8 Shall I not in that day, 13 Thou shouldest not have saith the LORD, even destroy the entered into the gate of my peowise men out of Edom, and un-ple in the day of their calamity; derstanding out of the mount yea, thou shouldest not have

Verse 12. Thou shouldest not have looked] It shows Verse 17. But upon Mount Zion shall be delivera malevolent heart to rejoice in the miseries of those lance] Here is a promise of the return from the Baby

The Israelites shall

OBADIAH.

destroy the Edomites.

A. M. cir. 3417, house of Jacob shall possess their of Ephraim, and the fields of A. M. cir. 3417.

B. C. cir. 587.

OI. XLVIII.2. Tarquinii Prisci, R. Roman., cir. annum 30.

possessions.

Samaria and Benjamin shall 18 And the house of Jacob possess Gilead. in shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the LORD hath spoken it.

19 And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines and they shall possess the fields

lonish captivity. They shall come to Zion, and there they shall find safety; and it is remarkable that after their return they were greatly befriended by the Persian kings, and by Alexander the Great and his successors; so that, whilst they ravaged the neighbouring nations, the Jews were unmolested. See Calmet.

And there shall be holiness] They shall return to God, separate themselves from their idols, and become a better people than they were when God permitted them to be carried into captivity.

B. C. cir. 587.

OL XLVIII. 2. Tarquinii Prisci. R. Roman., cir. annum 30

20 And the captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites, even untò Zarephath ; and the captivity of Jerusalem, which is in Sepharad, shall possess the cities of the south.

8

21 And saviours shall come up on Mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD'S.

Jer. xxxii. 44.1 Tim. iv. 16; James v. 20. Psa. xxii. 28; Dan. ii. 44; vii. 14, 27; Zech. xiv. 9; Luke i. 33; Rev. xi. 15; xix. 6.

from Babylon were to extend themselves everywhere. See Newcome; and see, for the fulfilment, 1 Mace. v 9, 35, 45; and ix. 35, 36.

Verse 20. Zarephath] Sarepta, a city of the Si donians, 1 Kings xvii. 9. That is, they should pos sess the whole city of Phenicia, called here that of the Canaanites.

phora, in Mesopotamia, above the division of the Euphrates. Dr. Lightfoot says it was a part of Edom. Those who were captives among the Canaanites should possess the country of the Canaanites; and those whom the Edomites had enslaved should possess the cities of their masters. See Newcome and Lowth.

Which is in Sepharad] This is a difficult word. Some think the Bosphorus is meant; others, Spain; others, France; others, the Euphrates; others, some The house of Jacob shall possess] They were re-district in Chaldea; for there was a city called Sistored to their former possessions. But this may refer also to their future restoration under the Gospel, when they shall be truly converted, and become holiness to the Lord; for salvation and holiness shall be the characteristics of Zion-the Christian Church, for ever. Verse 18. The house of Jacob shall be a fire] After their return from captivity, the Jews, called here the house of Jacob and the house of Joseph, did break out as a flame upon the Idumeans; they reduced them into slavery; and obliged them to receive circumcision, and practise the rites of the Jewish religion. 1 Macc. v. 3, &c.; 2 Macc. x. 15-23; and Joseph. Antiq., lib. xiii. c. 17.

See

There shall not be any remaining] As a people and a nation they shall be totally destroyed. This is the meaning; it does not signify that every individual shall be destroyed.

Verse 19. They of the south] The Jews who possessed. the southern part of Palestine, should render themselves masters of the mountains of Idumea which were contiguous to them.

They of the plain] From Eleutheropolis to the Mediterranean Sea. In this and the following verse the prophet shows the different districts which should be occupied by the Israelites after their return from Babylon.

The fields of Samaria] Alexander the Great gave Samaria to the Jews; and John Hyrcanus subdued the same country after his wars with the Syrians. See Josephus, contra App. lib. ii., and Antiq. lib. xiii., c. 18.

Benjamin shall possess Gilead.] Edom lay to the south; the Philistines to the west; Ephraim to the north; and Gilead to the east. Those who returned

Verse 21. And saviours shall come up] Certain persons whom God may choose to be deliverers of his people; such as Zerubbabel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Maccabees.

Some think these saviours, Dyvin moshiim, mean the apostles of our Lord. Several MSS. have Dri mushaim, the preserved; those that are saved, i. e., they who were delivered from the captivity; and those of Mount Zion shall judge, that is, shall execute judgment on the Edomites. And as the Asmonean princes joined the priesthood to the state, it might be what the prophet means when he says, "the kingdom shall be the Lord's," the high priest having both the civil and ecclesiastical power in his own hands. And these actually were masters of Edom, and judged and governed the mountain of Esau. And thus this prophecy appears to have had a very literal fulfilment.

But if we take the whole as referring to the times of the Gospel, which I believe is not its primary sense, it may signify the conversion and restoration of the Jews, and that under JESUS CHRIST the original theocracy shall be restored; and thus, once more, in the promised land, it may be said,

המלוכה
ליהוה
יהיתה

hammeluchah laihovah vehayethah. "And the kingdom shall belong to Jehovah."

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK

THE

PROPHET JONAH.

JONAH, the son of Amittai, the fifth of the minor prophets, was a Galilean, a native of Gath-hepher, which is believed to be the same as Jotapata, celebrated for the siege which Josephus the historian there maintained against the Roman army, a little before the destruction of Jerusalem. Gath-hepher was situated in the land of Zebulon, where was the canton of Ophir or Hepher. St. Jerome places it two miles from Sepphoris, in the way towards Tiberias. Some rabbins are of opinion that Jonah was the widow of Sarepta's son, restored to life by Elijah.

What we know with certainty of Jonah is, that God having commanded him to go to Nineveh, and there proclaim that the cry of the inhabitants' sins was come up to heaven, and they were threatened with approaching ruin; instead of obeying these orders, he resolved to flee away, and go to Tarsus in Cilicia. For this purpose he embarked at Joppa; but the Lord having sent a violent tempest while he was upon the sea, the mariners, with great fear, cried each of them to his god. In the meantime Jonah slept in the hold; whereupon the pilot wakened him; and they who were in the ship cast lots to know how this tempest was occasioned. The lot falling upon Jonah, they asked him who he was, and what he had done to bring upon them such a storm? He told them he was a Hebrew; that he worshipped the God of heaven; was one of his prophets; and fled from his presence to avoid going to Nineveh, whither he was sent. They asked him what was to be done to secure them from shipwreck? He replied: Throw me into the sea, and the tempest will cease.

God prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. This fish, according to some, was a whale; or, as others say, the lamia, canis carcharias, or the sea-dog. The prophet continued in the fish three days and three nights. He cried unto the Lord, and the Lord heard him, and commanded the fish to cast him upon the shore, as it is believed, at the foot of a mountain which projects a great way into the sea, between Berytus and Tripoli. Others think it was upon the coast of Cilicia, two leagues north from Alexandretta.

After this the word of the Lord came a second time to Jonah, and directed him to go to Nineveh. When he came into the city, which was three days' journey in extent, about twenty-five leagues in circumference, Jonah walked up and down a whole day, crying out, "In forty days Nineveh shall be destroyed." The Ninevítes believed his word; they appointed a public fast to be observed; and, from the meanest of the people to the greatest, covered themselves with sackcloth. The king of Nineveh, supposed to have been Sardanapalus, known in profane authors by the name of Anacyndaraxa or Anabaxarus, descended from his throne, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat down upon ashes. God suffered himself to be moved with their repentance, and did not execute the sentence which he had pronounced against them..

Jonah was afflicted at this; and complained to God, saying, that he had always questioned whether, as being a God of clemency and mercy, he would not be flexible to their prayers After this, in all probability, Jonah returned from Nineveh into Judea.

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF JONAH.

The Greeks have for a long time expressed their veneration for Jonah. There was a church dedicated to this prophet in the sixth age.

We do not know when it was that Jonah foretold how Jeroboam II., king of Israel should restore the kingdom of Samaria to its former extent, from the entrance of Hamath to the Dead Sea. Whether this was before or after his going to Nineveh, we cannot tell.

Our Saviour makes frequent mention of Jonah in the Gospels. He says that the Ninevites shall one day rise in judgment against the Jews, and condemn them, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and the Jews would not hearken to Him who was greater than Jo nah. And when the Pharisees required a sign of him to prove his mission, he said he would give them no other than that of the prophet Jonah, that is to say, of his resurrection, which would complete all his miracles, and render the Jews inexcusable in their hardness of heart For a discussion of the question concerning the three days and three nights which Jonah lay in the belly of the fish, see Matt. xii. 40, and the notes there. And for Oriental and Jewish legends and fabulous relations relative to the history of this prophet, see Calmet in his preface to this book.

That there are difficulties in this book every man must allow; and that learned men have differed greatly in their mode of interpreting the book, and explaining these difficulties, is well known. Some have considered it an allegory; referring entirely to Manasseh, and what was done before, during, and after the war with Esar-haddon, king of Assyria. Manasseh being taken prisoner by the Assyrians, and thrust into a dungeon; where, having lain three days and three nights, on his earnest prayer to God in the dungeon, he was delivered, &c. Others have thought, that instead of a fish, a ship is meant, which had the image of a whale on the stern, and might be called Karos, or the whale. Others have thought that the whole of the account of Jonah's being swallowed by a great fish, his praying in its belly, and being cast on dry land, was a dream which he had while fast asleep in the ship. See chap. i. 5. And others state that the whole book is a parable, intending to point out God's justice and mercy, and how prevalent repentance is to turn aside the threatened stroke of Divine wrath.

There is a fable, most probably of Phoenician origin, which, bearing some similitude to the history of Jonah, may have been taken from this book. Laomedon, king of Troy, having displeased Neptune, to appease him, was required to expose his daughter Hesione to be devoured by a sea-monster. She was chained to a rock, and was awaiting her fate at the next flux of the tide. In the interim Hercules slew the sea-monster, and delivered the princess. To this Lycophron, in his Cassandra, ver. 33, &c., is supposed to allude:

Τρίεσπερου λέοντος, ὃν ποτε γναθοις
Τρίτωνος ημαλαψε καρχαρος κυων.

"Of the lion the offspring of three nights, which the fierce dog of Triton swallowed down greedily."

The scholiasts explain this in the following manner: While the princess was standing chained to the rock, expecting the greedy dog (kapxapos kvwv, the shark) to come and devour her, Hercules stood by ready armed; and, when the monster came forward with open mouth, he jumped directly down his throat, and spent three days in cutting and hacking his entrails; and afterwards came out of the monster, with the loss of all the hair on his head. Cyril, in his comment, says this was occasioned by the incredible heat of the monster's stomach.

This fable might have been easily taken from the true history; though some have been ready enough to intimate that the history of the prophet was taken from the fable.

The appeal made to the main facts of this history by our Lord, proves that we are to admit of no allegorical exposition of these facts. 1. There was such a person as Jonah. 2. He was swallowed by a sea-monster, in whose belly he was miraculously preserved three days and three nights. 3. This same prophet preached to the Ninevites; and they repented, and turned from their sins, under his ministry. This testimony puts an end to all mythological, allegorical, and hypothetical interpretations of those great facts. And in its literal sense alone, I undertake the interpretation of this book

THE BOOK

OF THE

JONAH.

PROP HET JO NA H.

Chronological Notes relative to this Book, upon the supposition that the repentance of the Ninevites happened in the twenty-third year of the reign of Jehu, king of Israel.

Year from the Creation, according to Archbishop Usher, 3142.-Year of the Julian Period, 3852.-Year since the Flood, 1486.-Year from the foundation of Solomon's temple, 150.-Year since the division of Solomon's monarchy into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, 114.-Year before the first Olympiad, 86.— Year before the building of Rome, according to the Varronian computation, 109.-Year before the birth of Jesus Christ, 858.-Year before the vulgar era of Christ's nativity, 862.-Twelfth year of Charilaus, king of Lacedæmon, of the family of the Proclide.-Fifty-second year of Archelaus, king of Lacedæmon, of the family of the Eurysthenida.-Second year of Phereclus, perpetual archon of the Athenians.— Fourteenth year of Alladius Sylvius, king of the Albans.-Twenty-third year of Jehu, king of Israel.Seventeenth year of Joash, king of Judah.

Jonah, sent to Nineveh, flees to Tarshish, 1–3.

CHAPTER I.

He is overtaken by a great tempest, 4-14; thrown into the sea, 15, 16; and swallowed by a fish, in the belly of which he is miraculously preserved alive three days and three nights, 17.

A. M. cir. 3142.

B. C. cir. 862. Ante U. C. 109. Alladii Sylvii, R. Alban., cir. annum 14.

a 2 Kings xiv. 25.

с

NOW the word of the LORD great city, and cry against it; A. M. eir. 3142.

came unto a Jonah the son for

B. C. cir. 862. their wickedness is come Ante U. C. 109

up before me.

2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that

3 But Jonah

rose up to flee

Alladii Sylvii, R. Alban., cir. annum 14.

of Amittai, saying,

b Called, Matt. xii. 39, Jonas.- - Gen. Gen. xviii. 20, 21; Ezra ix. 6; James v. 4; Rev. xviii. 5. x. 11, 12; chap. iii. 2, 3; iv. 11.

NOTES ON CHAP. I.

Verse 1. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah] All that is certainly known about this prophet has already been laid before the reader. He was of Gath-hepher, in the tribe of Zebulun, in lower Galilee, Josh. xix. 13; and he prophesied in the reigns of Jeroboam the Second, and Joash, kings of Israel. Jeroboam came to the throne eight hundred and twentythree years before the Christian era, and reigned in Samaria forty-one years, 2 Kings xiv. 23-25. As a prophet, it is likely that he had but this one mission.

Verse 2. Go to Nineveh] This was the capital of the Assyrian empire, and one of the most ancient cities of the world, Gen. x. 10; and one of the largest, as it was three days' journey in circumference. Ancient writers represent it as oblong; being in length one hundred and fifty stadia, and ninety in breadth, the compass being four hundred and eighty stadia. Now as the stadium is allowed to have been equal to our furlong, eight of which make a mile, this amounts to

* Chap. iv. 2.

But

fifty-four English miles: see on chap. iii. 3.
we must not suppose that all this space was covered
with compact streets and buildings; it took in a con-
siderable space of country, probably all the cultivated
ground necessary to support all the inhabitants of that
district. Calmet computes the measurement of the
circumference to be equal to twenty-five French leagues.
It is reported to have had walls one hundred feet high,
and so broad that three chariots might run abreast upon
them. It was situated on the Tigris, or a little to the
west, or on the west side of that river. It was well
peopled, and had at this time one hundred and twenty
thousand persons in it reputed to be in a state of in-
fancy, which on a moderate computation would make
the whole number six hundred thousand persons. But
some, supposing that persons not being able to distin-
guish their right hand from their left must mean chil-
dren under two years of age, and reckoning one such
child for every twenty persons from that age upwards,
make the population amount to two millions five hun-