And from the violence which is in his hands. It is true repentance and true faith when the works correspond to it. We must not relapse from faith again into unholy living and deceive ourselves into thinking that we truly believe.
9. Who knows, God may fret repent? The question here is: "Why should they doubt if they had true faith?" For if they had not hoped for grace and mercy from God, they would not have shown and expressed this hope by those works. This is the matter which I have discussed above: There is a conflict between faith and despair. For in temptation, when God seems to be our enemy and to be angry with us, faith feels its strife with despair. However, faith does not yield to despair.
10. God s0aw what they did. The preceding verse, as I said, explains this verse. They believed God's Word, and by turning away from their wickedness they proved their internal faith by their external works.
On account of their faith, which was the fountain and source of the works, God looked favorably on the works of these saints. Otherwise (Rom. 14:23): "Whatever does not proceed from faith is sin." When the heart is impure and unbelieving, works do not please God, no matter how magnificent they are. The Holy
Spirit teaches this very clearly in Scripture in the story of Cain and Abel, Gen. 4.
THE beginning of this chapter seems to be said in anticipation of the events, because the same things are repeated later when Jonah returns1 to the sequence of the narrative. It is a characteristic of the Hebrew language to have a repetitious arrangement and to repeat the same thing frequently, as in Ps. 1:4: "Like chaff which the wind drives it away from the earth." In this prayer the pronoun "it" is clearly superfluous.
What the Hebrew language does in such a short statement it also does in the long fabric of speech, as can be seen in Deuteronomy, where Moses often employs a plethora of words in describing some event. Later he usually repeats the whole thing in the same context. In this way I think that this verse at the beginning of this chapter has been said in anticipation of the events, so that this is the real sequence of the narrative:
God saw their works because they had been converted from their evil way, and He did not bring misfortune upon them. Jonah did not say these words at the beginning, but after a few days he said them after he had completed his preaching and had observed that the disaster which he had predicted did not develop. Then follows the incident described at the beginning of this chapter: while Jonah was waiting for a few days and the thing he had predicted did not happen, because the people of Nineveh were regaining their senses, he "was with great distress." The force of the Hebrew word is more like this: "Grievous trouble (העָָרָָ) did this provide for Jonah." Christ also used this word in Matt. 6:34: "Let the day's trouble be sufficient for the day." Jonah was so troubled because, before he came to Nineveh, he had underestimated the Lord's power when he had been terrified by the danger of death, as I mentioned above.
A second reason was that he did not want those people to be saved, etc. He was so angry because the Assyrians, the destroyers of God's people, were not being destroyed. Here again we see an example of what I said at the beginning of this prophet and have said often in other places and Scripture everywhere expresses: There still remain in the saints remnants of the flesh, and the saints do not get rid of them until that old Adam is completely destroyed. There is a fine passage in Acts 14:15, where Barnabas and Paul say: "We also are human beings, subject to the same troubles as you are." And the author of the Epistle of James says about Elijah (James 5:17): "Elijah was a man of like nature with ourselves." Those men had flesh and blood just as we have. And so, no matter how holy they were, still they sometimes lapsed in very disgraceful ways because of the weakness of the flesh, just as Jonah here, although tested in a marvelous way and exercised in his faith, still is not able to submit his will to the divine will with joy. The most excellent and highest God wanted to save the people of Nineveh; Jonah did not feel that way, but rather was irate and grumbling. Truly no suffering, no temptation is adequate for putting the old man completely to death; that old Adam does not stop being like2 himself, no matter how great the temptation may be, until he finally perishes completely, when the entire old man will be choked to death once and for all.
These things have been written for our comfort so that, just as divine mercy did not impute sin to them, be it ever so great, because they were the elect and were planted in the kingdom of grace, so neither will it impute sin to us, Rom. 8:1, 28: "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ
Jesus, for whom all things work together for good." And just as those were saved under the shadow of the Lord's hand, so also let us not despair of being saved, even if we feel the oldness of the flesh remaining in us. This flesh will not cease to exist for us (just as it did not cease to exist for the most saintly) so long as that old Adam is not completely destroyed. Meanwhile let us cling to our Head, Christ. And this is the - 12 proclamation of the kingdom of grace, that even if there is sin left in the saints (and it cannot be otherwise), still it is not counted against them but forgiven, just as they pray every day, etc.
2. Is not this what I said? The Hebrew word רבָָדָָּּ means "a cause, a thing, a word." It is used in this way in Deut. 16:19: "A bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the cause of the righteous," that is, bribes overturn just "causes." This is the sense in which Jonah uses the word here. The Romans would say simply: "When I was still in my land, this is 'the reason' why I started to flee to the sea."
That Thou art a gracious God and merciful. In the Psalms these two words are often joined. And the same word which is here translated "mercy" (םחַַרָָ) is also used by Moses in Ex. 33:19, which the apostle
Paul cites Rom. 9:15: "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy."
And abounding in steadfast love. This word basically denotes kindness. Christ also used this word in the Gospel (Matt. 9:13): "I desire mercy, and not sacrifice," that is, "I want you to be helpful to others."
And repentest of evil. God rises above evil, God is greater than the evil. God is the one who is accustomed to call back the punishment which He had decided to inflict. All these words are surely words of faith; to be able to grasp and imagine that God is this way, this certainly is life and salvation. Although this healthy and genuine faith is in Jonah, still he is angry with God. Flesh and spirit coexist in this way.
Such is the battle within the saints, and there is no truce in this war, as I mentioned above.
3. Take my life from me, I beseech Thee. Also these are words of a great spirit desiring to be destroyed, seeking death; but this is also a fleshly desire, for he feared disgrace, since things did not turn out the way he had predicted by the Word of God.
4. Do you do well to be angry? This implies the answer no.
5. Then Jonah went out of the city. At this point he resumes the narrative. If all the events that follow in this chapter need to agree with the things preceding, they would have to be connected this way: "For Jonah had left the city, etc." Notice the wonderful tolerance and mercy of the excellent and most high
God. Notice the wonderful attractiveness of the Divine Majesty, how He handled and played with foolish, angry Jonah when He endured his anger and convicted him on the basis of his own opinion. This is the gentle, fatherly way to handle sinners. Here we certainly have a singular example of divine mercy toward those people who, although they have been justified, still sin. Notice how He winks at, how He quarrels with, Jonah's grumbling, so that Jonah might give up his anger and stop being angry and grumbling.
Divine goodness prepares a tent or a little hut for him. By sitting beneath this, he would have pleasant shade until the heat of the sun should abate.
6. That it might save him. The reading in the Hebrew is: "so that it might rescue him from his trouble."
This idea can be understood in two different ways. One opinion is that the Lord prepared ivy to grow above Jonah, so that the shade of the ivy would delight him and save him from his trouble, namely, from his affliction, so that the conversion of the people of Nineveh would not trouble Jonah anymore. For this is the same Hebrew word as above.3 The other interpretation is the one which is more pleasing to me, that the Lord convicted Jonah and punished him for his spiteful feeling, so that He might lead him, taught and refuted by his own example, to confess his foolish anger and grumbling. I prefer this second explanation.
If someone else prefers the first one, let him adopt it. Incidentally, there has been a truly strange, cold controversy among holy men in the church about the noun "ivy." This is the way Jerome translated it, although the old translation before Jerome had had "gourd." Nothing is gained by fighting over a matter of no importance, since the Hebrew word means neither "ivy" nor "gourd," but it is the name of a tree unknown to us but indigenous to that region. But Jerome gives a reason for his translating it "ivy." For this explanation, consult the commentaries of Jerome.4
7. God appointed a worm. By doing this the Lord wished to stop the unjust anger of Jonah. Moreover, the Divine Majesty did this in a very fatherly, kind way, as I have mentioned.
So that he was faint. The Hebrew word properly means "he was overcome by the heat." The Germans say verschmachten ("faint away"). It is the same word5 as in Amos 8:13: "The fair virgins and the young men shall faint for thirst."
8. He asked that he might die. At this point Jonah resumes the narrative, for I do not think that the Lord said twice to Jonah, "You are not doing the right thing by being angry, are you?"
9. I do well to be angry. Notice the peevish grumbling, which was unwilling to yield to his good sense.
Certainly Jonah is a strange prophet. When he is castigated by the Lord, his anger increased. In this way sin is usually increased by sin; in this way one sin gives rise to another sin.
10. You pity the ivy, for which you did not labor. "You have pity on your ivy, which has now withered, which you, a mere human being, did not provide. Although you did not provide it, you are angry that it has been eaten by a worm. I, who am God, who created Nineveh and the people and the numerous animals in that city, should I not pity it, should I not be patient with it, should I not rejoice over its salvation?" This is a wonderfully sweet expression of the Divine Majesty; this is a very complete promise of the imcomprehensible goodness and mercy of God. This shows how much God does not desire the death of a sinner; He desires rather that the sinner be converted and live (cf. Ezek. 33:11). These things assure us of God's grace: that He grieves about our destruction, He rejoices over our salvation, as the parable of the prodigal son in the gospel shows. In the same way as here, Christ said, Matt. 7:11: "If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven, etc.?"
11. Who do not know their right hand from their left. This is an idiom of the Hebrew language. We would say it differently, something like this: "They know nothing, neither this nor anything else." We say in German, "They do not know what is white or what is black." This means that they know nothing about salvation; they cannot distinguish between godliness and ungodliness; they do not have the Word of God.
And so if they only knew as much as you know, my dear Jonah, perhaps they would be better than you— as it also turned out. For when they had heard the preaching of Jonah, they were immediately converted and, believing the Word, they repented. Jonah all the while was murmuring against the Lord and staying angry.
I commend the following as an allegory for your meditation and careful attention. For Christ Himself in the gospel applies this example of Jonah to Himself. He indicates that Jonah pointed to Him when He says, Matt. 12:39–40: "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was, etc." This is an exceptionally wonderful story.
Even Christ seems to have been delighted with it, and this is evident in that very same chapter of Matthew.
When He mentions the men of Nineveh, Christ is surely speaking in a wonderful way about this story.
And so this story is well known in both Testaments. Christ came into "the sea," that is, into the world.
And when He had come into the world, "the sea" was disturbed because of Him, since the Son of God was received by some but not by others. He was devoured by "a large fish," that is, by Satan, the ruler of this world. For Satan and hell and death "swallowed" Christ when He was hanging on the cross, as if they would destroy Him, but He could not be held by them, for that was impossible, as Peter says, Acts 2:24.
And so it was necessary for Him "to be vomited up." He came back to life, and this became an opportunity for life, which before had been an opportunity for death. In this way death has become the door to life for us; disgrace has become the elevation to glory; condemnation and hell, the door to salvation. And this has happened through Christ, who was sinless, etc.
To Christ be praise and glory!
PREFACE TO THE PROPHET JONAH SINCE the prince of this world has sowed his tares everywhere and Germany has become glutted with factions and spirits through whom he not only seduces many but also turns those who remain faithful to many unprofitable and vain pursuits and thereby detracts them from Scripture and entices them into his disputes and thus, in the end, cunningly catches them off the base of Scripture and works their ruin; it is imperative that we recognize this sly and malicious attack and not become too engrossed in his altercations, lest he lure us far away from our defenses and our fortress and surreptitiously defeat us.
"For," as St. Paul declares, "we are not ignorant of his designs" (2 Cor. 2:11). And St. Peter informs us that the devil does not take a holiday but "prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour"
(1 Peter 5:8). For some time I have entered the lists and fought against these spirits and factions. Now that - 14 others have joined the fray, I have decided to take Scripture in hand again to feast our hearts, to strengthen, to comfort, and to arm them, lest fatigue and lassitude subdue us in our daily struggle. May
God grant me grace that we, by His Word and the comfort of Scripture, may be refreshed and invigorated to fight with ever greater courage.
I am impelled to do this not only in view of spirits and factions, with whom the devil attacks us on the right side, but also because of the tyranny with which he attacks us on the left side. For the mad bishops and princes, incited by their god, rave and rage in dead earnest and plainly purpose to expel God and His
Anointed and to exterminate His Word. They have already shed much innocent blood and are straining mightily to shed more. We have good reason to boast that Christendom is really coming into its own now, because it is pressed so hard from both sides, because it is being so foully damned, blasphemed, defamed, and mocked by both parties as it perhaps has never been before. This leads me to believe that the devil is trying his utmost today. He senses that the Day of Judgment is looming and is therefore determined in a final assault to employ his full power against Christ and His Word.
To endure that, we again stand in need of consolation, so that we will not be daunted but can intrepidly scorn their threats and their insolence and wrath, convinced that they are thereby most speedily expediting us to heaven and, at the same time, promptly cutting their own throats, convinced that they will, through the judgment of God, be reduced to ashes in a short time. It is a matter of a moment, and we will be viewing each other in a different light. Then the devil and his masked henchmen, that is, his princes and bishops, will find out who those are whom they at present revile, exile, and kill.
I have therefore chosen to expound the holy prophet Jonah, for he is indeed well suited for this situation and represents an excellent, outstanding, and comforting example of faith and a mighty and wonderful sign of God's goodness to all the world. For who would not trust God with all his heart, proudly defy all the devils, the world, and all the fulminating tyrants, and exult over God's kindness, when he contemplates this story and beholds how easily God's power and grace are able to preserve Jonah in the midst of the deep sea, even in the belly of the whale, thus saving him not only from one death but from various deaths, deserted and forgotten as he is by all men and all creatures? Apparently without effort God sustains Jonah and brings him back merely by uttering a word. It is as if God were saying: "Behold, this is what I can do with one word. In view of this, what do you suppose I could do with My Spirit and power?"
The human mind cannot conceive of a greater work than this. For that reason Christ Himself prizes this story so highly, citing this Jonah above all other prophets as an illustration of His own death and resurrection. In Matt. 12:39 He says: "No sign shall be given this generation except the sign of the prophet
Furthermore, Jonah is also an object of comfort for all who administer the Word. It teaches them not to despair of the fruit of the Gospel, no matter how badly it appears to be devoid of fruit and profit. For here a single man, Jonah, is dispatched to the mightiest king and the greatest kingdom of that day. When we compare the two, Jonah and this king, it impresses us as ridiculous and completely impossible that such a mighty king and such a powerful kingdom should be moved, converted, and frightened by the words of one weak individual, a stranger to boot, and by a message which the king himself did not even hear—he heard it only as a report. In view of this, I am tempted to say that no apostle or prophet, not even Christ
Himself, performed and accomplished with a single sermon the great things Jonah did. His conversion of the city of Nineveh with one sermon is surely as great a miracle as his rescue from the belly of the whale, if not an even greater one. For just as the whale had to spew Jonah forth in obedience to the words of God, so Jonah by the Word of God also tore the city of Nineveh from the belly and the jaws of the devil, that is, from sin and death. Would it not be reasonable to assume that such a king would rely on his great might and regard this one man a liar, a man whom even his own fellow Hebrews disobeyed? Thus the apostles and, as we hear in Ps. 2:2, even Christ Himself, were shamefully despised by kings and princes on earth.
And there are princes, bishops, and lords today who are veritable beggars compared with the king of Nineveh but who rely so vaingloriously on their tawdry beggary that they do not only despise the Word of God but also persecute it.
That is why Christ in Matt. 12:41 cites the men of Nineveh against all unbelievers and scorners of His Word, saying: "The men of Nineveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here." And that is not at all unfair, for it will forever stand as a great miracle that the people of Nineveh were converted so