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Jonah
Chapter Two
Jonah 2
Chapter Contents
The prayer of Jonah. (1-9) He is delivered from the fish.
(10)
Commentary on Jonah 2:1-9
Observe when Jonah prayed. When he was in trouble, under
the tokens of God's displeasure against him for sin: when we are in affliction
we must pray. Being kept alive by miracle, he prayed. A sense of God's
good-will to us, notwithstanding our offences, opens the lips in prayer, which
were closed with the dread of wrath. Also, where he prayed; in the belly of the
fish. No place is amiss for prayer. Men may shut us from communion with one
another, but not from communion with God. To whom he prayed; to the Lord his
God. This encourages even backsliders to return. What his prayer was. This
seems to relate his experience and reflections, then and afterwards, rather
than to be the form or substance of his prayer. Jonah reflects on the
earnestness of his prayer, and God's readiness to hear and answer. If we would
get good by our troubles, we must notice the hand of God in them. He had
wickedly fled from the presence of the Lord, who might justly take his Holy
Spirit from him, never to visit him more. Those only are miserable, whom God
will no longer own and favour. But though he was perplexed, yet not in despair.
Jonah reflects on the favour of God to him, when he sought to God, and trusted
in him in his distress. He warns others, and tells them to keep close to God.
Those who forsake their own duty, forsake their own mercy; those who run away
from the work of their place and day, run away from the comfort of it. As far
as a believer copies those who observe lying vanities, he forsakes his own
mercy, and lives below his privileges. But Jonah's experience encourages
others, in all ages, to trust in God, as the God of salvation.
Commentary on Jonah 2:10
Jonah's deliverance may be considered as an instance of
God's power over all the creatures. As an instance of God's mercy to a poor penitent,
who in distress prays to him: and as a type and figure of Christ's
resurrection. Amidst all our varying experiences, and the changing scenes of
life; we should look by faith, fixedly, upon our once suffering and dying, but
now risen and ascended Redeemer. Let us confess our sins, consider Christ's
resurrection as an earnest of our own, and thankfully receive every temporal
and spiritual deliverance, as the pledge of our eternal redemption.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Jonah》
Jonah 2
Verse 2
Affliction — Straits with which he was
encompassed, his body and mind being both shut up, the one by the monstrous
dungeon of the fish's belly, and the other by the terrors of the Almighty.
Heardest my voice — Of which undoubtedly
God gave him an assurance in his own soul.
Verse 4
I said — With myself, I thought in the midst of my fears and
sufferings.
Cast out — Cut off from all hope of life, and as it were
forgotten of God.
I will look — Toward heaven.
Verse 5
The weeds — It seems to mean, my case was as
hopeless as that of a man wrapt about with weeds in the depth of the sea.
Verse 6
I went down — The fish carried him down as deep
in the sea as are the bottoms of the mountains.
With her bars — I seemed to be imprisoned where
the bars that secured were as durable as the rocks, which they were made of.
Yet — By what was first my danger, thou hast wonderfully
secured me.
From corruption — Or the pit, a description of the
state of the dead.
O Lord — In the assurance of faith, he speaks of the thing as
already done.
Verse 7
Thine holy temple — Heaven, the temple of
his glory, whence God gives the command for his delivery.
Verse 8
They — Whoever they are that depend upon idols.
Mercy — The Lord, who is to all that depend upon him, the
fountain of living waters; who is an eternal fountain of mercy, and flows
freely to all that wait for him.
Verse 9
Vowed — Which probably was to go to Nineveh, and preach what
God commanded him.
The Lord — He only can save.
Verse 10
Spake — Though fishes understand not as man, yet they have
ears to hear their Creator.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on
Jonah》
02 Chapter 2
Verses 1-10
Verses 1-9
And Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God, out of the fish’s belly.
The return to God
The object in setting forth the history of Jonah is to show the
nature of his sin, the truth of his penitence, and the way in which he was
restored to God’s favour. Turn thought to the change which was worked in
Jonah’s soul. Bear in mind what was the nature of his sin It was not that he
was separated from God, but that he had abandoned his duty, had shrunk from his
mission, had thought more of his own relief from trial than of God’s will. When
some wrong has been done which we have not the courage to confess, and the
truth is discovered, fixing the charge on one’s self-personality, we know what
a terrible shock and deep inward sense of self-reproach is felt. Illustrate by
the cases of Achan and David. When the sailors asked Jonah what was to be done,
he replied, “Cast me forth into the sea . . . for I know that for my sake this
great tempest is upon you.” What do his words prove? Not only Jonah’s personal
sense of guilt, but his complete surrender of himself to God, whether to live
or to die. “If I die,” he seems to say, “it is my just doom; if I live, it is
the pure undeserved mercy of God.” It was the most perfect reparation we can
conceive. As before he would not surrender his own will and his own judgment,
notwithstanding the command of God, so now he would give himself up wholly for
whatever God might will as his deserved punishment. The sailors east him into
the sea, but then a yet deeper sense of penitence awoke within him, and a yet
stronger expression of profound sorrow and unquestioning childlike faith broke
forth from him. Jonah saw, by faith, life restored; he saw Divine mercy working
itself out in the midst of the deep darkness, and he acknowledged God as his
Father, his Protector, his eternal Hope even then in the midst of his awful
doom. Two lessons--
1. We see here an act of purest faith. There is a faith of a soft and
easy kind, when everything goes smooth, and we have no anxiety, no fear or
distress darkening the path of life. How glibly then do men speak of having their
hope in God. There is another kind of faith, which produces resignation,
patience, willingness to endure and be brave, and even willing to suffer. But
yet it may not be faith that cheers the soul,--not a “rejoicing in the Lord,”
not the triumph of a trustful soul. The real saving faith is seen when the soul
finds God working in the storm and tempest, and reads the handwriting on the
wall, speaking even in the midst of death and terror, and yet can calmly look
on the Redeemer on the Cross, and see in the future the immortality beyond the
grave, see the brightness of the glory that will one day be” to the faithful
the heritage of boundless joy, and so be comforted and gladdened even in sorrow
and pain,--it is such faith we see realised in the repentant Jonah.
2. We may learn the reason of trials and troubles which so often
disturb the currents of our life. What would it be if we were always in the
sunshine, always prosperous? Would there not be, even to the most faithful, a
risk of too great confidence of a false assurance? (T. T. Carter.)
Jonah in the sea
1. Objectively, the prophet’s experience was that of one in the belly
of hell, in the midst of the seas, entangled in the weeds, and among the
caverns worn by the waves beneath the mountains on the coast. Jonah was in the
belly of hell--Sheol, the region of the dead. He was in the heart of the seas.
He sank at once when cast into the sea. He was entangled with the sea-weeds.
Entangled with the weeds which gathered about his head, the prophet drifted
towards the coast, and was presently carried into some of its submarine caverns
by the current, and there he must have perished but for the Divine mercy.
2. The subjective experience of Jonah beneath the waves was that of a
living, conscious, suffering, and suppliant person. It was a miraculous
circumstance that the prophet remained alive in such a position. Jonah was not
only alive, but conscious while under the sea. The distress he experienced
beneath the water appears to have been spiritual rather than physical. His soul
was overwhelmed with the consciousness that he was cast out of God’s sight.
Jonah was saved from despair by the suppliant mood which possessed him. We need
despair of no man while he prays. His prayer was accompanied by a look toward
the temple of Jehovah. It was prompted by his remembrance of the Lord. “I
remembered Jehovah.” It was accompanied by a vow. It was answered in a
remarkable manner.
Observe his reflections when in the fish.
1. “Thou hast brought up my life from destruction, O Lord my God!”
2. “My prayer came in unto Thee, into Thine holy temple.”
3. “They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.”
4. “Salvation is of the Lord.” (S. C. Burn.)
Jonah’s prayer
Here we have a very clear and intense history of Jonah’s inward
life. Notice some points of it.
1. There was a great and sudden quickening of consciousness.
2. Rapidly this new consciousness became distressful. The reserved
sorrow of long sinning comes all at once.
3. Then he began to “look”--upwards to earth, eastwards to the temple
where he knew that the lost presence was richly manifested.
4. The look soon became a cry. It may have been an audible cry. But
evidently the soul of the cry was this, that it was tim cry of the soul.
5. He began to be grateful.
6. The final state of his mind is a state of entire dependence. (A.
Raleigh, D. D.)
The imprisonment of Jonah
It is evident from the chapter that, whether a longer or a shorter
period elapsed, what befell him, and how he was exercised during his
confinement, were things which he distinctly recollected. In verse 1 Jonah
gives a summary statement of what was his situation and exercise. The belly of
a fish. Clearly his preservation and escape were things altogether miraculous.
That was his situation; his exercise was prayer. Let none then neglect secret
prayer to God, or think themselves excused because they have not a proper or
convenient place to which they may retire. The description given of the object
of his prayer is worthy of notice. “The Lord his God.” The God of Israel,
the only living and true God, God in covenant. It was plainly the prayer of an
appropriating faith. Verse 2 requires but little explanation. Here we have the
success with which this exercise of prayer was crowned. His situation had been
one of deep distress. He cried unto the Lord out of his affliction. He was in
great straits, and very closely besieged. His body and mind were both shut up.
The word “cried,” as used in relation with the exercise of prayer, is very
significant. It is not here merely a loud voice; it implies close engagements
of heart, great fervour, earnestness, and importunity. This is the more
strongly indicated as the word is repeated. Our prophet did not direct his cry
to one whose ear was shut or averted. Our God is the hearer of prayer. Verse 3
contains an amplified account of the dismal situation of the prophet, and of
the utter hopelessness of life being preserved, or deliverance obtained, except
by miraculous influence. Without attempting to describe the peculiarly
distressing feelings of the prophet when in the fish’s belly, a case which
baffles all description, let us direct attention to the piety of the man. He
traces the storm to God Himself. In verse 4 we have a short but lively
description of that conflict which often takes place, in the case of God’s
people, between grace and remaining corruption, particularly between faith and
unbelief. This conflict, though incident to the people of God at all times, is
specially felt in seasons of distress. The language is not to be understood as
referring to God’s natural presence, or as intimating that the prophet was
beyond the sphere of God’s omniscience; for he was better taught than to give
any countenance to such an idea. But he then felt strongly tempted to say that
he was cast out of the Lord’s gracious presence. But he had in him the
principle of a true saving faith. He says, “I will look again toward Thy holy
temple.” This language intimates that the faith of the prophet embraced God in
His gracious and new-covenant character. The following truths may be inferred.
That God is jealous of His glory, and frequently manifests this most signally
in His dealings with His own people. That it is God who adjusts the kind,
measure, and duration of the afflictions with which His righteous people are
afflicted. That while God displays much of His sovereignty in the afflictions
He sends upon His people, yet some sin is often the immediate precursor. That
right exercise under affliction consists in a clear and impressive discernment
of this connection. That when afflictions are sanctified to persons they seek
unto God by prayer for pardon and restoration. That although the genuine people
of God, under this or the other affliction, may be reduced to a very low state
as respects their soul-exercise, yet they are always upheld, and in the mercy
of God are prevented from plunging into the fatal abyss of despair! (James
Clyde.)
The conflict between despair and faith
Doctrine--
1. It is the usual lot of the Lord’s children to have not only
outward afflictions to wrestle with, but spiritual temptations and sad
conclusions, gathered from their troubles, which are sorer to endure than many
simple afflictions. For so was it with Jonah when he was in the sea.
2. The children of the Lord in their troubles may be so tossed and
divided betwixt hope and despair that faith and unbelief will be talking word
about, for so doth Jonah’s experience teach. “I said, I am cast out; yet will I
look again.”
3. In a time of temptation, unbelief’s word is generally first out,
till faith come and correct it; ordinarily what is said in haste is unbelief’s
language, and to be unsaid again, for this comes first out, I am cast out of
Thy sight.
4. A child of God may not only be assaulted with fits of despair, but
for a time be overcome with it, and yield to it; and yet, for all that, recover
his feet again.
5. As it is ordinary under temptation to judge of all God’s respect,
care, and love by our sense of His present dealing, so to be cast off by God,
as one that He will not favour nor care for nor take notice of, is the sorest
of trials, especially to the child of God, who lives by God’s favour, and is
made up in all his afflictions when he finds that God thinks on him, and that
his troubles endear him to God’s care.
6. It is no new thing to see a child of God, and vessel of mercy,
apprehending reprobation and rejection from God, in his sad and dark hour, for
this also is Jonah’s temptation.
7. Nor is it strange to see the children of God exercised and sadly
afflicted with that which hath never been, nor will be, save in their own
fearful apprehensions; for so is Jonah with “casting off.” When we reckon by
our own deservings, and by probabilities in a strait, and not by God’s love and
all-sufficiency, we cannot but draw sad conclusions, and our own spirits will
make us work enough.
8. Temptations, even when they have overcome for a season, are not to
be lien with, and given way to, by the children of God, but ought to be
resisted and set against, though they should (if it were possible) perish in
the attempt, this being the way to honour God and get deliverance,--for
vanquished Jonah will not quit it so; “Yet will I look again.”
9. That whereby the children of the Lord must oppose all troubles
inward and outward, and resist temptations, is naked faith closely adhering to
the covenant of grace made in Christ, and gathering hope of better dealing This
is imported in his “looking again toward the holy Temple,” or eyeing God in His
covenant, whereof that was a sign. To cast away confidence as useless in a
strait, or not to essay faith until we are hired by sense, or to lie by in
wilful unbelief, think that is the way to get sense to loose our doubts; or to
seek any footing for faith but in God’s covenant and free grace in Christ, is
the height of folly.
10. The weakest act of faith may do much good in a day of greatest
need; for in all this extremity Jonah had no more but a “looking again” as a
poor banished man.
11. Faith in a time of need will find a way through many a dark
impediment to find God.
12. It speaks much to God’s praise that when His people are laid by
with their temptations yet He will not lose them, but recover them out of their
deepest swoons, and make vanquished faith yet again to triumph over
difficulties which they had judged insuperable. For this is also recorded to
His praise: that
not only Jonah persevered crying when his trouble was great, but that he was
strengthened, after he had once yielded to the temptation, to believe and “look
again.” (George Hutcheson.)
The prayer of Jonah
This prayer, as it now stands, was obviously composed after his
restoration. It may be regarded as a compendium of what he uttered in his
distress. Notice--
1. The depth of the prophet’s misery. The prophet was in the utmost
jeopardy. He knew not but that death might speedily be his portion. His misery
arose chiefly from the agony of his soul--the conviction that he had been
arrested in an act of wilful disobedience,--in the attempt, vain as that of the
first fallen pair, to escape from the presence of the Lord. Many of his
expressions are similar to those of the psalmist. David felt the bitterness
which is the invariable result of a departure from the living God,--the
intolerable anguish which arises from a consciousness of guilt when the
conscience, by habitual transgression, has not been seared, and reverential
fear of God not rooted out from the heart. When we contemplate the prophet in
his dark hours of terror and agony, and behold the inevitable wretchedness
which is the natural consequence of disobedience, we cannot but admire the
wisdom, while we should seek to follow the example, of that apostle who
declared, in the presence of Felix, that he exercised himself to have always a
conscience void of offence toward God and toward men. Though depressed and
desponding, Jonah did not give way to despair. He called to mind former
mercies. His prayer ascended with the incense to heaven. And to whom should we
betake ourselves in the hour of affliction, but to that God who dwelleth not in
temples made with hands? We should not look to other sources for that comfort
which Jehovah alone can bestow. As Jonah looked to the temple, and thought upon
the legal sacrifices there offered, so must we, in all our addresses to the
throne of grace, have respect to the meritorious efficacy of that great
sacrifice by which the Lord Jesus hath averted the Father’s displeasure, and
opened a way of access through His blood. The prayer of Jonah was not in vain.
He was speedily delivered from his prison-house. No doubt can be entertained of
the sincerity of the prophet’s repentance--of the deep humiliation of his soul,
of his heartfelt contrition for having disobeyed the Divine command. No sooner
was the prophet restored than, like the mariners, he offered praise and
thanksgiving, and paid his vows unto the Lord. How overwhelming must have been
his feelings on this miraculous deliverance from his strange and fearful
prison-house. His soul must have been transported with gratitude and amazement,
and his vows were doubtless poured forth with a fervour proportioned to a sense
of deliverance. But how often are pious resolutions forgotten when the time of
danger is past. “Salvation is of the Lord.” What truth more important to be
habitually realised than this,--that all our temporal, spiritual, and eternal
blessings proceed from God. What have we that we have not received? Our worldly
success we are tempted to ascribe to our prudence and skilful management. We
refer to second causes that which should be referred to the great First Cause of
all. And we are apt to forget that it is “by grace we are saved.” The great
practical lesson for us to learn is--the value and importance of prayer. (Thomas
Bissland, M. A.)
The prophet’s prayer
The bottom of the sea was Jonah’s holy ground, and the belly of
the fish his consecrated oratory. His gloomy prison was turned into a house of
prayer. Jonah evidently retained his consciousness during the term of his
imprisonment. We have only the substance of the captive’s prayer preserved for
us.
1. The spiritual exercises with which the prophet’s prayer is
identified. It is impossible to conceive of a more critical or distressing
condition than that to which the servant of God was reduced.
2. The conclusion of unbelief. “Then I said, I am cast out of Thy
sight.” An outcast from Divine favour.
3. The victory of faith. “Yet will I look again towards Thy holy
temple.” See faith’s realised triumph, “Yet hast Thou brought up my life from
corruption, O Lord my God.”
4. The ardour of Jonah’s gratitude.
5. His emphatic ascription. “Salvation is of the Lord.” Notice also
the evidence of spiritual reclamation which the prophet’s prayer supplies. This
is seen in his altered feeling towards God. In the rekindling of the spirit of
devotion. In the vigorous action of faith. In the expression of this faith
Jonah embodied the sentiments of former saints. The prophet’s mind was
evidently richly stored with the Word of God. (John Broad.)
The conflict of faith and sense
The prayer of Jonah is an illustrious instance of the
conflict between sense and faith. Sense prompting to despair,--faith pleading
for hope and procuring victory. This prayer of faith, though in unparalleled
circumstances, and spiritually noble in a marvellous degree, contains in it
nothing but the ordinary principles of all believing prayer. It is the very
trial of faith to have circumstances to contend with which appear to extinguish
hope, which even seem to shut out hope altogether. This is the true place and
action of faith. Surrounded by incidents, events, circumstances, influence,
powers, all adverse to your deliverance and salvation; and with your hope, as
far as this region of the things seen and temporal is concerned, utterly cut
off; your faith discovers another region, a realm and kingdom unseen. Your
faith draws upon them.
I. View Jonah’s
position from the side of sense. Was ever a case so fitted to call forth utter
despair? Mark--
1. The case in which Jonah finds himself.
2. The hand to which he traces it.
3. The immediate effects produced on his mind by it.
He felt to be cast out of God’s sight. His soul fainted in him.
Outwardly he was begirt with terrors unspeakable. These to him were tokens of
an angry God. His soul was brought to the very verge of despair.
II. Jonah’s faith
rose in its strength and triumph. What can stand us in any stead in such an
hour but the prayer of faith?
1. We see the truth and power of Jonah’s faith in that he betook
himself to prayer at all.
2. He set before himself the certainty of Jehovah’s reconcilableness,
His promised forgiveness, His sure accessibility.
3. He did not do this in vain. He was answered in the progressive
strengthening of his faith, even while his trial lasts.
4. Jonah offers the sacrifice of thanksgiving. He cometh unto
God--unto God his exceeding joy. (Hugh Martin, M. A.)
Jonah the penitent suppliant
This has been called a “Song of deliverance.” It suggests--
1. The moral significance of adverse circumstances. Circumstances
make or unmake, mould or mar us for future usefulness and distinction,
according to the spirit in which they are received and utilised. Adverse
circumstances are morally advantageous when rightly understood, patiently
borne, and rightly used. Adversity ever has a spiritual significance. Whether
it be guidance judicial or disciplinary, we cannot do better than acknowledge
with reverence the hand that strikes, and supplicate His mercy.
2. The important part prayer plays in the adversities of life. It is
indispensable in the trying and troublous experiences of our moral and physical
being. Jonah’s prayer was a necessity. He was borne on the wings of strong
moral impulses.
3. That the hearer or receiver of prayer is always within reach and
approachable. Time, circumstances, con dition, place are no hindrances in
themselves to drawing near to God. From every point in the compass of life He
is accessible.
4. That our prayers to a great extent are moulded by our experience.
As the countenance indexes the mind, the eye, the health, so prayer is a pretty
sure indicator of the soul’s attitude Godward, its condition in grace, its
experience in the faith-life. This chapter teaches the prevalency of prayer. It
was answered in complete salvation. Note here, amazing Divine condescension.
Great deviation from the Divine habitude. Prompt and perfect deliverance. Prayer
is omnipotent, for it prevails with, it conquers God. There is no dilemma in
Christian experience that prayer cannot deliver from. (J. O. Keen, D. D.)
In the deep and mighty waters
Some few years ago a terrible calamity occurred in a colliery at
Tynewydd, South Wales. The mine was flooded with water, and for several days
the miners were entombed, despite heroic efforts to save them. As one of the
rescuing parties was exploring the mine they thought they heard singing, and
creeping in the direction of the sound, heard the entombed men singing the
words of a Welsh hymn, “In the deep and mighty waters there is One to rescue
me.” (S. S. Chronicle.)
More of thanksgiving beneath the waters
There is an old legend concerning a golden organ which, when a
monastery was being sacked, the monks threw into the rushing stream that
hurried past their home; and the story has it that for long, long years
thereafter the music of the organ was still heard beneath the waters; for,
though they drowned the instrument, they could not drown its song. There is a
lesson for us even in an apparently worthless legend. When God’s waves and
billows roll over us, let us remember that we are God’s, and that will set the
seal. Though the organ beneath the surface may run the risk of being drowned,
if the Spirit of God is with us, then the sweet new song will be going on all
the same. (Christian Herald.)
Verse 2
I cried by reason of mine affliction.
Troubles and deliverance
I. The fact of
trouble. Jonah is at one with all men in a common experience of trouble. No
child of God is born to a heritage of unmitigated grief. Some compensating
mercy is sure to throw its mellow light over the angriest storm. Some specimens
of trouble. So many hampered lives; so many obstacles to goodness; so many and
so powerful temptations; so many apparent contradictions to the truth of an
infinite goodness. Jonah’s trouble was his being thrust off into a conscious
distance from God.
II. Deliverance
from trouble. The steps toward such deliverance are stated in Our Scripture.
1. Jonah remembered God. Submissive memory of God is the first step.
2. Prayer is the next step.
3. A thankful trust is the next. (Wayland Hoyt, D. D.)
Verse 4
Yet will I look again toward Thy holy temple.
The backslider’s vow
The leading feature of the story is that of one man sacrificed for
the rest of the crew:
it is the execution of the culprit, in arrest of judgment on the innocent.
Lessons--
1. The deepest remorse has its remedy in a return to duty. Jonah’s
truant flight was a sudden impulse. The backslider often knows that the sin by
which he fell away was the result of sudden temptation.
2. Looking again to the covenant of God in Christ is the appointed
way of salvation. It is also useful to consider what it was that cast you out
of God’s sight, in order that you may cast that out of your sight. (Joseph
B. Owen, M. A.)
Verse 7
When my soul fainted within me I remembered the Lord.
Jonah an example of sanctified affliction
It is interesting to mark the workings of a soul when struggling
with the strong billows of affliction, especially if that affliction has come
in the immediate train of backsliding, and appears as the net in which God has
caught a wanderer from the fold, or the rod by which He would bring him back to
wisdom and obedience.
1. The altered feeling toward God of which Jonah was now conscious,
as compared with that state of mind which tempted him to go astray. Now, it is
the bitterest part of his complaint that he was far from God. It must be a
sanctified trouble which disposes the soul to feel thus toward God.
2. It was but the natural consequence of this state of mind in Jonah,
though it may be noted as another mark of his sanctified affliction, that he
poured out his heart in prayer:
the spirit of Sonship was again revived in him, and it led him to cry, Abba,
Father.
3. Mark the workings of faith here, sanctified affliction being
always characterised by the degree in which faith is called into exercise.
Notice the peculiar views and feelings which are expressed in this
prayer.
1. The exercise of faith in regard to the appointment of the
visitation: “Thou
hast cast me,” etc.
2. The confidence and hope in God not extinguished, but rather roused
into action by the extremity of his distress. Faith always is, in proportion to
its clearness and strength, fertile in resources.
3. There is a further manifestation of faith in the words of Jonah,
although it lies less upon the surface than those already noticed. It is the
use made of the earlier portions of God’s Word, and the recorded experiences of
former times.
4. The last thing to notice in the prayer, as a mark of sanctified
affliction, is the purpose of amendment it expresses. (Patrick Fairbairn.)
Verse 8
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
The value of superstitions
Here we learn the value to attach to all superstitions, to
all those opinions of men, when they attempt to set up religion according to
their own will; for Jonah calls them lying or fallacious vanities. There is,
then, but one true religion, the religion which God has taught us in His Word.
Men in vain weary themselves when they follow their own inventions,--for the
more strenuously they run, the farther they recede from the right way, as
Augustine has well observed. But Jonah here adopts a higher principle,--that
God alone possesses in Himself all fulness of blessings; whosoever, then, truly
and sincerely seeks God, will find in Him whatever can be wished for salvation.
God is not to be sought but by obedience and faith; whosoever, then, dare to
give themselves loose reins, so as to follow this or that without the warrant
of God’s Word, recede from God, and at the same time deprive themselves of all
good things. The superstitious do indeed think that they gain much when they
toil in their own inventions; but we see what the Holy Spirit declares by the
mouth of Jonah. The Lord says by Jeremiah, “They have forsaken Me, the fountain
of living water, and cisterns have they digged for themselves.” (Jeremiah 2:13). There the Lord complains
of His chosen people, who had gone astray after wicked superstitions. Hence
when men wander beyond the Word of God, they in a manner renounce God, or say
adieu to Him, and thus they deprive themselves of all good things; for without
God there is no salvation, and no help to be found. (John Calvin.)
The sin and folly of observing lying vanities
I. The foolish
practice of observing lying vanities. Lying vanities may comprehend all kinds
of sin whereby men are deceived and led away from the paths of truth and
righteousness into error and iniquity. The Hebrew words express the deceitful
nature of the vanities here intended. That which is rendered vanity signifies
falsehood, rashness, or deceit. That translated lying denotes light,
trivial, or airy.
1. Those who follow the delusive practice of sin. Sinful objects and
pursuits are all unprofitable and vain, and can never do us any real good.
Those who worship and serve strange gods, or pretend to serve the living God in
any other way than He hath appointed, follow after lying vanities. By sinful
practices you may increase in riches, but your profit will not countervail your
loss. By sinning against God you can have no real, lasting advantage.
2. Those who greedily pursue the deceitful enjoyments of this world.
The most valued worldly enjoyments cannot so much as alleviate personal
distress; how, then, shall they deliver out of spiritual trouble? Need not
vilify the things of this world. We speak of present enjoyments, separate from
the love and favour of God, when the heart is supremely fixed upon them, and
chiefly solicitous to acquire and preserve them. To those who choose them for their
portion they prove lying vanities.
3. Those who entertain vain hopes of salvation upon insufficient
grounds. We need not speak in disparagement of good works; but they must not be
the foundation of our hope. They are the blessed fruits of redemption and
renovation,
4. Those who leave the paths of righteousness to walk in their own
devices. There are various ways by which men come under this description.
Sometimes laying aside a sense of the Divine presence and authority, men impose
upon themselves by the most foolish pretexts. Sometimes men desert from their
duty on account of the difficulties with which the discharge of it may be
attended. Some neglect their duty through wrong apprehensions of Divine
dispensations.
II. The pernicious
tendency of such conduct. They “forsake their own mercy.” The words suppose
that the tender mercy of Jehovah is communicated to sinners of mankind in
various ways, suited to relieve their necessities; and that to this abundant
mercy which they obtain from God they may acquire such a covenant right and
title, through the Lord Jesus Christ, by closely adhering to God and their
duty, as that it may be considered as their own privilege and portion. What
mercy, what spiritual benefit or comfort, can a man enjoy in sinning against God,
whereby he dishonours his Maker, wounds his own conscience, and destroys his
own soul? Nothing is to be acquired by sinful practices that is worth the
having. Application. Every one should be deeply humbled in the sight of God, on
account of our having followed lying vanities and forsaken our own mercy. A
little serious reflection may furnish each of us with many instances of this
sort, with which we justly stand chargeable. How many erroneous doctrines and
false principles are propagated and supported among us! How many deceitful,
ensnaring practices are indulged and followed among us! (W. M’Culloch.)
Lying vanities
It is not enough to show that Christ’s claims are not opposed to
our interests, and that therefore we do not sacrifice our true well-being when
we submit ourselves to Him; we must further show that Christ definitely
proposes to advance our present as well as our future interests, and that these
cannot be otherwise safely assured; and hence that we sacrifice our personal
interests, and sin against our true well-being when we turn our backs on Him.
The prophet only expresses what we may all, if we will, see for our selves.
Even in this world the suffering and misery that men bring upon them selves by
their own conduct far exceeds all that they would otherwise be called upon to
endure. How much of all our sufferings springs directly or indirectly from sin!
And all this we might escape if only we yielded ourselves to God instead of
flying away from Him. And such suffering is the cruellest of all, because we
have to reproach ourselves for it, and because of the painful memories it
leaves behind. And we must not dwell only upon the actual miseries that we
entail upon ourselves, but also upon the comfort and consolation which we deny
our selves amidst the trials which are the common lot of all. “Our own mercy.”
Think of what that means. No petition is more common on human lips than the cry
for mercy. We feel that we need mercy. Surely man is not only nature’s greatest
work; but also nature’s greatest victim, unless there be mercy within our
reach, mercy from some Grander Power than nature, who can feel for us. And the
great Father is rich in mercy. He brings within our reach such a provision of
mercy as He sees to be perfectly adapted to our complex needs, and represents
it to us in the Gospel of His Son. It is this provision that men turn their
backs upon when they turn their backs on Christ. Verily, it is true, “They that
observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.” How comes it to pass that men are
so blind to their own interests? Why do men forsake their own mercies? A
certain class of persons is here dealt with those who “observe lying vanities.”
Satan wins influence over men, and maintains and extends it, by falsehood. And
falsehood is a power. The process of blinding is carried on by the great
deceiver in such a manner as to induce a false and misleading estimate of the
relative value of things, and even of their relations to our happiness and
well-being. The objects which Satan exhibits to man’s imagination through a
distorted and deceptive medium are described here as “lying vanities.” The
phrase suggests specious falsehood, and pretentious inanity. Illustrate by the
desert mirage. Who has not at one time or another been bewildered and misled by
the vast mirage of life? When we yield ourselves to the great deceiver we
become his helpless dupes. “Observe” signifies diligent watching,--the giving
up of our mind and attention to a specific object. Compare the sentence, “Who
mind earthly things.” All earthly things, viewed apart from their connection
with things eternal, are in themselves vanities,--they leave the heart still
unsatisfied. When we attempt to find our portion in these things of this world
they become not only vanities, but lying vanities,--promising to do what
they never can do, and ever leading their votaries, as on a fool’s errand, in
quest of that which they are foredoomed never to discover. When once ,man has
surrendered his sense to
the solicitations of the flesh, you can almost predict with certainty how he
will act under certain circumstances. We have but little freedom left when once
we have begun to observe--to give our minds to--lying vanities. Our freedom
consists rather in our power to decide whether of the two classes of objects we
will observe, whether we will yield our hearts to the Spirit of truth, who
reveals to us the things that are above--the things of God; or whether we will
yield our hearts to the spirit of lies, who spreads out before us earthly
things, and endeavours to invest them in our eyes with fictitious qualities and
characteristics. (W. Hay Aitken, M. A.)
Verse 9
I will pay that that I have vowed.
A forgotten vow
I heard of a sea-captain who had been wrecked, and with whose ship
most of the crew and passengers were lost. He himself had only saved his life
by holding on to a plank, and had for a considerable time been
completely at the mercy of the waves, but fortunately had been rescued, and was
then travelling in the stage-coach to rejoin his family. He told his
fellow-passengers his sad story, and all of them pitied him, but wondered why a
man so recently saved from imminent danger should end almost every sentence
with an oath. The coach stopped to change horses, and one of the passengers
proposed to the captain that they should walk on and let the coach overtake
them. As they walked together the gentleman said, “You said last night you lost
your ship? Yes.” “And your life was saved by clinging to a plank? When you were
hanging on to that plank, did you not vow that if God delivered you, you would
lead a very different life from that which you had formerly done?” “That is no
concern of yours,” angrily responded the captain. At the end of the day’s
journey, as the travellers were about to take supper together, the captain was
obliged to decline, saying he had no money. The gentleman who had spoken to him
on the way offered him a goodly sum. The captain refused it at first, but eventually,
rather ungraciously, accepted the gift. Next morning the captain surprised the
gentleman by holding out his hand and saying, “I did, while on that plank,
promise God that I would lead a different life if He would, in His mercy, save
me. I had forgotten my vow, but with God’s help I shall keep it from this day
forth!” Do not many sinners so treat God? They call upon Him in the day of
trouble, but when they are delivered they forget all about Him. (J.
Hamilton.)
Salvation is of the Lord.
Jonah’s praise of God
In his words we have a particular favour acknowledged. Jonah
evidently had an eye to the wonderful and extraordinary deliverance that God
had wrought for him; and indeed the hand of God did so eminently appear in it, that it could not be
ascribed to any other. And there is a general truth asserted, “Salvation is of
the Lent.” This is certainly true in the most extensive sense. Whether the
salvation be of a temporal or spiritual nature, it is of the Lord.
I. What salvation
is of the Lord.
1. The salvation of the soul, salvation from sin, and from all that
misery which is consequential to it There is a salvation by purchase and a
salvation by power, and both are of the Lord.
2. Temporal salvation is of the Lord. God Wrought a temporal as well
as a spiritual deliverance for Jonah, and to Him Jonah ascribes the praise of
both.
II. In what
respects salvation is of the Lord.
1. In what respects spiritual salvation is of the Lord.
2. Temporal salvation, or deliverance from outward troubles and
afflictions, is of the Lord, as it is He alone who works it; and whatever the
distress is, He is able to work it.
Learn--
1. Believers in the most afflicted condition have no reason to be
cast down, as if their case were altogether hopeless.
2. Sinners, however guilty and wretched, have no reason to despair of
salvation.
3. Believers are wholly indebted to the grace of God for their
salvation, for every spiritual and every temporal deliverance wrought for them.
4. That when any deliverance wrought for persons has been wrought for
them in mercy, they will eye and acknowledge the hand of God in it. (D.
Wilson.)
Salvation is of God
Observe what happens when the cry rises at sea, “A man overboard!”
With others on deck, you rush to the side; and leaning over the bulwarks, with
beating heart you watch the place where the rising air-bells and boiling deep
tell that he has gone down. After some moments of breathless anxiety you see
his head emerge from the wave. Now that man, I shall suppose, is no swimmer; he
has never learnt to breast the billows; yet with ‘the first breath he draws he
begins to beat the water; with violent efforts he attempts to shake off the
grasp of death, and by the play of limbs and arms to keep his head from
sinking. It may be that these struggles but exhaust his strength, and sink him
all the sooner; nevertheless, that drowning one makes instinctive and
convulsive efforts to save himself. So, when first brought to feel and cry, “I
perish!” when the horrible conviction rushes into the soul that we are lost,
when we feel ourselves going down beneath a load of guilt into the depth of the
wrath of God, our first effort is to save ourselves. Like a drowning man, who
will clutch at straws and twigs, we seize on anything, however worthless, that
promises salvation. Thus, alas! many poor souls toil, and spend weary,
unprofitable years in the attempt to establish a righteousness of their own,
and find in the deeds of the law protection from its curse. (J. Maclaurin.)
Salvation is of the Lord
Take the word “salvation” in its highest and in its lower senses.
I. In the
deliverance of a soul. Comment upon our state of ruin. Salvation is--
1. Of the Father. In its origin proceeding from the eternal love of
God, even before all time.
2. Of the Son. In its meritorious cause. An obstacle to be removed;
justice to be satisfied; our need of an atoning sacrifice. Note the willingness
of Christ to offer Himself; and the fulness and sufficiency of Christ’s
sacrifice.
3. Of the Spirit. In its personal application. Our aversion to God to
be taken away--in conversion, sanctification, perseverance.
II. In the lesser
deliverances of the children of God.
1. From outward difficulties. Such as Jonah’s case. Jonathan and the
Philistines. Children of Israel in the wilderness. David overtaken by Saul. Asa and the
Ethiopians. Jehoshaphat and the Moabites.
2. From bodily afflictions. Hezekiah’s sickness. Psalms 102:17; Job 32:19.
3. From soul troubles. Temptation. Desertion. Backsliding. What are
the legitimate deductions?
What is salvation?
Let us try to see what salvation means. I take it to be summed up
in four things. First, knowledge that God is our Father; second, knowledge of
the kind of life we are expected to live; third, reconciliation with ourselves,
with our own consciences; fourth, a sense of pardon and communion with God, and
knowledge of eternal life within us. If you test these things you will find how
true it is that they are not found in any other name or person than Jesus
Christ. (R. F. Horton, D. D.)
Salvation is of the Lord
This text announces, in general terms, a truth encroached upon by
almost all systems of false doctrine, and repugnant to the natural heart.
I. Salvation is wholly of God in
its origin with the Father.
1. In the will and decree of the Father (see Ephesians 1:4).
2. The Father’s purpose and decree can be referred to nothing but His
sovereign pleasure (see Ephesians 1:11).
3. He was under no obligation to save man.
4. In order to receive salvation we must take the position in which
it contemplates us. Condemned, as guilty. Hateful, through sin. The enemies of
God, against whom sin is. Powerless to atone or obey.
5. We must further acknowledge God’s absolute sovereignty in electing
to salvation, and providing a Saviour, and in now saving us.
II. Salvation is
wholly of God in
its execution by
Christ.
1. Had man been equal to his own salvation, then had Christ not come
(Galatians 3:21).
2. Christ had to meet human opposition. Man opposed his own
salvation, according to God’s plan, as soon as practicable.
III. Salvation is
wholly of God in its application by the Spirit. Man is dependent on the Spirit
for having the truth presented; for being able to understand the truth; for
rendering him willing; for faith to receive and rest on Christ; for
regeneration; for sanctification; for perseverance unto the end of life in
Divine grace. Learn to pray for and rely on the Spirit. (James Stewart.)
The Christian’s rejoicing and glory
In the former part of the verse the prophet expresses his
determination to bless and praise the Lord. The ground of his doing so was what
the Lord had done for him, notwithstanding his grievous crimes and rebellion.
That again embraced a twofold mercy, namely, what had been done, or what was
about to be done, for his body and for his soul. The prophet had now been
taught a lesson which it would be his wisdom never to forget, and which would
the better enable him for the arduous work he was called to perform. Some
indisputable facts in Christian experience.
1. That no one knows what salvation means but they who have seen
their need of it.
2. That no one can praise the Lord for salvation but they who have
experienced its blessing and power.
3. That no one can be insensible to the holy feeling of gratitude and
praise to whom the grace of God hath brought salvation.
4. That it is generally through a variety of humiliating and painful
discipline we are conducted to such an experience, and formed to such a
confession and acknowledgment. This then is the subject of our discourse.
Considered in every possible point of view, in its origin, source, revelation,
execution, grant, efficiency, continuance, and consummation, “Salvation is of
the Lord.”
I. What does the
term “salvation” mean?
1. What the Lord had done, or was about to do, for Jonah in respect
of his body. In this Jonah was a striking type of Christ.
2. What the Lord had done for him in respect of his soul, in
preserving him from hell, and granting him repentance unto life. The word
salvation, as applied to souls, does not mean
To see what it does mean we must ask, What is the state of man? He
is lost, as being guilty, condemned, polluted, and depraved, exposed to many
enemies, from which, by his own will and power, be can never escape. Salvation
means deliverance from this state of wretchedness and misery, together with an
investiture of all the blessings needful for his present peace and everlasting
welfare.
II. Whence does
this salvation flow, and by whom is it carried into effect? It does not
originate with man. It is not effected by man. It is altogether of the Lord.
Consider from Scripture--
1. The source of salvation.
2. The provision of the Saviour.
3. The assignment of His mediating work as the surety of His Church
and people.
4. Look at the execution of this great work.
So it is clear that salvation is altogether of the Lord. Consider
how, and by whom, the time when, and the manner in which this gracious
provision is carried into effect in the sinner’s conversion.
1. The regeneration of the soul.
2. The sinner’s pardon and justification.
3. The believer’s sanctification and adoption.
4. The believer’s succour, support, and safety.
5. The believer’s perseverance unto the end, his safe death, and
triumphant glory.
III. Wherein does it
appear that it is indeed the salvation of the Lord?
1. What hath the Lord spoken on this subject?
2. What does the state of the case absolutely require?
3. What does the experience of the people of God abundantly testify
and confirm?
4. If salvation be not of the Lord, then how dark, how cheerless is
the prospect set before us!
──《The Biblical Illustrator》