Jonah 4

Jon 4:1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly - This hasty, and indeed inconsiderate prophet, was vexed because his prediction was not fulfilled. He had more respect to his high sense of his own honor than he had to the goodness and mercy of God. He appeared to care little whether six hundred and twenty thousand persons were destroyed or not, so he might not pass for a deceiver, or one that denounced a falsity.

And he was very angry - Because the prediction was not literally fulfilled; for he totally lost sight of the condition. Or “very grieved.” The word expresses also the emotion of burning grief, as when Samuel was grieved at the rejection of Saul, or David at “the breach upon Uzzah” 2Sa_6:8; 1Ch_13:11. Either way, he was displeased with what God did. Scripture says that he was displeased, because the Ninevites were spared. It seems likely, that it was a mistaken patriotism, which idolized the well being of his own and God’s people, and desired that its enemy, the appointed instrument of its chastisement, should be itself destroyed.

And he was very angry - literally, "hot." How sad the contrast between God's feeling on the repentance of Nineveh towards Him, and Jonah's feeling on the repentance of God towards Nineveh.

Jon 4:2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

And he prayed unto the Lord - Jonah, at least, did not murmur or complain about God. He complained to God of Himself. He expostulates with Him. Shortsighted indeed and too wedded to his own will! Yet his will was the well-being of the people whose prophet God had made him. He tells God, that this it was, which he had all along dreaded. He does not hesitate to tell God that this was the cause of his first rebellion! Perilous to the soul, to speak without penitence of former sin; yet it is to God that he speaks and so God, in His wonderful condescension, makes him teach himself.

And he prayed unto the Lord - But in a very different manner from his praying in the fish's belly: this was a very disorderly prayer, put up in the hurry of his spirit, and in the heat of passion: this is called a prayer, because Jonah thought it to be so, and put it up to the Lord as one. It begins in the form of a prayer; and it ends with a petition, though an unlawful one; and has nothing of true and right prayer in it; no celebration of the divine Being, and his perfections; no confession of sin, ore petition for any blessing of providence or grace; but mere wrangling, contending, and quarrelling with God:

I knew that Thou art a gracious God - He repeats to God to the letter His own words by Joel 2:13 Yes, tear your heart and not your robes, and turn to the LORD your God: for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and He pities because of the evil. Israel knew, that to the pagan also God was intensely, infinitely full of gracious and yearning love, by the might and intensity of His gracious love, “slow to anger” and delaying it, “great in loving tenderness,” and abounding in it; and that toward them also, when the evil is about to be inflicted, or has been partially or wholly inflicted, He will repent of it and replace it with good, on the first turning of the soul or the nation to God.

was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? - was not this what I thought, that this would be the issue and consequence of going to the Ninevites; they would repent of their sins, and thou wouldst forgive them; and so thou wouldst be reckoned a liar, and I a false prophet? and thus he suggests that he had a greater or better foresight of things than God himself; and that it would have been better if his saying had been attended unto, and not the order of him to Nineveh; how audacious and insolent was this!

Jon 4:3 Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.

Therefore now, O Lord, take I beseech Thee my life from me - He had rather die, than face the disgrace of being called a false prophet, disgraced and upbraided by hardened sinners, who will brand him for a liar or see the evil that would come to Israel due to the Ninevites. Impatient though he was, under disappointed hopes of Israel's reformation through the destruction of Nineveh, he still cast himself upon God. By asking of God to end his life, he, at least, committed himself to the sovereign disposal of God

Jon 4:4 Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?

dost thou well to be angry? - A mild and gentle reproof this; which shows him to be a God gracious and merciful, and slow to anger; he might have answered Jonah's passionate wish, and struck him dead at once, as Ananias and Sapphira were; but he only puts this question, and leaves it with him to consider of.

Jon 4:5 So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city.

So Jonah went out of the city - The form of the words implies (as in the English Version), that this took place after Jonah was convinced that God would spare Nineveh; and since there is no intimation that he knew it by revelation, then it was probably after the 40 days .

made him a booth - a temporary hut of branches and leaves, so slightly formed as to be open to the wind and sun's heat.

see what would become of the city -- Jonah did not know that anything more than a suspension, or mitigation, of judgment had been granted to Nineveh. Therefore, to watch from a neighboring station, he lodged in the booth. As a stranger, he did not know the depth of Nineveh's repentance; besides, from the Old Testament standpoint he knew that chastening judgments often followed, as in David's case ( 2Sa_12:10-12, 2Sa_12:14), even where sin had been repented of. To show him what he knew not, the largeness and completeness of God's mercy to penitent Nineveh, and the reasonableness of it, God made his booth a school of discipline to give him more enlightened views.

Jon 4:6 And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd.

And the Lord God prepared a gourd - God again commanded the gourd, as he did the whale, willing only that this should be. Forthwith it springs up beautiful and full of flower, and straightway was a roof to the whole booth, and anoints him so to speak with joy, with its deep shade.

And the Lord God prepared a gourd – It seems to be a plant frequent in Egypt, of which the Egyptians made an oil; which is well known to be the "ricinus", or "palma Christi" by the description of it, what we call a castor oil plant; it rising up to the height of a tree, an olive tree, having very large broad leaves, like those of vines, or of plantain; and springing up suddenly.

and made it to come up over Jonah - over his head, as follows; and it may be over the booth he had built, which was become in a manner useless; the leaves of the boughs of which it was made being withered with the heat of the sun; it came over him so as to cover him all over; which may denote both the necessity of outward mercies, as food and raiment, which the Lord knows his people have need of; and the sufficiency of them he grants, with which they should be content:

Jon 4:7 But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered.

But God prepared a worm - By being eaten through the root, the plant, losing its nourishment, would soon wither; and this was the case in the present instance. That God that prepared this plant to rise so suddenly, almost as soon prepared a worm to destroy it; for it rose up one night, continued one whole day, to the great delight of Jonah; and by the morning of the following day this worm or grub was prepared in, it, or sent to it, to the root of it: this shows that God is the Creator of the least as well as the largest of creatures, of worms as well as whales. The same hand that gives mercies can take them away, and that very suddenly. It should silence discontent to remember, that when our gourd is gone, our God is not gone.

Jon 4:8 And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

a vehement east wind - or, "a deafening east wind"; which blew strong, and loud. East wind is associated with judgment.

A vehement east wind - Which was of itself of a parching, withering nature; and the sun, in addition, made it intolerable. Chărīshith, to be silent or quiet, is to be taken when used of the wind in the sense of sultry. These winds are both scorching and suffocating in the East, for deserts of burning sand lay to the east or south-east; and the easterly winds often brought such a multitude of minute particles of sand on their wings, as to add greatly to the mischief

He wished in himself to die - (literally he asked as to his soul, to die). He prayed for death. It was still the same dependence upon God, even in his self-will. He did not complain, but prayed God to end his life here. When men are already vexed in soul by deep inward griefs, a little thing often oversets patience. Jonah’s hopes had been revived by the mercy of the palm-christ; they perished with it. Perhaps he had before him the thought of his great predecessor, Elijah, how he too wished to die, when it seemed that his mission was fruitless. They differed in love. Elijah’s preaching, miracles, toil, sufferings, seemed to him, not only to be in vain, but (as they must, if in vain), to add to the guilt of his people. God corrected him too, by showing him his own short-sightedness, that he knew not of “the seven thousand who had not bowed their knees unto Baal,” who were, in part, doubtless, “the travail of his soul.” Jonah’s mission to his people seemed also to be fruitless; his hopes for their well-being were at an end; the temporal mercies of which he had been the prophet, were exhausted; Nineveh was spared; his last hope was gone; the future scourge of his people was maintained in might. The soul shrinks into itself at the sight of the impending visitation of its country. But Elijah’s zeal was “for” his people only and the glory of God in it, and so it was pure love. Jonah’s was directed “against” the Ninevites, and so had to be purified.

and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah - the boughs of trees, of which the booth was made, being withered, and his gourd, or whatever plant it was, also, he had nothing to shelter him from the heat of the sun; but the beams of it darted directly upon him, so that he was not able to sustain them; they quite overwhelmed him, and caused him to faint, and just ready to die away:

Jon 4:9 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.

I do well to be angry, even unto death - Many persons suppose that the gifts of prophecy and working miracles are the highest that can be conferred on man; but they are widely mistaken, for the gifts change not the heart. Jonah had the gift of prophecy, but had not received that grace which destroys the old man and creates the soul anew in Christ Jesus. This is the love of which St. Paul speaks, which if a man have not, though he had the gift of prophecy, and could miraculously remove mountains, yet in the sight of God, and for any good himself might reap from it, it would be as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. Jonah was a prophet, and yet had all his old bad tempers about him, in a shameful predominancy. Balaam was of the same kind. So we find that God gave the gift of prophecy even to graceless men. But many of the prophets were sanctified in their nature before their call to the prophetic office, and were the most excellent of men.

I do well to be angry, even unto death - See the Antitype Mat_26:38 Then He said to them, My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Wait here and watch with Me.

Jon 4:10 Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

Which came up in a night - The expressions coming up in a night and perishing in a night are only metaphorical to express speedy growth and speedy decay.

Then said the Lord, thou hast had pity on the gourd - It was not till he had persisted in his ill-will, even after this divine admonition within, that Jehovah pointed out to him how wrong his murmuring was. Jehovah's speaking in Jon_4:9 is a manifestation of the divine will by supernatural inspiration. Jehovah directs Jonah's attention to the contradiction into which he has fallen, by feeling compassion for the withering of the miraculous tree, and at the same time murmuring because God has had compassion upon Nineveh with its many thousands of living beings, and has spared the city for the sake of these souls, many of whom have no idea whatever of right or wrong.

Then said the Lord, thou hast had pity on the gourd - Or, "hast spared it"; that is, would have spared it, had it lain in his power, though but a weeds and worthless thing: by which the Lord suggests to Jonah the vast difference between the gourd he would have spared, and for the loss of which he was so angry, and the city of Nineveh the Lord spared, which so highly displeased him; the one was but an herb, a plant, the other a great city; that a single plant, but the city consisted of thousands of persons; the plant was not the effect of his toil and labor, but the inhabitants of this city were the works of God's hands. If Jonah so pities a plant which cost him no toil to rear, and which is so short lived and valueless, much more must Jehovah pity those hundreds of thousands of immortal men and women in great Nineveh whom He has made with such a display of creative power, especially they repent.

Compare the same argument drawn from God's justice and mercy in Gen_18:23-33.

23 And Abraham drew near and said, Will You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

24 Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city. Will You also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are in it?

25 Far be it from You to act in this manner, to kill the righteous with the wicked. And far be it from You, that the righteous should be as the wicked. Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?

26 And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

27 And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak to the LORD, who am but dust and ashes.

28 Perhaps there will be five lacking from the fifty righteous. Will You destroy all the city for lack of five? And He said, If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it .

29 And he spoke to Him yet again, and said, Perhaps there shall be forty found there. And He said, I will not do it for forty's sake.

30 And he said, Oh let not the LORD be angry, and I will speak. Perhaps there shall be thirty found there. And He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there.

31 And he said, Lo now, I have taken upon me to speak to the LORD. Perhaps there shall be twenty found there. And He said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake.

32 And he said, Oh do not let the LORD be angry, and I will speak only once more. Perhaps ten shall be found there. And He said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.

33 And the LORD went His way as soon as He had left off talking with Abraham. And Abraham returned to his place.

A similar illustration from the insignificance of a plant is given by Christ to prove that God will care for the infinitely more precious bodies and souls of men who are to live for ever Mat_6:28-30 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not toil, nor do they spin, but I say to you that even Solomon in his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Therefore if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much rather clothe you, little-faiths? One soul is of more value than the whole world; surely, then, one soul is of more value than many gourds.

If there were any hope of Israel's being awakened by Nineveh's destruction to fulfil her high destination of being a light to surrounding heathenism, then there would not have been the same need to God's cause of Nineveh's preservation, (though there would have always been need of saving the penitent). But as Israel, after judgments, now with returning prosperity turns back to apostasy, the means needed to vindicate God's cause, and provoke Israel, if possible, to jealousy, is the example of the great capital of heathendom suddenly repenting at the first warning, and consequently being spared. Thus Israel would see the kingdom of heaven transplanted from its ancient seat to another which would willingly yield its spiritual fruits. The tidings which Jonah brought back to his countrymen of Nineveh's repentance and rescue, would, if believingly understood, be far more fitted than the news of its overthrow to recall Israel to the service of God. Israel failed to learn the lesson, and so was cast out of her land. Compare to Romans 11:7-15 where Paul speaks of the gentile believers provoking Israel to jealousy, to wanting Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Romans 11

7 What then? Israel has not obtained that which it seeks, but the election obtained it , and the rest were hardened

8 even as it is written, "God gave to them a spirit of slumber, eyes not seeing, and ears not hearing" until this day.

9 And David said, "Let their table become for a snare and a trap and a stumbling block and a recompense to them.

10 Let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see, and their back always bowing."

11 I say then, Did they not stumble that they fall? Let it not be! But by their slipping away came salvation to the nations, to provoke them to jealousy.

12 But if their slipping away is the riches of the world, and their default is the riches of the nations, how much more their fullness?

13 For I speak to you, the nations; since I am the apostle of the nations, I glorify my ministry;

14 if by any means I may provoke those who are my flesh to jealousy, and might save some of them.

15 For if their casting away is the reconciling of the world, what is the reception except life from the dead?

Jon 4:11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

From this short prophecy many useful lessons may be derived. The Ninevites were on the verge of destruction, but on their repentance were respited. They did not, however, continue under the influence of good resolutions. They relapsed, and about one hundred and fifty years afterwards, the Prophet Nahum was sent to predict the miraculous discomfiture of the Assyrian king under Sennacherib, an event which took place about 710 b.c., and also the total destruction of Nineveh by Cyaxares and his allies which happened about 606 b.c.

Jonah was a type of the resurrection of Christ; nothing farther seems revealed in this prophet relative to the mysteries of Christianity.

sixscore thousand persons - that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; do not know one from another; cannot distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong; are not come to years of maturity and discretion; children. It is generally calculated that the young children of any place are a fifth of the inhabitants, and consequently the whole population of Nineveh would amount to about 100,000.

that cannot discern between their right hand and their left--children under three of four years old Deu_1:39 And your little ones, who you said would be a prey, and your sons who in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in there. And I will give it to them, and they shall possess it.

much cattle--God cares even for the brute creatures, of which man takes little account. These in wonderful powers and in utility are far above the shrub which Jonah is so concerned about. Yet Jonah is reckless as to their destruction and that of innocent children.

Jonah 3

Jon 3:1 And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the second time - Jonah having been scourged by the Lord for his stubbornness and disobedience, and being humbled under the mighty hand of God, is tried a second time, to go to Nineveh and proclaim to that city what Jehovah would say to him. God employs Jonah again in his service. His making use of us is an evidence of his being at peace with us. Jonah was not disobedient, as he had been. Jonah now obeyed the word of Jehovah. See here the nature of repentance; it is the change of our mind and way, and a return to our work and duty.

Jon 3:2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

Arise, go to Nineveh that great city, and preach (or cry) unto it - God says to Jonah the self-same words which He had said before; only perhaps He gives him an intimation of His purpose of mercy, in that he says no more, “cry against her,” but “cry unto her.” He might “cry against” one doomed to destruction; to “cry unto her,” seems to imply that she had some interest in, and so some hope from, this cry.

Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city - The order runs in the same words as before; and the same discouragements are presented to Jonah, taken from the greatness of the city, the number of its inhabitants, its being the metropolis of the Assyrian empire, and the seat of the greatest monarch on earth, to try his faith; but these had not the like effect as before; for he had now another spirit given him, not of fear, but of a sound mind; he considered he was sent by a greater King, and that more were they that were on his side than the inhabitants of this place, who might possibly be against him:

The preaching that I bid thee - literally, "proclaim the proclamation." Be my herald, and faithfully deliver my message. The word signifies a crier, a herald, a preacher; one that makes proclamation with a loud and earnest cry. Such was John Baptist, Isa_40:3; such was Jesus Christ, John 7:18-37; and such were all his apostles. This is the only notice which Jonah relates that God took of his disobedience, in that He charged him to obey exactly what He commanded

the preaching that I bid thee - declaring and exposing their wickedness, and telling them that in a short time their city would be destroyed. Jonah must not be gratified with any alteration in the message; but he must go with it as it had before been given, or what he now bid, or should bid him; the word of the Lord must be spoken just as it is delivered; nothing must be added to it, or taken from it; the whole counsel of God must be declared; prophets and ministers must preach, not as men bid them, but as God bids them.

Jon 3:3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey.

And Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh - ready to obey, as before to disobey. Before, when God said those same words, “he arose and fled;” now, “he arose and went.”

And Jonah arose and went unto Nineveh - In Luk_11:30 it is said that Jonas was not only a sign to the men in Christ's time, but also "unto the Ninevites." On the latter occasion ( Mat_16:1-4) when the Pharisees and Sadducees tempted Him, asking a sign from heaven, He answered, "No sign shall be given, but the sign of the prophet Jonas," Mat_12:39. Thus the sign had a twofold aspect, a direct bearing on the Ninevites, an indirect bearing on the Jews in Christ's time. To the Ninevites he was not merely a prophet, but himself a wonder in the earth, as one who had tasted of death, and yet had not seen corruption, but had now returned to witness among them for God. If the Ninevites had indulged in a captious spirit, they never would have inquired and so known Jonah's wonderful history; but being humbled by God's awful message, they learned from Jonah himself that it was the previous concealing in his bosom of the same message of their own doom that caused him to be entombed as an outcast from the living. Thus he was a "sign" to them of wrath on the one hand, and, on the other, of mercy. Guilty Jonah saved from the jaws of death gives a ray of hope to guilty Nineveh. Thus God, who brings good from evil, made Jonah in his fall, punishment, and restoration, a sign (an embodied lesson or living symbol) through which the Ninevites were roused to hear and repent, as they would not have been likely to do, had he gone on the first commission before his living entombment and resurrection. To the Pharisees in Christ's time, who, not content with the many signs exhibited by Him, still demanded a sign from heaven, He gave a sign in the opposite quarter, namely, Jonah, who came "out of the belly of hell" (the unseen region). They looked for a Messiah gloriously coming in the clouds of heaven; the Messiah, on the contrary, is to pass through a like, though a deeper, humiliation than Jonah; He is to lie "in the heart of the earth." Jonah and his Antitype alike appeared low and friendless among their hearers; both victims to death for God's wrath against sin, both preaching repentance. Repentance derives all its efficacy from the death of Christ, just as Jonah's message derived its weight with the Ninevites from his entombment. The Jews stumbled at Christ's death, the very fact which ought to have led them to Him, as Jonah's entombment attracted the Ninevites to his message. As Jonah's restoration gave hope of God's placability to Nineveh, so Christ's resurrection assures us God is fully reconciled to man by Christ's death.

now Nineveh was an exceeding great city - or "a city great to God"; not dear to him, for it was full of wickedness; not great in his esteem, with whom the whole earth is as nothing; but known by him to be what it was; and the name of God is often used of things, to express the superlative nature and greatness of them, as trees of God, mountains of God, the flame of God, Psa_36:7; it was a greater city than Babylon.

Nineveh was an exceeding great city - literally “great to God,” what would not only appear great to man who admires things of no account, but what, being really great, is so in the judgment of God who cannot be deceived. God did account it great, Who says to Jonah, “Should not I spare Nineveh that great city, which hath more than six score thousand that cannot discern between their right hand and their left?”

Of three days’ journey - i. e., 60 miles in circumference. It would take the prophet three days to walk round upon the walls, and announce from them the terrible message. An Eastern would the more naturally think of the circumference of a city, because of the broad places, similar to the boulevards of Paris, which encircles it, so that people could walk around it, within it . It was a great city. Jonah speaks of its greatness, under a name which he would only have used of real greatness.

Jon 3:4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

Yet forty days and Nineveh overthrown - He prophesied an utter overthrow, a turning it upside down. The close of the forty days and the destruction were to be one. The threat is express. But there was a reserve with God, on condition of repentance.

Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown--The commission, given indefinitely at his setting out, assumes now on his arrival a definite form, and that severer than before. It is no longer a cry against the sins of Nineveh, but an announcement of its ruin in forty days. This number is in Scripture associated often with humiliation. It was forty days that Moses, Elijah, and Christ fasted. Forty years elapsed from the beginning of Christ's ministry (the antitype of Jonah's) to the destruction of Jerusalem. The more definite form of the denunciation implies that Nineveh has now almost filled up the measure of her guilt. The change in the form which the Ninevites would hear from Jonah on anxious inquiry into his history, would alarm them the more, as implying the increasing nearness and certainty of their doom, and would at the same time reprove Jonah for his previous guilt in delaying to warn them.

And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey – It implies that as soon as he came to it, he did not go into an inn, to refresh himself after his wearisome journey; or spend his time in gazing upon the city, and to observe its structure, and the curiosities of it; but immediately sets about his work, and proclaims what he was bid to do; and before he could finish one day's journey, he had no need to proceed any further, the whole city was alarmed with his preaching, was terrified with it, and brought to repentance by it:

Jon 3:5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

And the people of Nineveh believed God - strictly, “believed in God.” To “believe in God” expresses more heart-belief, than to “believe God” in itself need convey. To believe God is to believe what God says, to be true; “to believe in” or “on God” expresses not belief only, but that belief resting in God, trusting itself and all its concerns with Him. It combines hope and trust with faith, and love too, since, without love, there cannot be trust. They believed then the preaching of Jonah, and that He, in Whose Name Jonah spake, had all power in heaven and earth. But they believed further in His unknown mercies; they cast themselves upon the goodness of the hitherto “unknown God.”

And proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth - It was not then a repentance in word only, but in deed. A fast was at that time entire abstinence from all food until evening; the haircloth was a harsh garment, irritating and afflictive to the body. They who did so, were (as we may still see from the Assyrian sculptures) men of pampered and luxurious habits, uniting sensuality and fierceness. Yet this they did at once, and as it seems, for the 40 days. They “proclaimed a fast.” They did not wait for the supreme authority. Time was urgent, and they would lose none of it. In this imminent peril of God’s displeasure, they acted as men would in a conflagration. People do not wait for orders to put out a fire, if they can, or to prevent it from spreading. Whoever they were who proclaimed it, whether those in inferior authority, each in his neighborhood, or whether it spread from man to man, as the tidings spread, it was done at once. It seems to have been done by acclamation, as it were, one common cry out of the one common terror. For it is said of them, as one succession of acts, “the men of Nineveh believed in God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth from their great to their little,” every age, sex, condition . “Worthy of admiration is that exceeding celerity and diligence in taking counsel, which, although in the same city with the king, perceived that they must provide for the common and imminent calamity, not waiting to ascertain laboriously the king’s pleasure.” In a city, 60 miles in circumference, some time must needs be lost, before the king could be approached; and we know, in some measure, the forms required in approaching Eastern monarchs of old.

Jon 3:6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.

For word came - The form of words implies that what Jonah relates in this verse took place after what had been mentioned before. When it came to him, he disdained not to follow the example of those below him. He was not jealous of his prerogative, or that his advice had not been had; but, in the common peril, acted as his subjects had, and humbled himself as they did. Yet this king was the king of Nineveh, the king, whose name was dreaded far and wide, whose will none who disputed, prospered . “He who was accounted and was the greatest of the kings of the earth, was not held back by any thought of his own splendor, greatness or dignity, from fleeing as a suppliant to the mercy of God, and inciting others by his example to the same earnesthess.” The kings of Assyria were religious, according to their light. They ascribed all their victories to their god, Asshur . When the king came to hear of One who had a might such as he had not seen, he believed in Him.

And he laid his robe from him - This was the large costly upper garment, so called from its amplitude It is the name of the goodly Babylonian garment Jos_7:21 which Achan coveted. As worn by kings, it was the most magnificent part of their dress, and a special part of their state. Kings were buried as they lived, in splendid apparel; and rich adornments were buried with them. The king of Nineveh dreads no charge of precipitancy nor man’s judgment . “He exchanges purple, gold, gems for the simple rough and sordid sackcloth, and his throne for the most abject ashes, the humblest thing he could do.

Sat in ashes--emblem of the deepest humiliation ( Job_2:8; Eze_27:30).

Jon 3:7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

And he caused it to be proclaimed - literally, “And he cried and said, etc.” The cry or proclamation of the king corresponded with the cry of Jonah. Where the prophet’s cry, calling to repentance, had reached, the proclamation of the king followed, obeying. “By the decree of the king and his nobles.”

Let neither man nor beast – even the animals fasted. Abstinence from all food was enjoined; not only men of every rank and age, but the cattle likewise, horses and camels, they used either for their pleasure or business; their oxen, cows, and calves, of their herd; their sheep, goats, lambs, and kids, of their flocks:

Jon 3:8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

Let man and beast be covered with sackcloth - People think it strange that the horses at Nineveh were covered with sackcloth, and forget how, at the funerals of the rich in the pre-auto age, black horses were chosen and are clothed with black velvet.

and from the violence that is in their hands - the Jewish writers interpret this of making restitution for rapine and violence, which is a genuine fruit of repentance; see Luk_19:8.

Jon 3:8 - And beast - Their horses and camels, both which they adorned with rich and costly clothing, they must now in testimony of an hearty repentance, clothe with sackcloth; the clothing of beasts must witness for men. The violence - Oppression and rapine. In their hands - Which are practised by them.

Jon 3:9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?

Who can tell if God will turn and repent? - The Ninevites use the same form of words, which God suggested by Joel to Judah. Joe_2:14 Who knows if He will turn and have pity and leave a blessing behind Him, a food offering and a drink offering to the LORD your God? Perhaps He would thereby indicate that He had Himself put it into their mouths.

Who can tell if God will turn and repent - There is at least a peradventure for our salvation. God may turn towards us, change his purpose, and save us alive. While there is life there is hope; God has no pleasure in the death of sinners; he is gracious and compassionate. Himself has prescribed repentance; if we repent, and turn to him from our iniquities, who knows then whether God will not turn, etc.

Who can tell if God will turn and repent - They are acting on a vague possibility of God's mercy, without any special ground of encouragement, is the more remarkable instance of faith, as they had to break through long-rooted prejudices in giving up idols to seek Jehovah at all. The only ground which their ready faith rested on, was the fact of God sending one to warn them, instead of destroying them at once; this suggested the thought of a possibility of pardon. Hence they are cited by Christ as about to condemn in the judgment those who, with much greater light and privileges, yet repent not Mat_12:41 The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because they repented at the proclaiming of Jonah, and behold, One greater than Jonah is here.

Jon 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

And God saw their works - They repented, and brought forth fruits meet for repentance. He did not then first see their sackcloth when they covered themselves with it. He had seen them long before He sent the prophet there, while Israel was slaying the prophets who announced to them the captivity which hung over them. He knew certainly, that if He were to send the prophets far off to the Gentiles with such an announcement, they would hear and repent” God saw them, looked upon them, approved them, accepted the Ninevites not for time only, but, as many as persevered, for eternity. It was no common repentance. It was the penitence, which our Lord sets forth as the pattern of true repentance before His coming Mat_12:41. What Scripture chiefly dwells upon, their repentance was not only in profession, in belief, in outward act, but in the fruit of genuine works of repentance, a changed life out of a changed heart. God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way.

And God repented of the evil - This was no real change in God; rather, the object of His threatening was, that He might not do what He threatened. God’s threatenings are conditional, “unless they repent,” as are His promises, “if they endure to the end” Mat_10:22 And you will be hated of all men for My name's sake, but the one who endures to the end shall be kept safe. It is said that He repented, because He changed that which He seemed about to do, to destroy them. In God all things are disposed and fixed, He knew in advance what He would do, that He would spare Nineveh. He is said to repent, on account of the change, not of the counsel, but of the act.

Jonah 2

Jon 2:1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly,

Jonah prayed - The prayer which follows (Jon_2:2-9) is not a petition for deliverance, but thanksgiving and praise for deliverance already received. The word prayed includes thanksgiving, not petition only. It is said of Hannah that she prayed 1Sa_2:1; but her canticle is all one thanksgiving without a single petition. In this thanksgiving Jonah says how his prayers had been heard, but prays no more. God had delivered him from the sea, and be thanks God, secure that God, who had done so much, would fulfill the rest. He called God, “his” God, who had in so many ways shown Himself to be His, by His revelations, by His inspirations, by His chastisements, and now by His mercy. From these words, Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish’s belly,’ we perceive that, after he felt himself safe in the fish’s belly, he despaired not of God’s mercy.”

Jon 2:2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.

Out of the belly of hell cried I. - The deep waters were as a grave, and he was counted “among the dead” Psa 88:4 I am counted with those who go down to the Pit; I am like a feeble man; Death seemed so certain that it was all one as if he were in the womb of hell, not to be reborn to life until the last Day. So David said Psa 30:3 O Jehovah, You have brought up my soul from the grave; You have kept me alive, so that I should not go down to the Pit. Psa 18:5 The sorrows of hell surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me.

Out of the belly of hell - Among the Hebrews sheol means the grave, any deep pit, the place of separate spirits, etc. Here the prophet represents himself as in the bottom of the sea; for so sheol must be understood in this place.

I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord - A time of affliction is a time for prayer; it made Jonah cry to his God; and his cry was powerful and piercing, it reached the heavens, and entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts, though out of the depths, and out of the belly of a fish, in the midst of the sea.

I cried to Jehovah from my distress. And He answered me - The first clause recalls to mind Psa 120:1 A Song of degrees. In my trouble I cried to Jehovah, and He heard me. The expression is a poetical figure used to denote the danger of death, from which there is apparently no escape; like the encompassing with snares of death in Psa 18:5 The sorrows of hell surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me, and the bringing up of the soul out of sheol in Psa 30:3 O Jehovah, You have brought up my soul from the grave; You have kept me alive, so that I should not go down to the Pit.

Jon 2:3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

all thy billows and thy waves passed over me - The sons of Korah had poured out to God in these self-same words the sorrows which oppressed them. The rolling billows and the breakers , which, as they burst upon the rocks, shiver the vessel and crush man, are, he says to God, “Thine,” fulfilling Thy will on me. Psa 42:7 Deep calls to deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and Your billows have gone over me. This could be understood literally; while the fish, in whose belly he was, sought its pleasure or sustenance in the paths of the deep, the waves and billows of the sea were rolling above.

For thou hadst cast me into the deep - Though the mariners did this, yet Jonah ascribes it to the Lord; Jonah recognizes the source whence his sufferings came. It was no mere chance, but the hand of God which sent them.

Jon 2:4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

I am cast out of Thy sight - literally, “from before Thine eyes.” Jonah had willfully withdrawn from standing in God’s presence. Now God had taken him at his word, and, as it seemed, cast him out of it. Psa 31:22 For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before Your eyes; surely You heard the voice of my cries, when I cried to You. He thought he was no longer under the eye of his providence; and that he would no more care for him, but leave him in this forlorn condition, and not deliver him; and especially he concluded that he would no more look upon him with an eye of love, grace, and mercy, pity and compassion: these are the words of one in despair, or near unto it; Now that he has got his desire, he feels it to be his bitterest sorrow to be deprived of God's presence, which once he regarded as a burden, and from which he desired to escape. He had turned his back on God; so God turned His back on him, making his sin his punishment.

Thy holy temple - Jerusalem was not yet destroyed, for the temple was standing. In the confidence of faith he anticipates yet to see the temple at Jerusalem, the appointed place of worship ( 1Ki_8:38), and there to render thanksgiving. However it could refer to Jonah looking upwards and heavenwards; he was looking up to God in his holy temple in heaven; and though he was afraid he would not look down upon him in a way of grace and mercy, he was resolved to look up to God in the way of prayer and supplication; and particularly, for the further encouragement of his faith and hope, he looked to the Messiah, the antitype of the temple, ark, and mercy seat, and for whose sake he might hope his prayers would be heard and answered.

Jon 2:5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

The waters compassed me about even to the soul - Words which to others were figures of distress Psa 69:2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me were to Jonah realities. Sunk in the deep seas, the water strove to penetrate at every opening. To draw breath, which sustains life, to him would have been death. There was but a breath between him and death.

the weed was wrapped around my head - The weed was the well known seaweed, which, even near the surface of the sea where man can struggle, twines round him, a peril even to the strong swimmer, entangling him often the more, the more he struggles to extricate himself from it. But to one below, powerless to struggle, it was as his winding sheet. This may be understood literally also. He found himself in the fish’s stomach, together with sea weeds, and such like marine.

Jon 2:6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God.

I went down to the bottoms of the mountains - (literally “the cuttings of,” the “roots,” the hidden rocks, which the mountains push out, as it were, into the sea, and in which they end. Such hidden rocks extend along the whole length of that coast. These were his dungeon walls; “the earth, her bars,” those long submarine reefs of rock, his prison bars, “were around” him “forever:” the seaweeds were his chains: and, even thus, when things were at their uttermost, “Thou hast brought up my life from corruption,” to which his body would have fallen a prey, had not God sent the fish to deliver him.

The earth with her bars - He represents himself as a prisoner in a dungeon, closed in with bars which he could not remove, and which at first appeared to be for ever, the place where his life must terminate. The earth with its cliffs and rocks on the seashore, which are as bars to the sea, that it cannot overflow it; these were such bars to Jonah, that could he have got clear of the fish's belly, and attempted to swim to shore, he could never get to it, or over these bars, the rocks and cliffs, which were so steep and high:

yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption - Or the pit, a description of the state of the dead. Herein likewise he was a type of Christ, who, though laid in the grave, was not left there so long as to see corruption, Psa 16:10 For You will not leave My soul in hell; You will not allow Your Holy One to see corruption. Hezekiah seems to have incorporated Jonah's very words in his just as Jonah appropriated the language of the Psalms. Isa 38:17 Behold, I had great bitterness for peace; but You loved my soul from the pit of destruction. You have cast all my sins behind Your back.

Jon 2:7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

When my sold fainted - literally “was covered, within me,” he was dizzied, overwhelmed. Covered with grief; overwhelmed with sorrow; ready to faint and sink at the sight of his sins; and under a sense of the wrath and displeasure of God, and being forsaken by him: The word is used of actual faintness from heat, Jon 4:8 And it happened when the sun shone, God ordained a scorching east wind. And the sun beat on the head of Jonah, so that he fainted. And he asked for his life to die. And he said, Better is my death than my life thirst, Amos 8:13 In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst exhaustion, Isa 51:20 Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the street like a wild antelope in a net, filled with the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of your God.

And my prayer came in unto Thee - No sooner had he so prayed, than God heard. Jonah had thought himself cast out of His sight; but his prayer entered in there. Here prayer is personified, and is represented as a messenger going from the distressed, and entering into the temple of God, and standing before him.

into thine holy temple--into heaven itself, the habitation of God's holiness, the temple where he dwells, and is worshipped by holy angels and glorified saints; the prayer the prophet put up in the fish's belly, encouraged to it by remembering the mercy and goodness of God, ascended from thence, and reached the ears of the Lord of hosts in the highest heavens, and met with a kind reception, and had a gracious answer; Psa 3:4 I cried to Jehovah with my voice, and He heard me out of His holy hill. Selah.

I remembered the Lord - his covenant and promises, his former mercies and loving kindness, the gracious experiences he had had of these in times past; he remembered he was a God gracious and merciful, and ready to forgive, healed the backslidings of his people, and still loved them freely, and tenderly received and embraced them, when they returned to him:

Jon 2:8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

They that observe lying vanities - They that trust in idols, follow vain predictions, permit themselves to be influenced with foolish fears, so as to induce them to leave the path of obvious duty, forsake their own mercy. In leaving that God who is the Fountain of mercy, they abandon that measure of mercy which he had treasured up for them.

forsake their own mercy - God, who would be mercy to them, if they would. Abraham’s servant praises God, that He “hath not forsaken His mercy” Gen 24:27 And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of my master Abraham, who has not left my master destitute of His mercy and His truth. Jehovah led me, I being in the way to the house of my master's brothers. Psa 59:17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy. In order to express the thought emphatically, that salvation and deliverance are only to be hoped for from Jehovah the living God, Jonah points to the idolaters, who forfeit their mercy.

Jon 2:9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.

I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving - Without a further miracle of God, he could do nothing. But he says, that he would nevermore forsake God. The law appointed sacrifices of thanksgiving; Lev_7:12-15. These he would offer, not in act only, but with words of praise. He would “pay what he had vowed,” and chiefly himself, his life which God had given back to him, the obedience of his remaining life, in all things.

Salvation is of the Lord - It is wholly His; all belongs to Him, so that none can share in bestowing it; none can have any hope, save from Him. He uses an intensive form, as though he would say, strong “mighty salvation”. God seems often to wait for the full resignation of the soul, all its powers and will to Him. Then He can show mercy healthfully, when the soul is wholly surrendered to Him. So, on this full confession, Jonah is restored.

Salvation is of the Lord - All deliverance from danger, preservation of life, recovery from sickness, and redemption of the soul from the power, guilt, and pollution of sin, is from Jehovah. He alone is the Savior, he alone is the Deliverer; for all salvation is from the Lord.

salvation is of the Lord - There is one letter more in the word rendered "salvation" than usual, which increases the sense; and denotes, that all kind of salvation is of the Lord, temporal, spiritual, and eternal; not only this salvation from the devouring waves of the sea, and from the grave of the fish's belly, was of the Lord; but his deliverance from the terrors of the Lord, and the sense he had of his wrath, and the peace and pardon he now partook of, were from the Lord, as well as eternal salvation in the world to come, and the hope of it.

that which I have vowed - The prophet’s prayer ends almost in promising the same as the mariners. They made vows; Jonah says, I will pay that I have vowed.

I will pay that I vowed - when he was in distress; as that he would sacrifice after the above manner, or behave in a better manner for the future than he had done; and particularly would go to Nineveh, if the Lord thought fit to send him again:

But I will sacrifice unto thee - I will make a sincere vow, which, as soon as my circumstances will permit, I will faithfully execute; and therefore he adds, I will pay that which I have vowed.

I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving - Not only offer up a legal sacrifice in a ceremonial way, when he came to Jerusalem; but along with it the spiritual sacrifice of praise, which he knew was more acceptable unto God; and thus Christ, his antitype, upon his deliverance from his enemies, Psa 22:22 I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise You.

I will sacrifice - In the believing anticipation of sure deliverance, he offers thanksgivings already. So Jehoshaphat ( 2Ch_20:21) appointed singers to praise the Lord in front of the army before the battle with Moab and Ammon, as if the victory was already gained. God honors such confidence in Him.

Jon 2:10 And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

And the Lord spake unto the fish - God commanded the fish. He laid His will upon it, and the fish immediately obeyed; a pattern to the prophet when He released him.

Jonah 1

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

Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah - All that is certainly known about this prophet has already been laid before the reader. He was of Gath-hepher, in the tribe of Zebulun, in lower Galilee; and he prophesied in the reigns of Jeroboam the Second, and Joash, kings of Israel. Jeroboam came to the throne eight hundred and twenty-three years before the Christian era, and reigned in Samaria forty-one years, 2Ki_14:23-25. As a prophet, it is likely that he had but this one mission.

Now the word of the Lord - literally, “And the word of the Lord.” This was the standing formula with which historical events were linked on to one another, inasmuch as every occurrence follows another in chronological sequence. It joins the four first books of Moses together; it carries on the history through Joshua, Judges, the Books of Samuel and of the Kings. After the captivity, Ezra and Nehemiah begin again where the histories before left off; the break of the captivity is bridged over; and Ezra, going back in mind to the history of God’s people before the captivity, resumes the history, as if it had been of yesterday, “And in the first year of Cyrus.” It joins in the story of the Book of Ruth before the captivity, and that of Esther afterward. At times, even prophets employ it, in using the narrative form of themselves, as Ezekiel, “and it was in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, and I was in the captivity by the river of Chebar, the heavens opened and I saw.” And yet more precisely; this form, “and the word of the Lord came to - saying,” occurs over and over again, stringing together the pearls of great price of God’s 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 God’s works and words, and blending the books of Holy Scripture into one divine book.

Jonah the son of Amittai - Both names occur here only in the Old Testament, Jonah signifies “Dove,” Amittai, “the truth of God.” Who his father Amittai was is not known: if the rule of the Jews would hold good, that when a prophet mentions his own name, and the name of his father, he is a prophet, the son of a prophet, then Amittai was one; but this is not to be depended on.

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

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city - Just before the time of Jonah, perhaps ending in it, were the victorious reigns of Shalmanubar and Shamasiva; after him was that of Ivalush or Pul, the first aggressor upon Israel. It is clear that this was a time Of Assyrian greatness: since God calls it “that great city,” not in relation to its extent only, but its power

Go to Nineveh - This was the capital of the Assyrian empire, and one of the most ancient cities of the world, Gen_10:11 Out of that land he went forth to Assyria. And he built Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah; and one of the largest, as it was three days’ journey in circumference.

Their wickedness is come up before Me - So God said to Cain, Gen_4:10 And He said, What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries to Me from the ground and of Sodom Gen_18:20-21 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which has come to Me. And if not, I will know. The “wickedness” is not the mere mass of human sin, of which it is said 1Jo_5:19 We know that we are of God, and all the world lies in evil but evil-doing toward others. This was the cause of the final sentence on Nineveh, with which Nahum closes his prophecy Nahum 3:19 There is no healing of your fracture; your wound is grievous; all who hear the news of you shall clap the hands over you; for upon whom has your wickedness not passed continually? It bad been assigned as the ground of the judgment on Israel through Nineveh Hos_10:14-15 And an uproar shall arise among your peoples, and all your fortresses shall be spoiled, as the ruin of Beth-arbel by Shalman in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces on her sons. So He does to you, Bethel, because of your great evil. In a morning the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off. It was the ground of the destruction by the flood Gen_6:5 And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. God represents Himself, the Great Judge, as sitting on His Throne in heaven, Unseen but All-seeing, to whom the wickedness and oppressiveness of man against man “goes up,” appealing for His sentence against the oppressor. The cause seems ofttimes long in pleading. God is long-suffering with the oppressor too, that if so be, he may repent. So would a greater good come to the oppressed also, if the wolf became a lamb. But meanwhile, “ every iniquity has its own voice at the hidden judgment seat of God.” Mercy itself calls for vengeance on the unmerciful.

and cry against it - or prophesy against it; he was to lift up his voice, and cry aloud, as he passed along in it, that the inhabitants might hear him; The only case of a prophet being sent to the heathen. Jonah, however, is sent to Nineveh, not solely for Nineveh's good, but also to shame Israel, by the fact of a heathen city repenting at the first preaching of a single stranger, Jonah, whereas God's people will not repent, though preached to by their many national prophets, late and early.

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.

But Jonah rose up to flee - from the presence of the Lord - literally “from being before the Lord.” Jonah fled, not from God’s presence, but from standing before him, as His servant and minister. He refused God’s service, because, as he himself tells God afterward Jon_4:2, he knew what it would end in, and he didn’t like it. So he acted, as people often do, who dislike God’s commands. He set about removing himself as far as possible from being under the influence of God, and from the place where he “could” fulfill them. God commanded him to go to Nineveh, which lay northeast from his home; and he instantly set himself to flee to the then furthermost west. Holy Scripture sets the rebellion before us in its full nakedness. “The word of the Lord came unto Jonah, go to Nineveh, and Jonah rose up;” he did something instantly, as the consequence of God’s command. He “rose up,” not as other prophets, to obey, but to disobey; and that, not slowly nor irresolutely, but “to flee, from” standing “before the Lord.” He renounced his office.

To flee unto Tarshish - Some say Tartessus, in Spain, near the straits of Gibraltar, others, Tarsus, in Cilicia.

from the presence of the Lord - Jonah's motive for flight is hinted at in Jon_4:2 : fear that after venturing on such a dangerous commission to so powerful a heathen city, his prophetical threats should be set aside by God's "repenting of the evil," just as God had so long spared Israel notwithstanding so many provocations, and so he should seem a false prophet. Besides, he may have felt it beneath him to discharge a commission to a foreign idolatrous nation, whose destruction he desired rather than their repentance. This is the only case of a prophet, charged with a prophetical message, concealing it.

from the presence of the Lord - The motive for this 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 co-operate 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.

Tarshish - named after one of the sons of Javan, Gen_10:4 And the sons of Javan: Elishah and Tarshish and Kittim and Dodanim was an ancient merchant city, once proverbial for its wealth Psa_72:10 The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts which supplied Judaea with silver Jer_10:9 Silver beaten into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the goldsmith. Violet and purple is their clothing; they are all the work of skillful ones. Eze_27:12 Tarshish was your merchant because of the multitude of your wealth; with silver, iron, tin, and lead, they gave for your wares. Eze_27:25 The ships of Tarshish were the travelers of your goods. And you were filled and made very glorious in the heart of the seas. It was known to the Greeks and Romans, as Tartessus; but in our first century, it had either ceased to be, or was known under some other name. The breaking of ships of Tarshish in Psa_48:7 You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind; is, on account of their size and general safety, instanced as a special token of the interposition of God.

And went down to Joppa - Joppa, now Jaffa (Haifa), was the one well-known port of Israel on the Mediterranean. There the cedars were brought from Lebanon for both the first and second temple. To this port Jonah “went down” from his native country, the mountain district of Zabulon. Perhaps it was not at this time in the hands of Israel. At least, the sailors were pagan. He “went down,” as the man who fell among the thieves, is said to “have gone down from Jerusalem to Jericho.” Luk_10:30. He “went down” from the place which God honored by His presence and protection.

and went down to Joppa - a seaport town in the tribe of Dan, upon the Mediterranean sea, where was a haven of ships, formerly called Japho, Jos_19:46; at this time Joppa, as it was in the times of the apostles: here Peter raised Dorcas to life, and from hence he was sent for by Cornelius, Act_9:36 And in Joppa was a certain disciple named Tabitha (which translated is called Dorcas). She was full of good works and kind deeds which she did.

And he found a ship - The Phoenicians carried on a considerable trade with Tartessus, Eze_27:12; and it was probably in one of their ships that Jonah embarked.

And he paid the fare thereof - Jonah describes circumstantially, how he took every step to his end. He went down, found a strongly built ship going where he wished, paid his fare, embarked. He seemed now to have done all. He had severed himself from the country where his office lay. He had no further step to take. Winds and waves would do the rest. He had but to be still.

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.

But the Lord sent out - (literally ‘cast along’). Jonah had done his all. Now God’s part began. Jonah took “his” measures, “and” now God takes “His.” He had let him have his way, as He often deals with those who rebel against Him. He lets them have their way up to a certain point. He waits, in the tranquility of His Almightiness, until they have completed their preparations; and then, when man has ended, He begins, that man may see the more that it is His doing.

The ship was like - (literally ‘thought’) To be broken. They had nearly suffered shipwreck. Jonah ascribes, as it were, to the ship a sense of its own danger, as she heaved and rolled and creaked and quivered under the weight of the storm which lay on her, and her masts groaned, and her yard-arms shivered

A great wind - They were overtaken with a storm, which came by the immediate direction of God. Winds are at the command of God. Remember how Jesus calmed the storm at sea. This wind was an extraordinary one, like that "laelaps" or storm of wind which came down into the sea when the disciples of Christ were on it in a ship Luke 8:23-24 But as they sailed, He fell asleep. And a storm of wind came onto the lake. And they were being filled with water and were in jeopardy. And they came to Him and awakened Him, saying, Master, Master, we are perishing! Then being aroused, He rebuked the wind and the raging of the water. And they ceased, and there was a calm; or like the "Euroclydon", in which the Apostle Paul was, Act_27:14 But not long after, a stormy wind called Euroclydon beat down on it.

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.

Cried every man unto his god - The ship’s crew were all heathens; and, it is probable, heathens who had each a different object of religious worship. In the ship it seems were men of different nations, and who worshipped different gods. The idols proved unable to save them, though each, according to Phœnician custom, called on his tutelary god. .

Cast forth the wares - Threw the lading overboard to lighten the ship, hoping the better to ride out the storm.

To lighten it of them - literally “to lighten from against them, to lighten” what was so much “against them,” what so oppressed them. They thought that the ship was weighed down by its wonted lading, and they knew not that the whole weight was that of the fugitive prophet. The sailors cast forth their wares, but the ship was not lightened. For the whole weight still remained, the body of the prophet, that heavy burden, not from the nature of the body, but from the burden of sin. For nothing is so onerous and heavy as sin and disobedience. Whence also Zechariah Zec_5:6-7 And I said, "What is it?" He said, "This is the basket that is going out." And he said, "This is their iniquity in all the land." And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket represented it under the image of lead. And David, describing its nature, said Psa 38:4 For my iniquities have gone over my head; like a heavy burden, they are too heavy for me. And Christ cried aloud to those who lived in many sins, Mat 11:28 Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Jonah was gone down - Most probably into the hold or cabin under the deck; or where they had berths for passengers in the sides of the ship, something in the manner of our packets.

Then the mariners were afraid - Perceiving that the storm was not an ordinary, but a supernatural one; and that the ship and all in it were in extreme danger, and no probability of being saved. This shows that the storm must be very violent, to frighten such men who were used to the sea, and to storms, and were naturally bold and intrepid. The word used signifies "salters", so called from the salt sea they used, as they are by us "mariners", from "mare", the "sea"; though one scholar thinks the commodity they carried in their vessel was salt:

into the sides--that is, the interior recesses.

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.

What meanest thou - or rather, “what aileth thee?” (literally “what is to thee?”) The shipmaster speaks of it (as it was) as a sort of disease, that he should be thus asleep in the common peril. This is not a time to sleep, when the ship is like to be broke to pieces, all lives lost, and thine own too: thus the prophet, who was sent to rebuke the greatest monarch in the world, is himself rebuked by a shipmaster, and a Heathen man.

Arise, call upon thy God - He supposed that Jonah had his god, as well as they had theirs; and that, as the danger was imminent, every man should use the influence he had, as they were all equally involved in it.

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.

Come, and let us cast lots - This was a very ancient mode of endeavoring to find out the mind of Divine Providence; and in this case it proves that they supposed the storm to have arisen on account of some hidden crime of some person aboard. Jonah too had probably prayed, and his prayers too were not heard. Possibly the storm had some unusual character about it, the suddenness with which it burst upon them, its violence, the quarter from where it came, its whirlwind force . God sometimes sanctioned this mode of deciding in difficult cases. Compare the similar instance of Achan, whose guilt involved Israel in suffering, until God revealed the offender, probably by the casting of lots ( Pro_16:33; Act_1:26).

The lot fell upon Jonah - In this case God directed the lot.

Jon 1:8 Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?

Tell us, for whose cause - Literally “for what to whom.” A very gentle method of bringing the charge home to himself, and the several questions here asked gave the utmost latitude to make the best of his own case. The lot had pointed him out. The mariners, still fearing to do wrong, ask him thronged questions, to know why the anger of God followed him; “what” hast thou done “to whom?” “what thine occupation?” i. e., either his ordinary occupation, whether it was displeasing to God? or this particular business in which he was engaged, and for which he had come on board. They did not fall upon him at once in an outrageous manner, and throw him overboard; as it might be thought such men would have done, considering what they had suffered and lost by means of him; but they use him with great respect, tenderness, and lenity: and entreat him to tell them

Jon 1:9 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.

I am an 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. So Joseph spoke of his land Gen_40:15, and the Hebrew midwives Exo_1:19, and Moses’ sister Exo_2:7, and God in His commission to Moses Exo_3:18; Exo_7:16; Exo_9:1 as to Pharaoh, and Moses in fulfilling it Exo_5:3. They had the name, as having passed the River Euphrates, “emigrants.” The title might serve to remind themselves, that they were “strangers” and “pilgrims,” Heb_11:13. whose fathers had left their home at God’s command and for God , “passers by, through this world to death, and through death to immortality.”

I fear the Lord - In this Jonah was faithful. He gave an honest testimony concerning the God he served, which placed him before the eyes of the sailors as infinitely higher than the objects of their adoration; for the God of Jonah was the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land, and governed both. He also honestly told them that he was fleeing from the presence of this God, whose honorable call he had refused to obey.

I fear the Lord--in profession: his practice belied his profession: his profession aggravated his guilt. Jonah at last is awakened by the violent remedy from his lethargy. Jonah was but the reflection of Israel's backsliding from God, and so must bear the righteous punishment. The guilt of the minister is the result of that of the people, as in Moses' case ( Deu_4:21). This is what makes Jonah a suitable type of Messiah, who bore the imputed sin of the people.

I fear the Lord--By the statement, “I fear,” etc., he had no intention of describing himself as a righteous or innocent man, 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.

Jon 1:10 Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

Then were the men exceedingly afraid - Before, they had feared the tempest and the loss of their lives. Now they feared God. They feared, not the creature but the Creator. They knew that what they had feared was the doing of His Almightiness.

Why hast thou done this? - They are words of amazement and wonder. They wonder he should act such a foolish part as to flee from such a God.

Jon 1:11 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.

What shall we do unto thee? - They knew him to be a prophet; they ask him the mind of his God. The lots had marked out Jonah as the cause of the storm; Jonah had himself admitted it, and that the storm was for “his” cause, and came from “his” God. Though, both by the lot and his own confession, they knew he was the guilty person; for whose sake this storm was; yet were unwilling to do anything to him without his will and consent, his counsel and advice; perceiving that he was a prophet of the God of the Hebrews, whom he had offended, and knew the mind and will of his God.

The sea wrought and was tempestuous - literally “was going and whirling.”

Jon 1:12 And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.

For I know that for my sake - In that he says, “I know,” he marks that he had a revelation;

cast me forth into the sea - as a prophet, knowing this to be the mind and will of God, he cheerfully and in faith submits to it, with a presence of mind and courage suitable to his character. It was not fit he should leap into the sea and destroy himself; but that he should die by the hand of justice, of which the shipmaster and the ship's crew were the proper executioners:

cast me forth into the sea - In this Jonah was a type of Christ, who willingly gave himself to suffer and die, that he might appease divine wrath, satisfy justice, and save men; only with this difference, Jonah suffered for his own sins, Christ for the sins of others; Jonah to endured a storm he himself had raised by his sins, Christ to endure a storm others had raised by their sins.

cast me forth into the sea - Herein Jonah is a type of Messiah, the one man who offered Himself to die, in order to allay the stormy flood of God's wrath (as to Messiah Psa_69:1-2 To the Chief Musician. Concerning the Lilies. A Psalm of David. Save me, O God! for the waters have come in on my soul. I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me), which otherwise must have engulfed all other men. So Caiaphas by the Spirit declared it expedient that one man should die, and that the whole nation should not perish Joh_11:49-52 And one of them, Caiaphas, being the high priest of that year, said to them, You do not know anything at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation perish. And he did not speak this of himself, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation; and not for that nation only, but also that He should gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad.

Jon 1:13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.

The men rowed hard - literally “dug.” Amid the violence of the storm, they had furled their sails. These were worse than useless. The wind was off shore. They put their oars well and firmly in the sea, and turned up the water, as men turn up earth by digging. The prophet had pronounced sentence against himself, but they would not lay hands upon him, striving hard to get back to land, and escape the risk of bloodshed, willing to lose life rather than cause its loss.

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.

Wherefore they cried unto the Lord - They cried no more each man to his god but to the one God, whom Jonah had made known to them; and to Him they cried.

lay not upon us innocent blood - They seem to have known what is said, Gen_9:5-6 and surely the blood of your lives will I require. At the hand of every animal will I require it, and at the hand of man. At the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood, his blood shall be shed by man; for He made man in the image of God. Consider the confession of Pilate, who washed his hands, and said, ‘I am clean from the blood of this Man.’ Matthew 27:24-25 But when Pilate saw that it gained nothing, but rather that a tumult was made, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person. You see to it. Then all the people answered and said, Let His blood be on us and on our children. But whereas Jonah the victim was guilty and the sailors innocent, Christ our sacrificial victim was innocent and Pontius Pilate and all of us were guilty.

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

The sea ceased from its raging - literally “stood” Ordinarily, the waves still swell, when the wind has ceased. The sea, when it had received Jonah, was hushed at once, to show that God alone raised and quelled it. It “stood” still, like a servant, when it had accomplished its mission. Mat_8:26, And He said to them, Why are you afraid, little-faiths? Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.

So they took up, Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea - They took him out of the hold or cabin where he was, and brought him upon deck; they took him, not against his will, but with his full consent, and according to the direction and advice he gave them:

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

Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly - This was not a natural fear, as before, but a religious one; and not a servile fear, or a fear of punishment, but a reverential godly fear; for they feared him, not only because they saw his power in raising and stilling the tempest, but his goodness to them in saving them:

Feared the Lord - Perhaps as Jonah's casting overboard was a type of Christ's death, so the effect it had upon the mariners might be a type of the conversion of the Heathen from idols unto God.

Jon 1:17 Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Now the Lord had prepared a great fish - of the ordering and disposition of it by the providence of God to be near the ship, and its mouth open to receive Jonah, as soon as he was cast forth from thence. Jonah was not swallowed at once, but sank to the bottom of the sea, God preserving him in life there by miracle, as he did in the fish’s belly. Then, when the seaweed was twined around his head, and he seemed to be already buried until the sea should give up her dead, God prepared the fish to swallow Jonah. God could as easily have kept Jonah alive in the sea as in the fish’s belly, but, in order to prefigure the burial of the Lord, He willed him to be within the fish whose belly was as a grave. Jonah, does not say what fish it was; and our Lord too used a name, signifying only one of the very largest fish.

And Jonah was in the belly of the fish - The time that Jonah was in the fish’s belly was a hidden prophecy. Jonah does not explain nor point it. He tells the fact, as Scripture is accustomed to do so. Then he singles out one, the turning point in it. Doubtless in those three days and nights of darkness, Jonah (like him who after his conversion became Paul), meditated much, repented much, sorrowed much, for the love of God, that he had ever offended God, purposed future obedience, adored God with wondering awe for His judgment and mercy. It was a narrow home, in which Jonah, by miracle, was not consumed; by miracle, breathed; by miracle, retained his senses in that fetid place. Jonah doubtless, repented, marveled, adored, loved God. But, of all, God has singled out this one point, how, out of such a place, Jonah thanked God. As He delivered Paul and Silas from the prison, when they prayed with a loud voice to Him, so when Jonah, by inspiration of His Spirit, thanked Him, He delivered him.

To thank God, only in order to obtain fresh gifts from Him, would be but a refined, hypocritical form of selfishness. Such a formal act would not be thanks at all. We thank God, because we love Him, because He is so infinitely good, and so good to us, unworthy. But Jonah’s was that special character of thankfulness, which thanks God in the midst of calamities from which there was no human exit; and God set His seal on this sort of thankfulness, by annexing this deliverance, which has consecrated Jonah as an image of our Lord, to his wonderful act of thanksgiving.

three days and three nights - That days and nights do not appear to signify complete days and nights of twenty-four hours among the Hebrews, see Est 4:16 Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me, and do not eat nor drink three days, night or day. My maidservants and I will also fast in the same way. And so I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law. And if I perish, I perish. compared with Est 5:1 And it happened on the third day, Esther put on royal clothing, and stood in the inner court of the king's house, across from the king's house. And the king sat on his royal throne in the royal house, across from the gate of the house. Jdg 14:17 And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted. And on the seventh day, he told her, because she pressed hard upon him. And she told the riddle to the sons of her people.

and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights - to this the antitype answers; namely, our Lord's being so long in the grave; of whose death, burial, and resurrection, this was a type, as appears from Mat 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the huge fish, so the Son of Man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth; for which reason Jonah was so miraculously preserved. A sign or miracle it is expressly called by our Lord in Mat 12:39 But He answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. And there shall be no sign given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. The miraculous interposition was not without a sufficient reason; it was calculated to affect not only Jonah, but also Nineveh and Israel. The infinite resources of God in mercy as well as judgment are prefigured in the devourer being transformed into Jonah's preserver. Jonah's condition under punishment, shut out from the outer world, was rendered as much as possible the emblem of death, a present type to Nineveh and Israel, of the death in sin, as his deliverance was of the spiritual resurrection on repentance; as also, a future type of Jesus' literal death for sin, and resurrection by the Spirit of God.

three days and three nights - The three days and three nights are not to be regarded as fully three times twenty four hours, but are to be interpreted according to Hebrew usage, as signifying that Jonah was vomited up again on the third day after he had been swallowed.