Jonah 1 - Introduction
_JONAH, SENT TO NINEVEH, FLEETH TO TARSHISH: HE IS DISCOVERED BY A TEMPEST, THROWN INTO THE SEA, AND SWALLOWED BY A FISH._ _Before Christ 862._... [ Continue Reading ]
_JONAH, SENT TO NINEVEH, FLEETH TO TARSHISH: HE IS DISCOVERED BY A TEMPEST, THROWN INTO THE SEA, AND SWALLOWED BY A FISH._ _Before Christ 862._... [ Continue Reading ]
GO TO NINEVEH—AND CRY AGAINST IT— Or _preach._ It means the same as to _prophesy;_ and therefore Houbigant so renders it.... [ Continue Reading ]
JONAH ROSE UP TO FLEE UNTO TARSHISH— Which, according to Josephus, was _Tarsus,_ the capital of Cilicia. Others say _Tartessus_ in Spain. _From the presence of the Lord,_ Houbigant reads, _Through fear of the Lord._ What he _feared_ is shewn in chap. Jonah 4:2. He hoped that if he was at a greater d... [ Continue Reading ]
AND CRIED EVERY MAN UNTO HIS GOD— The mariners were idolaters, as appears from the next verse. They invoked each one his idol, or the tutelary deity of his country. The profound _sleep_ of Jonah seems to have been caused by his weariness, labour, and anxiety; "Not the sleep of security, but of sorro... [ Continue Reading ]
COME, AND LET US CAST LOTS— The sailors betake themselves to this practice, because they see that there is something supernatural in the tempest; whence they conclude that it arose on account of some wicked person who failed with them. Thus the sailors who carried Diagoras in their vessel concluded... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WHOSE CAUSE— _Wherefore,_ or _on what account._ Houbigant.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I FEAR THE LORD, &C.— Rather, _I fear Jehovah,_ &c. _Jehovah_ being the peculiar name of the true God, by which he was distinguished from those who had the names of gods and lords among the heathen. The words immediately following are a farther distinction between the true God and the gods of th... [ Continue Reading ]
WROUGHT, AND WAS TEMPESTUOUS— _Grew more and more tempestuous:_ and so Jonah 1:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
LET US NOT PERISH, &C.— "Impute not to us his death: we only obey thy orders, and do that which thou thyself hast ordained. It is the necessity of a just defence which obliges us to cast: _him_ into the sea, to preserve us from the imminent danger whereunto we are brought by his means.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND OFFERED A SACRIFICE, &C.— Houbigant, following the Hebrew, Vulgate, &c. ends the chapter with this verb.... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE LORD HAD PREPARED A GREAT FISH— That there are fishes large enough to swallow a man, there can be no question; the Scripture calls this _a great fish,_ in the general, and therefore there is no need to confine it to a _whale._ But we shall speak more on this subject, when we come to Matthew... [ Continue Reading ]