Jonah fleeth from God's presence. 1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. 3 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. 4 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. 5 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. 6 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 not. 7 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. 8 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 art thou? His peril, and preservation. 9 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. 10 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 them. 11 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. 12 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. 13 Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them. 14 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 thee. 15 So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging. 16 Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows. 17 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. LECTURE 1418. How the prophet is a type of Christ and also of Christians. This book of prophecy relates wholly to Jonah's mission to Nineveh; so much so, that unlike nearly every other prophetic book it contains no direct reference to Christ or to the Gospel. But as if to make up for this, Jonah was himself a type of Christ; his being swallowed up by the fish, and cast up alive on the third day, being typical of Christ's death and resurrection. "So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth;" Matth. 12. 40; these are our Lord's own words. And they leave us no room to doubt, that these remarkable events in Jonah's life foreshewed that which was to happen to Jesus Christ. 66 We find proof in this chapter, and we shall find more at the conclusion of this book, that a prophet, even though he be also a type of Christ, is after all no more than man. What inconsistency, for one honoured with a prophetic commission, to set off on a long voyage, by way of flying "from the presence of the Lord!" As if the Lord were not present whithersoever he went! What hardness of heart, for one bound on such an errand as this, to sleep when the ship was sinking, and when even the heathen mariners were crying "every man to his god!" "What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God!" these ought rather to have been the words of the prophet to the shipmaster, than of the shipmaster to the prophet. "I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land;" this profession of a true faith would have become Jonah far better, if his fear had led him to obey God instead of running away from his presence. But all this, though gross inconsistency, savours rather, we may hope, of pitiable frailty, than of thoroughly wilful sin. For on the other hand we see much of honesty, and true courage, and generous self denial, in Jonah's answers to the questions put to him. And if the mariners gave proof of both humanity and piety, in sparing Jonah as long as they durst, and committing their cause in prayer to God, the prophet, for his part shewed no common concern for the lives of others, in devoting his own to destruction for their sakes; and he manifested no common respect for the word of God, in faithfully reporting that which was revealed to him, even when the sentence ran thus: "Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you." Happy Jonah, notwithstanding his infirmities, to be in this also like unto our Lord, that he offered up himself to save his brethren! Happy, that notwithstanding his sins, God was pleased to spare his life, and to prepare for him, even in the depth of the sea, and in a monster of the deep, the means of unlooked for safety! So may we find it in that day, when the grave, that now yawns for us, shall swallow us up, so may we find it to our joy, instead of darkness, light, instead of death, life eternal ! The prayer and thanksgiving of Jonah within the fish. 1 Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, 2 And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice. 3 For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. 4 Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. my 6 I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. 7 When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. 8 They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. 9 But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vow5 The waters compassed me ed. Salvation is of the LORD. about, even to the soul: the 10 And the LORD spake unto depth closed me round about, the fish, and it vomited out the weeds were wrapped about Jonah upon the dry land. LECTURE 1419. Of praying and giving thanks to God when in peril. At the beginning of this chapter, we learn, that the words before us were those in which "Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly." No wonder that his prayer abounded in thanksgiving, when he found himself, though in such singular jeopardy, still alive, and able to pray. No wonder that he began, continued, and ended, in a strain of thankfulness, when he felt himself safe, and well, and able to cry unto the Lord, and to feel that God heard him; though entombed so strangely, whilst yet alive, within another living being, and that being the tenant of an element which to him was certain death. It scarcely needed a prophetic revelation for him hence to augur his safe return to the land of the living. He might reason from the unparalleled mercy, which he was then experiencing, to a further manifestation of the goodness of the Lord. He could not doubt, that it was God, who had miraculously prepared the fish to swallow him up just as he was thrown overboard, and had miraculously enabled him to breathe and live within its body. And he might hence without presumption infer, that God would not stop short of restoring him to the light of day, and to the privilege, which he had so rashly refused, of proclaiming the word of the Lord. Amongst the many strange and awful situations, in which men have at different times been placed, either by the convulsions of nature, or by the casualties attending their own employments, none can be conceived more awful or more strange, than that in which Jonah must have found himself, when conscious that he was alive within the fish, and being borne to and fro in the waters of the great deep. Most forcibly does he describe what he experienced, when compassed by the billows, when closed round about by the depth, when carried down to the foot of the mountains in the valleys at the bottom of the sea, there wrapped about with weeds, and surrounded by "the earth with her bars," and the waters of the ocean over head. “Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight." At the first he was tempted to give way to despair. But he soon added, "Yet I will look again toward thy holy temple." He called to mind that it was God who had brought him where he was. He considered that God could deliver him thence. And therefore he cried, by reason of his affliction, unto the Lord. And the Lord vouchsafed to hear him. He cried out of that living sepulchre. And the Lord heard his voice. When his soul fainted within him, he remembered the Lord; and his prayer reached even unto God in heaven. He acknowledged his past foolishness, in thinking to escape from God; admitting that those who pursue a course so vain and wicked bring their affliction on themselves. And in the anticipation of a full deliverance, prompted by the safety he had experienced already, he resolved to sacrifice to God with the voice of thanksgiving. Yea, he joyfully declared, whilst yet embowelled in that monster of the deep, "Salvation is of the Lord.” What a striking pattern of faith and thankfulness do the words of Jonah, thus viewed, set before us! How profitably might they come to our remembrance, if ever we, in the dispensations of God's providence, should be placed in circumstances of imminent danger, however seemingly helpless, hopeless! Let us never give ourselves up to despondency. Let us never think our case past prayer. We can be nowhere, whither God has not brought us. We can be nowhere, where He is not. We can be nowhere, whence He cannot bring us out, if it so seem good to Him. Let us then pray, even when at the worst. Yes, and let us also give God thanks. We cannot be in any situation, in which his goodness cannot reach us, his grace support our fainting spirits, and give us peace and joy. He can make us content in whatsoever state we are; even in the most forlorn we can imagine. He can make all things work together for our good; even the most dreadful we can undergo. If we are in the deep, He can enable us not to wish to be cast up on the dry land. If we are entombed alive beneath the earth, He can then make us glad to think that we shall no more see the light of day. He can cheer us with the near prospect of eternity. He can give us joy and glory in death, because of the joyful and glorious resurrection we are looking for. He can; and, if we ask Him faithfully, He will. He will; and therefore praise be to his holy name. all we have, and all we hope for, in life, in death, in the world that now is, and in that which is to come, praise be to his holy name; through Jesus Christ our Lord! For Jonah preacheth to the Ninevites, who repent. ashes. 1 And the word of the LORD him with sackcloth, and sat in came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that 1 bid thee. 3 So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days' journey. 4 And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 7 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: 8 But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 9 Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? 10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. LECTURE 1420. 6 For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered Various and strong motives to repentance. Very gracious it was of God to send his word the second time to Jonah, when he had so ill received it the first time. And very willing was Jonah now to go whithersoever God would send him. How many of God's words have come to us, and that, more than once or twice, not indeed for revelation unto others, but for warning, or direction, or encouragement to ourselves; and we have refused to hear them! Oh let us now at length arise and obey; lest He speak to us no more. Let us believe what He tells us, do what He bids us, and rely on what He promises us, now; lest it be for the last time that He has spoken, lest it be now that we must hear, or never. We have had many a deliverance, if we did but know it, as great, though not as strange, as that which Jonah had experienced. Our whole life is a miracle of mercy. From our birth to the present hour we have been compassed with dangers, above, beneath, around us, and within us; of which if we could but see the hundredth part, withdrawing nature's veil, and viewing the numberless contingencies by which the spark of life is ever nigh to be extinguished, we should feel deeply how much we owe to God for safety each moment that we live. Oh let it not be because our mercies are so many that therefore we |