Jonah 1 · The Lantern

Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,

The history of Jonah contains a great mystery. For it seems that the whale signifies Time, which never stands still, but is always going on, and consumes the things which are made by long and shorter intervals.

"Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." Apart from that which the Septuagint translates as, "the noise of their wickedness has risen up even to me", it has translated the rest similarly.

The Hebrews say that Jonah was the son of a widow in Zarephath; Elijah raised him from the dead, and when he had been returned to his mother, she gave thanks, and said, "Now by this I know that you are a man of the Lord, and the word of the Lord in your mouth is true." (1Kings 17:24) HAIMO They say that Jonah's grave is in Geth, which is in Ophir.

Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

But, seeing it is from the Lord you flee, you taunt all runaways with the futility of their purpose. A certain bold prophet also had fled from the Lord, he had crossed over from Joppa in the direction of Tarsus, as if he could as easily transport himself away from God; but I find him, I do not say in the sea and on the land, but, in fact, in the belly even of a beast, in which…

[Daniel 10:6] "And his body was like chrysolite." For "chrysolite," one of the twelve gems inserted in the oracular breastplate of the high priest, the Hebrew has trs'ys (tharsis) , a word which Theodotion and Symmachus simply left unchanged in transcription; but the Septuagint called it "the sea," according to the usage in the Psalms: "With a violent gale Thou dashest the ship…

In Hebrew, however, they speak generally of the sea as "Tharsis." Therefore, the prophet did not wish to flee to any particular place, but he embarked upon a ship which could take him anywhere, so long as he could hurry, not caring where chance led him.

But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.

Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep.

"They threw overboard the wares that were in the ship into the sea; but the ship was not getting any lighter," because the entire cargo still remained within it, the body of the prophet, the heavy cargo, not according to the nature of the body but from the weight of sin. For nothing is so heavy and onerous to bear as sin and disobedience.

"Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them." LXX: "and the sailors were afraid and each one cried out to his God and they threw the boat's cargo into the sea to lighten the boat".

This is done in the greatest danger, in order that the ship, once lightened, may be borne up by the waves more easily.

So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish

And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

"And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah." LXX: 'and they said to each other: come, let us draw lots to see who it is that has brought this wickedness upon us.

And they drew lots between them, and so forth. Neither because of this example, nor because the prophet Jonah was found out by lot, are we to believe indiscriminately in lots, "since the prerogative of individuals," as Jerome says, can in no way "make a general law." For in that instance pagan men were compelled by a storm to seek by lot the source of their danger.

Because they saw that the storm was greater than usual, they knew those things did not happen naturally; nor indeed could those who navigated at such a time neglect the causes of the winds and the waves, and therefore by means of the lots they sought the origin of the shipwreck.

Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people

And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry

It was not likely that such a prophet should be ignorant of the design of God, which was to bring about, by means of threat, the escape of the Ninevites from the threatened doom, according to his great wisdom and unsearchable judgments and according to his ways which are beyond our tracing and finding out.… To imagine that Jonah hoped to hide himself at sea and escape by his fl…

"And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land." LXX: 'and he replied: I am a worshipper of the Lord, and I revere God of the heavens who made the sea and the dry land'. He did not say, 'I am a Jew', the name given to the people after the schism between the ten and two tribes [3 Kings.

And concerning Jonah it is also written, "He feared before the Lord and fled to Joppa." For although his fear was born of simplicity, yet like a man who feared God he fled in order that he might not draw nigh to the work which he thought was too hard for his strength.

Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told

Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.

Tell me, are you running away from the master? Then wait a little bit and you will learn from the state of affairs themselves that you will be unable to escape even from the hands of his servant, the ocean. For as soon as Jonah set foot on the ship, the ocean raised its waves up high and raised itself to a great height.

"Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto you, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous." LXX: 'then they said to him, what should we do with you, so that the sea is calm for us? For the sea was surging its waves more and more'. It is because of you, you say, that the winds, the waves, the sea and swells have been unleashed.

Jonah surely teaches us that the sea and stars are moved under God's control. By vainly seeking to flee from God the controller of all things whom none can escape, he aroused the anger of both sky and sea.

And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest

From where, my beloved, came the foresight of the prophet? From the economy of God. God made these things happen so that the prophet might learn from them to be a lover of humanity and be subdued. Only to him did he cry out and say, "Imitate the sailors, the nave men, who neither despise a single soul nor neglect a single body, yours.

"And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you." LXX: 'and he said to them, take me and throw me into the sea, and the sea will become calm for you.

The second element is the form of common life, expressed thus: See thou never do to another what thou wouldst hate to have done to thee by another. This is written in the heart by eternal law. From this natural law come other laws and rules as beautiful sprouts. But why do you refuse to be hung, and hang the thief?

Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous

Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased

So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.

Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.

Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Did Jonah, then, on this account, think that repentance was unnecessary for the pagan Ninevites, when he tried to avoid his duty of preaching? Or was it not, rather, that he foresaw that the mercy of God would be poured out on the heathen also, and so feared it would prove him a false prophet?

"Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah." LXX: 'and the Lord ordered a great fish to swallow Jonah'. The Lord commanded death and the underworld to receive the prophet. To the eager jaws of death he seemed a prey: she had such joy in swallowing him, and such sadness in spitting him out. Thus happened what is written in Hosea: "I will be your death, O Death!

In the mystery of prophetical revelation, Christ is symbolized by occurrence, as with Jonah who was "in the belly of the fish three days," as the Lord was in the tomb three days.

Jonah1