NOW THE WORD OF THE LORD - , literally, “And, ...” This is the way in which the several inspired writers of the Old Testament mark that what it was given them to write was united onto those sacred books which God had given to others to write, and it formed with them one continuous whole. The word, “... [ Continue Reading ]
ARISE, GO TO NINEVEH, THAT GREAT CITY - The Assyrian history, as far as it has yet been discovered, is very bare of events in regard to this period. We have as yet the names of three kings only for 150 years. But Assyria, as far as we know its history, was in its meridian. Just before the time of Jo... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT (AND) JONAH ROSE UP TO FLEE ... FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD - literally “from being before the Lord.” Jonah knew well, that man could not escape from the presence of God, whom he knew as the Self-existing One, He who alone is, the Maker of heaven, earth and sea. He did not “flee” then “from Hi... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT (AND) THE LORD SENT OUT - (literally ‘cast along’). Jonah had done his all. Now God’s part began. This He expresses by the word, “And.” Jonah took “his” measures, “and” now God takes “His.” He had let him have his way, as He often deals with those who rebel against Him. He lets them have their w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CRIED, EVERY MAN UNTO HIS GOD - They did what they could. “Not knowing the truth, they yet know of a Providence, and, amid religious error, know that there is an Object of reverence.” In ignorance they had received one who offended God. And now God, “whom they ignorantly worshiped” Acts 17:23, w... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT MEANEST THOU? - or rather, “what aileth thee?” (literally “what is to thee?”) The shipmaster speaks of it (as it was) as a sort of disease, that he should be thus asleep in the common peril. “The shipmaster,” charged, as he by office was, with the common weal of those on board, would, in the co... [ Continue Reading ]
COME, AND LET US CAST LOTS - Jonah too had probably prayed, and his prayers too were not heard. Probably, too, the storm had some unusual character about it, the suddenness with which it burst upon them, its violence, the quarter from where it came, its whirlwind force . “They knew the nature of the... [ Continue Reading ]
TELL US, FOR WHOSE CAUSE - Literally “for what to whom.” It may be that they thought that Jonah had been guilty toward some other. The lot had pointed him out. The mariners, still fearing to do wrong, ask him thronged questions, to know why the anger of God followed him; “what” hast thou done “to wh... [ Continue Reading ]
I AM AN HEBREW - This was the name by which Israel was known to foreigners. It is used in the Old Testament, only when they are spoken of by foreigners, or speak of themselves to foreigners, or when the sacred writers mention them in contrast with foreigners . So Joseph spoke of his land Genesis 40:... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WERE THE MEN EXCEEDINGLY AFRAID - Before, they had feared the tempest and the loss of their lives. Now they feared God. They feared, not the creature but the Creator. They knew that what they had feared was the doing of His Almightiness. They felt how awesome a thing it was to be in His Hands.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT SHALL WE DO UNTO THEE? - They knew him to be a prophet; they ask him the mind of his God. The lots had marked out Jonah as the cause of the storm; Jonah had himself admitted it, and that the storm was for “his” cause, and came from “his” God . “Great was he who fled, greater He who required him... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE ME UP, AND CAST ME INTO THE SEA - Neither might Jonah have said this, nor might the sailors have obeyed it, without the command of God. Jonah might will alone to perish, who had alone offended; but, without the command of God, the Giver of life, neither Jonah nor the sailors might dispose of th... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MEN ROWED HARD - , literally “dug.” The word, like our “plowed the main,” describes the great efforts which they made. Amid the violence of the storm, they had furled their sails. These were worse than useless. The wind was off shore, since by rowing alpine they hoped to get back to it. They put... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE (AND) THEY CRIED UNTO THE LORD - “They cried” no more “each man to his god,” but to the one God, whom Jonah had made known to them; and to Him they cried with an earnest submissive, cry, repeating the words of beseeching, as men, do in great earnestness; “we beseech Thee, O Lord, let us no... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY TOOK UP JONAH - o “He does not say, ‘laid hold on him’, nor ‘came upon him’ but ‘lifted’ him; as it were, bearing him with respect and honor, they cast him into the sea, not resisting, but yielding himself to their will.” THE SEA CEASED (LITERALLY “STOOD”) FROM HIS RAGING - Ordinarily, the wave... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MEN FEARED THE LORD WITH A GREAT FEAR - because, from the tranquility of the sea and the ceasing of the tempest, they saw that the prophet’s words were true. This great miracle completed the conversion of the mariners. God had removed all human cause of fear; and yet, in the same words as be... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE LORD HAD (LITERALLY “AND THE LORD”) PREPARED - Jonah (as appears from his thanksgiving) was not swallowed at once, but sank to the bottom of the sea, God preserving him in life there by miracle, as he did in the fish’s belly. Then, when the seaweed was twined around his head, and he seemed t... [ Continue Reading ]