others, however, do not praise God but rather want to be praised and acclaimed by God for having served and benefited Him greatly with their works. Jonah had possessed this knowledge of the grace of God also prior to this, although not in the same measure in which he has now acquired it in the tempest. For here he truly realizes that God respects no person and no merit, since He helps such unworthy sinners. Before this
Jonah was also steeped in the delusion that God esteemed the person and his work, particularly that of the people of Israel. Even now he has not entirely divested himself of this.
Jonah's declaration "What I have vowed I will pay" does not imply that he had pledged anything in particular. For we read nothing of that, nor do we find any reference to this in the thoughts he expressed while in the belly of the whale. All we find there is his prayer, We have to familiarize ourselves with the language of Scripture. Where the dear saints speak about a vow and about paying a vow, they do not have a specific vow of their own in mind but the general vow of all who constitute God's people. In that vow we pledge that we will have no other god than Him alone. For that reason the words "to pay what I have vowed" have no other significance than to confess, to praise, and to proclaim the Lord and thus to honor and to serve Him, as we have it in Ps. 50:14: "Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High"; and in Ps. 116:14: "I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people."
In that manner Jonah, too, resolves to pay his vow, that is, he is determined to laud and to preach Him as his only God because he has received help.
10. And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
To say that God does and effects all things by means of speaking or through the agency of words is fully in accord with Scripture. In John 1:3 we read: "All things were made through the Word, and without the Word was not anything made that was made"; and in Ps. 33:9: "For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood forth." Thus the fish was kept from digesting Jonah. Not only was the digestive process of nature in the fish suspended, but the fish also had to vomit the food out again; it had to disgorge
Jonah and return him to land unharmed. Thus God worked great miracles in Jonah. Now the former order of things is reversed: What a moment ago served the purpose of death must now serve to further life. The fish who was but recently the tool of death must now be life's implement; it must be a gateway to life, though just a short time before it held Jonah captive and consigned him to death. The ocean, too, must make way for Jonah and give its guest free access to the land. The roots of the mountains no longer hold him; earth's bars are pushed aside; the weeds cover him no more, etc. All of this is a source of comfort and confidence for us. It teaches us to rely on God, with whom life and death are alike. They are both trivial to Him, playthings as it were, as He bestows the one and takes the other, or exchanges one for the other. But for us these are momentous and impossible things, which God employs to display His power and skill to us, as Ps. 104 declares.7
1–2. Then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying: Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city.
THIS is written that we may guard against undertaking anything without God's word and command.
The first command of God had been nullified by Jonah's disobedience. Thus if God had not repeated His order, Jonah would not have known whether or not he was still to execute it. He might have shared the experience of the children of Israel (Num. 14:1 ff.; Deut. 1:41 ff.), who at first refused to comply with God's command to fight and later presumed to do this on their own responsibility and then suffered defeat because of their presumption. It is utterly futile and wrong for man to undertake a project of his own choosing and will without God's command and word. Moreover, this second commission contains the added command to preach what God tells him. Thus both the office and the Word employed in the office must be comprehended in the divine command. If that is done, the work will prosper and bear fruit. But when men run without God's command or proclaim other messages than God's Word, they work nothing but harm. Jeremiah, too, drives both these facts home, saying (Jer. 23:21): "I did not send the prophets, yet they ran; I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied." You who are to preach, impress these two points on your minds! Note them well! They are directed to you and the people; they enable you to instruct souls.
Peter also emphasized these two facts (1 Peter 4:11): "Whoever speaks, as one who utters oracles of God; whoever renders service, as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies," so that he may be sure that both the Word and the office are divine and commanded by God. For it is decreed that whenever
God speaks, it comes to be (Ps. 33:9), that all things are to come to pass by His Word (John 1:3).
- 36 Therefore "every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up" (Matt. 15:13). Even if they are planted and begin to sprout, they will not reach the state of fruition. Thus man's petty baubles may have their day, but they work havoc and do not effect their purpose; after they have run their course and wrought enough harm, they perish.
3. Nineveh was a city of God,1 three days' journey in breadth.
Why does Jonah call Nineveh "a city of God"? After all, it did not possess the divine worship, the temple, or the prophets. I assume that it is called thus in view of the fact that God befriends it, that He is loath to destroy it, that He solicitously dispatches a prophet to the city for its salvation. The city must have believed in the true God and Creator of heaven and earth. God also knew in advance that the people of Nineveh would give ear to His prophet, accept the Word, and repent. Thus Scripture also relates that God helped Syria through Naaman (2 Kings 5:1) and that God called the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar,
His servant (Jer. 25:9), to indicate that He is also the God of the Gentiles and not only the God of the Jews, that He had His children also among the former.
The remark that Nineveh was a city of "three days' journey in breadth" is interpreted by some to mean that this refers to its circumference, that it required three days to walk around it. Well, I'll let those people have their interpretation, but this would have to be a nice little town indeed, with encircling walls measuring between 12 and 15 German miles. It would indeed have to be 5 or 6 miles long and wide. I understand these words to mean that Nineveh was so large that one needed three days to traverse all its streets, not chasing, but with a leisurely gait such as one usually adopts when strolling on a street. For later on (v. 4) we read that Jonah walked a day's journey into the city and preached. That, I believe, indicates that it was a city which one can leisurely traverse in a day. The word ְךלֲה ָָמַ, transitus ("traversal"), would tend to support this view. This refers to an entry such as a person may make back and forth in a city. Thus Moses states in Ex. 11:4–5 that the Lord went forth about midnight in the midst of Egypt and slew all the firstborn. Such a walk does not imply a beeline course, but a walk hither and yon, here and there. However, everyone may adopt whatever view he will.
4. And he cried: Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!
Jonah goes into the city "a day's journey" and preaches. It is not known, however, how many days he spent before he covered that area with his message. His sermon is briefly summarized in the words: "In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown." Undoubtedly he did not confine himself to these words, but he must have enlarged on the themes why such wrath of God would overtake them, what sorts of wickedness were rampant in the city, how one should be a godly person, and all that is involved in this. We are still in the habit of summarizing a sermon today, saying, for example: "He preached on sin," or, "He preached on the Mass."
5. And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.
I hold that none but saints inhabited the city and that Jonah rightly called it "a city of God." Show me another city in the wide world comparable to Nineveh, even if it were the holy city Jerusalem. Just look at this city! Jonah preached only a day's journey, and not every citizen heard him; yet they were all converted. Neither Christ nor all the apostles and prophets were ever able to bring Jerusalem to that point by means of their words and their miracles, though they ministered to it for a long time and preached from one end of the city to the other. God might exclaim here, too, as Christ did in Matt. 8:10 about the centurion: "Not even in Israel have I found such faith." Yes, in the days of Jonah Israel and Jerusalem were very wicked as Nineveh turned to God. If Jerusalem had done this, as it did in the days of David,
Solomon, Ezekiel, and Josiah, it would not have been so miraculous, since it had the Law, many prophets, many God-fearing kings, princes, priests, and other excellent people who daily preached and admonished.
However, at the time of Jonah Nineveh was the best and greatest city on earth, a city without equal.
The sophists usually apply this passage of the prophet Jonah to works, saying: "There you see that God regards the works and that the people of Nineveh merit grace by virtue of them, heathen and unbelievers though they are. Free will can indeed prepare itself for grace with works, etc." I retort: Jonah anticipated such inane talk when he first of all praised the faith of these people before referring to their works, saying: "The people of Nineveh believed God." The sophists deftly flit across such a verse and glibly point us to the works. Furthermore, Jonah calls Nineveh "a city of God." To be a city of God and to believe in God surely precludes that free will performed these works, but it forces us to concede that - 37 God's grace and faith effected them, and that they were acceptable to God by reason of such grace and of such faith. In this way these people gave outward evidence of faith and of grace in their hearts; it demonstrated the fruit which Jonah's sermon had brought about. And what might further displease God if the heart harbors faith and grace? Even the residue of sins can work no harm any longer.
Take note that the people of Nineveh do some things that God does not command them. Yet Jonah relates this. For instance, they fast and put on sackcloth. What does God care about fasting and sackcloth?
He wants the heart; He wants to see a person's whole life transformed. Also, God did not demand these things from them through Jonah. All He asked was that they cease their villainy. A person may go about dressed in sackcloth and fast and yet be a knave in his skin, as the monks in their cowls are. Therefore
Jonah does not praise their fasting and their sackcloth later on, but he reports that "they turned from their evil way" (v. 10). The idea of wearing sackcloth and of fasting was transmitted to them by their ancestors who habitually humbled themselves before their god in that manner. The same applies to the fact that the king with his princes sat down in ashes and foolishly decreed that also the beasts, the herds and the flocks, should abstain from eating and drinking, that they, too, should be covered with sackcloth and cry to God.
Who ever heard that dumb animals should fast, put on sack-cloth, and call to God? Is God interested in any such actions of beasts?
Fasting and sackcloth of animals is, admittedly, just as valid before God as that of man; and, conversely, fasting and sackcloth of man is just as valid as that of animals. A fearful heart, a humble and frightened conscience, may of course also do foolish things to evidence its intense seriousness. If it were possible, I suppose, such a heart and conscience would coerce stone and wood to mourn and force all creatures to join it in weeping. And yet it would seem that even this would be inadequate. It is impossible to express and to comprehend in what deadly earnest a contrite heart really is. It supposes that the whole world must be like-minded and do as it does. St. Paul expresses this aptly in Rom. 8:26 when he calls the Spirit's sighing "too deep for words." And David declares in Ps. 32:3 that he had "roared" like a lion as he sighed in his heart, that is, the contrite sighing of his heart was so strong and vehement that it sounded like an angry lion. When God observes such earnest intent, He is satisfied, and He is pleased to look benevolently at such foolish things, which He would not be disposed to do in the absence of such earnestness. Therefore it was with the powerful stroke of a master that Jonah exalted the contrition and the penitence of the people of Nineveh as intense, sincere, and active.
If the sophists insist on glorifying the works as enjoying validity before God, we shall not prevent them; however, then let them see to it that they also laud the zeal that gave birth to these works. For if they view and accept these works only per se, devoid of such earnestness, comparable to the customary works performed in cloisters and churches, particularly during Lent and Holy Week, then these are indeed found to be sheer buffoonery, as if one were to bid the beasts fast, confess their sins, and pray without any concomitant penitence on the part of man. That accomplishes nothing, for that is to mock God and provoke Him to still greater wrath. Therefore eschew such works by all means, or pursue them with genuine earnestness of heart. Free will or our own power cannot impart such earnestness; this is done by faith bestowed by the strength of the Holy Spirit. We observe here that the people of Nineveh do not stop short with these silly acts, but they go beyond fasting and the bellowing of beasts and attack the real issue, commanding: "Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence which is in his hands." One is so prone to praise the good works of these people and ignore the attendant injunction to piety. In that way you offer nothing but chaff without the grain, husks without sap, shells without the kernel; and God must be your fool and object of derision. Let people first show piety and perform the good works of which they boast, and then our quarrel will automatically cease. But now they squabble about good works, none of which they intend to do or are able to do. They incessantly prate about them and claim to excel in them.
"To cover oneself with sackcloth" is a Hebrew expression. It means to put on plain clothes, bare of any ornaments, such as mourners habitually wear. It does not necessarily imply the wearing of floursacks or sackcloth. In Jer. 4:28 (cf. Is. 50:3) we read: "I clothe the heavens with blackness, and make sackcloth their covering," that is, "I shall cover the heavens with clouds and thus darken them." And in Rev. 6:12
John says: "The sun became black as sackcloth." In that way the beasts here also cover themselves with sackcloth figuratively, that is, they must mourn and put on a sad mien. Similarly, when the Hebrew uses the words "bread and water," he thinks of eating and drinking. "To sit in ashes" means to humble oneself and not to strut haughtily and in an overbearing way. It does not imply that they literally had to confine
- 38 themselves to bread and water or that they really had to squat in ashes in front of the stove or the hearth.
No, since there is no simpler food and beverage than bread and water and no plainer material than sackcloth and no humbler place than in the ashes, these terms represent all sorts of simple fare, clothing, and places. Thus Isaiah addresses Babylon and says (Is. 47:1): "Come down and sit in ashes, O virgin daughter of Babylon."
9. Who knows, God may yet repent and turn from His fierce anger, etc.
Here the king talks as though he were in doubt and uncertain whether or not God would be gracious to them, whereas faith demands conviction, or it is no faith. However, he does not really doubt; otherwise he would not have deported himself as he did; for doubt does not cry to God and does not manifest such earnestness. This is the way it goes: A truly contrite heart wrestles with fear and with doubt and has not yet gained a full victory. That is why it speaks as though it were uncertain. But it really sounds just as if it had not yet fought its way through to complete victory but were still engaged in the struggle and distress.
If there were no faith, it would never be able to stand its ground in this struggle and distress. Therefore these words are, rather, evidence of faith, but of a faith that trembles with fear and that still contends for mastery, but that all the while keeps God's grace before its eyes, saying: "God may yet repent and turn from His fierce anger, etc.," that is, grace still hovers in the background, and all is not wrath.
It is superfluous to enter on the subtle question here how God can repent, turn from and regret His anger, since He is unchangeable. Some people are deeply concerned about this; they complicate the matter for themselves unnecessarily. Let us, rather, observe what a fine faith dwelt in these people, who did not only believe Jonah's announcement that the city would perish but also sought comfort in God's mercy, although they had no promise of this from Jonah, for they heard nothing but his threat. It is, in the first place, a marvelous thing that such a powerful city and king become alarmed so soon, that they stand in such great awe of God, that they humble themselves so deeply before one man's single sermon, and that they do not pause to ponder why just they should stand condemned as sinners before all other cities in the world. How obstinately Sodom and Gomorrah withstood Lot! How obdurately Pharaoh resisted Moses and Aaron! How hardened Jerusalem remained against Christ and the apostles! How furiously Rome raged and raved against all Christians! How princes and bishops still defy the Gospel! Indeed, the whole world is composed of nothing but knaves, yes, devils, when compared with these people of Nineveh. The latter appear as pure angels next to the former.
It is, in the second place, still more remarkable that they do not despair in their fear and fright, though they have no promise of mercy. My dear man, what mainstay do they have to hold despair off? We have so many prophets, so many apostles, so many writings, so many books, pastors, and comforting words, and yet we do not trust in God aright. The plenitude of our possession of God's Word might be called an ocean over against the little drop which they had. For they could not have heard more of God's Word than the news that He is the Creator of heaven and earth, that He is the true God, that is, that He is gracious and merciful. This little fragment of information they use to such good advantage for their salvation that they put both Jews and Christians to shame. These do not utilize their superfluity of God's Word half as well.
For that reason Christ cites their example for the Jews and all of us in Matt. 12:41, 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 remonstrance is very fair, for we do not show one half the zeal, though we are admonished with so many thousands of threats and promises; and the people of Nineveh demonstrate such a rich faith, though they are frightened by only a single word of threat and though they are without the solace of one word of promise. But that's the way it goes: Where the Word of God grows sparsely, there the hunger for it and the earnestness with which it is sought are strong; but where it flourishes abundantly, there a satiety and a disdain for it are found.
10. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, etc.
Here, yes, here the works are lauded. What are we to say against that? Here the work-righteous have carried the day. Far from it! Scrutinize the text! It reads: "God saw what they did," that is, God was pleased with what they did. And what did they do? The prophet mentions it himself: "They turned from their evil way." If you perform and teach that type of work, we are not only willing to listen to your exalting it, but we will join you in your praise of it. "To turn from one's evil way" is not a trivial work; it does not involve fasting and wearing sackcloth, but believing in God with all one's heart and loving the neighbor as one's self; that is, it demands piety and righteousness in one's whole being, both inwardly and