The Pulpit Commentary — Jonah — Section 83

Ye111. 6, 7.~ 3. God cau.,111 a plant to warm night, with a moist atmosphere, will 8pring up ,,. order f,0 shade Jonah 'from the sut1:1ce ~o pr~uce ~ host of caterpillars, ~,m ; but it. i• made Boon to witl,er au,ay and which m an mcred1bly ~hort time strip a leave him exposed to the aoorching rays. plant of nil its leavea. When the morning rose. At the very earliest dawn before tho Yer. 6.-Prep&red (vers. 7, 8); appointed actual rising of the sun (oomp'. Judg, ix. (sPe notP on ob. i. 17). A gourd; Hebrew 33). Jonah seems to have enjoymi the. hJ,aion (here only in the Old Testament)'. el'.eltor. of the gourd one whole day. The Septuagint, 1eo1'.01e6v811. "pumpldn;" Vulgate: w1tbenng of the plant co.me about in o, 1iedera; Aquila and Theodotion, K11K£'1v. natural way, but was ordered by God at o, Jernme describes this as a ehrub called in certain time in order to give Jonah the in- Syriac elkeroa, nnd common in the sandy tended lesson. regions of Palestine. It has large leaves an,I grows to a considerable height in a very few Vers. 8-11.-§ 4. Jonah grievu bitterly days. ~o that R mere ehrcb becomes quickly for the loss of the gourd; and God take& a small tree. The scientific name of this occasion from thia to pofot out tho prophet's J'hrnt is Rici11u., wmmunia; in Egyptian, incomistency and pitilessness in murmuring ldki: in Assyrian, kukanitu. A drawiua- of it is given in Dr. Pusey'e • Commen~y,' agaimt the mercy shown to Nineveh tllith its p ~60. It is also }mown by the name of multitude of inhabitants. the Pulma <Jh.riati, and from its seeds is expressed "castor oil." But it is very . Ver. 8.-A Tehement east wind; Beptua- doubtful whether this is the plant intended. gmt, ....,,J,.,.11.n 1ea.Jcru111, (Jae. i. 11) ,rvyr,11.l- Cert.s.inly the rici,,u is never US6d in the ovn, "e. scorching, burning wind;" Vulge.te, East. as a protection against the eun, for "ento calid.o et urenti (Hos. xiii. 15). The which its straggling, open growth renders word translated "vehement" is also ren- it unsuitable; while the gourd, e.s Mr. dered " silent," i.e. sultry. Pusey and' 'l'ristr,.m testifies (' Land of Israel,' p. 37), liitzig rather incline to think it may mean is ueed universally to form trellisee for she.d- the autumn or harvest wind. Either in- ing arboUl'B end summer-houses, and affords terpretation is suitable, as, according to Dr. a most effectual ecrcen. " Orientals,'' says Thomson, there are two kinds of sirocco, Dr. Thomson (' The L1md and the Book,' p. equally destructive and annoying - the· Hi), " never dream of training a caetor-oil violent wind, which fills the air with dust plant over a booth, or plan ting it for a she.de, and send; and the quiet one, when scarcely and they would have but small respect for any air is stirring, but the heat is most any one who did. It is in no way adapted overpowering (' The Land and the Book,' for that purpose, while thollil&nde of arbours p. 536, etc.). Beat upon the head. The are covered with varioUB creepers of the same word for the effect of the mys of the general gourd family." With this testimony sun as in Ps. cxxi. 6 and elsewhere. Tro- it is well to be ee.tiefied. Whatever the chon quotes Ovid, 'Metam.,• vii. 804- plant was, ite growth was abnormal in the " Sole fore radils feriente caoumine. primis." present case, though the rapidity with which "The sun with earliest rays it developed was merely a quickening of its Scarce smiting highest pee.kB." ordinary powers, in due accorde.nce with its nature and ch&racter. From his grief; Rich, 'Koordistan,' i. 125, "JDBt o.s the Septne.gint, krb .,.,.,, ,.a.,u;,, 11irroii, "from his moon roae, about ten, an intolerable puff of e,;ils ; " V ulge.te, ut ... protegeret mim. The wind came from the north-eut. All were Hebrew word is the same ae in ver. 1. and immediately silent, as if they had felt an it refers, not BO much to the physical dis- earthquake, and then exclaimed, in a dismal comfort occaeioned by the heat, but rather tone, 'The sherki is come.' This was in- t.o the condition of hie mind, the veIBtion deed the so-much-drco.ded eherki, ..nd it and disappointment under which he was ha.a continued blowing ever since with great suffering. Wu exoeeding glad; literally, vi<,lence from the east end north-east, the rejoiced a great jug; ixd,p11 x11.pu f'f"fa.A'l)v wind being heated like our Bagdad ea.um, (Septuagint). The candour and simplicity but I think softer and more relaxing. This of the writer throughout are very remark- wind is the terJOr of these po.rte." "Few able. He may have seen in this providential European travellers," says Le.yard (' Nin. shtlter an intimation that God approved and Uabyl.,' p. 366), " can brave the per- of l1is intention to wait and see the issue. pendicular rays of an Al!syrie.n BUn. Even Yer. 7.-Prepa.n,d (see note on ver. 6). A the well-seasoned Arab seeks the she.de worm. Either a Hingle worm which punc- during the day, and journeys by night, tured the et.em and caueed the plant to unlees driven forth by necessity or the love wither, or the word ie used collectively, as of war" (quoted by Dr. PUBey, in loc.). He iu Dent. .a.viii. 39, for "wonn» '( A single fainted (see note on Amoe viii. 13, when CII. IV, 1-11,] THE BOOK OF JON AH. 81