Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible · Jonah 第1章

Jonah 1:2. Go to Nineveh—and cry against it— Or preach. It means the same as to prophesy; and therefore Houbigant so renders it.

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Jonah 1:3. Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish— Which, according to Josephus, was Tarsus, the capital of Cilicia. Others say Tartessus in Spain. From the presence of the Lord, Houbigant reads, Through fear of the Lord. What he feared is shewn in chap. Jonah 4:2. He hoped that if he was at a greater distance God would send some other prophet to preach repentance to the city of Nineveh. Grotius says, that the expression means, "From the land of Israel," the immediate residence of God.

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Jonah 1:5. And cried every man unto his god— The mariners were idolaters, as appears from the next verse. They invoked each one his idol, or the tutelary deity of his country. The profound sleep of Jonah seems to have been caused by his weariness, labour, and anxiety; "Not the sleep of security, but of sorrow," says St. Jerome; like that of the apostles, Matthew 26:40.

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Jonah 1:7. Come, and let us cast lots— The sailors betake themselves to this practice, because they see that there is something supernatural in the tempest; whence they conclude that it arose on account of some wicked person who failed with them. Thus the sailors who carried Diagoras in their vessel concluded that the tempest which assailed them was principally on account of this philosopher, who openly professed atheism. God is pleased so to order the lots, that Jonah is found to be the guilty person.

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Jonah 1:8. For whose cause— Wherefore, or on what account. Houbigant.

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Jonah 1:9. And I fear the Lord, &c.— Rather, I fear Jehovah, &c. Jehovah being the peculiar name of the true God, by which he was distinguished from those who had the names of gods and lords among the heathen. The words immediately following are a farther distinction between the true God and the gods of the heathen. See Lowth, and Grotius.

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Jonah 1:11. Wrought, and was tempestuous— Grew more and more tempestuous: and so Jonah 1:13.

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Jonah 1:14. Let us not perish, &c.— "Impute not to us his death: we only obey thy orders, and do that which thou thyself hast ordained. It is the necessity of a just defence which obliges us to cast: him into the sea, to preserve us from the imminent danger whereunto we are brought by his means."

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Jonah 1:16. And offered a sacrifice, &c.— Houbigant, following the Hebrew, Vulgate, &c. ends the chapter with this verb.

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