Jonah 2 commentary

Observe when Jonah prayed. When he was in trouble, under the tokens of God's displeasure against him for sin: when we are in affliction we must pray. Being kept alive by miracle, he prayed. A sense of God's good-will to us, notwithstanding our offences, opens the lips in prayer, which were closed with the dread of wrath. Also, where he prayed; in the belly of the fish. No place is amiss for prayer. Men may shut us from communion with one another, but not from communion with God. To whom he prayed; to the Lord his God. This encourages even backsliders to return. What his prayer was. This seems to relate his experience and reflections, then and afterwards, rather than to be the form or substance of his prayer. Jonah reflects on the earnestness of his prayer, and God's readiness to hear and answer. If we would get good by our troubles, we must notice the hand of God in them. He had wickedly fled from the presence of the Lord, who might justly take his Holy Spirit from him, never to visit him more. Those only are miserable, whom God will no longer own and favour. But though he was perplexed, yet not in despair. Jonah reflects on the favour of God to him, when he sought to God, and trusted in him in his distress. He warns others, and tells them to keep close to God. Those who forsake their own duty, forsake their own mercy; those who run away from the work of their place and day, run away from the comfort of it. As far as a believer copies those who observe lying vanities, he forsakes his own mercy, and lives below his privileges. But Jonah's experience encourages others, in all ages, to trust in God, as the God of salvation.

Jonah's deliverance may be considered as an instance of God's power over all the creatures. As an instance of God's mercy to a poor penitent, who in distress prays to him: and as a type and figure of Christ's resurrection. Amidst all our varying experiences, and the changing scenes of life; we should look by faith, fixedly, upon our once suffering and dying, but now risen and ascended Redeemer. Let us confess our sins, consider Christ's resurrection as an earnest of our own, and thankfully receive every temporal and spiritual deliverance, as the pledge of our eternal redemption.

When Jonah says that he prayed from the bowels of the fish, he shows first with what courage of mind he was endued. He had then put on a new heart; for when he was at liberty he thought that he could in a manner escape from God, he became a fugitive from the Lord: but now while inclosed within narrow bounds, he begins to pray, and of his own accord sets himself in God’s presence.

This is a change worthy of being noticed: and hence we may learn how much it profits us to be drawn back often as it were by cords, or to be held tied up with fetters because when we are free we go astray here and there beyond all limits. Jonah, when he was at liberty, became, as we have seen, wanton; but now finding himself restrained by the mighty hand of God, he receives a new mind, and prays from the bowels of the fish “No place amiss for prayer, I will that men pray everywhere; where ever God casts us we may find a way open heavenwards, if it be now our own fault. Jonah was now in the bottom of the sea, yet out of the depths he cries to God.” — M. Henry. “It may be asked, How could Jonah either pray or breathe in the stomach of a fish? Very easily, if God so willed it. And let the reader keep this constantly in view: the whole is a miracle, from Jonah’s being swallowed by the fish, till he was cast ashore by the same animal. It was God that had prepared the great fish; it was the Lord that spake to the fish, and caused it to vomit Jonah on the dry land. All is miracle.” — Adam Clarke. — Ed. . But how was it that he directed his petitions then to God, by whose hand he saw that he was so heavily pressed? For God most rigidly handled him; Jonah was in a manner doomed to eternal ruin; the bowels of the fish, as we shall hereafter see, were indeed to him as it were hell or the grave. But in this state of despair Jonah even gathered courage, and was able to retake himself directly to God. It was a wonderful and almost incredible example of faith. Let us then learn to weigh well what is here said; for when the Lord heavily afflicts us, it is then a legitimate and seasonable time for prayer. But we know that the greater part despond, and do not usually offer their prayers freely to God, except their minds be in a calm state; and yet God then especially invites us to himself when we are reduced to extremities. Let this, then, which Jonah declares of himself, come to our minds, — that he cried to God from hell itself: and, at the same time, he assures us that his prayer proceeded from true faith; for he does not simply say that he prayed to Jehovah, but he adds that he was his God; and he speaks with a serious and deeply-reflective mind. Though Jonah then was not only like one dead, but also on the confines of perdition, he yet believed that God would be merciful if he fled to him. We hence see that Jonah prayed not at random, as hypocrites are wont to take God’s name in their mouths when they are in distress, but he prayed in earnest; for he was persuaded that God would be propitious to him.

But we must remember that his prayer was not composed in the words which are here related; but Jonah, while in the bowels of the fish, dwelt on these thoughts in his mind. Hence he relates in this song how he thought and felt; and we shall see that he was then in a state of distraction, as our minds must necessarily be tossed here and there by temptations. For the servants of God do not gain the victory without great struggle. We must fight, and indeed strenuously, that we may conquer. Jonah then in this song shows that he was agitated with great trouble and hard contests: yet this conviction was firmly fixed in his heart, — that God was to be sought, and would not be sought in vain, as he is ever ready to bring help to his people whenever they cry to him.

Then he says, I cried, when I had trouble, to Jehovah, and he answered me. Jonah no doubt relates now, after having come forth from the bowels of the fish, what had happened to him, and he gives thanks to the Lord. He relates here, as it appears from the preceding, “and he said,” the prayer he offered when in the fish’s bowels, and not a prayer offered after his deliverance. Some have entertained the latter opinion, because some of the verbs here are in the past tense: but this circumstance only shows that he continued to pray from the time when he was swallowed by the fish to the time when he was delivered. It was a continued act. It is the same as though he said, “I have called, and do call on Jehovah.” Marckius, and also Dathius, render the verbs in the present tense, “I call,” etc. The following is a translation according to the view of this prayer, —

3. I call in my distress on Jehovah, and he will answer me; From the belly of the grave I cry, — thou hearest my voice.

4. When thou didst send me to the deep, into the midst of the waters, And the flood surrounded me, — Thy billows and waves over me passed;

5. Then I said, I am banished from the sight of thine eyes; — Yet I will again look towards the temple of thy holiness.

6. Encompass me do the waters to the soul, The deep surrounds me, The sedge is wrapped around my head:

7. To the cuttings off of the mountains have I descended; The earth! Its bars are continually around me: But thou wilt bring from destruction my life, O Jehovah, my God.

8. When overwhelmed within me was my soul, Jehovah did I remember; And come to thee shall my prayer — To the temple of thy holiness.

9. They who regard idols of vanity, Their own mercy forsake:

10. But I, with the voice of praise, will sacrifice to thee, What I have vowed will I fulfill: Salvation belongs to Jehovah.

“The cuttings off,” in verse 7, says Parkhurst, were those parts which were cut off from the mountains at the deluge. The Septuagint has σχισμας — rents-clefts. Roots, bottoms, foundations, have been adopted by some, but not consistently with the meaning of the original word, — “The bars or bolts” of the earth convey the idea of impediments in his way to return to the earth. They were “around” him, or literally “upon” him, בעדי, that is, they were, as it were, closed upon him. — Ed. This verse then contains two parts, — that Jonah in his trouble fled to God, — and the latter part contains thanksgiving for having been miraculously delivered beyond what flesh could have thought. I cried, he says, in my distress, to Jehovah; I cried out from the bowels of hell, thou hast heard my voice. Jonah, as we shall hereafter see, directed his prayers to God not without great struggle; he contended with many difficulties; but however great the impediments in his way, he still persevered and ceased not from praying. He now tells us that he had not prayed in vain; and, that he might amplify the grace of God, he says, from the bowels of the grave He mentioned distress (angustiam — straitness) in the first clause; but here he more clearly expresses how remarkable and extraordinary had been the kindness of God, that he came forth safe from the bowels of the fish, which were like the bowels of the grave. שאול, shaul, derived from corruption, is called the grave by the Hebrews, and the Latin translator has almost everywhere rendered it hell, (infernum;) and שאול, shaul, is also sometimes taken for hell, that is, the state of the reprobate, because they know that they are condemned by God: it is, however, taken more frequently for the grave; and I am disposed to retain this sense, — that the fish was like the grave. But he means that he was so shut up in the grave, that there was no escape open to him.

What are the bowels of the grave? Even the inside or the recess of the grave itself. When Jonah was in this state, he says, that he was heard by the Lord. It may be proper to repeat again what I have already slightly touched, — that Jonah was not so oppressed, though under the heaviest trial, but that his petitions came forth to God. He prayed as it were from hell, and not simply prayed, for he, at the same time, sets forth his vehemence and ardor by saying, that he cried and cried aloud. Distress, no doubt, extorted from Jonah these urgent entreaties. However this might have been, he did not howl, as the unbelieving are wont to do, who feel their own evils and bitterly complain; and yet they pour forth vain howlings. Jonah here shows himself to be different from them by saying, that he cried and cried aloud to God. It now follows —

Jonah 2:3

3. For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.

3. Atqui projeceras me in profundum, in cor marium, et fluvius circumdedit me; omnes conflictus tui (sed hac voce intelligit undas quae inter se confligunt; scimus enim esse varias collisiones, ideo vertunt aliqui, contritiones tui, nam שחר significat proprie confligere et frangere; perinde est igitur ac si diceret, omnes fracturae tuae et collisiones super me transierunt, et explicat quid velit, quum dicit) fluctus tui super me transierunt.

In this verse are set forth his difficulties: for Jonah, for the sake of amplifying, refers to his condition. It was a great thing that he cried to God from the bowels of the fish; but it was far more difficult for him to raise up his mind in prayer, when he knew or thought God to be angry with him: for had he been thrown into extreme evils, he might yet call upon God; but as it came to his mind that all the evil he suffered was inflicted by God, because he tried to shun his call, how was it possible for him to penetrate into heaven when such an obstacle stood in his way? We hence see the design of these words, But thou hadst cast me into the gulf, into the heart of the sea; the flood surrounded me, all thy billows and waves passed over me.

In short, Jonah shows here what dreadful temptations presented themselves to him while he was endeavoring to offer up prayers. It came first to his mind that God was his most inveterate enemy. For Jonah did not then think of the sailors and the rest who had cast him into the sea; but his mind was fixed on God: this is the reason why he says, Thou, Lord, hadst cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea; and then, Thy billows, Thy waves “He calls them God’s billows and his waves, not because he made and rules them, but because he had now commissioned them against Jonah, and ordered them to afflict and terrify, but not to destroy him. These words are plainly quoted by Jonah from Psalm 42:7. What David spoke figuratively and metaphorically, Jonah applies to himself as literally fulfilled.” — M. Henry. He does not here regard the nature of the sea; but he bestows, as I have already said, all his thoughts on God, and acknowledges that he had to do with him; as though he said, “Thou Lord, in pursuing me, drivest me away; but to thee do I come: thou showest by dreadful proofs that thou art offended with me, but yet I seek thee; so far is it that these terrors drive me to a distance from thee, that now, being subdued as it were by thy goads, I come willingly to thee; for nowhere else is there for me any hope of deliverance.” We now then see how much avails the contrast, when Jonah sets the terrible punishment which he endured in opposition to his prayer. Let us now proceed —

Jonah 2:4

4. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.

4. Tunc ego dixi, (nam copula resolvi debet in adverbium temporis,) Expulsus sum a conspectu oculorum tuorum; verum adjiciam aspicere ad templum sanctitatis tuae.

In the first clause of this verse Jonah confirms again what I have said, — that when he sought to pray, not only the door was closed against him, but there were mountains, as it were, intervening, so that he could not breathe a prayer to God: for he did not so much think of the state in which he was; nay, but he chiefly considered his own case, how he had provoked the wrath of God. Hence he says, I have said, I am cast away from the sight of thine eyes. Some give this frigid exposition, that he had been only expelled from his own country, that he might not behold the temple. But I have no doubt but that Jonah tells us here that he suffered extreme agonies, as though every hope of pardon had been cut off from him: “What! shall I yet hope that God will be propitious? It is not to be hoped.” This then is the casting away of which he speaks: for it is said that God casts us away, when he allows us no access to him. Hence Jonah thought that he was wholly alienated from God. Were any to object and say, that then his faith must have been extinct; the obvious answer is, — that in the struggle of faith there are internal conflicts; one thought is suggested, and then another of an opposite character meets it; there would indeed be no trial of our faith, except there were such internal conflicts; for when, with appeased minds, we can feel assured that God is propitious to us, what is the trial of faith? But when the flesh tells us that God is opposed to us, and that there is no more hope of pardon, faith at length sets up its shield, and repels this onset of temptation, and entertains hope of pardon: whenever God for a time appears implacable, then faith indeed is tried. Such then was the condition of Jonah; for, according to the judgment of the flesh, he thought that he was utterly cast away by God, so that he came to him in vain. Jonah, then, having not yet put off flesh and blood, could not immediately lay hold on the grace of God, but difficulties met him in his course.

The latter clause is differently explained by interpreters. Some take it negatively, “I shall no more look towards the temple of thy holiness:” but the words admit not of this explanation. אך, ak, means in Hebrew, truly, nevertheless; and it means also, certainly; and sometimes it is taken dubitatively, perhaps. The greater part of expounders render the clause thus, “But I shall see the temple of thy holiness;” as though Jonah here reproved his own distrust, which he had just expressed, as the case is with the faithful, who immediately check themselves, when they are tempted to entertain any doubt: “What! dost thou then cast away hope, when yet God will be reconciled to thee if thou wilt come to him?” Hence interpreters think that it is a sort of correction, as though Jonah here changed his mind, and retracted what he had previously taken up, as a false principle derived from the judgment of the flesh. He had said then that he had been cast away from the presence of the Lord; but now, according to these expositors, he repels that temptation, But I shall see thy holy temple; though I seem now to be rejected by thee, thou wilt at last receive me into favor. We may, however, explain this clause, consistently with the former, in this way, At least, or, but, I would again see, etc., as an expression of a wish. The future then may be taken for the optative mood, as we know that the Hebrews are wont thus to use the future tense, either when they pray or express a wish. This meaning then best agrees with the passage, that Jonah as yet doubtingly prays, At least, or, but, I would again, O Lord, see the temple of thy holiness. But since the former explanation which I have mentioned is probable, I do not contend for this. However this may be, we find that Jonah did not wholly despair, though the judgment of the flesh would drive him to despair; for he immediately turned his address to God. For they who murmur against God, on the contrary, speak in the third person, turning themselves, as it were, away from him: but Jonah here sets God before his eyes, I have been cast away, he says, from the sight of thine eyes He does not remonstrate here with God, but shows that he was seeking God still, though he thought that he was cast far away.

Then he adds, I would at least see again the temple of thy holiness. And by speaking of the temple, he no doubt set the temple before him as an encouragement to his faith. As then he had been cast away, he gathers everything that might avail to raise up and confirm his hope. He had indeed been circumcised, he had been a worshipper of God from his childhood, he had been educated in the Law, he had exercised himself in offering sacrifices: under the name of temple he now includes briefly all these things. We hence see that he thus encouraged himself to entertain good hope in his extreme necessity. And this is a useful admonition; for when every access to God seems closed up against us, nothing is more useful than to recall to mind, that he has adopted us from our very infancy, that he has also testified his favor by many tokens, especially that he has called us by his Gospel into a fellowship with his only-begotten Son, who is life and salvation; and then, that he has confirmed his favor both by Baptism and the Supper. When, therefore, these things come to our minds, we may be able by faith to break through all impediments. Let us go on —

Jonah 2:5-6

5. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head.

5. Obsederunt me aquae usque ad animam, abyssus undique circumdedit me, juncus alligatus fuit capite meo:

6. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.

6. Ad radices (proprie, excisuras; nam קצב significat excidere; alii vertunt, ad fines extremos; ad radices igitur) montium descendi; terra cum vectibus suis circum me in seculum: et ascendere fecisti vitam meam e sepulchro (est aliud nomen quam שאול, nempe, שהת; alii vertunt, a corruptione, vel, interitu,) Jehova, Deus mi.

Here in many words Jonah relates how many things had happened to him, which were calculated to overwhelm his mind with terror and to drive him far from God, and to take away every desire for prayer. But we must ever bear in mind what we have already stated, — that he had to do with God: and this ought to be well considered by us. The case was the same with David, when he says in Psalm 39:9, ‘Thou hast yet done it;’ for, after having complained of his enemies, he turned his mind to God: “What then do I? what do I gain by these complaints? for men alone do not vex me; thou, God, he says, hast done this.” So it was with Jonah; he ever set before him the wrath of God, for he knew that such a calamity had not happened to him but on account of his sins.

He therefore says that he was by waters beset, and then, that he was surrounded by the deep; but at length he adds, that God made his life to ascend, etc. All these circumstances tend to show that Jonah could not have raised up his mind to God except through an extraordinary miracle, as his life was in so many ways oppressed. When he says that he was beset with waters even to the soul, I understand it to have been to the peril of his life; for other explanations seem frigid and strained. And the Hebrews says that to be pressed to the soul, is to be in danger of one’s life; as the Latins, meaning the same thing, say that the heart, or the inside, or the bowels, are wounded. So also in this place the same thing is meant, ‘The waters beset me even to the soul,’ and then, ‘the abyss surrounds me.’ Some render סוף, suph, sedge; others sea-weed; others bulrush: but the sense amounts to the same thing. No doubt סוף, suph, is a species of sedge; and some think that the Red Sea was thus called, because it is full of sedges or bulrushes. They think also that bulrushes are thus called, because they soon putrefy. But what Jonah means is certain and that is, that weed enveloped his head, or that weed grew around his head: but to refer this to the head of the fish, as some do, is improper: Jonah speaks metaphorically when he says that he was entangled in the sedge, inasmuch as there is no hope when any one is rolled in the sedge at the bottom of the sea. How, indeed, can he escape from drowning who is thus held, as it were, tied up? It is then to be understood metaphorically; for Jonah meant that he was so sunk that he could not swim, except through the ineffable power of God.

According to the same sense he says, I descended to the roots of the mountains. But he speaks of promontories, which were nigh the sea; as though he had said, that he was not cast into the midst of the sea, but that he had so sunk as to be fixed in the deep under the roots of mountains. All these things have the same designs which was to show that no deliverance could be hoped for, except God stretched forth his hand from heaven, and indeed in a manner new and incredible.

He says that the earth with its bars was around him. He means by this kind of speaking, that he was so shut up, as if the whole earth had been like a door. We know what sort of bars are those of the earth, when we ascribe bars to it: for when any door is fastened with bolts, we know how small a portion it is. But when we suppose the earth itself to be like a door, what kind of things must the bolts be? It is the same thing then as though Jonah had said, that he was so hindered from the vital light, as if the earth had been set against him to prevent his coming forth to behold the sun: the earth, then, was set against me, and that for ever

He afterwards comes to thanksgiving, And thou Jehovah, my God, hast made my life to ascend from the grave. Jonah, after having given a long description, for the purpose of showing that he was not once put to death, but that he had been overwhelmed with many and various deaths, now adds his gratitude to the Lord for having delivered him, Thou, he says, hast made my life to ascend from the grave, O Jehovah. He again confirms what I have once said, — that he did not pour forth empty prayers, but that he prayed with an earnest feeling, and in faith: for he would not have called him his God, except he was persuaded of his paternal love, so as to be able to expect from him a certain salvation. Thou, then, Jehovah, my God, he says; he does not say, Thou hast delivered me, but, Thou hast brought forth my life from the grave. Then Jonah, brought to life again, testifies here that he was not only delivered by God’s aid from the greatest danger, but that he had, by a certain kind of resurrection, been raised from the dead. This is the meaning of this mode of speaking, when he says that his life had been brought forth from the grave, or from corruption itself. It follows —

Jonah 2:7

7. When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.

7. Quum deficeret in me anima mea (vel, dum se convolveret supra me anima mea,) Jehovae recordatus sum, et ingressa est oratio mea ad templum sanctitatis tuae.

Here Jonah comprehends in one verse what he had previously said, — that he had been distressed with the heaviest troubles, but that he had not yet been so cast down in his mind, as that he had no prospect of God’s favor to encourage him to pray. He indeed first confesses that he had suffered some kind of fainting, and that he had been harassed by anxious and perplexing thoughts, so as not to be able by his own efforts to disengage himself.

As to the word עטף, otheph, it means in Hebrew to hide, to cover; but in Niphal and Hithpael (in which conjugation it is found here) it signifies to fail: but its former meaning might still be suitably retained here; then it would be, ‘My soul hid or rolled up itself,’ as it is in Psalm 102:1, ‘The prayer of the afflicted, when he rolled up himself in his distress.’ They who render it, he multiplied prayers, have no reason to support them. I therefore doubt not but that Jonah here means, either that he had been overcome by a swoon, or that he had been so perplexed as not to be able without a violent struggle to raise up his mind to God. However it may have been, he intended by this word to express the anxiety of his mind. While then we are tossed about by divers thoughts, and remain, as it were, bound up in a hopeless condition, then our soul may be said to roll or to fold up itself within us. When therefore the soul rolls up itself, all the thoughts of man in perplexity recoil on himself. We may indeed seek to disburden ourselves while we toss about various purposes, but whatever we strive to turn away from us, soon comes back on our own head; thus our soul recoils upon us. We now perceive what Jonah meant by this clause, When my soul infolded itself, or failed within me, I remembered, he says, Jehovah. We hence learn that Jonah became not a conqueror without the greatest difficulties, not until his soul, as we have said, had fainted: this is one thing. Then we learn, also, that he was not so oppressed with distresses but that he at length sought God by prayer. Jonah therefore retained this truth, that God was to be sought, however severely and sharply he treated him for a time; for the remembering, of which he speaks, proceeded from faith. The ungodly also remember Jehovah, but they dread him, for they look on him as a judge; and whenever a mention is made of God, they expect nothing but destruction: but Jonah applied the remembrance of God to another purpose, even as a solace to ease his cares and his anxieties.

For it immediately follows, that his prayer had penetrated unto God, or entered before him. “Here prayer is personified, and is represented as a messenger going from the distressed and entering into the temple of God, and standing before him. This is a very fine and delicate image.” — Adam Clarke. We then see that Jonah so remembered his God, that by faith he knew that he would be propitious to him; and hence was his disposition to pray. But by saying that his prayer entered into his temple, he no doubt alludes to a custom under the law; for the Jews were wont to turn themselves towards the temple whenever they prayed: nor was this a superstitious ceremony; for we know that they were instructed in the doctrine which invited them to the sanctuary and the ark of the covenant. Since then this was the custom under the law, Jonah says that his prayer entered into the temple of God; for that was a visible symbol, through which the Jews might understand that God was near to them; not that they by a false imagination bound God to external signs, but because they knew that these helps Had not in vain been given to them. So then Jonah not only remembered his God, but called also to mind the signs and symbols in which he had exercised his faith, as we have just said through the whole course of his life; for they who view him as referring to heaven, depart wholly from what the Prophet meant. We indeed know that the temple sometimes means heaven; but this sense suits not this place. Then Jonah meant that though he was far away from the temple, God was yet near to him; for he had not ceased to pray to that God who had revealed himself by the law which he gave, and who had expressed his will to be worshipped at Jerusalem, and also had been pleased to appoint the ark as the symbol of his presence, that the Jews might, with an assured faith, call upon him, and that they might not doubt but that he dwelt in the midst of them, inasmuch as he had there his visible habitation.

Prayer

Grant, Almighty God, that as thou hast once given us such an evidence of thy infinite power in thy servant Jonah, whose mind, when he was almost sunk down into hell, thou hadst yet raised up to thyself, and hadst so supported with firm constancy, that he ceased not to pray and to call on thee, — O grant, that in the trials by which we must be daily exercised, we may raise upwards our minds to thee, and never cease to think that thou art near us; and that when the signs of thy wrath appear, and when our sins thrust themselves before our eyes, to drive us to despair, may we still constantly struggle, and never surrender the hope of thy mercy, until having finished all our contests, we may at length freely and fully give thanks to thee, and praise thy infinite goodness, such as we daily experience that being conducted through continual trials, we may at last come into that blessed rest which is laid up for us in heaven, through Christ one Lord. Amen.

Lecture Seventy-seventh

Jonah 2:8-9

8. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

8. Qui observant vanitates mendaces, misericordiam suam (vel, clementiam) derelinquent (hoc est, derelinquunt.)

9. But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord

9. Ego autem in voce laudis sacrificabo tibi, quae vovi reddam: salus est Jehovae.

Here Jonah says first, that men miserably go astray, when they turn aside to vain superstitions, for they rob themselves of the chief good: for he calls whatever help or aid that is necessary for salvation, the mercy of men. The sense then is that as soon as men depart from God, they depart from life and salvation, and that nothing is retained by them, for they willfully cast aside whatever good that can be hoped and desired. Some elicit a contrary meaning, that the superstitious, when they return to a sound mind, relinquish their own reproach; for חסד, chesad, sometimes means reproach. They then think that the way of true penitence is here described, — that when God restores men from their straying to the right way, he gives them at the same time a sound mind, so that they rid themselves from all their vices. This is indeed true, but it is too strained a meaning. Others confine this to the sailors who vowed sacrifices to God; as though Jonah had said, that they would soon relapse to their own follies, and bid adieu to God, who in his mercy had delivered them from shipwreck; so they explain their mercy to be God; but this is also too forced an explanation.

I doubt not, therefore, but that Jonah here sets his own religion in opposition to his false intentions of men; for it immediately follows, But I with the voice of praise will sacrifice to thee. Jonah, then, having before confessed that he would be thankful to God, now pours contempt on all those inventions which men foolishly contrive for themselves, and through which they withdraw themselves from the only true God, and from the sincere worship of him. For he calls all those devices, by which men deceive themselves, the vanities of falsehood; הבלי-שוא, “Idols of vanity or falsehood,” i.e., false, or deceitful, or vain idols. הבל means vapor, smoke, breath, vanity, inanity: but in the plural number it is applied for the most part to idols. See Deuteronomy 32:21; 1 Kings 16:13, 26 שוא is a lie, which is vain — useless, and false — deceptive. Marckius renders the words, “Vanitates inanitatis — vanities of inanity’” Junius and Tremelius, “Vanitates mendaces — mendacious vanities;” Septuagint, “ματαια και Ψευδη — vain and false things.” “He thus calls idols,” says an author in Poole’s Syn., “and all those things in which any one, excluding God, trusts; which are nothing, and can do nothing, and which deceive their worshippers.” This is true, that is, that all other things, as well as idols, are, apart from God, vain, and worthless, and deceptive; but the reference here no doubt is to idols. They are not only empty, but deceptive. — Ed. for it is certain that they are mere fallacies which men invent for themselves without the authority of God’s Word; for truth is one and simple, which God has revealed to us in his world. Whosoever then turns aside the least, either on this or on that side, seeks, as it were designedly, some imposture or another, by which he ruins himself. They then who follow such vanities, says Jonah, forsake their own mercy, חסדם יעזבו, “Their mercy or goodness they forsake,” that is, the mercy exhibited and offered to them by God; or, if we render it goodness, it means their chief good, which is God. The Psalmist calls God his goodness in Psalm 144:2, חסדי, “my goodness,” the giver of all his goodness, or his chief good. Dathius gives very correctly the meaning of the two lines in these words —

“Qui vana idola colunt, Felicitatis suae auctorem deserunt — They who worship vain idols, Desert the author of their own happiness.”

More literally —

“They who attend on the idols of vanity, Their own goodness forsake.”

There is a contrast between vain idols and their own goodness, that is, the goodness received by them from God. Grotius gives this paraphrase, “They who worship idols are vain; for they forsake their own mercy, that is, God, who is able to help them in their distress.” Henry suggests another view, “They who follow their own inventions, as Jonah had done, when he fled from the presence of the lord to go to Tarshish, forsake their own mercy, that mercy which they may find in God.” — Ed. that is they reject all happiness: for no aid and no help can be expected from any other quarter than from the only true God.

But this passage deserves a careful notice; for we hence learn what value to attach to all superstitions, to all those opinions of men, when they attempt to set up religion according to their own will: for Jonah calls them lying or fallacious vanities. There is then but one true religion, the religion which God has taught us in his word. We must also notice, that men in vain weary themselves when they follow their own inventions; for the more strenuously they run, the farther they recede from the right way, as Augustine has well observed. But Jonah here adopts a higher principle, — that God alone possesses in himself all fullness of blessings: whosoever then truly and sincerely seeks God, will find in him whatever can be wished for salvation. But God is not to be sought but by obedience and faith: whosoever then dare to give themselves loose reins, so as to follow this or that without the warrant of God’s word, recede from God, and, at the same time, deprive themselves of all good things. The superstitious do indeed think that they gain much when they toil in their own inventions; but we see what the Holy Spirit declares by the mouth of Jonah. The Lord says the same by Jeremiah

“They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and cisterns have they digged for themselves,” (Jeremiah 2:13.)

There the Lord complains of his chosen people, who had gone astray after wicked superstitions. Hence, when men wander beyond the word of God, they in a manner renounce God, or say adieu to him; and thus they deprive themselves of all good things; for without God there is no salvation and no help to be found.

Jonah therefore rightly adds, But I, with the voice of praise, will sacrifice to thee; as though he said While men as it were banish themselves from God, by giving themselves up to errors, I will sacrifice to thee and to thee alone, O Lord. And this ought to be observed by us; for as our minds are prone to falsehood and vanity, any new superstition will easily lay hold so us, except we be restrained by this bond, except we be fully persuaded, — that true salvation dwells in God alone, and every aid and help that can be expected by us: but when this conviction is really and thoroughly fixed in our hearts, then true religion cannot be easily lost by us: though Satan should on every side spread his allurements, we shall yet continue in the true and right worship of God. And the more carefully it behaves us to consider this passage, because Jonah no doubt meant here to strengthen himself in the right path of religion; for he knew that like all mortals he was prone to what was false; he therefore encouraged himself to persevere: and this he does, when he declares that whatever superstition men devise, is a deprivation of the chief good, even of life and salvation. It will hence follow, that we shall abominate every error when we are fully persuaded that we forsake the true God whenever we obey not his word, and that we at the same time cast away salvation, and every thing good that can be desired. Then Jonah says, I will sacrifice to thee with the voice of praise.

It must be noticed here farther, that the worship of God especially consists in praises, as it is said in Psalm 1:1: for there God shows that he regards as nothing all sacrifices, except they answer this end — to set forth the praise of his name. It was indeed his will that sacrifices should be offered to him under the law; but it was for the end just stated: for God cares not for calves and oxen, for goats and lambs; but his will was that he should be acknowledged as the Giver of all blessings. Hence he says there, ‘Sacrifice to me the sacrifice of praise.’ So also Jonah now says, I will offer to thee the sacrifice of praise, and he might have said with still more simplicity, “Lord, I ascribe to thee my preserved life.” But if this was the case under the shadows of the law, how much more ought we to attend to this, that is, — to strive to worship God, not in a gross manner, but spiritually, and to testify that our life proceeds from him, that it is in his hand, that we owe all things to him, and, in a word, that he is the Source and Author of salvation, and not only of salvation, but also of wisdom, of righteousness, of power?

And he afterwards mentions his vows, I will pay, he says, my vows. We have stated elsewhere in what light we are to consider vows. The holy Fathers did not vow to God, as the Papists of this day are wont to do, who seek to pacify God by their frivolous practices; one abstains for a certain time from meat, another puts on sackcloth, another undertakes a pilgrimage, and another obtrudes on God some new ceremony. There was nothing of this kind in the vows of the holy Fathers; but a vow was the mere act of thanksgiving, or a testimony of gratitude: and so Jonah joins his vows here with the sacrifice of praise. We hence learn that they were not two different things; but he repeats the same thing twice. Jonah, then, had declared his vow to God for no other purpose but to testify his gratitude.

And hence he adds, To Jehovah is, or belongs, salvation; that is, to save is the prerogative of God alone; Jehovah is here in the dative case, for prefixed to it is ל, lamed. It is then to Jehovah that salvation belongs; the work of saving appertains to no other but to the Supreme God. Since it is so, we see how absurd and insane men are, when they transfer praises to another, as every one does who invents an idol for himself. As, then, there is but the one true God who saves, it behaves us to ascribe to him alone all our praises, that we may not deprive him of his right. This is the import of the whole. It follows —

Jonah 2:10

10. And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land

10. Et dixit Jehovah pisci (hoc est, praecepit;) et evomuit Jonam super aridam.

The deliverance of Jonah is here in few words described; but how attentively ought we to consider the event? It was an incredible miracle, that Jonah should have continued alive and safe in the bowels of the fish for three days. For how was it that he was not a thousand times smothered or drowned by waters? We know that fish continually draw in water: Jonah could not certainly respire while in the fish; and the life of man without breathing can hardly continue for a minute. Jonah, then, must have been preserved beyond the power of nature. Then how could it have been that the fish should cast forth Jonah on the shore, except God by his unsearchable power had drawn the fish there? Again, who could have supernaturally opened its bowels and its mouth? His coming forth, then, was in every way miraculous, yea, it was attended with many miracles.

But Jonah, that he might the more extol the infinite power of God, adopted the word said. Hence we learn that nothing is hard to God, for he could by a nod only effect so great a thing as surpasses all our conceptions. If Jonah had said that he was delivered by God’s kindness and favor, it would have been much less emphatical, than when he adopts a word which expresses a command, And Jehovah spake, or said, to the fish.

But as this deliverance of Jonah is an image of the resurrection, this is an extraordinary passage, and worthy of being especially noticed; for the Holy Spirit carries our minds to that power by which the world was formed and is still wonderfully preserved. That we may then, without hesitation and doubt, be convinced of the restoration which God promises to us, let us remember that the world was by him created out of nothing by his word and bidding, and is still thus sustained. But if this general truth is not sufficient, let this history of Jonah come to our minds, — that God commanded a fish to cast forth Jonah: for how was it that Jonah escaped safe and was delivered? Even because it so pleased God, because the Lord commanded; and this word at this day retains the same efficacy. By that power then, by which he works all things, we also shall one day be raised up from the dead. Now follows —

Chapter 3.

Jonah 3:1-2

1. And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying,

1. Et factum fuit verbum Jehovae ad Jonam secundo, dicendo, —

2. Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee.

2. Surge, proficiscere Nineven in urbem magnam, et praedica ad eam praedicationem quam ego mando tibi.

CHAPTER 2

Jon 2:1-10. Jonah's Prayer of Faith and Deliverance.

1. his God--"his" still, though Jonah had fled from Him. Faith enables Jonah now to feel this; just as the returning prodigal says of the Father, from whom he had wandered, "I will arise and go to my Father" (Lu 15:18).

out of the fish's belly--Every place may serve as an oratory. No place is amiss for prayer. Others translate, "when (delivered) out of the fish's belly." English Version is better.

2. His prayer is partly descriptive and precatory, partly eucharistical. Jonah incorporates with his own language inspired utterances familiar to the Church long before in Jon 2:2, Psa 120:1; in Jon 2:3, Psa 42:7; in Jon 2:4, Psa 31:22; in Jon 2:5, Psa 69:1; in Jon 2:7, Psa 142:3; 18:6; in Jon 2:8, Psa 31:6; in Jon 2:9, Psa 116:17, 18, and 3:8. Jonah, an inspired man, thus attests both the antiquity and inspiration of the Psalms. It marks the spirit of faith, that Jonah identifies himself with the saints of old, appropriating their experiences as recorded in the Word of God (Psa 119:50). Affliction opens up the mine of Scripture, before seen only on the surface.

out of the belly of hell--Sheol, the unseen world, which the belly of the fish resembled.

3. thou hadst cast ... thy billows ... thy waves--Jonah recognizes the source whence his sufferings came. It was no mere chance, but the hand of God which sent them. Compare Job's similar recognition of God's hand in calamities, Job 1:21; 2:10; and David's, 2Sa 16:5-11.

4. cast out from thy sight--that is, from Thy favorable regard. A just retribution on one who had fled "from the presence of the Lord" (Jon 1:3). Now that he has got his desire, he feels it to be his bitterest sorrow to be deprived of God's presence, which once he regarded as a burden, and from which he desired to escape. He had turned his back on God; so God turned His back on him, making his sin his punishment.

toward thy holy temple--In the confidence of faith he anticipates yet to see the temple at Jerusalem, the appointed place of worship (1Ki 8:38), and there to render thanksgiving [Henderson]. Rather, I think, "Though cast out of Thy sight, I will still with the eye of faith once more look in prayer towards Thy temple at Jerusalem, whither, as Thy earthly throne, Thou hast desired Thy worshippers to direct their prayers."

5. even to the soul--that is, threatening to extinguish the animal life.

weeds--He felt as if the seaweeds through which he was dragged were wrapped about his head.

6. bottoms of ... mountains--their extremities where they terminate in the hidden depths of the sea. Compare Psa 18:7, "the foundations of the hills" (Psa 18:15).

earth with her bars was about me--Earth, the land of the living, is (not "was") shut against me.

for ever--so far as any effort of mine can deliver me.

yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption--rather, "Thou bringest ... from the pit" [Maurer]. As in the previous clauses he expresses the hopelessness of his state, so in this, his sure hope of deliverance through Jehovah's infinite resources. "Against hope he believes in hope," and speaks as if the deliverance were actually being accomplished. Hezekiah seems to have incorporated Jonah's very words in his prayer (Is 38:17), just as Jonah appropriated the language of the Psalms.

7. soul fainted ... I remembered the Lord--beautifully exemplifying the triumph of spirit over flesh, of faith over sense (Psa 73:26; 42:6). For a time troubles shut out hope; but faith revived when Jonah "remembered the Lord," what a gracious God He is, and how now He still preserves his life and consciousness in his dark prison-house.

into thine holy temple--the temple at Jerusalem (Jon 2:4). As there he looks in believing prayer towards it, so here he regards his prayer as already heard.

8. observe lying vanities--regard or reverence idols, powerless to save (Psa 31:6).

mercy--Jehovah, the very idea of whom is identified now in Jonah's mind with mercy and loving-kindness. As the Psalmist (Psa 144:2) styles Him, "my goodness"; God who is to me all beneficence. Compare Psa 59:17, "the God of my mercy," literally, "my kindness-God." Jonah had "forsaken His own mercy," God, to flee to heathen lands where "lying vanities" (idols) were worshipped. But now, taught by his own preservation in conscious life in the fish's belly, and by the inability of the mariners' idols to lull the storm (Jon 1:5), estrangement from God seems estrangement from his own happiness (Jr 2:13; 17:13). Prayer has been restrained in Jonah's case, so that he was "fast asleep" in the midst of danger, heretofore; but now prayer is the sure sign of his return to God.

9. I will sacrifice ... thanksgiving--In the believing anticipation of sure deliverance, he offers thanksgivings already. So Jehoshaphat (2Ch 20:21) appointed singers to praise the Lord in front of the army before the battle with Moab and Ammon, as if the victory was already gained. God honors such confidence in Him. There is also herein a mark of sanctified affliction, that he vows amendment and thankful obedience (Psa 119:67).

10. upon the dry land--probably on the coast of Palestine.

Then Jonah prayed - out of the fish's belly - This verse makes the first of the second chapter in the Hebrew text.

It may be asked, "How could Jonah either pray or breathe in the stomach of the fish?" Very easily, if God so willed it. And let the reader keep this constantly in view; the whole is a miracle, from Jonah's being swallowed by the fish till he was cast ashore by the same animal. It was God that had prepared the great fish. It was the Lord that spake to the fish, and caused it to vomit Jonah upon the dry land. All is miracle.

Out of the belly of hell - Among the Hebrews שאול sheol means the grave, any deep pit, the place of separate spirits, etc. Here the prophet represents himself as in the bottom of the sea; for so sheol must be understood in this place.

All thy billows and thy waves passed over me - This may be understood literally; while the fish, in whose belly he was, sought its pleasure or sustenance in the paths of the deep, the waves and billows of the sea were rolling above. This line seems borrowed from Psa 42:7.

I am cast out of thy sight - See Psa 31:22.

Thy holy temple - Then Jerusalem was not yet destroyed, for the temple was standing.

The waters compassed me about even to the soul - So as to seem to deprive me of life. I had no hope left.

The weeds were wrapped about my head - This may be understood literally also. He found himself in the fish's stomach, together with sea weeds, and such like marine substances, which the fish had taken for its aliment.

I went down to the bottoms of the mountains - This also may be literally understood. The fish followed the slanting base of the mountains, till they terminated in a plain at the bottom of the great deep.

The earth with her bars - He represents himself as a prisoner in a dungeon, closed in with bars which he could not remove, and which at first appeared to be for ever, i.e., the place where his life must terminate.

Yet hast thou brought up my life - The substance of this poetic prayer was composed while in the fish's belly; but afterwards the prophet appears to have thrown it into its present poetic form, and to have added some circumstances, such as that before us; for he now speaks of his deliverance from this imminent danger of death. "Thou hast brought up my life from corruption."

When my soul fainted - When I had given up all hope of life.

My prayer came in unto thee - Here prayer is personified, and is represented as a messenger going from the distressed, and entering into the temple of God, and standing before him. This is a very fine and delicate image. This clause is one of those which I suppose the prophet to have added when he penned this prayer.

They that observe lying vanities - They that trust in idols, follow vain predictions, permit themselves to be influenced with foolish fears, so as to induce them to leave the path of obvious duty, forsake their own mercy. In leaving that God who is the Fountain of mercy, they abandon that measure of mercy which he had treasured up for them.

But I will sacrifice unto thee - I will make a sincere vow, which, as soon as my circumstances will permit, I will faithfully execute; and therefore he adds, "I will pay that which I have vowed."

Salvation is of the Lord - All deliverance from danger, preservation of life, recovery from sickness, and redemption of the soul from the power, guilt, and pollution of sin, is from Jehovah. He alone is the Savior, he alone is the Deliverer; for all salvation is from the Lord.

And the Lord spake unto the fish - That is, by his influence the fish swam to shore, and cast Jonah on the dry land. So the whole was a miracle from the beginning to the end; and we need not perplex ourselves to find out literal interpretations; such as, "When Jonah was thrown overboard he swam for his life, earnestly praying God to preserve him from drowning; and by his providence he was thrown into a place of fish - a fishing cove, where he was for a time entangled among the weeds, and hardly escaped with his life; and when safe, he composed this poetic prayer, in metaphorical language, which some have wrongly interpreted, by supposing that he was swallowed by a fish; when דג dag should have been understood, as a place of fish, or fishing creek," etc. Now I say the original has no such meaning in the Bible: and this gloss is plainly contrary to the letter of the text; to all sober and rational modes of interpretation; and to the express purpose for which God appears to have wrought this miracle, and to which Jesus Christ himself applies it. For as Jonah was intended for a sign to the Jews of the resurrection of Christ, they were to have the proof of this semiosis, in his lying as long in the heart of the earth as the prophet was in the belly of the fish, and all interpretations of this kind go to deny both the sign and the thing signified. Some men, because they cannot work a miracle themselves, can hardly be persuaded that God can do it.

The text, and the use made of it by Christ, most plainly teach us that the prophet was literally swallowed by a fish, by the order of God; and that by the Divine power he was preserved alive, for what is called three days and three nights, in the stomach of the fish; and at the conclusion of the above time that same fish was led by the unseen power of God to the shore, and there compelled to eject the prey that he could neither kill nor digest. And how easy is all this to the almighty power of the Author and Sustainer of life, who has a sovereign, omnipresent, and energetic sway in the heavens and in the earth. But foolish man will affect to be wise; though, in such cases, he appears as the recently born, stupid offspring of the wild ass. It is bad to follow fancy, where there is so much at stake. Both ancients and moderns have grievously trifled with this prophet's narrative; merely because they could not rationally account for the thing, and were unwilling (and why?) to allow any miraculous interference.

1 THen Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fishes belly .

And, Hebr. at that time when he lay by the heels a close Prisoner in a Prison, whence none before or since ever came out alive.

Sent his Petition in all humble and submissive manner unto God; Jonah wonderfully preserved alive, and in full exercise of his judgment and memory now betakes himself to Prayer, and in this exerciseth his Graces; his soul follows hard after God, when he was shut up in this Dungeon.

That was angry, and now was punishing of Jonah, the Lord who had committed him to this Prison. The Almighty God, who can do for Jonah all that he can need or desire.

Though Jonah in his froward fit flies from his God, yet now by the rod taught better he flyes to God, nay as his God, and remembers his particular interest in God. If Jonah prayes by Faith grounded on God's Almightiness, now he prayes with assurance and hope of Faith, looking to God as his God; if the Power of the Lord and his Mercy keep Jonah alive in the fishes belly, the same Power and Mercy can deliver him out of this danger, and the Prophet believes he is kept there for an enlargement, as miraculous as his confinement was;

where he was a Prisoner under many miracles, and all concur to awaken him to Prayer and Faith; he calls it the belly of Hell, or the Grave; ver. 2. implyed his time well there.

2 And said f, I cryed by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD , and he heard me ; out of the belly of hell cryed I , and thou heardest my voice .

Not with a loud voice of the Tongue, as 'twas not ordinarily feisable in so close a Prison, so, nor was it necessary he should, where none were to hear but his God, who heareth the strongest desires, and accounts them the strongest cries; so Jonah cryed with his whole heart.

Distress, or straits with which he was encompassed, and close besieged, nor was there ever closer siege laid to any one, his Body and Mind both shut up, the one by the monstrous dungeon of the Fishes Belly, and the other by the terrours of the Almighty.

It was in many respects fit Jonah should Petition God, for he was committed by his special Warrant, and none either had power or authority to deliver him but God.

Though Jonah say not how God did hear, in what particular, yet he knew both how, and in what the support of his person, the exercise of his reason, the workings of his heart toward God, and a hope or assurance that he should be delivered, were part of the mercy God gave, and he prayed for.

Grave, so Sheol, so it was as dark to Jonah, and had been as destructive too, if mercy had not prevented. This is doubled to intimate both the Prisoners earnestness, and the greatness of the mercy given to one that was as shut up in the Grave.

Of his Soul, whilest he was in that dismal Dungeon, as let. g.

The former verse was a general account that he pray'd, this word in the front of this verse is a transition to a more full account of his Prayer, what for substance, and somewhat of the words also.

Marginal references: Psal. 120.1.; Or, out of mine affliction.; Or, the grave.

3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep , in the midst of the seas , and the floods compassed me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me .

This introduceth the account of his distress, mentioned ver. 2.

The Almighty offended by my frowardness and obstinacy.

Though the Marriners hands heaved me over-board, 'twas thy hand that did it and prest me sore.

The bottom of the Sea, by what follows it is probable Ionah was cast into the Sea far from shore.

Or heart of the Seas, but more literally and strictly in the midst of the Seas, then that Ezek. 27.4.

Either the mighty Rivers which run into that Sea, or the Floods, the mighty currents, which the rowling Sea and Winds with Tyde made.

The surges of the Sea, which explains what before he called the Floods. Here is an elegant description of the violence and horrour of the Seas into which Ionah was cast, which tossed his body and signified the terrours wherewith his Soul was distrest from Gods immediate hand, as Psal. 42.7. Thy waves, Ionah seeth Gods hand, and sovereignty in all this, intimating that he prayed for what he knew his God could do for him.

Marginal references: Heb. heart.

4 Then I said , I am cast out of thy sight , yet I will look again towards thy holy temple ?

Though this word with us ordinarily denoteth time, yet here it denoteth order and connexion, the Hebrew is And.

With my self, I thought in the midst of my fears and sufferings.

Cut off from all hope of Life among men, rejected, forsaken, and as 'twere forgotten of my God, and left by this death to pass to a worser death. Thus he was wrackt with sense of present danger from Gods displeasure, and is almost carried away with a despair of ever seeing the face of God again with comfort, much as Psal. 31.22. and Lam. 4.22.

His Faith begins to recover it self, he will not as despairing ones any more look toward lost hopes, but with reviving hope he will hope against hope, and never yeild to such despairs.

Where the Ark of the Covenant, where the mercy seat, where propitiatory sacrifices are offered, where is Gods High Priest, Types of the Great Redeemer, Mediator, and Saviour, by whom sin is expiated, s[illegible: 2 letters]ners pardon'd, grace and favour communicated, where God commands the blessing, Life for evermore, he will look and hope to appear in the material Typical Temple, and to find there grace dispositive for, as well as significative of Glory in the heavenly Temple, he hopes for both.

5 The waters compassed me about even to the soul : the depth closed me round about , the weeds were wrapt about my head .

Litterally the waters o[illegible: 1 letter] the Sea, metaphorically afflictions, mystically Temptations, these last arising from his own guilt, and from the tokens of Gods displeasure against him in so unusual a manner.

To the endangering his Life, and were forerunners (as he apprehended) of worse miseries, the fore[illegible: 1 letter]asts of an eternal damnation, 'twas a miracle of providence to preserve my Life, 'twas no lesse wonder of free Grace to save my Soul.

He was carried to the bottom of the Sea, lay as in the deepest hole of the Sea.

Not immediately as some conjecture by the Fish pulling them from the bottom of the Sea and swallowing them down, where they wrapt Ionahs head, but mediately when the Fish swam amidst these, or rather it is a comparative speech, I was no more likely to escape drowning, then a man in the depth of the Sea wrapt up in, and held fast down by, the Weeds in the bottom of the Sea.

The former part of the 5 verse seems to be an ingeminating of what was said ver. 3. and bears the self same meaning and interpretation.

Marginal references: Psal. 69.1.

6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains , the earth with her barrs was about me for ever : yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption , O LORD my God .

The Fish carried him down.

As deep in the Sea as are the bottoms of the mountains, or into those depths out of which might be supposed that mountains were thence drawn out by the Roots, an elegant description of fathomless depths, whirlepools of the Seas.

I seemed to be imprisoned where the bars that secured me were as great and durable as the Rocks, which they were made of.

Notwithstanding all these insuperable difficulties, and my own fears.

By what was first my danger thou hast wonderfully secured me, what I thought should have been my Grave, was made a safety to me, by the Fish Ionah is in due time fairly and safely set on shore.

His Life of nature, his Life of comfort, and peace, and joy too.

Or the pit, a description of the state of the dead whose bodies turn to putrefaction and stench.

O Almighty and Eternal Being, Lord and Soveraign over all.

Mine saith Ionah by particular choice, Faith and Hope, whom I had served and should not have disobey'd, to whom I pray'd, who hath pardoned, whom I will adore, obey and love for ever.

Marginal references: Heb. cuttings.; Or, the pit.

7 When my soul fainted within me, I remembred the LORD, and my prayer came in unto thee into thine holy temple .

So soon as, and so often as.

Heart perplexed with variety of fears, sorrows, temptations and difficulties, when ever I did forecast, and devise what way I might likely escape out of this forlorn condition, I was dispirited, heart sunk within me, Psal. 22.14. and 42.4. and I had fainted if I had not remembred the mighty, faithful, wise and gracious God who could save me, and on whose mercy I relyed, who had promised the best of two deliverances, the eternal, whatever he did with me as to the temporal deliverance.

With Faith, and Prayer, for 'tis not a bare recalling of God to his mind, but a recalling his mercy, and promise to his mind

made in the Fish Belly, in his prison more dismal then ever was that of Manasse[illegible: 1 letter].

Did enter the Ears of the Lord, he heard and readily answered.

Typically the Temple at Ierusalem to which Ionah looked, but principally Heaven the Temple of his glory, whence God gives the command for his delivery orders the Goaler to set him safe on shore.

8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy .

Who ever they are that do, as the Heathen Marriners seek to, depend upon and wait for help from Idols, false Gods, whosoever choose them for their assistance, and Worship them, do depend upon most false grounds, wait for most lying and deceiving objects, and this of the Prophet is true of, and applicable to all ou[illegible: 1 letter] Creature dependencies, to all trust reposed in any but God himself, these dig to themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no Water, Ier. 2.13.

Turn away from, and do really and practically forsake God, as he leaves the East who goeth on to the West, trust in God, and Idols are as opposite, as is the East to the West.

The Lord, who is to all that seek him, and depend on him, the fountain of Living Waters, who is an eternal fountain of mercy and flows forth freely to all that wait for him.

Marginal references: Psal. [illegible: 1 span]

9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving , I will pay that that I have vowed : salvation is of the LORD .

Ionah here doth intimate his adherence to God, his assurance that he should find God to be a fountain of mercy to him, that God would hear his prayer.

In most solemn manner recognize the mercy I receive, I shall have just ground to do it, and I will certainly be just to the mercy of my God and do it; who wait on Gods that cannot deliver, shall never have cause to sacrifice to them, if they do the thing they do sacrilegiously rob God.

Excluding all others, who shall have as little share in the praise as they had in the thing for which praise is offered.

Including the heart also; for such is the sacrifice with which God is best pleased, Psal. 50.14, 23. and 116.17. Hos. 14.2. Heb. 13.15.

Vows are, when made, debts we owe to God, and must▪ as just debts, be paid.

It is not said what 'twas he had vowed, probably 'twas a more obedient heart and deportment, likely he resolveth to go to Nineveh and preach what God commandeth him▪ he will perform his promise to the Lord in all things he did engage to do.

Power to save, and actual deliverance from all dangers, in all distresses, when none of the Gods the Marriners invoked, neither any one apart, nor yet all together could quiet [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 letter]empest, and save from the danger of the Sea, Ionahs God could do both, he could by his own single power deliver Ionah out of the Belly of hell.

He onely can save, none else can as he can, Psal. 3.8. and 68.20.

10 ¶ And the LORD spake unto the fish , and it vomited out Jonah on the dry land .

Or, as the particle is sometimes rendred, then i. e. after Ionah had prayed, and acted his Faith though in the Whales belly.

Who made Heaven and Earth, and commandeth both, who is God of Salvation.

Commanded, signified it to be his pleasure, as the same word prepared the Fish and brought it to give attendance to receive the Prisoner, so now it doth discharge the Keeper, and requires him to set his Prisoner at liberty.

Though Fishes are destitute of Reason and understand not as man, yet they have ears to hear their Creator, and readily obey.

It presently obeys the word, it could no longer keep Ionah a Prisoner.

The command required this, nor could it be a deliverance without this, had he been cast out of the Whales belly any where else in the Sea he had been drowned, but now that which was his danger shall be his safety, a Ship now to Land him which before was like to be his Grave. The Scripture doth not say where he was thus set on shore, but considering he was to go to Nineveh and Preach Repentance to them, it is a very obvious conjecture that any man might make, that the Whale set Ionah on shore in some place of the Syria[illegible: 1 letter] shore nearest to Nineveh, and on view of the Charts any indifferent Geographer would conjecture that 'twas somewhere on the Bay or Gulph of Lajazzo, antiently the Sinus Issicus, or somewhat near to Alexandette as the French, or Scanderoon as the Turks call it, whence, though a long, yet by the Maps appears to be the straitest journey to Nineveh, as for some who conjecture 'twas on the Enxine Sea; they consider not the strait passage of the Propontis, nor the length of 1600 miles from Ioppa to that part of the Euxine which is next to Nineveh, nor the length and difficulty of the passage thence by Land to Nineveh; but he that said Ionah was landed on Ninevehs shore was much wider out in his ghesse, and never consid[illegible: 1 letter]red that Nineveh was built on Tigris some hundreds of miles by land from Ioppa, and, if the Fish brought him thither, it was by a compass of many thousand miles which would require some months to run over▪ besides that the Fish would be too great to swim up the River, their conjecture biddeth fairest who confine it to some places of the Syrian Sea and not far from Scanderoon.

Jon 2:1 “Jonah prayed to Jehovah his God out of the fish’s belly.”

The prayer which follows (Jon 2:2-9) is not a petition for deliverance, but thanksgiving and praise for deliverance already received. It by no means follows from this, however, that Jonah did not utter this prayer till after he had been vomited upon the land, and that v. 10 ought to be inserted before v. 2; but, as the earlier commentators have shown, the fact is rather this, that when Jonah had been swallowed by the fish, and found that he was preserved alive in the fish’s belly, he regarded this as a pledge of his deliverance, for which he praised the Lord. Luther also observes, that “he did not actually utter these very words with his mouth, and arrange them in this orderly manner, in the belly of the fish; but that he here shows what the state of his mind was, and what thoughts he had when he was engaged in this conflict with death.” The expression “his God” (אלהיו) must not be overlooked. He prayed not only to Jehovah, as the heathen sailors also did (Jon 1:14), but to Jehovah as his God, from whom he had tried to escape, and whom he now addresses again as his God when in peril of death. “He shows his faith by adoring Him as his God” (Burk). The prayer consists for the most part of reminiscences of passages in the Psalms, which were so exactly suited to Jonah’s circumstances, that he could not have expressed his thoughts and feelings any better in words of his own. It is by no means so “atomically compounded from passages in the Psalms” that there is any ground for pronouncing it “a later production which has been attributed to Jonah,” as Knobel and De Wette do; but it is the simple and natural utterance of a man versed in the Holy Scripture and living in the word of God, and is in perfect accordance with the prophet’s circumstances and the state of his mind. Commencing with the confession, that the Lord has heard his crying to Him in distress (Jon 2:2), Jonah depicts in two strophes (Jon 2:3 and Jon 2:4, Jon 2:5-7) the distress into which he had been brought, and the deliverance out of that destruction which appeared inevitable, and closes in Jon 2:8, Jon 2:9 with a vow of thanksgiving for the deliverance which he had received.

Jon 2:2

2 I cried to Jehovah out of my distress, and He heard me; Out of the womb of hell I cried: Thou heardest my voice!

The first clause recals to mind Psa 18:7 and Psa 120:1; but it also shows itself to be an original reproduction of the expression מצּרה לי, which expresses the prophet’s situation in a more pointed manner than בּצּר־לי in Psa 17:1-15 and בּצּרתה לּי in Psa 120:1-7. The distress is still more minutely defined in the second hemistich by the expression מבּטן שׁאול, “out of the womb of the nether world.” As a throat or swallow is ascribed to she'ōl in Isa 5:14, so here it is spoken of as having a בטן, or belly. This is not to be taken as referring to the belly of the shark, as Jerome supposes. The expression is a poetical figure used to denote the danger of death, from which there is apparently no escape; like the encompassing with snares of death in Psa 18:5, and the bringing up of the soul out of sheol in Psa 30:3. In the last clause the words pass over very appropriately into an address to Jehovah, which is brought out into still greater prominence by the omission of the copula Vav.

Jon 2:3-4

3 Thou castedst me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, And the stream surrounded me; All Thy billows and Thy waves went over me.

4 Then I said, I am thrust away from Thine eyes, Yet I will look again to Thy holy temple.

The more minute description of the peril of death is attached by Vav consec., to express not sequence in time, but sequence of thought. Jehovah cast him into the depth of the sea, because the seamen were merely the executors of the punishment inflicted upon him by Jehovah. Metsūlâh, the deep, is defined by “the heart of the seas” as the deepest abyss of the ocean. The plural yammı̄m (seas) is used here with distinct significance, instead of the singular, “into the heart of the sea” (yâm) in Exo 15:8, to express the idea of the boundless ocean (see Dietrich, Abhandlung zur hebr. Grammatik, pp. 16, 17). The next clauses are circumstantial clauses, and mean, so that the current of the sea surrounded me, and all the billows and waves of the sea, which Jehovah had raised into a storm, went over me. Nâhâr, a river or stream, is the streaming or current of the sea, as in Psa 24:2. The words of the second hemistich are a reminiscence of Psa 42:8. What the Korahite singer of that psalm had experienced spiritually, viz., that one wave of trouble after another swept over him, that had the prophet literally experienced. Jonah “does not say, The waves and the billows of the sea went over me; but Thy waves and Thy billows, because he felt in his conscience that the sea with its waves and billows was the servant of God and of His wrath, to punish sin” (Luther). Jon 2:4 contains the apodosis to Jon 2:3: “When Thou castedst me into the deep, then I said (sc., in my heart, i.e., then I thought) that I was banished from the sphere of Thine eyes, i.e., of Thy protection and care.” These words are formed from a reminiscence of Psa 31:23, נגרשׁתּי being substituted for the נגרזתּי of the psalm. The second hemistich is attached adversatively. אך, which there is no necessity to alter into אך = איך, as Hitzig supposes, introduces the antithesis in an energetic manner, like אכם elsewhere, in the sense of nevertheless, as in Isa 14:15; Psa 49:16; Job 13:15 (cf. Ewald, §354, a). The thought that it is all over with him is met by the confidence of faith that he will still look to the holy temple of the Lord, that is to say, will once more approach the presence of the Lord, to worship before Him in His temple, - an assurance which recals Psa 5:8.

The thought that by the grace of the Lord he has been once more miraculously delivered out of the gates of death, and brought to the light of the world, is carried out still further in the following strophe, in entirely new turns of thought.

Jon 2:5-7

5 Waters surrounded me even to the soul: the flood encompassed me, Sea-grass was wound round my head.

6 I went down to the foundations of the mountains; The earth, its bolts were behind me for ever: Then raisedst Thou my life out of the pit, O Jehovah my God.

7 When my soul fainted within me, I thought of Jehovah; And my prayer came to Thee into Thy holy temple.

This strophe opens, like the last, with a description of the peril of death, to set forth still more perfectly the thought of miraculous deliverance which filled the prophet’s mind. The first clause of the fifth verse recals to mind Psa 18:5 and Psa 69:2; the words “the waters pressed (בּאוּ) even to the soul” (Psa 69:2) being simply strengthened by אפפוּני after Psa 18:5. The waters of the sea girt him round about, reaching even to the soul, so that it appeared to be all over with his life. Tehōm, the unfathomable flood of the ocean, surrounded him. Sūph, sedge, i.e., sea-grass, which grows at the bottom of the sea, was bound about his head; so that he had sunk to the very bottom. This thought is expressed still more distinctly in Psa 18:6. קצבי הרים, “the ends of the mountains” (from qâtsabh, to cut off, that which is cut off, then the place where anything is cut off), are their foundations and roots, which lie in the depths of the earth, reaching even to the foundation of the sea (cf. Psa 18:16). When he sank into the deep, the earth shut its bolts behind him (הארץ is placed at the head absolutely). The figure of bolts of the earth that were shut behind Jonah, which we only meet with here (בּעד from the phrase סגר הדּלת בּעד, to shut the door behind a person: Gen 7:16; 2Ki 4:4-5, 2Ki 4:33; Isa 26:20), has an analogy in the idea which occurs in Job 38:10, of bolts and doors of the ocean. The bolts of the sea are the walls of the sea-basin, which set bounds to the sea, that it cannot pass over. Consequently the bolts of the earth can only be such barriers as restrain the land from spreading over the sea. These barriers are the weight and force of the waves, which prevent the land from encroaching on the sea. This weight of the waves, or of the great masses of water, which pressed upon Jonah when he had sunk to the bottom of the sea, shut or bolted against him the way back to the earth (the land), just as the bolts that are drawn before the door of a house fasten up the entrance into it; so that the reference is neither to “the rocks jutting out above the water, which prevented any one from ascending from the sea to the land,” nor “densissima terrae compages, qua abyssus tecta Jonam in hac constitutum occludebat” (Marck). Out of this grave the Lord “brought up his life.” Shachath is rendered φθορά, corruptio, by the early translators (lxx, Chald., Syr., Vulg.); and this rendering, which many of the more modern translators entirely reject, is unquestionably the correct one in Job 17:14, where the meaning “pit” is quite unsuitable. But it is by no means warranted in the present instance. The similarity of thought to Psa 30:4 points rather to the meaning pit = cavern or grave, as in Psa 30:10, where shachath is used interchangeably with בּור and שׁאול in Jon 2:4 as being perfectly synonymous. Jon 2:7 is formed after Psa 142:4 or Psa 143:4, except that נפשׁי is used instead of רוּחי, because Jonah is not speaking of the covering of the spirit with faintness, but of the plunging of the life into night and the darkness of death by drowning in the water. התעטּף, lit., to veil or cover one’s self, hence to sink into night and faintness, to pine away. עלי, upon or in me, inasmuch as the I, as a person, embraces the soul or life (cf. Psa 42:5). When his soul was about to sink into the night of death, he thought of Jehovah in prayer, and his prayer reached to God in His holy temple, where Jehovah is enthroned as God and King of His people (Psa 18:7; Psa 88:3).

But when prayer reaches to God, then He helps and also saves. This awakens confidence in the Lord, and impels to praise and thanksgiving. These thoughts form the last strophe, with which the Psalm of thanksgiving is appropriately closed.

Jon 2:8-9

8 They who hold to false vanities Forsake their own mercy.

9 But I will sacrifice to Thee with the call of thanksgiving. I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is with Jehovah.

In order to express the thought emphatically, that salvation and deliverance are only to be hoped for from Jehovah the living God, Jonah points to the idolaters, who forfeit their mercy. משׁמּרים הבלי־שׁוא is a reminiscence of Psa 31:7. הבלי־שׁוא, worthless vanities, are all things which man makes into idols or objects of trust. הבלים are, according to Deu 32:21, false gods or idols. Shâmar, to keep, or, when applied to false gods, to keep to them or reverence them; in Hos 4:10 it is also applied to Jehovah. חסדּם signifies neither pietatem suam nor gratiam a Deo ipsis exhibitam, nor “all the grace and love which they might receive” (Hitzig); but refers to God Himself, as He whose government is pure grace (vid., Gen 24:27), and might become the grace even of the idolatrous. Jonah, on the contrary, like all the righteous, would sacrifice to the Lord beqōl tōdâh, “with the voice or cry, of thanksgiving,” i.e., would offer his sacrifices with a prayer of sincere thanksgiving (cf. Psa 42:5), and pay the vow which he had made in his distress (cf. Psa 50:14, Psa 50:23). These utterances are founded upon the hope that his deliverance will be effected (Hitzig); and this hope is based upon the fact that “salvation is Jehovah's,” i.e., is in His power, so that He only can grant salvation.

Jon 2:10 “Then Jehovah spake to the fish, and it vomited Jonah upon the dry land.”

The nature of God’s speaking, or commanding, may be inferred from the words ויּקא וגו. Cyril explains the thought correctly thus: The whale is again impelled by a certain divine and secret power of God, being moved to that which seems good to Him.” The land upon which Jonah was vomited was, of course, the coast of Palestine, probably the country near Joppa. According to Jon 2:1, this took place on the third day after he had been swallowed by the fish. Jonah’s Preaching in Nineveh - Jon 3:1-10

After Jonah had been punished for his disobedience, and miraculously delivered from death by the mercy of God, he obeyed the renewed command of Jehovah, and preached to the city of Nineveh that it would be destroyed within forty days on account of its sins (Jon 3:1-4). But the Ninevites believed in God, and repented in sackcloth and ashes, to avert the threatened destruction (Jon 3:5-9); and the Lord spared the city (Jon 3:10).

Jonah's Prayer; The Prophet in the Fish's Belly. (b. c. 840.)

1 Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, 2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord , and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. 3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. 5 The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. 6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. 7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord : and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. 8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord .

God and his servant Jonah had parted in anger, and the quarrel began on Jonah's side; he fled from his country that he might outrun his work; but we hope to see them both together again, and the reconciliation begins on God's side. In the close of the foregoing chapter we found God returning to Jonah in a way of mercy, delivering him from going down to the pit, having found a ransom; in this chapter we find Jonah returning to God in a way of duty; he was called up in the former chapter to pray to his God, but we are not told that he did so; however, now at length he is brought to it. Now observe here,

I. When he prayed (v. 1): Then Jonah prayed; then when he was in trouble, under the sense of sin and the tokens of God's displeasure against him for sin, then he prayed. Note, When we are in affliction we must pray; then we have occasion to pray, then we have errands at the throne of grace and business there; then, if ever, we shall have a disposition to pray, when the heart is humbled, and softened, and made serious; then God expects it (in their affliction they will seek me early, seek me earnestly); and, though we bring our afflictions upon ourselves by our sins, yet, if we pray in humility and godly sincerity, we shall be welcome to the throne of grace, as Jonah was. Then when he was in a hopeful way of deliverance, being preserved alive by miracle, a plain indication that he was reserved for further mercy, then he prayed. An apprehension of God's good-will to us, notwithstanding our offences, gives us boldness of access to him, and opens the lips in prayer which were closed with the sense of guilt and dread of wrath.

II. Where he prayed—in the fish's belly. No place is amiss for prayer. I will that men pray every where. Wherever God casts us we may find a way open to heaven-ward, if it be not our own fault. Undique ad cœlos tantundem est viæ—The heavens are equally accessible from every part of the earth. He that has Christ dwelling in his heart by faith, wherever he goes carries the altar along with him, that sanctifies the gift, and is himself a living temple. Jonah was here in confinement; the belly of the fish was his prison, was a close and dark dungeon to him; yet there he had freedom of access to God, and walked at liberty in communion with him. Men may shut us out from communion with one another, but not from communion with God. Jonah was now in the bottom of the sea, yet out of the depths he cries to God; as Paul and Silas prayed in the prison, in the stocks.

III. To whom he prayed—to the Lord his God. He had been fleeing from God, but now he sees the folly of it, and returns to him; by prayer he draws near to that God whom he had gone aside from, and engages his heart to approach him. In prayer he has an eye to him, not only as the Lord, but as his God, a God in covenant with him; for, thanks be to God, every transgression in the covenant does not throw us out of covenant. This encourages even backsliding children to return. Jer. iii. 22, Behold, we come unto thee, for thou art the Lord our God.

IV. What his prayer was. He afterwards recollected the substance of it, and left it upon record. He reflects upon the workings of his heart towards God when he was in his distress and danger, and the conflict that was then in his breast between faith and sense, between hope and fear.

1. He reflects upon the earnestness of his prayer, and God's readiness to hear and answer (v. 2): He said, I cried, by reason of my affliction, unto the Lord. Note, Many that prayed not at all, or did but whisper prayer, when they were in prosperity, are brought to pray, nay, are brought to cry, by reason of their affliction; and it is for this end that afflictions are sent, and they are in vain if this end be not answered. Those heap up wrath who cry not when God binds them, Job xxxvi. 13. "Out of the belly of hell and the grave cried I." The fish might well be called a grave, and, as it was a prison to which Jonah was condemned for his disobedience and in which he lay under the wrath of God, it might well be called the belly of hell. Thither this good man was cast, and yet thence he cried to God, and it was not in vain; God heard him, heard the voice of his affliction, the voice of his supplication. There is a hell in the other world, out of which there is no crying to God with any hope of being heard; but, whatever hell we may be in the belly of in this world, we may thence cry to God. When Christ lay, as Jonah, three days and three nights in the grave, though he prayed not, as Jonah did, yet his very lying there cried to God for poor sinners, and the cry was heard.

2. He reflects upon the very deplorable condition that he was in when he was in the belly of hell, which, when he lay there, he was very sensible of and made particular remarks upon. Note, If we would get good by our troubles, we must take notice of our troubles, and of the hand of God in them. Jonah observes here, (1.) How low he was thrown (v. 3): Thou hadst cast me into the deep. The mariners cast him there; but he looked above them, and saw the hand of God casting him there. Whatever deeps we are cast into, it is God that casts us into them, and he it is who, after he has killed, has power to cast into hell. He was cast into the midst of the seas—the heart of the seas (so the word is), and thence Christ borrows that Hebrew phrase, when he applies it to his own lying so long in the heart of the earth. For he that is laid dead in the grave, though it be ever so shallow, is cut off as effectually from the land of the living as if he were laid in the heart of the earth. (2.) How terribly he was beset: The floods compassed me about. The channels and springs of the waters of the sea surrounded him on every side; it was always high-water with him. God's dear saints and servants are sometimes encompassed with the floods of affliction, with troubles that are very forcible and violent, that bear down on all before them, and that run constantly upon them, as the waters of a river in a continual succession, one trouble upon the neck of another, as Job's messengers of evil tidings; they are enclosed by them on all sides, as the church complains, Lam. iii. 7. He has hedged me about, that I cannot get out, nor see which way I may flee for safety. All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Observe, He calls them God's billows and his waves, not only because he made them (the sea is his, and he made it), and because he rules them (for even the winds and the seas obey him), but because he had now commissioned them against Jonah, and limited them, and ordered them to afflict and terrify him, but not to destroy him. These words are plainly quoted by Jonah from Ps. xlii. 7, where, though the translations differ a little, in the original David's complaint is the same verbatim—word for word, with this of Jonah's: All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. What David spoke figuratively and metaphorically Jonah applied to himself as literally fulfilled. For the reconciling of ourselves to our afflictions, it is good to search precedents, that we may find there has no temptation taken us but such as is common to men. If ever any man's case was singular, and not to be paralleled, surely Jonah's was, and yet, to his great satisfaction, he finds even the man after God's own heart making the same complaint of God's waves and billows going over him that he has now occasion to make. When God performs the thing that is appointed for us we shall find that many such things are with him, that even our path of trouble is no untrodden path, and that God deals with us no otherwise than as he uses to deal with those that love his name. And therefore for our assistance in our addresses to God, when we are in trouble, it is good to make use of the complaints and prayers which the saints that have been before us made use of in the like case. See how good it is to be ready in the scriptures; Jonah, when he could make no use of his Bible, by the help of his memory furnished himself from the scripture with a very proper representation of his case: All thy billows and thy waves passed over me. To the same purport, v. 5, The waters compassed me about even to the soul; they threatened his life, which was hereby brought into imminent danger; or they made an impression upon his spirit; he saw them to be tokens of God's displeasure, and in them the terrors of the Almighty set themselves in array against him; this reached to his soul, and put that into confusion. And this also is borrowed from David's complaint, Ps. lxix. 1. The waters have come in unto my soul. When without are fightings it is no marvel that within are fears. Jonah, in the fish's belly, finds the depths enclosing him round about, so that if he would get out of his prison, yet he must unavoidably perish in the waters. He feels the sea-weed (which the fish sucked in with the water) wrapped about his head, so that he has no way left him to help himself, nor hope that any one else can help him. Thus are the people of God sometimes perplexed and entangled, that they may learn not to trust in themselves, but in God that raises the dead, 2 Cor. i. 8, 9. (3.) How fast he was held (v. 6): He went down to the bottom of the mountains, to the rocks in the sea, upon which the hills and promontories by the seaside seem to be bottomed; he lay among them, nay, he lay under them; the earth with her bars was about him, so close about him that it was likely to be about him for ever. The earth was so shut and locked, so barred and bolted, against him, that he was quite cut off from any hope of ever returning to it. Thus helpless, thus hopeless, did Jonah's case seem to be. Those whom God contends with the whole creation is at war with.

3. He reflects upon the very black and melancholy conclusion he was then ready to make concerning himself, and the relief he obtained against it, 3v. 4, 7. (1.) He began to sink into despair, and to give up himself for gone and undone to all intents and purposes. When the waters compassed him about even to the soul no marvel that his soul fainted within him, fainted away, so that he had not any comfortable enjoyments or expectations; his spirits quite failed, and he looked upon himself as a dead man. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, and the apprehension of that was the thing that made his spirit faint within him. He thought God had quite forsaken him, would never return in mercy to him, nor show him any token for good again. He had no example before him of any that were brought alive out of a fish's belly; if he thought of Job upon the dunghill, Joseph in the pit, David in the cave, yet these did not come up to his case. Nor was there any visible way of escape open for him but by miracle; and what reason had he to expect that a miracle of mercy should be wrought for him who was now made a monument of justice? His own conscience told him that he had wickedly fled from the presence of the Lord, and therefore he might justly cast him away from his presence, and, in token of that, take away his Holy Spirit from him, never to visit him more. What hopes could he have of deliverance out of a trouble which his own ways and doings had procured to himself? Observe, When Jonah would say the worst he could of his case he says this, I am cast out of thy sight; those, and those only, are miserable, whom God has cast out of his sight, whom he will no longer own and favour. What is the misery of the damned in hell but this, that they are cast out of God's sight? For what is the happiness of heaven but the vision and fruition of God? Sometimes the condition of God's people may be such in this world that they may think themselves quite excluded from God's presence, so as no more to see him, or to be regarded by him. Jacob and Israel said, My way is hidden from the Lord, and my judgment is passed over from my God, Isa. xl. 27. Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me, my God has forgotten me, Isa. xlix. 14. But it is only the surmise of unbelief, for God has not cast away his people whom he has chosen. (2.) Yet he recovered himself from sinking into despair, with some comfortable prospects of deliverance. Faith corrected and controlled the surmises of fear and distrust. Here was a fierce struggle between sense and faith, but faith had the last word and came off a conqueror. In trying times, the issue will be good at last, providing our faith do not fail; it was therefore the continuance of that in its vigour that Christ secured to Peter. I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, Luke xxii. 32. David would have fainted if he had not believed, Ps. xxvii. 13. Jonah's faith said, Yet I will look again towards thy holy temple. Thus, though he was perplexed, yet not in despair; in the depth of the sea he had this hope in him, as an anchor of the soul, sure and stedfast. That which he supports himself with the hope of is that he shall yet look again towards God's holy temple. [1.] That he shall live; he shall look again heaven-ward, shall again see the light of the sun, though now he seems to be cast into utter darkness. Thus against hope he believed in hope. [2.] That he shall live, and praise God; and a good man does not desire to live for any other purpose, Ps. cxix. 175. That he shall enjoy communion with God again in holy ordinances, shall look towards, and go up to, the holy temple, there to enquire, there to behold the beauty of the Lord. When Hezekiah desired that he might be assured of his recovery, he asked, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of the Lord? (Isa. xxxviii. 22), as if that were the only thing for the sake of which he wished for health; so Jonah here hopes he shall look again towards the temple; that way he had looked many a time with pleasure, rejoicing when he was called to go up to the house of the Lord; and the remembrance of it was his comfort, that, when he had opportunity, he was no stranger to the holy temple. But now he could not so much as look towards it; in the fish's belly he could not tell which way it lay, but he hopes he shall be again able to look towards it, to look on it, to look into it. Observe, How modestly Jonah expresses himself; as one conscious to himself of guilt and unworthiness, he dares not speak of dwelling in God's house, as David, knowing that he is no more worthy to be called a son, but he hopes that he may be admitted to look towards it. He calls it the holy temple, for the holiness of it was, in his eye, the beauty of it, and that for the sake of which he loved and looked towards it. The temple was a type of heaven; and he promises himself that though being now a captive exile, he should never be loosed, but die in the pit, yet he should look towards the heavenly temple, and be brought safely thither. Though he die in the fish's belly, in the bottom of the sea, yet thence he hopes his soul shall be carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. Or these words may be taken as Jonah's vow when he was in distress, and he speaks (v. 9) of paying what he vowed; his vow is that if God deliver him he will praise him in the gates of the daughter of Zion, Ps. ix. 13, 14. His sin for which God pursued him was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, the folly of which he is now convinced of, and promises not only that he will never again look towards Tarshish, but that he will again look towards the temple, and will go from strength to strength till he appear before God there. And thus we see how faith and hope were his relief in his desponding condition. To these he added prayer to God (v. 7): "When my soul fainted within me, then I remembered the Lord, I betook myself to that cordial." He remembered what he is, how nigh to those that seem to be thrown at the greatest distance by trouble, how merciful to those that seem to have thrown themselves at a distance from him by sin. He remembered what he had done for him, what he had done for others, what he could do, what he had promised to do; and this kept him from fainting. Remembering God, he made his addresses to him: "My prayer came in unto thee; I sent it in, and expected to receive an answer to it." Note, Our afflictions should put us in mind of God, and thereby put us upon prayer to him. When our souls faint we must remember God; and, when we remember God, we must send up a prayer to him, a pious ejaculation at least; when we think on his name we should call on his name.

4. He reflects upon the favour of God to him when thus in his distress he sought to God and trusted him. (1.) He graciously accepted his prayer, and gave admission and audience to it (v. 7): My prayer, being sent to him, came in unto him, even into his holy temple; it was heard in the highest heavens, though it was prayed in the lowest deeps. (2.) He wonderfully wrought deliverance for him, and, when he was in the depth of his misery, gave him the earnest and assurance of it (v. 6): Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God! Some think he said this when he was vomited up on dry ground; and then it is the language of thankfulness, and he sets it over-against the great difficulty of his case, that the power of God might be the more magnified in his deliverance: The earth with her bars was about me for ever, and yet thou hast brought up my life from the pit, from the bars of the pit. Or, rather, we may suppose it spoken while he was yet in the fish's belly, and then it is the language of his faith: "Thou hast kept me alive here, in the pit, and therefore thou canst, thou wilt, bring up my life from the pit;" and he speaks of it with as much assurance as if it were done already: Thou has brought up my life. Though he has not an express promise of deliverance, he has an earnest of it, and on that he depends: he has life, and therefore believes his life shall be brought up from corruption; and this assurance he addresses to God: Thou has done it, O Lord my God! Thou art the Lord, and therefore canst do it for me, my God, and therefore wilt do it. Note, If the Lord be our God, he will be to us the resurrection and the life, will redeem our lives from destruction, from the power of the grave.

5. He gives warning to others, and instructs them to keep close to God (v. 8): Those that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, that is, (1.) Those that worship other gods, as the heathen mariners did, and call upon them, and expect relief and comfort from them, forsake their own mercy; they stand in their own light; they turn their back upon their own happiness, and go quite out of the way of all good. Note, Idols are lying vanities, and those that pay that homage to them which is due to God only act as contrarily to their interests as to their duty. Or, (2.) Those that follow their own inventions, as Jonah himself had done when he fled from the presence of the Lord to go to Tarshish, forsake their own mercy, that mercy which they might find in God, and might have such a covenant-right and title to it as to be able to call it their own, if they would but keep close to God and their duty. Those that think to go any where to be from under the eye of God, as Jonah did—that think to better themselves by deserting his service, as Jonah did—and that grudge his mercy to any poor sinners, and pretend to be wiser than he in judging who are fit to have prophets sent them and who are not, as Jonah did—they observe lying vanities, are led away by foolish groundless fancies, and, like him, they forsake their own mercy, and no good can come of it. Note, Those that forsake their own duty forsake their own mercy; those that run away from the work of their place and day run away from the comfort of it.

6. He solemnly binds his soul with a bond that, if God work deliverance for him, the God of his mercies shall be the God of his praises, v. 9. He covenants with God, (1.) That he will honour him in his devotions with the sacrifice of thanksgiving; and God has said, for the encouragement of those that do so, that those that offer praise glorify him. He will, according to the law of Moses, bring a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will offer that according to the law of nature, with the voice of thanksgiving. The love and thankfulness of the heart to God are the life and soul of this duty; without these neither the sacrifice of thanksgiving nor the voice of thanksgiving will avail any thing. But gratitude was then, by a divine appointment, to be expressed by a sacrifice, in which the offerer presented the beast slain to God, not in lieu of himself, but in token of himself; and it is now to be expressed by the voice of thanksgiving, the calves of our lips (Hos. xiv. 2), the fruit of our lips (Heb. xiii. 15), speaking forth, singing forth, the high praises of our God. This Jonah here promises, that with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he will mention the lovingkindness of the Lord, to his glory, and the encouragement of others. (2.) That he will honour him in his conversation by a punctual performance of his vows, which he made in the fish's belly. Some think it was some work of charity that he vowed, or such a vow as Jacob's was, Of all that thou hast given me I will give the tenth unto thee. More probably his vow was that if God would deliver him he would readily go wherever he should please to send him, though it were to Nineveh. When we smart for deserting our duty it is time to promise that we will adhere to it, and abound in it. Or, perhaps, the sacrifice of thanksgiving is the thing he vowed, and that is it which he will pay, as David, Ps. cxvi. 17-19.

7. He concludes with an acknowledgment of God as the Saviour of his people: Salvation is of the Lord; it belongs to the Lord, Ps. iii. 8. He is the God of salvation, Ps. lxviii. 19, 20. He only can work salvation, and he can do it be the danger and distress ever so great; he has promised salvation to his people that trust in him. All the salvations of his church in general, and of particular saints, were wrought by him; he is the Saviour of those that believe, 1 Tim. iv. 10. Salvation is still of him, as it has always been; from him alone it is to be expected, and on him we are to depend for it. Jonah's experience shall encourage others, in all ages, to trust in God as the God of their salvation; all that read this story shall say with assurance, say with admiration, that salvation is of the Lord, and is sure to all that belongs to him.

Jonah's Deliverance. (b. c. 840.)

10 And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

We have here Jonah's discharge from his imprisonment, and his deliverance from that death which there he was threatened with—his return, though not to life, for he lived in the fish's belly, yet to the land of the living, for from that he seemed to be quite cut off—his resurrection, though not from death, yet from the grave, for surely never man was so buried alive as Jonah was in the fish's belly. His enlargement may be considered, 1. As an instance of God's power over all the creatures. God spoke to the fish, gave him orders to return him, as before he had given him orders to receive him. God speaks to other creatures, and it is done; they are all his ready obedient servants. But to man he speaks once, yea, twice, and he perceives it not, regards it not, but turns a deaf ear to what he says. Note, God has all creatures at his command, makes what use he pleases of them, and serves his own purposes by them. 2. As an instance of God's mercy to a poor penitent, that in his distress prays to him. Jonah had sinned, and had done foolishly, very foolishly; his own backslidings did not correct him, and it appears by his after-conduct that his foolishness was not quite driven from him, no, not by the rod of this correction; and yet, upon his praying, and humbling himself before God, here is a miracle in nature wrought for his deliverance, to intimate what a miracle of grace, free grace, God's reception and entertainment of returning sinners are. When God had him at his mercy he showed him mercy, and did not contend for ever. 3. As a type and figure of Christ's resurrection. He died and was buried, to lay in the grave, as Jonah did, three days and three nights, a prisoner for our debt; but the third day he came forth, as Jonah did, by his messengers to preach repentance, and remission of sins, even to the Gentiles. And thus was another scripture fulfilled, After two days he will receive us, and the third day he will raise us up, Hos. vi. 2. The earth trembled as if full of her burden, as the fish was of Jonah.

CHAP. II.

Verſe. 1. THen Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God] i. e. Praiſed God with this Canticum euchariſticum, this gratulatory ſong as Tremellius calleth it. That he prayed in the ſhip, in the ſea, in the whales belly, we doubt not; but that he chiefly intendeth to ſhew his thankfulneſſe for the return of prayers, and the ſweet ſupport he felt in the whales belly, we do as little doubt; See ver. 2, 6, 7. yea that this was the ſubſtance (though now better methodized) of what he praied and praiſed in the bowels of the fiſh, we have cauſe to beleeve from this very verſe: and therefore alſo his deliverance is ſet down ver. 10. after his doxologie. The word here rendred pray'd ſignifieth alſo ſometimes, to give thanks, as 1 Sam 2.2. and who knowes not that thankſgiving is a ſpeciall part of prayer? This therefore: Jonah having prayed, and perceiving that he was heard, and by the goodneſſe of God preſerved ſafe in body, and ſound in mind, he growes ſtrong in faith, Rom. 4. giving glory to God: and being fully perſwaded that he ſhould yet walk before him againe in the land of the living.

out of the fiſhes belly] where though he might ſeem buried alive, and free among the dead, yet he enjoyed Gods gracious preſence, and thoſe ſtrong conſolations, that made him live in the very mouth of death, and ſay in effect as bleſſed Bradford did,Act & Mon. fol. 1476. I thank God more of this priſon and of this dark dungeon then of any parlour, yea then of any pleaſure that ever I had. For in it I find God my moſt ſweet God alwayes.

Verſe 2. And ſaid, I cried by reaſon of mine affliction] His lips did not move in affliction, like a creaking doore or a new cart-wheele, with murmuring and mutinying againſt God and men:Pſal 73.9. he ſet not his mouth againſt heaven (as the howling wolf when hunger-bit) neither did his tongue walk through the earth, curſing the day of his birth,Lam. 3.29. and cutting deep into the ſides of ſuch as were meanes of his miſery. But putting his mouth in the duſt, if ſo bee there might be hope, he cried by reaſon of his affliction. The time of affliction is the time of ſupplication: no time like that for granting of ſuites Zech. 13.9. Gods afflicted may have what they will of him then, ſuch are his fatherly compaſſions to his ſick children: he reſerveth his beſt comforts for the worſt times, and then ſpeaketh to the hearts of his people, when he hath brought them into the wilderneſſe Hoſ. 2.13. This Jonah experimented, and therefore ſaid, I cried out of mine affliction unto the Lord.

Ad Dominum aſſlicto de pectore ſuſpirando.

And he heard me] How elſe am I alive amidſt ſo many deaths? here's a viſible anſwer, a reall return: Oh bleſſed be God who hath not turned away my prayer, nor his mercy from me Pſal. 66.20. Surely as the cloud, which riſeth out of the earth many times in them and inſenſible vapours, falleth down in great and abundant ſhowers: ſo our prayers, which aſcend weak and narrow, return with a full and enlarged anſwer. This was but a pittifull poore prayer that Ionas here made, as appeares ver. 4. and ſo was that of David Pſal. 31.22. For I ſaid in mine haſt I am cut off from before thine eyes: Nevertheleſſe thou heardeſt the voice of my ſupplications, when I cried unto thee. It would be wide with us, if God ſhould anſwer the beſt of us according to our prayers, yea though well watered with teares: ſith Ipſae lacrymae ſixt lacrymabiles &c. we had need to weep over our teares, ſigh over our ſobs, mourne over our griefs &c. Jonah was ſo taken with this kindneſſe from the Lord his God, that he repeates it and celebrates it a ſecond time.

out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardeſt my voice] The whales belly he calleth hels-belly, becauſe horrid and hideous, deep and diſmall. Thence he cried as David did De profundis, and was heard and delivered. Yea had hell it ſelf cloſed her mouth upon a praying Jonah, it could not long have held him: but muſt have vomited him up. A Mandamus from God will do it at any time, Pſa. 44.4. and what cannot faithfull Praier have of God? there is a certaine omnipotency in it, ſaid Luther.

Verſe 3. For thou hadſt caſt me into the deep] A graphicall deſcription of his wofull condition, which yet he remembreth now as waters that are paſt and is thankfull to his Almighty Deliverer. See the like in David Pſa. 116.3. and learn of theſe and other Saints, to acknowledge the uttermoſt extremity of a calamity, after we are delivered out of it. For hereby thy judgement will be the better inſtructed and the more convinced: thine heart alſo will be the more inlarged to admire, and thy mouth the wider opened to celebrate the power, wiſdome, and mercy of God in thy deliverance. As if this be not done, God will be provoked either to inflict heavier judgements, or elſe to ceaſe to ſmite thee any more with the ſtripes of a father, and to give thee up for a loſt child.

for thou had'ſt caſt me into the deep] Not the mariners, but Thou didſt it: and therefore there was no averting or avoyding it. Thou had'ſt caſt me with a force, as a ſtone out of a ſling, or as that mighty Angel Rev. 18.21. that took up a ſtone like a great milſtone, and caſt it into the ſea, ſaying, Thus with violence &c.

In the middeſt of the ſeas] Heb: in the heart of the ſea's: ſo Mat. 12.40. So ſhall the Son of man be three dayes and three nights in the heart of the earth. And Deut. 4.11. we read of the heart of heaven that is, the middle of it, as the heart ſitteth in the middeſt of the body as king of that Iſle of Man. Now if it were ſo grievous to be caſt into the main Sea, what ſhall it be to be hurled into hell, by ſuch an hand, and with ſuch a force into that bottomeleſſe gulf, whence nothing was ever yet boyed up againe?

and the floods compaſſed me about] Aquarum confluges The Sea, whence all floods or rivers iſſue, and whereto they return (Homer calleth the Ocean [non-Latin text not transcribed] a river by the figure Miôſis) Danaeus here noteth that out of that gulf of the Sea, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Iliad. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. which of Plato is called Tartarus, that is, hell, the waters do flow into the veines of the earth (as it is Eccleſ. 1.7.) loſing their ſaltneſſe in the paſſage. Here Jonah cried out as Pſa. 69.1.2. Save me, O God: for the waters are come in unto my ſoule. I fink in deep mire, where there is no ſtanding: I am come into the deep waters, where the floods overflow me. It was onely his faith that held him up by the chin: and, like blown bleathers, bore him aloſt all waters.

all thy billowes and thy waves paſſed over me] All: ſo it ſeemed to Jonah, that God had powred out all his diſpleaſure upon him: but he ſuf[illegible: 1 letter]ereth not his whole wrath to ariſe againſt his people: neither remembreth iniquity for ever. Thy billowes or ſurges, not the ſeas but thine. God ſeemed to fight againſt Jonah with his own hand. David likewiſe in a deſertion complaines that all Gods waves and floods were gone over him Pſ. 42.7. In this caſe (for it may be any ones caſe) let us do as Paul and his company did (in that diſmall tempeſt Act. 27. when they ſaw neither ſun nor ſtar for diverſe dayes and nights together) caſt anchor of hope, even beyond hope: and then wait and wiſh for day. God will appeare at length, and all ſhall clear up: he will deliver our ſoules from the nethermoſt hell.

Verſ. 4. Then I ſaid, I am caſt out of thy ſight,] Thus thoſe ſtraits brought him to theſe diſputes of deſpair, as they did likewiſe David, Pſal. 31.22. the Church in the Lamentations Chap. 4.22. and others, apt enough in affliction to have hard conceits of God, and heavy conceits of themſelves. Whiles men look at things preſent, whiles they live by ſenſe onely, it muſt needs be with them as with an houſe without pillars, tottering with every blaſt; or as a ſhip without anchor, toſſed with every wave. They muſt therefore thruſt Hagar out of doors, and ſet up Sarah; ſilence their reaſon, and exalt Faith, as did Jonas here; Then I ſaid, I am caſt out of thy ſight: Here you may take him up for a dead man; here he inclineth ſomewhat to that of Cain, Gen. 4.13, 14. and ſurely they that go down to this pit (of deſpair, as Hezechiah ſpeaketh of the grave) cannot hope for Gods truth,Eſa. 38. as long as there they ſtay.

yet I wil look again toward thine holy Temple] Here he recollects and recovers himſelf: as the ſame ſoul may ſucceſſively doubt and believe, not ſimultaneouſly: and faith, where it is right, will at length outwraſtle diffidence, and make a man more then a conquerour, even a Triumpher. When ſenſe ſaith ſuch a thing will not be, Reaſon ſaith, It cannot be, Faith gets above and ſaith, Yea, but it ſhall be: what talk you to me of Impoſſibilities, I ſhall yet (as low as I am, and as forlorn) look again towards Gods holy Temple of heaven; yea, that here on earth, where God is ſincerely ſerved, and whereto the precious are annexed. Faith is by one fitly compared to the cork upon the net: though the lead on the one ſinks it down, yet the cork on the other keeps it up in the water. The faithful ſoon check themſelves for their doubtings and deſpondency, as Jonah here; as David chides David, Pſal. 43.5 and as Paul ſaith of himſelf and his fellowes, that they were ſtaggering, but not wholly ſticking, 2 Cor. 4.8.

Verſ. 5. The waters compaſſed me about even to the ſoul] that is, uſque ad animae deliquium, till I laboured for life, and was as good as gone.

The depth cloſed me round about] ſee the Note on verſ. 3. and further obſerve, that Gods dear children may fall into deſperate and deadly dangers, ſee Pſal. 18.3. and 88.3. & 116.3. And this for 1. prevention, 2. purgation, 3. probation, 4. preparations to further both mercies and duties. Let us not therefore cenſure our ſelves or others as hated of God, becauſe greatly diſtreſſed; but incourage our ſelves in them, as did David at Ziklag, 1 Sach. 30.6. The right of the Lord ſhall change all this.

Flebile principium melior fortuna ſequetur.

The weeds were wrapt about mine head] Alga as Alligando. The weeds which the fiſh had devoured, or whereunto the fiſh, wherein I was, had dived and lain down amongſt them. Or this might befal Jonah in the bottom of the ſea, before the fiſh had ſwallowed him: for weeds eaſily wrap about thoſe that ſwim, or are drowned.

Verſ. 6. I went down to the bottomes of the montains] that is, of the promontories, or rocks of the ſea, where the waters are deepeſt. Thus Mercer after Kimchi. The channels of waters were ſeen, and the foundations of the world were diſcovered, Pſal. 18.15. The mountains are ſaid to be under water, Prov. 8.25. becauſe their foundations are there placed.

the earth with her barres was about me for over] As if reſolved there to keep me cloſe priſoner; that though the fiſh had diſgorged me, yet I ſhould never have got to land. The ſhores are ſet by God as barres to keep the ſea within his bounds, Job 38.8, 10, 11. Jer. 5.22. Here then all the creatures ſeemed to ſet againſt poor Jonas, and (which was more then all) the Creatour too: ſo that he might ſigh and ſay, as in the Poet, In me omnis terrae que avium que mariſ que rapina eſt:Martial. Forſitan & coeli —

Yet haſt thou brought up my life from corruption] i. e. from the place where I was likely to have laine and rotted. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. Cum duplicantur lateres, venit Moſes: when things are at the worſt God appeareth, as it were out of an engine. In the mount will the Lord be ſeen Ezek. 37.11. &c. 2 King. 19.3. he ſtayes ſo long ſometimes that he hardly findes faith on earth Luk. 18. and yet comes at laſt to the relief of his poor people: viz. when they are ripe and ready for it. He is a God of judgement, he knowes how and when to deale forth his favours: and even waiteth to be gracious Eſay 30.22. See Eſa. 28.24, 25, 27, 28.

O Lord my God] ſc. by the meane and merit of thy ſon, in whom alone it is, that thou Lord art my God, and that I can call thee Abba Father. It is well obſerved by an Interpreter, that in this ſhort hiſtory of Jonah are all things contained, which may make to the ſound and ſaving knowledge of God and his will, of our ſelves alſo and our duties.

Verſe 7. When my ſoul fainted within me, I remembred the Lord] And could ſay as the Church in Eſay when at loweſt,Eſa. 63.16. Doubtleſſe thou art our Father, our Redeemer, thy Name is from everlaſting. As there is in the creatures an inſtinct of nature to do their kind: ſo there is of grace in the Saints, to run to God. Yea in the way of thy judgements, O Lord, have we waited for thee: the deſire of our ſoule is to thy Name, and to the remembrance of thee: with my ſoule have I deſired thee in the night: yea with my ſpirit within me will I ſeek thee early &c. Eſa. 26.8, 9. Oh Lord, ſaith Habacuc, art not thou from everlaſting my God and mine holy One. It was a bold queſtion, but God approves and aſſents to it in a gracious anſwer, ere they went further;Hab. 1.12. We ſhall not die (ſay they obruptly) O Lord thou haſt ordained them (the Caldeans) for judgement: but us onely for chaſtiſement. Here was the triumph of their faith, and this was that which held up Jonas his hope though with wonderfull difficulty, held head above water. He remembred the yeeres of the right hand of the moſt High Pſal. 77.10. he called to mind his ſongs in the night ſeaſon ver. 6. his former experience, a juſt ground of his preſent confidence. He remembred the Lord, his Power and Goodneſſe, thoſe two pillars, the Jachin and the Boaz that ſupport Faith; and this fetcht him againe when ready to faint. I had even fainted, unleſſe I had beleeved to ſee the goodneſſe of the Lord in the land of the living, Pſal. 27.13.

and my prayer came in unto thee] q. d. Though I was ſo faint I could ſcarce utter a prayer, yet thou harknedſt and heardeſt, as Mal. 3.16. thou madeſt hard ſhift to hear, (as I may ſay) thine ears were in my prayers, as S. Peter hath it, 1 Pet. 3.12. thou felſt my breathing, when no voice could bee heard, Lam. 3.56. thou heldeſt not thy peace at my tears, Pſal. 39.12. quando fletu agerem non afflatu, yea thou heardeſt the voice of mine affliction, Gen. 16.11.

Into thine holy Temple.] Whether we take it of the Temple at Jeruſalem (a type of Chriſt) Jonah's prayer was accepted for Chriſts-ſake: and proved to no leſſe purpoſe, though made in the Whales belly, then if he had been pouring it out in Gods holy Temple. Or, if we underſtand it of Heaven, the habitation of Gods holineſſe, and of his glory, his oriſons were come up thither, for a memorial before the Almighty, Act. 10.4. and like pillars of incenſe pierced into his preſence, Can. 3.6. neither would they away without their errand, but lay at Gods feet, til he ſhould cōmand deliverance out of Zion

Verſe 8. They that obſerve lying vanities] That liſten to ſenſe and reaſon in matters of God, and make proviſion for the fleſh, to fulfill the luſts thereof, as Ionah had done to his coſt, till, having payed for his learning, he deſcried them all to bee but lying vanities, or moſt vain vanities, emptie Nothings.

forſake their own mercy.] Are miſerable by their own election, becauſe ſinners (in a ſpeciall manner) againſt their own ſouls, as were Corab and his complices, Num. 16.38. as was Pope Silveſter, who gave his ſoul to the Devil for ſeven years enjoyment of the Popedome: and as are all thoſe wilfull wicked perſons, that refuſing to be reformed, and hating to be healed, chuſe to ſpend the ſpan of this life after the wayes of their own hearts, though they thereby periſh for ever. Theſe are thoſe fools of the people, that preferre an apple before Paradiſe, a meſſe of pottage before the inheritance of heaven, their ſwine before their Saviour, turning their backs upon thoſe bleſſed and bleeding embracements of his, and cruelly cutting the throats of their own poor ſouls, by an impenitent continuance in ſinne: ſo loſing, for a few bitter-ſweet pleaſures, or paltry profits in this vale of tears, for an inch of time, that fulneſſe of felicity at Gods right hand, thorough all eternity. It is written of them who tame the Tyger, that when they have taken away the young one, knowing that preſently they ſhall be purſued by the old Tygreſſe, they ſet looking-glaſſes in the way by which they flee: whereunto when ſhe cometh and ſeeth ſome repreſentation of her ſelf, ſhe lingreth about them a good ſpace, deceived by the ſhadow, and detained in a vain hope to recover the young againe: Mean-while the hunter moſt ſpeedily poſteth away with his prey. Semblably dealeth Satan with the men of this world (ſaith mine Authour) He caſts before them the deceitfull luſts of profit, pleaſure, and preferment (the worldlings Trinity) thoſe lying vanities, being none other then ſhadows and ſemblances of good: yet are men ſo delighted with theſe, that they dote about them, having no care to purſue the enemy, for recovery of that image of God, the Divine nature, that Satan hath beguiled them of. He ſetteth them to the tree of knowledge, that they may not taſte of the tree of life. He putteth out their eyes with the duſt of covetouſneſſe, and ſhutteth their ears againſt the inſtructions of life, leſt at any time they ſhould ſee with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and ſhould underſtand with their hearts, and ſhould be converted, and God ſhould heal them, Mat. 13.15. In all which there is not any thing more to be lamented then this, that people ſhould love to have it ſo, Jer. 6.31. be active in their own utter undoing, Hoſ. 13.9. wittingly and willingly forſake God the fountain of living waters (their own mercies, as he is here called, and elſewhere, Pſal. 144.2.) and hew themſelves out ciſternes, broken ciſternes that can hold no water, Jer. 2.13.

Verſe 9. But I will ſacrifice unto thee with the voice of thankſgiving,] q. d. Let others do as they think good: let them make a match with miſchief till they have enough of it. Let them walk till they have wearied themſelves, in the wayes of their hearts, and in the ſight of their eyes: but let them know (I ſpeak it by wofull experience) that for all theſe things, God will bring them to judgement, Eccleſ. 11.9. The beſt that can come of ſinne is Repentance: and that's not in mans power, but in Gods gift, 2 Tim. 2.25. If he had not melted mine hard heart, and brought me back to himſelf with a ſtrong hand, I had pined away in mine iniquities, and periſhed for ever. But now having been ſo miraculouſly delivered from ſo great a death, I will ſacrifice unto the Lord with the voice of thanksgiving. I will ſet up my note and ſing aloud unto God my Saviour, who hath thus beyond all deſert, delivered ſuch a miſerable wretch, rebell, and runagate as my ſelf.

I will ſacrifice] Heb. I will ſlay, ſc. thoſe birds and beaſts in uſe for feaſts and ſacrifices at Jeruſalem. with the voice of thanksgiving.] Heb. of confeſſion, that is, I will confeſſe and acknowledge God to be what he is, to do what he doth, and to give what he giveth. Now to offer a ſacrifice, at ſuch a confeſſion, or thankſgiving, added much to the ſolemnity thereof; and made it more, honourable in it ſelf, and more acceptable to God. To theſe gratulatory ſacrifices the word ſlaying is attributed, as here: to ſhew, that even in gratulation, expiation muſt bee made: and that by the blood and ſacrifice of Chriſt all our offerings are accepted in heaven.

I will pay that I have vowed,] Not my generall vow onely as a Covenanter, to devote my ſelf to his fear and ſervice all my dayes; but thoſe particular, perſonall, voluntary vowes made in my diſtreſſe: ſuch as was that of Jacob, Gen. 28.20. Hannah, 1 Sam. 1.11. David, Pſal. 132.1, 2 &c. In affliction men are wondrous apt to promiſe great matters, if they may but be delivered. See Pſal. 78.36. Pliny in an Epiſtle to one of his friends, that deſired rules from him how to order his life aright; I will, ſaith he, give you one rule, that ſhall be inſtead of a thouſand. Ʋt tales eſſe perſeveremus ſani, quales nos futuros eſſe profitemur infirmi. That you be ſure to be the ſame when well, that you vowed to be when you were ſick. But this is few mens care. See Jer. 34.10, 11. Sonnes of Belial break theſe bonds (as Sampſon did the green withes) and caſt away thoſe cords from them; if they could at leaſt. being worſe herein then thoſe Mariners, chap. 1, then Saul, that made great conſcience of violating his vow, 1 Sam. 14. then Turks and Papiſts, who are ſuperſtitiouſly ſtrict this way Jonah knew it to be as bad, if not worſe, then perjury, to vow and not to performe, Num. 30.3. and that God is the avenger of all ſuch, Deut. 23.21. He therefore, not merely for fear of puniſhment, but chiefly for hatred of that ſinne ſaith, I will pay that I have vowed,] The Hebrew word Aſhallemah ſeemeth to imply two things. Firſt, that his vow, till paid, was incompleat, it was an imperfect thing; the better part of it was yet wanting. Next, that till that chare were done, he could not be at peace within himſelf, he could not be quiet: for vowes are debts: and debts, till they be payed, are a burden to an honeſt minde, and do much diſeaſe it.

Salvation is of the Lord.] Salus omnimoda, as the Hebrew word (having one letter more then ordinary in it) importeth:Jeſhugnathah. all manner of ſalvation full, and plentifull deliverance, is of the Lord; who is therefore called, the God of ſalvation, unto whom belong the iſſues from death, Pſal. 68.20. A quo vera ſalus non aliunde venit. This Ionah ſpeaketh, as he doth all elſe in this holy Canticle, not by reading, or by rote, but out of his own feeling, and good experience: his whole diſcourſe was digg'd out of his own breaſt, as it is ſaid of that moſt excellent 119. Pſalme, that it is made up altogether of experiments; and it therefore hath verba non legenda ſed vivenda, words not ſo much to be read, as lived, as One ſaid once of it. Dives thought that if one went from the dead to warne his wicked brethren, they would never be able to reſiſt ſuch powerfull Rhetorick. Behold, here is Ionah raiſed from the dead, as it were, and warning people to ariſe, and ſtand up from dead courſes and companies, that Chriſt may give them light: why do they not then get up and be doing at it, that the Lord may be with them? Shall not the men of Nineveh riſe up in judgement with this evil generation, and condemn them, becauſe they repented at the preaching of Jonas: Mat. 12.41. but theſe do not, though they have many Jonas's, that both preach and practiſe, non verbis ſolum praedicantes ſed & exemplis, as Euſebius ſaith Origen did, that live ſermons and not teach them onely?

Verſe 10.Dci dicere eſt facere. Aug. And the Lord ſpake unto the fiſh, [He ſpake the word and it was done: He is the great Centurion of the world, that ſaith to his creature, Do this, and hee doth it. Yea, he is the great, great Induperator, to whom every thing ſaith. Iuſſa ſequi tam velle mihi quàm poſſe neceſſe eſſe. Lucan. I am wholly at thy beck, and check. Jonah ſpake to God, and God to the fiſh. It may be ſaid of faithfull prayer, that it can do whatſoever God himſelf can do: ſith he is pleaſed to yeeld himſelf overcome by the prayers of his people, and to ſay unto them cordially, as Zedekiah did to his Courtiers colloguingly. The king is not he that can deny you any thing. Prayer is of that power, that it can open the doors of Leviathan, as wee ſee here, (which yet is reckoned as a thing not feiſible, Iob 41.14.) yea of the all-devouring grave, Heb. 11.35. If the Lord, pricked on by the prayers of his people, ſet in hand to ſave them, and ſhall ſay to the North, Give up; and to the South, Keep not back, bring my ſonnes from farre, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, Eſay 43.6. they ſhall come amain, and none ſhall be able to hinder them: Come therefore (with thoſe good ſouls in Hoſea, who had ſmarted for their folly, as well as Ionah) and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, Hoſ. 6.1, 2. and he will heal us: he hath ſmitten, and he will bind us up. After two dayes will he revive us: in the third day he will raiſe us up, and we ſhall live in his ſight. A time we muſt have to be in the fire, in the fiſhes belly, as in Gods Nurturing-houſe; but hee will take care that wee be not there overlong: what's two or three dayes to eternity? Hold out faith and patience: Yet a very little, little while, Heb. 10. and hee that ſhall come, will come, and will not tarry.

and it vomited up Ionah upon the dry land.] And here Death was defeated and wiped: it was much more ſo, when it had ſwallowed up Chriſt;Quantum in devoratione mors laetata eſt, tantum luxit in vomitu; Hieron. and little dreamt that it ſelf ſhould have been thereby ſwallowed up in victory. But then was fulfilled that of the Prophet, O death, I will be thy death. And as there ſo here in a proportion, and as a type, omnia jam inverſa, ſaith Mercer, all things are turned t'other way. Before the fiſh was an inſtrument of death; now, of life, and ſerves Jonah for a ſhip to bring him to dry land. This fiſh uſeth not to come neer the ſhore, but to ſport in the great waters: howbeit now he muſt, by ſpeciall command, vomit up Ionah upon the dry land. Why then ſhould it be thought a thing incredible with any, that God ſhould raiſe the dead? The Sea ſhall ſurely give up the dead that were in it: and death and hell deliver up the dead that were in them:Acts 26. S. Sen. Nat. quaeſt. l. 3. c. 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. and they ſhall be judged every man according to his works, Rev. 20.13. This, ſome of the Heathens beleeved: as Zoroaſtres, Theopompus, and Plato. And the Stoikes opinion was, that the world ſhould one day be diſſolved by fire or water: and all things brought to a better ſtate, or to the firſt golden age again. But we have a more ſure word of Propheſie: and this that is here recorded may ſerve as an image and type of our preſervation in the grave, and our reſurrection from the dead, by one and the ſame Almighty power of God.