Jonah 2 - Introduction
_THE PRAYER OF JONAH: HE IS DELIVERED FROM THE FISH._ _Before Christ 862._... [ Continue Reading ]
_THE PRAYER OF JONAH: HE IS DELIVERED FROM THE FISH._ _Before Christ 862._... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN JONAH PRAYED, &C.— The following prayer was conceived and formed, as to substance, in the belly of the fish, and probably afterwards digested and written in its present mode; a thanksgiving for his deliverance being added at the end of it. Houbigant very properly reads the verbs in the followin... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN I SAID, I AM CAST OUT, &C.— "My first apprehensions were, that as I had justly forfeited thy favour for my disobedience, so thou wouldst cast me out of thy protection. But, upon recollecting myself, I thought it my duty not to despair of thy mercy, but to direct my prayer toward thy heavenly ha... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WATERS COMPASSED ME, &C.— Jonah, as we have before observed, speaks this in the bowels of the fish; therefore they seem to mistake the matter, who say that Jonah speaks this in the midst of the sea, before he was swallowed by the fish. The fish swallowed up Jonah, when first he fell to the botto... [ Continue Reading ]
THE EARTH WITH HER BARS WAS ABOUT ME, &C.— Houbigant connects the word rendered _for ever,_ with _bars,_ and reads, _The earth, with her everlasting bars, was about me,_ &c. But others give the passage another turn, and render it thus, _The earth with her bars would have been about me for ever; but... [ Continue Reading ]
FORSAKE THEIR OWN MERCY, &C.— "They who worship idols abandon the mercy of God, render it useless, and reject it, even though offered to them and always ready to save them." Houbigant reads the last clause, _Have forsaken their benefactor:_ and he supposes that Jonah applies this to the mariners who... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I WILL SACRIFICE UNTO THEE— Not to other gods, as the mariners did to their deities. _Salvation is of the Lord,_ and not of those false gods to whom these idolatrous sailors (except in the instance here recorded) offered their vows and prayers. See Psalms 50:14.Hosea 14:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE LORD SPAKE UNTO THE FISH— The power of the Almighty is frequently represented in Scripture, as bringing things to pass by his bare word and command; he speaks, and it is done. Various are the traditions of the Orientals, respecting the place where Jonah was disembogued; but, as Calmet well o... [ Continue Reading ]