Still hoping, as it would seem, that Nineveh may be overthrown, he constructs for himself a booth without the walls, and sits beneath its shade to watch the fate of the city, iv. 5.

God causes a shady plant to spring up quickly and cover his booth, so as to shelter him from the burning heat of the sun; but the comfort thus afforded him is speedily withdrawn by the sudden withering of the plant, iv. 6, 7.

His grief for the loss of the plant is made the occasion by God of rebuking his want of pity for Nineveh, and of justifying His own merciful compassion in sparing that great city with its teeming population and exceeding much cattle, iv. 8—11.

N

JONAH.

1-3. Fonah's Disobedience.

ow the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of 1 Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, a and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, and went down to Joppa; and he

CH. I. 1-3. JONAH'S DISOBEDIENCE.

1. Now the word, &c.] Lit., "And the word," &c. There is no reason to conclude from this that the Book of Jonah is only a fragment of a larger work. Many books of the Old Testament begin with "And." In some cases (e. g. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, 2 Samuel) they do so, because the writer wishes to mark the fact that the book so commencing is a continuation, a second or third volume so to speak, of what he has written before. In other cases, as here and in Ezekiel i. 1, the author begins his work with the words, "And it was,' "And it came to pass," because, though he may have written nothing before himself, yet there is a reference in his own mind to the national records that had gone before, and he consciously takes up the thread of past history. See Maurer on Ezek. i. 1.

2. Nineveh] On the E. bank of the Tigris, the capital of the ancient kingdom and empire of Assyria, and "the most magnificent of all the capitals of the ancient world." The building of it is mentioned as early as Gen. x. II. In the time of Jonah it appears to have been at the zenith of its glory.

that great city] See note on c. iii. 3, and Note B.

3. Tarshish] Probably Tartessus, an ancient mercantile city of the Phoenicians, in the S. of Spain, of which the site is supposed to have been "between the two arms by which the Guadalquivir flowed into the sea. See Smith's Bib. Dict. Art. Tarshish. "God bid him go to Nineveh, which lay North-East from his home, and he instantly set himself to flee to the then furthermost West."-Pusey.

from the presence of the Lord] This may mean from standing before the Lord or being in His presence, as His servant or minister (Deut. x. 8, Kings xvii. 1, Matthew xviii. 10, Luke i. 19. See Dr Pusey, Commentary on Jonah, p. 247, note d.); i. e. he renounced his office of prophet rather

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