[ Oba 1:1]. We have heard a rumour, &c.— See [ Jer 49:14]. [ Oba 1:3]. Thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock] He that dwelleth, &c.—hath said in his heart, &c. St. Jerome informs us, that all the southern part of Palestine was full of caverns scooped out of the rocks, and of subterraneous abodes, where the inhabitants dwelt. The Edomites are here addressed by the prophet as inhabiting these caverns.
[ Oba 1:5]. If thieves came, &c.— When thieves come to thee, when nightly robbers, when thou art laid to rest, will they not plunder as much as shall seem good to them? When the grape-gatherers shall come to thee, will they leave no grapes? Houbigant.
[ Oba 1:7]. All the men, &c.— They have driven thee even to the border; all the men of thy confederacy have betrayed thee; have prevailed over thee: The men of thy peace, of thy bread, have spread a share under thee: There is no understanding in thee.
[ Oba 1:11]. In the day that thou stoodest, &c.— Thou stoodest on the other side in the day that strangers, &c. The prophet considers the Chaldeans as preparing for the siege of Jerusalem, and demanding succours from the neighbouring people; particularly the Edomites.
[ Oba 1:12-14]. But thou shouldest not have looked on— Houbigant reads the verbs in these verses in the imperative mood. Look not—rejoice not, &c. Instead of, Nor have laid hands on, &c. [ Oba 1:13]. Houbigant reads, Be not thou sent against his army, when the day of his ruin is at hand. We have, under no affliction or calamity, more need of support and assistance from the good Spirit of God how to behave ourselves, than in those seasons, when they who have most maliciously persecuted us, and are in all considerations very bad men, fall under some extraordinary misery, and suffer as much as they desired to see us suffer. Thou shouldest not have rejoiced over the children of Judah, &c. If our joy has a mixture of insolence toward the persons of those who suffer (how justly soever), as men who have done us wrong, and so we are glad of their misery as a revenge for what they have done against us, we exceed our commission, and have no kind of warrant for such rejoicing. No degree of malice, or ill nature, or wickedness in other men, can excuse us for a defect of that charity and meekness and compassion, which ought ever to be inseparable from our religion.
[ Oba 1:16]. For as ye have drunk, &c.— For as I have given my wine to drink in my holy mountain, so, &c.
[ Oba 1:17]. The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions— Shall possess what they had before possessed; that is to say, their return from the Babylonish captivity.
[ Oba 1:20]. And the captivity of this host— And those very children of Israel, who had been captives to the Canaanites, even to Zarephath, and the captives of Jerusalem, who shall have been in Sepharad, [that is to say, as some suppose, a province of Babylon] shall possess, &c. Houbigant. The prophet here foretels what might seem almost incredible; namely, that those very Jews who shall go into captivity, shall hereafter possess all the countries here mentioned; particularly those of the Edomites, whose kingdom they should destroy. All which, by universal agreement, was fulfilled in the primary sense under the Maccabees, who are literally meant by the saviours or deliverers mentioned in the next verse: but these were types of the Lord Jesus Christ and his Gospel ministers, and of the increase of his work unto the establishment of his universal reign.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The vision of Obadiah concerning Edom, the inveterate enemy of God’s people of old, and probably the type and figure of all the antichristian foes, whether Papal, Pagan, or Mahometan, which, like these of old, shall utterly be destroyed at the last.
1. An ambassador is sent among the heathen, to gather them together to battle against Idumea; either the prophet, or some other minister of Providence, or a herald dispatched by Nebuchadnezzar to summon his warriors to assemble, and his confederates to come to his assistance; see [ Jer 49:14-15] for when God has work to do, he has in his hands instruments ever ready.
2. Edom shall be ruined, and all her confidences shall fail, for God is her enemy. Her heathen neighbours shall treat her as little and contemptible; and, though she flatters herself that they have the same high opinion of her as she has of herself, her pride hath deceived her, as it generally does those who fancy that others value them as much as they do themselves. She thought, because her situation was strong, amid high rocks, where nature as well as art contributed to her security, that she could there defy the impotent attacks of all her foes. Thus sinners, secure in self-confidence, despise the wrath which is ready to overtake them: but, though she was as high on the rock as the eagle’s nest, yea, though her battlements reached to the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord, before whose judgments the proudest sinner cannot stand. Her wealth shall become a prey to her enemies; and the ravages of the Chaldeans shall utterly spoil the country. Though robbers by night plunder a house, they leave some things behind, and the most careful grape-gatherers cannot glean every cluster; but these shall ransack every secret place, and spare nothing, leaving the land bare as a rock. Do the Edomites place dependence on their allies? they will disappoint their expectations: though they received their ambassadors with respect, and attended them to their borders, or joined their forces as auxiliaries, and marched to the borders of Edom as if to fight their enemies, receiving subsidies and provision from the Edomites, and pretending firm attachment to their cause, yet will they betray it, desert to their invaders, and turn their arms against those who hired them; who, while they lean on them as a support, shall feel from their pretended friendly arm, a secret mortal wound. Not all the wisdom of their wise men, nor the courage of their warriors, will then be able to avail them: God hath infatuated the counsels of the one, and panic fear seizes the others, doomed to the slaughter; so that not a man of them shall escape. Thus when God contends, he will surely overcome: our wisdom will prove folly, our strength weakness, our confidence delusion, when he is our foe.
2nd, If Edom’s doom be heavy, her sins have provoked it; and, amidst all the other iniquities of that devoted people, none come deeper into the account than their violence against their brother Jacob, whose relation to them by blood, and the peculiar favour which God had shewn him, should have engaged their affection and assistance in the day of calamity; but too often we see that nearest relations shew us the least regard.
1. They had, with most malicious enmity, rejoiced in the ruin of Israel; and, in a variety of instances, helped forward their distress. God tells them what they should not have done, and therein upbraids them with what they had done. Instead of affording the Jews a friendly hand, or at least commiserating their calamity, and dropping a tear of tender compassion over their afflictions, they stood on the other side, not merely unconcerned spectators, but pleased with the scene, and helping forward the ruin of Jerusalem, when the Chaldeans entered the city, led the inhabitants captive, and divided the spoil; nay, they insulted the unhappy sufferers, and mocked at their distress. Eager to plunder, they rushed with the besiegers into the city, and pillaged whatever they laid their hands upon; and, with savage inhumanity, stood in the cross-way to seize the few who escaped from the Chaldean sword, and murdered them in cold blood, or delivered them up to their cruel enemies. For such atrocious wickedness,
2. Vengeance, such as their crimes deserved, descends upon them. The day of the Lord, that great and terrible day of wrath, approaches, when he will recompense the wickedness of the heathen, and Edom shall drink deep of the cup of his indignation. Since judgment had begun at the house of God, Edom must not think to escape! As thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee; when other heathen nations are destroyed, Edom shall fall in the general ruin; and, while the Jews were only captives for a while, and would be again restored, and preserved still as a people, the Edomites’ shame would be continual; they shall be cut off for ever, and be as though they had not been, their nation extirpated, and not a trace of them remaining. And thus shall the enemies of Christ and his church be at last destroyed for ever; and every antichristian foe shall be cast as a millstone into the sea, and sink, and never rise up again. [ Rev 18:21].
3rdly, The same cloud, which looked so dark and terrible toward the Egyptians, afforded brightness and comfort to Israel’s camp. Thus the destruction of the church’s enemies, before threatened, is accompanied with great and precious promises to her friends, in which, to the latest ages, they may rejoice.
1. Upon mount Zion shall be deliverance. God will raise up a deliverer for them in distress, as, Cyrus, and afterwards Judas Maccabaeus; but a greater deliverance than these seems here intended, even that which Jesus hath obtained for his faithful people from the bondage of Satan, sin, and death.
2. And there shall be holiness, in the Gospel church, in consequence of the deliverance obtained for them: all Christ’s faithful people shall partake of the sanctifying influences of his Spirit, and be made pure within; this being a distinguished part of the salvation which he has wrought, that we should be delivered from sin, as well as guilt and punishment.
3. The church of true believers shall be extended far and wide. The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions; as was spiritually the case when, by the preaching of the ministers of the Gospel, the gentiles gave themselves up unto the Lord: then, like fire, the word of God spread on every side, the hearts of sinners were pierced, their most beloved sins consumed, and the borders of the church were then greatly enlarged: and they shall continue to be so, till at last they shall spread from pole to pole; when the saviours, those who publish the glad tidings of salvation, shall go forth, clothed with divine energy, convincing men of sin, and turning them unto the Lord; and then the kingdoms of the world shall become the kingdoms of the Lord and his Christ.
Some suppose that the prophesy refers also to the conversion of the Jews in the last days, and to their return to their own land: that their borders will then be greatly enlarged; and, judgment being executed upon all the persecuting powers, Papal, Pagan, and Mahometan, Christ shall reign on mount Zion, and over his ancients gloriously. This, however, at least we are sure of, that the day of the Lord will come, which shall burn as an oven, when all the proud persecutors, and all who do wickedly, shall be consumed together, and God’s despised and persecuted but faithful saints shall reign with Jesus their king in glory everlasting.
[ Jon 1:2]. Go to Nineveh—and cry against it— Or preach. It means the same as to prophesy; and therefore Houbigant so renders it.
[ Jon 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. [ Jon 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.
[ Jon 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, [ Mat 26:40].
[ Jon 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.
[ Jon 1:8]. For whose cause— Wherefore, or on what account. Houbigant.
[ Jon 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.
[ Jon 1:11]. Wrought, and was tempestuous— Grew more and more tempestuous: and so [ Jon 1:13].
[ Jon 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."
[ Jon 1:16]. And offered a sacrifice, &c.— Houbigant, following the Hebrew, Vulgate, &c. ends the chapter with this verb.
[ Jon 1:17]. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish— That there are fishes large enough to swallow a man, there can be no question; the Scripture calls this a great fish, in the general, and therefore there is no need to confine it to a whale. But we shall speak more on this subject, when we come to [ Mat 12:40]. See also Calmet’s dissertation on the subject, and Scheuchzer. We may just observe farther, that the Hebrew language has no one word to express what we call a natural day: so that what the Greeks express by νυχθημερον, they denote by a day and a night: therefore the space of time consisting of one whole revolution of twenty-four hours, and part of two others, is fitly expressed in that language by three days and three nights. Such a space of time our blessed Lord lay in the grave; that is to say, one whole νυχθημερον, or natural day, and part of two others: and we may thence conclude that Jonah, who was an eminent figure of him in this particular, continued no longer in the belly of the fish. But on this point we shall say more when we come to speak of our Saviour’s resurrection.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, We have here,
1. The prophet’s name and parentage: éåðä Jonah, a dove; God’s prophets should be harmless as these, and, like the dove of Noah, bring the olive-branch of peace, the tidings of mercy and salvation to perishing sinners: his father’s name was àîúé Ammittai, my truth; for prophets must be sons of truth faithful to their office, and steady to maintain the truths of God.
2. His mission. The word of the Lord came unto him, bidding him arise, and go to Nineveh, that great city, the metropolis of the Assyrian empire, where wickedness abounded, as in great cities it usually does, the multitudes of sinners serving to embolden and stimulate each other to commit iniquity. It was now ripe for vengeance, and he must go and cry aloud in the streets, to give the inhabitants warning of their approaching doom unless they repented.
3. His disobedience. He rose up to flee from the presence of the Lord, from the chosen land, where God was pleased in an especial manner to reveal himself, to Tarshish; either Tarsus in Cilicia, or the sea, determined to ship himself in the first vessel, and fly any where rather than go to Nineveh. Either he dreaded the dangers of the service; or rather, as he suggests, chap. [ Jon 4:2] he knew God’s compassions, that the Ninevites would be forgiven, and himself be counted a false prophet. A ship was ready to sail as soon as he arrived at Joppa, and he instantly paid the fare and embarked. Providence seemed to concur with his desires: but the ready way is not always the right way; and they who fly from duty, whatever present relief they may gain, are only treasuring up for themselves greater sorrow.
2nd, They who think to fly from God will soon perceive the folly of the attempt.
1. God sends a mighty tempest on the ship in which the prophet sailed, so that it seemed ready each moment to founder. Such storms does sin raise in the conscience; and the poor sinner in despondence is ready to give himself up for lost, little suspecting that the very tempest, which he imagines will be his ruin, is only designed to drive him to the haven of rest.
2. Jonah alone seemed unconcerned about the danger. The mariners, affrighted, ran to their prayers, and cried to their idols for help: for the imminent views of death will sometimes bring those to their knees who never thought of bowing them before: and, life being dearer to them than all besides, they readily part with their merchandise, and cast it into the sea to lighten the ship. Worldly goods are nothing worth when death stares men in the face: what folly then, for the sake of them, to make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience, and lose an immortal soul, infinitely more precious than the dying body! When will men be wise? The roaring billows, which terrified the heathen seamen, joined perhaps with the grating sorrows of his mind, served but to rock Jonah asleep: he of all that company appeared the only person insensible, though none had so much cause to be alarmed. Into such stupefaction does sin sometimes lull the conscience of the back-slider. He appears to have lost all apprehension of danger; and even the judgments which make others tremble, he seems to pass over unaffected. From such blindness and hardness of heart, good Lord, deliver us!
3. The ship-master rouses him from his slumbers, and upbraids him with his insensibility. What meanest thou, O sleeper? Strange that a prophet of the Lord should need reproof even from the mouth of a heathen! Arise, call upon thy God: delay is ruinous when danger urges. They had cried to their gods in vain; perhaps his was more able to help them; if so be that God will think upon us that we perish not, as, without immediate help, they knew they must. Note; No danger is so great, but, if God think upon us, he is able to save us to the uttermost.
4. The storm increasing, notwithstanding all their endeavours and prayers, they began to suspect that there might be among them some atrocious sinner, on whose account the divine displeasure pursued them. As was usual with the heathens, therefore, they resolved to inquire which of them it was, and to refer the decision to the lot; and God so ordained that the lot fell upon Jonah. Thus is the iniquity of the sinner often found out by means that he never suspected, and when he thinks himself most secure and best concealed from detection.
5. They hereupon strictly interrogate the prophet. The lot had said, This is the man, and he is called upon to acknowledge his crime, that they might know for whose cause, or for what cause, this evil was upon them; what he had done to provoke God; what was his occupation; whence he came; and to what country he belonged. Note; In order to get our troubles removed, we must search diligently into our sins, which are the cause of them.
6. Jonah, without reserve, makes confession of his crime; and probably, now convicted in his own conscience, desired to take to himself all the shame and punishment which he felt that he had deserved. He declares himself by nation and religion a Hebrew, which was an aggravation of his guilt; his occupation was that of a prophet of the Most High, I fear the Lord Jehovah, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land; which, though it added to his sin, yet he owns to God’s glory, and in order to the instruction of the heathen mariners, who blindly worshipped many gods, instead of the one true and living Jehovah. His crime he owns: he had told them that he fled from the presence of the Lord, rebellious to his command, and running from his duty; for which this judgment was sent. Note; When we have sinned, nothing remains but to justify God in his judgments, and with penitence to bow into the dust.
7. The seamen appear exceedingly affected with his narrative. Probably they had heard what the God of the Hebrews had done of old; and this increased their terrors. With just upbraidings, therefore, of the prophet, who by his wickedness had brought them into this imminent danger, they expostulate with him, Why hast thou done this? why didst thou so foolishly attempt to fly? and why embark with us, to involve us with thyself in danger. Note; (1.) They who profess religion, and act unsuitably, deserve to be reproached. (2.) None know how extensive and dangerous the consequence of even a single sin may be.
3rdly, The criminal is detected by his own confession; the question is, what is to be done with him?
1. They refer the matter to himself. Since he was a prophet of the God of the Hebrews, he best could inform them what was the likeliest means to appease his anger, and thereby, obtain deliverance from the storm, which raged more furiously than ever. Note; When by our sins we have raised a storm of wrath around us, it highly imports us to inquire how it may be appeased.
2. Jonah pronounces his own doom. He well knew himself to be the troubler, and that, till he was cast into the sea, there could be no hope of the storm’s abating; and therefore he bids them throw him overboard: he would not be his own destroyer; yet, conscious that he deserved to die, he offers himself for execution; and chooses rather himself to perish, than involve the innocent in destruction. Note; (1.) They who truly know the evil of sin, and are deeply humbled under it, are ready to submit to any shame or suffering, whereby God may be glorified, and reparation be made to the injured. (2.) When sin has raised a storm, we must never hope for peace till the accursed thing is removed.
3. Very unwilling to execute this grievous sentence, the mariners rowed hard for land; but the more they strove, the more the sea wrought, and was tempestuous; so that despair took place in every countenance, and nothing remained but this last experiment, with which they felt the more reluctance to comply on account of the noble simplicity and deep humiliation which now probably appeared in the penitent prophet. Note; (1.) When a gracious man, overtaken with a fault, with frank acknowledgment takes shame to himself, he is entitled to our greatest compassion; nor should we ever by severity aggravate his distress. (2.) There is no striving against God’s counsels: his will must be done.
4. Before they execute the dread decree, they present their importunate supplications to God, that he would not impute to them innocent blood, nor cause them to perish for taking away this man’s life; when they had desired to know his will, and acted now, according to the best of their light, in conformity thereto; it appearing to be his pleasure that Jonah should be cast into the sea. Note; (1.) In all our emergencies we must have recourse to God in prayer. (2.) When we follow, according to our best knowledge, under the guidance of Divine Providence, what appears to be God’s will, we are bound with satisfaction to trust him with the issue.
5. Jonah is cast into the sea, and, to the astonishment of the mariners, instantly the storm ceased. They feared the Lord exceedingly, amazed at the sudden change; and, filled with thankfulness, offered an immediate sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving, and made vows of future oblations whenever they should reach the shore. Thus, sometimes, our greatest loss proves our greatest gain. The acquaintance which they hereby gained with Israel’s God amply compensated for the damage that they had sustained by the storm.
6. By a miracle the prophet’s life is preserved. God, who designed not to destroy but save him, had prepared a great fish which swallowed him alive; and by almighty power he was preserved three days and three nights, at least part of three days, unhurt in the fish’s stomach, a monument of divine mercy, and an illustrious type of him, who, when he had given his life a ransom for others, lay so long in the grave, and rose again the third day, [ Mat 12:40].