V. 1. ff. The word of the Lord came to pass etc.
Short words, a very big task. What moved him [to curse], 3) I do not know, I think it was flesh and blood. I think he looked at the greatness of the task, the danger, [feared] death etc. as if I should preach to the Turks. Human fear seized him that he did not want etc.
3) In both the Erlangen and Weimar uoverit instead of ruoverit.
V. 2 For their wickedness has come up before me.
He increases the fear. "Preach within," that is, against them, punish etc. "This makes the matter great," that he should punish the tyranny of the whole kingdom, sit down against the king and the very mighty city. [They could say against him,] Art thou of some men wise against the whole and exceeding mighty kingdom? etc. There were the saints and wise men etc.
- "Their wickedness has come up before me" is a Hebrew phrase as in the first book of Moses [Cap. 18, 21.]. Not as if God does not always see etc. So it seems to us s that our wickedness comes before God when we feel in conscience that God is angry with us]. 1) - There is an emphasis on "before me". Before the world it is a very respectable kingdom, before me they are "of the devil". He certainly sinned for a great cause, because the flesh is weak and the task is great. One must look with a simple-minded eye at the word etc. If this is not done, the eyes "will drown" in the greatness of the work or the task. 2)
V. 3 [But Jonah arose, and fled before the Lord, and went to the sea, and came down to Japho].
I do not approve of the interpretation of Tharsis ["sea"] from the fatherland of Paul. I think that it is the special name of a sea, as we divide the sea into the Caspian Sea, the Persian Sea etc., the ocean, which flows around the earth. hotu in Hebrew quite generally all seas. What is called a sea in Hebrew, Lucas [Cap. 5, 1.] calls "the lake" (stagnum) of Galilee. Tharsis [^^^n] is called in Hebrew the middle sea.
The sea is called the land sea, the red sea, the Indian sea and the ocean etc. After three kingdoms Solomon sent ships to the sea (in Tharsis) (2 Chron. 9, 21. 20, 36.]. It cannot be One Tharsis. Likewise in Isaiah (Cap. 23, 1.], "Hail, ye ships of the sea." Likewise in the Psalm [Ps. 72, 10.]: "The kings of the sea," where it speaks of the Mediterranean sea, that is, the kings of the Mediterranean sea. Tharsis is called the "great sea" in Hebrew. Jonah did not want to flee to any city, but "where he would go" so that he would not have to "preach". - "Before the Lord." I do not dislike that it is said here:
1) Added by us instead of etc. in the original.
2) In our original, there are two glosses to v. 5 and v. 6, which are repeated in the Weimar edition at v. 4. We assume that they were transferred there, but they were forgotten to be deleted here.
before the kingdom of Israel, where God dwelt, where He had His worship. There God was present; as if he wanted to say: I want to flee to where God is not served, not worshipped, not preached etc. For if I remain in the land, GOtt is always there etc. - "Japho'" is a port of the midland sea, so Tharsis is the sea etc. - ("That wanted to go to the sea"]. Intrantem is better than euntem. It looks at the heart movement of the prophet, "who wanted to flee wherever he went", if only he could flee from the Lord.
V. 4. Then the Lord sent a great wind on the sea.
The summa of this prophecy is: Jonah is sent as an apostle to the Gentiles. A great task! The Assyrians have been disturbed [later] by the king of the Chaldeans and the Persians. This prophecy has been a postponement of the vengeance and the disturbance which came over them afterwards etc.
Periclitabatur [conteri], that is, "one wept the ship would break" etc. - (V. 5.] Interiora, that is, "down into the ship." - [V. 6. "Then the master of the ship came up to him and said to him,] What are you sleeping for?" etc. 3) - This prophet is easy when the simple histories are allseen. The simple histories require a great heart movement and attentiveness to the things that are in the history. See that one person is sent to convert an exceedingly powerful and very godless kingdom. Notice the pusillanimity of Jonah. This is a great sin, so that he must die twice. This matter is treated seriously. It was an exceedingly great and serious sin. He is distressed by a double evil, by his conscience and by the retribution; he feels the sin and the vengeance, the impetuosity of the sea. In this spiritual consternation there still remains a spark of faith. There is a greater storm in Jonah's conscience than on the sea. If we were so challenged, we would raise many questions 4) etc. -
3) It is these two previous remarks to which our last comment on v. 2 refers.
4) Weimarsche: volv6r6inu8 with the remark: "Erlanger Ausgabe falsch solveremus." In the preceding relation here is: omittersmus.
"A great tempest", that is, a very great one. - God is everywhere. Especially now on the sea the presence of GOtt is felt. In good days GOtt is 1) a different man than in adversities etc. Jonah felt in conscience that this storm was for him etc. The conscience [was] "wriggling" for him. The sinner feels quite well [the presence of divine wrath]. 2) When he feels that he is struck by the wrath of God, the world becomes "too narrow" for him etc.
V. 5. ^But Jonah had gone down into the ship, and was lying down and sleeping.
Dormire is cubare; he "lay and slept". This sleep is not a sleep of security, but of sadness; ser is] "half-dead" like the disciples in the garden [Luc. 22, 45.] [When someone] "becomes insane, [the] sleep passes away" 3) etc. All this is written to indicate how Jonah felt the presence of divine wrath. He is another as he departs than as he comes. [God does this for his own sake, so that he may turn to Himself, He does not delight in the death of the sinner [Ezek. 18, 23].
V. 6. Stand up!
They were not entirely godless people who did not believe in GOtt. To have God is to form God in one's heart. Ps. 18, 27: "With the pure you are pure." If God is formed angry, He is angry, if reconciled, He is reconciled. Such forming they undertake. Divine service is [then] having various opinions of the true God, the divine majesty is tied to various works of men. The prophet says [Isa. 46, 5.], "After whom do you form, and to whom do you compare me?" This is the service of God etc. The right opinion of God is faith in the Holy Spirit, which enlightens the heart. True faith says that God is absolutely gracious 4) even in temptations,
1) üeus is here in the Erlangen edition, but is missing in the Weimar edition.
2) Supplemented according to the Altenburg and Hall manuscripts.
3) In the original: "wansynig Wirt, schlaf vergehet."
4) xropitius. So should also be read in the Hallische Handschrist instead of pkrsviyuus (Weim. Ausg., vol. XIII, p. 229, Z- 2 of the notes) .
when he strikes. Unblinking eye [he holds this]. Everything else is delusion, as if someone sees through various [colored] glasses. All of them pretend to the name of God etc. Rom. 1, 19.: They know that GOtte is, but his will and his good pleasure they know not. Immediately I put GOtte "a measure" when I seal that these or those works please Him. I impute to GOtte a will and a form which he does not have, which I have devised etc. All monks are fabricators? (fabricatores) of gods, because they give God a form, as they themselves are formed in the heart etc., and that is idolatry. He himself says [Is. 46, 5.], I do not want that one gives me a form, but I want to form you. The Holy Spirit fashions by faith. I please you, O God, not by my works, but by your goodness. That is to be born children of God, he "mak[es] another heart" etc. There is no doubt that they called upon the: true GOtt, but they were different in their customs, in their worship etc. God hears all, but does not hear all to blessedness. -Vasa is "Geräth".-The master of the ship [said to him], Why are you sleeping?... Perhaps God will do it to us in such a way that we will not perish. In adversities we are all last, who before wished to be first. They would not have looked at Jonah before. For when nature is in prosperity, it proudly exalts itself above all; but when it is in adversity, it casts itself down below all etc.; it measures nothing to itself, but presupposes that Jonah is capable of much. Note how they confess that their conscience is smitten. [Reason is all too arrogant in well-doing; in adversity it humbles itself. It exalts all above itself, it lowers itself below all 5) etc. But faith despises no one and is not presumptuous of anything. Faith is not so great that it should be presumptuous, but believes that God will help it. But reason thinks] that it can be helped by the intercession of others.
5) The text is not in order here and in what follows immediately. The Weimarsche offers in the text: onaues dsjiait. The Erlanger leaves these words out of the text and has in the margin: Kuptsr: omuss üejieit. We have assumed: "nUtb omnss 86-äsjioit. In the following we have tried to help by additions.
V. 7 And one (vir) said to the other: Come, let us loose.
Vir is: any one. 1) - To tempt God is not good, but if it is "for one's life", then the question is sam places, whether one may loosen etc. God does not tempt misery and the danger of death. You do not have to follow the example of Elijah, the word "must also be there" etc. Where there is a strong hand and you can work, do not expect bread from heaven, that is tempting God. When the highest need is there, when I worked and yet had nothing, I should expect it from God. It is quite different when a man is out of danger of death than when he is in danger of death. God judges according to the disposition of the heart. For one time it is sin, for another a good work etc. "Here runs" the godlessness that they do not believe GOtte. I do not absolve them from sin.
V. 8. Then they said to him, "Tell us, why is it so bad for us? What is your business?
Opus, that is "trade". Your office, your name, your country, everything show us.
V. 9. 2) [He said to them: I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, God from heaven rcZ
"Then the confession "goes on", the sin "will become less", since it is revealed, as if he wanted to say: "I cannot escape from it", I have fled, but not escaped. The fear [of the Lord] is spiritual worship, that is, I am a worshipper of God from heaven. Perfectly right worship does not consist in works, but in reverence. He who has an obedient and God-fearing heart is a right worshipper. It is a Hebrew phrase: "the fear of God." This is what that true worship is called. In the Psalm it says [Ps. 19, 8.]: "The law of the Lord is without change" etc. He speaks of fear as of the law. The law is holy, the fear [of the Lord] is holy.
1) This is drawn in the Weimar to the preceding verse.
2) This is added to the previous one in the Weimar edition without new verse numbers.
lig [Ps. 19, 10.],that is, the service of God. Here he has a pure and holy thing, since he has the true service of God: I have the right opinion of the true God.
V. 10 For they knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, for he had told them.
See the confession. As if he wanted to say: "Misfortune is upon me. There he is seized between spurs, there the misfortune starts."
V. ii. For the sea went impetuously.
"The sea went on and on, burde, bnrde."
V. 12 For I know that such a great storm is coming upon you for my sake.
In the highest fear "we must have the prophet". He is a model of Christ. He has sin "on his neck and must drown in the sea". He is in his hour of death, "must die" in the wrath of God.
V. 13. [And the people drove that they might return to land].
Reverterentur is "that they would come back to land". They did not like to kill him; they did not cast the lot for the sake of killing someone. Because of the sin of one man, all in the ship innocently come into danger etc. For the sake of a man, "God shall punish a country," but for the sake of a man, again, "God shall punish [a whole country]. There are many examples of this. Are the others innocent? No. This is written for this reason, so that we may take care that sins do not go unnoticed; [we are to realize that] sin will not go unpunished. etc.
V. 14. [Oh, Lord, let us not perish for this man's soul, and count us not for innocent blood; for thou, Lord, doest as it pleaseth thee].
Oh, Lord, how it pleases you, as if they wanted to say, "We do it unwillingly," but you want it.
V. 16. They made sacrifices and vows to the Lord.
On the occasion of Jonah's sin, they are converted to God; they are enlightened for the sake of the One Jonah, and this terror of death is
salutary to them. Note the thoughts of Jonah: since he was to be drowned, he feels death in death, he is swallowed by the fish etc. He is in death and does not die. Here it is indicated how [God] is the Lord of the
Death and life. In death is life. He could not have come "deeper in the jaws" of death than he is now etc. He is a Lord to make blessed, therefore he "pushes into" death.