The Pulpit Commentary — Jonah — Section 8

1thuttC"d on the w<"stern wall of the city, mrtde him loth to interfere in Gentile whil'h was ~om<' two 1rnd a half miles in businl'ee, nnd partly, as he bimeelf says (oh. l<"n,;-th. AnciC"ntly it ~ePms to lmvo imme- iv. 2), bccau~e he feared God'e oompnaaion diately ovel'hung the Tigris, but the river would epnre the Niuevites on their repent- )1a~ 110w recedc--d t.o the west, leaving a plain ance, and that thus his prediction would be of ll<'llt!Y a mile in width between its bank discredited, and mercy shown to heathone and the· old rnm(lllrt which evidently once already inimical to Israel, if not known to follnwed t.he oouret> of the river-bank. The him as the future conquerors of his people. ·w<.>st,•m wall is joined at right angles by 1oppa. This is tho modern Jajfa (calk-d th<" northern rnmpa.rt which runs in a Japho in Josh. xix. 46), a town on the sen- straight line for ec,·en thousand feet. At ooast thirty miles in a north-westerly direc- it,- other m,tremitv the western wall forms a tion. from Jerusalem. "Jaffn," says Dr. verv ohtuse angle· with the southern, which Thomso~ (' The Laud and the Book,' p. 8, impends over a deep ru,·ino, and runs in a eto. ), " 1s one of the ol<lcst cities in the pt.mieht line for about a thousand yards, world. It was given to Dan in the dietri- wlwn it meets the eastern wall, which .is "bution of the land by Joshua, and it has the longest and the le.'lst regular of the four. been known to history ever since. It owes The entire length or this side is sixte~n . its existence to the low ledge of rocks whiclt t.hons:md feet, or abot"e three miles. U is ·ht.ends into the sea from the extremity of divided into two portions by the strea.m of the little oape on which the city stands, the Kbosr-su; which, coming from the and forms a soiall harbour. Insignificant north-west, finds its way through the city as it is, and insecure, yet, there being no and then across the low plain to the Tigris. other on all this coast, it was sufficient to The town is thus of an oblong shape, and • e&l188 a city to spring up around it even the circuit of its walls is aomewhe.t less , in the. earliest .timllll, and to sustain its life tluw eight miles, and the lll'!llL which they throug~. ;nU!Jlbetle~ oiu.nges of dynasties, include is eighteen hundred IP,Cl'(l8. This, r ~ . and religions, down to the present at the. computa.ti.on of something, less than ho'ur. It was; in fact, the only harbour oC one hundred inhabitants per •acre, woulcl any notoriety possessed. by the Jews through- ascribe to Nineveh a population of _one out the greater. part ,of thejr national exi11t- hundred and seventy-five thousand aouls ''. : ence_ To.it the timber for both the templee (Rawlinson, • A.ne. Mon.,' i eh. i). Cry of Jernsalem ·~as brought from Lebanon; against it. The message is given mob. iiL and no doubt a lucrative trade m cedar and 4. Thus the knowledge of the trne God is pine was ·always aanied on through it with made known among the Gentiles. Their the nations who •had possession of that wickedness; i.e., as PUBey notes, .their evil- • goodly mountain. Through it, also, nearly doing to:wru:ds others, as in Nab. iii 19 (see all the (oreign oommeroe of the J ewe was Intwduction, § L). la c ~ u.p before me, oonduct.ed, until the artificial port of C&lBarea and appoals for pllllishment, 88 Gen. iv. 10; was bwlt by, Herod. . . . The harbour, xrii.i 20, 21; Septuagint, 'A,,ifh, ii «p,,.vrl, however, is very inoonvenfont and insecure. rijs ICIW,Q.S rwrlis ,rpos µ<, .. The cry of its Ve,ae,la oi _any coneiderabJ.l burden mllllt wickedness is come up unto me." ,, li~ out m tl;ill open roadstead--a very uneasy Ver. 3.-Tarahiah; probably:, Tartaau,, berth at all times ; and even a moderate a Phwuician city on the south coest of wind •will •oblige them to slip their ee.blee Spain, and therefore m the opposite dir,ec- and run out to sea, or seek anchorage at tiou to Nineveh.. He we.e sent to the far Haifa, sixty milee distant. . . . The road- east; he 11.ees to the distant west. l'rom 11tea.cl is liable to sudden and unexpected the .Jll'IIBlllllle of the. Lor4;. litemlly, /rmn stonna,. which stir up a tumultuoue sea in t1.e face of JehofHih. This may mean, a very short time. . . • The landing also is from God's &pecial prl8lllce in Jerosalem moat mcouvenient, and often extremely dan- or the Holy Land. ae bau.ishmeni from gerous. More boats upset. and more lives Ca.naan is called •• caetiDg out of his a,re lost m the breaker& at the north lllld of sight" (2 Kings xviL 20, 23; .xxiii. 27); the ledge of rocks that defend the inner or. from ser:ving the Lord as his minister harbour than anywhere elae on this coast." (Dcut. "}{.. 8), J ous.b prefemng to renounce Went down into it; a.11i1J11 [ b,ifh,, Alex.] El~ his office as prophet rather than execute 11im1, "went up into it" (Septuagint). bis mission. The fonner seems the most Went on board; or, as Jerome says, sought natural explanation of the phrs.se. Kimohi a hiding-place in the ship (comp. ver. 5). sa.ys the.t Jowi.h suppoaed that the spirit r:,f With them. With the crew. Jonah had prophecy would not e1tend beyond the land, told them (ver. 10) that he was dying from of lsrueL He could never have thought to God's service, but, knowing and caring ~,11cape from God's all-seeing eye,. Hie re- nothing a.bout Jehovah, they took him on PllgHance to the duty imposed upon }).im board when he pa.id bie fare, and thought i.r,.,b<: partly from ;1Jational prejudil)e, which nothingofhiaprivatereaeom1forjoininglhem. OJI, lo 1-17,] THE BOOK OF JONAH. a Vore. 4-10.-§ 2. Jonah', foolish flight Sam. xxiv. 3). Jonah hid himself there i, arrested. In the midst of his fancied before the storm arose. Tho Hebrew word security God sends a great storm, and the for" ship" (sephinah) is foun,I nowhere else, a.nd,probably from its derivation (Miphan," to ship is pl11eed in imminent jeopardy, The cover"), implies that the vtssel was decked. crow try a.11 means to sa.ve the ship, e.nd 11t He lo.y, e.nd we.a fut a.sleep; l,ccf.8eu/Je, "'" length ea.et Iota to discover by this means lpe;-x•, "was a.sleep and snoring" (Septne.- for whose sake the tempest has been sent, gint); dormiebat ,opore gram (Volgo.te). The lot points out Jone.h a.a the guilty The word used implies a very deep sleep, e.s tLo.t of Sisera (Judg. iv. 21) or of lhe person. Assyria.us (Ps. Ixxvi. 6). He we.a fatigued Ver. 4.-Sent out; Septuagint, 4~1/i'"P•, and worn out with mental anxiety, and now "raised;" literally, cast forth, or hurled, a being, as he thought, secure, and longing greo.t wind, like the Euroolydon of Acts for solitude, he Ie.y down to sleep, uncon- xxvii. 14, and what is called now11days a scious of danger. Contrast this sleep in tile l.,evauter. Posey quotes Josephus's account storm with that of Christ (Me.rk iv. 38), and of the harbour of Joppa and the neigh- that of the e. pasties who slept for sorrow bouring sea, which, he says, is rendered (Luke xxii. 45). very dangerous by the sudden rise of " the Ver. 6.-The 11hipmaster; literally, the black north wind" (' Bell. Jud.,' iii. 9. 3). chief of the ropemen; Vnlga.te, gubernator; Here we see wind and storm fulfilling God's Septuagint, .I "P"'P•6s, "the look-out man." word (Pa. exlviii. 8). As Tertullian says- The captain. What meanest thou, 0 sleeper1 How ea.net thou sleep so soundly " Si Dominum in terris fugiens, invenit in when our danger is so imminent? If thou undis." canst help us in no other we.y, a.t lea.at e.sk " Flying the Lord on earth, he found him the aid of Heaven. It we.e the duty of a. in the sea.." prophet of the Lord to take tile lead in prayer; but here the prophet's stupor is Was like to be broken; literally, thought to be rebuked by the heathen's fe.ith. Call upon dashed in pieces. Wordsworth eontre.sts the thy God. The sailors' prayers ha.d not Ii ving consciousness and apprehension of been answered, and they a.rouse Jonah, the ship with the lethargy of the prophet noting something specie.I about him, perhaps now lying fast asleep in the hold (ver. 5). his prophet's dress, or observing that he Septuagint, ~,c,vB6v,v, -,-oii av11Tp1/Hjva.,, "we.e was a.u Israelite, and therefore a worshipper in danger of being broken up." of J ehova.h, cf whose power they had hee.rd. Ver. 5.-The mariners (mallaohim). Those If so be that God will think upon us. They who have to do witll the salt sea.. The use the word "God " with the 11rticle, ha word is used by Ezekiel (xxvii. 9, 27, 29). Elohim, as if they had, in spite of their Cried every man unto his god. They were polytheism, a. dim notion of one supreme either Phcenicians from different localities, Deity. Vulge.te, Hi forte recogitet Deus ae or men of various nations ; hence the nobis; Septuagint, 3,,..,. 511,arfur!I b 8,/u multiplicity of their gods. The heathen are 11µiis, "that God may save us." From the represented throughout the book 118 devout apparent use of the Hebrew word (a,hath) and sincere according to their lights. They in J er. v. 28 in the sense of " shining," oe.st forth the wares; Septuagint, ,,c/JoAJw some tre.nsla.te here, " if percha.nee God will •wo,11aa.v"TO .,.;;,,, a,c,vwv, "cast out the furni- shine upon us," i.e. be favourable to us. ture, or wares," as Acts xxvii.18, 19; Vulga.te, But the meaning given in the Angliee.n miseront vasa. They threw overboard pro- Version is best supported. So the psalmist bably both &11 spa.re tackling and movables, says, "The Lord thinketh upon me'' (Pa. and the ea.rgo. The freight may have been xl. 17), implying that God succours and corn, which we.a exported in considerable defends him. quantities from Joppa. (comp. Ezek. xxvii. Ver. 7.-Finding the storm still violent, 17), or manufactured articles from Tyre, the crew come to the conclusion that it is which were exchanged with Spa.in for silver sent by Heaven in punishment of some o.nd other mete.ls. To lighten it of them; crime committed by one on board; and they litemlly, to lighten from againat them; i.e. to prooeed to east lots to discover the guilty ease the ship of its burden, or to eo.se them person. Jonah doubtless had meantime of their trouble, as Exod. xviii. 22. The complied with the captain's request, but, 118 LXX. takes the former interpretation, -,-oii the sailors saw, without visible effect. The ,cov4>1a8ijva.1 u,r' a.U"TWV, "tho.t it might be belief that temporal calamities a.re often lightened of them;" Vulga.te, ut alleviaretur connected with the presence of culprits, and ab ei,. The Bides of the ship. The innermost are sent in judgment, is found in classical parts (interiora, Vulge.te) of the ship; .,.~,, authors. Thus Plautus, • Rudens,' ii. 6. ,col>-1111 (Septuagint); "$he hold" ~comp. 1 21-  THE BOOK OF ,JONAH. [ou, 1. 1-17.