The Pulpit Commentary — Jonah — Section 82

EXPOSITION. ra.lly, I anticipated to fly; Septuagint, 1rpo· CHAPTER IV. ltp8a<1a. .-ov ,Prryeiv, " I made haste to flee; " Vera. 1-11.-JONAH'S DISPLEASURE, Am> Vulgate, prlBOCCupafli ut fag"em. I h&11t- ened to fly before I ehonld be reduced ITS O0RREOTI0N, to seeing my mission rendered nugatory. Vera. 1-4.-§ 1. Jonah is griefled at the For I knew. Joel knew the character or sparing of Nineveh, the ezpectation of tohich God, and how that he th.rea.tenc<l in order had led to his former flight, 11111d, complains to a.rouse repentance, and that he might be of God's clemency. a.hie to spare (see Exod. xxxii. 14; xxxiv. 6, 7). The description of God's mercy Ver. 1,-It displeased J'onah exceedingly; agrees with that in Joel ii. 13 and Neh. literally, it wa, evil to Jonah, a great er,il. ix. 17. It was more than mere displeasure which Ver. 3.-Take ... my life from me (comp. he felt; he was vexed and irritated. The ver. 8). Jonah throughout represents him- reference is to what is said in the last self a.s petty, hasty, and self-willed, prone to verse of the preceding chapter, viz. that tile exa.ggerate matters, and easily reduced to predicted destruction was not inflicted. despair. Here, because his word is not ful- How the knowledge of this reprieve was filled, be wishes to die, though he will not conveyed to the prophet we are not in• take his own life. In a. different spirit formed. It probably was made known to Moses (Exod. xxxii 32) is ready to die for him before the expiration of the forty days his people's sa.ke, a.nd Elijah asked for by Divine communication, in accordance death because his zeal for God had appa- with the saying in A.mos iii. 7, "Surely the rently wrought no effect (1 Kings xiL 4). Lord will do nothing, but he revealeth his Ver. 4.-Doest thou well to be angry l secret. unto his servants the prophets" (see Septuagint, El utp&6pa. "-•"-/nni<rtu a-tJ; "Hast ver. 5). Various reasons have been assigned thou been greatly grieved?" Vulgate, for this displeasure. (1) Personal pique, Putasne bene iraaceria t" t The English lest, his prediction having failed, he should Version is doubtless correct. God bicu him be liable to the charge of being a false consider with himself whether his a.nger is prophet. (2) Zeal for the honour of God, rea.sonable. The version of the LXX., how- whose knowledge of the future might be ever grammatically permissible, is somewhat discredited among the heathen, when they pointless. saw hie own servant's words unfulfilled. Ver. 5.-§ 2. Jonah,, not yet abandoning (3) Because he saw in this conversion of his hope of seeing th6 city p?Sniahed, makes Gentiles a token of the ruin of his own for himself a hut ou.tBide the UKJlla, and waits people, who remained always hardened and there to see the is11UB. Went out of the oity. impenitent. (4) A mistaken patriotism, It is best so rendered, and not in the plu- which could not endure to find mercy ex. perfect. It must have been before the end tended to a heathen nation which had of the forty days that Jonah perceived that already proved hostile to Israel and was Nineveh would escape. And now, from destined to oppress it still further. Thie God's expostulation with him in ver. 4, he last seems to have been the real ground of seems to ha.ve oonceived the expecta.tion his annoyance. So deep was this, that he that some catRStrophe would still happen; w9uld gladly have seen the sentence as though God had told him that he was executed even after the city had repented too hasty in his judgment, that he could (comp. ver. 11, "Should not I spare Nine• not know the mind of God, 11,nd that because veh," l.e. which thou wouldst ha.ve me even he did not strike immediately he was not to now destroy?) He was very angry; Septua- conclude that he would not strike at all. gint, a-uv•xM11, " was confounded." His On the east aide of the city. The opposite vexation increa.sed unto anger. side to th11t by whioh he had entered, and Ver. 2.-He prayed. He carried his com- where the high ground enabled him to over- pla.int to God, and was prepa.red to submit look the town, without necessarily aha.ring it to him, even while he questioned the in its destruction. A booth. A tent con- wisdom of hie olemenoy. I pray thee structed of branches interlaced, which did (anna); Vulgate, obiiecro. A pa.rtiole of not exclude the sun (Lev. xxiii. 42; Neh. entreaty, "Ah I I pray thee." Was not viii. 14, eto. ). What would become of the oity. this my saying1 Was not this what I He still expected th11t some cala.mity would &aid to myself, viz. that God would spa.re befall the Ninevites, perhaps with the idea Nineveh if it showed signs of repentance? that their repentance would prove so im- My country, Palestine, where the original perfeot and temporary that God would message reached him. I 11.ed before ; lite- 1mnish them after all.  RO TilE IlOOK OF JO'X .\.II. [en. 1v. 1-11 ..