mh_parser/vol_split/32 - Jonah/Chapter 3.xml

<div2 id="Jonah.iv" n="iv" next="Jonah.v" prev="Jonah.iii" progress="85.67%" title="Chapter III">
<h2 id="Jonah.iv-p0.1">J O N A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Jonah.iv-p0.2">CHAP. III.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Jonah.iv-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter we have, I. Jonah's mission
renewed, and the command a second time given him to go preach at
Nineveh, <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.1-Jonah.3.2" parsed="|Jonah|3|1|3|2" passage="Jon 3:1,2">ver. 1, 2</scripRef>. II.
Jonah's message to Nineveh faithfully delivered, by which its
speedy overthrow was threatened, <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.3-Jonah.3.4" parsed="|Jonah|3|3|3|4" passage="Jon 3:3,4">ver.
3, 4</scripRef>. III. The repentance, humiliation, and reformation
of the Ninevites hereupon, <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.5-Jonah.3.9" parsed="|Jonah|3|5|3|9" passage="Jon 3:5-9">ver.
5-9</scripRef>. IV. God's gracious revocation of the sentence
passed upon them, and the preventing of the ruin threatened,
<scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.10" parsed="|Jonah|3|10|0|0" passage="Jon 3:10">ver. 10</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Jonah.iv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3" parsed="|Jonah|3|0|0|0" passage="Jon 3" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Jonah.iv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.1-Jonah.3.4" parsed="|Jonah|3|1|3|4" passage="Jon 3:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jonah.iv-p1.7">
<h4 id="Jonah.iv-p1.8">Jonah's Mission Renewed; The Prophet's
Mission to Nineveh. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jonah.iv-p1.9">b. c.</span> 840.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jonah.iv-p2" shownumber="no">1 And the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jonah.iv-p2.1">Lord</span> came unto Jonah the second time, saying,
  2 Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto
it the preaching that I bid thee.   3 So Jonah arose, and went
unto Nineveh, according to the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jonah.iv-p2.2">Lord</span>. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of
three days' journey.   4 And Jonah began to enter into the
city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and
Nineveh shall be overthrown.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p3" shownumber="no">We have here a further evidence of the
reconciliation between God and Jonah, and that it was a thorough
reconciliation, though the controversy between them had run
high.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p4" shownumber="no">I. Jonah's commission is renewed and
readily obeyed.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p5" shownumber="no">1. By this it appears that God was
perfectly reconciled to Jonah, that he employed him again in his
service; and the commission anew given him was an evidence of the
remission of his former disobedience. Among men, it has been justly
pleaded that the giving of a commission to a criminal convicted is
equivalent to a pardon, so it was to Jonah. <i>The word of the Lord
came unto Jonah the second time</i> (<scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.1" parsed="|Jonah|3|1|0|0" passage="Jon 3:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>); for, 1. Jonah must be tried,
whether he do indeed repent of his former disobedience or no, and
whether he have gotten the good designed him both by his strange
punishment and by his strange deliverance. He had deserted his work
and duty, and had been under arrest for it, had received a
<i>sentence of death within himself;</i> but, upon his submission,
God had released him, had given him his life, had given him his
liberty; but it is upon his good behaviour that he is released, and
he must again be put upon the trial whether he will follow the will
of God or his own will. After he has been thrown into the sea, and
thrown out of it again, God comes and asks him, "Jonah, wilt thou
go to Nineveh now?" For <i>when God judges he will overcome,</i> he
will gain his point; he will bring the disobedient stubborn child
to his foot at last. Note, When God has afflicted us, and delivered
us out of affliction, we must hear his voice, saying to us, Now
return to the duties which before you neglected, and which by these
providences you are called to. God now said, in effect, to Jonah,
as Christ said to the impotent man, when he had healed him, "Now go
and sin no more, <i>lest a worse thing come unto thee</i>
(<scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:John.5.14" parsed="|John|5|14|0|0" passage="Joh 5:14">John v. 14</scripRef>), a worse thing
than lying three days and three nights in the whale's belly." God
looks upon men, when he has afflicted them and has delivered them
out of their affliction, to see whether they will mend of that
fault, particularly, for which they were corrected; and therefore
in that thing we are concerned to see to it that we receive not the
grace of God in vain, neither in the correction nor in the
deliverance, for both are designed to be means of grace. (2.) Jonah
shall be trusted, in token of God's favour to him. God might justly
have said concerning Jonah, as we should concerning one that had
cheated us and dealt treacherously with us, that though we would
not proceed to the rigour of the law against him, nor ruin him, yet
we would never again repose a confidence in him; justly might the
Spirit of prophecy, which Jonah had resisted and rebelled against,
depart from him, with a resolution never to return to him any more.
One would have expected that though his life was spared, yet he
would be laid under a disability and incapacity ever to serve the
government again in the character of a prophet. But, behold! the
word of the Lord comes to him again, to show that when God forgives
he forgets, and whom he forgives he gives a new heart and a new
spirit to; he receives those into his family again, and restores
them to their former estate, that had been prodigal children and
disobedient servants. Note, God's making use of us is the best
evidence of his being at peace with us. Hereby it will appear that
our sins are pardoned, and we have the good-will of God towards us;
does his good word come unto us, and do we experience his good work
in us! if so, we have reason to admire the riches of free grace and
to own our obligations to the Lord Jesus, who received gifts for
men, <i>yea, even for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might
dwell</i> even among them, and employ them in his word, <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p5.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.68.18" parsed="|Ps|68|18|0|0" passage="Ps 68:18">Ps. lxviii. 18</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p6" shownumber="no">2. By this it appears that Jonah was well
reconciled to God, that he was not now, as he had been before,
<i>disobedient to the heavenly vision,</i> did not <i>flee from the
presence of the Lord,</i> as he had done. He neither endeavored to
avoid hearing the command, nor did he decline obeying it; he made
no objections, as he had done, that the journey was <i>long,</i>
the errand invidious, the delivery of it perilous, and, if the
threatened judgment did come, he should be reproached as a false
prophet, and the impenitence of his own nation would be upbraided,
which he had objected, <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.4.2" parsed="|Jonah|4|2|0|0" passage="Jon 4:2"><i>ch.</i> iv.
2</scripRef>. But now, without murmuring and disputing, <i>Jonah
arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the
Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.3" parsed="|Jonah|3|3|0|0" passage="Jon 3:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. See
here, (1.) The nature of repentance; it is the change of our mind
and way, and a return to our work and duty, from which we had
turned aside; it is doing that good which we had left undone. (2.)
The benefit of affliction; it reduces those to their place that had
deserted it. Jonah might truly say with David, "<i>Before I was
afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word;</i> and
therefore, though it was dreadful, though it was painful to me, and
for the present <i>not joyous, but grievous,</i> yet <i>it was
good,</i> very good, <i>for me, that I was afflicted.</i>" (3.) See
the power of divine grace working with affliction, for otherwise
affliction of itself would rather drive men from God than bring
them to him; but God by his grace can <i>turn the disobedient to
the wisdom of the just,</i> and make those <i>willing in the day of
his power,</i> freely willing to come under his yoke, whose
<i>neck</i> had been <i>as an iron sinew.</i> (4.) See the duty of
all those to whom the word of the Lord comes; they must in all
points conform themselves to it, and yield a cheerful faithful
obedience to the orders God gives them. <i>Jonah arose,</i> and did
not sit still in sloth or sullenness; he went directly to Nineveh,
though it was a great way off, and a place where, it is likely, he
never was before; yet thither he took his journey, <i>according to
the word of the Lord.</i> God's servants must go where he sends
them, come when he calls them, and do what he bids them; whatever
appears to be the word of the Lord we must conscientiously do
according to it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p7" shownumber="no">II. Let us now see what was the command or
commission given him, and what he did in prosecution of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p8" shownumber="no">1. He was sent as a herald at arms, in the
name of the God of heaven, to proclaim war with Nineveh (<scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.2" parsed="|Jonah|3|2|0|0" passage="Jon 3:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): "Arise, go to Nineveh,
that great city," that metropolis, and <i>preach unto it,</i>
preach <i>against it,</i> so the Chaldee. What is against us is
preached to us, that we may hear it and take warning; and what is
preached to us, if we do not give ear to it, and mix faith with it,
will prove to be against us. Jonah is sent to Nineveh, which was at
this time the chief city of the Gentile world, as an indication of
God's gracious intentions in process of time to make the light of
divine revelation to shine in those dark regions. God knew that if
Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon, had had the means of grace,
they would have repented, and yet he denied them those means,
<scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Matt.11.21 Bible:Matt.11.23" parsed="|Matt|11|21|0|0;|Matt|11|23|0|0" passage="Mt 11:21,23">Matt. xi. 21, 23</scripRef>. He
knew that if Nineveh had now the means of grace they would repent,
and he gave them those means, sent Jonah, though not to preach
repentance to them expressly (for we find not that he had that in
his commission), yet to preach them to repentance, for that was the
happy effect of what he had in commission. If God thus in
dispensing his favours, in giving the means of grace to some places
and not to others, and the spirit of grace to some persons and not
to others, acts by prerogative and in a way of sovereignty, who may
say unto him, What doest thou? <i>May he not do what he will with
his own?</i> He is debtor to no man. Go, and preach (says God)
<i>the preaching that I bid thee.</i> That is, (1.) "The preaching
that I did bid thee when I first ordered thee to go thither
(<scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.1.2" parsed="|Jonah|1|2|0|0" passage="Jon 1:2"><i>ch.</i> i. 2</scripRef>); go,
<i>and cry against it;</i> denounce divine judgments against it;
tell the men of Nineveh that their wickedness has come up to God,
and God's vengeance is coming down upon them." This was the message
Jonah was then very loth to deliver, and therefore flew off and
went to Tarshish; but, when he is brought to it the second time,
God does not at all alter the message, to gratify him, or make it
the more passable with him; no, he must now preach the very same
that he was then ordered to preach and would not. Note, The word of
God is an unalterable thing, and will not be made to bend to the
humours either of its preachers or of its hearers; it shall never
comply with their humours and fancies, but they must comply with
its truths and laws. See <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.15.19" parsed="|Jer|15|19|0|0" passage="Jer 15:19">Jer. xv.
19</scripRef>. <i>Let them return unto thee, but return not thou
unto them.</i> Or, (2.) "The preaching that I shall bid thee when
thou comest thither." This was an encouragement to him in his
undertaking, that God would go along with him, that the Spirit of
prophecy should abide upon him, and be ready to him, when he was at
Nineveh, to give him all the further instructions that were needed
for him. This intimated that he should hear from him again, which
would be his great support in this hazardous expedition; as, when
God sent Abraham to offer up Isaac, he gave him a similar
intimation, by telling him he must do it upon <i>one of the
mountains which he would</i> afterwards direct <i>him to. The steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord;</i> he leads his people step
by step, and so he expects they should follow him. Jonah must go
with an implicit faith. Though he knows whither he goes, he shall
not know, till he come thither, what message he must deliver, but,
whatever it is, he must deliver it, be it pleasing or displeasing.
Thus God will keep us in a continual dependence upon himself, and
the directions of his word and providence. What he does, and what
he will have us do, we <i>know not now,</i> but we <i>shall know
hereafter.</i> Admirals, sometimes, when they are sent abroad, are
not to open their commission till they have got so many leagues off
at sea; so Jonah must go to Nineveh, and, when he comes there,
shall be told what to say.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p9" shownumber="no">III. He faithfully and boldly delivered his
errand. When he came to Nineveh he found his diocese large; it was
an <i>exceedingly great city of three days' journey</i> (<scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.3" parsed="|Jonah|3|3|0|0" passage="Jon 3:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>); a city <i>great to
God,</i> so the Hebrew phrase is, meaning no more than as we render
it, <i>exceedingly great;</i> this honour that language does to the
great God that great things derive their denomination from him. The
greatness of Nineveh consisted chiefly in the extent of it; it was
much larger than Babylon, such a city, says Diodorus Siculus, as no
man ever after built. It was 150 furlongs long and 90 broad, and
480 in compass; the walls 100 feet high, and so thick that three
chariots might go a-breast upon them; on them were 1500 towers,
each of them 200 feet high. It is here said to be of <i>three days'
journey;</i> for the compass of the walls, as some relate, was 480
furlongs, which, allowing eight furlongs to a mile, makes sixty
miles, which may well be reckoned <i>three days' journey</i> for a
footman, twenty miles a day. Or, walking slowly and gravely as
Jonah must when he went about preaching, it would take him up at
least <i>three days</i> to go through all the principal streets and
lanes of the city, to proclaim his message, that all might have
notice of it. When he came thither he lost no time; he did not come
to look about him, but applied closely to his work; and, when he
began to enter into the city, he did not retire into an inn, to
refresh himself after his journey, but opened his commission
immediately, according to his instructions, and he <i>cried, and
said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.</i> This, no
doubt, he had particular warrant and direction to say; whether he
enlarged upon this text, as is most probable, showing them the
controversy God had with them, and how provoking their wickedness
was, and what reason they had to expect destruction and give credit
to this warning, or whether he only repeated those words again and
again, is not certain, but this was the purport of his message. 1.
He must tell them that this great city shall be overthrown; he
meant, and they understood him, that it should be overthrown, not
by war, but by some immediate stroke from heaven, either by an
earthquake or by fire and brimstone as Sodom was. The wickedness of
cities ripens them for destruction, and their wealth and greatness
cannot protect them from destruction when the measure of their
iniquity is full and the measure of their vengeance has come. Great
cities are easily overthrown when the great God comes to reckon
with them. 2. He must tell them that it shall shortly be
overthrown, at the end of forty days. It has a reprieve granted. So
long God will wait to see if, upon this alarm given, they will
humble themselves and amend their doings, and so prevent the ruin
threatened. See how slow God is to wrath; though Nineveh's
wickedness cried for vengeance, yet it shall be spared for forty
days, that it may have space to repent and meet God in the way of
his judgments. But he will wait no longer; if in that time they
turn not, they shall know that he has <i>whet his sword, and made
it ready.</i> Forty days is a long time for a righteous God to
defer his judgments, yet it is but a little time for an unrighteous
people to repent and reform in, and so turn away the judgments
coming. The fixing of the day thus, with all possible assurance,
would help to convince them that it was a message from God, for no
man durst be so positive in fixing a time, however he might
prognosticate the thing itself; it would also startle them into
preparation for it. It may justly awaken secure sinners by a
sincere conversion to prevent their own ruin when they see they
have but a little time to turn in. And should it not awaken us to
get ready for death, to consider that the thing itself is certain,
and the time fixed in the counsel of God, but that we are kept in
the dark and uncertainty about it in order that we may be always
ready? We cannot be so sure that we shall live forty days as
Nineveh now was that it should stand forty days; nay, I think it is
more probable that we shall die within thirty or forty days than we
should live thirty or forty years; and so many years in the day of
our security we are apt to promise ourselves.</p>
<verse id="Jonah.iv-p9.2" type="stanza">
<l class="t1" id="Jonah.iv-p9.3">Fleres, si scires unum tua tempora mensem;</l>
<l class="t1" id="Jonah.iv-p9.4">Rides, cum non sit forsitan una dies.</l>
</verse>
<verse id="Jonah.iv-p9.5" type="stanza">
<l class="t1" id="Jonah.iv-p9.6">We should be alarmed if we were sure not to live</l>
<l class="t2" id="Jonah.iv-p9.7">a month, and yet we are careless, though we</l>
<l class="t2" id="Jonah.iv-p9.8">are not sure to live a day.</l>
</verse>
</div><scripCom id="Jonah.iv-p9.9" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.5-Jonah.3.10" parsed="|Jonah|3|5|3|10" passage="Jon 3:5-10" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Jonah.iv-p9.10">
<h4 id="Jonah.iv-p9.11">Nineveh's Repentance. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jonah.iv-p9.12">b. c.</span> 840.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jonah.iv-p10" shownumber="no">5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, and
proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them
even to the least of them.   6 For word came unto the king of
Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from
him, and covered <i>him</i> with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
  7 And he caused <i>it</i> to be proclaimed and published
through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let
them not feed, nor drink water:   8 But let man and beast be
covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them
turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that
<i>is</i> in their hands.   9 Who can tell <i>if</i> God will
turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we
perish not?   10 And God saw their works, that they turned
from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said
that he would do unto them; and he did <i>it</i> not.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p11" shownumber="no">Here is I. A wonder of divine grace in the
repentance and reformation of Nineveh, upon the warning given them
of their destruction approaching. <i>Verily I say unto you,</i> we
have not found so great an instance of it, no, not in Israel; and
it will <i>rise up in judgment against the men of</i> the
gospel—<i>generation, and condemn them; for the Ninevites repented
at the preaching of Jonas, but behold, a greater than Jonas is
here,</i> <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Matt.12.41" parsed="|Matt|12|41|0|0" passage="Mt 12:41">Matt. xii. 41</scripRef>.
Nay, it did condemn the impenitence and obstinacy of Israel at that
time. God sent many prophets to Israel, and those well known among
them to be <i>mighty in word and deed;</i> but to Nineveh he sent
only one, and him a stranger, whose aspect was mean, we may
suppose, and his <i>bodily presence weak,</i> especially after the
fatigue of so long a journey; and yet they repented, but Israel
repented not. Jonah preached but one sermon, and we do not find
that he gave them any sign or wonder by the accomplishment of which
his word might be confirmed; and yet they were wrought upon, while
Israel continued obstinate, whose prophets chose out words
wherewith to reason with them, and confirmed them by signs
following. Jonah only threatened wrath and ruin; we do not find
that he gave them any calls to repentance or directions how to
repent, much less any encouragements to hope that
they should find mercy if they did repent, and yet they repented;
but Israel persisted in impenitence, though the prophets sent to
them drew them <i>with cords of a man, and with bands of love,</i>
and assured them of great things which God would do for them if
they did repent and reform. Now let us see what was the method of
Nineveh's repentance, what were the steps and particular instances
of it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p12" shownumber="no">1. They <i>believed God;</i> they gave
credit to the word which Jonah spoke to them in the name of God:
they believed that though they had many that they called gods, yet
there was but <i>one living and true God,</i> the sovereign Lord of
all,—that to him they were accountable,—that they had sinned
against him and had become obnoxious to his justice,—that this
notice sent them of ruin approaching came from him, and
consequently that the ruin itself would come from him at a time
prefixed if it were not prevented by a timely repentance,—that he
is a merciful God, and there might be some hopes of the turning
away of the wrath threatened, if they did turn away from the sins
for which it was threatened. Note, Those that <i>come to God,</i>
that come back to him after they have revolted from him, must
believe, must believe that he is, that he is reconcilable, that he
will be theirs if they take the right course. And observe what
great faith God can work by very small, weak, and unlikely means;
he can bring even Ninevites by a few threatening words to be
<i>obedient to the faith.</i> Some think the Ninevites heard, from
the mariners or others, or from Jonah himself, of his being cast
into the sea and delivered thence by miracle, and that this served
for a confirmation of his mission, and brought them the more
readily to believe God speaking by him. But of this we have no
certainty. However, Christ's resurrection, typified by that of
Jonah's, served for the confirmation of his gospel, and contributed
abundantly to their great success who in his name <i>preached
repentance and remission of sins to all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p13" shownumber="no">2. They brought word to the king of
Nineveh, who, some think, was at this time Sardanapalus, others
Pul, king of Assyria. Jonah was not directed to go to him first, in
respect to his royal dignity; crowned heads, when guilty heads, are
before God upon a level with common heads, and therefore Jonah is
not sent to the court, but to the streets of Nineveh, to make his
proclamation. However, an account of his errand is brought to the
king of Nineveh, not by way of information against Jonah, as a
disturber of public peace, that he might be silenced and punished,
which perhaps would have been done if he had cried thus in the
streets of Jerusalem, who <i>killed God's prophets and stoned those
that were sent unto her.</i> No; the account was brought him of it,
not as of a crime, but as a message from heaven, by some that were
concerned for the public welfare, and whose hearts trembled for it.
Note, Those kings are happy who have such about them as will give
them notice of the things that belong to the kingdom's peace, of
the warnings both of the word and of the providence of God, and of
the tokens of God's displeasure which they are under; and those
people are happy who have such kings over them as will take notice
of those things.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p14" shownumber="no">3. The king set them a good example of
humiliation, <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.6" parsed="|Jonah|3|6|0|0" passage="Jon 3:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>.
When he heard of the <i>word of God</i> sent to him he <i>rose from
his throne,</i> as Eglon the king of Moab, who, when Ehud told him
he had a message to him from God, <i>rose up out of his seat.</i>
The king of Nineveh <i>rose from his throne,</i> not only in
reverence to a word from God in general, but in fear of a word of
wrath in particular, and in sorrow and shame for sin, by which he
and his people had become obnoxious to his wrath. He rose from his
royal throne, and laid aside his royal robe, the badge of his
imperial dignity, as an acknowledgment that, having not used his
power as he ought to have done for the restraining of violence and
wrong, and the maintaining of right, he had forfeited his throne
and robe to the justice of God, had rendered himself unworthy of
the honour put upon him and the trust reposed in him as a king, and
that it was just with God to take his kingdom from him. Even the
king himself disdained not to put on the garb of a penitent, for he
<i>covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes,</i> in token
of his humiliation for sin and his dread of divine vengeance. It
well becomes the greatest of men to abase themselves before the
great God.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p15" shownumber="no">4. The people conformed to the example of
the king, nay, it should seem, they led the way, for they first
began to <i>put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the
least of them,</i> <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.5" parsed="|Jonah|3|5|0|0" passage="Jon 3:5"><i>v.</i>
5</scripRef>. The least of them, that had least to lose in the
overthrow of the city, did not think themselves unconcerned in the
alarm; and the greatest of them, that were accustomed to lie at
ease and live in state, did not think it below them to put on the
marks of humiliation. The wearing of sackcloth, especially to those
who were used to fine linen, was a very uneasy thing, and they
would not have done it if they had not had a deep sense of their
sin and their danger by reason of sin, which hereby they designed
to express. Note, Those that would not be ruined must be humbled,
those that would not destroy their souls must afflict their souls;
when God's judgments threaten us we are concerned to <i>humble
ourselves under his mighty hand;</i> and though bodily exercise
alone profits nothing, and man's <i>spreading sackcloth and ashes
under him,</i> if that be all, is but a jest (it is the heart that
God looks at, <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.5" parsed="|Isa|58|5|0|0" passage="Isa 58:5">Isa. lviii.
5</scripRef>), yet on solemn days of humiliation, when God in his
providence <i>calls to mourning and girding with sackcloth,</i> we
must by the outward expressions of inward sorrow <i>glorify God
with our bodies,</i> at least by laying aside their ornaments.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p16" shownumber="no">5. A general fast was proclaimed and
observed throughout that great city, <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.7-Jonah.3.9" parsed="|Jonah|3|7|3|9" passage="Jon 3:7-9"><i>v.</i> 7-9</scripRef>. It was ordered <i>by the
decree of the king and his nobles;</i> the whole legislative power
concurred in appointing it, and the whole body of the people
concurred in observing it, and in both these ways it became a
national act, and it was necessary that it should be so when it was
to prevent a national ruin. We have here the contents of this
proclamation, and it is very observable. See here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p17" shownumber="no">(1.) What it is that is required by it.
[1.] That the fast (properly so called) be very strictly observed.
On the day appointed for this solemnity, <i>let neither man or
beast taste any thing;</i> let them not take the least refreshment,
no, no so much as <i>drink water;</i> let them not plead that they
cannot fast so long without prejudice to their health, or that they
cannot bear it; let them try for once. What if they do feel it an
uneasiness, and feel from it for some time after? It is better to
submit to that than be wanting in any act or instance of that
repentance which is necessary to save a sinking city. Let them make
themselves uneasy in body by <i>putting on sackcloth,</i> as well
as by fasting, to show how uneasy they are in mind, through sorrow
for sin and the fear of divine wrath. Even the <i>beasts</i> must
do penance as well as man, because they have been made <i>subject
to vanity</i> as instruments of man's sin, and that, either by
their complaints or their silent pining for want of meat, they
might stir up their owners, and those that attended them, to the
expressions of sorrow and humiliation. Those cattle that were kept
within doors must not be fed and watered as usual, because no meat
must be stirring on that day. Things of that kind must be
forgotten, and not minded. As when the psalmist was intent upon the
praises of God he called upon the inferior creatures to join with
him therein, so when the Ninevites were full of sorrow for sin, and
dread of God's judgments, they would have the inferior creatures
concur with them in the expressions of penitence. The beasts that
used to be covered with rich and fine trappings, which were the
pride of their masters, and theirs too, must now be <i>covered with
sackcloth;</i> for the great men will (as becomes them) lay aside
their equipage. [2.] With their fasting and mourning they must join
prayer and supplication to God; for the fasting is designed to fit
the body for the service of the soul in the duty of prayer, which
is the main matter, and to which the other is but preparatory or
subservient. <i>Let them cry mightily to God;</i> let even the
brute creatures do it according to their capacity; let their cries
and moans for want of food be graciously construed as cries to God,
as the cries of the <i>young ravens</i> are (<scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.38.41" parsed="|Job|38|41|0|0" passage="Job 38:41">Job xxxviii. 41</scripRef>), and of the <i>young
lions,</i> <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.104.21" parsed="|Ps|104|21|0|0" passage="Ps 104:21">Ps. civ. 21</scripRef>.
But especially let the men, women, and children, <i>cry to God;</i>
let them <i>cry mightily</i> for the pardon of the sins which cry
against them. It was time to cry to God when there was but a step
between them and ruin—high time to seek the Lord. In prayer we
must cry mightily, with a fixedness of thought, firmness of faith,
and fervour of pious and devout affections. By crying mightily we
wrestle with God; we take hold of him; and we are concerned to do
so when he is not only departing from us as a friend, but coming
forth against us as an enemy. It therefore concerns us in prayer to
stir up all that is within us. Yet this is not all; [3.] They must
to their fasting and praying add reformation and amendment of life:
<i>Let them turn every one from his evil way,</i> the evil way he
has chosen, the evil way he is addicted to, and walks in, the evil
way of his heart, and the evil way of his conversation, and
particularly <i>from the violence that is in their hands;</i> let
them restore what they had unjustly taken, and make reparation for
what wrong they have done, and let them not any more oppress those
they have power over nor defraud those they have dealings with;
let the men in authority, at the court-end of the town, turn
<i>from the violence that is in their hands,</i> and not <i>decree
unrighteous decrees,</i> nor give wrong judgment upon appeals made
to them. Let the men of business, at the trading-end of the town,
turn <i>from the violence in their hands,</i> and use no unjust
weights or measures, nor impose upon the ignorance or necessity of
those they trade with. Note, It is not enough to fast for sin, but
we must fast from sin, and, in order to the success of our prayers,
must no more <i>regard iniquity in our hearts,</i> <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p17.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.66.18" parsed="|Ps|66|18|0|0" passage="Ps 66:18">Ps. lxvi. 18</scripRef>. This is <i>the only
fast that God has chosen</i> and will accept, <scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p17.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.6 Bible:Zech.7.5 Bible:Zech.7.9" parsed="|Isa|58|6|0|0;|Zech|7|5|0|0;|Zech|7|9|0|0" passage="Isa 58:6,Zec 7:5,9">Isa. lviii. 6; Zech. vii. 5, 9</scripRef>. The
work of a fast-day is not done with the day; no, then the hardest
and most needful part of the work begins, which is to turn from
sin, and to live a new life, and not return with the dog to his
vomit.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p18" shownumber="no">(2.) Upon what inducement this fast is
proclaimed and religiously observed (<scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.9" parsed="|Jonah|3|9|0|0" passage="Jon 3:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>). <i>Who can tell if God will turn
and repent?</i> Observe, [1.] What it is that they hope for—that
God will, upon their repenting and turning, change his way towards
them and revoke his sentence against them, that he will <i>turn
from his fierce anger,</i> which they own they deserve and yet
humbly and earnestly deprecate, and that thus their ruin will be
prevented, and they perish not. They cannot object against the
equity of the judgment, they pretend not to set it aside by
appealing to a higher court, but hope in God himself, that he will
repent, and that his own mercy (to which they fly) <i>shall rejoice
against judgment.</i> They believe that God is justly angry with
them, that, their sin being very heinous, his anger is very fierce,
and that, if he proceed against them, there is no remedy, but they
die, they perish, they all perish, and are undone; for who knows
the power of his anger? It is not therefore the threatened
overthrow that they pray for the prevention of, but the anger of
God that they pray for the turning away of. As when we pray for the
favour of God we pray for all good, so when we pray against the
wrath of God we pray against all evil. [2.] What degree of hope
they had of it: <i>Who can tell if God will turn to us?</i> Jonah
had not told them; they had not among them any other prophets to
tell them, so that they could not be so confident of finding mercy
upon their repentance as we may be, who have the promise and oath
of God to depend upon, and especially the merit and mediation of
Christ to trust to, for pardon upon repentance. Yet they had a
general notion of the goodness of God's nature, his mercy to man,
and his being pleased with the repentance and conversion of
sinners; and from this they raised some hopes that he would spare
them; they dare not presume, but they will not despair. Note, Hope
of mercy is the great encouragement to repentance and reformation;
and though there be but some glimmerings of hope mixed with great
fears arising from a sense of our own sinfulness, and unworthiness,
and long abuse of divine patience, yet they may serve to quicken
and engage our serious repentance and reformation. Let us boldly
cast ourselves at the footstool of free grace, resolving that if we
perish, we will perish there; yet who knows but God will look upon
us with compassion?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jonah.iv-p19" shownumber="no">II. Here is a wonder of divine mercy in the
sparing of these Ninevites upon their repentance (<scripRef id="Jonah.iv-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Jonah.3.10" parsed="|Jonah|3|10|0|0" passage="Jon 3:10"><i>v.</i> 10</scripRef>): <i>God saw their
works;</i> he not only heard their good words, by which they
professed repentance, but saw their good works, by which they
brought forth <i>fruits meet for repentance;</i> he saw that they
<i>turned from their evil way,</i> and that was the thing he looked
for and required. If he had not seen that, their fasting and
sackcloth would have been as nothing in his account. He saw there
was among them a general conviction of their sins and a general
resolution not to return to them, and that for some days they lived
better, and there was a new face of things upon the city; and this
he was well pleased with. Note, God takes notice of every instance
of the reformation of sinners, even those instances that fall not
under the cognizance and observation of the world. He sees who turn
from their evil way and who do not, and meets those with favour
that meet him in a sincere conversion. When they repent of the evil
of sin committed by them he repents of the evil of judgment
pronounced against them. Thus he spared Nineveh, and <i>did not the
evil which he said he would do against it.</i> Here were no
sacrifices offered to God, that we read of, to make atonement for
sin, but the <i>sacrifice of God is a broken spirit; a broken and
contrite heart,</i> such as the Ninevites now had, is what he
<i>will not despise;</i> it is what he will give countenance to and
put honour upon.</p>
</div></div2>