[V. 2. Numquid non is as much as] nonne.- [Propter hoc praeoccupavi, ut fugerem in Thar- sis,] that is, therefore I have come before, to flee to the sea. - [Clement, that is] gracious. - Misericors [that is kind].- [Patiens, that is] long-suffering.- [Ignoscens super malitia, that is,] who lets himself repent of the evil.
The beginning of this chapter seems to be anticipated, because these words are repeated afterwards, as it is used to happen in the Hebrew language, as [Ps. 1, 4. according to the Hebrew]: "Like chaff, which the wind scatters" etc. So it happens also in a whole speech and sentence structure. Thus repeats
In the fifth book, Moses uses the same abundance of words that he used in the beginning. Thus, the fact that he asks and is angry is anticipated here. This is the order of history: God saw their works, their fasting etc. But Jonah ordered these words much later, seeing that the city would not be disturbed, seeing that his words had not been fulfilled etc. For it is added. [V. 5.], "And Jonah went out to the city" etc. The construction "go as it may", the order of history must be observed. He waited some days, perhaps forty days etc. When he saw that the evil did not come, "he was angry.
V. 1. Jonah was almost very upset and angry.
Afflictus here means: "This made him very angry", [he was] "ill at ease". [Christ used this word Matth. 6, 34. So it is said of Moses [4 Mos. 12, 3.] that he was a troubled man etc. And it grieved him, he was very angry, that he alone should be sent to the great city, to the enemies whom he would not have saved; he feared the danger of death. These are the two causes of his anger. He is unwilling that the spoilers of the Israelites should not perish. This is how it must be in the hearts [of the saints], so that they remain human beings. The Holy Spirit is not distributed according to the fullness as it is in Christ. In the Acts of the Apostles [Cap. 14, 15.] it is said of Paul and Barnabas that they said, "We are men, even as ye are. "etc. The saints suffer the same: follies, infirmities etc. God has forbidden that anyone should do better than he can. Therefore, Jonah remains weak, like another man who cannot submit to the word of God. He does not want them to be saved, God wants them to be. From this challenge [that he was devoured he should have become a new man, I believe, "they should have mortificiren him" etc. [The flesh] is not cut off in this life; "nothing better [, than] neck cut off" and "scraped into the earth" etc. [This serves for our consolation, and shows what the kingdom of God is like, namely, that the saints
1) In our proposals: has.
such people be like us, living under the shadow of grace, that we may hope. 2) [The Christian] may fall and fall again, if only he always looks, and hangs on the head Christo etc. This is seen in the great apostles; they always had the flesh "running after".
V. 2. 3) Oh, Lord, this is what I said while I was still in my country.
[In terra mea means according to the Hebrew:] Super terram meam. - Verbum means a cause, a thing, a speech. [So it is said Deut. 16, 19:] "The gifts make [the wise] bund [, and traffic] verba, [that is] the things of the righteous." The Latins would say, "This is what 4) I said to myself while I was still [in my country]; [I] "knew that it should happen this way," because I know that You are a gracious and merciful God. [These two words "gracious" and "merciful"] are often linked together in the Psalms. This passage is taken from the Psalms. In Genesis [Ex. 33:19] is a passage quoted in the ninth chapter of the Letter to the Romans [v. 15]: "Whom I am gracious, I am gracious; and whom I have mercy on, I have mercy on.
"patient", that is longanimis, "long-suffering". 5) - Misericordiam, that is, Wohlthätigkeit, wohlthun etc. - In Joel [Cap. 2, 13.] 6) it says: praestabilis super malitia; elsewhere: poenitens super malitia, that is, he who out of mercy revokes the evil which he had decided to expose, which I deserved. This man stands in faith, faith speaks [from him] in the best way, and yet he is angry. The flesh and the spirit clash. No one can speak like this unless he is in the spirit. He fears that he may be a false prophet.
2) Instead of speraiuus we have assumed 8p6r6inn8.
3) This verse number is missing in the Weimar. - In the Vulgate, these words read: Obsecro Domino, numHuiÜ non Poe 68t verdum monm, onm udliue 6886in in terru inen?
4) Here we have erased 68t.
5) In our original it says: lonZanimis: "longsuffering" i. 6. "patient". Because lonMnimis is not in the Bible text, but is an explanatory word, we had to change the order. Likewise with the following gloss.
6) In our prelims: In libro Ii6Nm 1. flotiol 2b
V. 3. Now therefore, O Lord, take my soul from me.
These are words of a great spirit, that he wishes to be dissolved, that he hates this life. Out of the flesh the spirit must speak: "I would rather be dead than live." 1) "It grieves" when one is taken in a lie and yet speaks the truth from the mouth of God.
V. 4. But the Lord said, "Do you think that you are 2) justly angry?
He abhors his anger, but it is a venial sin for him. He speaks according to the flesh, bearing his weakness etc. So far everything is anticipated.
V. 5. And Jonah went out to the city.
Or: For Jonah had gone out; so it would come in order etc. He had sat down, he had made [himself a hut], that is, what would happen. This happened after the sermon. He waited to see if his prophecy would be fulfilled; meanwhile he hears that they repented etc. But God does not play with the childish and foolish Zürner only with words, but also by a likeness and example; he convicts him by his word and spirit etc. This is an example of the divine good will against those who are justified and still have sin left in the flesh etc.
V. 6. 3) That he might give shade over his head, and deliver him from his evil (ut eriperet eum a malitia sua).
This has a twofold mind. You may judge which of the two is the better. God provided a gourd (hederam - epheu) that it grew very high, so that its shade would be a shelter for the murmur, "that he might have it for friends, tabernacles".
1) In our original: mors inen 6t vitu inou, where the Vulgate offers: inolior 68t nnln rnor8 Hnain vitu. - Immediately following, we have filled in the gap in the original with the word "wehe". The Weimar edition has inserted koronänin instead.
2) In our original x "6nitn8 instead of dono in the Vulgate. There is no doubt that this is a misunderstanding on the part of the scribe.
3) This verse number is missing in the Weimar edition.
Malitia means a plague; that he saved him from his plague, "that he was so wicked". This malitia is explained in two ways: first, that he was afflicted by the heat of the sun; second, that God did all this to save him from the evil by His example and deed. This was the reason that God made the gourd grow, so that he might convict him of having acted wickedly, and so that he might say of himself that he had acted wickedly. He should believe that his indignation was foolish. By this example he wanted to cure his murmuring. - [Laetitia] magna, 4) that is, he was very pleased with the epheu (hedera); this is a Hebrew way of speaking. Another text has cucurbita (pumpkin). Ueber Ein Wörtlein one argues fiercely; see the Jerome. These he calls pumpkiners (cucurbitarios). It is neither an epheu, nor a pumpkin, but a fast growing little tree, similar in leaves to the tendrils of the vine 5) and not similar in trunk. It gives a dense shade by the height of the leaves. Note what Jerome says: This tree is unknown to us, which is peculiar to that country. It is neither the Greek nor the Latin myrrh, "nor must we have it".
V. 7. But the Lord provided a worm that stung etc.
By this example or event he wanted to refute Jonah's displeasure and show it to be unjust. We will leave out the Hebrew word, because we have [the thing] 6) in Hebrew.
V. 8. God provided a dry east wind.
Calidum, from the east, "which is hot there, east wind." - ["That he became dull."] "To the
4) In our template: MaMo.
5) Our original offers: kolim sirnilm, euuäu et trnnco non 8innli8. Since we cannot make sense of these words, we have followed Luther's German interpretation (Col. 901, A 13): "hat Blätter wie Weinreben", instead of ounclg, assumed: oanli and thus interpungirt: koIÜ8 8iinili8 cunU, 6t trnnco non mrnilm.
6) We hold that this is the interpretation of the word. Cf. the first relation, Cap. 4, ? 14. The Weimar edition has a colon at the end of the sentence.
Time will languish" 1) [Amos 8:13.] Above in Amos is the same word used here etc. [He] "shall faint, pine away" etc. Therefore he wished death to his soul. Now he returns to the order of history; you must not think that he spoke this twice, but once.
V. 9. Do you think you are justly angry?
Now he applies the example and the likeness. The prophet is unwilling and grumbles because of the salvation of the city. Another evil is added, that the joy is gone. Since he is already unwilling, he becomes irritated, as sin tends to increase in a sinner.
V. 10. 2) [And the Lord said, Thou wailest for the gourd, in that thou hast not wrought].
You man spare; "are merciful" to the gourd. What is he compared to Nineveh? "Nor grieveth thee" that the worm hath stung him etc. If a man can be kind against temporal things, should not God also spare and have mercy etc.? This is a word of the incomprehensible mercy and kindness of the divine majesty. [Matth. 7, 11.: "So then you, who are nevertheless bad, can still give good gifts to your children" etc.
V. 11. who do not know difference what is right or left?
"What is right or left", [for this we say in German:] "what is white, what is black", what is this or that etc., namely, what is for the blessedness of the soul. Simply and according to the grammar it is said: They are ignorant.
1) Both the Erlangen and Weimar editions have äeüeieus instead of üeüdent.
2) Here in our pattern there is neither a new verse number nor a key word, but the following is attached to v. 9.
they have not had the word 3). [They have gone astray,] since they are human beings, and I should corrupt them? If they knew what you know, this would not have happened.
I leave the secret interpretation to you according to the Gospel, where Christ Himself condescends to refer this prophecy to Himself [Luc. 11, 29. f. Matth. 12, 39.ff. 16, 4.]. Christ seems to have enjoyed this history. Again he states in Matthew [Cap. 12, 41J: "The people of Nineveh [will appear at the last judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, because they repented after the preaching of Jonah, and behold,] here is more than Jonah" etc. 4) Christ was cast ius sea when he came into the world; for his sake also the sea is troubled. These will [accept him], those will not. He is devoured by the whale, that is, by the prince [of this world]. The maw that swallows him is death and hell. He who is swallowed up on the cross is in the grave for three days, but rises again after three days, because he could not be held [by death] [Acts 2:24]. The door of death is the door to life. The ignominy is a promotion to glory, to honor; death to life; the mouth of hell to heaven. The mouth of the earth, as was the case with the mouth of the whale, is both the door to death and the door to life. The rest you may mean for yourselves etc.
3) Instead of verda we have assumed verduru. - The following addition is according to the Hall manuscript.
4) Instead of this saying both editions offer: uouue Ninive plus Nie quaru louas ete. Instead of uouue Nineveh we have assumed viri Mulvitae according to the Vulgate, and added the saying, which is given only after its first and last words. The Hallic manuscript has instead, "Likewise, as he says of the repentance of the people of Nineveh."