Jonah 3:7

And he caused [it] to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:

Ver. 7. And he caused it to be proclaimed] By sound of trumpet, as Joel 2:12; or otherwise, as 2 Chronicles 20:3,4; 2 Chronicles 20:18,20; 2 Chronicles 22:6,7; at which times he that obeyeth not is culpable before God and man, Leviticus 23:29 .

By the decree of the king and his nobles] Who all unanimously consenting to so good a work, iis quibus praeerant, praeibant, became a precedent to their inferiors, who looked upon them (no doubt) as their lookingglasses, by which most men dressed themselves. When Crispus, the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed, many Corinthians believed also, Acts 18:8. The primitive Christians were wont to pray that their emperors might have good counsellors (Tertullian). Of a certain prince in Germany it was said that, Esset alius, si esset apud alios, He would have been a far better man had he had better servants and officers about him (Bucholcer).

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing] The whole action of fasting hath its name, both in Hebrew and Greek, צום νηστεια, from abstinence and forbearance of meats and drinks; a toto, if it may be, at least, a tanto et a tali, as Daniel 10:2,3; and as it might be here, till the forty days were expired; besides, that one or more solemn days of total fasting, "wherein neither man nor beast," &c. But why is the beast abridged of sustenance? both to testify and increase the people's lamentation by their lowings and bellowings. Alexander the Great, at the death of his favourite Hephaestion, clipped his horses' and mules' hair, and cut them short, in token of his great grief; he pulled down also the battlements of the walls, that they might seem to mourn with him (Plutarch). So Virgil, speaking of the general grief for Caesar's death, saith (Eclog. 5):

“ Non ulli pastos illis egere diebus

Frigida, Daphni, boves ad fiumina; nulla nec annem

Libavit quadrupes, nec graminis attigit herbam. ”

Let them not feed, nor drink water ] But what they get of themselves without man's care, who is to be wholly intent and taken up in God's service; and so to begin the heavenly life here, the sweetness whereof makes him forbear both meat and thirst. Besides, they took pride in their palfries, covering them with purple and rich trappings, see Judges 8:26 , they catered for the flesh, by fatting cattle and other creatures to please their palate. This they were now forbidden to do by an edict from the king, who interesteth himself in matters of religion; as did also Artaxerxes, Ezra 7:26 (for which Ezra seeth cause to bless God); and Nebuchadnezzar, Daniel 3:29 , which the Scripture commendeth, and recordeth as a work of his repentance.