Commentary on Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah and Nahum John Calvin (continued)
MINOR PROPHETS
against God; and such was the fault of Jonah; for he says that death was better to him than life, --- and why? because the Lord had spared the Ninevites. We hence see how he was blinded, yea, carried away by a mad impulse to desire death.
Let us then learn so to love this life as to be prepared to lay it down whenever the Lord pleases: let us also learn to desire death, but so as to live to the Lord, and to proceed in the race set before use until he himself lead us to its end. Now follows the reproof of God ---
Jonah 4:4
4. Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?
4. Et dixit Jehova, An bene facis excandescendo apud te? 130
There is no doubt but that God by thus reproving Jonah condemns his intemperate warmth. But since God alone is a fit judge of man's conduct, there is no reason for us to boast that we are influenced by good intentions; for there is nothing more fallacious than our own balances. When therefore we weigh facts, deeds, and thoughts by our own judgment, we deceive ourselves. Were any disposed rhetorically to defend the conduct of Jonah, he might certainly muster up many specious pretenses; and were any one inclined to adduce excuses for Jonah, he might be made to appear to us altogether innocent: but though the whole world absolved him, what would it avail, since he was condemned by the mouth of God himself, who alone, as I have already stated, is the judge? We ought then to feel assured, that Jonah had done foolishly, even if no reason was apparent to us; for the authority of the Supreme
Judge ought to be more than sufÏcient.
Now God expressly condemns his wrath. Had Jonah modestly expostulated, and unburdened his griefs into the bosom of God, it would have been excusable; though his ardor would not have been free from blame, it might yet have been borne with.
But now, when he is angry, it is past endurance; for wrath, as one says, is but short madness; and then it blinds the perceptions of men, it disturbs all the faculties of the soul. God then does not here in a slight manner condemn Jonah, but he shows how grievously he had fallen by allowing himself to become thus angry. We must at the same time remember, that Jonah had sinned not only by giving way to anger; he might have sinned, as we have said, without being angry. But God by this circumstance --- that he thus became turbulent, enhances his sin. And it is certainly a most
130This clause has been variously rendered. The original words are these, {{}לך{. }חרה{ ההיטבIt is not to the point to say, as Dr. Henderson does, that the first word is sometimes rendered adverbially, as meaning ``greatly,'' etc.; for in other places it is rendered as a verb, ``to be good,'' or ``to do good.'' It depends wholly on the form of the sentence what rendering is the most suitable. Both the construction of the words and the connection of the passage seem to favor the literal rendering. The first {}הis the an of the Latin, whether, it is an interrogation. Then the rendering is, ``Whether it is good,'' or, ``Is that good?'' Jonah had said before that it was ``good'' for him to die rather than to live; for it is the same word in a different form --- {`` }מחיי{, }מותי{ }טוב{ }כיfor good my death rather than my life.'' Then the question to him is, ``Is it good that thou art wrathful,'' or literally, ``that wrath is to thee?'' the verb ,{}חרהas in the first verse, is to be construed impersonally. The rendering, ``Art thou much vexed?'' is pointless and vapid. It is indeed countenanced by the Septuagint; but we must remember that on some points there is a wrong leaning in that version, and this is one of those points. As in the case of Jerome and the early
Fathers, there was a disposition and an attempt to lessen and even to obliterate all the faults and defects of the ancient saints, so it was evidently with the authors of this version. Superstition and Pharisaism must have all their saints perfect, while the word of God represents all true saints as imperfect in the present state, but aiming at, and longing for, perfection, and fully expecting to enjoy it hereafter. The version of Newcome is, ``Doest thou well that thine anger is kindled?'' Kindling or heat, that is, of anger or wrath, is the ideal meaning of the verb. Junius and Tremelius, as well as Dathius, consider that anger, and not grief is meant.
Dr. Adam Clarke's version is this, ``Is anger good for thee?'' which is certainly very literal; or, as the verb is in the causative mood, it might be rendered, ``Can anger do good to thee?'' It may be doubted whether here, and in the ninth verse, where the same phrase twice occurs, this rendering is the most obvious and natural. --- Ed.