That the sea may be oalm unto ua; literally, cuting the sentence upon him. Usually it may be Bilent from upon us, so as no longer takes some time for tho swell to cease after to bea.r down upon us (comp. Mark iv. 39). the wind has snnk: here there was suddenly Wrought, and was tempestuous; literally, a. great en.Im (Matt. viii. 2G). was going and was tempe.tuou8; Septuagint, Ver. 16.-J!'eared the Lord, They recog- 'Eirop,of,TO 1<a! lifiY"P' µ.ul\/\ov 1<l\6Swva, "Tile nized the supernatural element in the sea. wa.s moving and lifting the surge slill transaction, and conceived an awe and fear moro;" Vulgnte, ibat et intumescebat. That of Jehovah, who had wrought these wonders. is, according to the Hebrew idiom, "grew Offered a. aacri1l.ce unto tha Lord. Many more and more tempestuous" (comp. Exod. commentators think that they sacrificed on xix. I!); Prov. iv. 18). reaching shore, as they had thrown the Ver. 12.-Jonab, brought to a better cargo overboard, and would have had no mind, perhaps divinely inspired, pronounces animal to offer. The Chaldee renders his own sentence. "I know," he says, accordingly, "They said that they would "that the fault is mine, and deserves death, offer sacrifices." Bat the text implies that therefore take me up, and cast me forth into they sacrificed immerliately on the cessation the sea." He will not be his owu executioner, of the storm. They may naturally have had but will patiently bear a death righteously some animal on board fit for offering. And inflicted by others, whose safety be was en- made vows. Vowed to make other offering~ dangering by hie continued presence. when it wa.s in their power. Henderson Ver. 13.-The generous sailors, however, compares Virgil, ' .lEneid,' iii. 403, etc.- nre loth to execute this sentence on a pro- " Quin, ubi transmissm steterint trans phet of the Lord, and make a supreme mquora classes effort to reach the land, and thus obviate Et positis aria jam vota in litore solves." this severe alternative. Bowed hard; lite- rally, digged (Job xxiv. 16; Ezek. xii. 7); "And when thy fleet bath safely crossed Septuagint, ,rap,/l,cl.(ono, "lli!ed violent the seas, efforts." They endeavoured to force their And, raising altars on the shore, thy vows way through the waves with oars, as the Thou shalt perform." use of sails was impracticable. The ex- It has been supposed that these sailors pression is like the classical phrases, infin• embraced Judaism and became proselytes. dere Bulcos, scindere /reta, arare aquas, and At any rate, tbey showed themselves in the our " to plough the main." To the land; to light of believers on this occasion. get them back to land. The wind was off Ver. 17.-§ 4. Cast into the sea, Jonah. is shore, and they hnd taken down the sails, swallowed alive by a great fish, in whose belly and tried to row back to the harbour. Tov he remains unharmed three days and three Jw11T'Tpl,/,a1 wpbs ..¾,v ')n)v, "to return to the nights. Had prepared; Septuagint, wpocd- land" (Septuagint). The sea. wrought (see 'Ta{£, "appointed;" so in eh. iv. 6, 7, 8 note on ver. 11). (comp. Job vii. 3; Dan. i. 10, 11). The Ver. 14.-They oried unto the Lord. They fish was not created then e.nd there, but God prayed no longer to their gods, as before so ordered it that it should be at the place (ver. 5), but unto Jehovah, the God of and should swnllow Jonah. The prophet Jono.h. Let us not perish for this man's life. seems, from some expressions in his psalm Let us not incur death for ta.king this man's (eh. ii. 5), to have sunk to the bottom of the life. They seem to know something of the see. before he was swallowed by the fish. Noachio law that punished murder (Gen. ix. A great fish; Septuagint, 1<ij'Tos (Matt. xii. 5, 6). Lay not upon us innooent blood. 40). There is nothing in the word to identify Charge us not with the guilt of shedding the intended animal, a.nu to call it " a. innocent blood (Dent. xxi. 8). l!'or thou, 0 whale" is simply a mistranslation. The Lord, he.et done as it pleased thee (1 Sam. white shark of the Mediterranean (Carcha- iii. 18). The whole affair has happened ac- riaa vulgaris), which sometimes measures cording to thy will. The tempest, the lot, twenty-five feet in length, has been known the sentence, nre all the working of thy to swallow a man whole, and even a horse. providence. The prophet throughout brings This may have been the "great fish" in the into prominence the contrast between the text (see Dr. Pusey on Jono.h, pp. 257, etc.). behaviour of these heathen and his own, Was in the belly of the fish. God used the and wonhl tench his nation a lesson thereby. natural agency of the fish, but the preserva- Ver. 15.-They took up, with a certain tion of Jonah's life in the animal's belly is reverence. Ceased from her raging; liternlly, plainly supernatural. It is, indeed, aoalo- stood from its anger; Septuagint, l<TTT/ i1< gous to the life of the chilu in its mother's 'Tov <Tal\011 uil'Tijs, "stoou from its tossing." womb; but it h11s besides e. miraculous The sudden cessation of tho storm showe,l elon,ont whioh is unique, unless it was an that it had boen sent on J onnh's account, actu11l death and revivification, o.s in the nnd th[lt the crew h11d not eiuncd by exe- case of L11zarus. Also God ord11iued this 6 '!'HE BOOK OF JONAH. [on. r. 1-17.
tn.nsl\Ction as a type of the resnrrection of rence ie substantiated by Ohriet'e reforence Obrist. Three daya a.nd three nights; i.e., to it 1\8 a figure of hie own burinl o.ncl aooording to Hebrew uBl\ge, pa.rte of the days resurrection. The antitype confirms tho and nights; i.e. one whole day, and pnrte truth of the typo. It ie not oredihlo that of the da"I" before and after this. Jonah wae Christ would nee a mere legendCLry tale, releasC'd 'on the third de.y (oomp. Matt, xii. with no historical basis, to confirm hie moat 40 with 1 Cor. xv. 4; and Esth. iv. 16 with solemn statement concerning the momentous v. I). The historical nature of this occur- fact of his resurrection,