Jonah 1

Jon 1:1-17.

JONAH'S

COMMISSION TO

NINEVEH,

FLIGHT,

PUNISHMENT, AND

PRESERVATION BY

MIRACLE.

1. Jonah--meaning in Hebrew, "dove." Compare

Ge 8:8, 9,

where the dove in vain seeks rest after flying from Noah and the ark:

so Jonah. GROTIUS not so well explains it, "one

sprung from Greece" or Ionia, where there were prophets called

Amythaonidæ.

Amittai--Hebrew for "truth," "truth-telling"; appropriate to a

prophet.

2. to Nineveh--east of the Tigris, opposite the modern Mosul. 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. Nineveh means "the

residence of Ninus," that is, Nimrod.

Ge 10:11,

where the translation ought to be, "He (Nimrod) went forth

into Assyria and builded Nineveh." Modern research into the

cuneiform inscriptions confirms the Scripture account that Babylon was

founded earlier than Nineveh, and that both cities were built by

descendants of Ham, encroaching on the territory assigned to Shem

(Ge 10:5, 6, 8, 10, 25).

great city--four hundred eighty stadia in circumference, one hundred

fifty in length, and ninety in breadth

[DIODORUS

SICULUS, 2.3]. Taken by

Arbaces the Mede, in the reign of Sardanapalus, about the seventh year

of Uzziah; and a second time by Nabopolassar of Babylon and Cyaxares the

Mede in 625 B.C.

See on

Jon 3:3.

cry--

(Isa 40:6; 58:1).

come up before me--

(Ge 4:10; 6:13; 18:21;

Ezr 9:6;

Re 18:5);

that is, their wickedness is so great as to require My open

interposition for punishment.

3. flee--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--(Compare

Ge 4:16).

Jonah thought in fleeing from the land of Israel, where Jehovah was

peculiarly present, that he should escape from Jehovah's

prophecy-inspiring influence. He probably knew the truth stated in

Ps 139:7-10,

but virtually ignored it (compare

Ge 3:8-10;

Jer 23:24).

went down--appropriate in going from land to the sea

(Ps 107:23).

Joppa--now Jaffa, in the region of Dan; a harbor as early as Solomon's

time

(2Ch 2:16).

Tarshish--Tartessus in Spain; in the farthest west at the greatest

distance from Nineveh in the east.

4. sent out--literally, caused a wind to burst forth.

COVERDALE

translates, "hurled a greate wynde into the see."

5. mariners were afraid--though used to storms; the danger therefore

must have been extreme.

cried every man unto his god--The idols proved unable to save

them, though each, according to Phœnician custom, called on his

tutelary god. But Jehovah proved able: and the heathen sailors owned

it in the end by sacrificing to Him

(Jon 1:16).

into the sides--that is, the interior recesses (compare

1Sa 24:3;

Isa 14:13, 15).

Those conscious of guilt shrink from the presence of their fellow man

into concealment.

fast asleep--Sleep is no necessary proof of innocence; it may be the

fruit of carnal security and a seared conscience. How different was

Jesus' sleep on the Sea of Galilee!

(Mr 4:37-39).

Guilty Jonah's indifference to fear contrasts with the unoffending

mariners' alarm. The original therefore is in the nominative absolute:

"But as for Jonah, he," &c. Compare spiritually,

Eph 5:14.

6. call upon thy God--The ancient heathen in dangers called on foreign

gods, besides their national ones (compare

Ps 107:28).

MAURER translates the preceding clause, "What is

the reason that thou sleepest?"

think upon us--for good

(compare

Ge 8:1;

Ex 2:25; 3:7, 9;

Ps 40:17).

7. cast lots--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

(Pr 16:33;

Ac 1:26).

Primitive tradition and natural conscience led even the heathen to

believe that one guilty man involves all his associates, though

innocent, in punishment. So CICERO [The Nature

of the Gods, 3.37] mentions that the mariners sailing with

Diagoras, an atheist, attributed a storm that overtook them to his

presence in the ship (compare HORACE'S

Odes, 3.2.26).

8. The guilty individual being discovered is interrogated so as to make

full confession with his own mouth. So in Achan's case

(Jos 7:19).

9. I am an Hebrew--He does not say "an Israelite." For this was the

name used among themselves; "Hebrew," among foreigners

(Ge 40:15;

Ex 3:18).

I fear the Lord--in profession: his practice belied his profession:

his profession aggravated his guilt.

God . . . which . . . made the

sea--appropriately expressed, as accounting for the tempest sent on

the sea. The heathen had distinct gods for the "heaven," the

"sea," and the "land." Jehovah is the one and only true God of all

alike. 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

(De 4:21).

This is what makes Jonah a suitable type of Messiah, who bore the

imputed sin of the people.

10. "The men were exceedingly afraid," when made aware of the wrath

of so powerful a God at the flight of Jonah.

Why hast thou done this?--If professors of religion do wrong, they will

hear of it from those who make no such profession.

11. What shall we do unto thee?--They ask this, as Jonah himself must

best know how his God is to be appeased. "We would gladly save thee, if

we can do so, and yet be saved ourselves"

(Jon 1:13, 14).

12. cast me . . . 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 (compare

Ps 69:1, 2,

as to Messiah), 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 11:50).

Jonah also herein is a specimen of true repentance, which leads the

penitent to "accept the punishment of his iniquity"

(Le 26:41, 43),

and to be more indignant at his sin than at his suffering.

13. they could not--

(Pr 21:30).

Wind and tide--God's displeasure and God's counsel--were against

them.

14. for this man's life--that is, for taking this man's life.

innocent blood--Do not punish us as Thou wouldst punish the shedders

of innocent blood (compare

De 21:8).

In the case of the Antitype, Pontius Pilate washed his hands and

confessed Christ's innocence, "I am innocent of the blood of

this just person." But whereas Jonah the victim was guilty and

the sailors innocent, Christ our sacrificial victim was innocent and

Pontius Pilate and nil of us men were guilty. But by imputation

of our guilt to Him and His righteousness to us, the spotless Antitype

exactly corresponds to the guilty type.

thou . . . Lord, hast done as it pleased thee--That Jonah has embarked

in this ship, that a tempest has arisen, that he has been detected by

casting of lots, that he has passed sentence on himself, is all Thy

doing. We reluctantly put him to death, but it is Thy pleasure it should

be so.

15. sea ceased . . . raging--so at Jesus' word

(Lu 8:24).

God spares the prayerful penitent, a truth illustrated now in the case

of the sailors, presently in that of Jonah, and thirdly, in that of

Nineveh.

16. offered a sacrifice--They offered some sacrifice of thanksgiving

at once, and vowed more when they should land.

GLASSIUS thinks it means

only, "They promised to offer a sacrifice."

17. prepared a great fish--not created specially for this purpose,

but appointed in His providence, to which all creatures are subservient.

The fish, through a mistranslation of

Mt 12:40,

was formerly supposed to be a whale; there, as here, the original means

"a great fish." The whale's neck is too narrow to receive a man.

BOCHART thinks, the dog-fish, the stomach

of which is so large that the body of a man in armor was once found in

it [Hierozoicon, 2.5.12]. Others, the shark [JEBB]. The cavity in the whale's throat, large

enough, according to CAPTAIN SCORESBY, to hold a ship's jolly boat full of men. A

miracle in any view is needed, and we have no data to speculate

further. A "sign" or miracle it is expressly called by our Lord in

Mt 12:39.

Respiration in such a position could only be by miracle. The miraculous

interposition was not without a sufficient reason; it was calculated to

affect not only Jonah, but also Nineveh and Israel. The life of a

prophet was often marked by experiences which made him, through

sympathy, best suited for discharging the prophetical function to his

hearers and his people. 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--probably, like the Antitype, Christ,

Jonah was cast forth on the land on the third day

(Mt 12:40);

the Hebrew counting the first and third parts of days as whole

twenty-four hour days.