Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Jonah
Book: Jonah
Chapter: 3
Overview:
Jonah sent again to
Nineveh, preaches there.
(1-4) Nineveh is
spared upon the
Repentance of the inhabitants.
(5-10)
1-4 God employs
Jonah again in his service. His making use of
us is an evidence of his being at peace with us.
Jonah was not
disobedient, as he had been. He neither endeavoured to avoid
hearing the command, nor declined to obey it. See here the
nature of
Repentance; it is the change of our mind and way, and
a return to our work and duty. Also, the benefit of affliction;
it brings those back to their place who had deserted it. See the
power of Divine
Grace, for affliction of itself would rather
drive men from
God, than draw them to him.
God's servants must
go where he sends them, come when he calls them, and do what he
bids them; we must do whatever the
Word of the
Lord commands.
Jonah faithfully and boldly delivered his errand. Whether
Jonah
said more, to show the
Anger of
God against them, or whether he
only repeated these words again and again, is not certain, but
this was the purport of his message. Forty days is a long time
for a righteous
God to delay judgments, yet it is but a little
time for an unrighteous people to repent and reform in. And
should it not awaken us to get ready for
Death, to consider that
we cannot be
So sure that we shall live forty days, as
Nineveh
then was that it should stand forty days? We should be alarmed
if we were sure not to live a
Month, yet we are careless though
we are not sure to live a
Day.
5-10 There was a wonder of Divine
Grace in the
Repentance and
reformation of
Nineveh. It condemns the men of the
Gospel
Generation, Mt 12:41. A very small degree of
Light may
convince men that humbling themselves before
God, confessing
their sins with
Prayer, and turning from
Sin, are means of
escaping wrath and obtaining
Mercy. The people followed the
Example of the
King. It became a national act, and it was
necessary it should be
So, when it was to prevent a national
ruin. Let even the brute creatures' cries and moans for want of
Food remind their owners to cry to
God. In
Prayer we must cry
mightily, with fixedness of thought, firmness of
Faith, and
devout affections. It concerns us in
Prayer to stir up all that
is within us. It is not enough to
Fast for
Sin, but we must
Fast
from
Sin; and, in order to the success of our prayers, we must
No more regard iniquity in our hearts, Ps 66:18. The work of a
Fast-
Day is not done with the
Day. The Ninevites hoped that
God
would turn from his fierce
Anger; and that thus their ruin would
be prevented. They could not be
So confident of finding
Mercy
upon their
Repentance, as we may be, who have the
Death and
merits of
Christ, to which we may trust for
Pardon upon
Repentance. They dared not presume, but they did not despair.
Hope of
Mercy is the great encouragement to
Repentance and
reformation. Let us boldly cast ourselves down at the
Footstool
of free
Grace, and
God will look upon us with compassion.
God
sees who turn from their evil ways, and who do not. Thus he
spared
Nineveh. We read of
No sacrifices offered to
God to make
Atonement for
Sin; but a broken and a contrite
Heart, such as
the Ninevites then had, he will not despise.