But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. Ver. 1. _But it displeased Jonah exceedingly_] _Mirabilis homo profecto fuit Ionas,_ saith Winckelman here, as strange a man was Jonah of an honest man as you shall lightly hear of. Well might David caution, Psalms 37:8, "Cease from anger,... [ Continue Reading ]
And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, [was] not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou [art] a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Ver. 2. _And he p... [ Continue Reading ]
Therefore now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for [it is] better for me to die than to live. Ver. 3. _Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me_] A pitiful peevish prayer, such as was that of Job, and that of Jeremiah above noted; to which may be added Sarah's has... [ Continue Reading ]
Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry? Ver. 4. _Doest thou do well to be angry?_] Or, what? art thou very angry? _Nunquid recte?_ Summon the sobriety of thy senses before thine own judgment, and see whether there be a cause. "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thi... [ Continue Reading ]
So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. Ver. 5. _So Jonah went out of the city_] As not yet knowing what God might do, though he found him inclinable to show the... [ Continue Reading ]
And the LORD God prepared a gourd, and made [it] to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. Ver. 6. _And the Lord God prepared a gourd_] _sc._ after that his booth was dried up, and the leaves withered, Go... [ Continue Reading ]
But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. Ver. 7. _But God prepared a worm_] All occurrences are to be ascribed not to nature, fate, or fortune, but to God, who, as he is great in great things, so is he not little in the least, _maximus in... [ Continue Reading ]
And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, [It is] better for me to die than to live. Ver. 8. _God prepared a vehement east wind_] The winds then blow not wher... [ Continue Reading ]
And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, [even] unto death. Ver. 9. _Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?_] What? so soon blown up for a thing of nothing.? _Tantaene animis coelestibus irae?_ (Eneid. lib. i.). “ _Diine hunc ardorem... [ Continue Reading ]
Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: Ver. 10. _Then said the Lord_] He did not roar upon Jonah, nor run upon him with a drawn sword, even on his neck, upon the thick boss... [ Continue Reading ]
And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and [also] much cattle? Ver. 11. _And should not I spare Nineveh_] I, who am all bowels (_Ego emphaticum._ Mercer); I, who am a sin pard... [ Continue Reading ]