On what portion of the coast Jonah was set down in safety we are not informed. The opinions held as to the peculiar spot by rabbins and other thaumaturgic expositors need not be repeated. According to modern tradition, it was at the spot now marked as Khan Nebi Yunas, near Sidon (Kelly's Syria, p. 302). The partic- ular plant {'f'\'^p^p,Hkayon', "gourd") which sheltered Jonah was possibly the Ricinus, whose name Kiki is yet preserved in some of the tongues of the East. It is more likely, however, to have been some climbing plant of the goiurd tribe. The Sept. renders it koXokvv&i]. Jerome translates it hedcra, but against his better judg- ment and for fear of giving offence to the critics of his age, as he quietly adds in justification of his less prefer- able rendering, " Sed timuimus grammaticos." (See an elucidation of the passage in the Beitr. zur Befijrd, etc. xix, p. 183.) See Gourd.
Various spots have been pointed out as the place of
of Isaiah {Des Proph. Jon. Orakel. iiber ^fl)ab hriiixrh ' his sepidchre, such as JIosul in the East, and Gath-he-
r«r/;«?Y, etc., Heidelb. 1831).
The personal history of Jo- nah is, with the exception of -i==5Pi^ this incidental allusion, to be gathered from the account in the l)ook that Iiears his name. Having alreadj', as it seem- (from 1 in i, 1), ijrophesied i ■ Israel, he was sent to Ninevel i. The time was one of political revival in Israel; but ere long -- the Assyrians were to be em- ployed liy God as a scourge ui)on them. The Israelites consequently viewed them with repidsiveness ; and the prophet, in accordance with his
name (nST^, " a dove"), out of timidity and love for his country, shrunk from a commission which he felt sure would result (iv, 2) in the sparing of a hostile city. He attempted, therefore, to escape to Tarshish, either Tar- tessus in Spain (Bochart, Titcomb, Hengstenberg), or
Tomb of the Prophet Jjuah" at Musu
pher in Palestine ; while the so-called Epiphanius speaks of his retreating to T%-re, and being buried there in the tomb of Cenezaeus, judge of Israel. (See Otho, Lexicon Pabb. p. 326 sq. ; comp. Ephrrem Syrus's Repentance of Nineveh, trausl. by Dr. Burgess, Lond. 1853.) Apocry-
JOXAH
990
JONAH
phal prophecies ascribed to Jonah may be found in the pseudo-Kpiphanius {De Vitis Prophet, c. 16) and the Chronic. I'aschale, p! 149.
Jonah's Pkoimiecy contains the above account of the prophet's commission to denounce Nineveh, and of his refusal to undertake die embassy— of the method he employeil to escape the unwelcome task, and the mirac- ulous "means which God used to curb his self-willed spirit, and subdue his petulant and querulous disposi- tion (Reindelj/'te Semhino il. Proph. Jonas nach Niiiive. Bamb. 182G). His attempt to flee from the presence of the Lord seems like a partial insanity, produced by the excitement of distracting motives in an irascible and melancholy heart (J. C. Lauge, Diss, de mirabili fugu Jonas, Hal. 1751).
I. Historical Character of the Book:— The history of Jonah is certainly striking and extraordinary. Its char- acteristic prodigj' does not resemble the other mirac- ulous phenomena recorded in Scrijiture, yet we must believe in its literal occurrence, as the Bible aifords no indication of its being a mythus, allegory, or parable (Piper, HiMoria Jonce a recentior. conafibus vindicata, Gryi)h. 1786). On the other hand, our Saviour's point- ed and peculiar allusion to it is a presumption of its reality (Matt, xii, 40). The historical character of the narrative is held by Hess, Lilienthal, Sack, Reindel, Hiiv- cruick, Hengstenberg, Laberenz, Baumgarten, Delitzsch, Wclte, Stuart, and Keil, Einleitung, sec. 89. (See Fried- richsen, Krit. Uebersicht der verschied. Ansichten von dem Bach Jonas, ■2d edit. 1841.) The opinion of the earlier Jews (Toljit xiv, 4, 8 ; 3 Mace, vi, 8 ; Josephus, ,4 nt. ix,
10, 2) is also in favor of the literality of the adventure (see Buddei IJist. V. Test, ii, :>f<9 sq.). It requires less faith to credit this simple excerpt from Jonah's biogra- ])hy than to believe the numerous hypotheses that have been invented to deprive it of its supernatural character, the great majority of them being clumsy and far-fetch- ed, doing violence to the language, and despite to the spirit of revelation ; distuiguished, too, by tedious ad- justments, laborious combinations, historical conjecture, and critical jugglery. In vindication of the reality of this striking narrative, it may be argued that the aUu- sions of Christ to Old-Testament events on similar oc- casions are to actual occurrences (John iii, 14 ; vi, 48) ; that the purpose which God had in view justified his i miraculous interposition; that this miracle must have had a salutary effect both on the minds of the Ninevites and on the people of Israel. Neither is the character of Jonah improbable. Many reasons might induce him to avoid the discharge of his prophetic duty— fear of being thought a false prophet, scorn of a foreign and hostile race, desire for their utter destruction, a false dignity which might reckon it beneath his prerogative to olficiatc among uncircumcised idolaters (Verschuir, O/msr. p. 73, etc. ; Albcr, fnstifiit. Ilcrmen. Vet. Test, iii, .'!'.«». 407 ; Jahn, Inln^hirthw i„ tlw Old Testament, transl. by Turner, p. 372. :;,:.. iran^luui's notes; Laberenz, De Vera. lib. dome Intirp. I'liliLi. l.s:!6).