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Jonah 1:4 King James Version with Strong's Concordance (STRONG)

4 But the LORD H3068 sent out H2904 a great H1419 wind H7307 into the sea, H3220 and there was a mighty H1419 tempest H5591 in the sea, H3220 so that the ship H591 was like H2803 to be broken. H7665

Cross Reference

Psalms 107:23-31 STRONG

They that go down H3381 to the sea H3220 in ships, H591 that do H6213 business H4399 in great H7227 waters; H4325 These see H7200 the works H4639 of the LORD, H3068 and his wonders H6381 in the deep. H4688 For he commandeth, H559 and raiseth H5975 the stormy H5591 wind, H7307 which lifteth up H7311 the waves H1530 thereof. They mount up H5927 to the heaven, H8064 they go down H3381 again to the depths: H8415 their soul H5315 is melted H4127 because of trouble. H7451 They reel to and fro, H2287 and stagger H5128 like a drunken man, H7910 and are at their wits' H2451 end. H1104 Then they cry H6817 unto the LORD H3068 in their trouble, H6862 and he bringeth them out H3318 of their distresses. H4691 He maketh H6965 the storm H5591 a calm, H1827 so that the waves H1530 thereof are still. H2814 Then are they glad H8055 because they be quiet; H8367 so he bringeth H5148 them unto their desired H2656 haven. H4231 Oh that men would praise H3034 the LORD H3068 for his goodness, H2617 and for his wonderful works H6381 to the children H1121 of men! H120

Matthew 8:24-27 STRONG

And, G2532 behold, G2400 there arose G1096 a great G3173 tempest G4578 in G1722 the sea, G2281 insomuch that G5620 the ship G4143 was covered G2572 with G5259 the waves: G2949 but G1161 he G846 was asleep. G2518 And G2532 his G846 disciples G3101 came G4334 to him, and awoke G1453 him, G846 saying, G3004 Lord, G2962 save G4982 us: G2248 we perish. G622 And G2532 he saith G3004 unto them, G846 Why G5101 are ye G2075 fearful, G1169 O ye of little faith? G3640 Then G5119 he arose, G1453 and rebuked G2008 the winds G417 and G2532 the sea; G2281 and G2532 there was G1096 a great G3173 calm. G1055 But G1161 the men G444 marvelled, G2296 saying, G3004 What manner of man G4217 is G2076 this, G3778 that G3754 even G2532 the winds G417 and G2532 the sea G2281 obey G5219 him! G846

Acts 27:13-20 STRONG

And G1161 when the south wind G3558 blew softly, G5285 supposing G1380 that they had obtained G2902 their purpose, G4286 loosing G142 thence, they sailed G3881 close by G788 Crete. G2914 But G1161 not G3756 long G4183 after G3326 there arose G906 against G2596 it G846 a tempestuous G5189 wind, G417 called G2564 Euroclydon. G2148 And G1161 when the ship G4143 was caught, G4884 and G2532 could G1410 not G3361 bear up into G503 the wind, G417 we let her drive. G1929 G5342 And G1161 running under G5295 a certain G5100 island G3519 which is called G2564 Clauda, G2802 we had G2480 much G3433 work G2480 to come by G4031 G1096 the boat: G4627 Which G3739 when they had taken up, G142 they used G5530 helps, G996 undergirding G5269 the ship; G4143 and, G5037 fearing G5399 lest G3361 they should fall G1601 into G1519 the quicksands, G4950 strake G5465 sail, G4632 and so G3779 were driven. G5342 And G1161 we G2257 being exceedingly G4971 tossed with a tempest, G5492 the next G1836 day they lightened the ship; G1546 G4160 And G2532 the third G5154 day we cast out G4496 with our own hands G849 the tackling G4631 of the ship. G4143 And G1161 when neither G3383 sun G2246 nor G3383 stars G798 in G1909 many G4119 days G2250 appeared, G2014 and G5037 no G3756 small G3641 tempest G5494 lay on G1945 us, all G3956 hope G1680 that we G2248 should be saved G4982 was G4014 then G3063 taken away. G4014

Commentary on Jonah 1 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 1

Jon 1:1-17. Jonah's Commission to Nineveh, Flight, Punishment, and Preservation by Miracle.

1. Jonah—meaning in Hebrew, "dove." Compare Ge 8:8, 9, where the dove in vain seeks rest after flying from Noah and the ark: so Jonah. Grotius not so well explains it, "one sprung from Greece" or Ionia, where there were prophets called Amythaonidæ.

Amittai—Hebrew for "truth," "truth-telling"; appropriate to a prophet.

2. to Nineveh—east of the Tigris, opposite the modern Mosul. The only case of a prophet being sent to the heathen. Jonah, however, is sent to Nineveh, not solely for Nineveh's good, but also to shame Israel, by the fact of a heathen city repenting at the first preaching of a single stranger, Jonah, whereas God's people will not repent, though preached to by their many national prophets, late and early. Nineveh means "the residence of Ninus," that is, Nimrod. Ge 10:11, where the translation ought to be, "He (Nimrod) went forth into Assyria and builded Nineveh." Modern research into the cuneiform inscriptions confirms the Scripture account that Babylon was founded earlier than Nineveh, and that both cities were built by descendants of Ham, encroaching on the territory assigned to Shem (Ge 10:5, 6, 8, 10, 25).

great city—four hundred eighty stadia in circumference, one hundred fifty in length, and ninety in breadth [Diodorus Siculus, 2.3]. Taken by Arbaces the Mede, in the reign of Sardanapalus, about the seventh year of Uzziah; and a second time by Nabopolassar of Babylon and Cyaxares the Mede in 625 B.C. See on Jon 3:3.

cry—(Isa 40:6; 58:1).

come up before me—(Ge 4:10; 6:13; 18:21; Ezr 9:6; Re 18:5); that is, their wickedness is so great as to require My open interposition for punishment.

3. flee—Jonah's motive for flight is hinted at in Jon 4:2: fear that after venturing on such a dangerous commission to so powerful a heathen city, his prophetical threats should be set aside by God's "repenting of the evil," just as God had so long spared Israel notwithstanding so many provocations, and so he should seem a false prophet. Besides, he may have felt it beneath him to discharge a commission to a foreign idolatrous nation, whose destruction he desired rather than their repentance. This is the only case of a prophet, charged with a prophetical message, concealing it.

from the presence of the Lord—(Compare Ge 4:16). Jonah thought in fleeing from the land of Israel, where Jehovah was peculiarly present, that he should escape from Jehovah's prophecy-inspiring influence. He probably knew the truth stated in Ps 139:7-10, but virtually ignored it (compare Ge 3:8-10; Jer 23:24).

went down—appropriate in going from land to the sea (Ps 107:23).

Joppa—now Jaffa, in the region of Dan; a harbor as early as Solomon's time (2Ch 2:16).

Tarshish—Tartessus in Spain; in the farthest west at the greatest distance from Nineveh in the east.

4. sent out—literally, caused a wind to burst forth. Coverdale translates, "hurled a greate wynde into the see."

5. mariners were afraid—though used to storms; the danger therefore must have been extreme.

cried every man unto his god—The idols proved unable to save them, though each, according to Phœnician custom, called on his tutelary god. But Jehovah proved able: and the heathen sailors owned it in the end by sacrificing to Him (Jon 1:16).

into the sides—that is, the interior recesses (compare 1Sa 24:3; Isa 14:13, 15). Those conscious of guilt shrink from the presence of their fellow man into concealment.

fast asleep—Sleep is no necessary proof of innocence; it may be the fruit of carnal security and a seared conscience. How different was Jesus' sleep on the Sea of Galilee! (Mr 4:37-39). Guilty Jonah's indifference to fear contrasts with the unoffending mariners' alarm. The original therefore is in the nominative absolute: "But as for Jonah, he," &c. Compare spiritually, Eph 5:14.

6. call upon thy God—The ancient heathen in dangers called on foreign gods, besides their national ones (compare Ps 107:28). Maurer translates the preceding clause, "What is the reason that thou sleepest?"

think upon us—for good (compare Ge 8:1; Ex 2:25; 3:7, 9; Ps 40:17).

7. cast lots—God sometimes sanctioned this mode of deciding in difficult cases. Compare the similar instance of Achan, whose guilt involved Israel in suffering, until God revealed the offender, probably by the casting of lots (Pr 16:33; Ac 1:26). Primitive tradition and natural conscience led even the heathen to believe that one guilty man involves all his associates, though innocent, in punishment. So Cicero [The Nature of the Gods, 3.37] mentions that the mariners sailing with Diagoras, an atheist, attributed a storm that overtook them to his presence in the ship (compare Horace's Odes, 3.2.26).

8. The guilty individual being discovered is interrogated so as to make full confession with his own mouth. So in Achan's case (Jos 7:19).

9. I am an Hebrew—He does not say "an Israelite." For this was the name used among themselves; "Hebrew," among foreigners (Ge 40:15; Ex 3:18).

I fear the Lord—in profession: his practice belied his profession: his profession aggravated his guilt.

God … which … made the sea—appropriately expressed, as accounting for the tempest sent on the sea. The heathen had distinct gods for the "heaven," the "sea," and the "land." Jehovah is the one and only true God of all alike. Jonah at last is awakened by the violent remedy from his lethargy. Jonah was but the reflection of Israel's backsliding from God, and so must bear the righteous punishment. The guilt of the minister is the result of that of the people, as in Moses' case (De 4:21). This is what makes Jonah a suitable type of Messiah, who bore the imputed sin of the people.

10. "The men were exceedingly afraid," when made aware of the wrath of so powerful a God at the flight of Jonah.

Why hast thou done this?—If professors of religion do wrong, they will hear of it from those who make no such profession.

11. What shall we do unto thee?—They ask this, as Jonah himself must best know how his God is to be appeased. "We would gladly save thee, if we can do so, and yet be saved ourselves" (Jon 1:13, 14).

12. cast me … into the sea—Herein Jonah is a type of Messiah, the one man who offered Himself to die, in order to allay the stormy flood of God's wrath (compare Ps 69:1, 2, as to Messiah), which otherwise must have engulfed all other men. So Caiaphas by the Spirit declared it expedient that one man should die, and that the whole nation should not perish (Joh 11:50). Jonah also herein is a specimen of true repentance, which leads the penitent to "accept the punishment of his iniquity" (Le 26:41, 43), and to be more indignant at his sin than at his suffering.

13. they could not—(Pr 21:30). Wind and tide—God's displeasure and God's counsel—were against them.

14. for this man's life—that is, for taking this man's life.

innocent blood—Do not punish us as Thou wouldst punish the shedders of innocent blood (compare De 21:8). In the case of the Antitype, Pontius Pilate washed his hands and confessed Christ's innocence, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person." But whereas Jonah the victim was guilty and the sailors innocent, Christ our sacrificial victim was innocent and Pontius Pilate and nil of us men were guilty. But by imputation of our guilt to Him and His righteousness to us, the spotless Antitype exactly corresponds to the guilty type.

thou … Lord, hast done as it pleased thee—That Jonah has embarked in this ship, that a tempest has arisen, that he has been detected by casting of lots, that he has passed sentence on himself, is all Thy doing. We reluctantly put him to death, but it is Thy pleasure it should be so.

15. sea ceased … raging—so at Jesus' word (Lu 8:24). God spares the prayerful penitent, a truth illustrated now in the case of the sailors, presently in that of Jonah, and thirdly, in that of Nineveh.

16. offered a sacrifice—They offered some sacrifice of thanksgiving at once, and vowed more when they should land. Glassius thinks it means only, "They promised to offer a sacrifice."

17. prepared a great fish—not created specially for this purpose, but appointed in His providence, to which all creatures are subservient. The fish, through a mistranslation of Mt 12:40, was formerly supposed to be a whale; there, as here, the original means "a great fish." The whale's neck is too narrow to receive a man. Bochart thinks, the dog-fish, the stomach of which is so large that the body of a man in armor was once found in it [Hierozoicon, 2.5.12]. Others, the shark [Jebb]. The cavity in the whale's throat, large enough, according to Captain Scoresby, to hold a ship's jolly boat full of men. A miracle in any view is needed, and we have no data to speculate further. A "sign" or miracle it is expressly called by our Lord in Mt 12:39. Respiration in such a position could only be by miracle. The miraculous interposition was not without a sufficient reason; it was calculated to affect not only Jonah, but also Nineveh and Israel. The life of a prophet was often marked by experiences which made him, through sympathy, best suited for discharging the prophetical function to his hearers and his people. The infinite resources of God in mercy as well as judgment are prefigured in the devourer being transformed into Jonah's preserver. Jonah's condition under punishment, shut out from the outer world, was rendered as much as possible the emblem of death, a present type to Nineveh and Israel, of the death in sin, as his deliverance was of the spiritual resurrection on repentance; as also, a future type of Jesus' literal death for sin, and resurrection by the Spirit of God.

three days and three nights—probably, like the Antitype, Christ, Jonah was cast forth on the land on the third day (Mt 12:40); the Hebrew counting the first and third parts of days as whole twenty-four hour days.