Jonah 3:2
III. THE PROPHET FULFILS HIS COMMISSION. ITS RESULT. (2) PREACH. — In Jonah 1:2 the word is rendered “cry.”... [ Continue Reading ]
III. THE PROPHET FULFILS HIS COMMISSION. ITS RESULT. (2) PREACH. — In Jonah 1:2 the word is rendered “cry.”... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW NINEVEH WAS... — The past tense here certainly seems to imply that at the time in which the author wrote the city was no longer in existence, but the force of a Hebrew tense is not to be estimated by the analogy of modern languages. AN EXCEEDING GREAT CITY. — Literally, _A city great to God;_ an... [ Continue Reading ]
AND JONAH BEGAN TO ENTER INTO THE CITY A DAY’S JOURNEY. — This is apparently equivalent to _And Jonah entered the city, and walked for a day through it._ To enter on a minute inquiry as to whether his course was straight or circuitous seems trivial. The writer has no thought of furnishing data for a... [ Continue Reading ]
BELIEVED GOD. — Or, _believed in God._ Notice again an implied contrast to the dulness of the Jews, who were “slow to believe” the prophetic warnings addressed to themselves. PROCLAIMED A FAST. — Apparently on a spontaneous resolution of the people themselves. (See Note to Jonah 3:6.) The fast woul... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR WORD CAME. — Rather, _And the matter reached._ The Authorised Version treats the royal edict that follows as the same with the _proclamation_ in Jonah 3:5. This is possible, but it is more probable that the writer intended to describe the effect produced on each district of the vast city in succ... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CAUSED... — The fact that the word rendered “decree” in this verse was a technical name for the edicts of Assyrian and Babylonian kings (see Daniel 3:10; Daniel 3:29) would alone vouch for the accurate acquaintance of the author with the customs he describes. But the very form of the royal ed... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD REPENTED. — See Note, Genesis 6:6. AND HE DID IT NOT. — As we are entirely ignorant of the nature of the threatened destruction, so are we also of the mode in which it was averted. Possibly some inscription throwing light on the book of Jonah may yet be discovered.... [ Continue Reading ]