Jonas being sent to preach in Ninive, fleeth away by sea: a tempest riseth: of which he being found, by lot, to be the cause, is cast into the sea, which thereupon is calmed.
Ionas being sent to preach in Niniue fleeth by sea, 4. atempest riseth, 8. wherof he being found by lotte, to be the cause; 12. is cast into the sea, 15. and it is caulme.
1Now the word of the Lord came to Jonas, the son of Amathi, saying:Il Signore parlò a Giona figliuolo di Amathi, e disse:AND the word of our Lord was made to Ionas the sonne of Amathi, saying:Et factum est verbum Domini ad Jonam, filium Amathi, dicens: 2Arise and go to Ninive, the great city, and preach in it: For the wickedness thereof is come up before me.Alzati, e va a Ninive città grande, ed ivi predica, perchè il clamore di sua malvagità è salito fino a me.Arise, and goe into Niniue the great citie, and preach in it: because the malice therof is ascended before me.Surge, et vade in Niniven, civitatem grandem, et prædica in ea, quia ascendit malitia ejus coram me. 3And Jonas rose up to flee into Tharsis from the face of the Lord, and he went down to Joppe, and found a ship going to Tharsis: and he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them to Tharsis from the face of the Lord,E Giona si mosse per fuggirsene a Tharsis dalla faccia del Signore, e andò a Joppe, e trovò una nave, che facea vela per Tharsis, e pagò il suo nolo, ed entrò in essa cogli altri per andarsene a Tharsis, fuggendo dalla faccia del Signore.And Ionas arose, to flee into Tharsis from the face of our Lord, and he went downe into Ioppe, and found a shippe going into Tharsis: and he gaue the fare therof, & went downe into it, that he might goe with them into Tharsis from the face of our Lord.Et surrexit Jonas, ut fugeret in Tharsis a facie Domini, et descendit in Joppen: et invenit navem euntem in Tharsis, et dedit naulum ejus, et descendit in eam ut iret cum eis in Tharsis a facie Domini. 4But the Lord sent a great wind into the sea: and a great tempest was raised in the sea, and the ship was in danger to be broken.Ma il Signore mandò sul mare un gran vento, e si fece gran tempesta di mare, e la nave era in pericolo di essere fracassata.But our Lord sent a great winde into the sea: and a great tempest was made in the sea, & the shippe was in danger to be broken.Dominus autem misit ventum magnum in mare: et facta est tempestas magna in mari, et navis periclitabatur conteri. 5And the mariners were afraid, and the men cried to their god: and they cast forth the wares that were in the ship, into the sea, to lighten it of them: and Jonas went down into the inner part of the ship, and fell into a deep sleep.E i marinari erano sbigottiti, e alzò le grida ciascuno al suo dio, e gettarono in mare il carico della nave per alleggiarla: ma Giona era sceso nel fondo della nave, e dormiva profondamente.And the mariners were afrayd, and the men cried to their god: & they threw the vessels, that were in the shippe, into the sea, that it might be lightned of them: and Ionas went downe into the inner part of the shippe, and slept a deepe sleepe.Et timuerunt nautæ, et clamaverunt viri ad deum suum, et miserunt vasa quæ erant in navi, in mare, ut alleviaretur ab eis; et Jonas descendit ad interiora navis, et dormiebat sopore gravi.
6And the ship master came to him and said to him: Why art thou fast asleep? rise up call upon thy God, if so be that God will think of us that we may not perish.E il piloto se gli accostò, e gli disse: Che fai tu dormiglione? alzati, e invoca il tuo Dio, se a sorte Dio si ricordasse di noi, e ci sottraesse alla perdizione.And the gouerner came to him, & sayd to him: Why art thou oppressed with sleepe? Rise, inuocate thy God, if perhaps God wil thinke of vs, and we perish not.Et accessit ad eum gubernator, et dixit ei: Quid tu sopore deprimeris ? surge, invoca Deum tuum, si forte recogitet Deus de nobis, et non pereamus. 7And they said every one to his fellow: Come and let us cast lots, that we may know why this evil is upon us. And they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonas.Indi dissero l'un uomo all'altro: Venite, e tiriamo le sorti per sapere donde venga a noi questa sciagura: e tirarono a sorte, e la sorte cadde sopra di Giona.And euerie one sayd to his felow: Come, and let vs cast lottes, and know why this euil is to vs. And they cast lottes, and the lot fel vpon Ionas.Et dixit vir ad collegam suum: Venite et mittamus sortes, et sciamus quare hoc malum sit nobis. Et miserunt sortes, et cecidit sors super Jonam. 8And they said to him: Tell us for what cause this evil is upon us, what is thy business? of what country art thou? and whither goest thou? or of what people art thou?E dissero a lui: Fa tu sapere a noi il perchè ci troviamo in tal miseria, che mestiere è il tuo? di dove sei, e dove vai, e di qual nazione se' tu?And they sayd to him: Tel vs for whose cause this euil is to vs, what is thy worke? what is thy countrie? and whither goest thou? or of what people art thou?Et dixerunt ad eum: Indica nobis cujus causa malum istud sit nobis: quod est opus tuum ? quæ terra tua, et quo vadis ? vel ex quo populo es tu ? 9And he said to them: I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made both the sea and the dry land.E quegli disse: Io sono Ebreo, e temo il Signore Dio del cielo, e della terra, che fece il mare, e la terra.And he sayd to them: I am an Hebrew & the Lord God of heauen I feare, which made the sea and the drie land.Et dixit ad eos: Hebræus ego sum, et Dominum Deum cæli ego timeo, qui fecit mare et aridam. 10And the men were greatly afraid, and they said to him: Why hast thou done this? (For the men knew that he fled from the face of the Lord: because he had told them.)E coloro rimasero sbigottiti grandemente, e gli dissero: Perchè hai tu fatto questo? (Imperocché dal suo racconto avean compreso, com'ei fuggiva dalla faccia del Signore.)And the men feared with great feare, and they sayd to him: Why hast thou done this? (For the men knew that he fled from the face of our Lord: because he had told them.)Et timuerunt viri timore magno, et dixerunt ad eum: Quid hoc fecisti ? cognoverunt enim viri quod a facie Domini fugeret, quia indicaverat eis. 11And they said to him: What shall we do with thee, that the sea may be calm to us? for the sea flowed and swelled.E gli dissero: Che farem noi di te, affinchè il mare si plachi con noi? perocché il mare si andava ingrossando.And they sayd to him: What shal we do to thee, and the sea shal cease from vs? because the sea went, and swelled.Et dixerunt ad eum: Quid faciemus tibi, et cessabit mare a nobis ? quia mare ibat, et intumescebat.
12And he said to them: take me up, and cast me into the sea, and the sea shall be calm to you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.Ed ei disse loro: Prendetemi, e gettatemi in mare, e il mare si acquieterà; perocché io so, che per mia cagione vi ha assaliti questa tempesta.And he sayd to them: Take me vp, and cast me into the sea, and the sea shal cease from you: for I know that for me this great tempest is vpon you.Et dixit ad eos: Tollite me, et mittite in mare, et cessabit mare a vobis: scio enim ego quoniam propter me tempestas hæc grandis venit super vos. 13And the men rowed hard to return to land, but they were not able: because the sea tossed and swelled upon them.E la gente s'aiutava co' remi per tornare a terra, ma non potevano, per chè il mare si andava gonfiando sopra di loro.And the men rowed, to returne to the land, and they were not able: because the sea went and swelled vpon them.Et remigabant viri ut reverterentur ad aridam, et non valebant, quia mare ibat, et intumescebat super eos. 14And they cried to the Lord, and said: We beseech thee, O Lord 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.E alzaron le grida al Signore, e dissero: Signore, ti preghiamo, che non abbiam noi a perire, per aver data la morte a quest'uomo, e non porre sopra di noi il sangue innocente; per chè tu, o Signore, fai quello, che ti piace.And they cried to our Lord, and sayd: We besech thee ô Lord, let vs not perish in the life of this man, and geue not vpon vs innocent bloud: because thou ô Lord, hast done as thou wouldest.Et clamaverunt ad Dominum, et dixerunt: Quæsumus, Domine, ne pereamus in anima viri istius, et ne des super nos sanguinem innocentem: quia tu, Domine, sicut voluisti, fecisti. 15And they took Jonas, and cast him into the sea, and the sea ceased from raging.E preser Giona, e lo messero nel mare, e il furore del mare cessò.And they tooke Ionas, and cast him into the sea: and the sea ceased from his rage.Et tulerunt Jonam, et miserunt in mare: et stetit mare a fervore suo. 16And the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and sacrificed victims to the Lord, and made vows.E quelli concepiron timore grande del Signore; e immolarono ostie al Signore, e fecer dei voti.And the men feared our Lord with great feare, & immolated hostes to our Lord, and vowed vowes.Et timuerunt viri timore magno Dominum: et immolaverunt hostias Domino, et voverunt vota.
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Year of the World about 3197, Year before Christ 807.
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Challoner
Ninive, the capital city of the Assyrian empire. (Challoner)
Pliny
It was 150 stadia long and 90 broad, (Diod. ii.) on the western bank of the Tigris. (Pliny, [Natural History?] 6:13.)
Theodoret
Mosul, which some mistake for it, stands on the northern side. See Genesis 10:10. At the time when Jonas preached, Ninive would contain about 600,000, Jonas 4:11. They were people less favoured by God, (Acts 14:15.; Calmet) but not abandoned. (Theodoret)
Calmet
God took sufficient care of all his creatures, and foretold many things relating to foreign nations. (Calmet)
Worthington
Romans 3:29. (Worthington)
Haydock
For the. Septuagint add, "cry of," Genesis iv., and xviii. (Haydock)
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Challoner
Tharsis. Which some take to be Tharsus of Cilicia, others to be Tartessus of Spain, others to be Carthage. (Challoner)
Haydock
Joppe, now Jaffa, (Menochius) a miserable seaport. (Haydock)
Josephus
It was formerly the best near Jerusalem, (2 Paralipomenon 2:16.) though very dangerous. (Josephus, Jewish Wars 3:15. or 29.)
Calmet
It is said to have been built before "the inundation" of the world, (Mela. 1:11.) and was famous for the adventure of Andromeda, rescued by Perseus from a sea monster. (Pliny, [Natural History?] 5:13.) (Calmet)
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Calmet
Broken. Seeing no natural cause of such a sudden tempest, they concluded (Worthington) that some on board must be guilty; as the sailors argued (Haydock) when the noted atheist, Diagoras, was in similar circumstances. (Calmet)
Menochius
They had recourse to lots, and the prophet consented by God's inspiration, (Worthington) though this is not written, (Haydock) and the lots were superstitious. (Menochius)
Calmet
The oriental writers add many things to this sufficiently marvellous account. (Lyranus; D'Herbelot.) (Calmet)
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God. They were idolaters, ver. 6.
Calmet
Wares, which is commonly done in storms. (Calmet)
Haydock
This loss was in punishment of their sins; though they seem not devoid of some fear of God and man. (Haydock)
Challoner
Sleep. This is a lively image of the insensibility of sinners, fleeing from God, and threatened on every side with his judgments; and yet sleeping as if they were secure. (Challoner)
Calmet
Yet Jonas was sleeping through grief. (St. Jerome) (Matthew 26:40.) (Calmet)
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Haydock
Fear, and therefore fly from the face of the Lord, ver. 3, 10. (Haydock)
Calmet
He knew that God is every where, ver. 3., and Psalm 133:8. (Calmet)
Haydock
Septuagint, "I worship." Fear is often taken in this sense. (Haydock)
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Menochius
Cast me. God intimates that he required this sacrifice. (Menochius)
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Josephus
Hard. They were unwilling to destroy the prophet, (Calmet) fearing to incur fresh guilt by thus treating one who had intrusted his life to them. (Josephus, Antiquities 9:11.)
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Blood. We act thus by his direction, and through necessity.
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Menochius
Lord. They were converted by this prodigy, and offered sacrifice immediately, or (Calmet) when they came to port. (Menochius)
Worthington
All know by the light of reason that sacrifice and vows are acceptable to the Lord. (Worthington)
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Nineve.... The capital city of the Assyrian empire.
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A deep sleep.... This is a lively image of the insensibility of sinners, fleeing from God, and threatened on every side with his judgments: and yet sleeping as if they were secure.
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God creator and Lord of al the vvorld, hath also care of al. Rom. 3. v. 29 & therfore sent this prophet to the great citie Niniue, as likevvise others prophecied to the Babylonians Aegyptians, Moabites, Ammonites, Idumeans, &c.
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Ionas shevveth the cause vvhy he fled, ch. 4. v. 2. fearing to be counted a fals. prophet.
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The mariners seing no natural cause of so sudaine & great a tempest, sought to knovv the reason therof by lotte, wherto the prophet agreed, by Gods inspiration, & so was discouered.
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Sacrifice and vovves are knovvne to al men by the light of nature to be gratful to God.
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homily on the Paralytic Let Down Through the Roof 3
… For when He says “ye saw me hungry, and fed me not: and thirsty and gave me no drink,” He speaks thus at the present time in order that we may not hear these words in time to come. He threatens, He exposes us in this world, that He may not have to expose us in the other: even as He threatened to overthrow the city of the Ninevites
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Treatise to Prove that No One Can Harm the Man Who Does Not Injure Himself 14
… “For,” we read, “God saw that every man turned from his evil way, and was converted to the Lord.” How turned? I ask. Although their wickedness was great, their iniquity unspeakable, their moral sores difficult to heal, which was plainly shown by the prophet when he said “their wickedness ascended even unto the heaven:”
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Tertullian † AD 220 A Strain of Jonah the Prophet 1
Seeks Tarsus, through the signal providence
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.106
106. What then is the story, and wherein lies its application? For, perhaps, it would not be amiss to relate it, for the general security. Jonah also was fleeing from the face of God,
St Gregory of Nazianzus † AD 389 Select Orations of Saint Gregory Nazianzen 2.107
107. But, as I have learned from a man skilled in these subjects, and able to grasp the depth of the prophet, by means of a reasonable explanation of what seems unreasonable in the history, it was not this which caused Jonah to flee, and carried him to Joppa and again from Joppa to Tarshish, when he entrusted his stolen self to the sea:
St John Chrysostom † AD 407 Homilies on First Corinthians 29
… For it was well known to them all, and prophecy was exercised among them, as was meet for their condition, with understanding and with entire freedom. Therefore, you see, they had power either to speak or to refrain from speaking. For they were not bound by necessity, but were honored with a privilege. For this cause Jonah fled; (
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 108.8
… Not far from this are Arimathæa, the village of Joseph who buried the Lord, and Nob, once a city of priests but now the tomb in which their slain bodies rest. Joppa too is hard by, the port of Jonah’s flight;
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 The Homilies on the Statues to the People of Antioch 20.21
… the slothful industrious. They did not, indeed, reform one, or two, or three, or four vices by way of remedy, but the whole of their iniquity. But whence does this appear, says some one? From the words of the prophet; for the same who had been their accuser, and who had said, that “the cry of their wickedness hath ascended up even to heaven:”
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 14
… the other came willingly, to give repentance unto salvation. Jonas was asleep in the ship, and snoring amidst the stormy sea; while Jesus also slept, the sea, according to God’s providence , began to rise, to shew in the sequel the might of Him who slept. To the one they said, Why art thou snoring? Arise, call upon thy God, that God may save us
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St John Chrysostom † AD 407 A Commentary on the Acts of the Apostles 3
… “And they gave them their lots.” For they did not yet consider themselves to be worthy to be informed by some sign. And besides, if in a case where neither prayer was made, nor men of worth were the agents, the casting of lots so much availed, because it was done of a right intention, I mean in the case of Jonah (
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St Irenaeus of Lyons † AD 202 Against Heresies 3.20.1
… but, arranging and preparing the plan of salvation, which was accomplished by the Word, through the sign of Jonah, for those who held the same opinion as Jonah regarding the Lord, and who confessed, and said, “I am a servant of the Lord, and I worship the Lord God of heaven, who hath made the sea and the dry land.”
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St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 6.26
… Ought then he, who shared the guilt of murder, to be worshipped? Ought he not to have followed the example of Jesus, and said, If ye seek Me, let these go their way ? Ought he not to have said, like Jonas, Take me, and cast me into the sea: for this storm is because of me
St Cyril of Jerusalem † AD 386 The Catechetical Lectures of S. Cyril 14
… To the one they said, Why art thou snoring? Arise, call upon thy God, that God may save us ; but in the other case they say unto the Master, Lord, save us . Then they said, Call upon thy God ; here they say, save Thou . But the one says, Take me, and cast me into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you
St Jerome † AD 420 The Letters of St. Jerome 133.12
… Recall to mind how even the soldiers did not rend the coat of the Saviour. When you see brothers at strife you laugh; and are glad that some are called by your name and others by that of Christ. Better would it be to imitate Jonah and say: “If it is for my sake that this great tempest is upon you, take me up and cast me forth into the sea.”
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St Jerome † AD 420 Against the Pelagians 2
Jonah i. 14 . The sailors confess that God is just in raising the storm.
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1. AND IT CAME TO PASS. — The particle and has here no force of a conjunction; for nothing preceded which it might connect with what follows; but in the Hebrew manner it gives the narrative and the book a beginning, and is its mark. Hence Ezechiel also begins thus: "And it came to pass." See the remarks there. The word. — Chaldean: The word of the prophecy of the Lord. For prophecy is now called vision, now the word of the Lord, as I said on Isaiah chapter I, 1. TO JONAS THE SON OF AMATHI. — From this place the Hebrews strive to prove that Jonas was the son of the widow of Sarepta; because, they say, he was the son of Amathi, that is of truth, because the mother, when he was raised to life,
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2. ARISE, AND GO TO NINEVEH. — Nineveh in Hebrew, first, means the same as beautiful, fair, from the root nave, that is, appearance, beauty. Thus St. Jerome and Pagninus in the Interpretation of Hebrew Names. Second, it means the same as inhabited, frequented, full of peoples and houses; from the root nava, that is, he inhabited. Thus Pagninus in the same place. Third, precisely and genuinely Nineveh is called as it were Nini nave, that is, the dwelling of Nini, the kingdom of Nini, the city of Nini. Thus Serarius, in Judith cap. I, Question VI. Whence also Nineveh is sometimes called Ninus, sometimes Nina. Moreover, Nineveh was a most powerful city, in which the first monarchy of the Assyrians fixed its seat, and held it for a thousand years and more. It is situated not on the Euphrates, as Diodorus writes in lib. II, but on the Tigris river, as Ptolemy asserts in lib. VI, cap. 1, Pliny in lib. VI, cap. XIII, Herodotus in lib. II, and others throughout. That it was founded by Assur, son of Shem, son of Noah, Josephus holds in lib. I of Antiquities cap. VII, and St. Jerome in the Hebrew Places, and this they prove from that passage in Genesis cap. X, 11: "Out of that land came forth Assur, and built Nineveh." But it is shown there that by Assur is understood Ninus, who was the founder of the kingdom of the Assyrians. Ninus therefore built it, and from his own name named Nineveh. Thus Eusebius teaches in the Chronicle, Bede in Genesis Question LXIX, Strabo in lib. XVI, St. Augustine in lib. XVI of the City of God III, Diodorus in lib. II, and others. How great and how vast Nineveh was I shall show in cap. III. Moreover, God sends Jonah to Nineveh, to show that He is God not only of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles, and that He has care and providence for them, even if they are most corrupt and wicked. For Jonah is sent here to Nineveh as it were to a new Sodom: "In condemnation of Israel, says St. Jerome, Jonah is sent to the Gentiles, so that while Nineveh does penance, they persist in malice." Allegorically St. Jerome: "Christ is Jonah, that is, a dove, or one who grieves; or because the Holy Spirit descended in the form of a dove and remained in Him; or because He Himself grieved over our wounds, and wept over Jerusalem: and by His bruise we are healed. Truly the Son of truth is sent to Nineveh the fair, that is, the world, than which nothing fairer do we behold with carnal eyes: whence also among the Greeks kosmos (world) received its name from ornament; so that, because Israel despised it, the whole world of the Gentiles might hear. And this for this reason, because his malice has ascended before the Lord. For when God, as it were, had built a certain most beautiful house for man to serve Him, man was corrupted by his own will, etc., and having built the tower of pride, he deserves the Son of God descending upon him; so that through the ruin of penance he might ascend to heaven, he who through the swelling of pride could not. Again, Christ sent St. Peter and the Apostles as it were His Jonah into the world: for just as Jonah, a man abject and unknown, converted Nineveh, a most powerful and greatest city; so the Apostles, fishermen, converted the whole world. PREACH IN IT, — not penance, as Arias wishes, but destruction, namely: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown;" for Jonah thought this prophecy to be absolute, not conditional. Whence, seeing that it was conditional, God sparing the Ninevites doing penance, he was grieved, cap. IV, vers. 2. BECAUSE HIS MALICE HAS ASCENDED, — that is to say, The crimes of Nineveh are so great and so public and shameless, that they cry out for vengeance to heaven, that they wring a scourge from me, that I can be silent no longer, that I can dissemble no longer. Thus it is said in Genesis cap. XVIII, 20: "The cry of the Sodomites and Gomorrhites is multiplied, and their sin is become exceedingly grievous." Thus St. Jerome, Theophylactus, Remigius, Vatablus and others. Briefly, but forcefully St. Gregory in III part of the Pastoral cap. XXXII: "Sin with a voice, he says, is guilt with action; sin with a cry, is guilt with liberty." And St. Augustine in the Enchiridion, cap. LXXX: "Sins, he says, however great and horrible, when they have come into custom, are believed to be either small, or nothing; to such a degree, that they not only ought not to be hidden, but now seem to be preached and made notorious."
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3. THAT HE MIGHT FLEE. Whither dost thou flee, Enceladus? Whatsoever shores thou shalt reach, thou shalt always be under Jupiter. The heathen Poet believed and sang this, in the Fourth Book of Tristia: Nothing is so strong that adamant may bind it, that it may remain more firmly in the swift fire of Jupiter. Nothing is so sublime and tends above dangers, that it is not lower and subject to God. Thou, O faithful Jonah, nay rather Prophet, didst thou not know this same thing? Didst thou believe that thou couldst escape the eyes and hands of the Almighty? I do not believe so. Why then dost thou flee from God? Hast thou not often heard the Levites singing in the temple? "Whither shall I go from thy spirit, and whither shall I flee from thy face? If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I descend into hell, thou art present. If I take my wings early in the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there also thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me," Psalm CXXXVIII, 7. St. Chrysostom beautifully teaches, in his homily On Jonah, that Jonah fleeing is a type of sinners, who, as if drunk, do not notice whither they go, where they set their foot, but following their desires precipitate themselves in their own madness. Nazianzen in his Apology, and St. Jerome, hold that the cause of Jonah's flight was excessive piety toward his own nation, lest it should perish; for by the prophetic spirit Jonah then knew that the Israelites would perish when the gentiles should believe; "because," says St. Jerome, "the repentance of the gentiles is the ruin of the Jews. For this reason, a lover of his country does not so much begrudge salvation to Nineveh, as he is unwilling that his own people should perish." And soon after: "He grieves that he alone is chosen, who would be sent to the Assyrians, enemies of Israel, and to the city of their greatest enemies, where there is idolatry, where there is ignorance of God. And, what is greater than these things, he feared lest by the occasion of his preaching, when they were converted to repentance, Israel would be utterly abandoned." Hence secondly, Lyra and Clarius hold that Jonah feared the power and magnificence of the city and king of Nineveh, and his hostility against the Jews, such as he himself was. Thirdly, Jonah himself gives the true and genuine cause of his flight in chapter IV, 2: "Was not," he says, "this my word, when I was yet in my country? therefore I made haste to flee into Tharsis: for I know that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, patient, and rich in mercy, and easy to forgive about evil." He fled therefore, because he presumed that the Ninevites would do penance at these threats of God proclaimed by him, and that God would spare those who repent, and thus he himself would be mocked as a false prophet. Behold by what shadows the vain man is vainly troubled. What dost thou fear, O Jonah, name of a liar, when God himself does not fear it? This reproach will fall upon him, not upon thee: for he is the one who binds, thou art the one sent. He is not a liar who threatens punishment, if by threats he spares the life of one who changes. For this condition changes the state of the matter, and therefore is excepted. For what God threatens and says: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," understand, if it persists in its crimes, if it does not change its life. Therefore God threatens, so that sinners, terrified by threats, may correct their life, and thus escape the threatened punishment: "Because I desire not the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God, turn ye, and live," Ezech., chapter XVIII, 32. Jonah will be followed by preachers, zealous for their own honor, not God's, who hunt for popular favor, who seek the theater of their own wit, the praise of their eloquence. INTO THARSIS. — Note that from Tharsis, grandson of Japhet, Genesis chapter X, 4, the Cilicians were descended, and from thence the city Tarsus of Cilicia received its name. Moreover, because the Tarsians and Cilicians were then masters of the sea, and powerful in ships and wealth; hence all neighboring places and the neighboring sea were called Tharsis. Thence, with the signification of the word extended by synecdoche, namely from the part of the Tarsian sea, the whole remaining Mediterranean sea, nay any vast sea, especially of the Carthaginians (who were celebrated in navigation), and finally the Ocean itself was called Tharsis. Hence also chrysolite (a gem), because it is of the color of the sea, was called Tharsis, as I have taught from St. Jerome, Josephus and others in Isaiah, chapter II, 16. Thou wilt ask what Tharsis signifies here? First, St. Jerome, the Chaldean interpreter, Ribera and others understand by Tharsis the sea. For Jonas, being fearful, fugitive and wandering, did not designate a certain place for himself, but any place that offered itself for his flight; and therefore he fled to the sea; for he was striving only to escape the face of the Lord. "Not," says St. Jerome, "did the Prophet wish to flee to a certain place, but entering the sea he was hastening to go wherever it might lead: and this suits better a fugitive and timid man, not to choose a place of idle flight, but to seize the first opportunity of sailing." And soon after: "After he (God) perceived him in the waves, he confesses and says: I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. But if he himself made the sea and the dry land, why, leaving the dry land, do you think you can avoid the maker of the sea in the sea?" Certainly Jonas wished to flee very far from the face of the Lord, hence he fled to the sea; for those who sail to the sea and to overseas regions seem to change heaven and earth and all the elements, and to cross over into a new world. This was the sense of the Jews: whence they called the most remote regions the sea and islands. Hence the Psalmist, signifying the most remote nations that would come to Christ, says: "The kings of Tharsis (that is, of the sea) and the islands shall offer gifts." (Psalm 71:10); and Isaias, chapter 66:19: "I will send of them that shall be saved, to the nations, etc., to the islands afar off." St. Jerome adds: "And at the same time Jonas is instructed through the salvation and conversion of the sailors, that even so great a multitude of Nineveh could be saved by a similar conversion." Allegorically concerning Christ: "We can say that he left his house and his country, and having assumed flesh in a certain way fled from the heavenly things, and came to Tharsis, that is to the sea of this world, according to that of Psalm 104: This great sea and wide, with hands." Anagogically the same St. Jerome: "Tharsis," he says, "is interpreted as the contemplation of joy: the Prophet coming to Joppa, which itself also sounds beautiful, hastens to go to joy, and enjoying the blessedness of quiet, he would give himself entirely to contemplation: thinking it better to enjoy the beauty and variety of knowledge, than through the opportunity of the salvation of other nations, to perish the people from whom Christ was to be born in the flesh. Second, Theodoret and Theophylactus understand by Tharsis Carthage. So also Vatablus. By Tharsis, he says, understand Tunis, or Carthage, cities of Africa. For from Tunis there is easy navigation to Joppa, and conversely from Joppa to Tunis. So also Mariana takes Tharsis as Carthage, or Tunis, which is also called Tharsis in Arabic. Again, Father Pineda, book IV On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 15, at the end, understands by Tharsis Tartessus, and Baetica, and holds that Jonas wished to flee to Spain, and strives to prove this by many conjectures. Third, more truly others understand by Tharsis the city of Tharsis in Cilicia, and Cilicia itself. Whence the Zurich version translates it Tharsis. This is proved first, because Tharsis first and properly signifies Tharsis and Cilicia, as I said a little before. Second, because those who wish to cross the sea necessarily propose to themselves some place in general, to which they may cross, and say to themselves, for example, I wish to cross to Italy, or to Africa, or to India. For no one wishes or is able to dwell in the sea. Therefore Jonas also went to the sea, so that he might go to Tharsis, or certainly to Cilicia in general, designating no certain city in his mind. Third, the words of Scripture signify this: "He found a ship going to Tharsis." For the ship was not going to the sea, because it was in the sea itself, but through the sea it was going to Tharsis. Again: "He went down into it that he might go with them (the sailors) to Tharsis; but the sailors were destined to go and sail to a certain place, namely Tharsis: therefore Jonas also, who had the same destination, and was tending whither the sailors were tending. Fourth, because if the Prophet had wished to signify the sea, he would have said clearly: He fled to the sea, that is to the sea: for already the word signifies properly the sea, nothing else. But Tharsis is ambiguous, and properly signifies Tharsis, improperly the sea. Thus hold Josephus, book 9 of the Antiquities, chapter 11, Rheticius of Autun in St. Jerome, epistle 134 to Marcella; Tertullian, book On Flight, chapter 10; Abulensis, Lyra, a Castro, Villalpando in Ezekiel chapter 27:12, and others. You will say: How then, in verse 8, do the sailors ask Jonah: "Whither goest thou?" I answer: They ask this because they wish to learn from him the certain and final destination of Jonah's departure, so that they may know whither and in what direction he is going: for they knew that he was going with them to Cilicia, and perhaps to Tarsus; but they did not know whither ultimately, and for what purpose he was heading. They are asking only this, that they may know the man's condition, who he is, what sort of man he is, whither he is going, what he is doing, what he intends. This is evident from the words of the sailors: "What is thy business? what is thy country, and whither goest thou, or of what people art thou?" that is to say, Whither art thou going: what dost thou intend to do on this journey? what goal dost thou set for thyself? For this is the manner in which travelers are accustomed to question one another in carriages and ships. FROM THE FACE OF THE LORD,—that is to say, so that he might flee from the place where the Lord had spoken to him, where He had exhibited His presence to him, into the most remote regions; not as if Jonah thought he could hide God there: for he was a Prophet; he therefore knew that God is everywhere, and all-knowing: but because he hoped that God would not recall him from those most remote regions as a fugitive and resisting one, nor send him back to Nineveh. Note here: The face of God is said to be where God exhibits Himself and His presence to men, either by speaking, or by working miracles, or by performing works of divine vengeance or mercy. Thus it is said in Psalm 67, 2: "Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered: and let them that hate Him flee from before His face. As wax melteth before the fire, so let sinners perish before the face of God." And Psalm 95, 9: "Let all the earth be moved at His presence." And Psalm 96, 5: "The mountains melted like wax at the presence of the Lord," when He Himself present shook them. And Psalm 113, 7: "At the presence of the Lord the earth was troubled, at the presence of the God of Jacob," when He Himself, giving the law on Sinai, shook the mountain with a great earthquake. Again, because God was accustomed to exhibit His presence to the high priest and priests, and in Judaea to the faithful, especially to the Prophets; hence the face, that is the presence, of God is said to be in Judaea, and in the temple. Whence the Psalmist says, Psalm 41, 3: "When shall I come and appear before the face of God?" namely in the temple, before the Holy of Holies, in which upon the ark, the Cherubim and the mercy seat, as if upon a throne, God dwells. Thus in 1 Kings 1, 22, Anna says to Elkanah concerning the boy Samuel: "I will not go (to the temple), until the child be weaned, and I will take him with me, that he may appear before the sight of the Lord, and may abide there forever;" and in chapter 2, 18: "And Samuel ministered before the face of the Lord," that is in the temple before the Holy of Holies. Thus in Leviticus, chapter 1, 5, chapter 2, 1, chapter 4, 4, chapter 6, 7, chapter 8, 28, and frequently elsewhere it is said that the priest stands, or sacrifices "before the Lord," in Hebrew liphne, that is before the face of the Lord, namely at the altar before the Holy and Holy of Holies: Jonah therefore fled "from the face of the Lord," that is from Judaea to Tarsus, because in Judaea and the temple God was thought to be present in a peculiar manner through singular worship of Him, providence and aid, by which He regarded and directed His people; and through oracles, which He gave almost always to the Prophets in Judaea, rarely outside Judaea. Thus the Hebrews, Theodoret, Lyra, Vatable, Mariana and others. St. Cyril adds: "Some thought that the power and dominion of God were confined to the borders of Judaea alone, and shut up in it as if in a fortress, excluded from other regions, etc. I think that this blessed Prophet, thinking something of this sort with himself, departed from Judaea to the cities of Greece." But who would believe this of a faithful and learned man, indeed of a Prophet? Morally, learn here that he who flees from the face of God calling and entreating falls into the face of God angry and avenging: thus Jonah, fleeing God calling, fell into the face of a whale devouring. "Jonah," says St. Gregory in book 6 of the Morals, chapter 12, "is found in guilt, is plunged into the deep, is suddenly devoured by the whale swallowing him, and is carried by the beast to the place which he refused to go to willingly. Behold the fugitive is found by the tempest, the lot binds him, the sea receives him, the beast encloses him; and he who struggles against obeying his author is carried by his own prison to the place to which he was sent. The Lord therefore catches the wise in their own craftiness, when He also turns to the use of His will that by which human will contradicts itself." Jonah, persuading himself that God's command was harsh, fled from God, who is the safe and sure salvation of those who obey Him, and trusted himself to raging winds, to the sea like the moon by which it is governed, unstable; to waves often rising up to heaven; to unfaithful sailors, who cast him into the sea; to a ship, which rises four fingers above the sea, and is not far from submersion and death, according to that saying of the Poet: Go now, and entrust your soul to the winds, trusting in the hewn wood, removed from death by four fingers: for so much of the ship's keel projects into the sea. The foolish and stupid sinner does the same: for abandoning the Creator, he fixes his hopes in creatures, in which he finds nothing but unrest, turbulence, danger, and whales and monsters that devour him. Thus Sanchez. On the other hand, St. Augustine wisely admonishes in Psalm LXX: "Whoever wishes," he says, "to flee from an angry God, let him flee to a placated one." From Jonah, therefore, we are taught that each person ought to obey God calling, and to undertake His calling, and to embrace and execute that to which He calls: for it is God's to rule and direct all creatures, especially men, to their ends, by those ways and means which He Himself has pleased. God is also the Lord of all, and men are His servants: they therefore ought to obey Him calling, much more promptly and eagerly than servants obey a prince calling: for if anyone were to refuse this, the prince would immediately cast him out of his house. Why should not God be able to do the same by His right, and in fact not rarely does so? For this flight, disobedience and resistance is contempt of God, injury and disrespect to Him, which He is accustomed to avenge, either in this life or in the future. There exists an emblem of Alciati, in the seventeenth order: Where the gods call, one must go: At the crossroads there is a heap of stones; over it rises A truncated image of God, made to the breast. It is therefore the tomb of Mercury: suspend, traveler, Garlands to God, who shows you the right path. We are all at the crossroads, and by this path of life We are deceived, unless God Himself shows the way. Hence the famous saying of Bias: "Follow God," lest God pursue you. For, as Seneca says in Hercules Furens: God the avenger follows the proud from behind. And in Thyestes: God turns our affairs, hastened by swift Whirlwind. And Ovid, book VIII of the Metamorphoses: Immense is the power of heaven, and has no end, and whatever the gods above have willed, is accomplished. The same, book X: All things yield to the kingdom of Jupiter. And book V of the Tristia: The wrath of God is worth more than human strength. Thus Abraham, following God calling him from Ur of the Chaldees, went into Chanaan, not knowing where he was going, and therefore received from God so many blessings both temporal and spiritual, Genesis XII, 1; Hebrews XI, 8. Thus Moses, following God calling, asked Pharaoh for the release of the people, and therefore performed so many signs and wonders, and finally drowned Pharaoh with his whole army in the Red Sea. The same did Josue, Gedeon, Samson, David, Isaias, Daniel, Osee and other Prophets. Thus in the new law, Christ followed the Father calling Him to preach, and to die for the salvation of men. Thus the Apostles, following Christ calling them to labors and martyrdoms, became princes of the Church militant and triumphant. We read in the Life of St. Athanasius, that when St. Alexander, bishop of Alexandria, was dying, he declared St. Athanasius as his successor. He, suspecting this, fled like Jonah: Alexander called him several times, but he remained silent and hid himself. Then Alexander said: "You flee, Athanasius, but you will not escape." For the clergy and people forced St. Athanasius, and compelled him to undertake the episcopal office: he, seeing at last that this was God's will, obeyed Him and undertook the office, and therefore was made by God a pillar against the Arians, and a defender of the whole Church. Therefore all wisdom, all happiness, all good of man is situated in this: that through prayers, considerations, almsdeeds, fastings, etc., he may inquire what God wishes him to do, in what state, rank, office, work He wishes to be served by him; and having known God's will, let him immediately execute it, and that unique and evident sign is that of divine predestination, to follow God calling; just as on the other hand the sign and cause of reprobation is, to be unwilling to follow God, but to follow one's own inclinations, wills and desires. For this is what Christ says, John X, 27: "My sheep hear my voice (and consequently the goats and the reprobate do not hear the same, that is, they do not obey it), and I know them, and they follow me: and I give them life everlasting, and they shall not perish for ever, and no man shall snatch them out of my hand." Wherefore he who is wise, and to whom his salvation is a care, ought continually to desire this, to pray for this one thing alone, that God may direct him in those ways, occupations, affairs and means by which He hath predestined him to be led unto eternal salvation, and by which He foreknew him would certainly and infallibly arrive at it. For these ways, prepared and ordained by God for each one, are safe and certain, and therefore have neither the scandal of sin nor the peril of salvation which the other ways have, which men, without God as their guide, wish to prescribe for themselves and to enter upon as if they were wise: as Jonas here, fleeing from God, lost his country, his temple, God, the Church, and almost his life, while, burning with desire for solid earth, he chose and accepted the profane Tharsis instead of the sacred altar. This is what is said of Jacob and of anyone following God in Wisdom X, 10: "This (divine wisdom and providence) led the just man through right ways, and shewed him the kingdom of God, and gave him the knowledge of holy things: honoured him in his labours, and completed his labours." And verse 17, concerning the Hebrews whom He led through the desert into the promised land: "It rendered to the just the reward of their labours, and led them in a wonderful way (going before them in a pillar of fire and cloud), and was to them a shelter by day, and a light of stars by night, it carried them over the Red Sea," etc. DESCENDED — from the mountains of Zabulon (for Jonas was a Zabulonite) in which Nazareth is situated, concerning which William of Tyre, book XXI of the History of the Holy War, chapter XXVI. Among these mountains is one Thabor, on which Christ was transfigured: or "descended," that is, went, departed, came. INTO JOPPE. — It is a famous port of all Judaea. In Hebrew it is called Japho (whence it is called Jaffa today) "to which," says St. Jerome, "Hiram, king of Tyre, used to transfer timber from Lebanon by rafts, which would be conveyed to Jerusalem by land. This is the place where even today stones are shown on the shore on which Andromeda was once bound and freed by the aid of Perseus." Again Adrichomius, in his Description of the Holy Land: "Joppe," he says, "which is called Japho, that is, beauty or comeliness, a most ancient city founded by Japhet, son of Noe, before the flood, situated by the sea on a high promontory (from which Jerusalem can be seen) with a rocky, high and steep shore, fortified with a citadel and walls very strongly. But the port is most violent, on which account it is convenient for piratical raids: which use it was often put to in the time of the Machabees. In this place St. Peter raised Tabitha from the dead, Acts IX, and there received legates from Cornelius the Centurion, and learned through a vision that the faith of Christ was to be preached not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles. Louis, King of the French, surrounded it in the year of the Lord 1250 with towers and walls, and pilgrims going to the holy land first land there." Sanchez judges it probable enough that the poets and historians of the Gentiles took the fable of Andromeda from the history of Jonas fleeing to Joppe, and there swallowed by a whale, but freed by God. For they relate that she was bound in Joppe to a rock, that she might be devoured by a sea monster, but was freed by Perseus slaying the monster, not only Ovid in book IV of the Metamorphoses, but also Pliny in book V, chapter XIII, Solinus in chapter XIII of the Polyhistor, Mela in book I, chapter XI, and others. In a similar way from the flood of Noe they invented the flood of Deucalion, as St. Justin says in his Apology against the Gentiles. Thus St. Augustine in book XVIII of the City of God, chapter XIX, thinks Hercules was no other than Samson. Hence that fatal hair, in which the fate and stability of the kingdom lay, which the daughter Scylla took from her sleeping father Nisus, and with it carried the kingdom stolen from the father to Minos, the father's and the country's enemy. Origen, in book IV Against Celsus, asserts that Plato borrowed his fables concerning the gardens and fields of the Elysian, concerning the formation of man, concerning the serpent, which he relates in the Symposium, from the Genesis of Moses. Clement of Alexandria, in book II of the Stromata, teaches that Minos, the legislator of the Greeks, whom they say was familiarly conversant with Jupiter for nine years, is no other than Moses, who, conversing with God on Sinai, received the law from Him. Thus they invented Noe to be Janus with two faces, who saw two ages, and as it were two worlds; they transformed him into Bacchus, because he discovered the vine and wine. From Lucifer cast down from heaven, they formed Ate cast down from Jupiter's heaven, which would disturb and overturn human affairs. AND GAVE HER FARE — of the ship, that is to say, He gave the price to the sailors for the use of the ship by which he was carried, namely he paid the cost of passage, "as if he could cross over away from God," says Tertullian in his book On Flight, chapter X, where he wrongly proves from the flight of Jonas, from which God recalled him, that it is not lawful for a believer to flee in persecution. For it is one thing to flee from God, which Jonas did; it is another thing to flee from a tyrant and persecutor, which the Apostles and martyrs did.
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4. AND THE LORD SENT A GREAT WIND INTO THE SEA, AND A TEMPEST WAS MADE. — Behold how God comprehends those fleeing in their flight, the wise in their counsels, sinners in their designs and sins, and draws them back to himself and compels them to return. Jonah thought to find quiet in the sea, and behold a tempest sent by God seized him, so powerful that Scripture says: "And the ship was in danger of being broken," from being dashed against the waves and broken, and, as the Septuagint has it, dialutheenai, that is, to be dissolved; Pagninus renders it, and the ship was thought to be broken, to be broken; the Zurich Bible, so that anyone might think the ship was to be broken; in Hebrew word for word it is, and that ship thought to be broken, that is, those who were carried in that ship thought they would immediately make shipwreck. Thus Vatablus. To this points that saying of the Poet: "Could Pallas burn the Argive fleet, and could she herself submerge them in the sea, on account of the guilt of one, and the furies of Ajax of Oileus?"
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5. AND THE MEN CRIED TO THEIR GOD, — that is to say, Each one invoked his own god. For there were in the ship, as was customary, men of diverse regions and religions, namely from various nations which had various gods; each one therefore cried out to his own god and the god of his nation in such great danger. Note the Hebraism: isch, that is, man, is taken for each one, and signifies distribution. Tropologically, St. Jerome notes that not only Jonah is punished, but also the sailors, because they had received Jonah. Thus also today those who receive apostates from the faith or from an Order are punished together with them. Learn here how harmful is the society of sinners. Thus St. Ambrose in his sermon On the Chair of St. Peter teaches that the Apostles were tossed by a tempest on account of Judas: "There is calm," he says, "where Peter alone sails; there is tempest where Judas is joined: although Peter was firm in his own merits, yet he is disturbed by the crimes of the traitor. By the fault of one, therefore, the merits of all were shaken." And hence so frequent are shipwrecks, on account of the sins of those aboard, especially those committed in the ship. AND THEY CAST FORTH THE WARES (namely the merchandise and burdens which were in the vessels) into the sea, — to lighten the ship. In Hebrew, that it might be lightened by them. This is what the Poet says: "They began to cast forth with the winds." Truly St. Chrysostom, Homily I On Penance: "The sailors," he says, "made a casting forth, yet the ship was in no way lightened." Why? "Because nothing is so burdensome and heavy as sin and disobedience." AND JONAH WENT DOWN INTO THE HOLD OF THE SHIP (as it were into a more secret and safer place): AND HE WAS FAST ASLEEP WITH A DEEP SLEEP, — partly from the weariness of the journey which he had made coming from Zebulun to Joppa, and partly and more from dejection of spirit and sorrow. For Jonah felt the remorse of conscience concerning his flight, as if God were pursuing him, punishing him and seizing him: whence to escape and to soothe these remorsings, he gave himself to sleep. For an evil conscience begets sorrow, sorrow begets sleep: for sleep buries sorrow, since it takes away its thought and feeling. Hence the Apostles, when Christ went to his passion, were seized with sleep on account of sadness, Matthew XXVI. Thus St. Jerome, Theodoret, Theophylactus and Hugh. Hear St. Jerome: "He was conscious of his flight and the sin by which he had neglected the Lord's precepts, and he saw the tempest raging against him while the others were ignorant, therefore he went down into the hold of the ship, and sad he hides himself, lest as if the avengers of God he should see the waves rising up against him." Tropologically, the same: "The very deep sleep," he says, "of Jonah signifies a man torpid in the sleep of error, to whom it was not enough to flee from the face of God, unless his mind, overcome by a certain madness, should be ignorant of the wrath of God, and as if secure should sleep, and should snore with the deepest sleep." The sinner therefore sleeps a heavy sleep, indeed a lethargy: for sin induces this upon him. Whence Christ must cry out to him: "Lazarus, come forth." Allegorically, the sleep of Jonah represents the sleep of Christ in the ship, when a tempest arose, from which being awakened he commanded the winds and the sea, Matthew VIII. Where St. Jerome: "We read the type of this sign in Jonah, when while others are in danger he himself is secure, and sleeps, and is awakened, and by his command and the sacrament of his passion he frees those who awaken him." For although Jonah, as a man fleeing God, was a type of the sinner; yet the same, as a Prophet, both in his deeds and in his words bore a type of Christ.
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7. LET US CAST LOTS. — St. Jerome, Theodoret, Remigius and Lyra note that the sailors cast lots because they saw that men experienced in the sea recognized that such a sudden and violent tempest in calm waters was not natural, but suddenly sent by God without prior signs, contrary to the course and order of winds, stars, seasons, and other secondary and natural causes; otherwise indeed they would not have resorted to lots, if they had known the causes to be natural. Hence morally from Jonah let the sailors and passengers learn here that tempests are often sent by God on account of crimes which are committed on the ship, or were committed previously. Thus Bias, sailing with wicked men, when they were in danger in a great sea tempest, while others were imploring the gods, said: "Be silent, lest the gods perceive that you are sailing here," as Laertius relates in book I, chapter VI. The same man, sailing with the worst sort of people, fell in with pirates. When they said: "We shall perish if we are recognized." "But I," he said, "shall perish unless we are recognized." For this reason Plato asserted that "the sea ought to be fled as if it were a teacher of wickedness." St. Thomas notes secondly in II II, Question XCV, article VIII, that there are three kinds of lots. The first is divisory. This is lawful, and is to be employed whenever it does not appear why one person ought to be preferred to another in some matter either useful or difficult... The second is consultory, by which through a lot divine counsel is inquired... The consultory lot is unlawful: for it pertains to tempting God, unless God inspire it... The third lot is divinatory, by which knowledge of future truth, or of present but hidden and secret truth, is inquired... This likewise is unlawful, unless God inspire that it be used... Such was the most ancient Pythagorean lot, by which victory, life, death, and fortunate and unfortunate outcomes were divined through the number of the letters of names. For he whose name had more letters and indices of greater number was predicted to be the victor; but he was predicted to be vanquished whose name contained fewer letters and indices of smaller number. Thus Patroclus was divined to be overcome by Hector, and Hector to be overcome by Achilles, by the numbers included in their names, as Terentius sings: indeed, what is remarkable, this very thing is found in the Venerable Bede, tract. On Divination of Death and Life, which is found at the end of volume II of his works, where many and remarkable things concerning this matter, not to be believed nor practiced, as being vain and superstitious, are recounted. Wherefore it should be carefully noted that this tract is not of the Venerable Bede, but of Petosyris (a pagan astromancer, as it appears) who wrote it and sent it to Nechepso king of Egypt, as its inscription has it. Perhaps this tract was found in Bede's chest; whence it was ascribed to him and sewn on by the compiler of his works. Note thirdly, although this lot of the sailors was superstitious, as I have already said, God nevertheless disposed and ordered it, even though it was bad, to good; for thus He tempered and directed it, so that Jonah guilty was discovered, and acknowledged his fault, and returned to God. For this reason He stirred up the tempest, so that when the lot was cast by the sailors Jonah as its cause and guilty party might be seized. In a similar way He directed the lots, or rather the superstitious omen, which the Philistines sought I Kings VI, 9, saying: If the kine bearing the ark of the Lord go up toward Bethshemesh, the God of the Hebrews has inflicted this plague of diseases upon us; but if not, we shall know that it happened by chance. For God made the kine tend toward Bethshemesh: which being done the Philistines believed that not by chance, but by God the plague was sent upon them. In a similar way, chapter XXVIII, 15, when Saul consulted the Pythoness, God made Samuel appear in her deceptions, and predicted to Saul his imminent death. St. Chrysostom gives the reason in homily 3 on the epistle to Titus, that God wished to refute soothsayers and sacrilegious men by their own lots and omens, and to turn them back upon their own heads, indeed to make them their own accusers. "God," he says, "corrected and refuted them (the Philistines) by their own mouth. The same thing must be said of the Pythoness woman; because she had faith in her, for this reason through her Saul heard that evils would seize him." And St. Jerome: "The fugitive (Jonah) is discovered by lot not by the power of lots and especially by the lots of the heathen, but by the will of Him who then procures it to be really fulfilled. Thus in Suetonius and others we read that lots announced death to the Caesar Domitian; but to Alexander Severus, who hoped for nothing of the sort, the empire: for from the lot these verses of Virgil, VI Aeneid, came forth to him: Thou, Roman, remember to rule the peoples with empire. Moreover, unbelieving and pagan sailors still frequently make use of lots and divination by lots. Witness to this is St. Francis Xavier, who in describing his journey to Japan in the first letter which he sent from Japan to his Companions at Goa, in the year of Our Lord 1548, on the 3rd of November, which is found in book III of his Letters as the fifth in order: "We bore most grievously," he says, "that the ship's master and sailors consulted the demon by lots repeatedly, whether it would be expedient to proceed to Japan or not; and at the same time they inquired whether we could maintain our course on the second voyage, and the lots came forth now joyful, now sad." And after much about these same matters, when he had narrated that the captain's daughter was cast into the sea by the tossing of the ship and drowned, he adds: "Thence the Barbarians, turning to appease the idol with sacrifices, consumed the whole day and night in slaughtering birds and setting forth feasts for the idol." Learn here that sacrifices are wont to be joined to lots in order to conciliate the idol, that is, the demon who is consulted and entreated to respond through the lots. Xavier continues: "Then when the captain inquired by lots why his daughter had perished, a lot is given forth: if our Emmanuel had perished in the hold, his daughter would by no means have perished. You see indeed in how great danger we were situated, whose life depended on the devil's lots and the will of his satellites." He then writes that he made use of remedies for these things. "I have often besought God, etc., that He would impose heavier torments on the common author of those superstitions, as often as he impelled the captain to draw lots and to worship him as God." And a little later: "The most certain protection is, that against the enemy you be of great and present courage, distrusting yourself entirely and trusting in God, so that namely in Him you have placed all your hopes and strength, and in no way allow yourself to appear to fear such and so great a defender and patron, or to doubt of victory. For often threatening me he declared that the time had come to avenge his master. But since he can harm no one except insofar as God Himself permits, at that time the distrust of God is more to be feared than the assault of the enemy." And he adds that God permits the devil to tempt the timid and distrustful, but not the courageous and those trusting in God, to whom He breaks all the power of lots and of the demon, and directs them so that they serve His glory and the good of His own. AND THE LOT FELL UPON JONAS. — The Syriac: And the lot of Jonas ascended, v. g. a tablet inscribed with the name of Jonas was first drawn from the urn. Thus allegorically the soldiers divided the garment of Christ by lot, says St. Augustine in book IV of his Symbol to the Catechumen, chapter VI.
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8. TELL US FOR WHAT CAUSE THIS EVIL IS UPON US (why are we tossed about by wind and storms, and almost overwhelmed). WHAT IS THY WORK? WHAT IS THY COUNTRY? — i.e., Tell us what work you do, from what land, from what people you come, where are you hastening to go? "Note the brevity," says St. Jerome, "which we used to admire in Virgil:" Young men, what cause has driven you to attempt unknown ways? Whither are you going, he says, What race? From whence your home? Do you bring peace here, or arms? "The person, region, journey, and city are inquired about, so that from these the cause of the peril may be known." They say therefore: "What is thy work?" Do you practice usury, robbery, magic, or a similar illicit art, by which you have made the deity hostile to yourself? Are you a sacrilegist, atheist, magician, robber, usurer, etc.? "What is thy country? Whence do you come?" i.e., Do you come from some wicked region, to which the sea gods and winds, or heaven itself, or the stars are persistently hostile, and thus do you labor under divine hatred toward your region? Or are you vexed by the fate of your people, to whom heaven always prepares adverse navigation and most difficult storms? Or have you impiously abandoned your fatherland to the gods dear to it, or wickedly violated or betrayed it, the punishment of which crime the gods above exact from you? "From what people are you," so that by the crime, or fortune, or hatred of his people, you first, and we then on your account, are afflicted? For all this inquiry of the sailors aims at this, that they suspect Jonas to be bound by some great crime either private or public; whether that be Jonas's own, or of his country and people, which that storm avenges. Thus Arias.
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9. AND HE SAID TO THEM: I AM A HEBREW, — that is to say, I am a Jew by race and nation, not a Gentile. The name Hebrew, says Arias, was imposed upon his family by Shem, the son of Noah, when he himself, having crossed the Euphrates river, sought new dwellings for himself. Whence it is said of him in Gen. X, 21: "Of Shem also were born, he being the father of all the children of Heber." Secondly, others believe that Hebrews were so called from Heber, the father of Phaleg, in whose time the division of languages took place, since the use of the Hebrew language remained in his family. But not all the descendants of Heber, and much less of Shem, were called Hebrews, but only those who descend through Abraham. Thirdly, therefore, others better believe that Abraham was called a Hebrew, that is a transgressor, because he migrated from Chaldaea, having crossed the Euphrates, into Chanaan: whence this name was first of all given to him in Gen. XIV, 12. From Abraham therefore his descendants were called Hebrews, just as they were called Abrahamites. This name was once glorious; whence the Apostle in II Corinthians XI, 22: "Are they Hebrews? so am I: Are they Israelites? so am I: Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I:" For Christ was a Hebrew, the Blessed Virgin and the Apostles, and the first Christians were Hebrews. Tropologically, Arias says: Jonas confessed that he was a Hebrew, that is a transgressor, that is a transgressor of the law and divine will. Again, a Hebrew, that is a pilgrim and wayfarer, who continually tends toward death, and through death to immortality. The Chaldean and Septuagint, reading abdi for ibri, that is Hebrew, translate: I am a servant of the Lord. AND THE LORD GOD OF HEAVEN (for God in Hebrew is the tetragrammaton Jehova, that is to say, I worship not idols, but the true God himself of the Hebrews, being a Hebrew) DO I FEAR, — that is, I worship. Note: In Scripture the worship of God is called fear; and to fear God is to worship him, both because "fear first made gods in the world," and because the supreme majesty of God especially demands from us fear and reverence. "A son honoreth his father, and a servant his master: if then I am a father, where is my honor? and if I am a master, where is my fear?" Malachi I, 6. For fear, not servile but filial, includes love and reverence of God as our supreme Lord and Father. WHO MADE THE SEA AND THE DRY LAND, — who is the true and only God, as the creator of all things, and lord of heaven, sea and earth; who therefore brought this tempest and storm from heaven upon the air, sea and earth; and is able to drown us in the sea, just as he is able to swallow us up with the earth opening; and he brought it upon account of my disobedience and flight. That Jonas indeed indicated this to them is evident from what follows: "For the men knew that he fled from the face of the Lord, because he had told them." For those words pertain to this. Whence also it follows:
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10. AND THE MEN FEARED WITH A GREAT FEAR, — both because they dreaded the power and vengeance of God as expounded by Jonas, especially since each one was conscious in himself that he had often offended and provoked it; and also because they did not so much fear as they saw with their own eyes that God, so powerful and offended, pursued Jonas in flight, and seized him in their ship: they therefore feared lest they themselves, as it were harbourers of Jonas, should together with him be seized by God, punished and drowned. Thus indeed, while the praetor pursues a thief and robber, and invades the house which the thief has entered, the host and all who are in the house are struck with fear, lest together with the thief they be seized by the praetor as partners and accomplices and punished. Much more indeed is this to be feared before God, who from time to time also punishes and avenges the hidden sins of some even in an innocent people: as he punished the hidden theft of Achan in the whole people of the Hebrews, ignorant and innocent, allowing them to be struck by the Chanaanites, because "there is an anathema in the midst of thee, O Israel" (so also in thee, O ship and sailors, namely Jonas), Joshua cap. VII, 13. Thus St. Jerome. "The order of the narrative," he says, "is inverted. For since it could be said: There was no cause of fear from the fact that he confessed to them saying: I am a Hebrew; and the Lord God of heaven do I fear, who made the sea and the dry land; immediately it is added that for this reason they feared, because he had indicated to them that he was fleeing from the sight of the Lord, and had not done his precepts. Finally they complain, and say: Why hast thou done this? that is, if thou fearest God, why dost thou flee? if thou proclaimest one of such power whom thou worshippest, how dost thou think thou canst escape?" And again: "But they fear with a great fear, because they understand him to be a holy man and of a holy nation; for having set sail from Joppe, they had known the privilege of the Hebrew nation, and yet they cannot hide a fugitive. Great is he who flees, but greater is he who seeks: they dare not deliver him, they cannot hide him."
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11. AND THEY SAID TO HIM: WHAT SHALL WE DO TO THEE? — "They ask," says St. Jerome, "that he himself be the remedy, who had been the author of sin: if it is a fault that we received thee, what can we do so that the Lord be not angry? what shall we do to thee? that is, shall we kill thee? but we shall preserve a worshipper of the Lord? but thou fleest God; it is ours to offer our hands for what thou commandest; it is thine to command, by which being done the sea may be still, which now testifies its wrath by its swelling." AND THE SEA SHALL BE STILL, — that is, so that it may be still. It is a Hebraism. BECAUSE THE SEA WAS GOING AND SWELLING, — "so that it might show that the vengeance of the Creator cannot be deferred," says St. Jerome, and St. Chrysostom in his homily On Jonah: As, he says, a faithful servant seeing a slave flee, pursues him, and does not rest until he seizes him, brings him back, and presents him to his master: so also the sea pursues Jonah fleeing, and does not cease until it captures him and gives him to God.
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12. AND HE SAID TO THEM: TAKE ME UP, AND CAST ME INTO THE SEA. — Note here first, the magnanimous charity of Jonah, by which, lest others perish: likewise his penance, by which, so that he may satisfy God offended, he himself alone wishes to perish. Thus St. Jerome. Secondly, that Jonah said these things from the instinct of God, by which he knew God to will that he be cast into the sea as it were a propitiation and purification; for this reason indeed this tempest was stirred up by God. This is indeed what he says: "For I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you," etc. For otherwise, unless God had demanded him as a fugitive thus for himself, neither could the sailors have drowned him, nor could he himself give the sailors power to drown and kill him. Furthermore, God wished Jonah to be drowned in the sea, because fleeing God he had fled to the sea; the sea, O Jonah, was in thy wishes, let the sea likewise be thy torturer: for in that in which anyone sins, in that also is he punished. Allegorically, however, the more important cause was, namely, that he might represent the passion and resurrection of Christ, concerning which more presently. Hear St. Chrysostom in his 5th homily to the People: "Jonah was fleeing the land, and he did not flee the wrath of God. He was fleeing the land, and he brought a tempest upon the sea; nor did he obtain any good from his flight, but he also brought those who had received him into extreme danger: so that thou mayest learn that, just as to one living in sins neither a ship profits, so to one stripped of sin neither the sea destroys, nor beasts consume: but both the animal and the element unharmed returned him to God, and in all things the Prophet was learning to be meek and humane, and to be no crueller than foolish sailors, nor than wild waves, nor than beasts. He returned therefore, he preached, he threatened, he persuaded, he saved. For this reason he did not immediately lead him from the ship to the city, but the sailors delivered him to the sea, the sea to the whale, the whale to God, God to the Ninevites, and through a long circuit he brought back the fugitive." See what follows, where he beautifully teaches that the sinner should not flee from God, because to flee is impossible, but that depraved morals should be changed; for these gave cause to the wound. This example of Jonah was imitated by St. Gregory of Nazianzus; for when dissension had arisen in the Council of Constantinople between the bishops of Egypt and the East, the former impugning the election of Gregory to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, the latter defending it; he himself entering the synod, exhorted all to peace, and for its sake, as it were another Jonah, offered himself freely to the sea and to renounce the patriarchate, which he also genuinely performed. Hear him in his poem On His Life: I truly emulate the lofty deed of Jonah: I give myself willingly for the safety of our ship, Although I am not the cause of the stirred-up tempest: Cast us lots into the mad sea, Let the hospitable whale receive us: let this be the beginning of concord for you; let this place be called breadth; let it rise more splendid for me. He alludes to a similar cession of wells, which Gerara made to Isaac, Genesis XXVI, 22, who therefore called the third well peaceful breadth. Allegorically St. Jerome: "The Apostles," he says, "abandoning Christ in his passion, were in a certain way casting him into the sea. This Jonah says: I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you, because the winds see me going with you to Tharsis, that is, to the contemplation of joy, so that I may lead you to gladness, so that where I am and the Father, there you also may be. For this reason they rage, for this reason the world roars, death wishes to devour me, so that it may also kill you, and it does not understand that, as it were on a hook, it takes bait, so that by my death it may die. Take me up and cast me into the sea, the tempest which rages against you for my sake, when I am dead, shall be stilled."
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13. AND THE MEN ROWED TO RETURN TO THE DRY LAND. — Note here the piety of the sailors: for, lest they drown Jonah, although he indicates it and offers himself, they seek the shore to which they might expose him; and thus they both consult for themselves. For this reason, says St. Jerome, "they strove to return to land and escape the danger, being more willing to perish than to shed blood." But when they see that they cannot overcome the waves opposing them, but are overcome by them, and the matter concerns the life of all, they judge it better that one Jonah perish than all. They shall therefore cast him into the sea, but before they do this, they beseech pardon from God. They say therefore:
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14. WE BESEECH THEE, O LORD, LET US NOT PERISH FOR THE LIFE OF THIS MAN (in, that is, as the Septuagint has it, for the life, that is the soul, of Jonas, whom we are casting down and destroying; but unwillingly, under compulsion, and commanded by him whom we are destroying. Whence, explaining this, they add): AND GIVE NOT INNOCENT BLOOD UPON US,—that is to say, Do not impute to us that we have cast this innocent man into the sea: for although he be innocent to us, and has harmed none of ours, yet he is guilty before thee: for thou by the lots hast declared him guilty.
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15. AND THEY TOOK JONAS, AND CAST HIM INTO THE SEA.—"He did not say," says St. Jerome, "they seized him; he does not say, they attacked him; but they took him, as if carrying him with respect and honor, and cast him into the sea, not resisting, but offering his hands to their will." Arias adds from Eleazar something memorable: "In the treatise of Eleazar," he says, "the most ancient interpreter of the divine books, who is said to have written about the time of Christ, this fifth trial made by those men is handed down, by which they might more carefully seek out the divine counsel concerning this matter. For after private invocations of the gods, after the casting of lots, after the lots drawn, after prayer and supplication undertaken in common, they attempted this last thing repeatedly, that they lowered Jonas into the sea up to his neck, and again received him back into the ship; and it happened that as often as he was lowered, the sea grew calm; but when he was received back, they felt it again roar and swell: by which sign made certain of the divine will, they finally cast Jonas completely into the sea." The solicitude of the sailors in delivering Jonas makes this probable and credible. AND THE SEA CEASED FROM ITS RAGING,—it ceased from its surge, swelling and waves, "because it found whom it was seeking," says St. Jerome, "as if someone were pursuing a fugitive and going with swift pace, and after he has caught him, he stops running, and stands and holds whom he has seized: so also the sea, which in the absence of Jonas was raging, holding in its depths him whom it desired, rejoices and cherishes, and from its joy tranquility returns." Thus allegorically, he says, Christ being cast into the sea of passion, the fervor of idolatry and all error ceased, the tranquility of faith returned, the peace of the world, all things secure, and the conversion of the gentiles to God: as therefore the submersion of Jonas is the relief of the ship; so the death of Christ is the salvation of the world. Note: Although the wind ceases, "yet the wave rages from the wind that was": so here after the wind the sea raged, until Jonas was cast in; which being cast in, it immediately grew calm, to indicate that this tempest was both excited and calmed by divine power, on account of Jonas alone.
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16. AND THE MEN FEARED THE LORD WITH A GREAT FEAR,—that is to say, By this miracle of the sea raging and immediately calmed, the sailors knew God to be its author, namely that the God of Jonas and the Hebrews is the true God, and converted to His faith, fear and worship. Thus Hugo, Lyra and Arias. AND THEY SACRIFICED VICTIMS (not only spiritual sacrifices of prayers and thanksgivings, as St. Jerome thinks, but also bodily ones: for soon after Jonas was cast into the sea, they came to shore, and there sacrificed victims to the God of the Hebrews. Moreover) AND MADE VOWS,—to be offered in the temple of the Hebrews in Jerusalem, according to the law and rites which they would inquire about from the Scribes there: for they could not learn them from Jonas now cast into the sea. Thus Theophylactus and Hugo. Wherefore it is not doubtful that all these sailors thereafter everywhere proclaimed and celebrated this miracle and God its author. Hence someone might suspect that these sailors, worshipping the God of the Hebrews, embraced Judaism and became proselytes.
Machine translation from the Latin, not reviewed.
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V. 4 « Et factum est verbum Domini ad. Ionam, filium Amathi, dicens :
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v. 9 surge et vade in. Niniven civitatem grandem et praedica in ea ; quia, ascendit malitia eius coram me » ; — incipit libellus ab et; hebr. enim *" propter usum frequentissimum in praeteriti temporis particulam fere abiit ita, ut notio copulationis quasi oblivioni daretur; quare complures libri ab eadem voce inchoantur (cf. Ios. 1, 4. Iud. 1, 1. 1 Sam. 4, 1. Ruth. 4, 4. Esth. 4, 4. Ez. 1, 1)'. In hebr. mandatum exprimitur sine copulae particula modo magis concitato : surge, vade. Ex inscriptionibus cuneatis scimus, Salmanassar II (a. Ch. 860-823) sexto imperii sui anno victoriam reportasse ad Karkar de duodecim regibus foederatis Damasci (Benhadad), Israel (Achab), Hamath, Aegypti, Arvad, Ammon ; eum anno regni sui 11. et 14. expeditionem militarem suscepisse contra Syriam, Hamath, oram maritimam ; eum plura alia bella gessisse contra Damascum et tributa exegisse a Ichu, filio Omri, a Phoenicibus etc. regem quoque Assyriae Rammnannirar (a. Ch. 810-82) anno octavo regni expeditionem suscepisse in oram maritimam i. e. Palaestinam, eique Tyrum, Sidonem, Samariam, Edom, Philisthiim tributa pependisse ! — unde diu ante Menahem (4 Reg. 15, 19) Iudaeis et Israelitis regnum Assyriorum notum erat. De JVinive, civitate grandi cf. 3, 3 ; erat sita ad Tigridem. Urbis magnitudinem, quam Ionas certe iam fama acceperat, commemorat, « ut magis ipsum inflectat ac permoveat accelerare profectionem ; non enim est, inquit, exiguus locus, non vile oppidulum, sed civitas non una ex multis, verum magna, quare non est quod ipsam asperneris » (TAeoph.). Quia non dicit argumentum praedicationis ( Theoph.), sed « praecepti causam et necessitatem » (.1/b.) indicat ; ad coelum clamare vel ascendere coram Domino dicuntur peccata ?, quando publice, inverecunde, cum totius ordinis naturalis ac moralis subversione committuntur (cf. Aib. Sanct.). Uti alias prophetae vaticinari iubentur contra exteras gentes, ut Dominus omnium populorum rex ac gubernator agnoscatur a Iudaeis, ità nune. prophetam suum etiam ad gentes amandat, ut omnium se Deum esse ostendat, qui. illorum etiam curam gerat et gentes quoque ad Dei cognitionem iri assumptum insinuet (cf. Cyr. Theod. Theoph. Rib.). Talem autem curam Assyriis impendi etiam ex co intelligere. licet, quia regnum assyriacunm ex Dei providentis consilio et pro populo Dei et pro multis aliis. gentibus potestate et. imperio florere debuit. lata. quadiin. dominatione. fundata. Quare cavendum erat, ne pessimorum vitiorum. colluvie. abundaret. Etsi per singula non possimus enumerare, quid praedicatio Ionae. mutationis morum. permanentis induxerit quasque vitiorum scaturigimes perpetuo obstruxerit, tamen certum esse debet, resipiscentiam. ilbun, de qua 3, 6-10 sermo est, diu multumque salutarem fuisse et. niorum perversitati aggerem aliquem obiecisse ; quantum vero. id. necessarium fucrit, cum Assyrii tot gentes longo tempore suo imperio continuerint, nemo non videt (cf. ScAegg p. 403). Is. finis praecipuus est 5; quodsi S. Hicr. asserit : « in condemnationem Israelis Ionas ad gentes nittitur, quod Ninive agente poenitentiam illi in malitia perseverent », id secundario et ex consequenti tantum intelligi debet (ef. Maottli. 12, 4f). At Ionas mandatum Dei detrectat
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v. 3 « et surrexit lonas ut fugeret in. Tharsis a. facie Domini et. descendit in loppen. Et invenit navim cuntem in Tharsis et dedit naulum eius et descendit in eam, ut iret cum eis in. Tharsis a facie Domini » ; — iussus surgere, ire Niniven, surt&it, sed in oppositam et longe remotam regionem fugere tentat, in Tartessum Hispaniae, ut a. facie Domini, quae est Dei in Ierusalem, in templo, in populo suo manifestatio !, quam longissime recedat et ita extra aleam quasi ponatur, ne iterato tale mandatum ingratum ipsi fiat. Ioppe, quae hodie Ja/fa nominatur, urbs erat Philisthaeorum non longe a termino tribus Dan ad mare mediterraneum (cf. Ios. 19, 46. 2 Par. 2, 16. Esdr. 3, l. Act. 10, 6). Cur fugerit Ionas, ipse rationem reddit 4, 9 ; eamque ita expendit Theod. : « neque ignavia illum metusve in fugam impulit, sed cum misericordiae fontes non ignoraret, quibus utens is qui eum praedicare iusserat, omnia administrat, sciretque Ninivitas si resipiscerent, divinam misericordiam omnino adepturos esse, indecorum ducebat praedictionem suam falsam declarari seque pro propheta mendacem vocari. In hanc vero suspicionem eum impulit ipsa minarum, quae ultionem intentabant, denuntiatio ; consideravit enim illum praenuntaturum non fuisse, si punire voluisset, cum supplicii comminatio invitatio sit ad poenitentiam » (sim. Rib. Lap. Sa, Est. Tir.), quare Sanct. eum accusat, magis suae ambitioni quam Dei gloriae consuluisse. Ceterum vide ad 4, 1. 92. Aliam rationem alii reddunt; « scit propheta, quod poenitentia gentium ruina sit ludaeorum. Idcirco amator patriae suae non tam saluti invidet Ninive quam non vult perire populum suum » (Hier. ; sim. Theod. M. Haimo, Rup. Barh. Kaulen); at ea ratio est et longe petita neque Ionas ullo pacto suspicari potuit fidem Ninivitarum ruinae fore Israelitis. Varie quoque explicant fugere a facie Domini. Atque Cyr. quidem fieri posse censet, ut Ionas simul cum aliquibus vetustioribus in ea fuerit opinione, potentiam et imperium Dei solis Iudaeac finibus circumsceribi; verum talis error prophetae adscribi non potest. Melius sane dices cum TAeod., eum arbitratum esse in sola Hierosolyma Deum sese ostendere, vel rectius cum Theod. M. dici fugere a facie Domini, quia ea regione excedebat, qua se Deus revelare solebat. Ad hanc loquendi formam compara : apparere coram Domino ; laetari coram Domino i. e. in templo se sistere ; ante tabernaculum foederis, ante habitationem Dei epulis sacrificialibus accumbere etc. — Alio parumper modo locutionem explanat Rib. ; illos scil. dici ante faciem Dei, quos Deus intueatur et alloquatur ; illos discedere a facie Dei, qui nolint Deum secum loqui; « quoniam ergo lonas cupiebat in longinquas regiones fugere, unde propter locorum distantiam mitti Niniven non posset nec, Deum id praecipientem audiret, metaphorice fugere dicitura facie Domini ». At ea ratio vix cuiquam satisfaciat ; nam si viam illam fuza emetiri potuit, cur non posset denuo iuberi relegere gressus ? Addit Lap. sperasse Ionam, Deum se ita profugum et renitentem ex remotissimis regionibus non revocaturum nec remissurum in Niniven. Utique humanae contumaciae est, quod in Tartessum, regionem longe remotam ire voluerit, ut ipsa fugae longinquitate quasi sollemniter declararet se recusare missionem eamque abhorrere (cf. Cyr. Gord.). Censet S. Hier. Tharsis usurpari pro mari ', quia de navibus Tharsis sit sermo (Ps. 47, 8. Is. 23, 1) : « super quo ante annos plurimos in epistola quadam ad Marcellam dixisse me memini ; non igitur propheta ad certum fugere cupiebat locum ; sed mare ingrediens quocumque pergere festinabat et magis hoc convenit fugitivo ct timido non locum fugae otiose eligere, sed primam occasionem arripere navigandi ». Verum quidem hoc et psychologicum est ; at cum tam diserte dicatur : surrezit, ut fugeret in Tharsis *, id ex eventu mere narrari, quia fortuito navis aderat vela solutura in Tharsis, non ausim dicere, neque enim Tharsis nomen est generale maris. Cyr. urbem Tarsensem interpretatur, Theod. et Theoph. Carthaginem, uti teste. Theod. in Is. 93, 4 Aq. Sym. et Theod. vocem Tharsis interpretati sunt. Communis recentiorum ' opinio, haud infirmis fulta praesidiis est intelligi Tartessum in Hispania baetica ; nomen enim omnino congruit, praesertim si pronuntiationem aramaizantem Tharthisch attenderis (cf. Atur pro Assur *, Batanaea pro Basan) ; dein in sacris literis regio valde remota, ex qua Phoenices argentum, ferrum, stannum, plumbum acquisierint, designatur (cf. Is. 66, 19. Ps. 71, 10. Ier. 10, 9. Ez. 97, 12. 25. 38, 13), quae omnia in Hispaniam baeticam conveniunt (cf. Diodor. 5, 39. Strabo 3, 141), ubi emporium erat Phoenicum et colonia. « Dedit naulum eius, sive mercedem navis i. e. subvectionis, eius, iuxta he- , braicum ; sive naulum pro se, ut Septuaginta transtulerunt. Et descendit, ut proprie continetur in hebr., ut fugitivus sollicite latebras quaereret. Vel ascendit, ut scriptum est in editione vulgata (évi6z), ut quocumque navis pergeret, perveniret ; evasisse se putans, si Iudaeam relinqueret » (Hier.). Placet demum adscribere, qualiter in carmine vetusto de Ninive, quod Tertulliano adscribunt (cf. M. 9, 1108), ratio reddatur fugae Ionae : ' sed conscius ille 9. Et cf. 4, 2 : propter hoc praeoccupavi ut fugerem in Tharsis. Verum, uti in carmine, de quo modo mentio est facta, dicitur : nec denique mirum, Si Dominum in terris fugiens, invenit in undis, sic accidit
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v. 4 « Dominus autem misit ventum magnum in mare ct facta. est tempestas magna. 1n mari et navis periclitabatur conteri » ; — hebr. proprie, ?aculatus est vel proiecit ventum magnum ; bene LXX xaiévivezo v.).0209 uéyag. «Magnum tempestatis argumentum, quod ipsi quoque nautae percussi terroribus sine intermissione deos suos ut iam desperata salute opem rogitent » (Cyr.) ; ita enim
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v. 5 «et timuerunt nautae et clamaverunt viri ad deum suum et miserunt vasa quae erant in navi, in mare, ut alleviaretur ab eis. Et lonas descendit ad. interiora navis et dormiebat sopore gravi » ; — hebr. et clamaverunt ad. suum quisque deum i. e. erant scil. nautae ex variis oppidis in quibus alii et alii dii tutelares praecipue colebantur ; proiecerunt vasa i. e. supellectilem, merces, varia quibus navis onerata erat ; quae tempore periculi ipsis quoque quasi onera incumbebant, quippe quae submersionis periculum augerent ; unde in hebr. wt ab ipsis (desuper ipsis) levarent. « Clamat unusquisque ad Deum suum ; ignorantes veritatem ncn ignorant providentiam et sub errore religionis sciunt aliquid esse venerandum ; proiiciunt onera in mare, ut magnitudinem fluctuum classis levior transiliret » (Hier.). Et descendit certe explicari debet : iam ante tempestatem exortam descenderat Ionas ad interiora navis (cf. Cyr. Theod. M. Theoph. Rib. Sanct. Kaulen) ; soporem autem eius non habebimus (ut uno in loco S. Hier.) securae mentis ac tranquillae indicium, sed alteram, quam assignat S. Hier. causam adoptabimus, Ionam moerore, tristitia !, lassitudine et conscientiae stimulis oppressum aliorum societatem fugisse, quaeritasse solitudinem et demum post talem conflictationem internam viribus exhaustis gravi sopore esse sepultum ; neque enim supponi potest, eum sine vehementioribus animi commotionibus, remorsibus, fugam arripuisse ; ea autem lucta, eo angore et ipsa viae quam confecerat faticatione demum somno traditum fuisse, nemo mirabitur ; apte monent aliqui, etiam discipulos Christi dormivisse prae tristitia (Luc. 292, 45 — cf. Theod. Theoph. Rib. Sanct. Lap. Mar. Men. Kaulen). Nautarum trepidatio ct vehementia tempestatis etiam eo ostenditur, quod nautarum princeps (hebr. xpopsug LXX) etiam Ionam ad numinis opem implorandam excitat; solemus enim in desperata salute nervos omnes intendere et quamlibet salutis umbram avide persequi ; unde
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v. 6 « el accessit ad eum gubernator et dixit ei : quid tu sopore deprimeris ? surge, invoca Deum tuum, si forte recogitet Deus de nebis et non pereamus » ; — rem expendit S. Hier. : « naturale est unumquemque in suo periculo de alio plus sperare ; unde gubernator sive proreta, qui vectores timidos debuerat consolari, cernens discriminis magnitudinem, excitat dormientem et arguit improvidae securitatis commonetque ut ipsc quoque pro virili portione deprecetur Deum suum, ut cuius erat commune periculum, communis esset oratio ». LXX «t o5 byyei; quid tu stertis? hebr. quid tibi sopito? i. e. quid habes, quid tibi in mentem venit, ut dormias? Hebr. nv9yrn S. Hier. rite expressit. recogitet ; ad hanc vocis notionem prorsus revocantur alii loci Ps. 146, & (hebr.) peribunt omnes cogitationes eorum ; Iob 12, 5 apud cogitationes divitum ; Dan. 6, & rex cogitabat ; neque minus Ez. 27, 19 et Cant. 5, 14, ubi riy et ne7 significat fabrefactum, artificiose factum opus, i. e. arte et scientia excogitatum. Unus obstare videtur locus Ier. 5, 28, ubi vocem oleo. splendescere ex contextu plerique explicant, etiam LXX et S. Hier. ; quare alii nostro etiam loco ex hac notione derivant significationem : serenum se exhibere (Hitz.). Sed non opus est recedere ab ea notione, quae apud Chaldaeos et Svros quoque deprehenditur et quae etiam Ier. 5, 28 adhiberi potest ; nam vox si sequentibus iungitur, explicari potest : ercogitant, machinantur res malas. Locum nostrum Chald. reddit : « si forte misericordia concedatur nobis a Domino » ; LXX sixox Ótxao67 ó 0:0; ^uàc ; et ita quoque Syrus. Cum communis omnium oratio nil proficeret — Ionam enim admonitum etiam ad preces confugisse, per se liquet — immo tempestas solito vehementius fureret, numinis offensi vindictam in ea cerni nautae sibi persuadent; « noverant naturam maris et tanto tempore navigantes sciebant tempestatum ventorumque rationes, et utique si solitos et quos aliquando experti fuerant fluctus vidissent consurgere, nunquam forte auctorem naufragii quaererent et per rem incertam certum cuperent evitare discrimen » (S. Hier.) ; v. "1 « et dixit vir ad collegam suum : venite et mittamus sortes et. sciamus, quare hoc malum sit nobis. Et miserunt sortes, ct cecidit sors super Ionam » ; — vtr ad collegam suum hebraismus est pro : dixerunt inter se. Res est ad gentium mores prorsus facta ! ; at. « fugitivus sorte deprehenditur, non viribus sortium et maxime sortibus ethnicorum, sed voluntate eius qui sortes regebat incertas » (S. Hier.).
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v. 8 « Et dixerunt ad eum : indica nobis, cuius causa malum istud sit nobis? quod. est opus tuum? quae terra. tua, et quo vadis? vel ex quo populo es tu »? — hebr. propter quem hoc malum nobisi. e. quis tu, cuius causa id fit? opus i. e. negotium quaerunt ; e£ unde venis, quae est terra tua (hebr.). Quaestiones repetitae bene depingunt animorum commotionem. Haec autem omnia studiose exquirunt, quia in singulis irati numinis causa latere potest : exercesne usuras, rapinas, magiam vel similem artem diis exosam ? venisue ex scelerata regione, numini infesta? venisne ex populo diis inviso (cf. Lap.) ? Ceterum bene S. Hier. : « quem sors indicaverat, cogunt voce propria confiteri, quare contra eos ira Dei desaeviat ; et notanda brevitas, quam in Virgilio admirari solebamus ! ; interrogatur persona, regio, iter, civitas, ut ex his cognoscatur et causa discriminis ».
Sortibus iactis et Iona deprehenso
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V. 9 « Et dixit ad. eos: Hebraeus ego sum et Dominum Deum coeli ego timeo, qui fecit mare et. aridam.
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v. 40 Et timuerunt. viri timore magno et dixerunt ad eum : quid hoc fecisti ? cognoverunt enim viri, quod a, facie Domini fugeret ; quia indicaverat eis ». — Hebraeus ; observari potest, nomen usurpari vel ab alienigenis (Gen. 39, 14 ; 41, 12. Ex. 4, 16. 1 Reg. 4, 6. 9; 13, 19; 29, 3. Iudith 12, 11), vel a Iudaeis quando cum alienigenis colloquuntur (Gen. 40, 18. Ex. 2, 1; 3, 18; 5, 3 etc.); "2X * repátne, qui e regione trans fluvium Euphraten venit ; lahve, Deum coeli (Gen. 24, 3. '1) timeo i. e. colo, veneror, bene LXX cí£oya ; timere enim est religiose colere et timor saepe fere idem ac religio; brevi sed efficaciter Dei sui potentiam delineat et quantum ab idolis et diis particularibus et popularibus distet exprimit ; « mare, in quo fugio ; aridam de qua fugio » (S. Hier.). « Statim subnectitur, quod idcirco ümuerunt, quia eis indicaverat se Domini fugere conspectum et eius non tecisse praecepta. Denique causantur : si times Deum, cur fugis? si tantae potentiae praedicas quem colis, quomodo te putas eum posse evadere » (HIier.)? Ionas ipsa sua confessione qui fecit mare, prodit quam 1. Affert ex Aeneid. l. 8, 112 seq. : Iuvenes, quae causa subegit ]gnotas tentare vias, quo tenditis, inquit, Qui genus, unde domo, pacemque huc fertis, an arma ? stulte se mandato subtrahere conatus sit, ut merito ethnicorum audiat reprehensionem et admirationem tanti stuporis a se admissi (cf. Theod.). Gentibus circa Palaestinam incolentibus magnam quandam reverentiam Domini insedisse, pluribus ostendi potest (cf. Ex. 15, 15. Ios. 2, 9; 5, 14. 4 Reg. 4, 7. Iudith 5, 9 et seq.) ; quare a verosimili minime abest, quod notat S. Hier. : « timent autem timore magno, quod intelligunt sanctum et sanctae gentis virum et tamen fugitivum celare non possunt. Magnus est qui fugit, sed maior ille qui quaerit; non audent tradere, celare non possunt ; reprehendunt culpam, timorem confitentur ; rogant, ut ipse remedio sit, qui auctor peccati fuerat » ; unde
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v. 11 «et dixerunt ad eum: quid faciemus tibi et. cessabit mare a. nobis ? quia mare ibat et intumescebat.
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v. 19 Et dixit ad eos : tollite meet mittite in mare et cessabit mare a vobis; scio enim ego, quoniam propter me tempestas haec grandis venit super vos » ; — postulant ab ipso, qua ratione numen quod offenderit, placari velit ac debeat, simulque perspiciunt expiationem ab ipso praestandam esse (tibi), ut divino favore tranquillitas maris redeat; incremento tempestatis numinis vindictam augeri iramque magis magisque in fugitivum accendi cernunt — phrasis enim hebr. quia mare iens et procellosum idem est quod : magis magisque intuinescebat cf. Gen. 8, 8. 1 Sam. 2, 26 ; non male LXX 5$ 1 0a- Àaccx éxopeóeto xat é&fyyetpe u.XAXov xAo8ova —. Bene S. Hier. : « propter te dicis ventos, fluctus, mare, gurgites concitatos? exposuisti causam morbi, indica sanitatis !... nostrum est praebere manus ; quid fieri iubeas, tuum est imperare ». Credunt.enim ipsum etiam cognoscere quomodo Deus suus placari possit. Ionas peccati admissi vera poenitentia tactus « non tergiversatur, non dissimulat, non negat ; sed qui confessus fuerat de fuga, poenam libenter assumit, se cupiens perire, ne propter seet ceteri pereant » (S. Hier.). Unde ex ipsa tempestate, qua omnibus mors imminet, concludit Deum morte eum velle mulctare, eamque poenam humili animo et cum masnanimitate in se suscipit; quare postulat : mittite in mare, « non est enim nostrum mortem arripere, sed illatam ab aliis libenter excipere » (S. Hier.), neque enim quisquam obligari potest, ut sui ipsius sit carnifex. Eam sententiam in se esse latam a Deo et a nautis exsecutioni mandandam, prophetico spiritu Ionam cognovisse satis probabile est (cf. Sanct.). Nautae vero duram sententiam declinare conantur et hominem Domini cultorem morti obiicere verentur
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v. 13 «et remigabant viri, ut revertcrentur ad aridam ; et non valebant, quia mare ibat et intumescebat super eos ; v. Á&et clamaverunt ad. Dominum et dixerunt : quaesumus Domine, ne percamus in anima viri istius, et ne des super nos sanquinem innocenfem ; quia. (u Domine, sicut voluisti, fecisti » ; — hebr. proprie : et perrumpebant (scil. fluctus), ut reducerent navim ; bene LXX xai xxps&icvvo omni conatu nitebantur navim ad terram reducere. Horret enim natura humana et refugit videre vel efficere alterius mortem. Insuper timor eos invaserat, audientes cultorem Dei, in quem manus iniicere et cuius sanguinem fundere verentur, ne ira Dei in ipsos convertatur. Verum increscente tempestate facinus apud Dominum deprecantur non sine quodam timore superstitioso, qui tamen eo magis apud ethnicos excusationi patet in tanta re, cum apud ipsos etiam Israelitas ex lege Dei variae actiones et conditiones necessariae, quae vel praeceptae erant vel evitari nulla ratione possunt, maculam immunditiei leviticae habeant adnexam et expiationem per sacrificia postulent. Quare dicunt : «nolumus interficere prophetam tuum, sed iram tuam et ipse confessus est et tempestas loquitur ; voluntas tua expletur per manus nostras » (S. Hier.). Unde
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v. 15 «et tulerunt Ionam et miserunt in mare, et stetit mare a fervore suo » ;, — « non dixit. arripuerunt, non ait invaserunt, sed tulerunt : quasi cum obsequio et honore portantes miserunt in mare non repugnantem, sed praebentem manus ipsorum voluntati. Et stetit mare !, quia invenerat quem quaerebat » (S.Hier.). Nautae autem, uti fit quando eventus quidem superhumanus et supernaturalis cernitur ?, sacro quodam timore corripiuntur et magna Domini reverentia perfusi eum adorant ;
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v. 46 « et timuerunt viri timore magno Dominum et immolaverunt hostias Domino et voverunt vota » ; — statim in navi victimas ? mactant ;alias se oblaturos spondent in futurum vel votis susceptis ad certa quaedam in cultum Dei peragenda se obstringunt. Ita cognitionem Domini acceptam et praesentem ab imminenti periculo ereptionem laetis animis celebrant neque Ionae irascuntur boni nautae, quod stulta sua fuga illos onere navis et mercibus spoliaverat tempestate propter ipsum exorta (cf. v. 5. 12). Benignam nautarum indolem iam aliqui interpretes agnoscunt ad v. 8, cum non aeri ira in Ionam mali auctorem invehantur, sed magis amice eum interrogent et praesertim v. 13, cum eum non sine propriae vitae periculo ab undis servare studeant. Immo suspicantur aliqui, illos factos esse proselytas ; ita Iarchi apud Lap. Kaulen. At merito subiungit Kaulen : sed haec mitto. 1. In carmine, de quo supra, ita lonas loquitur iutor alia : navomque lovantes Unum onus hoc magnum pelago iactate volentem. Et rei eventus describitur : Cumquo viro cocli rabiem pelagique voravit, Sternitur aequoris unda, resolvitur aetheris umbra. Anc. — Ionas in mare proiectus a pisce grandi absorbetur ; miro Dei favore in eius ventre vivus servatur ( v. 1. 2). Inde orationem ad Deum fundit spe ac fiducia plenam (v. 3-10). Deo mandante Ionas a pisce in terram eiicitur(v. 11). Dum nautae benigni numinis experiuntur opem (4, 15), ea Ionas quoque fruitur :
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Japha (Heb. Jāp̄ō; Gr. Iyppē; Ar. Jāfā "The Beautiful")
In the port of J., the timber needed for the construction of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem was unloaded by an envoy of King Hiram of Tyre (II Chron. 2:15), and 5 centuries later that needed for the rebuilding under Zerubbabel (Ezra 3:7). From J. the prophet Jonah set sail for Tarshish (Jonah 1:3). The city, after having endured the sovereignty of the Assyrians, the Sidonians and the Greeks, was conquered in 142 by the Maccabees (I Macc. 10:75; 11:6; 12:33), but in 66 it …
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · Vulgata Clementina · original Douay-Rheims (Douay 1609-10), transcription by EEBO-TCP (CC0) · La Sacra Bibbia, tradotta dalla Volgata da Antonio Martini (1769-1781) (LaParola (laparola.net), Martini OSIS text, Public domain (LaParola's electronic edition marks it 'Dominio pubblico')). Public domain.