Exposition on the Prophet Jonah

the report, carrying the destruction of those [the Egyptians] to all men, caused everyone to marvel at the justice of divine providence. Hence Rhaab the harlot, having received the splendor of the knowledge of God, said to the spies: "Your fear and your trembling has fallen upon us. For we have heard how the Lord your God dried up the Red Sea before your eyes, and led you across; for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below." ^B And many times later, the foreigners, having seen the ark, cried out with fear and horror: "This is the God who struck Egypt." And by knocking down so many myriads of Assyrians before the walls of Jerusalem, and by forcing their king Sennacherib to turn his back in flight, He made His own power conspicuous to all men; and in Babylon He preserved Daniel unharmed from the ferocity of the lions, and kept those three youths in the fiery furnace, and He struck the arrogant King Nebuchadnezzar with madness, and taught all those subject to him that the God of the Israelites is the only true God. Finally, in the times of Cyrus, by granting a most celebrated return to His people and restoring Jerusalem to its former prosperity, so that the temple might be rebuilt more splendidly than before, He clearly showed to all—both those near and those far away—that He alone is sufficiently able to care for and protect His own. ^C Furthermore, among the Macedonians He more than once demonstrated His power through the Maccabees. Moreover, through the prophets, by exhibiting miracles and predicting future things, He led many of the nations to the truth. Hence the Syrians feared the great Elisha, once struck with blindness by him, and again having witnessed the healing of Naaman the leper; so great was the reverence they held for that prophet that when their king fell into sickness, they sent Hazael to him, whom the prophet himself anointed king over the Syrians. Then also, the king of the Babylonians considered the prophetic Jeremiah worthy of such honor as to give him the option of his dwelling place; and while he led away all others—kings and princes—as captives, to this man alone he gave the power to withdraw wherever he wished. ^D Thus, too, did the God of all choose the blessed Jonah as prophet to the Ninevites; and Nineveh is a most extensive city, containing the royal residence of the king of the Assyrians. For since the only-begotten Word of God was about to appear to men through human nature, and to illuminate all nations with the light of the knowledge of God, and even before His own incarna-

incarnation He indicates His divine care for the nations, so that He might confirm for those who preceded the future, and teach all that God is not only of the Jews, but also of the gentiles, and might show the connection between the Old and the New Testament. For if He had exercised no providence over the nations before the incarnation, the Jews might have supposed Him to be another God, acting in opposition to Him who had given the Law; for that one cared only for the Jews, but this one extended His concern to all mankind. This is what the execrable Marcion suffered, declaring the God of the New Testament to be different from the God of the Old; and this even though in the Old Testament, as it has been said, he could have witnessed His providence toward all men. For these reasons, then, God commanded Jonah to prophesy to the Ninevites—or rather, for certain more excellent and secret ^A reasons. But he also foretold to Israel many of the things to come, being a contemporary of Hosea, Amos, and Micah. And although no other prophecy of his is carried about in writing, it is made clear from the fourth book of Kings that he also delivered other prophecies. For the Scripture says concerning Jeroboam—not that son of Nabat who made Israel to sin, so as to worship the golden calves, but concerning another, who was the third in descent from Jehu and reigned over the ten tribes, being the son of Joas—that he restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Imath unto the sea of the plain, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which He spoke by the hand of Jonah the son of Amathi, the prophet from Geth-epher. ^B But the present prophecy alone has been recorded, perhaps by divine dispensation, both for our instruction and admonition—we upon whom the ends of the ages have come—so that we should not despair, even if we have fallen into the very abyss of wickedness, but rather know that we have a merciful Lord; and, turning toward repentance, we might pursue it genuinely and not pretend toward it lazily and dissolutely, having these heathens as an example. For these things were written for the correction of Israel. For what shame would not be theirs, if these men, being barbarians, and possessed of great power, and living in luxury, who had never at any time heard a prophet, ^C so quickly and willingly obeyed the preaching; but they themselves, being instructed in the Law from their earliest years, and being the peculiar people of God, murdered those who announced salvation to them, to the point of killing the Son of God, who had come to them as Savior and Redeemer? The mystery of His burial and resurrection is signified in this present prophecy, just as He Himself, speaking to the Jews, ^D [said: This generation seeks a sign, and no sign shall be given to it, unless the sign…]

of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. But this Scripture is also given further for the rebuke and condemnation of the Jews, as the Lord Himself testifies in the Gospels, saying: The men of Nineveh shall rise up and shall condemn this generation, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

But how is there something greater in Christ than in Jonah? Because the former merely threatened the Ninevites with destruction; but our Lord did not only preach, but also performed ^B countless miracles, through which it was likely that they would be drawn to the faith; yet they remained incredulous. Therefore, that which concerns the mystery of Christ is signified in Jonah as in a figure. However, it is not necessary to seek a similarity in all things; for we are not required to turn everything that pertains to history into spiritual contemplation. For, to speak generally by way of example, when we say that one of the ancient saints was a figure of Christ, there is no need to seek a similarity in every detail. For instance, we say that Moses was a type of Christ as lawgiver and mediator. For, he says, Speak you to us, and let not God speak to us, lest we die. ^C In this way, Christ is both these things, surely bringing a new law to us, and having become the mediator of God and men, and declaring to us the will of His Father, and reconciling us to Him, yet He was not of a heavy tongue or of a thin or weak voice, as Moses was; nor did He stumble with His lips, nor was He deprived of the promised land. Again, Aaron was a type of Christ as high priest, entering into the Holy of Holies and washing away the sins of the people; and all these things agree with Christ, inasmuch as He became a notable High Priest and offered Himself; and ascending into heaven, He transferred and took away our sins, having torn up the handwriting. Yet Aaron was not devoid of fault and rebuke, as one who murmured ^D against Moses with Miriam, and did not hinder those who fashioned calves in the desert. But in Christ nothing of this sort is found; for He committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth. For this reason, Jonah was sent to announce the will of God to the Ninevites, and he was not inclined to that province, but throwing himself into flight, he avoided it; but Christ, having been sent by the Father, became obedient. Furthermore, that the prophet was voluntarily cast into the sea, and devoured by the whale, and vomited forth again on the third day, and finally set out for the Ninevites—all these things are common to Christ. For He, too, willingly died.

and was in truth swallowed by death, restored to life on the third day, and having departed into Galilee, He began to take up the commencement of preaching the Gospel among the nations. But Jonah, when the Ninevites were saved, was troubled, whereas to Christ the salvation of the nations was exceedingly pleasant and agreeable. Therefore, plucking from this prophecy as much as is enough for the mystery of Christ, and as much as the type of this prophecy [conveys], so far as it pertains to the figure or adumbration, we shall leave the rest to the letter, so that it may be a type; for a consistency through all things is not a type or an adumbration in the judgment of those who judge rightly.

CHAPTER ONE

^A VERS. 1. *And the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai.* For what reason did He begin thus? For the expression *And it came to pass* carries a certain emphasis. It seems, therefore, that since there was much discourse about Nineveh, and its fame surpassed all other cities and kingdoms—clearly because, being heavy with wealth and power, it was subject to many flagrant crimes and sins—it was consequently said, *And the word of the Lord came*. Or [it is because] since the Israelites were disobedient, He began confessedly in this way, as if He were saying: "The Israelites behaved wickedly and disobediently; and consequently the word of the Lord came to Jonah, that he might be sent to the nation of the Ninevites." ^B The name of the prophet's father is added because of personal similarity. For it is likely that others were so called who were not, however, propagated from the same father.

VERS. 2. *Saying: Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city.* The sending of Jonah to the city of Nineveh is the greatest sign for posterity of the future reception of the nations into the knowledge of God. For this is an eminent city of the Assyrians, as has been mentioned in the foreword, which Assur built. But the Assyrians are unbelievers and entirely devoid of faith. God, wishing this city to be saved—being at that time a place of idolatry, and of all sorcery and witchcraft—sent the prophet to them as a herald of repentance (which is a change of mind for the better), and [thereby] ^C showed, as we said above, that God is not the God of the Jews only, but also of the nations, and that there is no respect of persons with Him, but in every nation, whoever desires Him and works righteousness is acceptable and pleasing to Him, just as Peter, regarding Cornelius, truly demonstrated this in very fact (Acts X, 25). The words *Arise and go* are indeed urgent. For He who does not will the death of a sinner, but rather desires that he should return to the good and live, quickly dispatches the prophet for the proclamation of repentance. Therefore He adds, *the great [city]*, that He might the more persuade him to hasten his departure. For, He says, it is not some trifling ^D little place, but a city—not one of many, but a great one; so that

there is no reason why thou shouldst despise it. For if not even the least of places should be despised, how much less should the great and illustrious cities be neglected.

*And proclaim in it, that the cry of its wickedness has ascended to me.* Because, He says, they are insensible to their own lawlessness and impieties, be thou a herald to them, and teach them that they have displayed such and so great wickedness, that its magnitude has reached even unto heaven, and has all but uttered a voice, crying out against those who perpetrate it. For He who knows all things before their birth (86) is not ignorant of any of the things that exist, even if it be the smallest; but since He is a lover of mankind, He does not bring punishment upon some trifling matters, but when evils have become great and significant, and of a kind to stir His goodness to wrath, then He rises up to vengeance. For this reason He says that the cry of wickedness has come unto Him, as if it had multiplied and were calling for excision and retribution. Thus also the blood of Abel is said to cry out against the murder committed by Cain; thus also the shameful work of the Sodomites ^B cried out against them. For in truth, the Ninevites, living in great opulence (87), were addicted to every form of lawlessness (88); living lasciviously in other respects, and giving themselves up to sorcery and magic—this being that which was special among the Chaldeans, as Nahum says: *A fair and pleasant harlot, she that leads with sorceries.* Therefore also the Lord sent the prophet to this city, even though it was situated very far from Judea; that He might show to all men that even those who are most of all entangled in the snares (89) of error, and are leaders in every sort of lawlessness, even these shall receive the knowledge of God and shall embrace virtue into their bosom. For the word of God is not ineffectual, but great in power and active, as it is also said to Jeremiah: *Behold, I have given my words into thy mouth as fire, and this people as wood;* and again, *Are not my words like fire burning, says the Lord, and like an axe that cuts the rock?* Observe also the name ^C of "cry," thus applied as it was in the case of the Sodomites.

VERS. 3. *And Jonah arose to flee unto Tharsis from the presence of the Lord.* Here not a few are in doubt, why, being a prophet, he flees, as if he could be hidden from God. For no one else—not even of the more mediocre—would have ever thought that it was possible to flee from God, who fills all things and is contained by no place. Has he not heard David, if he himself were ignorant, saying: *Whither shall I go from thy spirit, and from thy face whither shall I flee?* and the things that follow. It seems therefore that this statement is absurd, or that he himself is some absurd and ^D strange man.

^A It must be said, however, that the prophet knew clearly, and more than others, that the Lord of all is present everywhere, and that no place is devoid of His providence. Yet he supposed that He makes His more manifest ^B apparitions in Judea alone, and that if he were far from this, the God would no longer appear to him so as to send him on this mission. For this is what “from the face of the Lord” signifies: that is, he was fleeing from the more manifest apparition of God, and the mission from Him that was impending over him. For that the holy men of old thought that God appeared in certain set places, Jacob also testifies, when he saw the ladder and the angels (91) ascending, saying, “The Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.” And David also says, “The Lord chose Zion, He desired it for a habitation for Himself.” And even now we, who are taught to know more perfect things, believing that divine grace rather overshadows this or that place, resort to it as though we were to be sanctified and to reap some divine gift. But he avoids the mission, not as disobedient or slothful (for both are unworthy of a prophet), but at once as knowing that the Ninevites would obtain divine philanthropy if they should make use of repentance, and from this it would result that the prophecy would be thought false, which is altogether unbecoming and unworthy. ^C Perhaps, too, the Ninevites would feel ill-will toward him, as one who had falsely cast them into the afflictions of repentance. Now this suspicion was put into his mind by the fact that he saw that the Ninevites would suffer nothing of the evils, and this was the very subject of his proclamation. For he reasoned with himself that God would not have proclaimed His word to them if He had willed to destroy them; but it is clear that the threat of punishment is an exhortation to repentance. ^D Moreover, besides this, he also supposed that the obedience of the Ninevites would be an accusation against the Jews, as they had given credence to an unknown man and a foreigner, whereas they themselves did not believe fellow-tribal prophets who performed their prophecies with miracles as well. For these reasons he did not immediately do what was commanded, but set out to flee to Tharsis. As for this region, some say it is Tarsus, which is the metropolis of Cilicia, and lies under the foothills (94) of Mount Taurus; others say that a region of India is called Tharsis. For from Tharsis Solomon also is said to have traded in precious stones and elephants' teeth together with monkeys; these, however, are brought from nowhere else but from India, taking two years' time; and after so long a time the ship of Solomon is said in the Book of Kings to arrive. But those who say these things are mistaken. For if he were fleeing to India, he ought not to have [set out] to the

^A descended to Joppa, which is the coastline of Palestine, and lies adjacent to the sea tending toward the west. By this open sea no one traveling by ship could reach India; for between our sea and the Indian [sea] there is much land, both inhabited and uninhabited, and many large mountains, and the Red Sea, which the Indian [sea] then adjoins. But the Divine Scripture also testifies that Tharsis is not among the cities of the Indians, nor is it Tarsus, but that it belongs to Africa. For in Isaiah, according to the Septuagint edition, it is read: "Howl, ships of Carthage, for your fortification has perished." But Aquila and Symmachus have set "Tharsis" in place of Carthage; and when Ezekiel also makes mention of Carthage, "Tharsis" is found both in the Hebrew and in the Syriac codices. From which it is clear that Jonah was not fleeing to India, but to Carthage.

"And he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tharsis, and he gave his fare, and went down into it, to sail with them to Tharsis from the presence of the Lord." He makes his flight by sea, thinking that as quickly as possible he would be rid of the ministry of prophesying to the Ninevites. He even paid the fare for the voyage, so that not even from this delay, if he did not pay it, would there be anything to hinder him from fleeing. For all things seemed light to him—the privation of his homeland, the dangers of the sea, and the paying of the fare—provided only that he could be plucked away from that heavy and burdensome function of prophesying. ^B

VERS. 4, 5. "And the Lord stirred up a great wind on the sea, and there was a great tempest in the sea, and the ship was in danger of being broken; and the sailors were afraid, and cried each to his own god, and they made a casting out of the vessels of the ship, casting them into the sea, so that it might become lighter." Jonah indeed thought that he could thus escape that divine ministry; but the Lord of earth and sea stirs up a tempest against the ship, and casts a bond of waves around the vessel, so that we may learn that we cannot flee the divine function, nor ought we to refuse if we are called to a work pleasing to God. We are taught from this, that nothing is done without the providence of God, but that tempests even occur by the divine will, and not by chance or naturally; for, he says, "The Lord stirred up a great spirit." Perhaps someone might say that sea storms arise most frequently by a certain reason of nature, namely, by the conjunctions and movements of the stars, since God has indeed instilled this order into the motion of the world. To him we reply that storms are also often stirred up, when nature does not demand it, by the wondrous counsel and will of God, who both created nature and is able to alter it toward what He wills at each moment. In both [cases] ^C

^A they are saved or perish, whom the divine judgment has decreed to be saved or to perish. That the sailors are terrified is a sign of the magnitude of the danger, since even those most experienced in the sea feared for themselves; it is an most evident sign that they had despaired of their lives and therefore cast the cargo overboard, so that the ship might be lightened. But each one also implored his own gods—the Scripture does not recount these things in vain, but to teach that both are necessary: both to do what is ours and to invoke divine assistance, and not to entrust the whole matter to God while we sit idly by—for this is the way of inanimate and motionless things—nor yet to trust entirely in our own plans and efforts; for this, in turn, is the way of the impious and the desperate.

Some say that the tempest raged only about this ship. For if the storm were general, they would not have attempted to discover the cause of the sea's disturbance by lot. But since they saw others sailing without danger and being carried by favorable winds, while their own merchant ship was almost sinking from that turbulence, they inquire who among them is the author of this sea's fury, and what is its origin. And this opinion seems not far from the truth, if the other ships were sailing outside of danger. ^B

Jonah went down into the hold of the ship, and slept, and snored. Was the prophet so given over to sloth and listlessness that he slept while such a great danger was impending, and not merely slept, but so deeply that he even snored—a sign of the greatest unconcern? No, but the sleep occurred before the danger and the storm, and this perhaps from the despondency that came from his flight. And the going down into the hold of the ship, that is, into the lowest part, is worthy of the prophetic character; for to be isolated and solitary is prophetic. Thus also David says, "I am solitary;" and Jeremiah, "It is good for a man, when he has borne the yoke from his youth, to sit alone;" and again, "I have not sat with the council of those who play. I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness."

^C And the prow-master approached him and said to him, "Why are you snoring? Arise, call upon your God, that God may save us, and we may not perish." The nautical multitude, otherwise entirely negligent of proper conduct and lacking in understanding, here is so instructed by fear and becomes so sensible that not only does the prow-master himself pray, but he even approaches Jonah and stirs him up to prayer; so well does necessity teach what is fitting. And observe how, even if they were calling upon various gods, still they had a knowledge

^A that there is one God who is greater than all. For it does not say, "That the gods may save us," but, "God," because they supposed that there is one. And when Jonah was praying with all of them to his own God, thinking that perhaps one out of the many called upon for help might hear them and be able to save them—perhaps this one might be Poseidon, or Nereus, or Thetis, or some other such sea-demon, according to the Greek error—he [the author] refers to the fact that there is one God who is greatest of all. For he does not say— ^B

Vers. 7. *And everyone said to his neighbor: Come, let us cast lots.* And the lot fell upon Jonah. Jonah would indeed have obeyed the lookout and prayed. For even if Scripture did not state this, yet it is understood; just as, although it did not say that he arose from sleep, nonetheless no one doubts that he did arise. But having prayed, he was not heard; for it was not likely that one disobedient to God would be heard. Indeed, his flight had taken away his boldness before God. Since, therefore, help was judged to be in vain from prayers, they have recourse to the lot, as is customary among the Gentiles. For they knew by a certain natural instinct that there is a penalty laid upon those who sin, ^C and that we suffer punishments worthy of the sins we commit, and that these things are not without the oversight of God. Therefore they believed that Providence would make the cause known to them through the lot. For they did not suppose that the lot would indicate the sinner by chance. However, let not the hearer, because the lot won approval among those people, take this as if the matter of the lot were permitted. But let him understand that God draws each one to Himself by things that are his own, from his own kindred, fellow-tribesmen, acquaintances, and things known to him; just as we hold that the Magi were led to the cradle of Christ by the leading of a star, and the people of Azotus in the Old Testament were ^D finally saved through the symbol of the oxen carrying the Ark, since He pointed out what was to happen concerning him. So also, finding the fishermen, He said, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men," offering them a name familiar to them. Thus also in this passage, since it was customary for sailors, as they were Gentiles, to draw lots, God, condescending and agreeing with them, made the cause of the danger known to them through an indication familiar to them. Furthermore, that the lot is not a spiritual matter is indicated by the apostles, who used the lot before they were filled with the Spirit; but after the coming of the Spirit the Comforter, they never again admitted the lot. Indeed, some even assert that the apostles did not use such a lot, but that by certain more divine signs they were shown the one chosen by God.

^A And they said to him, "Tell us, for whose sake this evil is upon us? What is your occupation, and whence do you come, and where are you going, and from what country and from what people are you?" Behold the fairness of these barbarian men. For they did not, as soon as they knew Jonah was the cause of the storm and the tempest of the sea, behave toward him with savage manners, but they asked him gently and mildly, "For whose sake is this evil?" that is to say, "The affliction is this, from what sin committed by you has it come upon us?" They ask, moreover, in order that, having learned the offense, they might try, as far as possible, to correct the sin. They inquire also as to what occupation he follows—that is, what pursuit of life he has, and from what nation he is, and his journey, where he is from, where he is going—so that, from his pursuit, and from the common pursuits of his nation, and the path he was walking, they might infer his life, and thus appease the God against whom he had offended. For they supposed that if they propitiated the divinity that had been offended by him—perhaps a sea god—they might escape the harm of this tempest. Let us, therefore, imitate the moderation and mildness of these men, if ever we should ask for things far more excellent than they did.

^B Verse 9. *Who answered them, "I am a servant of the Lord, and I worship the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land."* This, he says, is my pursuit, and this is my occupation: to serve the true God through my deeds—even if I have now disobeyed Him—and to worship Him through faith in Him. For many do indeed worship the true God, but they are not His servants, as they do not do works that are pleasing to Him. Perhaps, indeed, by this he also showed from what country he is, namely, Judea; for no other nation worshipped this God. Yet the prophet is worthy of admiration, in that, being close to death, he proclaims the power of God and reveals His magnificence to sailors who are worshippers of created things and of idols, calling Him the Creator of all, that is, of heaven and of the things beneath the heaven. By the fact, however, of his saying, "who made the sea," he provides them with an opportunity for reasoning that, since he worships the Creator of the sea, it is clear that by offending Him, he roused this tempest.

^C Verse 10. *And the men feared with a great fear, and said to him, "Why have you done this?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.* From this, he says, they knew that he was fleeing, having offended God, from the fact of his telling them that he is a servant of the Lord. For since he said that he worships the true God, they understood that he is a Jew. Now it was not permitted for Jews to associate with outsiders and aliens, nor to apply themselves to cities of idol-worshippers; so it is clear that he had offended God.

^A His God. Perhaps they also thought that by declining the life prescribed in the Law and conforming himself to the customs of the Greeks, he was fleeing from the face of the God of the Jews. They were terrified, therefore, since they considered that to be a powerful God, from whose hands no one could escape; they were fearing, in accordance with [the logic of their situation], that they might perish along with this fugitive. That it was not permitted for Jews by the decree of their Law to join themselves to the nations, is clear from the Old Testament, and likewise from the Gospel. For when the Lord said to the Jews, "Where I go, you cannot come," they replied foolishly, "Where is he about to go, that we shall not find him? Is he about to go to the dispersion of the Greeks, and teach the Greeks?"

Verse 11. They said to him: What shall we do to you, that the sea may cease from us?

For the sea was going, and it began to stir up a more violent storm.

Verse 12. And Jonas said to them: Take me, and cast me into the sea, and the sea shall cease from you. For I have known that for my sake this great storm is upon you.

^A for the things in which it has sinned by disobeying God; and since it knows that the sea, in serving the divine command, will become calm if it receives the one who disobeyed God, it condemns ^B itself to death. But we are not at all like this; rather, even though we clearly and openly know that our sins are many times worthy of punishment, whenever we undergo some great affliction, we murmur against God's providence as if we were sinless; so far are we from condemning ourselves to the punishment we deserve.

188 Vers. 13, 14. *And the sailors were trying to return to the land, and could not; for the sea was going and rising more fiercely against them. And they cried out to the Lord, and said: We beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and do not lay upon us innocent blood: for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.* Those men were most philanthropic and of gentle character, as we said. For even though Jonah had surrendered himself to death, they still tried hard to use the oars to reach the land, but their labor was in vain. For the sea was rising more fiercely, and even so they did nothing against the prophet, although they had justice on their side, since he had condemned ^C himself. But they judge it a murderous thing, and one that breathes slaughter, even to serve such a will at all. Wherefore, they first pray to be rescued from the tempest, and not to perish on account of their sparing the prophet’s life, but that both he and they might be granted to live. But if it is necessary, they say, for this man to die, do not, I beseech you, lay innocent blood upon us—that is, do not cause his blood to turn to our condemnation—since he is your servant. For we do not slay him like brigands, or like bloodthirsty murderers, but we are acting in obedience to your will; for you, as you willed, have done these things. Observe also the Barbarians, how they do not cavil: "How do these things come to pass? Is this God a murderer? Is he bloodthirsty?" But they embrace the will of God, and worship, not prying curiously into the causes of what is happening.

Vers. 15, 16. *And they took Jonah, and cast him into the sea, and the sea stood from its raging. And the men feared the Lord with a great fear, and they sacrificed a sacrifice to the Lord, and made vows.* With difficulty they finally dare to perform the act, and immediately the sea settles into calm. But they acknowledge the Lord more perfectly than before, and they fear him not a little, as one from whom no one can escape, and who is able to set upon those who sin against him most sharply; and they performed those things that pertain to divine worship. For they offered sacrifices—perhaps when they had landed on the earth, for the sea had ceased its fury. And they made vows, that is, they promised they would ^D do such and such things.

Thus they were improved; and they who before thought there were many gods, each one considering themselves, now in the time of the storm recognized One ^A who holds the power of the sea, and who calms the swelling of its waves; to Him they offer sacrifice, and make vows. Do you see here the divine dispensation and counsel? Jonah fled that the Ninevites might not be saved, and behold, the sailors are saved, and then he himself also, and a greater good is accomplished. Thus does Divine Providence use our sins for good.

CHAPTER II.

Vers. 1. *And the Lord commanded a great whale to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights.*

"Commanded," that is, He willed that the prophet be swallowed by a whale; and this happened. For God does not command as He does with men or angels, sounding into their minds what is to be done; but He commanded the whale in such manner that for God to will something is law and an ordinance necessarily fulfilled. And this manner of obedience is indeed inexplicable to us, ^B but known to Him. Therefore, Jonah is swallowed by the whale, and remains in the belly of the animal for three days and three nights, which thing seems to exceed all belief for those who hear it, and especially for those who approach this history having been trained in the schools and wise doctrines of the Greeks. I, for my part, cannot sufficiently marvel how it is that they do not understand these things, being caught in their own nets; for among them something similar is told about Hercules, namely, that he too was swallowed by a whale and remained unharmed, except that he returned only after losing his hair, and this due to the innate and internal heat ^C of the animal. Therefore, let them either accept our account or reject their own. Yet, since it is not fitting to commend the solidity of our truth by the rottenness of Greek fables, we must first consider that, God willing and commanding, nothing is impossible. Then, we must consider those things that miraculously happen to the fetus in the mother's womb, where the fetus swims in its natural moisture, and is as it were absorbed and buried in the womb of the pregnant one, yet it lives and is preserved by the will and counsel of God, which exceeds every human capacity of intellect. For no human reasoning can grasp these ^D things; yet it is believed, as they are seen everywhere, and are confirmed by their own operation. Therefore, one must not disbelieve the events concerning Jonah, but one must believe that these things indeed happened, and accept them as a figure of a greater and more divine sacrament or mystery. For human nature, too, fled from the face of the Lord through disobedience, and was hidden, so that it might not be seen, so that for this reason God called out to Adam: *Where art thou?* [*] He cast himself into the sea of this present life, using his body as a ship, to which he also paid the fare, the sub-

^Aservience, that is, which he rendered to Him, making His providence follow all his desire. When, therefore, the spirits of wickedness were stirring up the sea, the waves of pleasures rose up and submerged the body along with the soul. It was therefore necessary for someone of those who were in that ship to die—I mean the body. The Lord, therefore, having put on our nature, and having become one of us, and having entered into our ship—that is to say, having assumed the body of humility and having dwelt among us in the likeness of sinful flesh—dies according to fate, that is, according to the predestination which the Father predestined and foreordained before all ages that His Son should die for us, just as Peter and Paul say. And, furthermore, Jonah, if you interpret it, signifies "the Most High laboring," or "a dove." The Most High, then, labored on our behalf, and for our sake He suffers; willingly, to be sure. Yet He does not slaughter Himself, but by the hands of the lawless He is fastened to the cross, just as Jonah too, ^B even though he condemned himself to death, did not cast himself out, but was cast out; for the Word teaches us not to be reckless, nor to fall into deaths heedlessly and stupidly. When Christ had died, therefore, and had been delivered to the all-devouring whale, the spirits of wickedness ceased, the waves of pleasures were calmed, and complete tranquility and peace were brought into this life, both to souls and to bodies, just as He Himself said: *Peace I leave with you*. And again, after His resurrection, imparting salvation to His disciples: *Peace be among you*, He proclaimed.

Others, moreover, say that the prophet is a figure of Christ; the ship, a figure of the Jewish Synagogue; the lookout (the prow) is Moses; the sailors are the prophets; the sea represents the afflictions that were owed by us; the lot represents the will of the Father, according to which Christ is cast into the sea of afflictions and enters into the belly of the great whale—which is death—where, having spent three days, He rose and preached to the nations, and those who repented were saved.

^C Vers. 2, 3. *And Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the belly of the whale, and said: I cried in my affliction unto the Lord my God, and He heard me. Out of the belly of hell Thou hast heard the cry of my voice.*

The prophet suffered no harm from the whale, but used the whale as though it were a house, and having sustained no damage either to his body or his mind, he perceives the present help of God. Not being unaware that he had offended Him by having hesitated to perform the duty of his mission, he turns to prayer; and he who formerly thought that God was openly present only in Jerusalem, now [finds Him ^D

present in the belly of the whale, and gives thanks to Him who saved him, saying that his prayer was accepted—whether he understood this by the prophetic Spirit, or whether he said this according to what was likely. For, he says, I would not have remained alive until now, had You not heard my prayer. He called the belly of the whale the "belly of hell," ^B both because the beast is deadly and mortal, and because, by the nature of what had occurred, he was dead, but lived solely by the grace of God. Otherwise, as a type of Christ, who spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, he not unfairly says that he spent time in the belly of hell. Observe here a wondrous thing: Christ, who truly tasted death, foretold that He would be in the heart of the earth for the space of three days and three nights, mentioning neither hell nor death. But Jonah, being in the shadow of death and not truly dead, makes mention of hell; so that you might learn that for the Lord, as God, death was voluntary and His resurrection was within His own power; for this reason He called it the heart of the earth, not death, nor Hades. But for Jonah, life was not in his own power; ^C therefore, as if he were in Hades—insofar as the nature of what befell him was concerned—he remembered the belly of hell. The Lord also cried out in His tribulation upon the cross to the Father: "Father, forgive them this sin," and He was entirely heard. For it was forgiven to those who did not persist in their unbelief. Perhaps one might even call the cross the belly of hell, for it brought forth the death of the Lord for our salvation. ^D

VERS. 4. *You cast me into the depths of the heart of the sea, and the rivers encompassed me.* Hearing "the heart of the sea," remember the Lord saying that He would be in the heart of the earth, and see the type in agreement with the truth. The prophet declares what happened to him in various ways, magnifying the grace of God which came to him, and at the same time showing the power of God, as one who is able to save from every evil, even if it is most terrible. For he did not simply say, "Into the depths," but he also added, "of the heart." Since the heart is thought to be the most inward and most vital part of a living creature, by showing hyperbole here, he said "into the depths of the heart," meaning into the most inward parts, as if he were saying: "You cast me into the inmost parts of the sea" (for the whale dwells in the depths), "and the inmost parts of the whale itself have enclosed me." He calls the assaults of the waves "rivers," or else implies that since rivers discharge into the sea, he who is encircled by the sea is certainly also encircled by the rivers.

*All Your heights passed over me.* When I was in the ship, he says, I experienced "heights," as a ship is lifted on high by the waves. But these were Your elevations and waves, as if aroused by Your command. [index: entries preserved]

Kagō eipon: Apōsmai ex ophthalmōn sou. Ara ^A prosthēsō tou epiblepsai pros naon ton hagion sou; (And I said: I have been cast away from your eyes. Shall I add [this], to look toward your holy temple?) Then, he says, being in the midst of dangers, I was assuming that I have been cast away from your eyes and from your visitation and guardianship, and I was doubting: "Shall I henceforth live, and shall I add," that is, shall I strive and be eager and be deemed worthy to look toward your holy temple which is in Jerusalem? But some [understand it] thus: "I know indeed, being in the belly of the sea creature, that you have saved me paradoxically; nevertheless, I doubt whether I shall be delivered and come into the light, so as even to reach that very divine temple, and in it to glorify you." And against the Lord also came the risings, the shadows of the lofty and arrogant and unstable Synagogue; and the waves, the varied kinds of suffering, which, as having come upon him according to the will of the Father, are said to be His. Then truly He also said: "Why have you forsaken me?" ^B similar to this passage here: "I have been cast away from your eyes." But He said this in a human manner. For men say that those who fall into such things have been forsaken. What, therefore, it was likely that other men would say about Him, He says these things about Himself. Wherefore, also according to such a train of thought, He says: "Shall I then look again toward the body, which is your holy temple, as having been fashioned for me by you? Or as also containing You in me, shall I take it up again through my resurrection?" But let no one rise up against the discourse, as introducing a Lord who does not know whether He is to rise again; but let him pay attention to what we have said above, that these things have been spoken according to human thoughts.

"Circumfusa est mihi aqua usque ad animam meam, abyssus extrema me circumdedit, subiit caput meum ad rimas montium. Descendi in terram, cujus vectes detentiones æternæ." (Water has been poured around me even to my soul; the extreme abyss surrounded me; my head went down to the rifts of the mountains. I went down into the earth, whose bars are eternal detentions.) The prophet, celebrating in various ways the grace of God toward himself, says that he was surrounded by water: to which, I mean water, it is natural to take away soul and life; and he says that he was encircled by the extreme abyss, and that he came to be in the rifts of the mountains. ^C By this he alludes also to the size of the sea creature, and to certain mountains and caves into which it is likely that the sea creature might enter. For such things are many in the sea, by which ships being dashed are destroyed. Which, fearing, the most experienced of sailors strive to avoid the rocks that lie under the sea. But he says that he descended into the earth of Hades, not that he descended there (for he did not truly die), but because the magnitude of the danger demanded that he seem to be dead, and to have arrived at Hades itself, into which he who has descended is held as if by certain bars. ^D And these are eternal detentions, that is, holding eternally those who have fallen into them. Or instead of this, safely and ineffably rooted, and by no one from eternity—

dissolved, nor in any age moved from their own seat or dwelling. The ultimate abyss ^A to the Lord is death, which He endured last for our sakes, after countless snares. And His head descended into the cave of the sepulcher.

193 *And let my life ascend from corruption to thee, O Lord my God.* Through this, that he was preserved in the whale, he begins to believe that he is to receive life again: for this reason he also desires this, which he would not have desired, had he not believed that this also was equally possible to God after the former. For since both are equally impossible, He who can do the one, can absolutely do the other also. Therefore, let my life, which is in the whale,—from this corruption, by which I already seem to have perished,—ascend to thee, that is, to thy holy temple, in which thou art seen and glorified, that even in this I might enjoy thy grace. And the life of the Lord also, not from the corruption of Himself (for He saw none), but from the corruption of death, ascended to the supercelestial temple, just as He said: *I ascend to my Father* 30.

VERS. 7. *When my soul failed within me, I remembered the Lord. And let my prayer come, I beseech thee, to thy holy temple.* Tribulations do not depart from the saints ^C without profit. Hence also David says: *In my tribulation*, he says, *I called upon the Lord, and he heard me unto enlargement* 31. And Isaiah: *In affliction*, he says, *I made mention of thee* 32. Then Paul: *Tribulation worketh patience, and patience probation* 33. In a similar manner Jonah, when his soul was failing by the magnitude of the danger, did not fall into railings, but, *I remembered the Lord*, he says: that is, I called upon Him, that He might be my helper. Or, I remember that the Lord is friendly in His affection toward mortals, and might neglect the sin which I have committed, in not obeying Him: for this reason I have also prayed to Him, that I might hereafter be worthy so that my prayer, which I shall make to thy holy temple when I have completely revived, might reach thee. For if I recover life, I will come to the temple ^D of Jerusalem, and I will pour out my prayers unto thee. Or this very prayer, with which even now I have prayed to thee, that my life might ascend from corruption and come to thee, whether to thy holy temple, or the supercelestial one, or that which is in Jerusalem. For in that alone, as was said in the preface, they believed that manifest visions and apparitions of God occurred, and that the prayers of all were accepted in it. The Lord also, when He was about to breathe forth His soul, remembered His Father, saying: *Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit* 34. And ascending into heaven with His body, He intercedes for us with the Father, with His body serving in the place of an embassy, which He shows as a symbol of great supplication.

^A VERSES 9, 10. *Observing vanities and lies, they have forsaken their own mercy; but I with the voice of praise and thanksgiving will sacrifice to Thee. All that I have vowed I will pay to Thee for my salvation to the Lord.* ^B Some, he says, pursuing vain and false idols and serving those who are not gods, do not ask mercy from You. Or, despite obtaining mercy from You and being rescued from their calamities, they do not praise nor magnify the mercy which You have exercised toward them. Or, they have forsaken You, who are their mercy; for they live by Your mercy. For *if You should observe iniquities, who shall stand?* But I, having been saved, will bring victims and sacrifices to You with words of thanksgiving; and whatever I vowed—that is, promised for the sake of this my salvation—I will pay to You. For there were sacrifices of salvation in the Law; wherefore some of the copies have "for salvation." Others understand it thus: "I will pay to You those things, he says, which procure salvation and benefit my soul." These things are to obey You and to perform the work of the prophetic ministry. And those who were guarding the Lord were observing vanities and lies, who also had forsaken their own mercy—namely, the mystery of the resurrection, which was accomplished for the whole human nature, and indeed for them entirely, since they too were men—not wishing to believe that He who was guarded by them had risen. And the Lord Himself was their mercy, but they did not want Him. "I, however," He says, "Your Son, will sacrifice to You—that is, I will be the cause that the mystical sacrifice is offered to You in the world—and I will pay to You the salvation of men, which My Incarnation promised." Moreover, even before His passion and the cross, He prayed: *Father, keep them in Your name, that they also may be one.*

CHAPTER III

Verses 1, 2. *And the command was given by the Lord to the whale, and it cast Jonah upon the dry land. And the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying: Arise and go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it according to the former preaching which I have spoken to You.* ^D The whale is commanded again—that is, by divine power it is moved in an ineffable manner according to what is pleasing to God—and it yields the prophet unharmed from its belly, he having gained, from enduring that suffering, the lesson of learning obedience. For, having been commanded for the second time to go to Nineveh and to preach according to the former preaching...

(for that preaching was that his wickedness had ascended to God), he does not draw back, but immediately arises, not only with his body, but also with promptness of spirit and a resurrection of the mind; and he carries out what was commanded. ^A Thus, therefore, to those who pay attention, tribulations are a great schooling for performing the things that are pleasing to God. Observe also for me the things of our Lord in relation to the things of Jonah. For the latter, before he suffered what he suffered, flees, lest he arrive at Nineveh; and the Lord, before His passion, was hesitant to preach to the nations, for He even forbade His disciples, saying, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles." ^B But He commanded them rather to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, since He Himself was not sent elsewhere, save to these alone. But when, after His affliction and death, He had spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, he then took up the other things of which Jonah was a type. For He Himself ascended and went forth from destruction into life; and He subsequently preaches to the nations through the apostles, according to the former preaching: for He did not deliver one thing to the Israelites before the passion and another to the nations after the passion, but there is one Gospel over all, one faith, ^C and one baptism.

Verse 3. Nineveh, moreover, was a city great before God, totaling as it were a three days' journey.

Nineveh was great in size, and for this reason it was also great before God, and He set much store by its salvation, inasmuch as He had fashioned no small number of men in it, and He willed that all of these be saved. As for what it says, "as it were a journey of three days," some have understood it concerning the expanse of the city, as if by three days' interval the whole city could be circled.

Verse 4. Jonah began, therefore, to enter into the city as it were a journey of one day, and he preached and said: Yet three days and Nineveh shall be overthrown.

He did not preach by making his way straight through the city, but by entering through the forum, alleys, and streets. ^D And it was a huge miracle for a Hebrew man, coming from another land, known to no one, to enter through the city and cry out: "Yet three days and Nineveh shall be overthrown." But someone might ask here how God commanded him to preach according to the former preaching. It is permissible, therefore, to say here that the prophets recount to us only briefly this: that they were sent. For they do not express and plainly announce all the words which God spoke to them and they to God. Consequently, even at the beginning of this prophecy we see this prophet having said nothing to God, and yet in the interim we shall find him saying: "O Lord, were not these my words when I was still in my own land? Therefore I forestalled [them] that I might flee to Tarshish; for I knew that thou"

^A art a merciful and compassionate God." It is therefore no wonder that the words, "Yet three days and Nineveh shall be overthrown," were spoken by God to the prophet at the beginning, [even if] they were not written down by him. One must know that the other translators said "forty days" instead of the three; and some have accepted this number as having the appearance of probability. For they say, in three days, when could he have walked around the whole city? When could the Ninevites have offered that laborious penitence to God? When could Jonah, sitting before the gates, have awaited the end of the prophecy? Therefore, they say that the [account] of the forty days is more true. It is likely that the Seventy first wrote "forty days," and that those who first copied it erred, and afterward the error was transmitted into all the copies. But see that even for those who accept the three days, no absurdity will arise. It was not necessary for the prophet to walk around the entire city; but rather, having traveled a distance of one day preaching, the proclamation was spread to everyone, so that it reached even the king. And indeed, for that ^B heavy and anxious repentance of the Ninevites to be demonstrated, and for it to be accepted by God, the days after the preaching were sufficient—whether we set them at those three or two days; given that even one day would have sufficed to show that the people had genuinely repented and had taken on a better frame of mind. Jonah sat before the gates, whether so as not to behold them so turned toward repentance, or whether immediately after the first day of preaching, or after the completion of the three days, knowing that God was still disposed toward them with kindness and would not "overthrow"—that is, utterly destroy—them; although, perhaps, he was awaiting some lighter punishment to be brought upon them. We have stated what seems to us [correct] so that the ancient scripture concerning the three days might not be set aside; but let the reader choose whatever he judges to be better.

^C VERS. 5. And the men of Nineveh believed in God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. Emphatically it is said, "The men of Nineveh"—that is, those who previously did everything absurd, the sorcerers, the enchanters, those possessed by demons, believed in the true God; those filled with all luxury and lewdness fasted; the soft and delicate in their attire put on sackcloth. And this zeal did not begin from the small and more impoverished, but having taken its beginning from the great and more wealthy, thus it finally passed on to the small. Understand, however, also the meaning as it is plainly presented: that from the great, that is, from the men, down to the small, which is to say the infants, the tokens of repentance were shown. Thus they, who neither

^A at any time heard any word for the profit of their souls, became disciples of a poor and unknown man; but the Jews, mocking both Moses and the prophets, finally disbelieving also in the Saviour God Himself, have become God-killers.

VERS. 6, 7. *And the word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him*, and put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. *And it was proclaimed and spoken in Nineveh by the king and his great men, saying: Let neither men nor beasts, oxen and sheep, taste anything, nor graze, nor drink water.* Since the great men had first begun the repentance, the report of the preaching was naturally brought quickly even to the king himself. And behold here a prudent man, and one who recognizes his own evils. He did not disbelieve, nor did he mock the word, nor did he grow savage at the severity of the threat; but knowing that he had lived badly throughout the time that had passed (for the conscience naturally points out sin), he leaps ^B from the throne on which he had once sat, and from which he had judged and decreed many things wrongly, and sits in ashes and dust; and the gold-embroidered, jewel-encrusted, and delicate robe he puts off, and clothes himself in rough sackcloth, which gives off a rank and intolerable odor. Thus, suddenly he becomes a philosopher, by taking up a severe life, and shows to all that it is in vain that they put forward custom, as if it were something able to chain them and even destroy them. And he publishes that the brute beasts also fast at the same time: not as though God sought this from the beasts, but as showing them the greatness of their own zeal regarding the fast, for which reason they compelled even the brute animals to fast. And in another way also they understood that the affliction ^C of the beasts would contribute to a more painful repentance for them, reasoning that if the sinless beasts were fasting, they themselves, being liable to sins, were much more bound to do the same. At the same time, they also calculated this: that with the irrational animals pressed by hunger, some bleating, others lowing, and each using its own natural cry, they themselves would be moved to more abundant and fervent tears by compassion, and that God, being merciful, would bestow His own goodness more readily. Some have monstrously supposed that by "beasts" here, men who are more irrational and further removed from reason are meant.

VERS. 8. *And men and beasts were clothed with sackcloth.* By sackcloth, understand that affliction. For the beasts were not truly clothed in sacks. *And they cried unto the Lord earnestly.* If you take the "cried" as applying in common both to men and to beasts (for the voices of the starving animals were a kind of supplication to God's goodness), the intensely...

as meaning "strenuously" or "hyperbolically." But if you take it as referring only to the men, understand that they, too, were crying out while stretching forth their hands, for it is natural for us to stretch out our hands when we supplicate, as if we desire to lay hold of the one being supplicated, and to receive more quickly from him what we are asking.

And everyone turned from his wicked way, and from the evil 31 that was in their hands. They did not beseech God merely by using fasting and sackcloth—that is, through physical hardship—but they also corrected their ways; for this is the definition of true repentance, as it says in Isaiah: "I have not chosen this fast, nor a day for a man to humble his soul." ^B But "loose every bond of iniquity." And again: "Learn to do good." The poorer ones, therefore, turned from the wicked way of drunkenness, lying, licentiousness, insolence, and such things; but those who were more powerful turned away from the iniquity that was in their hands, which was carried out by force 33 and domination; for hands signify force. Thus, even in ordinary conversation, we say: "Such a one did such a thing by his own hand." But he who judges unjustly because of bribes also has iniquity in his hands, by casting an unjust vote; and he who grows rich from rapine holds iniquity in his hands. But when one casts his vote lawfully, and another obtains what is his in a friendly and humane manner, they turn away from the iniquity that was in their hands.

^C Saying: "Who knows if God will repent and be appeased, and turn away from the wrath of his anger, and we shall not perish?" Observe these sensible men. They did not cast themselves into despair, sensing the magnitude of their sins, but they also pondered the gentleness of the Judge, and that He will repent—that is, He will change His counsel and revoke the threat, and will be appeased—that is, He will be made gentle. But the Israelites are not such; rather, listen to what they were saying: "Our iniquities are upon us, and we are pining away in them, and how shall we live?" They said these things, not willing to turn away from their wickedness, ^D but delighting in them, and deliberately putting forward the "incurable" from a state of desperation. But God said to them: "Turn with a turning away from your wicked way, and why should you die, O house of Israel?" Thus, we too must repent like the Ninevites, by the more we have committed evils, the more we should correspondingly consider the philanthropy of the Master, which—it is not even possible to say—in what measure it surpasses the multitude of our sins.

^A And he will turn back from the wrath of his indignation, and we shall not perish. Note: Indignation is the judgment which brings a certain sadness upon the one who has deserved it; but wrath is the labor and the very punishment itself, which is brought on by the just Judge. Just as a physician, having observed a part that is inflamed and full of corruption, judges that an incision is necessary, this the Scripture calls "indignation." After this judgment follows the incision, causing pain to the one being cut; this is called the "wrath" of God. "He will turn back," he says, meaning God will turn back from bringing upon us labor and punishment, which punishment is the result of his indignation. David speaks in a similar way: "For there is wrath in his indignation."

Vers. 10. *And God saw their works, that they had turned from their evil ways.* He did not look at their fasting, but at their works, namely, the good things they did, because they had turned from their evil deeds. For, he says, "Turn away from evil, and do good." Therefore, fasting was not of itself sufficient to render God propitious and to appease him, unless they had also corrected their morals and demonstrated good works.

^B *And God changed his mind concerning the evil that he had said he would do to them, and he did it not.* Upon the repentance of the Ninevites, God also changes the determination of his own mind; not that he repents just as we do (for he does not will this now and that then), but the prophetic discourse calls the alteration of the threat, as was said above, a "change of mind." For this reason, he would not have threatened, but would have punished immediately. But since he rejoices in the salvation of mortals, he threatens terrible things, so that he may not have to bring them to pass. But hearing "evil," do not understand "wickedness"; for God is not a worker of vices, he who is the destroyer of vice. Rather, by "evil" here the prophetic discourse signifies the affliction which God had previously threatened to them, but was no longer about to bring upon them, since they had repented, as it was said in another prophet: "Is there evil in the city, which the Lord has not done?" ^C And in another place: "Add evils [Note: this is "afflictions" or "troubles" in the original sense] to them, O Lord." And besides these, a little further down, the Scripture says concerning Jonah himself and the gourd, "That it might provide shade for him from his evils," that is, from his affliction.

CAPUT IV.

VERS. 1, 2. *And Jonah was saddened with a great sadness, and he was confused, and he prayed to the Lord, and said: O Lord, were not these my words, while I was yet in my land? Therefore I forestalled the event by fleeing to Tharsis, since I knew that thou art merciful.*

^A Thou are long-suffering, and of great mercy, and repentest thee of evils. The three days were completed after which the destruction of Nineveh, according to the threats of the prophet Jonah, was to follow. But because God brought nothing of the sort upon the Ninevites, who were bitterly repenting and punishing themselves with the most vehement affliction, Jonah is distressed; not as though he were envious of those who were saved, nor as though he were taking pleasure in the destruction of men (for these things are far removed from the good and meek Spirit, whose lodging and dwelling place he was), but because he was in danger of being considered a liar, and a mere impostor who had agitated them in vain, not speaking from the mouth of the Lord, but from the hollow of his own voice. Whence he also justifies himself before the lover of men, and says: "Were these not my words, I say, while I was yet in the land of Israel, that thou art merciful?" For I was seeing that thou wert showing much long-suffering even regarding Israel, and by experience I knew thy tender mercies; and for this reason I was fleeing from the prophetic ^B dignity, because I knew that thou repentest of the evils—that is, of the chastisements—so as not to bring them upon those who previously seemed to deserve them.

VERS. 3. "And now, O Lord God, take my soul from me, for it is better for me to die than to live." Before, he says, when I was swallowed by the whale, I prayed that my life might ascend from corruption; but now I desire the contrary—namely, to pass away; for this is better than to be considered a living liar, and for the gift of prophecy to be slandered. Perhaps the prophet might seem to someone to be pusillanimous, and not yielding to God—for he was a man, and that too of the Old Testament, where even those who seemed perfect were still imperfect. Yet perhaps he is not despondent in a pusillanimous way: for he does not do this for his own glory, but for God’s, ^C since prophecy is His grace and gift, and if it fails, the God of Israel would be slandered by the nations.

VERS. 4. "And the Lord said: Art thou very much grieved?" God restores the troubled prophet by inquiring if he is grieved; for by asking, he seems to rebuke him, as one not rightly grieved. And this Symmachus interpreted more clearly. For he said: "Hast thou been justly grieved?" And: "If thou hast been rightly grieved?"—that is, consider within thyself if thou hast a just cause for grief. And here he makes him his own physician, inciting him to consider that he is unjustly distressed, and for him to cease from his despondency. But since the prophet did not understand, at the end the Lord Himself most clearly sets before him the reason why he ought by no means to be grieved.

^A and most wisely producing the gourd.

VERS. 5. *And Jonah went out of the city, and sat over against the city, and made him there a booth, and sat under it, until he might see what would become of the city.* Some say this was done first, though the prophet placed it last; for having explained the repentance of the Ninevites, he wished to append to this the divine clemency, and the despondency that arose for him from this, and the words with which he contended with the Lord; wherefore it appears that he narrates later what happened earlier. Jonah, his proclamation being finished, went out of the city; and having pitched a tent, he awaited the outcome of his proclamation. For it is plain that this occurred before his despondency. For after the end of the appointed days, having observed that nothing of what had been threatened had befallen the city, he is despondent, and makes that prayer with grief, arguing with God. But others do not say this, but rather that this sitting over against the city happened after his despondency, in the order which the Scripture presents: for when the prophet had seen that Nineveh was not destroyed, he languished in spirit; then, going out of the city, he sat before it, no longer expecting destruction, but looking for some other, milder punishment, just as we mentioned above. For they say that the prophet could not believe that in three days it was possible to wipe out such a weight of sins.

VERS. 6. *And the Lord God commanded the gourd, and it came up over the head of Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to shade him from his afflictions. And Jonah rejoiced over the gourd with great joy.* ^C God devises a consolation for the prophet, and commands the gourd, just as [He had commanded] the sea monster; that is to say, He wills the gourd to grow, and it comes up immediately, and, having sprouted and extended itself, it displayed a thick canopy of broad leaves, so as to shade the head of Jonah from his afflictions—that is, from the torments of the sun’s heat. But for the prophet to be grieved at the salvation of the Ninevites, yet to rejoice over the growth of a plant, demonstrates the simple character of the man, and one approaching the innocence of children, and even of infants—that is, ignorance of vices, which is present in children. For children are easily changed, by whatever occasion may arise, to both joy ^D and grief.

VERS. 7, 8. *And God commanded a morning worm on the next day, and it struck the gourd, and it withered. And when the sun rose, and a commission was given by God, a scorching wind from the east, the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, insomuch that, failing in strength and weary of life,*

^A he said: "It is better for me to die than to live." He calls the caterpillar a "morning worm," because it derives the beginning of its life from the dew that falls before dawn. And it too receives a command—as has been said, a command called by the divine will—so that it might eat the root of the gourd. And indeed this came to pass, and the plant withered. God also commands, and a scorching wind arises (for not only was the sun burning, but a scorching wind also supervened, increasing the heat), and Jonah’s head is smitten both by the sun and by that scorching wind; and he, being disheartened, rejects life. These things are arranged most wisely, so that we may learn about human weakness and not be overly curious concerning ^B the reasons for things done by God in each instance.

«And the Lord said to Jonah: Art thou greatly grieved for the gourd? And he said: I am greatly grieved, even unto death. And the Lord said: Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up early in the night, and perished early in the night: and shall not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein dwell more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?»

The Lord, who cares for sinners and provides for the righteous, asks the grieving prophet if he is greatly grieved, not as one who does not know, but as one who is about to teach him that he ought not to be grieved. ^C For when he confessed that he was so grieved that he even desired death, "I will use thee," says God, "as a judge." Consider, then, if it is just for you to feel pain for the gourd, of which you were not the cultivator: for you neither planted it, nor watered it, but it came into being at dawn, and again, by the dawn of the next day, it became food for a worm; and yet you wished for me to have no pity for such a great city, which received its being from me? Marvel, then, at my benevolence, as it possesses reason, and do not be downcast, as though the prophecy were failing.

But as to, "which cannot discern their right hand or their left," some have thought this to be said regarding the simplicity of the men of Nineveh, but it seems rather that this is said of the infants in the city, from ^D which it is possible to calculate the populousness of the city. For if the infants alone exceed twelve myriads, how great is the remaining multitude? And the aim of the things said by God leads us to this understanding. For if, He says, it was not fitting to accept the repentance of sinners, it was nevertheless fitting to be moved with pity for so many myriads of infants, who, because of their tender age, do not know which is their right hand and which is their left, and for this reason, not being liable for sins, they ought not at all to have paid the penalty or perished. Likewise, it was necessary to spare even the cattle.

for neither did they owe any penalty in the name of sins. If, therefore, the just God has pity on the souls of the cattle, how much more will the Creator of these spare his own possession? Just as, therefore, he added regarding the cattle in order to show that the city was justly saved, so he also added regarding the untutored age, so that neither of these nor of those might penalties for sins be justly exacted. Such then is the end of the prophecy. But let us praise our benign Master, who, not wishing the death of the sinner, but rather that he should turn and live, and sometimes enduring to grieve the ^B holy men who are well-pleasing to Him, grants mercy to others even against their will. Thus, when Elijah had altogether withheld the rain, God Himself approached His servant as if an ambassador: "Go," He said, "to Ahab, and I will give rain upon the face of the earth." In this way, Nineveh was saved along with the cattle. Thus also Christ, giving Himself as the price of redemption, saved all, wise and foolish, rich and poor. Of whom we do not doubt that it is also said by David: "Thou wilt save men and cattle, O Lord; as Thou hast multiplied Thy mercy, O God, the children of men shall hope in the protection of Thy wings." Furthermore, the rest of what is in this prophecy is worthy of admiration; but most especially the character of the prophet himself, which is so gentle and true that it is fitting to marvel at it here, for he speaks of everything openly and without concealment, and bares his own defects—to wit, his disobedience, his flight, his pusillanimity—and he was not ashamed of these, but rather wrote them down for our benefit. Such, certainly, were all the saints, not seeking their own, but that of the many, that they might be saved. Thus did David also expose his own sin, that he might work a benefit for posterity, and wrote the fiftieth psalm, filled with every compunction, but suggesting good hopes to the despairing: that there is no sin so great and abundant that it is not blotted out by tears. For in this very psalm, in which he laments his sin, he prophesies concerning great and heavenly mysteries of the ^C supernal Zion and the altar that was there, and of the more secret and ineffable sacrifices, and those worthy of Him, showing in abundance that correction of mind, or repentance, causes not only the forgiveness of sins, but also the communication of graces.

It must not be ignored that some have not admitted that the disobedience, flight, and other actions of Jonah happened according to history. But because, they say, he saw the fall of Israel, and sensed the prophetic grace passing over to the nations, and saw Nineveh being saved... [—] ^D [—]

he retreats from the preaching, and the command is postponed; and leaving behind the contemplation of joy (for this is what ^A Joppa means to the Hebrews), that is to say the ancient height and dignity, he threw himself into the sea of sorrow and is storm-tossed in his thoughts, and is shipwrecked—that is to say, he is agitated—as he considers how the Spirit rejects the firstborn son, the royal priesthood, the peculiar people, and goes to the unclean dogs, the nations. Then Jonah falls asleep, that is, he becomes utterly bewildered and puts his own senses to rest, as one no longer able to conceive how this comes to pass. Since even Paul, being perplexed about this very thing, cries out: "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" ^B But the lookout at the prow wakens him—the Word who foresees all things, who had foretold to him that indeed his own kinsmen would be God-slayers, and that the grace would justly depart from them. And thus he falls under the lot—that is, I say, the divine allotment from above—and the just judgment of God, who considers it not just to bestow the pure and holy Spirit upon the unclean crucifiers of God. Then he is swallowed by the sea monster, but he is not consumed; for he ponders the fall of the unbelieving Israel, but he also considers the salvation of the remnant according to election; for God did not reject His people ^C whom He foreknew. And behold the miracle: he is surrendered together with Christ on the third day; for he believes that through the laver of regeneration, those being baptized into the third-day resurrection will revive, suffering no harm from the sea monster of the second unbelief (54). Then he foresees more clearly the preaching going forth to the nations and those nations repenting and receiving from God the forgiveness of sins; and he is grieved, not because they are being saved, but because his own tribesmen and kin are being cast out. And do not marvel, since for Paul too there was sorrow and unceasing pain in his heart at the fall ^D of Israel. And Jonah, foreshadowing also those at the time of the apostles who still held to the law, such as Peter was before he saw the sheet, thinking it unlawful for a Jewish man to be joined to the nations, goes out of the city—I mean the Church of the nations—judging that these are not to be received into the faith unless they also Judaize (58); and he sits under the booth, cherishing it with the temporary covenant, and saying that it is necessary to be circumcised and observe the customs of Moses, and he rests under the shadow of the gourd, which we learn to be the law, born under the night, when indeed the night prevailed over sin (for the law was added because of transgressions), and perishing under the night; for it was abolished when it could no longer exist outside of the said night. For besides the works

of the law, no one could be justified; by it, rather, sin more abounded; for without the law, sin is dead. ^A And how did it perish? Through the efficacy of the morning worm, that is, the great power of God, by the grace of the illuminating and light-giving Jesus, who shone upon us and brought forth the dawn of the knowledge of God and of the right life, who says, "But I am a worm, and no man" [Ps. XXI, 7]; for this is what both brought down and abolished the law. And then indeed Jonah learns more perfectly the mystery, that the Gentiles are justly received and saved. ^B For is it not the case that in the Acts of the Apostles, others, and Peter himself, are set apart toward the Gentiles beforehand? Then Peter also learns through the sheet the purity of the Gentiles, and teaches others that the law is called a "yoke," which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. Jonah, adumbrating all these things as if by an enigma, thus arranged his prophecy. Furthermore, we may also reap benefit from this prophecy in other respects, by learning that the retribution for transgressing the commandments of God is bitter. For because we resist God, we are handed over to the temptations and perils of the sea, and we struggle with storms. And the whale, which devours all things, seems indeed to be swallowing us and destroying us, having been handed over into temptations, ^C because we perhaps blame and murmur against divine Providence; nevertheless, we shall keep ourselves whole. But this will happen if we pray to Him who is able to bring our life up from destruction, and promise to Him spiritual sacrifices—I mean the works towards our salvation. For if we conduct ourselves in this way, we shall not observe useless and vain things, which those who abandon the divine mercy and resort to blasphemies suffer. For these people are truly vain, neither freeing themselves from tribulations through blasphemy, but further exasperating God and provoking heavier scourges upon themselves, when they ought rather to call upon the mercy of God. ^D For do not even servants in the world, when they rebel while being chastened by their masters, or return insults to them, kindle the anger of their master even more vehemently? But those who say, "Have mercy on me," appease it, calm it, and render it milder, and escape greater punishments. If we, as prudent souls, fix our eyes upon Him who underwent punishment for our sake and rose on the third day, we too shall rise again on the third day, having these three things that illuminate us in the night of tribulations: faith, hope, and love. Saying, "God is faithful," who will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, and through this, enduring, and receiving the proof from patience, and from this, hope. And hope does not put us to shame. And thus, reaching the love of the Father of mercies in contemplating that "What son is there whom a father does not chasten?" and, "Whom He loves, He chastens"; so that we too ought to love Him with Him who says, "Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus?"

^A If we perform these things aright, we shall be heralds to others, and we shall save them by our example. Thus also we shall go outside the city—that is, this world, as Paul exhorts, commanding us to go out, bearing the reproach of Christ, that is, every contumely and every affliction. Thus too we shall rest in a tabernacle, not considering our stay here to be permanent, but transitory, as did Abraham and the rest of the patriarchs, the co-heirs of the promise, who lived as strangers in tents, as they looked for the city which has foundations.

And the shadow of the gourd, which is the glory of this world—for "all the glory of man is as the flower of grass"—seems to refresh us in the heat of afflictions, and for this reason it is desired by us. But let the morning worm smite it, that is, our conscience, to which nothing of ours is dark or hidden. Therefore it is also a worm, always giving us a sense of our sins. For it is a ^B sensitive worm of the bones and heart. This one, placing our evils before our eyes and teaching us that we are worthy of even heavier afflictions because of our sins, will smite the desire for glory and will persuade us to say with the prophet: "I will bear the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him"; and again, "For the things wherein I have sinned, I have been scourged."

Thanks, then, to the Spirit who profits us in all things, both revealing mysteries through the removal of the letter, and not least also directing the souls of those who pay heed through the letter itself. For to set forth the whole from one example, the statement, "Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," ^C signifies more mystically the destruction, through the Lord's three-day burial, of the wicked opposing kingdom that once ruled and exercised power, just as Nineveh did among the nations—against which the Law struggled, but it was weak. Wherefore it is also said, "Yet three days, and this perfect destruction," because He shall strip off the principalities and powers, triumphing over them in the cross, He who was to render powerless through death him that had the power of death.

But even as Jesus made His sojourns in the earth, the rule of the demons was being destroyed; He was plundering the strong man, snatching away his vessels, and healing those possessed by demons. Nevertheless, ^D the perfect destruction of the demonic tyranny was accomplished through the three-day resurrection. Yet, by the triple immersion in baptism, which is truly of the day and enlightening, sin is also destroyed. These things are therefore also signaled mystically by the words, "Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown." But the letter, too, is not useless to us, for those who learn not to perish...

but to trust in the Lord's philanthropy, who because of a three-day repentance, overlooked the wickedness of many years. To Him be the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Jonah means, if you interpret it, "the Most High laboring," or "the dove." He was from the land of Cariathiarim, according to some, near the maritime city of Azotus. ^B Being cast out by the whale, he went to Nineveh, preached, and returned; but he did not wish to remain in his own land. Rather, taking his mother with him, he lived as a foreigner in the land of Assur, a region of alien nations. For he said, "In this way I will take away my reproach, because I lied in prophesying against Nineveh, that great city."

Moreover, ^C the prophet Elijah, punishing King Achab and having called a famine upon the earth, fled. And having arrived in Sarephta, he found a widow with her son, and stayed with them; for he could not bear to live among the uncircumcised. Therefore he blessed her for her hospitality, and interceded for the good will and benignity of God for her. From this, he even resurrected her son from the dead (who is mentioned here as being Jonah), life being restored to him.

Thus, Jonah came into Judea, where his mother met her end, and they buried her by the oak of Deborah on the road; and he finally dwelt in the land of Saraam. He died there, and was buried in the cave of Cenez, who had been a judge in the days of anarchy.

He gave a great sign to Israel and to the whole earth, ^D saying: "When they see a stone crying out miserably, and a worm from the wood uttering a voice to God, then salvation approaches." And then they would see Jerusalem darkened and extinguished down to the very foundations; and all the nations would worship the Lord in her place, and they would move the stones toward the sun-setting; and there the worship of the Anointed would be, because Jerusalem had been rendered detestable, laid waste by wild beasts and every impurity. And then at last shall come the end of every breath.

EXPOSITION ON THE PROPHET NAUM. BY THE SAME THEOPHYLACT, ARCHBISHOP OF BULGARIA, EXPOSITION ON THE PROPHET NAUM.

^A ARGUMENT The wonderful Jonas preached to the Ninevites both of their destruction and ruin, unless they repented and were imbued with more wholesome manners. Nineveh was an excellent city of the Assyrians. Persuaded, however, by the prophet, and averting the divine wrath through the correction of their lives, they suffered nothing of the evils which Jonas had threatened. But afterwards, from human frailty, as happens, having become slothful and having returned entirely to their former wickedness, they committed countless other crimes, to such an extent that they dared to move their forces against Israel and to conquer it. In this battle, Thaglath-Phalasar and Salmanasar, subjugating the ten tribes to themselves, carried them off as captives. Thus, Sennacherim, making war against the tribe of Judah, with most of its cities captured and Jerusalem itself surrounded by siege, while rousing his tongue against God himself, in a single night lost so many and such great multitudes of his. But he, fleeing that plague—which was to say, divine vengeance—returned home so that he might there proclaim the divine power (for he was preserved for the sake of that very thing); where, also, captured in the palace by his own children, he is slaughtered. A little while later, the kingdom having been transferred to the Persians and Medes, Nineveh perished utterly, at which time Cyrus also sent the Israelites away free.

Accordingly, this prophecy of Naum, which is in our hands, foretells this ruin to the Ninevites, ^B teaching all mortals alike that God, being just, leaves nothing outside his providence, but imposes upon everyone the punishments they deserve. For that reason, he handed over the negligent Israel to the Assyrians, and them again in turn to the Persians, because, having taken Israel in captivity, they treated them like wild beasts. For they did not campaign against Israel as though serving the divine wrath, but their own greed ^C