THE BOOK OF

JONAH.

CHAPTER I.

1 Now the word of Jehovah came unto Jonah the 2 son of Amittai, saying; Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against her: for their wickedness is come up before me.

3

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

1. Jonah] He was of Gath-hepher in the tribe of Zebulon, a part of Lower Galilee. Josh. xix. 13. He prophesied in the reign of Jeroboam the Second, king of Israel; who began to reign 823 years before Christ, and reigned in Samaria 41 years. See 2 Kings xiv. 23---25.

2. Nineveh] The capital of the Assyrian empire. See the notes c. iii. 3. iv. 11: and on Nahum; c. i. 1. iii. 18. ---cry] Proclaim as a Propbet.

-against her] Or, concerning her. Noldius, §. 10. ---for their wickedness] Or, that their wickedness, &c. Nold §. 20.

3. to flee] Jonah might consider this mission as an uncommon, unprofitable, and dangerous one. He certainly thought that his veracity as a prophet would be affected by God's merciful change of purpose. c. iv. 2. This and other parts of his conduct deserve censure. But men endued with extraordinary gifts of the Spirit, and made the instruments of declaring God's will to mankind, have occasionally been subject to great human infirmities, and have even contracted great guilt. See Kings xiii. 18, 20. Matth. vii. 22. Acts xv. 39. 1 Cor. xii. 2. Gal. ii. 11.

Tarshish] Bochart says that there were two places of this name: one, Tartessus in Spain, which Stephanus de Urbibus places near the pillars of Hercules; the other in the Indian

A

X

4

And Jehovah sent forth a great wind upon the 5 sea; and there was a great tempest in the sea: and it was thought that the ship would be broken in pieces. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his God. And they cast forth the things which were in the ship into the sea, to be lightened of them.

But Jonah was gone down to the sides of the 6 hold; and lay, and was in a sound sleep. And the ship-master came near unto him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call unto thy God: perhaps God will think upon us, that we perish not.

7

And they said one § to another, Come and let us cast lots; that we may know for whose cause this 8 evil hath happened unto us. And they cast lots; and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for what cause this evil hath happened unto us. What is thy business? and

* Hebr. cast forth.

+was thought to be broken

What to thee.

§ every man to his neighbour. ocean, near Ophir or Taprobana, which island is usually thought to be the modern Ceylon. To this latter men sailed from Eziongeber on the Red Sea. 2 Chron. xx. 36, 36. Geogr. l. iii. c. vii. p. 171. ed. Lugd. Bat. fol. 1707. Cocceius and Taylor (see ww in each) think that Tarshish may denote a distant country, whether to the east or to the west; like our Indies. Some derive it from n to view, and www to delight: and thus it may signify a country abounding with desirable productions.X

4. thought] Houbigant supposes, that the original word should be written at length, an: putabatur fractum iri.

5. ---to be lightened] So Houbigant: : and V. ó. render the word passively.

---of the hold] The covered part of the ship.

6. ship-master] The Hebrew may be rendered, "the chief man, even the pilot:" or, "the chief of the crew:" which latter is the rendering of Syr. and Chald.

8. for what cause] is most naturally understood of things, Gen. xxxiii. 8. Judg. xiii. 17. 1 Sam. xviii. 18. Mic. i. 5. See Nold. §. 5. note. See also Buxtorf's thes. gramm. p.

392.

It is far more probable that Jaishish here shotle of is the same with Farhus a city of Cilicia in asia minor_

whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of 9 what people art thou? And he said unto them, I

am an Hebrew; and I fear Jehovah the God of hea10 ven, who made the sea and the dry land. 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 Jehovah: for he 11 had told them. And they said unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be † calm unto us? for the sea grew more and more tempes12 tuous. And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; and the sea *shall be calm unto you: for I know that because of me this 13 great tempest is upon you. Nevertheless the men

Hebr. feared with great fear. * was flying. + may rest from upon us.
went and was tempestuous. § shall rest from upon you.

---comest thou] In the original the verb is future: which tense has often the force of the present.

יהוה contracted for ,עבר " because they read

9. ---an Hebrew] ó. Arab. render "a servant of Jehovah:" See Lud. Cappell. comm. p. 19. fol. Amst. and Dr. Kennicott's dissert. gen. § 25, subjoined to his Hebrew bible.

10. fled] peywy. 6. and 13 MSS. and one printed edition, in Dr. Kennicott's bible, read

.

11. What shall we do] Moerlius quotes the following passage from Orpheus's Argonautics.

Πολλά δε μερμηρίζον ενι φρεσι πευκαλίμησι,

Η μεν αποφθίσωσι, και ιχθυσι κυρμα βαλωσι

Αινολιχη Μηδείαν, αποτρέψωσι δ' Εριννυν.

And much they doubted in their prudent minds,
Whether to kill, and cast a prey to fishes,

Wretched Medea, and avert their fate.

v. 1168.

---grew more and more tempestuous] That this is the true rendering, see Taylor's conc. root 450; n. 27, 32. The Syriac version makes the words part of the address to Jonah : quoniam mare ecce it et turbat se contra nos: for the sea groweth more and more tempestuous." Many MSS. and some editions, ascer

וסוער tain the participial form by reading

12. cast me forth] Many MSS. and some ed. read m; and v. 15, n. The points have often excluded the formative letters; which ought to be restored in a correct edition of the

text.

rowed hard to bring back the ship unto the dry land: but they could not; for the sea grew more 14 and more tempestuous upon them. And they cried unto Jehovah, and said; We beseech thee O Jehovah, let us not perish, we pray thee, for the life of this man; and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O. Jehovah, hast done as it hath pleased 15 thee. And they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into 16 the sea: and the sea ceased from its raging. And the men feared Jehovah † greatly; and offered a sacrifice unto Jehovah, and § made yows..

17.

Now Jehovah prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah: and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

§ Hebr. digged. | went and was tempestuous.

sacrificed.

§ vowed.

*stood. † with great fear. bowels.

13. rowed hard] The word signifies literally to dig.. Vulg. and Chald. agree with our English translators in understanding it metaphorically of rowing. But 6. Arab. Syr. render it, endeavoured, strove.

---to bring back] Arab. adds the pronoun it, with our version. 14. We beseech thee] Here, and c. iv. 2, many MSS.

.אנא read

---innocent blood] Punish us not as murtherers of an innocent man: for we judge from the whole transaction that we are conforming ourselves to thy will.

15. raging] Nec horret iratum mare. Hor.

17. ---a great fish] We have but an imperfect acquaintance with the natural history of fishes. However, it is a well attested fact, that sharks grow to a size capable of swallowing and containing a man. See Boch. Hieroz. p. ii. 743.

The miracle of preserving Jonah served to spread the knowledge of Jehovah. The whole transaction had this tendency: ci. 16: and it also taught Jonah, and in him the whole prophetical order, God's power and determination to enforce his commands. It is probable that Jonah was the most ancient of those whom the Jews call the later prophets; a constant succession of whom seems to have been sent from the time of Jonah, that they might solemnly admonish the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, while their destruction by the Assyrians and Babylonians impended over them.

CHAP. II.

THEN Jonah prayed unto Jehovah his God from the belly of the fish, and said:

1

2

I called by reason of my distress

Unto Jehovah, and he hath heard me:

Hebr. bowels

---three days and three nights] This would be true, if understood of one complete day, and a small part of two other days.

The precise time was thus determined, to prefigure the period of our Lord's continuance in the grave. Matth. xii. 40. As Christ was the end of the law, Rom. x. 4. those who understand the genius of the eastern nations will easily admit that some actions and events under the Mosaic dispensation might be purposely modified to foreshadow parts of the Messiah's history.

CHAP. II.

1. This prayer hath much more, the appearance of a thanksgiving after a deliverance; and indeed could scarce be used before, whatever change be made in the tenses; unless we suppose it prophetical of the deliverance. Had it not been inserted in the history, many things in it would have been understood metaphorically, as in the Psalms. It seems very strange, that Jonah's sin should never be mentioned, or hinted at, in it. Secker.

"Upon reading this period, I expected to find the prayer, which Jonah had used, when he was in the fish's belly. But to my great disappointment I found it to be his thanksgiving after the fish had cast him up. How was this to be accounted for? Why, upon examination it appeared, that the period which is now the tenth was originally the second. I have restored it to its proper place, and with it propriety and sense. A transcriber ages ago omitted it: and when he found out the omission, be wrote it at the end of the thanksgiving, with a reference, no doubt, to the place, where it had been omitted, and ought to be inserted. The next transcriber, not observing the reference, let it keep its place at the end of the thanksgiving. And there it has continued from that day to this. Let the reader learn from hence, when he meets with incoherence or absurdity in Scripture, not to impute it to the inspired Writer, but to the careless transcriber. In my translation of the Psalms, several of these transpositions are noted." Green.

2. ---and he hath heard me] He thanks God that, in consequence of his prayer, his life is wonderfully preserved.