INTRODUCTION TO JONAH 1 This chapter gives an account of the call and mission of Jonah to go to Nineveh, and prophesy there, and the reason of it, Jonah 1:1; his disobedience to it, Jonah 1:3. God's resentment of it, by sending a storm into the sea, where he was, which terrified the mariners, and p... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE WORD OF THE LORD CAME UNTO JONAH THE SON OF AMITTAI,.... Or, "and the word of the Lord was" l; not that this is to be considered as connected with something the prophet had on his mind and in his thoughts when he began to write this book; or as a part detached from a prophecy not now extant;... [ Continue Reading ]
ARISE, GO TO NINEVEH, THAT GREAT CITY,.... That is, arise from the place where he was, and leave the business he was about, and prepare for a long journey to the place mentioned, and be as expeditious in it as possible. Nineveh was the metropolis of the Assyrian empire at this time; it was an ancien... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT JONAH ROSE UP TO FLEE UNTO TARSHISH FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD,.... He was not obedient to the heavenly vision; he rose up, but not to go to Nineveh, but to Tarshish, the reverse of it; to the sea, as the Targum, the Mediterranean sea, which lay west, as Nineveh was to the east. Tarshish some... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THE LORD SENT OUT A GREAT WIND INTO THE SEA,.... He took a wind out of his treasures, and hurled it, as the word w signifies, into the sea: "into that sea" x; that part of it where the ship was Jonah was in. Winds are at the command of God, which he raises at his pleasure, and fulfil his will, a... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE MARINERS WERE AFRAID,.... Perceiving that the storm was not an ordinary, but a supernatural one; and that the ship and all in it were in extreme danger, and no probability of being saved. This shows that the storm must be very violent, to frighten such men who were used to the sea, and to s... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THE SHIPMASTER CAME TO HIM,.... The master of the vessel, who had the command of it; or the governor of it, as Jarchi; though Josephus d distinguishes between the governor and the shipmaster: "the master of the ropers" e, as it may be rendered; of the sailors, whose business it was to draw the ro... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SAID EVERYONE TO HIS FELLOW,.... That Jonah awoke and rose up, upon the shipmaster's calling to him, is certain; but whether or no he called upon his God is not; perhaps he did: and when his prayer was over, and the storm still continuing, the sailors said one to another, COME, AND LET US... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THEY SAID UNTO HIM, TELL US, WE PRAY THEE,.... They did not fall upon him at once in an outrageous manner, and throw him overboard; as it might be thought such men would have done, considering what they had suffered and lost by means of him; but they use him with great respect, tenderness, and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, I [AM] AN HEBREW,.... He does not say a Jew, as the Targum wrongly renders it; for that would have been false, since he was of the tribe of Zebulun, which was in the kingdom of Israel, and not of Judah; nor does he say an Israelite, lest he should be thought to be in the idola... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WERE THE MEN EXCEEDINGLY AFRAID,.... When they found he was a Hebrew, and that it was the God of the Hebrews that was angry; of whom they had heard much, and what great and wonderful things had been done by him, and now had an experience of his power and providence, and that it was for fleeing... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN SAID THEY UNTO HIM, WHAT SHALL WE DO UNTO THEE,.... Though, both by the lot and his own confession, they knew he was the guilty person; for whose sake this storm was; yet were unwilling to do anything to him without his will and consent, his counsel and advice; perceiving that he was a prophet... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, TAKE ME UP, AND CAST ME FORTH INTO THE SEA,.... This he said not as choosing rather to die than to go to Nineveh; or as having overheard the men say that they would cast him into the sea, as Aben Ezra suggests, greatly to the prejudice of the prophet's character; but as being... [ Continue Reading ]
NEVERTHELESS, THE MEN ROWED HARD TO BRING [IT] TO THE LAND, BUT THEY COULD NOT,.... Or, "they digged" l; that is, the waters of the sea with their oars; not by casting anchor, as Abendana; they used all their skill and exerted all their strength; they laboured with all their might and main, as a ma... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE THEY CRIED UNTO THE LORD,.... Not unto their gods, but unto the true Jehovah, the God of Jonah, and of the Hebrews; whom they now, by this providence, and Jonah's discourse, had some convictions and knowledge of as the true God; and therefore direct their prayer to him, before they cast th... [ Continue Reading ]
SO THEY TOOK UP, JONAH, AND CAST HIM FORTH INTO THE SEA,.... They took him out of the hold or cabin where he was, and brought him upon deck; they took him, not against his will, but with his full consent, and according to the direction and advice he gave them: "they", for there were more than one em... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE MEN FEARED THE LORD EXCEEDINGLY,.... This was not a natural fear, as before, but a religious one; and not a servile fear, or a fear of punishment, but a reverential godly fear; for they feared him, not only because they saw his power in raising and stilling the tempest, but his goodness to... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THE LORD HAD PREPARED A GREAT FISH TO SWALLOW UP JONAH,.... Not from the creation of the world, as say the Jews p; for this is to be understood, not of the formation or making of it; but of the ordering and disposition of it by the providence of God to be near the ship, and its mouth open to rec... [ Continue Reading ]