CHAPTER III _Jonah is sent again to Nineveh, a city of three days' journey,_ _(being sixty miles in circumference, according to Diodorus_ _Siculus,)_ 1-4. _The inhabitants, in consequence of the prophet's preaching,_ _repent in dust and ashes_, 5-9. _God, seeing that they were deeply humbled o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jonah 3:2. _AND PREACH UNTO IT THE PREACHING_] וקרא את הקריאה _vekera_ _eth hakkeriah_, "And cry the cry that I bid thee." Be my herald, and faithfully deliver my message. The word κηρυξ in Greek answers to the Hebrew קורא _kore_: both signifying a _crier_, a _herald_, a _preacher_; one that... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jonah 3:3. _NINEVEH WAS AN EXCEEDING GREAT CITY, OF THREE DAYS'_ _JOURNEY._] See on John 1:2. _Strabo_ says, lib. xvi., πολυ μειζων ην της Βαβυλωνος, "it was much larger than Babylon:" and Ninus, the builder, not only proposed to make it the _largest_ city of the world, but the largest that _c... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jonah 3:4. _YET FORTY DAYS_] Both the _Septuagint_ and _Arabic_ read _three_ days. Probably some early copyist of the _Septuagint_, from whom our modern editions are derived, mistook the Greek numerals μ _forty_ for γ _three_; or put the _three_ days' _journey_ in preaching instead of the _fo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jonah 3:5. _THE PEOPLE OF NINEVEH BELIEVED GOD_] They had no doubt that the threatening would be fulfilled, unless their speedy conversion prevented it; but, though not expressed, they knew that the threatening was conditional. "The promises and threatenings of God, which are merely personal,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jonah 3:6. _WORD CAME UNTO THE KING_] This, some think, was _Pul_; others, _Sardanapalus_ his son, king of Assyria, who flourished in the reign of Jeroboam the Second: but it seems more probable that the monarch here alluded to was a king of Assyria contemporary with Joash, king of Judah. It w... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jonah 3:8. _LET MAN AND BEAST BE COVERED_] This was done that every object which they beheld might deepen the impression already made, and cause them to mourn after a godly sort. _Virgil_ tells us that the mourning for the death of Julius Caesar was so general, that the _cattle_ neither _ate_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jonah 3:9. _WHO CAN TELL_ IF _GOD WILL TURN AND REPENT_] There is at least a peradventure for our salvation. God _may_ turn towards us, change his purpose, and save us alive. While there is life there is hope; God has no pleasure in the death of sinners; he is gracious and compassionate. Himse... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Jonah 3:10. _AND GOD SAW THEIR WORKS_] They repented, and brought forth _fruits_ meet for repentance; works which showed that they did most earnestly repent. He therefore changed his purpose, and the city was saved. The purpose was: If the Ninevites do not return from their evil ways, and the... [ Continue Reading ]