lesson in another form. We may find abundant opportunities for learning it; for the characters of godless men, and of some among the heathen, may well shame many a Christian.

Jonah’s conduct in the storm is no less noble than his former conduct had been base. The burst of the tempest blew away all the fog from his mind, and he saw the stars again. His confession of faith; his calm conviction that he was the cause of the storm; his quiet, unhesitating command to throw him into the wild chaos foaming about the ship; his willing acceptance of death as the wages of his sin, all tell how true a saint he was in the depth of his soul. Sorrow and chastisement turn up the subsoil. If a man has any good in him, it generally comes to the top when he is afflicted and looks death in the face. If there is nothing but gravel beneath, it too will be brought up by the plough. There may be much selfish unfaithfulness overlying a real devoted heart.

Jonah represented Israel here too, both in that the consequence of the national unfaithfulness and greedy, exclusive grasp of their privileges would lead to their being cast into the roaring waves of the sea of nations, amid the tumult of the peoples, and in that, for them as for him, the calamity would bring about a better mind, the confession of their faith, and acknowledgment of their sin. The history of Israel was typified in this history, and the lessons it teaches are lessons for all churches, and for all God’s children for all time. If we shirk our duty of witnessing for Him, or any other of His plain commands, unfaithfulness will be our ruin. The storm is sure to break where His Jonahs try to hide, and their only hope lies in bowing to the chastisement and consenting to be punished, and avowing whose they are and whom they serve. If we own Him while the storm whistles round us, the worst of it is past, and though we have to struggle amid its waves, He will take care of us, and anything is possible rather than that we should be lost in them.

The miracle of rescue is the last point. Jonah’s repentance saved his life. Tossed overboard impenitent he would have been drowned. So Israel was taught that the break-up of their national life would not be their destruction if they turned to the Lord in their calamity. The wider lesson of the means of making chastisement into blessing, and securing a way of escape-namely, by owning the justice of the stroke, and returning to duty-is meant for us all. He who sends the storm watches its effect on us, and will not let His repentant servants be utterly overwhelmed. That is a better use to make of the story than to discuss whether any kind of known Mediterranean fish could swallow a man. If we believe in miracles, the question need not trouble us. And miracle there must be, not only in the coincidence of the fish and the Prophet being in the same bit of sea at the same moment, but in his living for so long in his strange ‘ark of safety.’

The ever-present providence of God, the possible safety of the nation, even when in captivity, the preservation of every servant of God who turns to the Lord in his chastisement, the exhibition of penitence as the way of deliverance, are the purposes for which the miracle was wrought and told. Flippant sarcasms are cheap. A devout insight yields a worthy meaning. Jesus Christ employed this incident as a symbol of His Death and Resurrection. That use of it seems hard to reconcile with any view but that the story is true. But it does not seem necessary to suppose that our Lord regarded it as an intended type, or to seek to find in Jonah’s history further typical prophecy of Him. The salient point of comparison is simply the three days’ entombment; and it is rather an illustrative analogy than an intentional prophecy. The subsequent action of the Prophet in Nineveh, and the effect of it, were true types of the preaching of the Gospel by the risen Lord, through His servants, to the Gentiles, and of their hearing the Word. But it requires considerable violence in manipulation to force the bestowing of Jonah, for safety and escape from death, in the fish’s maw, into a proper prophecy of the transcendent fact of the Resurrection.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jon 1:1-3

1The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying, 2Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me. 3But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

Jon 1:1

NASB——-

NKJV, NRSVnow

TEVone day

NJB——-

There is an opening prefix (wa) to the VERB not translated by NASB and NJB. This is a textual marker for historical narrative (e.g., Jdg 1:1; 1Sa 1:1; Rth 1:1). This gives a hint that the author wants his work to be understood as historical.

The word of the LORD came to This is a common prophetic formula (e.g., Jer 1:2; Jer 1:4; Hos 1:1; Joe 1:1; Mic 1:1; Hag 1:1; Zec 1:1), but here it refers to the Lord’s commission.

Jonah His name means dove (BDB 402). See Introduction I. B.

Amittai His name means firmness, faithfulness, or truth (BDB 54). Both the names, Jonah and Amittai, are rare (son and father) and appear only one other time in the OT in 2Ki 14:25. This shows the historicity of this book.

Jon 1:2 Arise. . .go. . .cry All of these VERBS are Qal IMPERATIVES. They denote an urgency! This, like Jon 1:1, is a typical prophetic call (cf. Jon 3:3-4; Jer 13:4; Jer 13:6). Jonah’s call in chapter 1 is repeated in chapter 3.

Nineveh It was made the capital of the Assyrian Empire by Sennacherib and was located on the Tigris River in modern Iraq, but its existence was much earlier (cf. Gen 10:11). It was destroyed by Babylon in 612 B.C. The name itself (BDB 644) is related to Ishtar.

the great city The ABD, vol. 3, p. 938, makes a good point about the recurrent use of the ADJECTIVE great (BDB 152):

1. great city, Jon 1:2; Jon 3:2-3; Jon 4:11

2. great wind, Jon 1:4

3. great storm, Jon 1:4; Jon 1:12

4. extremely frightened, Jon 1:10

5. fear the Lord greatly, Jon 1:16

6. great fish, Jon 1:17

7. from the greatest, Jon 3:5

8. nobles (great one), Jon 3:7

9. greatly displeased Jonah, Jon 4:1

10. Jonah was extremely happy, Jon 4:6

Ancient Hebrew does not use ADJECTIVES often, therefore, this unusual repetition of great (also note Jon 4:10, another use of the same root BDB 152) causes one to think it might be a textual marker to denote a hyperbolic literary account. The original readers would have quickly recognized this obvious overuse of great.

For a brief discussion of biblical hyperboles see Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, p. 329.

cry The same word (BDB 894, KB 1128, Qal IMPERATIVE) is used in Jon 1:2; Jon 1:6. It implies preach or proclaim (i.e., the will of YHWH, e.g., Isa 40:2; Isa 40:6; Isa 58:1; Jer 2:2; Jer 3:12; Jer 7:2; Jer 11:6; Jer 19:2; Jer 20:8; Jer 49:29). Nineveh’s judgment would have caused Jonah’s contemporaries to applaud (cf. Nah 3:19).

their wickedness This NOUN, ADJECTIVE, and VERB (BDB 947 & 949), evil, (the opposite of good and life) is also used in a seemingly purposeful repetition:

1. the wickedness of the Ninevites, Jon 1:2

2. the calamity of the storm, Jon 1:7-8

3. the king’s request that his people each may turn from his wicked way, Jon 3:8; Jon 3:10

4. God saw their repentance (cf. Jon 3:10) and turned from His planned calamity, Jon 3:10

5. Jonah’s great anger, Jon 4:1 (double use of root)

The focus of evil has shifted from Nineveh to the prophet! What an ironical reversal!

Assyria was possibly the cruelest (cf. Nah 3:1; Nah 3:10; Nah 3:19) and most arrogant (cf. Isa 10:12-14) nation Israel ever had to deal with. We learn of their treatment of prisoners from the Assyrian cuneiform texts and wall pictographs. This may represent one part of the irony of the book. Nineveh, like Israel, was wicked (cf. Nahum), yet God would freely forgive if they repented (a spiritual condition). Repentance, not national origin, is crucial with YHWH (cf. Amo 9:7).

has come up before Me This is the theological concept of God in heaven knowing fully the actions on earth (cf. Hos 7:2). God is not only the God of Israel, but of all the earth (cf. Amo 9:7). Sin always elicits divine response!

Jon 1:3 rose up to flee This is shocking and surprising, the exact opposite of what was expected in response to a divine call. The exact reason for his reluctance is not given here (cf. Jon 4:2). Jonah hated Assyrians!

Tarshish The name (BDB 1077) can refer to (1) precious stones or (2) a distant port. Traditionally it has been identified as a Phoenician city (i.e., Tartessos) in southern Spain on the Atlantic ocean, but some archaeological evidence points to the island of Sardinia (cf. Gen 10:4). It could be a metaphor for the farthest end of the world. Jonah wanted to get away from God’s call and foolishly thought he could (cf. Psa 139:7-12). Possibly he thought YHWH was limited to the Promised Land. See Special Topic: Tarshish .

he went down There is a recurrent use of the VERB went down (BDB 432, KB 434, Qal IMPERFECT) in Jon 1:3 (twice), 5 (and an additional sound play on fallen sound asleep), and Jon 2:7. This going down may symbolize Jonah’s descent into rebellion (cf. ABD, vol. 3, p. 938).

It is possible that this phrase refers to Jonah’s commission to go and preach to Nineveh coming to him while he was in the temple in Jerusalem. The Bible writers always speak of going down from or going up to the temple. The temple was located on high ground (i.e., Mt. Moriah, one of the seven hills of Jerusalem), but the phrase had a theological connotation also. There was no place on earth on par with YHWH’s presence in the Jerusalem temple.

Joppa This is modern Tel-Aviv. It is the only natural seaport on the Palestinian coast. In this period of history it was not part of Israel.

found a ship The Hebrews were not seafarers. For Jonah to resort to a sea voyage shows his desperation. The ship was probably Phoenician. This seagoing ship had two cargo decks with a third half-deck. It required 30 to 50 rowers.

the fare The MT has her fare (BDB 969). Most Jewish commentators say Jonah was wealthy because he rented the entire ship (e.g., Nedarim 38a), but the Septuagint (LXX) has his fare.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

the word of the LORD came. This statement is unanswerable, and covers the truth of the whole contents of this book. This, or a like expression occurs seven times in Jonah (Jon 1:1; Jon 2:10; Jon 3:1, Jon 3:3; Jon 3:4. Jon 4:9, Jon 4:10).

the Lord. Hebrew. Jehovah. App-4. Jonah is the prophet named and described in 2Ki 14:25. He was a native of Gath-hepher, now el Meshhed, three miles north-east of Nazareth. Nazareth was in Galilee (see App-169). The statement of the Pharisee, in Joh 7:52 was not true.

the son of Amittai. See 2Ki 14:25.

Amittai = the truth of Jehovah.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Jon 1:1-3. Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

Observe the misconduct of the prophet Jonah. He had a plain command from the Lord, and he knew it to be a command; but he felt that the commission given to him would not be pleasant and honouring to himself, and therefore he declined to comply with it. We see, from his action, how some, who really know God, may act as if they knew him not. Jonah knew that God was everywhere, yet he rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. What strange inconsistencies there often are even in good men! Here is one, who is favored with a divine commission, one who knows God, and fears him; yet, for all that, he ventures on the fools errand of endeavoring to escape from the Omnipresent. He went down to Joppa, which was the port of his country, and he found a ship going to Tarshish. Learn from this that providence alone is not a sufficient guide for our actions. He may have said, It was very singular that there was a ship there going to Tarshish, just when I reached the port. I gather from this that God was not so very disinclined for me to go to Tarshish. Precepts, not providences, are to guide believers; and when Christian men quote a providence against a precept, which is to set God against God, they act most strangely. There are devils providences as well as divine providences, and there are tempting providences as well as assisting providences, so learn to judge between the one and the other.

Jon 1:4. 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 like to be broken.

Learn, hence, that Omnipotence has servants everywhere. The Lord is never short of sheriffs officers to arrest his fugitives, and on that occasion he sent out a great wind into the sea. The wind bloweth where it listeth. That is true, but it is also true that the wind bloweth where God listeth, and he knew how to send that great wind to the particular ship. No doubt many ships were on the Mediterranean at that time; but, possibly, unto none of them was the storm sent save unto the one which carried Jonah son of Amittai. We say, Every bullet has its billet, and this great wind was sent to pursue the fugitive prophet.

Jon 1:5. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god,

If there is ever a special time for prayer, it is a time of need. Nature seems then to compel men to utter prayer of such a sort as it is, for it is but natures prayer at the best: The mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god,

Jon 1:5. And cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them.

Life is precious, and a man will give up everything else in order to save it.

Satan spoke the truth when he said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath, will he give for his life. From the action of these mariners, we may learn that sometimes we may lighten our ship for the safety of our souls. When we have less to carry, probably we shall sail more safely. Losses and crosses may turn out to be our greatest gains. Let the ill-gotten ingots go to the bottom of the sea; and lo, the ship rights herself at once!

Jon 1:5. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

The greatest sinner on that ship appeared to be the least concerned about the storm which had come because of him, he did not even seem to know that there was a storm, for he had gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

Jon 1:6. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.

It is hard when sinners have to rebuke saints, and when an uncircumcised Gentile can address a prophet of God in language like this.

Jon 1:7. And they said every one to his fellow, Come and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

We commend not the action of these men in casting lots, but we admire the providence by which is the lot fell upon Jonah. Solomon says, The lot is cast into the lap, but he did not say that it was right that lots should be cast into the lap; and he very properly added, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.

Jon 1:8. Then they said 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?

I do not know whether these men had traded with those who then lived in these islands, but they had a very English custom of not judging a man before they had heard him speak. It would be well if we all practiced it more, so that, before we condemn men, we were willing to hear their side of the question. Considering that there was such a storm raging, the questions put to Jonah were remarkably calm. They were very comprehensive, and went to the very root of the matter.

Jon 1:9. And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew:

That let them know whence he came, and what his country was.

Jon 1:9. And I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.

That, I suppose, must be regarded as his occupation; and what a blessed occupation it is, to be occupied with the fear of the Lord! So, you see that, though Jonah was not properly following his occupation while he was on board that ship, yet he did not hesitate to avow, I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. The child of God, even when he gets where he ought not to be, if you test him and try him, will stand to his colors. He will confess that he is, after all, a servant of the living God.

Jon 1:10. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this?

Jonah had to go through this catechism, question after question, and this was the hardest of them all: Why hast thou done this? Could you, dear friend, submit every action of your life to this test? Why hast thou done this? I am afraid that there are some actions, which we have performed, for which we could not give a reason, or the reasons for which we should not like to give to our fellow men, much less to our God.

Jon 1:10-11. For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them. Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us?

Here is another question; the catechism is not yet finished, and this is one of the most difficult of all.

Jon 1:11-12. For the sea wrought, and was tempestuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you:

Notwithstanding all his faults, Jonah was an eminent type of Christ. We know that from our Lords own words, for he was as long in the belly of the whale as Christ was in the heart of the earth. Here he seems to be a type of our Saviour: Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea: so shall the sea be calm unto you:

Jon 1:12-13. For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land;

They showed a deal of good feeling in all their treatment of Jonah. They could not bear to take away a fellow-creatures life, so they pulled and tugged in order to get the ship to land.

Jon 1:13. But they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.

Their safety lay in the sacrifice, not in the labour. They rowed hard to bring the ship to land, but their efforts were of no avail. If they would cast Jonah overboard, then they would be safe.

Jon 1:14-15. Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this mans life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee. So they took up Jonah,

Put the emphasis on the first word, So they took up Jonah; that is, with great reluctance, with much pity and sorrow, not daring to do such a deed as that wantonly and with a light heart. When men do deeds like this, on a far greater scale, and go to war with a light heart, they will have a heavy heart before long. If ever you have to cast a brother out of the Church, if ever you have to relinquish the friendship of any man, do it as these men did with Jonah, patiently, and carefully. Investigate the matter, and do not act until you are driven to it after consulting the Lord.

Jon 1:15-16. And cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.

Jonah had been the means of causing a greater change than he expected. His conduct and punishment had been a warning to those thoughtless sailors. They could not but believe in the God who had thus followed up his fugitive servant.

Jon 1:17. Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

He prepared a storm, he prepared a fish and we afterwards read that he prepared a gourd, and he prepared a worm. In the great things of life, and in the little things, God is ever present. The swimming of a great fish in the sea is, surely, not a thing that is subject to law. If ever there is free agency in this world, it must certainly be in the wanderings of such a huge creature that follows its own instincts, and ploughs its way through the great wastes of the wide and open sea. Yes, that is true; yet there is a divine predestination concerning all its movements. Over every motion of the fin of every minnow predestination presides. There is no distinction of little or great in Gods sight, he that wings an angel guides a sparrow. The Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah.

Jon 1:17. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

So round about the truant prophet was the preventing grace of Jehovah.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Jon 1:1-2

GODS MESSENGER RUNNING FROM GOD

THE COMMISSION OF JONAH

TEXT: Jon 1:1-2

Jehovahs righteous judgment is about to fall upon Nineveh but He commissions Jonah to go with a final message of repentance, which, if heeded, will bring salvation from the impending judgment.

Jon 1:1-2 . . . THE WORD OF JEHOVAH CAME SAYING . . . GO TO NINEVAH . . . AND CRY AGAINST IT . . . The story of Jonah, beginning with the conjunction vav, unites with all the preceding history of Gods scheme of redemption and thus becomes one more pearl of great price fitted to the whole string of pearls which form the priceless revelation of Gods grace to man. It has a specific purpose to serve, it is not incongruous. It reminds the Jews of their election to be a witness to the nations; it proclaims Gods sovereignty over all peoples; it typifies the Messiahs humiliation and glorification; and it prophesies Israels chastening to come. It is Gods trumpet blast warning both Jew and Gentile of their responsibilities toward Him at a critical time in the scheme of redemption.

Zerr: Jon 1:1. The book of Jonah is composed almost wholly of history. The only prophecy It contains is that of the threatened destruction of Nineveh (Jon 3:4), which was to be only forty days in the future. But he is called a prophet in 2Ki 14:25 and Mat 12:39, hence we know that his work entitled him to that classification. We have no details of his work outside of this book except what is briefly mentioned in the first reference above and the allusion to his preaching by Jesus. And the Old Testament reference gives us the information as to the general date of bis life and work, for he gave instructions to Jeroboam II who reigned in the 10-tribe kingdom of Israel about 800 B, C., which was a century before the Assyrian captivity of Israel, This verse says the word of the Lord came to Jonah, so we see that his work was by inspiration of God as far as his writing and teaching was concerned. Jon 1:2. Nineveh was the capital of the Assyrian Empire, the power that God intended to use in the chastisement of the kingdom of Israel at a future date. This capital city was located on the east bank of the Tigris River. It had become so wicked that the Lord wished to have it improved before using its forces in His campaign against the people of Israel. Jonah was therefore given the command to go and cry against it. The details of that cry” are not stated here but they are given move attention later.

The city of Nineveh, according to Diodorus, was the greatest city of antiquity. It had a population of about 600,000 and was some 80 miles in circumference. Upon its walls, 100 feet high, flanked with 1500 towers, each 200 feet high, four chariots could drive abreast. It filled, together with the adjoining suburbs, the whole space between the rivers Tigris, Khoer, the Upper or Great Zab, the Gasr Su, and the mountainous boundary of the valley of the Tigris on the east. This great metropolis occupied an area of about 18 square miles.

The first mention of Nineveh is in Gen 10:11 where it is stated that Nimrod (or Asshur) went out into Assyria, and builded Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah, and Resen, adding, the same is the great city. It is very probable that the Nineveh of Jonahs day consisted of all these cities in one great city. The first king of any greatness in Nineveh was Assur-nasipal II (885-860 B.C.) who was warlike and cruel but who welded Assyria into the best fighting machine of the ancient world. Shalmaneser II (860-825 B.C.) was the first Assyrian king to come in conflict with Israel. Ahab fought him and Jehu paid him tribute. Then came Shansi-adad (825-808 B.C.) and then Adad-nirari (808-783 B.C.). Adad-nirari is undoubtedly the person who was king when Jonah went to cry against that great city. There are archaeological records to indicate that Adad-Nirari made reforms in his empire similar to those of Amenophis IV in Egypt. And, under the reigns of the three kings following Adad-Nirari (Shalmaneser III, 783-771 B.C.; Assur-dayan, 771-753 B.C.; Assur-lush, 753-747 B.C.) there was a letup in Assyrian conquests. In this period Israel recovered lost territory, 2Ki 14:25. These are hints that Jonahs influence on Nineveh was profound.

About 100 years later, under Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.) Nineveh blossomed into beauty and splendor that she had never known, Sennacherib built his palace which covered 8 acres and was elevated on a brick platform 90 feet above the city level. Flights of marble steps led up all four sides of the palace and each entrance was flanked by five pairs of human headed beasts, lions and other figures. These palace ruins show numerous halls, rooms and passages, many of which were faced with slabs of coarse alabaster, sculptured in relief with military operations, hunting-scenes, mythological figures, etc.

Assur-banipal (668-626), one of Assyrias last, but greatest kings, built one of the ancient worlds greatest libraries. It contained originally over 100,000 volumes. It was thoroughly cataloged and indexed and specific volumes were easily referred to. Archaeologists have found magnifying glasses supplied to read the many texts which, because of voluminous amount of material, had to be written in small characters. Among these volumes were such works as grammars, dictionaries, interlinear translations, works on astronomy relating observations of eclipses and the like, religious texts, legal texts including the code of Hammurabi, scientific works in taxonomy, geography and medicine, poetry, epics on the great Deluge and the Creation, fiscal documents relating to collection of taxes and works of various other natures.

About 612 B.C. Nineveh was destroyed by a coalition of armies from the Babylonians and Medes. It happened exactly as Nahum, the prophet, predicted it. Its destruction was so complete that even its site was forgotten. When Xenophon and his 10,000 passed by 200 years later he thought the mounds were the ruins of some Parthian city. When Alexander the Great fought the famous battle of Arbela, 331 B.C., near the site of Nineveh, he did not know there had ever been a city there.

To this cruel, cold-blooded, profligate, power-worshipping, materialistic, animistic metropolis God sent Jonah. Jonah was commanded to preach against that great city. Their wickedness cried out to the whole earth and God saw it just as He had seen it before (Gen 6:5; Gen 18:20-21). The wickedness of every man and every nation is a cry against God. But God has, by sending His Word, cried out against all wickedness (cf. Rom 1:18 ff). Who will win in this struggle? Men cry their rebellions against God-God cries His judgments upon men. Whose voice shall be finally heard? The Bible says Gods cry will prevail and history confirms it!

But why send Jonah to a foreign nation? Did he not have enough to do in preaching to his own people? No doubt he had preached to Israel time and time again of Gods judgment to come upon them because of their materialism, rebellion and unbelief. But his preaching had fallen upon sin-deafened ears. Nothing he said, however scathing, could turn them from their headlong plunge into heathenism. But look again at Nineveh. Its power and security, its prolificacy and licentiousness had become a by-word throughout the whole world. It was the subject upon every lip-the fear in every heart. Whatever might be achieved there by God through His prophet would not be as a thing done in a corner! The report of whatever should be accomplished there at Jonahs preaching would be reported throughout the world!

If by this one call to repentance Jonah should effect the repentance of this Gentile city, what a lesson that would be to the sin-calloused hearts of Israel. It should reveal to Israel the perverseness and foolishness of her behaviour toward her loving God-it should make her ashamed. If it did not so shame her into repentance then there was nothing left for God to do but cast Israel out as one no longer worthy to be called a child and receive and honor the recovered and penitent prodigal, Nineveh. This is precisely the use Jesus made of the preaching of Jonah at Nineveh and its results. Jesus told the Jews of His own generation that the people of Nineveh would rise up in the judgment to condemn them, because they had repented at Jonahs preaching; while He, a greater than Jonah, spoke only to cold and unconcerned hearts. The lesson to be learned from the response of the Gentiles should be even more graphic to the Jews of Jonahs day. The Ninevites surrendered to the call of God and ceased from their sins while the covenant people despised Gods word and His prophet and hardened their hearts fearing Him not. Israel then could only learn that repentance, such as expressed by Nineveh, would bring salivation. The only other alternative was certain, sure and just retribution from the God they insisted upon spurning.

This is a principle common to all ages. Jesus used it over and over again (Mat 8:10-12; Mat 22:1-14; Mat 21:33-41); Paul reiterated it again and again both by example and precept (Act 13:46-47; Act 28:24-28; Romans 11, etc.). This principle is: God is not now nor was He ever a respecter of persons, But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him (Act 10:34). When God chose the seed of Abraham He intended to bless not simply the physical offspring of Abraham but the spiritual seed of Abraham. The people of Israel in Jonahs day were in very real danger of forgetting this truth. Jonah is merely illustrating by an object-lesson this great truth which Hosea would later prophesy (Hos 1:10; Hos 2:23) and which Paul would quote in Rom 9:19-26. When God judged and redeemed Israel it was a revelation-a lesson-to all mankind at large. Just as Israel, in apostatizing, became as the heathen falling under the judgment of God, so Israel in being redeemed upon her repentance was equally a promise to all Gentiles of their redemption if they should repent. In the case of Jonahs preaching to the Gentiles and bringing about their repentance and salvation it was this same lesson in reverse-teaching the principle which those who should have known it best had so readily forgotten!

This was why Jonah was sent. God would use the repentance and salvation of Nineveh as a last effort of a loving Father to provoke a recalcitrant child (Israel) to shame and to a jealousy that would penitently seek the favor of its Father (cf. Rom 10:19). But Jonah, so intent upon his own opinion as how to best accomplish Israels repentance (which would be by a catastrophic display of Gods wrath upon the sin of Nineveh), was found running ahead of God.

Another prophet, enamored of his own ideas as to how best bring about the purposes of God, was also found running ahead of God in a similar way and received a similar rebuke (cf. 1Ki 19:9-14). The Jewish concept of the Messiah was one of a mighty military despot who would come to bring the retribution of God upon the Gentiles thus calling Israel to repentance but the Messiah came with the still small voice and the Jews, having already formed their concepts, rejected Him. We shall have more to say of this later.

Questions

1. How does this singularly unique book of Jonah fit into the whole revelation of God?

2. How great was the city of Nineveh-population, area, militarily?

3. Who was the king of Assyria when Jonah preached against its capitol city?

4. What was the eventual fate of the city of Nineveh?

5. Why was Jonah sent to a Gentile city to preach against it?

6. Are there any illustrations of other ages and other people of Gods purpose in Jonahs commission? Name some!

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Jonah 1-4

Jonah buried and risen a type of Christ.

I. More than once in the course of our Lord’s ministry, among different persons and for different objects, He makes use of the similitude of the prophet’s burial and resurrection. When the Jews asked for a sign He refused it, (i) because it was presumptuous to ask it; (ii) because they were blind to actual signs already given and constantly existing before their eyes; (iii) because the very demand was a proof of deep ungodliness, and the concession of it would have been a premium on religious disloyalty and impiety. No sign should be given them except the sign of the prophet Jonah, the very opposite to what they sought. They asked it from above. It should be from below. They asked that it might be glorious. It should be, according to the carnal judgment, ignominious. It should be from a dark sea of trouble, not from a firmament of brightness. It should be tempest, sorrow, death, burial; not sunshine, victory, enthronement.

II. Such we understand to be the meaning of our Lord’s language in the comparison between Himself and Jonah. It is a comparison resting chiefly on the resemblance in humiliation-that of Jonah and that of Jesus. The general resemblance is apparent to anyone. Jonah was in the heart of the sea; Jesus was in the heart of the earth. Jonah was in the “belly of hell,” or the grave, or Hades; Jesus was actually traversing, living, in the invisible world, and acquiring thus His right to hold the keys. Jonah was there in punishment of his sin; Jesus (Himself sinless) was slain and consigned to the darksome grave by the sins of the world, which He bore and expiated on the Cross. Jonah was three days and three nights in his living grave; Jesus was the same time dead and buried. Jonah was restored to light and life; Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God, with power, by the resurrection from the dead.”

A. Raleigh, The Story of Jonah, p. 169.

Jon 1:1-2

The main features of the case are: (1) A Divine commission and command distinctly and authoritatively given, with some of the reasons for it annexed, although with others certainly not fully revealed. (2) A state of reluctance and suspense ever verging towards actual disobedience-expressing itself, now in remonstrance, now in request for exemptions, now in moody and distrustful silence. The situation is none so rare. The principles involved, and the lessons arising, are for all time.

I. We take occasion to force the supreme and unchallengeable obligation of the Divine will when clearly expressed. There can be no higher obligation to man or angel than that. Obedience, promptly, fully given, is the most beautiful thing that walks the earth. Prompt and simple obedience, when we are sure that God speaks, is the way to clearness, virtue, honour, strength, safety, peace.

II. The corresponding lesson is the exceeding danger of a mood of hesitation or remonstrance. All the sorrows of the sea sprang, like harvest, from Jonah’s wrong mood at the time of his call on land. We should watch with great self-jealousy the moral hesitations of the will, and the silent petitionings for delay or exemption, and the attempts to have the case reasoned out more fully after the command has been heard, and the conviction of duty clearly produced. All such heart-movements are fraught with peril. Divine light is given for “walking” and “working.” The Divine voice speaks, whether in the written law, or the living conscience apprehending it, only to be obeyed. In matters of expediency and prudence wait for the afterthoughts. In matters of conscience and present duty take the first thoughts that arise, for they are the divinest.

III. A practical difficulty with many will be to find a sufficient analogy between a call like this, a high call of God to an inspired prophet, requiring a service that would be memorable in the history of the world, and the simple calls of duty to Christian service-daily work. “There seems to be little resemblance. Little fitness, therefore, in a summons expressly supernaturally given, when applied to the ever-recurring duties and humble scenes of common life.” On the contrary, there is all the fitness that need be desired. The Christian convictions, although produced insensibly and slowly, wrought out of knowledge, prayer, and effort, yet, in authority, take rank with the highest. They are the last results of a very long process. They are the fruit of the action of the Spirit of God, making use of all that has been done in the world for man’s redemption.

A. Raleigh, The Story of Jonah, p. 30.

References: Jon 1:1-3.-J. Menzies, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 49; W. G. Blaikie, Homiletic Magazine, vol. vi., p. 165.

Jon 1:3

I. We cannot understand the conduct of Jonah fully. We cannot judge it fairly without considering some things which seemed to him to be reasons against compliance with the Divine call. (1) It was a long way, many hundreds of miles, and a great part of it through a desert. (2) The thing to be done was very difficult. (3) It would be natural that he should despair of any great success. (4) He may have thought that, in the event of attaining a spiritual success, failure must come in another way. (5) It is quite clear that the prophet had some dark forecast of evil to his own country, from the probable turn which matters would take, if his mission at Nineveh should be successful.

II. “He rose up to flee from the presence of the Lord.” The meaning of that expression we take to be that he retired, or wished to retire, from the prophetic office, at least for a time, and from that peculiar and sacred nearness to God which a true prophet, in service, always had. He knew that if he continued in that presence it would move soon, as did the pillar of old, and that he must go eastwards to escape, if possible, from that necessity. He went out of the presence westwards as fast and as far as he could. It is certainly worthy of notice that the way he fled was almost the direct opposite of the way he would have gone if he had done God’s bidding.

III. He went down to Joppa. Always, to leave the presence of God is to go down. Down from communion, from a conscious faith, from quietness and assurance, from steady, firm obedience. Down into strife without victory, into toil without fruit. Down into mere bargain-making, mere money-making, mere pleasure-seeking, mere time-wasting. The success and glory of true life can be found only by keeping the upward road, in hearing and following the voice which says perpetually, “Come up hither.”

IV. Jonah tells us with a minuteness and particularity evidently intentional, “he found a ship going to Tarshish,” and “paid the fare thereof, and went down into it,” etc. What is the prophet’s object in such careful minuteness? (1) It may have been to keep himself in remembrance, and tell all the world how many steps there were, so to speak, in his downgoing. (2) He may have meant to teach us that the outward aspects of providence to us at any one time constitute a very insufficient and unsafe guide in matters of moral duty.

A. Raleigh, The Story of Jonah, p. 52.

Jon 1:3

I. While Jonah works God waits. When Jonah falls asleep, God begins to work. The scene is thus arrestive and striking. The man hasting away for days from “the presence,” out among second causes and exterior things, into a blank world of indifference. Then God, with a touch of His hand, raising up those second causes, which hitherto had seemed to favour the flight, into an irresistible combination for the arrest and recovery of the fugitive. Men dig pits and fall into them. They weave webs and by a touch of His hand they are snared and taken.

II. “The mariners were afraid and cried every man unto his god.” Not all to one heathen deity, but each man to his own god. When God is forsaken, men forsake each other. They lose the power of mutual sympathy and help in the highest things. Only the true worshippers have that great power-the power of social sympathy-working in full strength among them. And yet we have no ground for uttering one word of reproach or blame against these men. They did all that could be expected of them. They prayed and wrought. They cried to their gods, and cast the wares out of the ship; a clear and good example to all men who are in straits.

III. Let us take our last lesson from the heathen captain. (1) He teaches us by his example. He is master of the ship, and he feels that, in an hour of peril especially, it lies within his province to incite and constrain all who sail in the ship, and who, therefore, as passengers or sailors, are under his care, to the discharge of their very highest duties. Remember that you have religious duties to the full breadth and length of your mastery. (2) He teaches us by his words. These words of his have aroused many a sleeper besides Jonah. They have been heard through the ages since, as watchman’s cry, as trumpet’s sound, to awaken and save souls from death.

A. Raleigh, The Story of Jonah, p. 76.

References: Jon 1:3.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xi., No. 622; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 56; E. Monro, Practical Sermons, vol. ii., p. 283; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ii., p. 270.

Jon 1:4

I. Apparently with great unanimity, the sailors fall upon a scheme to discover the cause and reason of the storm, or at any rate, the person on whose account it has come. They all pray, and then cast lots. They did not mean it as a desperate chance stroke. In their intention it was a religious act. As such it was accepted, for the lot fell upon Jonah. God uses the honest, although blind, endeavours of His creatures to discover truth and duty, to reveal to them in a measure what they are seeking, and at the same time to go on with the development of His own perfect providence. He takes what there is in the form of worship and service of Him, if it is the best that men can achieve in the circumstances.

II. The lot fell upon Jonah. The words spoken by the shipmaster at his berth, the falling of the lot upon him, the hurried questions of the crew, and the howling of the elements around, “awoke” him in the highest sense. He rose up as from a hideous dream, and stood once more before God and man, in openness, sincerity, and truth. “And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.” Few scenes in history have a darker grandeur than this confession of Jonah to these heathen sailors, when he knew that in a very short time he was to be cast into the sea. There is about his conduct a self-abnegation and a moral sublimity which are rarely found, among even good men.

III. Note the several expressions used in Jonah’s confession. (i) “I am an Hebrew.” The name by which the Jewish people were known to foreigners. The name came to them when as emigrants they passed the great river, the river Euphrates. Passers-by in life, not settlers anywhere on earth. Men of pilgrim spirit, seeking rest and home beyond death. (ii) “I am an Hebrew, and I fear”-i.e. serve, not I am afraid of, but, I serve in reverence, and trust, and love,-“the Lord”-Jehovah, the one living and true God-self-existent, self-sufficient, supreme, eternal. (iii) “The God of heaven”-a lofty title, often used in the Scriptures, and nearly always by God’s servants, in speaking to heathens, signifying the creation, possession, and rule of the whole visible universe.

A. Raleigh, The Story of Jonah, p. 99.

References: Jon 1:4-6.-W. G. Blaikie, Homiletic Magazine, vol. vi., p. 165. Jon 1:4-7.-J. Menzies, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 75. Jon 1:5, Jon 1:6.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii., No. 469; S. Martin, Westminster Chapel Pulpit, 5th series, No. 2. Jon 1:6.-Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 173; J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 138. Jon 1:7-10.-W. G. Blaikie, Homiletic Magazine, vol. vi., p. 167. Jon 1:11-17.-Ibid., p. 245; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 166. Jon 1:12, Jon 1:13.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 567.

Jon 1:15

I. Among the many marvels of this Book not the least is that Jonah, the discovered culprit, should be constituted judge in his own case. (i) The sailors’ appeal to Jonah was in fact an appeal to God. It carries with it a reverential recognition of His hand. (ii) Also, we must see in this question a recognition of the honesty and recovered manhood of Jonah. (iii) No doubt they had some regard also to his prophetic office, and to the fact that he did not seem to be released from it. He might, therefore, for all they knew, still be carrying about with him some supernatural powers, which, although held for a while in suspense, might perhaps yet avail for their deliverance.

II. There seems to have been no delay in the giving of the answer. “And he said unto them, Take me up and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you,” etc. Is this simply a human answer, dictated by the workings of natural conscience, and expressive of the desire of a despairing heart, to have done with life altogether? Or is it the answer of God Himself, to whom really, as we have supposed, appeal was made? Surely there can hardly be a doubt that the latter is the true supposition. His words show that he had a proper regard for the inviolable sacredness of his own life-that he recognized the principle, that only its Fountain and Giver could have the right to say when and where and how it was to be again given up to Him. The answer of Jonah is a virtual condemnation of suicide in any, in all, circumstances.

III. Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land. These men knew the value of life-and not of their life alone, but also of that life that had brought all their trouble. And thus we alight upon the beautiful principle of our moral life, that every good thing in our spirit and action has a tendency to reproduce itself in others who are in any way related to it, especially, of course, if it is called forth for their advantage.

IV. Wearied and panting, the sailors cease at length from the bootless strife, and gather about the man whom they cannot save. Prayer precedes the last sad act that shall part them and their passenger for ever. (i) The prayer is to Jehovah, the true God. (ii) They prayed earnestly. (iii) They prayed submissively. (iv) It is a prayer for exemption from the guilt of innocent blood. (v) The defect of the prayer, if it has one, is this-they do not pray for Jonah.

And now at length, all being done that could be done to avert the sad necessity, and done quite in vain, they proceed to the solemn execution of the sentence. “So they took up Jonah-“lifted him, the meaning is, with respect and tenderness, bearing him as if with some sad honour to his grave, he himself making no resistance-“and cast him into the sea.” The elements are appeased and satisfied.

A. Raleigh, The Story of Jonah, p. 122.

I. Notice the storm raised. In the storm we have a striking image of life. For life is a voyage. We start from many ports, we touch at many others, we encounter many perils from wind and wave, we meet many storms; but they come from Him who “gathereth the winds in His fists.” None of us must reckon on a continued calm if the sun shine on us for a little while, and think it will never rain again. If things go smooth and prosperously, we conclude that our mountain stands so strong it will never be moved. But you cannot have lived long in the world without learning that there are clouds in the brightest sky, a moth in the loveliest robe, a worm in the tallest cedar, and dross in the purest gold. Yet, if we do not lose our hold of Christ, we know that the sun is always in the sky, though we cannot always see it; and that He has said of every storm which He sends: “When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee.”

II. We have here the storm hushed, and hushed by God. He remembered Jonah. He might have left Jonah to perish there, but He delivered him and brought him back from the gates of death. He can hush any storm. His clear, Divine, voice may be heard ringing above every tempest of life: “It is I; be not afraid.”

J. Fleming, Penny Pulpit, No. 782.

Jon 1:17

We have no external history of the days spent by the prophet in his living grave. Neither he nor anyone else can tell how far he travelled, how long he rested, what were the aspects of the scenery, how many “small and great beasts” were met on the journey-that strange but fruitful journey “through the paths of the seas.” But we have a very intense and clear history of his inward life.

I. There was evidently a great and sudden quickening of consciousness. The man who speaks in this holy psalm hardly seems the same person whom we have seen in flight-dark, moody, silent, despairing. Now, and all at once, he seems to leap again into life-clear, fervent, passionate life. The burial of his body is the resurrection of his soul.

II. Rapidly this new consciousness became distressful. His soul fills itself fuller than the sea, with affliction. The reserved sorrow of long sinning comes all at once. He feels “cast out of God’s sight,” and shivers in the utter loneliness.

III. Then he began to “look”-upwards to earth, eastwards to the Temple where he knew that the lost Presence was richly manifested. “Ah, if I could but go there! If I might see but once again the priest, the altar, and the mercy-seat! I could then be content to die. But at any rate I will look. If I die looking, still I shall look till I die.”

IV. The look soon became a cry: “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord.”

V. He began to be grateful. There was daybreak in the land of the shadow of death. The sweet bloom of the morning smote down into the rayless depths, and revealed there the strangest sight those depths have ever disclosed-a living oratory and a thankful worshipper.

VI. Then, apparently, his soul passed into the more active state of renewed personal consecration to God.

VII. The final state of his mind is a state of entire dependence, involving a quiet and trustful surrender of the whole case to God. “Salvation is of the Lord.”

A. Raleigh, The Story of Jonah, p. 145.

References: 1:17-2:10.-J. Menzies, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 94. Jonah 1-Parker, City Temple, vol. iii., p. 457. Jonah 1-4-J. Foster, Lectures, 2nd series, p. 1. Jon 2:1-7.-W. G. Blaikie, Homiletic Magazine, vol. vi., p. 247. Jon 2:2-10.-Ibid., p. 248.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

Jonah: 2Ki 14:25, Mat 12:39, Mat 16:4, Luk 11:29, Luk 11:30, Luk 11:32, Jonas

Reciprocal: Jer 1:2 – the word Hos 1:1 – word Jon 3:1 – the word Luk 3:2 – the word

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE PROPHET JONAH

Jonah the son of Amittai.

Jon 1:1

I. The prophecy of Jonah is confessedly one of the most remarkable and interesting in the Old Testament.Deserting the ordinary cycle of Jewish thought, it carries us to a great heathen city, Israels bitter enemy; but the prophets errand thither is to show that Gods mercies are not limited to His covenant people, but embrace the whole heathen world. And the prophet carries his message unwillingly. Trained in the narrow belief that salvation was for the Jews only, he endeavours to escape altogether from being made the mouthpiece of the Divine love to men so barbarous and cruel as the people of Nineveh; and when, against his will, he has summoned them to repentance, and they obey his call, and the sentence of destruction is changed to one of acceptance, his stubborn prejudices break out into open murmurs, from which he is cured by a lesson so apt and forcible, and yet involving so playful an exhibition of the Divine power, that many scholars have been led by it to treat the whole narrative as a pleasing fiction, or at best as an allegory full of symbolic teaching.

II. But wisdom is justified of her children, and there is a fullness of instruction in this prophecy which justifies the miraculous element contained in it, however different the form of the miracles may be from that found in the rest of Holy Scripture.For, in the first place, it is a great and cardinal truth that there is mercy for those not in covenant with God. Even now we Christians are only slowly learning the lesson that Gods love is broader than human prejudice, and that He will judge men, not by the privileges which they possess, but by the use which they make of them. Just as in old time apostate Samaria, which had utterly deserted the worship of Jehovah, was declared more just than Judah, because the latter, while priding herself upon her covenant relations to God, was false to their principles (Jer 3:11), so may it be now. Men who have not the law may, as St. Paul declares, attain to such a state as to be even judges of those who, while they have the letter of inspiration and the outward seal of the covenant, yet transgress the law (Rom 2:14; Rom 2:27).

Now, however much we may neglect it in practice, yet all this is, at least, acknowledged by us in words. But it was very different in the days of Jonah. Though directly contained in the whole teaching of the Book of Genesis, and implicitly in much of such scriptures besides as the Jews then possessed, yet the effect of the Mosaic law, especially of the necessary care taken therein to guard the Chosen People from contact with the heathen, had made them look upon the whole Gentile world as out of the pale of the Divine mercies. After Jonah, the whole body of prophets took up his parable, and taught in the very plainest way that Jehovah was the God of the Gentiles also. To us this truth seems taught everywhere in the Old Testament, but Jonah was the first to teach it plainly and directly to the Jews; and he taught it unwillingly. And yet he acknowledges that it was no new truth; for the reason which he gives for his refusal to bear Gods message was that he understood in its fullness that proclamation of the Divine attributes made in Exo 34:6-7, and knew, therefore, that there was pardon even for Nineveh, if it repented (Jon 4:2).

III. The teaching, then, of the Book of Jonah is very marvellous.Even more so is its typical nature. In the midst of a storm so terrible that the ship was in danger of being dashed to pieces by the violence of the waves, Jonah lies fast asleep. They awake him, and he is made the propitiation by which the storm is appeased and the ship saved. But after a three days death in the belly of that which seemed to him a living grave (chap. Jon 2:2), he is restored to life, and upon his resurrection follows the conversion of the Gentiles. We have thus a sealed-up prophecy, not opened until our Lord came, and claimed to be Himself the reality of that which Jonah had been only in type (Mat 12:39-40).

Dean Payne Smith.

Illustration

It is exceedingly probable that the Book of Jonah is the oldest written prophecy. Its place in the Canon testifies generally to the belief of the Jews that it belongs to the earliest or Assyrian period, but its position after Obadiah is probably owing to its seeming to the arranger that Jonah was that ambassador to the heathen of whom Obadiah speaks. But we find that Jonah prophesied at a time anterior to the military successes of Jeroboam II., though probably during that monarchs reign. We have, then, firm ground beneath us, so far only as the facts reach, that Jonah was a prophet of established repute early in the reign of Israels warrior-king, and that Nineveh was at the height of its power when he went thither. But whether Jonahs mission took place early or late in his life is altogether uncertain. Nothing in Assyrian history helps us to fix the date, nor do we even know whether Jonah was young or old when he foretold the conquest by Israel of the whole country from Hammath to the Dead Sea.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

Jon 1:1. The book of Jonah is composed almost wholly of history. The only prophecy It contains is that of the threatened destruction of Nineveh (chapter 3: 4), which was to be only forty days in the future. But he is called a prophet in 2Ki 14:25 and Mat 12:39, hence we know that his work entitled him to that classification. We have no details of his work outside of this book except what is briefly mentioned in the first reference above and the allusion to his preaching by Jesus. And the Old Testament reference gives us the information as to the general date of bis life and work, for he gave instructions to Jeroboam II who reigned in the 10-tribe kingdom of Israel about 800 B, C., which was a century before the Assyrian captivity of Israel, This verse says the word of the Lord came to Jonah, so we see that his work was by inspiration of God as far as his writing and teaching was concerned.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Jon 1:1-2. Now the word of the Lord An impulse or revelation from the Lord, significative of his will; came unto Jonah, the son of Amittai Of whom see 2Ki 14:25. It is probable he had been before acquainted with the word of the Lord, and knew his voice from that of a stranger. Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city The capital of the Assyrian empire: see notes on Jon 3:3; Jon 4:11; and Nah 1:1; Nah 3:18. And cry Proclaim as a prophet, against it Or concerning it. He must witness against their great wickedness, and warn them of the destruction that was coming upon them for it. And this he must do, not privately in corners, but publicly in the streets, and must cry aloud, that all might hear. For their wickedness is come up before me Is manifest in my sight, and calls aloud for vengeance.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Jon 1:1 to Jon 2:1, Jon 2:10. Jonah vainly Seeks to Evade the Mission to which God Appoints Him.Jonah is bidden by Yahweh to proclaim judgment on Nineveh for its sin, but he hurries in the opposite direction, to Tarshish (p. 381). Why he refused to proclaim such congenial tidings appears only in the sequel (Jon 4:2). In a very striking way the author indicates the intellectual limitation of Jonahs conception of Yahweh. He rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Three times the phrase occurs, and where every word is meant to tell, the repetition is significant. It is true that Jonah believes that Yahweh can destroy or save Nineveh, and he even confesses Him as the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. But this formal confession of monotheism was cancelled by the localising of Yahweh, which made it possible for the prophet seriously to contemplate getting away from Him, if he only went far enough. This state of mind was characteristic of Judaism, which, asserting monotheism, yet by its particularism really denied it. Jonah cannot, however, get away from Yahweh, who sends a storm, so that the ship is in peril. The description of the sailors is very significant. They are representatives of the heathen world. When the storm threatens to break their vessel, they act up to the measure of the religion they possess, and each cries unto his god. At the same time they do their utmost to save the ship by sacrificing its wares. Jonah had, before the storm broke, gone into the innermost part of the ship, and while the heathen were praying and working he was fast asleep. The captain, like the crew, is deeply religious, and is amazed that in such straits any should neglect to pray. The character of the sailors comes out also in their treatment of Jonah. It would not have been surprising if, in harmony with ancient superstition, they had inferred at once the strangers guilt, and sought to save their lives by casting him into the sea. But they become convinced of it only when the lot has fallen upon him. When they learn the nature of his sin they are terrified, and since he is the prophet of so powerful a God, they ask him what they must do. In Jonahs answer, bidding them cast him to the waves, we are tempted to see the one redeeming feature in his career; but it would probably be a mistake to lay stress on it. It was necessary for the development of the story that Jonah should be thrown into the sea, and the author would be unwilling to represent the sailors as taking the initiative in this. Jonah recognises that his plan of escape from Yahweh has failed, but Sheol may furnish a refuge he has not been able to find in Tarshish. Even after they have learnt that Jonah must be cast into the sea, they refuse to do it except as a last resource. They strain every nerve to get to land, but the tempest increases, and their efforts to save the prophet prove unavailing. But before they carry out his bidding they pray to Yahweh that He will not lay innocent blood to their charge, and indicate that it is only in obedience to His clearly expressed will that they sacrifice the prophet. The sea at once grows calm when Jonah as been cast into it, and the sailors fear Yahweh exceedingly, and sacrifice to Him and make vows. In this way the writer impresses two lessons on his reader. One is the high moral and religious excellence that exists in the heathen world, the other is the readiness of the heathen to turn to Yahweh. Against this background the character and conduct of Israel stand out in most unattractive colours. It may further be pointed out that the writer is in line with earlier prophets when he suggests that the political convulsions which overwhelmed other nations in the victorious advance of Assyria and Babylon occurred on account of Israel.

When Jonah is cast into the sea, Yahweh instructs a great fish to swallow him. Here we may touch the mythological conception of the dragon of the lower ocean. But this is of no moment for the general idea of the book. The episode of the fish is clear enough when we remember that Jonah is Israel and compare Jer 51:34; Jer 51:44. There it is said that the king of Babylon has swallowed Israel like a dragon, and again that Yahweh will compel Bel to disgorge that which he has swallowed. In other words, the story of the fish represents the Exile and the Restoration. In exile Israel prays to Yahweh and is released from captivity.

Jon 1:5 b. Marti brings out the contrast with the sleep of Jesus during the storm on the lake (Mar 4:35-41): Jonah was tranquil since he thought he was far from Gods hand, Jesus confident since He knew Himself to be hidden in Gods hand.

Jon 1:9. I fear: read perhaps I am fleeing from.

Jon 1:17. prepared: render ordered.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

1:1 Now the word of the LORD came {a} unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

(a) After he had preached a long time in Israel: and so Ezekiel, after he had prophesied in Judah for a time, had visions in Babylon; Eze 1:1 .

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

A. Jonah’s attempt to flee from God 1:1-3

The story opens with God commissioning His prophet and Jonah rebelling against His will.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

The book and verse open with a conjunction (Heb. waw, Eng. "Now"). Several versions leave this word untranslated because it makes no substantial difference in the story. Its presence in the Hebrew Bible may suggest that this book was part of a larger collection of stories. About 14 Old Testament books begin with "And," and they obviously connect with the books that immediately precede them. However what Jonah might have continued is unknown.

"These books remind us of God’s ’continued story’ of grace and mercy." [Note: Warren W. Wiersbe, "Jonah," in The Bible Exposition Commentary/Prophets, p. 378.]

The expression "The word of the LORD came to" occurs over 100 times in the Old Testament. [Note: Alexander, p. 97.] The writer did not record how Jonah received the following message from the Lord. That is inconsequential here, though often in other prophetic books the method of revelation that God used appears. Likewise the time of this revelation is a mystery and unessential to the interpretation and application of this story. God’s actions are the most important feature in this prophecy.

We do not have any knowledge of Amittai ("truthful") other than that he was Jonah’s father. The recording of the name of an important person’s father was common in Jewish writings, and the presence of Amittai’s name in the text argues for the historical reality of Jonah.

There are several unbiblical Jewish traditions about Jonah’s origin. [Note: Ellison, "Jonah," p. 368.] One held that he was the widow’s son whom Elijah restored to life (1Ki 17:17-24). Another held that he had some connection with the Jerusalem temple even though he was from the North. Another credited him with a successful mission to Jerusalem similar to the one to Nineveh. None of these has any biblical support. They were apparently attempts to fit Jonah into other inspired stories and to glorify the prophet.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)