Jonah 1 · The Lantern

The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai:

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.

About three years have now passed since I first started writing the commentaries on the five Prophets, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Haggai. Detained by another work, I was not able to finish what I had undertaken.

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.

“Get up, go to Nineveh, the great city, and cry out against it — for their evil has come up before my face.”

But Jonah got up to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish; he paid her fare and went down into her, to go with them to Tarshish, away 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…

Jonah, therefore, coming from the mountainous country of Judea to the sea coast and the plains, is rightly said to have went down.

But the LORD hurled a great wind onto the sea, and a great storm came upon the sea, and the ship thought she would break apart.

The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his own god, and they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten it from upon them. But Jonah had gone down into the far hold of the vessel, and he lay down, and slept deep.

"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.

The chief of the crew came near him and said to him, “What is this, sleeper? Get up, call on your god! Perhaps that god will spare a thought for us, and we will not perish.”

And they said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots, so we may know on whose account this evil is upon us.” They cast lots, and the lot fell on 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.

And they said to him, “Tell us now, you on whose account this evil is upon us: what is your work, and where do you come from? What is your land, and from what people are you?”

And he said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and the LORD, the God of the heavens, is who I fear — who made the sea and the dry land.”

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 the men feared a great fear, and said to him, “What is this you have done!” — for the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.

And they said to him, “What shall we do with you, so the sea will go quiet for us?” — for the sea was rolling on and storming.

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 to them, “Pick me up and hurl me into the sea, and the sea will go quiet for you. For I know it is on my account that this great storm is upon you.”

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?

But the men dug their oars in to bring her back to dry land, and they could not — for the sea was rolling on and storming against them.

So they called to the LORD: “Please, LORD, do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not lay innocent blood on us — for you are the LORD; as you have pleased, you have done.”

And they picked Jonah up and hurled him into the sea — and the sea stood still from its raging.

And the men feared the LORD with a great fear, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and vowed vows.

And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow 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.

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