Jonah is discontented CHAP. IV. with his mission. city was saved. The purpose was: If the Ninevites the city. The Ninevites did return, &c., and theredo not return from their evil ways, and the violence fore escaped the threatened judgment. Thus we see that is in their hands, within forty days, I will destroy that the threatening was conditional. CHAPTER IV. · Jonah, dreading to be thought a false prophet, repines at God's mercy in sparing the Ninevites, whose destruction he seems to have expected, from his retiring to a place without the city about the close of the forty days. But how does he glorify that mercy which he intends to lame! And what an amiable picture does he give of the compassion of God! 1-5. This attribute of the Deity is still farther illustrated by his tenderness and condescension to the prophet himself, who, with all his prophetic gifts, had much of human infirmity, 6-11. A. M. cir. 3142. B. C. cir. 862. Ante U. C. 109. Alladii Sylvii, R. Alban., it BUT it displeased Jonah ex- thee, my life from me; for angry. NOTES ON CHAP. IV. Verse 1. But it displeased Jonah-exceedingly] This hasty, and indeed inconsiderate prophet, was vexed because his prediction was not fulfilled. He had more respect to his high sense of his own honour than he had to the goodness and mercy of God... He appeared to care little whether six hundred and twenty thousand persons were destroyed or not, so he might not pass for a deceiver, or one that denounced a falsity. And he was very angry.] Because the prediction was not literally fulfilled; for he totally lost sight of the condition. Verse 2. I know that thou art a gracious God] See the note on Exod. xxxiv. 6. grace. Verse 3. Take, I beseech thee, my life from me] * 8 8 пp kach na eth naphshi, “Take, I beseech thee, even my soul." Do not let me survive this disThou hast spared this city. I thought thou wouldst do so, because thou art merciful and gracious; and it was on this account that I refused to go at first, as I knew that thou mightest change thy purpose, though thou hadst commanded me to make an absolute denunciation of judgment. God has left this example on record to show that an inconsiderate man is not fit to be employed in his work; and he chose this one example that it might serve as an endless warning to his Church to employ no man in the work of the ministry that is not scripturally acquainted with God's justice and mercy... Verse 4. Doest thou well to be angry?] haheitib harah lac, “Is anger good for thee?" No, anger is good for no man; but an angry preacher, e A. M. cir. 3142. Ante U. C. 109, Alladii Sylvii, R. Alban., B. C. cir. 862. 4 Then said the LORD, Doest cir. annum 14. thou well to be angry 5 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. 6 And the Lord GoD prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it ́e Or, Art thou greatly angry?- - Oŕ, palmecrist.- - Heb. Kikajon. minister, bishop, or prophet, is an abominable man. He who, in denouncing the word of God against sinners, joins his own passions with the Divine threatenings, is a cruel and bad man, and should not be an overseer in God's house. A surly bishop, a peevish, passionate preacher, will bring neither glory to God, nor good to man. Dr. Taylor renders the clause, "Art thou very much grieved ?" A man may be very much grieved that a sinner is lost; but who but he who is of a fiendish nature will be grieved because God's mercy triumphs over judgment? Verse 5. So Jonah went out of the city] I believe this refers to what had already passed; and I therefore agree with Bp. Newcome, who translates, "Now Jonah HAD gone out of the city, and HAD sat," &c.; for there are many instances where verbs in the preterite form have this force, the vau here turning the future into the preterite. And the passage is here to be understood thus: When he had delivered his message he left the city, and went and made himself a tent, or got under some shelter on the east side of the city, and there he was determined to remain till he should see what would become of the city. But when the forty days had expired, and he saw no evidence of the Divine wrath, he became angry, and expostulated with God as above. The fifth verse should be read in a parenthesis, or be considered as beginning the chapter. Verse 6. And the Lord God prepared a gourd] I believe this should be rendered in the preterpluperfect tense, The Lord HAD prepared this plant, pp kikayon. It had in the course of God's providence been planted and grown up in that place, though per haps not yet in full leaf; and Jonah made that his tent. And its thick branches and large leaves made it an ample shelter for him; and because it was such, he rejoiced greatly on the account. But what was the kikayon? The best judges say the ricinus or palma Christi, from which we get what is vulgarly called castor oil, is meant. It is a tree as large as the olive, has leaves which are like those of the vine, and is also quick of growth. This in all probability was the plant in question, which had been already planted, though it had not attained its proper growth, and was not then in full leaf. Celsus, in his Hierobot., says it grows to the height of an olive tree; the trunk and branches are hollow like a kex, and the leaves sometimes as broad as the rim of a hat. It must be of a soft or spongy substance, for it is said to grow suprisingly fast. See Taylor under the root pp, 1670. But it is evident there was something supernatural in the growth of this plant, for it is stated to have come up in a night; though the Chaldee understands the passage thus: "It was here last night, and is withered this night." In one night it might have blown and expanded its leaves considerably, though the plant had existed before, but not in full bloom till the time that Jonah required it for a shelter. Verse 7. But God prepared a worm] By being eaten through the root, the plant, losing its nourishment, would soon wither; and this was the case in the present instance. Verse 8. A vehement east wind] Which was of itself of a parching, withering nature; and the sun, in addition, made it intolerable. These winds are both scorching and suffocating in the East, for deserts of burning sand lay to the east or south-east; and the easterly winds often brought such a multitude of minute particles of sand on their wings, as to add greatly to the mischief. I believe these, and the sands they carry, are the cause of the ophthalmia which prevails so much both in Egypt and India. Verse 9. I do well to be angry, even unto death.] Many persons suppose that the gifts of prophecy and working miracles are the highest that can be conferred on man; but they are widely mistaken, for these gifts m concerning the gourd. well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. A. M. cir. 3142. B. C. cir. 862. Ante U. C. 109. Alladii Sylvii, R. Alban., cir. annum 14. 10 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: 11 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? n Or, spared- Heb. was the son of the night.-P Chap. i. 2; iii. 2, 3. Deut. i. 39. Psa. xxxvi. 6; cxlv. 9. change not the heart. Jonah had the gift of prophecy, but had not received that grace which destroys the old man and creates the soul anew in Christ Jesus. This is the love of which St. Paul speaks, which if a man have not, though he had the gift of prophecy, and could miraculously remove mountains, yet in the sight of God, and for any good himself might reap from it, it would be as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. Jonah was a prophet, and yet had all his old bad tem pers about him, in a shameful predominancy. Balaam was of the same kind, So we find that God gave the gift of prophecy even to graceless men. But many of the prophets were sanctified in their nature before their call to the prophetic office, and were the most excellent of men. Verse 10. Which came up in a night] St Jerome, speaking of this plant, the kikayon, assigns to it an extraordinary rapidity of growth. It delights in a sandy soil, and in a few days what was a plant grows into a large shrub. But he does not appear to have meant the ricinus; this however is the most likely. The expressions coming up in a night and perishing in a night are only metaphorical to express speedy growth and speedy decay; and so, as we have seen, the די בליליא הדין הוה ובליליא אוחרנא,Chaldee interprets it "which existed this night, but in the next night perished;" and this I am satisfied is the true import of the Hebrew phrase. Verse 11. And should not I spare Nineveh] In ver. 10 it is said, thou hast had pity on the gourd, non nnx atlah CHASTA; and here the Lord uses the same word, in `u̸ši veani lo ACHUS, “And shall not I have pity upon Nineveh?" How much is the city better than the shrub? But besides this there are in it one hundred and twenty thousand persons! And shall I destroy them, rather than thy shade should be withered or thy word apparently fail? And besides, these persons are young, and have not offended, (for they knew not the difference between their right hand and their left,) and should not I feel more pity for those innocents than thou dost for the fine flowering plant which is withered in a night, being itself exceedingly shortlived? Add to all this, they have now turned from Concluding observations CHAP. IV. Jonah was upon the Prophet Jonah. those sins which induced me to denounce judgment | history, their true repository; but fancy can find them against them. And should I destroy them who are any where it pleases to seek them; but he who seeks now fasting and afflicting their souls; and, covered not for them will never find them here. with sackcloth, are lying in the dust before me, be- a type of the resurrection of Christ; nothing farther wailing their offences and supplicating for mercy? seems revealed in this prophet relative to the mysteries Learn, then, from this, that it is the incorrigibly wicked of Christianity. on whom my judgments must fall, and against whom they are threatened. And know, that to that man will I look who is of a broken and contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word. Even the dumb beasts are objects of my compassion; I will spare them for the sake of their penitent owners; and remember with the rést, That the Lord careth for oxen. The great number of cattle to which reference is here made were for the support of the inhabitants; and probably at this time the Ninevites gathered in their cattle from the champaign pasture, expecting that some foe coming to besiege them might seize upon them for their forage, while they within might suffer the lack of all things. In conclusion: while I have done the best I could to illustrate the very difficult prophet through whose work the reader has just passed, I do not pretend to say I have removed every difficulty. I am satisfied only of one thing, that I have conscientiously endeavoured to do it, and believe that I have generally succeeded; but am still fearful that several are left behind, which, though they may be accounted for from the briefness of the narrative of a great transaction, in which so many surprising particulars are included, yet, for general apprehension, might appear to have required a more distinct and circumstantial statement. I have only to add, that as several of the facts are evidently miraculous, and by the prophet stated as such, others may be probably of the same kind. On this No doubt that ancient Nineveh was like ancient Babylon, of which Quintus Curtius says, the build-ground all difficulty is removed; for God can do ings were not close to the walls, there being the space of an acre left between them; and in several parts there were within the walls portions of cultivated land, that, if besieged, they might have provisions to sustain the inhabitants. what he pleases. As his power is unlimited, it can meet with no impossibilities. He who gave the commission to Jonah to go and preach to the Ninevites, and prepared the great fish to swallow the disobedient prophet, could maintain his life for three days and And I suppose this to be true of all large ancient three nights in the belly of this marine monster; and cities. They were rather cantons or districts than cause it to eject him at the termination of the appointcities such as now are, only all the different inhabited time, on any sea-coast he might choose; and af ants had joined together to wall in the districts for terwards the Divine power could carry the deeply conthe sake of mutual defence. This last expostulation of God, it is to be hoped, produced its proper effect on the mind of this irritable prophet; and that he was fully convinced that in this, as in all other cases, God had done all things well. FROM this short prophecy many useful lessons may be derived. The Ninevites were on the verge of destruction, but on their repentance were respited. They did not, however, continue under the influence of good resolutions. They relapsed, and about one hundred and fifty years afterwards, the Prophet Nahum was sent to predict the miraculous discomfiture of the Assyrian king under Sennacherib, an event which took place about 710 B. C.; and also the total destruction of Nineveh by Cyaxares and his allies, which happened about 606 B. C. Several of the ancients, by allegorizing this book, have made Jonah declare the divinity, humanity, death, and resurrection of Christ. These points may be found in the Gospel trite and now faithful prophet over the intervening distance between that and Nineveh, be that distance greater or less. Whatever, therefore, cannot be accounted for on mere natural principles in this book, may be referred to this supernatural 'agency; and this, on the ostensible principle of the prophecy itself, is at once a mode of interpretation as easy as it is rational. God gave the commission; he raised the storm; he prepared the fish which swallowed the prophet; he caused it to cast him forth on the dry land; he gave him a fresh commission, carried him to the place of his destination, and miraculously produced the sheltering gourd, that came to perfection in a night, and withered in a night. This God therefore performed the other facts for which we cannot naturally account, as he did those already specified. This concession, for the admission of which both common sense and reason plead, at once solves all the real or seeming difficulties to be found in the Book of the Prophet Jonah, 709 INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET MICA H. MICAH, the Morasthite, or of Moresa, a village near the city Eleutheropolis, in the southern part of Judah, is the sixth in order of the twelve minor prophets. He prophesied under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, for about fifty years. Some have con founded him with Micaiah, son of Imlah, who lived in the kingdom of the ten tribes, under the reign of Ahab. The spurious Dorotheus says that Micah was buried in the burying-place of the Anakım, whose habitation had been at Hebron, and round about it. This prophet appeared almost at the same time with Isaiah, and has even borrowed some expressions from him. Compare Isa. ii. 2 with Mic. iv 1, and Isa. xli. 15 with Mic. iv. 13. The prophecy of Micah contains but seven chapters. He foretells the calamities of Samaria, which was taken by Shalmaneser, and reduced to a heap of stones. Afterwards he prophesies against Judah, and declares the troubles that Sennacherib should bring upon it under the reign of Hezekiah. Then he declaims against the iniquities of Samaria. He foretells the captivity of the ten tribes, and their return into their own country. The third chap ter contains a pathetic invective against the princes of the house of Jacob, and the judges of the house of Israel; which seems levelled against the chief of the kingdom of Judah, the judges, the magistrates, the priests, the false prophets, &c. He upbraids them with their avarice, their injustice, and falsehood; and tells them they will be the occasion that Jerusalem shall be reduced to a heap of rubbish, and the mountain of the temple shall be as a forest. We are informed, Jer. xxvi. 18, 19, that this prophecy was pronounced in the reign of Hezekiah; and that it saved Jeremiah from death... After these terrible denunciations, Micah speaks of the reign of the Messiah, and of the establishment of the Christian Church. And as the peaceable times which succeeded the return from the Babylonish captivity, and which were a figure of the reign of the Messiah, were disturbed by a tempest of a short continuance, Micah foretold it in such a manner as agrees very well with what Ezekiel says of the war of Gog against the Jews. Micah speaks in particular of the birth of the Messiah; that he was to be born at Bethlehem; and that his dominion was to extend to the utmost parts of the earth. He says that God should raise seven shepherds, who should reign by the sword over Assyria, and in the land of Nimrod; which Calmet explains of Darius, son of Hystaspes, and of the seven confederates that killed the magian, and who possessed the empire of the Persians, after the extinction of the family of Cyrus. The fifth chapter, from ver. 7 to the end, describes the flourishing estate of the Jews in their own country, from the reign of Darius, and after the Maccabees; yet in such a manner, that he mingles several things in it that can apply only to the Church of Jesus Christ. The two last chapters of Micah contain, first, a long invective against the iniquities of Samaria then he foretells the fall of Babylon; the re-establishment of the cities of Israel; the greatness of the country possessed by the Israelites; their happiness; the graces wherewith God will favour them; and all this in such lofty terms, that they chiefly agree with the INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF MICAH. Christian Church. St. Jerome says that Micah was buried at Morasthi, ten furlongs from Eleutheropolis; and Sozomenes says that his tomb was revealed to Zebennus, bishop of Eleutheropolis, under the reign of Theodosius the Great. He calls the place of his burial Beretsate, which is probably the same as Morasthi, ten furlongs from Eleutheropolis. Bishop Newcome observes that Micah was of the kingdom of Judah, as he only makes mention of kings who reigned over that country. It is supposed that he prophesied farther on in the reign of Hezekiah than Hosea did; although chap. v. 5 was written before the captivi ty of the ten tribes, which happened in the sixth year of Hezekiah. It is plain from chap i. 1, 5, 9, 12, 13, that he was sent both to Israel and Judah. Like Amos and Hosea, he re proves and threatens, with great spirit and energy, a corrupt people. See chap. ii. 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10; iii. 2, 3, 4, 6, 10-16; vii. 2, 3, 4. And, like Hosea, he inveighs against the princes and prophets with the highest indignation. See chap. iii. 5–7, 9-12; vii. 3. reader will observe that these similar topics are treated of by each prophet with remarkable variety, and copiousness of expression. The Some of his prophecies are distinct and illustrious ones, as chap. ii. 12, 13; iii. 12; iv, 1-4, 10; v. 2, 3, 4; vi. 13; vii. 8, 9, 10. We may justly admire the elegance of his diction : Chap. ii. 12.—“I will surely gather, O Jacob, all of thee: I will surely assemble the residue of Israel. I will put them together as sheep of Bozra, As a flock in the midst of their fold: They shall make a tumult from the multitude of men. 13. He that forceth a passage is come up before them: They have forced a passage, and have passed through the gate; and are gone forth by it: That the mountain of the temple of Jehovah shall be Established on the top of the mountains, And it shall be exalted above the hills; And the people shall flow into it: 2. And many nations shall go, and shall say, Come, and let us go up unto the mountain of Jehovah, And unto the temple of the God of Jacob: That he may teach us of his ways, and that we may walk in his paths, For from Sion shall go forth a law, And the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. 3. And he shall judge between many people, Chap. iv. 9. "What is the transgression of Jacob?—is it not that of Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah are they not those of Jerusalem ?" -" And now why dost thou cry out loudly? Is there no king in thee? Hath thy counsellor perished? For pangs have seized thee, as a woman in travail." There are few beauties of composition of which examples may not be found in this prophet. For sublimity and impressiveness in several places, he is unrivalled. The Lord's controversy, chap. vi. 1-8, is equal to any thing even in the prophet Isaiah. It has a powerful effect on every attentive reader. |