tiht'\V D^nDty); Lev. xix. 23 (DnS-|p) 8 THE HEBREW AND THE STRANGEE. the development of Hebrew religion, as far as it is un- folded in the Pentateuch. At that period, circumcision was raised to a sign of the Covenant, and in order to surround it with a higher importance and sanction, . its origin was associated with Abraham himself, the founder of the nation, who, it is averred, was commanded by God, 'You shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant between Me and you'; and who at the same time obtained the pledge, 'I will establish My covenant between Me and thee and thy seed after thee . . . for an everlasting covenant, to be a God to thee, and to thy seed after thee.'^ Then the ceremony was invested with that profound meaning which fitted it to serve as a main pillar of the monotheistic creed ;^ it was made the indis- pensable term of admission to the holy community and of participation in holy functions; nay the rigorously consistent legislator, it would seem, meant to include in the same ordinance even the heathen members of the Hebrew households, for he extended it to 'those that were born in the house and those that were bought with money, in fact, to any stranger;' and he added the unqualified declaration: 'The uncircumcised man child the flesh of whose foreskin is not circumcised, shall be cut off from his people.'^ Though this absolute rule could not be maintained, the levitical lawgiver, taking for his starting point that kindred portion of Abraham's story just referred to, not only inserted, in his elaborate system of purity and holiness, the general law: 'If a woman has born a male child then on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised ;''^ but in framing the ordinances which he considered the most solemn, he scrupulously distinguished between those persons upon whom the ceremony had been performed and those who, ^ G-en. xvii. 7, 10, 11. I ^ Gen. xvii. 12—14. ^ See Comm. on Genes, pp. 389, I ^ Lev. xii. 2, 3 (^^DtiTJ Dr3 390. ! ^nb^v "^^^ biD')' I. PEOM ABRAHAM TO SOLOMON. 9 not having adopted it, were without the pale of the privi- leged community.^ We would invite the reader's attention only to one additional consideration. Was it, in the time of Moses, even possible to represent circumcision as 'a sign of the covenant' between God and Israel, that is, as a mark of distinction between the Hebrews and the rest of man- kind, when it must have been universally known, that the same rite was practised by many other nations, both neighbouring and distant, by Ethiopian and Abyssinian tribes, Arabians and Phoenicians, Moabites and Ammo- nites, the Edomites and a portion of the Syrians ;^^ that above all it was common among the Egyptians, from whom the Hebrews borrowed it; and that, in a w^ord, these were neither the first nor the only people which adhered to the custom ? But on the other hand, it was by no means unfeasible in the fifth century, to attribute to circumcision the force and meaning we have pointed out. At that time, the rite had long fallen into disuse not only among some minor tribes, as the Edomites, but also among the Egyptians, who reserved it for the priests alone as an additional emblem of superior sanctity, while it w^as denied to the people ; at that time , the origin of the ceremonial had long been effaced in the national consciousness of the Hebrews, and might, therefore, be treated by the levitical writers as a peculiar ordinance and employed as an integral part and prominent support of their complex edifice. Briefly recapitulating the result, we find, that neither the oldest code of laws in the 'Book of the Covenant,' nor Deuteronomy, nor any prophet or historian before the Babylonian exile, mentions circumcision as an insti- ^ Exod. xii. 43 — 49; see infra Sect. iii. ^ With such essential modifica- tions we must understand the remark of Josephus (Contr. Ap. i. 22); 'There are no inhabitants of Palestine that are circumcised ex- cept the Jews' (twv os rijv Jlakai- (jri-JTCJ KaroiKOvvTWJ [imoi rouro ttoiovuiv 'lovha7ot, sc. TTspiTSfJLvsa'^oci). 10 THE HEBREW AND THE STRANGER. tution confirmed by Divine sanction; it was represented as such only in connection with the entire network of levitical arrangements, with the sacrifices and priests, the holy places and seasons; and it combines, with a truly admirable depth and refinement of ideas, elements of coarseness neither free from barbarism nor superstition. Should at present, after the lapse of millenniums, any nation find it impossible to appreciate those beautiful ideas without the questionable assistance of a pagan rite ? Did not Israel's ancient teachers interdict every mutilation of the human body as an offence against a Divine creation ?» and did not their ancient prophets proclaim with a never wearying zeal: 'He hath shown thee, man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?'^ When, in the reign of the emperor Claudius, Izates king of Adiabene, like his mother Helena, em- braced Judaism — so relates Josephus*^ — and evaded cir- cumcision from fear of provoking his subjects to rebellion by 'the strange and foreign rite,' he was told by his Jewish instructor Ananias that 'he might worship God without being circumcised, even if he had resolved to follow the Jewish law entirely; for the service of God was more important than circumcision.''^ Ananias did not prevail and was overruled by the Galilean zealot Eleazer who, scorning the pleas of political expediency or necessity, taunted Izates that he was 'breaking the most important of the Divine laws and thus wronging God Himself;' while the priestly historian attributed to that act all the later successes of the king, as 'the fruit of piety.' But even the solitary voice of Ananias, raised ^ Deut. xiv. 1, 2; Lev. xix. 28; xxi. 5. ^ Mic. vi. 8 ; comp. Zechar. viii. 16, 17; Ps. XV. 1, 2; see in general Comm. on Genes, pp. 386 — 393. <= Ant. XX. ii. 1—4. p)g rr/q TtspiTOfJirjg to %siov as^siv, . . TOVTO slvai KVpiUrSpOV TQV TrspiTSfJLVS- I. PKOM ABEAHAM TO SOLOMON. 11 as it was at the time of the highest power of Pharisaism, ought not to have been raised in vain/^ Returning to our main subject, we must advert to a third point which prevented the Hebrews from fully sym- pathising with the C^nsiSimtes— their religious notions, and here we have arrived at a question, which is among the obscurest and most difficult problems of Hebrew archaeology, if not of religious history in general. How is the monotheism of the Hebreivs to be explained? How did it arise and take root among them alone of all the ancient nations of the east and west? To trace it simply to Abraham, with or without the aid of Divine reve- lation, would be to transfer the matter from the sphere of history to that of vague tradition or of categorical dogma, and thus to elude investigation.*^ It might almost appear an anachronism to refute this view in the present time, yet we are not permitted to dispense with the task. If a pure monotheism was proclaimed by Abraham and preserved in his family from generation to generation, it ought certainly to have manifested itself in the conduct of men like Moses and Aaron. But is this the case? After having been told that 'the Lord (mn^) spoke to Moses from face to face, as a man speaks to his friend^ we read of that request on the part of Moses which many, in spite of their most earnest efforts, have painfully felt as an insuperable difficulty: the prophet desires to see God's 'glory' (m^D) ; in order to be gracious to His faithful servant, God consents, but urges, 'Thou canst not see My face, for no man can see Me and live'; He then bids him stand on a rock where His glory shall appear, and declares, 'I will ^ Josephus himself, under simi- lar circumstances, impressed upon the populace, that 'every one ought to worship Grod according to his own inclinations, and should not be constrained by force' (Vita c. 23, "bslv SKauTOV av%-pKT:ov Kara t^v sccv- Tov Tvpoaipsaiv tqv %sov svas^siv, akXa, [/.Tj iMsra ^icxg-j comp. c. 31, /^^ csiv oicc- Ksa%ai rovi; KaTa(f>vy6vTccg Ttpog avrovg). ^ Comp. Philo, Be Nobilit. c. 5, etc. *^ Ex. xxxiii. 11 j comp. Num. 12 THE HEBREW AND THE STRANGEE. cover thee with My hand while I pass by; and then I wdll take away My hand, and thou shalt see My back, but My face cannot be seen.'^ However readily we might be dis- posed to understand this passage in a metaphysical sense, though this is repudiated by the plain meaning of the words, it still involves a residue of a grossly material con- ception of the deity hardly different from that of paganism. Again, wdien the golden calf had been made in imitation of Apis or Mnevis, and the people shouted, 'These are thy gods, Israel, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt,' Aaron 'built an altar before it and pro- claimed and said. To-morrow is a feast to the Lord' (mn^'p); and thus Aaron consecrated the figure of an Egyp- tian idol as an image of the Grod of Israel,'^ just as king Jeroboam did several centuries later,<^ and under that figure ten out of the twelve tribes of Israel served God during the whole time of their political existence. Equally insufficient is the explanation, most current at present, which attributes to the Hebrews a special aptitude for purity of creed, and connects this aptitude with a peculiarity of their race. For neither of these assumptions is borne out by the facts of history. Other nations belonging to the same race and speaking almost the same language — Arabians and Phoenicians, Moabites and Ammonites, Syrians and Assyrians- neither them- selves worked out strictly monotheistic views, nor w^ere they inclined to adopt them from others. And the Hebrew people — how little fitness did they evince for a pure mono- theism! Is it necessary here to repeat what we have elsewhere fully proved, that God was, even by gifted and pious men, during long periods represented in corporal form: that He was, in all ages, honoured not only with incense and sacrifices, but with human victims; that all ^ Ex. xxxiii. 17—23; comp. iii. j ^ Exod. xxxii. 1—6. 6, 'and Moses hid his face, for he ^ 1 Ki. xii. 28; comp. 2 Ki. x. was afraid to look upon God.' | 29; xvii. 16. I. FROM ABRAHAM TO SOLOMON. 13 the idols of every neiglibouring tribe were constantly worshipped in Israel and Judali; and that when, in the Persian period, the attributes of God began to be better understood, almost pari ijctssu a doctrine of angels, spirits, and daemons was developed so elaborate and complicated, that those attributes were necessarily obscured and con- fused, and that it became fully evident that a strictly spiritual conception of the deity, without a material embodiment of its powers, was utterly unattainable to the Hebrew people ?^ But we may be allowed to recall the one memorable instance of Jeremiah's contemporaries who, after the destruction of Jerusalem, replied to the prophet's impressive exhortations: 'As for the word that thou hast spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken to thee. But we will certainly . . . burn incense to the queen of heaven, and pour out drink offerings to her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings and our princes ... for then we had abundance of provi- sions and were prosperous, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings to her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.'^ Is it possible, in the face of such authoritative evidence, to claim for the ancient Hebrews an inborn faculty or an instinctive yearning for a pure monotheism? There was, with respect to religious capacities and in- clinations, no essential difference between the Hebrews and the heathen nations of the same race. Thus the problem which engages us, is indeed confined to narrower limits, but it is not solved, and the wonder it excites seems even heightened. How could, amidst the strongest obstacles from without and from within, a monotheistic creed originate and be diffused, so as to be- come a cause of separation between Israelites and Gentiles? ^ See Comm. on Levit. i. 351- 380; ii. 283—319. ^ Jerem. xliv. 15 — 18; comp. also Graf in loc. 14 THE HEBREW AND THE STEANGER. From all indications of history, Hebrew monotheism appears to have risen from very modest beginnings and to have been developed under severe struggles and many fluctuations. Like every other people, the ancient Hebrews had their national deity — who was at first simply the god of the patriarchs, the god of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,^ and who became later the god of the whole people, 'the god of Israel.' But he was to them — for to this point also the analogy with other nations extends — merely one god among many; whenever therefore they desired to express the sum and totality of divine energies and forces, they employed the term Eloliim or gods, of which early usage, in a plural sense, even the Hebrew Scriptures, though subsequently revised with the most scrupulous care, have preserved some traces.^ They allowed to the divinities of other nations not only existence but influence and power, and it was this conviction chiefly which rendered them so willing not only to tolerate but to adopt foreign forms of worship. Jephthah, who may be taken as an excellent type of an educated Hebrew in the period of the Judges — patriotic, well versed in the history of his people, and heroically religious — ingenuously sends word to the king of Ammon: 'Jahveh, the god of Israel, has expelled the Amorites from before His people Israel, and wilt thou occupy their land? Dost not thou * Gen. xvii. 1; xxviii. 3; xxxv. I (comp. Prov. ix. 10; xxx. 3); 11; xlviii. 15; etc. I ^H D%"l'bN (2 Ki. xix. 4, 6); Q\'l'^N ^ So Gen. xxxv. 7, V^N ^^^^ n''ri''PN; 2 Sam. vii. 23, ~^'^^,^ D"'n"t?N (see 1 Chr. xvii. 21); _Ps. Iviii. 12, ^^INS D^DDlttr D\'l't'N; Josli. xxiv."l9, Ditt^ip; Deut. V. 23, 1 Sam.xvii.26, 36, D""'^!! D^'^'t'N; comp. Exod. xxxii. 4, 8 (see Neliem. ix. 18); 1 Sam. iv. 8; xxviii. 13; 1 Ki. xii. 28; xix. 2; xx. 10, etc.; on the other hand, |DN J C^K^Ip (Hos. xii. 1) the faithful Holy One; P'^l^ (Ps. vii. 10); analogous to the plural CH'^N God are ""E'l;;, r'K'l;;, etc. (Job"' xxxv. 10; Ps. cxlix. 2; Isai. xxii. 11; liv. 5), and ^\*^'}12 (Eccl. xii. 1); but different is the xDlurahs majestaticus in □ v^S, D''J1N lord, master (Gen. xxiv. 9; Ex. xxi. 4, 29, etc.); and some- times D^n /N is used for 07ie heathen god (Judg. xvi. 23; iKi. xi.33; 2Ki. i. 2, 3; comp. Gramm. § 77. 11, 12). I. FROM ABRAHAM TO SOLOMON. 15 occupy that which Chemosh thy god has given thee to possess? And so whatever Jahveh our god has given us to possess, that we occupy.'^ And when, in about the same age, Naomi desired to persuade Ruth to stay in Moab, she pointed to the example of Orpah, who 'had returned to her people and to her gods,'^ for she was certain that her beloved daughters could live in happiness and security under the protection of Moab's gods also; yet Ruth declared to her firmly, 'Thy people shall be my people and thy god my god;' and on account of her affection and faithfulness, she was afterwards blessed by Boaz with the words, 'May Jahveh recompense thy work, and may thy reward be complete from Jahveh, the god of Israel, under whose wings thou art come to trust !'^ The name of this national deity seems originally to have conveyed no more than the notion of poiuer — ntf, ^N, nl^N, D%"ibN'^ — although, as was natural, he was soon regarded as 'the most powerful' or ^the highest eV (|1^'p:j; ^n), or as 'the god of gods' (D^n'^N ^'^'^^f).^ However, in the course of ages, he could not fail to be endowed with a special appellation distinguishing him from the gods of the Canaanites. This point, which might at first glance appear of little moment, proved of the most vital impor- tance for the development of religious ideas; for to the Hebrews, the name was not a matter of indifference or extraneous import, but it was conceived in the deepest and innermost relation with the essence of things/ The ^ Judg. xi. 23, 24. ^ Euth i. 15, 16; ii. 12; comp. Josh. xxiv. 16, 17. ^ Comp. 2pV] "^'^N und ]?N ^^y^l (<>en. xlix. 24), 'lIU (Deiit. xxxii. 15), ly (Jer. xvi. 19; comp. X. 6, 7), etc. ^ Gen. xiv. 22; Exod. xv. 11, mn^ D^'?N3 -jIDD ^D; Deut. X. 17; Ps. Ixxvii. 10, DTl^ND "pTIJ bi< ^D ; Ixxxvi. 8; xcv. 3; xcvi. 4; xcvii. 9; cxxxv. 5; cxxxvi. 2, 3; 1 Chr. xvi. 25, etc. ^ See Comment, on Gen. p. 114; onLevit. ii.526 — 529; comp. Aelian, Var. Hist. iv. 17, Uv%ay6pag sksys oTi iravTwv aoipuiTaTov 6 api^ftog, hsvTspog hs o roTg itpayfJiacri ra o-j6- fjLara %sfisvog] Plat Cratyl. cc. 8, 9, oiiK apa iravrog avlpog ovoficc ^s- i7%ai saTi'v, aXka. rivog ovo/xaTOvpyov 16 THE HEBEEW AND THE STEANGER. Biblical records refer to this point witli adequate em- pHasis.^^ It is not improbable that even the name Jaliveh (mn"') was brought from Mesopotamia by the Hebrew immigrants, since the designation Ihvi has repeatedly been discovered on Assyrian monuments;'' but whether that be the case or not, the notions associated with the term were far from spiritual or elevated. For the name of Jahveh is employed in connection with those two questionable incidents in the lives of Moses and Aaron, to which we have above referred; Gideon, the Judge, who declined the royalty, because he believed it to belong to Jahveh alone, put up in his native town Ophrah a golden figure or ephod, and adored it together with the whole of Israel;^ Micah in Mount Ephraim made for himself *a graven image and a molten image, an ephod and teraphim,' all representing Jahveh and worshipped simul- taneously ;*i the pious priest Ahimelech at Nob had in his possession a gold-plated ephod later appropriated by David, who constantly consulted it as 'Jahveh the god of Israel;'^ nay, still more significantly, we find human sacrifices, not merely commanded and intended, like that of Isaac, but actually presented to Jahveh, such as the immolation of Jephtha's daughter and of the seven de- scendants of Saul, whom David delivered up to the Gibeonites to be hung up 'to Jahveh' or 'before Jahveh' as an expiatory offering/ The contests of ancient nations were, at the same time, contests of their respective deities; the mightiest and K.T.X.; but also Lucret. Rer. Nat. V. 1039 sqq.; Lubbock, Origin of Civilisation, pp. 145 sqq. ^ Exod. vi. 2, 3; see infra. ^ See also Annals of Assur- bani-pal, col. v. 1. 10 (Rec. of the Past, ix. 50): 'this Ishtar selected in her power xohich changes not;' comp. Mai. iii. 6. ^ Judg. viii. 22, 27. ^ Judg. xvii. 3—5, 12, 13. e ^N-)ty^ m'pN mn^ ; l. Sam. xxi. 10; xxiii. 6, 9 — 11; xxx. 6 — 8; see Comm. on Levit. i. 351 — 356. ^ Judg.xi.30, 31, 34—40; 2 Sam. xxi. 1—14 ri^ri^ ^:D'?"inn di^T''^ see Commentaiy on Levitcus i. pp. 383—396. I. FEOM ABEAHAM TO SOLOMON. 17 most victorious people had the mightiest god most worthy of adoration, and on the battlefield not only their politi- cal^ but their religious rank and position were decided.* Considering the substantial successes of which the Hebrews, in spite of many reverses and tribulations, could boast in their long and sanguinary warfare against the Canaanites, they naturally relied on their God with increasing confidence and assurance; they declared, 'Jahveh is a man of war"^ or ^mighty in battle;''^ they contended with growing pride, *Jahveh, he is the god;'*^ a prophet, filled with fervid zeal, when on the point of exhibiting Jahveh's supreme power and favour, boldly exclaimed to the people: 'How long do you halt between the two sides? if Jahveh be god, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him;'® till at last, with rising enthusiasm and unswerving consistency, the proposition was insisted upon : 'Jahveh, He is God, there is none else beside Him.'^ Thus two momentous steps were accomplished: a rigorous dis- tinction was proclaimed between the national god of the Hebrews and the national gods of the Gentiles ; and the unity of Jahveh was fixed in opposition to the polytheism of the other nations. But now the old toleration neces- sarily ceased; the God of the Hebrews became a 'jealous God's" who suffers no deities beside Him,^^ and the gods of other nations were no longer merely 'strange' or 'foreign' gods,^ but absolute 'nonentities' or 'vanities,' in fact, 'no-gods.'^ * Comp. Josh. ix. 9 — 11; xxiv. 16, 17, 20, 23; Mic. vii. 15—17; Judith xiv. 10, etc.; also Jon. i. 15. b nDnbD ti'^N mn\ Exod. xv. 3. ^ HDn'pD nn:i m^^ Ps. xxiv. 8; comp. Rev. xix. 11. ^ Comp. Bible Studies, i. 13. ® 1 Ki. xviii. 21; comp. Josh. xxiv. 14, 15. ^ Deut. iv. 35. S N^j^-i^N or Nl^j^ bi<. ^^ Exod. XX. 5; xxxiv. 14 (miT' Nin NJp bi< )t2^ N'Jp); Deut. iv. 24; V. 9; vi. 15; Josh. xxiv. 19; Nah. i. 2. , i DnnN Q^•^■t'N or njJ 'ri'bti; Josh. xxiv. 16, 17, 20, etc. ^ Comp. Lev. xix. 4; Deut. xxxii. 21; 2 Ki. xvii. 15; Isai. ii. 8 ; xxxvii. 1 9 ; Jerem. ii. 1 1 ; xvi. 20; Jon. ii. 8; Hab. ii. 18; etc.; see Comm. on Levit. I. 397. 18 THE HEBEEW AND THE STRANaER. Another advance remained to be made — namely, to conceive that one God of the Hebrews as a Being not to be represented by any visible figure or shape, and bearing no similitude whatever to any creature of earth, air, or sea. At last this great victory also was gained: the God of the Hebrews was all-powerful; he was alone without a rival; and he was incorporeal. How had this remarkable end been attained? We have endeavoured to indicate the phases in the nation's struggle for light; but this does not account for the genesis of the results reached; it does not solve the recondite problem, why those phases were accomplished by the Hebrews in such systematic gradation, and by the Hebrews only. The people, as we have seen, did not possess the capacity required for such intellectual achieve- ments. "We are compelled to seek an explanation by the aid of a principle to which students should have recourse in none but those rare and extreme cases, when no other road is open; but such an exceptional case is that under consideration. However strenuously the histo- rian may attempt to unravel the development of facts and ideas by those natural laws which are applicable in the moral and mental spheres, no less than in the mate- rial and physical world, he is occasionally surprised by phenomena which absolutely resist those laws, and can only be referred to the operation of genius. A marvellous intuition, readily revered by admiring mankind as a higher inspiration, seizes a truth of which the popular conscience seemed to harbour but the scantiest germs; that truth, if once pronounced as with a heavenly fire and authority and fearlessly thrown into the world, works its way by its own eternal impetus and power; it may be mis- understood, rejected, and persecuted, but it finally carries along, in its irresistible progress, even the in- different and the hostile; for truth, which is Divine, is akin to the human mind. Some man of genius in Israel proclaimed in the name of the deity, whose spirit illumined I. TEOM ABRAHAM TO SOLOMON. 19 him : 'I am Jahveli thy God, who have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; thou shalt have no other gods besides Me; thou shalt not make to thee any graven image or any hkeness:' and in enunciating these words, he laid the foundation of a uni- versal and a spiritual religion. Who was that man of genius? Was it Moses? Certainly not. His brother Aaron, pious persons in the time of the Judges, even the great and gifted king David, worshipped God in many and various visible forms. That great man may perhaps have lived in David's age, when, by the influence of Samuel's teaching and his training institutions, the rehgious notions were refined and more consistently developed; but for many centuries his principles failed to command general acceptance; in addition to the one magnificent Temple of Jahveh in Jerusalem, Solomon built altars for all the gods of the heathen, as if he had been doubtful whether a cosmopolitan religion might be established by the sole and general adoration of Jahveh or by an all-embracing pantheon; and even the devout and sincerely theocratic among his successors allowed, in conjunction with the Sanctuary on Mount Moriah, the heights to remain un- touched in all parts of the land.^ However, the leading ideas mvolving the possibility of true enlightenment, were now irrevocably propounded. Not as if, from the beginning, they had been without an alloy of error. The zealous writers themselves who describe the promulgation of the Decalogue, mingle in their account the most questionable features: Jahveh assures Moses, 'Behold, I come to thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee;' it is related with the utmost simplicity that 'Jahveh came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and called Moses up to the top of the mountain;' and then that 'Moses drew near to the thick darkness where ^ See Comm. on Lev. i. 356. 20 THE HEBREW AND THE STRANGEE. God was.'* Even the prophetic D enter onomist, as late as the seventh century B. C, remarks advisedly, as if he were giving utterance to the purest conceptions, 'Jahveh spoke to you out of the midst of the fire ; you heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only you heard a voice.'^ But the self-regenerating power of truth was constantly active in casting off the withering leaves of misapprehension and replaced them by the fresh buds of better knowledge; the time came when a great teacher, as the mouthpiece of God, asked with a surer hope of being understood and followed: 'To whom will you liken God? or what likeness will you compare to Him?''^ and at last were heard those lofty words: '"Will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee, how much less this house which I have built. ''^ Many centuries of severe education and laborious exertion were needed to rise to such maturity ; but once attained, as it was attained during and after the Baby- lonian exile, it became the starting point for new progress and yet greater intellectual triumphs. Attempts were made at fathoming more thoroughly and unfolding more accurately the nature and essence of the Deity; and in the course of these efforts, an advance was even ventured towards the elements of metaphysical speculation. The name Jahveh had, in those periods, been familiar to the Hebrews for many generations; it was more and more intimately connected with their religion, their lives, and their history; it was the chain that linked their remote past with their most distant hopes; it gave rise to such maxims as, 'Thus saith Jahveh the King of Israel, and their Redeemer Jahveh the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last, and beside Me there is no * Exod. xix. 9, 20; xx. 18. | *^ Isai. xl. 18, 25; xlvi. 5; comp. ^ Deut. iv. 12; comp. Exod. xix. I Acts xviii. 29. 19; XX. 15. 1^1 Ki. viii. 27. I. FEOM ABRAHAM TO SOLOMON. 21 God;'^ or 'Jahveh the God of hosts, Jahveh is His Memo- rial' (inDT);^ ^^^ '^ ^^ Jahveh, that is My Name' (^Di^).*= Such pithy and pregnant sentences became the subjects of incessant reflection and research. The innermost mean- ing of the name Jahveh was investigated and, whenever possible, closely allied with Israel's destinies. That name was found to bear or to admit the sense of the TJncliange' able and Eternal, and the conclusion was drawn that God's primeval promises to the patriarchs remain unaltera- bly valid for all times. 'I am Jahveh,' says the last prophet, *I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob do not perish.'^ This great and fruitful idea was finally enunciated in its full abstraction and generality and thoughtfully associated with Israel's redemption from Egypt, perhaps the most momentous event in their history, since it created or saved their nationality. For when Moses was charged by God with his mission to Pharaoh and the Hebrews, he replied— so it is stated — : 'Behold, when I come to the children of Israel and shall say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you; and if they say to me. What is His name? what shall I say to them?' To which God rejoined: 'I am THAT I AM (n;nN -)^N n;.nN), and thus shalt thou say to the children of Israel, I am (n;nN) has sent me to you.' When God then renewed through Moses the old patri- archal covenant, and armed him with all necessary authority for the work of deliverance. He declared: 'I am Jahveh, and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob by the name of God Almighty (^^^ "pn), but by My name the Eternal (n^n'^} was I not known to them;' and in order to point out this meaning with unmistakable clearness, He added: 'This is My name for ever, and this is My memorial for all generations.'^ Thus the ^ Isai. xliv. 6 ; comp. xli. 4 ; I ^ Isai. xlii. 8 ; comp. Exod. xv. 4. xlviii. 12. I "^ Mai. iii. 6. ^ Hos. xii. 6. I ® Exod. iii. 13—15; vi. 2, 3. 225 THE HEBEEW AND THE STRANGEE. popular mind preserved the conviction that Jahveh, the Unchangeable and Eternal, was a later conception than Ul-Sliaddai, the Most powerful, and that the former appellation implied attributes unknown to less cultured antiquity. But even after this important knowledge had been gained, that is, about and after the comparatively recent age of the Elohistic narrator, was even then the notion of the Deity understood in the pure and spiritual sense demanded by philosophic thought? During the same period, the most ardent zeal was displayed in working out that levitical system of sacrifices and ceremonials, by which both the sublimity of God and the dignity of man were lowered. The beautiful Book of Job unfolds before us, besides the chequered scenes of human sufferings and trials, a complete heavenly court of ministering spirits, both good and evil. The Book of Daniel, still later by centuries, opens the long line of apocalyptic works which, surrounded by an atmosphere of mysticism and fancy, engendered the most singular and paradoxical theories on the nature of the Deity, and culminated in the theosophic subtleties of the Kabbalah. Lastly, the Mishnah and the Talmud, and the vast host of Kabbinical writings they called forth, by promiscuously adopting the elements of the most heterogeneous systems, encumbered the simpler ideas of earlier times with an unwieldy mass of dross, which the strenuous efforts of many thinkers in the Middle Ages and modern times have but imperfectly succeeded in removing. Illusions must vanish. The Hebrew people had no spe- cial or remarkable fitness for monotheism, the beginnings and foundations of which have been recognised among other nations also; while the distinguished men in Israel never rose to a form of theology entirely free from anthropo- morphic error, so that even a prophet like Isaiah could introduce a solemn vision with the words, 'I saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lofty, and His train filled I. TEOM ABEAHAM TO SOLOMON. 23 the Temple.'^ It is only by the aid of philosophy, of history, and the natural sciences, that religious truth can be discovered and proved; in recent times sufficient progress has been made in these branches of learning to serve as guides and auxiliaries; and the day is not distant when the Jews will also, with just pride, avow that the torch of modern theology was borne aloft by a great man of their own race.^ The reader will pardon the extension of this httle sketch beyond the immediate requirements of our theme, as it will prove useful for the succeeding stages of our en- quiry, and we may observe that these outlines would not have been possible without the latestresults of Biblical criticism, the general correctness of which receives no mean con- firmation by the fact that they enable us to frame an organic exposition of a subject which, according to the older views of the dates of the component parts of the Old Testament, is involved in the most perplexing con- fusion, and is virtually withdrawn from historical investi- gation. Three elements, as we have seen, combined in main- taining a separation between the Hebrews and the Cana- anites, and they operated with such force that^ as early as in David's time, a prophet could describe the Hebrews as 'a people that dwelleth apart and is not counted among the nationsV and that there gradually arose the conception of a 'peculiar people' loved and protected by their God above all other inhabitants of the world.^ Keeping ^ Isai. vi. 1. ^ In his admirable Lecture on Spinoza, Ernest Eenan calls this illustrious Jew 'le precurseur d'un plus haute conscience du divin* (p. 3 ; comp. also p. 20, 'depuis les jours d'Epictete et de Marc-Aui-ele on n'avait pas vu une vie aussi Evangile nouveau', and observes: j profondement penetree par le sen- 'II n'est plus aujourd'hui un esprit timent du divin'). ^ Num. xxiii. 9. eclaire qui ne salue dans Spinoza | ^ Comp. Exod. xxxiii. 16, etc.; I'homme qui eut a son heure la | see Bible Studies, i. 173, 174, 24 THE HEBREW AND THE STEANGEE. this in mind, we may now attempt an estimate of the conduct and laws of the Israelites in reference to strangers. Few, we believe, in our time speak of a right or legiti- mate claim of the Hebrews to the land of Canaan, or defend their occupation of the country by any plea ex- cept the common usages of war and conquest. Unex- pectedly released from Egypt and obliged to find new abodes, they naturally fixed their eyes upon the land from w^hich their ancestors had emigrated to the banks of the Nile, and of which, during their long sojourn among strangers, and in spite of the hopelessness of their pro- spects, they had never lost sight.* Of the difficulties and dangers they had to encounter in their hazardous enter- prise, we can only form a very imperfect idea, as we possess no contemporaneous and authentic records of those early times, the accounts of the Book of Joshua having been compiled, many centuries afterwards, in the light of later occurrences and in the spirit of a later age. However, occasional allusions in the oldest historical works afford us a glimpse of the true course of events and show how far the Hebrews, in execution and reality, remained behind their intentions and designs. Not long after Joshua's death — so we are informed — a Divine messenger appeared before the people and bitterly reproached them with having proved utterly faithless to the great resolves conceived in the enthusiasm of their Egyptian deliverance; they had vowed, he ex- plained, nobly to fight for Jahveh the God of their fathers, who had solemnly renewed His covenant with them also ; to gain honour and recognition for Him alone in their new homes; and for this end scrupulously to eschew all community with the Canaanite population, and to destroy the heathen idols and altars; but they had carried out none of these pledges, and as a punishment of their culpable indifference, God announced to them: ^ Comp. Exod. vi. 8, 9, etc. I. TEOM ABRAHAM TO SOLOMON. 25 'I will not drive out the Canaanites before you, and they shall be to you as adversaries, and their gods shall be a snare to you.'^ These words are a welcome verification of historical facts abundantly evident from other sources and considerations also. The conquest of Canaan by the Hebrews was most incomplete, and their intercourse with the former inhabitants remained long extremely active and intimate. Many of the districts assigned by the Book of Joshua to the Israelites,^ never came into their possession;'^ while in the towns and territories acquired by the Hebrews, Canaanites owned houses and landed property. Thus David was obliged to buy from Araunah the Jebusite the ground for an altar of Jahveh ; and Uriah the Hittite was domiciled in Jerusalem;*^ nay the author of the Book of Judges, who wrote after 'the time of the captivity of the land,'® observes expressly with regard to the capital: 'The children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem, but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin to this day.'^ The Kenites, who were traced to the family of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, lived in Canaan in warm and constant friendship with the Hebrews and under their kindly protection ;» Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, 'a Keniz- zite,' and hence descending from a strange tribe perhaps kindred to the Edomites,*^ received from Joshua, in ac- cordance with a previous command of Moses, Hebron as his portion 'among the sons of Judah,' to which the Book of Joshua remarks: 'Hebron therefore became the in- heritance of Caleb ... to this day;'^ and Othniel, the son ^ Judg. ii. 1—3. ^ As Philistia, Tj^e, Geshur, etc. '^ Comp. Josh. xiii. 1— 6 ; xvii. 12, 13; xxiii. 13; Judg. i. 27—35; 1 Ki. ix. 20, 21. ^ 2 Sam. xxiv. 18—25; xi. 8, 9, 13. ® Judg. xviii. 30. ^ Judg. i. 21. §■ See Bible Studies, i. 283—286. ^ Gren. XV. 19; comp. xxxvi. 11, 16, 42; 1 Chr. i. 36, 53; ii. 18, 42, 49. ^ Josh. xiv. 13, 14; xv. 13, 14; Judg. i. 20; 1 Clir. vi. 41. 26 THE HEBREW AND THE STRANGER. of bis younger brother Kenaz, conquered and kept in bis possession Debir in Judab witb" its adjoining lands.^ If, therefore, tbe Hebrews desired to maintain them- selves as tbe conquerors and masters of tbe land, they were compelled to regulate their position to 'the strangers' on decided principles; and these rules grew by gradual steps into a comprehensive system which, in its varied modifications, significantly marks tbe character of tbe different periods of Hebrew history. In those earlier epochs of which we are at present treating, tbe whole population was simply divided into its two chief component parts of 'natives' and 'strangers,"^ that is, Hebrews and non-Hebrews, among whom the remnants of the unsubdued Canaanites formed a principal element ;'^ which classification, however, can only have ^ Josh. XV. 16—19; Judg. i. 11 — 15; 1 Chr. iv. 3; see infra. It is unwarranted to make a distinc- tion between the ^TJJP in Gen. xv. 19 and the same appellation in Num. xxxii. 12 and Josh. xiv. 6, 14 (as the Engl. Vers, does, writ- ing the one Kenezite and the other Kenizzite), and to refer the former to the tribe of Judah, the latter to a heathen tribe. b nniN or pNH niTN and 1 il ; Exod. xii. 19, 49; Lev. xvi. 29; xvii. 15; xviii. 26; xix. 34; xxiv. 16, 22; Num. ix. 14; xv. 29, 30; Josh. viii. 33; Ezek. xlvii. 22; comp. Num. xv. 14 — 16; xxxv. 15: ^■^T^^ from fT]^ in the sense of shooting forth, originally apjjlied to trees springing up in the soil and there taking root (Ps. xxxvii. 35; Sept. ayro'x^cov, iyxo^piog); and ")il from "llil to divell as a stranger, implying the notion of temporary or transitory and unsettled habita- tion; comp. Jer. xiv. 8, 'why shouldest thou be as a stranger (np3) in the land, and as a way- faring man (n^lNS) who puts up his tent to tarry for a night'? comp. Gen. XV. 23; Exod. ii. 22; xviii. 3; Lev. xxv. 23; Ps. xxxix. 13; cxix. 19; 1 Chr. xxix. 15; and similarly D^'lUp brief or temporary abode, Gen. xvii. 8 ; xlvii. 9 ; Exod. vi. 4; Ps. cxix. 54, etc.; the idea of 'immigrant' (Sept. Tr^ooa^Xuro?) is only collateral. It is uncertain whether lil is traceable to nIs»- client or suppliant. Members of one Hebrew tribe who dwelt for a time with another tribe, were never called □ nil, which word soon became a terminus technicus, but always □^'lil 'those who dwell' or 'sojourn' (Judg. xvii. 7; xix. 1, 16; 2 Sam. iv. 3; 2 Chr. XV. 9). ^ 1 Cln*. xxii. 2; 2 Clu-. ii. 16; comp. 1 Ki. ix. 20, 21; 2 Chr. viii. 7—9. I. TKOM ABRAHAM TO SOLOMON. 27 become current long after the conquest, at a time when the fact that the Hebretvs (nn^y) were the strangers was effaced or might be ignored.^ The Hebrews had, more- over, foreign purchased slaves with their offspring born in their master's house,^ and foreign prisoners of war.^ All these strangers or gerim stood in closer or remoter relation to the community of Israel, by whom they were controlled; but besides them, many foreigners stayed tem- porarily in the land for the sake of commerce or other reasons, and as they did not enter into nearer connection with the people, they were, in contrast to the ger, desig- nated with a name implying alien origin and separation.^ It was in the interest of the Hebrews, if it was not in their disposition, to treat the Canaanites dwelling in their land with the utmost consideration and leniency. How else could they have concihated the hatred and aversion to which, as foreign invaders and usurpers, they were natural- ly exposed? The greatest dangers would have threatened them in their incessant warfare against fiercely hostile neigh- bours, had those large remnants of the Canaanites joined the enemy, with whom they had so many sympathies in common: that these dangers existed, is sufficiently evident from the single instance of the Kenite woman Jael,^ What other means were open to the Hebrews to atone for the violence and misery, the plunder and bloodshed inseparable from the expulsion of warlike tribes, and for ^ Comp. Deut. i. 16; xxiv. 14, where "lil is in juxtaposition to PIN* or D^riNt, see infra. However, the consciousness of that fact, or the desire of distinctness, sometimes prompted the addition, after PIlTNil, 'of the IsraeHtes' (bNlt^'^D n-lTN.l or b^^^^ ^J:33 'n, Lev. xxiii.42; Num. XV. 29; Ezek. xlvii. 22; comp. Lev. xix. 34). Gen. xiv. 14; xvii. 12, 13, 23, 27; Exod. xii. 44; Lev. xxv. 44; comp. xxii. 11; Jer. ii. 14; see Comm. on Levit. ii. 576. " Deut. XX. 14; xxi. 10—14, etc. '^ nDJ or "15. n? 5 comp. Deut. xiv. 21; Euth ii. 10; 2 Sam. xxii. 45, 46; Ps. xviii. 45, 46; Isai. Ix. 10; etc.; this is also the sense in Exod. xxi. 8 ; Sept. s^vsi aXkorpiw. b P]DD nJpD and 0^3 n^b^; ! ^ Judg. iv. 11 sqq. 28 THE HEBREW AND THE STEANGER. appropriating to themselves *a land for which they did not labour, and cities which they did not build^ and vine- yards and oliveyards which they did not plant?'* A regard both for domestic tranquillity and external security prescribed a humane treatment, which, to a certain point, was sincerely and honestly accorded. There was scarcely any law or arrangement of benevolence, in which the stranger (ger) was forgotten. Our sources bearing on the earlier times are unfortunately so scanty and uncertain, that we can enter into details only with the greatest caution. That the Sabbath was among the Hebrews a very old institution — so old that later philosophic reflection could connect it with the creation of the world — can hardly be doubted, and something analogous to it seems, according to deciphered inscriptions, to have prevailed in their ancestral lands of the Euphrates and Tigris at a very remote time, although the Hebrews, as in almost every similar case, freely modified and adapted the original custom in harmony with their ovm character and religious system.^ Nor can we hesitate to suppose that, from the beginning, the benefit of rest^ which is the distinctive characteristic of the Sabbath (nzty), was extended to strangers; and this is explicitly set forth in the two legislative documents w^hich, although not so primeval in date nor so authoritative in origin as they claim to be, are the most ancient we possess. The Decalogue commands on the Sabbath cessation from all labour to 'the stranger in the gates,' as well as to the Israelite, his family, his household, and his beasts; and the comprehensive Book of the Covenant enjoins the same precept more briefly, but not less impressively, 'On the seventh day shalt thou rest that . . . the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.'*^ * Josh, xxiv. 13. j seventh day he appointed a holy Comp. Eec. of the Past, i. 164; i day, and to cease from all business vii. 157, 160 — 164; ix. 118, 'on the he commanded'. ^ Exod. xxiii. 12. I. FEOM ABRAHAM TO SOLOMON. 29 But this ancient code goes farther; it makes the treat- ment of the stranger a matter of the heart; it appeals to Israel's own bitter experience, to move them to pity and compassion: 'Thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of a stranger, since you were strangers in the land of Egypt ;'^ and it blends this beau- tiful precept with pathetic injunctions regarding other helpless fellow-creatures: ^You shall not afSict a widow or an orphan; if thou afflict them in any way, indeed, if they cry to Me, I will surely hear their cry, . . . and your wives shall be widows, and your children orphans.'*^ Was it possible to evince a deeper affection or a more earnest solicitude for those who, however numerous, were yet without a national bond, isolated and dependent? In all later times also, the strangers were tenderly coupled with those who need particular assistance, not only with widows and orphans,'*^ but with the poor,*^ with servants or slaves,^ and with the Levites excluded from a share in the land/ As a noteworthy exception, the annals record the fate of the Gibeonites.i^ However difficult it may be to ascer- tain the historical kernel of a narrative greatly and ela- borately adorned, thus much is apparent that the lot of the Gibeonites was unusually hard; for the later historian states as a plain fact that, 'down to his time,'^ they were 'hewers of wood and drawers of water to the congregation and the altar of Jahveh' at the national Sanctuary; and he takes care to mention that Gib eon was the only town which occupied a similar relation to Israel,* and which, though faithfully shielded from extraneous attacks,^ was ^ Exod. xxiii. 9. ^ Exod. xxii. 20—23. *= Deut. X. 18; xiv. 29; xvi. 11, 14; xxiv. 7, 19—21; xxvi. 12, 13; Jerem. vii. 6; xxii. 3; Ps. xciv. 6. ^ Lev. xix. 10; xxiii. 22; Zech. vii. 10. ^ Exod. xxiii. 12. ^ Deut. xiv. 29, xvi. 11, 14 xxvi. 11. S Josh. ix. 3—27. ^ nin DIM nv, ver. 27. * Josh. xi. 19. ^ Josh. X. 1—15. 30 THE HEBREW AND THE STRANaER. treated with exemplary rigour for having obtained a favourable treaty by fraud and stratagem. But were indeed all other strangers regarded with a brotherly eye? Did they possess well-defined rights, or were they merely recommended to the uncertain impulses of charity? The notices and incidents preserved to us, however frag- mentary, allow us to draw general conclusions with some confidence. In the first place, a very decided difference is made bet- ween a Hebrew and a^^Gentile slave : the former only was en- titled, after six years of service, legally to claim his liberty, while the latter remained in lasting vassalage, both he and his children born in the master's house, all alike being transferred as a perpetual inheritance.^ Again, we find indeed that strangers were not always excluded from the public service. Very notable instances are Caleb the Kenizzite, the son of Jephunneh, and his nephew OthnieL For Caleb — thus tradition affirmed even at a very late period — was not only sent by Moses from Kadesh Barnea to the Promised Land, among the twelve scouts, as the favoured and courageous representative of the tribe of Judah,^^ but he was also appointed as one of the twelve 'chiefs' or 'princes' (N^ii'j) to carry out the distribution of the land,'= and he seems to have been unconditionally received as a member of the tribe of Judah, although the recollection of his distinct origin was never obliterated.^ And Othniel, whom the Hebrews likewise counted with pride among their bravest heroes, was their first Judge, and the historian who describes his times, speaks of him as he speaks of all privileged and inspired messengers and instruments of God, relating that when the Israelites were oppressed by the king of Aram-Naharaim, God, hearing their supplications, sent ^ Comp. Exod. xxi. 2—4; see | 30, 38; xxvi. 65; xxxii. 12; Deut. i. Comm. on Levit. ii. 417. | 36; Josh. xiv. 7. '^ Num.xxiv. 19. ^ Num. xiii. 6, 30; xiv. 6, 24, I ^ Comp. 1 Sam. xxx. 14. I. FROM ABEAHAM TO SOLOMON. 31 them a deliverer, 'Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother,' and that on him, as once on the Meso- potamian Balaam, came 'the spirit of Jahveh' (mn^ nn), by virtue of which he rescued and then judged the elected people.^^ Doeg the Edomite, in Saul's time, filled the not unimportant post of ^chief of the King's herds- men.'^^ In David's army served Uriah the Hittite and Zelek the Ammonite.^ Without encountering any opposi- tion, that monarch entrusted the supreme command over the third part of his forces to Ithai of Gath.*^ Among his higher officials is mentioned 'Ithmah the Moabite;'^ and for the holiest works of the Temple a Tyrian artist was employed, whose mother, however, was a Hebrew woman/ But by the side of these isolated instances we meet with clear and comprehensive statements revealing a much darker background. The Chronicler, who is anxious to represent the facts in the most favourable colours, records that David, when designing to build a Temple, ordered all the strangers (nniin) in the land to be assembled for the execution of the labourist and again that, a census of the strangers in the time of Solomon having yielded the aggregate of 153,600, the king employed •70,000 of them as 'bearers of burdens' (bp), 80,000 as 'hewers in the mountain' ("ins ^^h), and the remaining 3,600 as overseers over the tasks.^ To this we must join another statement from the more unbiassed Books of Kings, which, on account of its high significance and its ^ Judg. iii. 9, 10; comp. Num. xxiv. 2; see Bible Stud. i. 215. ^ 1 Sam. xxi. 8, U^^^T] "l^DN. ^ 2 Sam. xi. 6; xxiii. 37, 39. 'Eliplielet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maachathite' (2 Sam. xxiii. 34), was perhaps also a foreigner, since Maachah remained in the possession of the heathen (Deut. iii. 14; Josh. xiii. 11, 13; comp. 2 Sam. x. 6, 8; 1 Chr. xix. 6). ^ 2 Sam. XV. 18—22; xviii. 2. ^ 1 Clir. xi. 46. ^ 1 Ki. vii. 13, 14; 2 Chr. ii. 12—14. S 1 Clii'on. xxii. 2. ^ 2 Chr. ii. 16, 17; comp. 1 Ki. V. 29, 30. 32 THE HEBREW AND THE STEANGER. special importance for our subject, we shall quote entire: *A11 the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel; their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able to destroy, upon these Solomon levied a bond- service to this day; but of the children of Israel Solomon made no bondmen, for they were men of war, and his officers, and his captains, and the chiefs of his chariot- warriors and of his horsemen'.^ From the three passages referred to we may draw the following inferences: — 1. The number of strangers in Palestine at the time of the first kings must have been very large, since those 153,600 comprised only the men, and probably only the men capable of hard manual labour, or between the ages of 20 and 50.^ 2. This vast multitude were not foreigners (nn^:), but the residue of the Canaanitish tribes and their descendants, 'whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy', but had deprived of their land and property. And 3. Between these Canaanitish 'strangers' (nni;) and the Hebrews a line of demarcation was drawn not only sharp and decided, but most degrading to the Canaanites; since these, excluded from all higher posts and functions, which were reserved to the Hebrews, were only employed for the meanest 'bondservice' (iDlv Dp), which was deemed dero- gatory to the conquerors. And that obnoxious distinction was permanently maintained. It is reported to have been in force as early as in the time of Joshua and the Judges,<^ and the historian writing at a very late age reports it as still existing in his own day.^ * 1 Ki. ix. 20 — 22. | was lohen Israel ffreiv strong,' v^hich ^ See Coram, on Lev. i. 571, I may possibly refer to the time of 572. *= Josh. xvii. 13, '^^^"Dn HN iJn^i DD?; Judg. 1. 28, 35, and in ver. 28 is the significant addition, Ht David and Solomon. ^ n^n DPn i;; ; comp. 2 chr. viii. 8 ; this passage cannot point merely to the Nethinim who served I. PEOM ABEAHAM TO SOLOMON. 33 We are almost tempted to ask, whether the strangers among the Israelites enjoyed a better lot than that to which the Israelites themselves were doomed among the Egyptians/^ and how we are to understand that affecting appeal, 'You know the feelings of the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt?' It may be ad- mitted that, in the performance of their heavy bond- service, the strangers were not treated with merciless rigour. Yet even this is not beyond all doubt. So burdensome and inconsiderate were Solomon's exactions, that they forced the greatest part of the Hebrew tribes to revolt and defection; and the very exhortations so fre- quently and so impressively uttered by the public teachers in favour of the strangers prove the great perils and trials to which these were exposed.'^ There is perhaps no people, whether ancient or modern, which exhibits so strong a contradiction between doctrine and life as the Hebrews. Nearly all the beautiful and exalted lessons of their great men remained ideal demands or suggestions, which never became realities. More power- ful than the spiritual weapons they employed were the material obstacles they encountered. During the whole of the period we have considered, the Canaanites who lived among the people of Israel were generally regarded with suspicion, contempt, and antipathy, because they were not Hebrews (nn^;;), because they were uncircumcised (d^^^V), and because their national god was not Jahveh (niH"'). at the second Temple also (Ezra ii. 43, 58; Neh. iii. 26; x. 29); and it invalidates the assertion that the bondage of the strangers in Solomon's reign was not their nor- of tliis king's despotism, which he indeed extended to the Hebrews also (comp, 1 Ki. v. 27, 28; xii. 4). ^ Comp. Exod. i. 11, D'DD ^^W. ^ Comp. Ezek. xxii, 7, 29 ; Zech. mal condition, but the consequence | vii. 10, 11, etc.; see infra iii init. 34 THE HEBEEW AND THE STRANGER. II. FROM SOLOMON TO THE EXILE. Centuries passed on in varied struggles and conflicts. Prophets disseminated their grand and noble thoughts; priests strove to support religion by more rigorous forms ; and statesmen laboured to amend the imperfect organisa- tion of the commonwealth. It was but rarely that the three chief factors of the state worked in harmony; more frequently they came into violent collision. All these internal movements and fierce agitations left their mark on the mutual relation between Hebrews and strangers; they helped to enlarge the chasm, to which we have alluded, between precept and practice, and to display the anomaly in a still more glaring light; for we shall see, side by side, the most tender humanity and the most cruel barbarism, highminded generosity and narrow exclusiveness. The simple division of the people in 'natives' and 'strangers' continued in this period also ; no other term for the latter was used than ger (li;), and the rights and duties were the same for all Gentiles. But the influence of prophetic teaching was apparent in the wider sympathies and greater privileges bestowed upon the heathen popu- lation. The stranger was again promised participation in the rest of the Sabbath.^ The principle was pro- nounced that God, who watches over the welfare of the orphan and the widow, 'loves the stranger and gives him food and raiment.'^ The Israelites were bidden, in imitation of this Divine example, to 'love the stranger,' and again and again the Deuteronomist pointed to the recollection of Hebrew servitude in Egypt to strengthen that humane sentiment. More than eight hundred years had elapsed after the release from Egypt, yet the yoke under which the early ancestors had sighed, was still remembered with a vividness proving the tenacity with which the * Deut. V. 14. ^ Deut. x. 18. II. FROM SOLOMON TO THE EXILE. 35 Hebrews cherished the great traditions of the past, and the eagerness with which public instructors availed them- selves of those striking events for the people's moral training and improvement. Love of the stranger was. first, to manifest itself in the strictest justice to be accorded to him in his legal disputes with the Hebrew;^ this was considered so important and so urgent that one of the solemn impre- cations pronounced on Mount Ebal was, 'Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow !"^ But then that love was above all to flower forth in those manifold acts of benevolence and kindly regard, which, cheering to all, are doubly grateful to the dependent. The poor hireling, whether Hebrew or stranger, was on no account to be oppressed or treated with harshness; the amount of his wages was to be given to him on the day itself when he performed the labour: 'the sun shall not go down upon it, for he is needy and sets his heart upon it, lest he cry against thee to the Lord, and it be sin to thee.'^ The stranger received his full and unstinted share of all public and private charities, the precise regulation of which forms so peculiar a characteristic in the legislation of the Hebrews. The sheaves forgotten in the field at harvest time, the berries left on the vines after the vintage, and the olives remaining on the branches in beating the olive trees, were to be reserved for the stranger, as well as for the widow and orphan; and these ordinances were enforced with the injunction, 'Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt; therefore I command thee to do this tiling.'*^ The tithes of all agricultural produce, which, ac- cording to a statute of Deuteronomy, were delivered up by the owners every third year,® were distributed alike between * Deut. i. 16; xxiv. 17. | ^ Deut. xxiv. 19—22. ^ Deut, xxvii. 19. I *^ See Commentary on Levit. i. Deut. xxiv. 14, 15 ; Lev. xix. 30. I 605, 606. 36 THE HEBREW AND THE STRANGEE. the stranger and the Levite, the widow and the orphan, 'that they may eat and be satisfied, and that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all the work of thy hand which thou doest.'^ But another noteworthy feature now became prominent. The stranger was, by the provisions of the same code, included in all social entertainments connected with acts of religion. He was to be admitted to the festive repasts and recreations which, as that legislation prescribed, accom- panied the annual presentation of the firstfruits at the Temple in Jerusalem.^ On the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles, he was 'to rejoice before Jahveh,' the God of Israel, together with the Hebrews and their households, 'at the place which He chooses to let His name dwell there ;' and it is doubtless in reference to the stranger that the command concludes with the words, 'Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman, and thou shalt observe and carry out these statutes.' <^ At the great Passover celebration ordained by King Hezekiah, the strangers also from all parts of the land repaired to the common Sanctuary, and 'rejoiced', like the whole congregation of Judah and Israel.'^ Nay, it is most probable that the precept enjoining upon 'all the males' (^■^Dr^^) to appear in the Temple, three times every year, for worship and thanksgiving, applied likewise to the stranger;^ for the command that, after each seventh year, 'the whole of Israel' (^N'^iS'^-bs) should attend in Jerusalem to hear the public reading of the Law, is thus more fully specified: 'Assemble the people, men, and women, and children, cmd thy stranger that is luithin thy gates, that they may hear and that they may learn, and ... observe to do all the words of this Law.'^ And * Deut, xiv. 28, 29; xxvi. 12, 13. ^ Deut. xxvi. 11; see Comm. on Lev. i. 613, 614. ^ Deut. xvi. 11, 12, 14. ^ 2 Chr. xxx. 25. ^ Deut. xvi. 16, 17, compared with vers. 11 and 14. ^ Deut. xxxi. 10—12. Entirely against the spirit of the Book, Jewish interpreters surmise the ad- II. TEOM SOLOMON TO THE EXILE. 37 lastly, the stranger was expressly comprised in the solemn covenant which God renewed with His people in the plains of Moab, in confirmation of that vouchsafed to the patriarchs and subsequently sanctioned in Horeb,^ and he was bidden to be present at the awe-inspiring proclamation of the blessing and the curse from Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.^^ Here we might be disposed to pause with satisfaction and profound admiration, to extol the Hebrews for their large-hearted liberality, and to praise the enviable condi- tion of their strangers, who, moreover, do not seem to have been pledged to burdensome rites, and more specially not to circumcision, nor even to the laws of diet, as far as these had, at that period, been worked out.<= But alas! other facts sternly demand essential modifications in our final verdict and rudely destroy the pleasing picture. We may find it natural and pardonable that a strong distinction was drawn between the Hebrew and the 'foreigner' (i*i3j), who came but transitorily into the land for his own advantage and was tied to the natives by no closer bonds.^ Who, therefore, will censure the law which forbids taking interest of any kind or in any form from the Israelite or 'brother', but permits it to be taken from the alien? especially as we may reasonably suppose that loans were made to the former for the purpose of assisting him in need and embarrassment,^ but to the latter, as a rule, in the course and for the objects of commerce; and as, besides, a foreigner, on his part^ pro- bably advanced no money to the Hebrew without interest.^ Still less assailable is the ordinance of allowing, in the mission of the stranger to have been prompted by the hope of his 'embracing Judaism' ("inTI^ ^ /IN) ; see Ebn Ezra in loc. ^ Deut. xxix. 10. ^^ Josh. viii. 33, 35. ^ Though this ought not to be deduced from Deut. xiv. 21; see infra. ^ Comp. Ruth ii. 10. ® Comp. Exod. xxii. 24. ^ Deut. xxiii. 20, 21; comp. Levit. XXV. 35 — 38, and Comment, in loc; see infra iii. 38 THE HEBREW AND THE STEANGER. seventh year, or the Year of Eelease, debts to be exacted from the 'foreigner' ("•"^D^), but not from the 'neighbour' and 'brother',^ since, with regard to the foreigner, the motives which suggested the considerate measure were not appKcable; he sowed and reaped as usual and enjoyed his ordinary resources of income without diminution; moreover, in this case also, the right of reciprocity pre- vailed, since a foreigner will not easily have renounced a just claim merely on account of a peculiar law which in no manner concerned him. But very different is the character of another command which involves a most momentous principle and clearly marks the direction which, in the later periods of the Hebrew monarchy, the national mind was taking with growing decision: 'You shall not eat of any thing that dies of itself (n^Dj); thou shalt give it to the stranger (l-h) who is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it to an alien 0"}^^'?); for thou art a holy people to Jahveh thy God.' ^^ This precept, applying not only to the foreigner, but the resident stranger or Canaanite, immeasurably widens the distance between the latter and the Hebrew. The essential superiority of the conquering race was now extended to the religious sphere also. The Hebrews were the holy people required to regulate their lives by special laws of purity not binding upon the profane 'strangers'. To a degrading servitude were added a more degrading unholiness and uncleanness. The strangers were not merely serfs but also sudras; both physically and morally they were a baser class of men, and the Israelites were at once their worldly masters and their spiritual lords. The common reasons of expediency which had caused the separation, were strengthened by a motive which claimed to be Divine; and the germ was laid for a haughty frame of mind destined to bear the most fatal fruit. ^ ?nN riNI inV*1 HN. ^^ Deut. xlv. 21; comp. ver. 2. II. FROM SOLOMON TO THE EXILE. 39 x^nd here again we are almost compelled to ask in surprise, liow those most generous precepts of the Pen- tateuch, to which we have adverted, can be harmonised with so invidious a doctrine? This contradiction can only be understood by taking into account that notorious and protracted struggle between the prophetic and priestly spirit, which is perhaps in no other portion of the Scriptures so strongly manifest as in the concluding Book of the Penta- teuch, itself a most remarkable combination of the two con- flicting elements. The prophets aimed at universalism, the priests at exclusiveness; the former found the Divine in the most perfect humanity, the latter searched for it in subtle and artificial speculations; the former took their nation as the central point from which they surveyed and embraced all mankind; the others contracted their vision more and more to the narrow circle of their own nationality. That antagonism typically exemplified the eternal warfare between spirit and form, between ever changeful liberty and un- natural restraint. The Book of Deuteronomy, the result of a severe and laborious training, of long and multi- farious experience, attempts on the one hand a full system of dietary laws and ceremonial practices, and preaches, on the other hand, a religion of the heart with a fervour, an eloquence, and an impressiveness worthy of the greatest prophets of Israel and the noblest teachers of any country.^ But it discloses to us, besides, the working of the third power in the community — that of the statesman. It is true, his activity can hardly be regarded as distinct from that of the prophet or priest; but however different in many respects a prophetic and a priestly statesman might have been, both the one and the other were under the controlling and checking influence of theocratic prin- ciples, which gained ground in Israel at an early period, and furnished the first striking example of the di£&culties » Comp. Deut. v. 26; vi. 4, 5; I xix. 9; also iv. 4; xxx. 11—14, X. 12, 20; xi. 1, 13, 22; xiii. 4, 5; I 16, 20. 40 THE HEBEEW AND THE STEANGEK. inseparable from the union of 'Churcli and State.' Now in what manner were the jpolitical relations between the Israelites and the other nations viewed and carried out? First, it may be observed that the Hebrews evinced no reluctance to enter into amicable intercourse with foreign states. David was disposed to show friendship to the king of Ammon,=^ maintained a benevolent attitude towards the king of Hamath,'^ and lived with Hiram king of Tyre in cordial sympathy, which was not only con- tinued by Solomon but strengthened into a formal alliance fostered by many mutual services.^ An offensive and defensive treaty existed between Abijah king of Judah and Tabrimmon king of Damascus, and between their successors Asa and Ben-hadad.^ Hezekiah received ambassadors from Merodach Baladan king of Babylon with every mark of respect and confidence;^ and although the prophets frequently and most strongly protested against intimate connections with such powerful and unscrupulous empires as Egypt and Assyria,^ they were actuated by motives of prudence and expediency, not of religion or of national aversion. Again, some beautiful features in the Hebrew legislation bearing on these points must be acknowledged with sincere approval. The command was enforced: 'Thou shalt not abhor the Egyptian, because thou wast a stranger in his land.'s" The Israelites were to forget the bondage and heavy oppression they had suffered in Egypt, but grate- fully to remember the hospitable reception they had there found in a time of need and distress; and the fact that the two nations harboured no animosity against each other is not only proved by the life of Solomon, who married an Egyptian princess and was in constant intercourse with ^ 2 Sam. X. 1. '^ 2 Sam. viii. 9—11. ^ 2 Sam. V. 11; 1 Ki. v. 15—26; ix. 10—15; 2 Chr. ii. 2—15; ix. 10, 21. i ^ Deut. xxiii. 8. ^ 1 Ki. XV. 18—20. ^ 2 Ki. XX. 12, 13. ^ Hos. V. 13; xii. 2; Isai. xxxi. 1 — 3; xxxix. 6, 7; etc. II. FEOM SOLOMON TO THE EXILE. 41 the southern country, but also by the conduct of later kings, who in moments of danger turned to Egypt for help and deliverance. An injunction of precisely the same friendly import was given with respect to the Edomites: 'Thou shalt not abhor the Edomite, for he is thy brother.'^ The close ties of kinship were to be held sacred, how- , ever implacably and ruthlessly hostile the Edomites proved to be at all times -j"^ and both in favour of the Egyptians and the Edomites the law enacted: 'The children that are begotten of them shall enter into the congregation of Jahveh in their third generation ;'<^ that is, if they had settled among the Hebrews as 'strangers' (Dnii), their grand-children born in Canaan were considered as members of the holy community, fully equal to the Israelites with regard to matrimonial alliances and religious privileges. Do these express injunctions allow the inference that the citizens of all the other foreign nations were received in the congregation at once and simply on application? Judging from the context in which those commands are introduced, such a conclusion seems almost justified^: the legislator appears to have apprehended that the people, incited by the bitter recol- lections of their Egyptian ignominy, or exasperated by the revolting cruelties of the Edomites, might be carried away to ungenerous revenge and retaliation, and he, there- fore, while keeping in mind both his general principle and the popular feeling, seems to have made a slight concession to the latter at the expense of the former. As a proof we might point to that skilful Tyrian artist sent to Solomon by King Hiram for important works of the Temple and readily received in Israel;® whence it appears that immediate admission was at least granted to the Phoenicians, who indeed had many special points ^ Deut. xxiii. 8. j ^ Comp. Siphri Sind EasJuin loc, '^ See Bible Studies, i. 269—273. i I'^D ]''in)D mDIN ']^^1. '^ Deut. xxiii. 9. | ^ See supra p. 31. 42 THE HEBEEW AND THE STRANGER. of contact with the Hebrews, for like these they practised circumcision, and their rehgious views approached those of the earlier Israelites so closely that many have gone so far as to declare the Temple of Solomon to have been nothing else but a Phoenician Temple of the Sun. But however liberal the principles may have been in their general tendency, they were restricted by so many and so essential exceptions that their application became almost illusory. We shall not in this place examine the humanity or policy of the command with respect to 'very distant cities,' that is, cities lying beyond the boundaries of Canaan, in which, unless they at once and spontaneously surrendered and accepted bondservice,^ 'every male' was to be slaughtered by the edge of the sword, while the women and children and all property were to be carried away as booty. '^ Nor shall we lay great stress on the injunctions concering some neighbouring tribes, which the national consciousness associated with deeds of unusual baseness and malice, and therefore regarded with deep- rooted and inextinguishable hatred: the memory of Amalek was to be 'blotted out from under heaven,' and the Moabites and Ammonites were not, even in the tenth generation, to 'enter into the congregation of Jahveh for ever,' and 'their peace and prosperity' were never to be sought or cared for; because those nations had, in the critical times of the Egyptian deliverance, displayed insidious and merciless enmity.*^ But the most serious attention should be given to the energetic behests with respect to the native inhabitants of Canaan itself, that is, the seven tribes specified by name'^ and described as 'greater and mightier' than the Hebrews.^ The language ^ "]1"i!3V^ ^"^^ ^^ "'''n\ shites, the Amorites and the Cana- '^ Deut. XX. 14; comp. ii. 32 — 35. anites, the Perizzites, the Hivites ^ Deut. xxiii. 4 — 7; xxv. 17 — , and the Jebusites. 19; see Bible Studies, i, 68 — 72, ® Deut. vii. 1; comp. Exod. 2 77—280. ^ The Hittites and the Gira-a- xxiii. 23, 28; xxxiv. 11; Deut. XX. 17; Josh. xiv. 11. II. PEOM SOLOMON TO THE EXILE. 43 in which those directions are set forth is no less remark- able than their substance, and both should be considered separately. The elder records had, with reference to these com- mands, preserved a laudable moderation. They confined themselves to enjoining the destruction of the Canaanite idols, interdicting covenants with the heathen, and denying to the latter residence in the holy land=^: the ex'pidsion of these pagan nations God reserved to Himself, whether He would accomplish it through His angel sent before the chosen people, or by a supernatural terror inflicted upon their enemies;^ and in the whole of the Book of the Covenant we find no command of extirpation. But very different are the provisions of the code compiled in the seventh century. Not only does it repeat the in- junctions relating to alliances, the shattering of heathen altars, the cutting down of sacred groves, and the burning or demolishing of images, the gold and silver of which, being an abomination, were not to be coveted; nor does it only add that the Hebrews were 'to show no friend- ship'*^ to the Canaanites nor intermarry with their sons and daughters; but they were explicitly commanded 'utterly to destroy' those seven tribes,^ in fact, 'not to let a soul alive.'® ^ Exod. xxiii. 24, 32, 33. ^' Through 'hornets' (H^nan); see Exod. xxiii. 20, 22 (I will be an enemy to thy enemies), 23 (I will cut them off), 27 (I will send My fear before thee, and I will destroy all the people, etc.), 28 (And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite etc.), 29, 30 (I will not drive them out before thee in one year ... by little and little I will drive them out etc.), 31 (I wDl deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand etc.) ; comp. xxxiv. 1 1 (behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite etc.), 12, 13; Deut. vii. 17—24; Josh. xxiv. 12; Judg. ii. 2, 3. ® np"^r^9 nynn ^h Deut. vii. 1—3, 5, 16, 25—27; xx. 16, 17; Auth. Vers, 'thou shalt save ahve nothing that breatheth;' De Wette, 'Du sollst nichts leben lassen was Odem hat;' however, the DIH does not alwaj's seem to have included the killing of the animals (Josh. 44 THE HEBREW AND THE STEANGER. If it is asked how this charge was meant and under- stood, the reply, as unmistakable as it is awful, is furnished by the Book of Joshua, which is almost throughout a narrative of carnage and massacre. With regard to Jericho, the first of the conquered towns in the west of the Jordan, we are told: 'They utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox and sheep and ass, with the edge of the sword;'* and Jericho became the type and example of all the other captured cities: in reference to Ai and Makkedah, to Libnah, Lachish, Eglon and Debir, we read, with heart- sickening monotony, always the same damnatory phrase: 'On that day Joshua took the town, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and he utterly destroyed the king thereof, and the men and all the souls that were therein, he let none remain, and he did to the king of the town as he did to the king of Jericho;"^ till at last it is sweepingly recorded with respect to the southern towns: 'So Joshua smote all the country of the hills, and of the south, and of the valley, and of the slopes, and all their kings, he left none remaining, but utterly destroyed every living souL'^ And then the same sanguinary operations were repeated in the northern districts and chiefly against Hazor, their most powerful centre. We do not speak of the bloodshed caused in open field battles, nor of the cruelties of disastrous routs and pursuits,^ but of the massacres in besieged and captured towns. 'Joshua took Hazor', it is stated, 'and smote the viii. 27; xi. 14); and gold and silver and other valuables were also taken from some 'devoted 'cities and even declared 'holy to Jahveh' and dehvered into 'the treasury of Jahveh' (Josh. vi. 17, 19, 24). * Josh. vi. 21. ^ Josh, comp. viii. . 28, 30, 32, 35, 24—29, 'all that 39; feU I that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand, all the people of Ai; for Joshua drew not Ms hand back . . , until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai.' "" X. 40, 41. ^ Josh. viii. 22—24; xi. 8, 9, etc. II. FROM SOLOMON TO THE EXILE. 45 king thereof with the sword . . . and they smote all the souls that were therein with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them, there was no living soul left, and he burnt Hazor with fire;' after which it is added that he acted thus with 'all the cities of those kings ;'^ and the matter is finally summarised in the remark that there was in the whole land no town which peacefully surren- dered to the Hebrews except Gibeon alone, and that all, having been taken in war, were totally demolished."^ Yet all these horrors, however terrible, might be tolerated, if they were simply palhated by the plea of necessity; for if we rejected this excuse as invalid, they would merely be a stain on the history of the Hebrews. ^ot, however, in this light do their writers represent the subject; they are anxious to discover higher motives and justifications, and in this endeavour entangle themselves in difficulties and subterfuges more offensive than even the recorded facts. They attribute all the ruthless com- mands to their God Jahveh, and impose upon Him the responsibility which they are themselves unwillmg to bear.'^ From the field of their history the matter is thus transferred to that of their religion, and the judgment to be pronounced upon the former falls upon the latter also. How are the bloody deeds defended? and how far are the alleged motives borne out by undisputed facts? Perhaps the most unfavourable light is thrown upon Hebrew theology by the pretext that 'God hardened the heart of the Canaanites,' and thus precluded them from yielding spontaneously, as the Gibeonites did, that they might be annihilated in the combat with the Hebrews, and 'might find no favour.'^ This theory presupposes ^ xi. 10—14. ^ xi. 15—20. ^ Comp. Deut. xx. 17, 'as Jahveh thy Grod has commanded thee;' Josh.x.40;xi.l2, 15, 'as Jahveh had commanded His servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua,' 20, etc. d Josh. xi. 20, m.T n^^ ^:5 n:nn nnb. 46 THE HEBREW AND THE STRANGER. that it would have been a moral or religious duty on the part of the Canaanites at once to submit to the Israelites, just as it was unquestionably a duty on the part of Pharaoh, to allow the free departure of the Hebrews, to whose services he had no claim or title.^ But did such an obligation devolve on the Canaanites in any sense? Were they not, on the contrary, bound by every dictate of self-respect and patriotism^ to defend their homes and the land of their ancestors against foreign invaders even with the courage of despair? And sup- posing that, in acting as they did, they erred grievously, is it wise or pious or reverential to impute to God this stubborn persistence in wickedness and thus to make Him its real author? Should He not rather be expected, by opening the eyes of the infatuated, to lead them to the path of righteousness? No defence of 'the hardening of the heart' by God can succeed in making it consistent with worthy notions of the Deity J^ The second vindication of the commanded measures — the one on which the Pentateuch lays the greatest stress and which is generally considered satisfactory and con- clusive — is this, that the carnage was imperatively required to protect the Hebrews against Canaanite idolatries and especially against the enormities of the worship of Moloch,*^ and that is was, moreover, indispensable to prevent inter- marriages between the Hebrews and the heathen, which would inevitably have destroyed the religion of Jahveh.^ If such were indeed God's intentions, how were they realised? The Book of Joshua relates, as we have seen, the actual consummation of the virulent commands in the widest extent, and what were the results? Were marriages with the heathen prevented? They prevailed in all classes ^ Comp, AViscL xix. 14—16, the Egyptians 'brought friends into bondage, that had well deserved of them/ ^ Comp. Eom. ix. U— 21. <= Deut. XX. 18, iv ai }ih slai'j uTtavTog Toy s%vov(;, si §£ ^s7 to akTj'^eg shslv, VTTsp aizavTog a'j%pcoT:i>iv ysvoug); comp. de Monarch, ii. 12, orrccg rag VTVsp rov Koujxov svxag koI %v(7iag sTOifiog 62 THE HEBEEW AJJD THE STRANGER. your own country, or a stranger who sojourns among you; for on that clay shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you ; you shall be clean from all your sins be- fore Jahveh.'^ On the other hand, the duties of the stranger were, in many directions, enlarged or made more stringent; but this is hardly a less cogent proof of an increased respect and consideration than the extension of his rights, especially as many of those duties were such as signa- lised the Hebrews as the holy nation. Not only w^as he menaced with the same punishment for 'reviling' God or 'cursing His name,"^ for murder or bodily violence inflicted on a human being, and for killing or injuring an animal, with reference to which offences the sum- mary formula is again employed, 'One law shall you have, the stranger shall be like the native, for I am Jahveh your God;'*^ but with the same rigour as the Hebrew he was forbidden to keep aloof from incestuous marriages and unnatural crimes, the horrors of Moloch worship, sorcery and witchcraft, in fact from all iniquities denounced as a defilement, on account of which the land had 'vomited out' its former inhabitants/^ He was warned not to eat anything unleavened (|^pn) during Passover^ nor, at any time, blood, nor the flesh of animals that had died of themselves or were torn by wild beasts;^ nay, like the Is- raelite, he was to cover with earth the blood of beast or bird killed in the chase. Excision from the people was the penalty of tasting blood w^hich, being the animal's soul, was reserved for the altar to w^ork atonement for ^ Lev. xvi. 29, 30. ^ Lev. xxiv. 15, 16, bbp^ O rn^N and mH"' nW 3pJ; see Comm. on Lev. ii. 529. " Lev. xxiv. 15—22. ^ Lev. xviii. 26; xx. 2, etc. e Exod. xii. 19, niiDHD 'pDN b 'D1 nniD.ii; comp. Num. ix. 14, where it is stated that the obliga- tions of the stranger hold good also with'respect to 'the second Passover' ("•Jtl^ riDD) to be kept in the ^econtZ month. ^1^3J and HDniO. in, THE BABYLONIAN AND PERSIAN PERIODS. 63 the Hebrew and the stranger alike. ^ "With respect to the flesh of fallen beasts, the Levitical Law, in favourable contrast to Deuteronomy,'^ ordained that such meat, whether eaten by native or stranger, caused uncleanness; both the one and the other were required in such cases to wash their garments and to perform ablutions; and whoso- ever neglected these commands, ^bore his sin.''^ There was no specific difference between Hebrew and Gentile. But here we have arrived at the turning point of the priestly legislation. "Was the stranger indeed a member of the holy community? Was he recognised as such simply by avoiding the trespasses referred to, and were no other duties and burdens imposed upon him? In the age of which we are now treating, the Hebrews had developed a theory which we are able to trace in the Pentateuch with some distinctness. They considered that there existed three holy signs — a personal, a national, and a universal sign (nlN), viz. circum- cision, Passover, and the Sabbath. The chief right and responsibihty of the Sabbath, abstention from all manual labour, was from early times shared by the strangers, and remained unaltered during this epoch also."^ But the real and special test of full membership of the Hebrew people was participation in the Passover meal. The minute commands respecting that ceremonial— the choice of the lamb 'according to the father's house,' the mode of its preparation and consumption— all aimed at that object.^ The Pesach may have borne a similar character for many previous centuries; but, when in the Persian period, the teachers of Israel strove, with increased zeal, to fix and to preserve the people's distinctive character, they could not fail to attribute to the Passover feast a peculiar signifi- cance and to devise means for making it a strikingly national ^ Lev. xvii. 10—14, and Comm. in loc. ^ See sitpra p. 38. ^ Lev. XV. 15, 16. ^ Supra pp. 28, 34. ^ See Comm. on Exod. p. 179; on Levit. ii. 493. 64 THE HEBEEW AND THE STEANGEE. institution. They took circumcision as their auxiliary. That rite, as we have shown ahove,^ was about the same time stamped as a sign of the Covenant ;^^ and it was now chosen to serve as the personal criterion of the theocratic citizen, and brought into the closest connection with the Pesach. The anxious scrupulousness displayed in this matter might seem almost excessive. The broad principle is laid down : 'All the congregation of Israel shall keep the Pesach.'^ Who belonged to the 'congregation of Israel'? The laws and statements of the Elohistic documents leave no doubt.*^ If there existed the least uncertainty, it would be removed by the additional injunctions respect- ing the symbolical repast. For another and equally plain principle is set forth : 'No uncircumcised person shall eat of it.'^ It was not considered probable that the foreigner, the sojourner, and the hireling, who were but loosely associated with the community, would submit to the cere- mony, and they were, therefore, unconditionally excluded from the meal, and consequently from the congregation of Israel.^ The case was different with those Gentiles who, for various reasons, were more directly united with the Hebrews. Of the purchased slave who lived in the master's house and formed a part of his family, circum- cision was probably demanded; from the stranger (-)•;) domiciled in the land it was expected: 'Every m.ale ser- vant bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then he may eat of the Pesach;' and again, 'When a stranger sojourns with thee and will sacritice the Pesach to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and sacrifice it.'s" If the strano;er * See p. 8. ^' nnn mN"? n^m O), Gen. xvii. 11. , ^ Exod. xii. 47, b^l^' r\lV hD O). ^ G-en. xvii. 9 — 14; Lev. xii. 2, 3. ^ Ver. 48, H ^N^ N^ blV ^D, ^ Vers. 43, 45, i tion of the state hy religion in such a manner that religion was the sole element of nationality, to which every other principle was made to yield. This transformation was gradually achieved, from the fourth century B. C, through the long epochs of the dominion of the Syrians, the Maccabees, and Romans, and was then, in an infinite variety of modes and shapes, continued and consolidated during all later centuries down to our own time. Each of the three earlier periods, as we have pointed out, had a conspicuous representative in Hebrew literature — the first, 'the Book of the Covenant;' the second, the Book of Deuteronomy ; and the third, the Levitical Legis- =^ Dan. i. 8—16; comp. Judith I In Flacc. c. 11; Jos. Ap. i. 22; xii. 1, 2; Tobit i. 10—12; Philo, I Ant. XIV. x. 12. 74 THE HEBREW AND THE STRANGER. lation and narrative in the middle Books of the Penta- teuch; while the fourth epoch, which we are now ap- proaching, is brought home to us by a vast and truly- amazing number of works — the Book of Daniel and the Apocrypha, Philo and Josephus, the Mishnah, the Talmud, and an endless host of Kabbinical writings. We shall try so to group these materials as to show, with all possible distinctness, the singular development of the Jewish mind during these protracted ages; but in this attempt we shall of course be obliged to confine our- selves to leading points of view and salient principles. The first and most startling feature we meet in survey- ing the nine or ten centuries from Ezra and Nehemiah to the completion of the Talmud, is the constant fluctua- tion of the Jewish character in contrasts which often amount almost to contradictions, and which can only be comprehended in their connection with the contempora- neous events of general history. On the one hand, we see tlie jgroud self-consciousness of the Jews rise to an excess which, even after the marked beginnings of earlier times, might hardly be expected.^ The Hebrews are now not merely a 'righteous people,"' but 'a people of saints' or 'the saints of the Most High,' to whom the govern- ment belongs for all eternity, and whom every empire is bound to obey;^ nay, being 'the hosts of God,' they are like the stars of heaven in sublimity and splendour.^ They are dedicated to God 'as a kind of first-fruits of * See Bible Stud. i. 56—58. ^ Dn^^, Num. xxiu. 10. ^ Dan. vii. 18, 21, 22, 25, 27; viii. 24; xii. 7; Enoch x. 23; 3 Mace. vi. 3, ixsplloi; rjyiaaiMhrii aov Xaov Kr.r.X.; Wisd. xviii. 1, 5, 9, 0(7/0/; comp. the aytoi in Rev. V. 8; viii. 3, 4; xiii. 7; xxii. 11, etc.; also i. 6, «■«/ aTroiTjJsv Tj/J.ag ^aai- Xe/"? Ka) hpslq rw 0etS,- Wisd. xviii. 4, 13, CiiiokofTiuav ©sou u/'&v Xaov slvai; xix. 6, iva o'l ao) naJ^sg (f)v- Xax^wij/v a^Xa^sIg ; comp. Sir. xxxvi. 4, 12, 15; and on the other hand, 1 Mace. ii. 10, fforov I'^vo? ovk sKkr}- povofjLrjas ^aaiksiav avTyjq; k.t.X. ^ Dan. viii. 10; see Bible Stud, i. 253. IV. HELLENISM AND EABBINISM. 75 the whole human race,'=^ and are dearer to Him than His ministering angels,^ for they are 'the choicest part of mankind' or emphatically 'the people.'^ Not only is their welfare specially watched over by the arch-angel Michael,*^ but on their behalf, God's ruling Providence is exceptional- ly manifested,^ since for their protection and glorification, the most astounding miracles are constantly performed. The very elements change their nature ; thus fire, instead of being quenched, burns for their sake more fiercely in w^ater, but has no power over snow and ice; nay, if necessary, the whole creation *is fashioned again anew, in obedience to God's peculiar commands, that His children, the Hebrews, may be preserved unhurt'.^ Their adversaries, being as such 'most foolish and most miser- able,'§^ are sure to perish ignominiously.'^ For their enemies are at the same time the enemies of God;^ whosoever assails Israel assails the Divine majesty;^ and whosoever destroys a single soul in Israel, is as criminal as if he had destroyed a whole world.^ The mightiest monarchs are forced to acknowledge the God of the Jews as the supreme lord of the universe,"' and to admit that, as this God 'fights for them, they cannot be injured;'" nay that * Philo, De Justit.ii. 6, aitsysixr^y] oia rig aTzapyi] tu TTOir/rfi kou ■narpi b^ Tahn. Chull. 9l' 6, .r^-iDH ^ Enoch XX. 5. ^ Dan. X. 13, 21; xii. 1. ^ Philo, Legat. ad Cai. c. 1. Wisd. xvi. 17 ipTzipiiayoQ yap 6 Koafiog sgt) ^ikkiccv), 18, 19, 22, 23; xvii. 2 sqq.; xix. 6, 7, 18 (§/' iavTccv yap ra ar^iysla jj.s%apixo'C,o- l/.sva uaTTsp iv \pa\Trjpiu (J)%Qyyoi rov pv%-f/.ov TO ovo/Jia ^laXkaaaovai k.t.X.), 19—21. ^ Wisd. xvi. 14, apo'JsaTspoi Ka\ rakavsg 4'^XV''' vrjTriov. ^ Comp. the Books of Esther, Daniel, 2 Mace, 3 JMacc, etc. passim; Sir. xxxvi. 7, 9, 10; Philo, In riacc. cc. 20, 21. ' Ps. Ixxix. 6, 7, 12. k Talm. Sanh. 58 b, "ItOIDH b^ ):})b 11210 I'p'ND b^i^' bw )^)b HJOtt^ bw; comp. Judg. V. 23; Zech. ii. 12; also Ps. Ixxix. 6, 12; cxxxix. 21, 22; Sir. xxxvi. 2, 3. ' 3fishn. Sanh. iv. 5, l^NDH "^D n'pd d'piv "1D1N ibwj DinDH. 1" Dan. ii. 47; iii. 26—33; iv. 31—34; vi. 21, 27, 28; etc. " 2 Mace. viii. 36; comp. ix. 8, 10, 13 (avvvo7;v Kai av%pu7Tuv, oIk apa tov twv lovhai'uv s%vovg cc//.s\ccg sy^sn; k.t.\. ^ Philo, De Abraham, c. 19, s%vog . . . [loi hoKsT rrj'^ VTrep airav- rog a'A/3cc7rwv ys'vou? tepoijvvyjv ko.) itpo^fjTcia'j 'kaxs7v; Vit. Mos. i. 27, asi irQiTiaofjLsvQV slyag, iTtip rs kkkuiv anorpoTT-^g koI fisTOVGiag aya^ccv, *^ Comp. Targ. Jon. on Num. xxii. 12; Talm. Yevam. 63 a, l'P"'DN pN nD"ND nnin mnotJ^D esp. Yalkxct, Pentat. §§ 375, 376 (fol. 102 I), where God assigns the reason, ^3 D^pU- nT\W ^JDD; Jerem. § 295 (fol. 64 a); Pirk. B. Eliez. c. 53, HTH ^LJ^DH .ID D^DIDH D.TfiS';;D3 D^Jlt^D; Bible Stud. 1. 150. ^ Ps. xlviii. 2, 3, 9; comp. 1 Mace. ii. 8, 12, lloi) ra ayia rjjj.6c>'j KOI ■/] KoXXovr/ Tifiuv Koi Tj OQ^a yjpicav r,priiJ.i nNn''C N^N nnrivS'D; and Bashi in loc. p-iD hv Dnny rh^2\2 bj ^ Jos. Ant. XIII. ix. 1, C00-T5 slyai TO y.onziy 'lovoahi; comjJ. XV. vii. 9; XVII. x. 2 (where the Idumaeans are stated to have celeb- rated the Jewish festivals); Bell. Jud. II. iii. 1; IV. iv. 4, 5; also Ant. XIV. XV. 2 ; Dion Cass, xxxvii. 17 ; Straho xvi. 34. ^ Jos. Ant. XIII. xi. 3. ly. HELLENISM AND RABBINISM. 91 Alexander Jannai (B. C. 104—78), ^totally destroyed tlie town of Pella because its inhabitants would not consent to change their religious rites for those pecuhar to the Jews.'^ Not only did the Jews in that period compel proselytes to perform circumcision, as is evident from the instances just referred to, as well as from the example of king Izates quoted above ;^' but they— or at least the more rigorous and fanatical among them— endeavoured to force that rite upon those who came into their land as fugitives, as is apparent from a very noteworthy account given by Josephus, who in one distinct case succeeded in guarding the liberty of the strangers.^^ For un circumcision was considered synonymous with wickedness.^ 'Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved,' was the doctrine of the Pharisees.^ [, It was main- tained that 'if circumcision did not exist, God would not have created the world,' ^ nor 'would heaven and earth be able to stand were it not for the blood of the covenant ;'« and the great Maimonides, though opposed by other * Jos. Ant. XIII. XV. 4, ravTrr^ (XleXXav) KocrhKaxl^sv, olx i^TToaxo/ihu-^ Tccv ivoiKov^Tuv sig ra -izarpicc rxv 'Io'joa/:cv h%r] KaTa§a\s!7%ai ; comx^. Hot. Sat. I. iv. 142, 143, ac veluti te Judaei oogemus in hanc con- cedere turbam. '^ P. 10; comp. Juditli xiv. 10, Acliior 'believed in God g-reatlj^, circumcised the flesh of his foreskin, and was joined to the house of Israel.' ■-' Yit. c. 23, ro'jTQv; 'nspirsi/.vs- c%ai Txv 'louoa/cov ayayKaXoync'^, si %s}.ovGiy elvai itap alro'tg, o-^k siaza ^iaa%r,-jai ; comp. c. 31, rov; a(})iKO- fjihovg . . . ovK Q(f)si\sn ^ij'J . . . fZ-i; fcs- ra^rj-jcii ^sXovrag si; ra Trap ' avroT; i'^v;; Horn. X. 2, naprvp-x yap aliTo7g on C^Xov ^sov s^ovijiy, a>X ov Kar sTzlyj^^i'''- ^ Mishn. Nedar. iii. 11, HDINO •^ Acts XV. T, 5, 24, etc. The rite had, of course, no significance unless accompanied by the complete adoption of the Law, whereas in any other case 'the cu'cumcised were regarded as uuckcumcised' {Tahn. Avod. Zar. 27 a, J'^N comp. Kom. ii. 25, 28): and con- versely, Jews who, for valid reasons, remained uncircumcised, were con- sidered as circumcised. f Mishn. 1. c, N^ ^}^"t N'ba'^^N » See Yoreh Deah § 268. 5. 92 THE HEBEE W A^B THE STUANGEE. authorities, sets forth, as Eabbinical teaching, the plain principle that 'no idolater should be allowed to come into the land of the Jews, to sojourn among them even for a short time or to pass from town to tow^n for the sake of trade or commerce.'^ And now^ even the term ger (~>i;) underwent a most significant change of meaning. We have above shown that, in the Persian period, a distinction had been drawn between the theocratic ger in the stricter sense and the tolerated toshav (D^nn) who was connected with the com- munity only by civil ties. This division w^as not only maintained but most scrupulously and zealously expanded. The former class received the name of 'strangers of justice' or 'strangers of the covenant,"^ who had to pledge themselves absolutely to all the duties of born Jews; while the latter category were called 'strangers of the gate'^ and were only bound to observe the so-called 'seven laws of the children of Noah,' comprising monotheism and the fundamental precepts of morality/^ But this was not enough. As the stranger permanently domiciled among the Jews was obliged, at least as a rule, to embrace Judaism, the term ger received in the later Hebrew dialect exclusively the meaning of convert, and stranger and convert ivere thenceforth identical. Who can mistake or fail to appreciate the momentous revolution implied in this ^ Maimon. Hilcli. Akkum, x. 6, \ ^^ See Coinm. on Lev. ii. pp. 9, 10; comp. Acts xv. 19, 20, 29; xxi. 25. That ai^pellation is pro- bably derived from the plirase 'the strang-er who is in th}' gates' often used in the Pentateuch (Ex. xx. 10; Deut. xiv. 21; xxiv. 4, 1~i:i "jnVK'3 "}Ii-|N3 nLJ'N). This class of proselytes is supposed to be meant by the jjln-ases (f)o^oviJLsyoi r&v %s6y (Jos. Ant. XIV. vii. 12; Acts '^ p-'!^:] nJ or r\^^2r] m I x. 2; comp. Ps. cxviii. 4, "'Nl^ ".yii/ri n;. 1 nirr'; cxv. 11/ 13), C3^oij.s-joi (Acts bi n-nnoD mpot' cipoQ "^^ly; comp. Talm. Yevam. 48 h, |^N t^N-iL^' pND IHu^? pritfD; Fassel, Tugend- und Eechtslelu'e, § 48, see §§25, 34; Das mosaisch-rabbinische Civilrecht, i. 25, 'die Intoleranz des Talmud gegen Gotzendiener ist em ji or end.' IV. HELLENISM AND EABBIISTISM. 93 simple linguistic change ?^ The Greek expression proselyte, which originally was stranger in the widest acceptation of the word, then assumed the same pregnant and exclusive meaning^ and in this sense it is used in the Greek trans- lations of the Hebrew Scriptures, in the New Testament,^ and in all modern languages. But though the violence displayed by the Jews in securing converts was undoubtedly deplorable, it involved some redeeming points of such high importance, that few will be disposed to judge it with severity ; for that exces- sive zeal proved a willingness to break through the narrow boundaries of descent, and to create a community of all men in regard to faith and religious privilege. It implied that a child of Abraham was not only he who actually belonged to his progeny, but every one who was ready to become his spiritual heir by believing in his God and obeying the Divine commandments. The possibility was opened for establishing a universal covenant and collecting all nations under one common standard. The kingdom of {heaven, no longer limited to Israel, might include all who joined Israel in sincere devotion. The means were harsh and often cruel, but the aim was grand and noble. The means were those of growing Pharisaism, the aim was that of the old Hebrew prophets. The impetuous xiu. 43. 50; xvi. 14; xvni. 4, 17; xviii. 7), sixjs^sig (Acts x. 2) or ev\aj3s7g (Acts ii. 5) ; though hardly any one of these passages is quite conclusive. ^ Of "li3 were formed, in Aramaic manner, the feminine ri'l1-''il, the verb I^Ji to Iring over to Judaism, and the passive "lf,^0^? foi' which, in earher times, was used "inTin (Esth. viii. 17) or some parapln^ase as .-n.T-tJN T[hi or 'hyi m^: ^N^lK'i 'to join oneself to Jahveh' or *to Israel' (Isa. xiv. 1; Ivi. 3, 6: Zech. ii. 15; Esth. ix. 27). It is worthy of notice that tliis usage occurs even in the Septuagint, that is as early the tMrd century B. C; for in Exod. xii. 19, em- bodying the command with respect to the unleavened food of Passover, which that version apjDlies to the true proselyte after the analogy of ver. 48, it does not render "lil, as usually, with irpoaijkvTog, but employs ysi6:ipag, the Hebrew word itself. Matt, xxiii. 15, 'Tvoi^jui eva t: poayfkvTo-j ; Acts vi. 5; xiii. 43. 94 THE HEBREW AND THE STEANGEE. fervour of proselytising which prevailed in the Hasmonaean period, prepared the way for the extraordinary work of Paul, who courageously selected his sphere of activity among the heathen; who, while breaking the fetters of the Law from within, demolished from without the barriers of nationality; and who, therefore, was able to offer to the Gentiles deliverance and truth without imposing on them a new burden of ceremonials; who almost paradoxi- cally exclaimed that the circumcised have no share in salvation,^ and declared, 'There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich (in mercy) to all that call upon Him."^ The storm of indignation which was raised against Paul not only by his earlier but by his later co-religionists, proves how little even these were prepared for so radical a trans- formation, and how difBcult they found it to fathom the dialectic subtleties which strove to build up a new cove- nant upon-the repeal of an old one, with respect to which even the master had declared that 'it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of it to faiL'*^ Yet this was the turning point, at which the two chief paths separated. The abrogation of circumcision, of the dietary precepts, and of the exclusive laws of matri- mony, when at last carried out in the Christian Church after vehement struggles, led onward to all countries and all nations to the extreme boundaries of the earth ; while the obstinate persistence in those peculiar rules and rites confined the Jews to a narrow territory, which indeed always remained in close and lively intercourse with the whole intellectual world, but was outwardly ^ Gral. y. 1 — 3, syw Tlai/Xog Xsycc vfuy on ia'j izspirifLvr^T^s, Xpurog ifiag ov'^sv oc(f)s\7;-si; comp. E,om. ii. 25 — 29, oil yap o h tw (f)ccvspic 'lov- oaTog suriv, oioa ~rj iv tm (pavspu iv aapKi izspiTOiiTi, akili vj tu KpvTtru 'lovcaTo;, koI 'szspiTOiJiij Kupoiag h 7:-jcv/j.aTi ; Philipp. iii. 2, 3 ; Col. ii. 11, iTspisrf/.r;%riTs -jTspiroixfi a-^cipo-nOiriTW, '^ Eom. X. 12; comp. i. 16; ii, 10; 1 Cor. i. 22—24; xii. 13, 'h ■7fjsvfjt.a i'nOTi'j'^rjfJisv ; Gal. ii. 28 ; Col. iii. 11; also Acts x. 47; xi. 18. ^ Luke xvi. 17; Matt. v. 18. IV. HELLENISM AND EABBINISM. 95 shut off from an active communion with other nations and from their sympathy. As long as the second Temple was standing, the Jews persevered in their desire of securing converts. This is clear from the maxim of Rabbi Shimeon ben Gamaliel, 'If a stranger wishes to become a Jew, a ready hand is extended to him to bring him under the wings of the Divine glory;' ^ and it is apparent even in those celebrated narratives of the Talmud regarding proselytism, which deserve a short examination, because they are often represented in the following one-sided and fallacious light. A heathen (nDJ) came to Rabbi Shammai declaring that he was willing to embrace Judaism on condition that he was required to pledge himself only to the written and not also to the oral or traditional Law; he was angrily rejected by Shammai, but was admitted by Hillel to whom he afterwards put the same request. Another heathen avowed his readiness to join the Jewish community if he were 'taught the whole Law while standing on one leg,' ^ that is, in one sentence or maxim; Shammai drove him away with the measuring rod he happened to have in his hand, while Hillel accepted him with the remark, 'What is displea- sing to thee, that thou shalt not do to thy neighbour, this is the whole Law.'^ A third Gentile, lastly, expressed himself open to conversion if he were assured that he might become High-priest; and he also was sternly repilled by the one teacher, and received into the congre- gation by the other.^ But this account, although, as far as it goes, perfectly correct and even literal, entirely perverts the spirit of the original by important omissions. According to the Talmud, there existed between Shammai and Hillel no essential disagreement whatever; they merely n^Dty ^d:d nnn d^jd.i'p; comp. I rhj n-nnn bj nm; comp. comm. Mtclr. Rabb. on_ Lev. ii. 8. on Levit. ii. 117. ^ nnN b.)! bl! 112)^ •'JNttO. | ^l y«z,n. Shabb. 31 a. 96 THE HEBEEW AND THE STEANGEE. differed in the mode, and not in the terms, of a pagan's recognition as a Jew. Hill el was far from abandoning the oral Law as unimportant, but he was confident of his ability to convince the heathen, wdien once converted, of the indispensable necessity of tradition, and he indeed lost no time in beginning his instruction by an argimientum ad liominem with reference to the alphabet. Again, Hillel w^as certainly not of opinion that the principle of brotherly love exhausts the whole doctrine of Judaism, for he adds, ^Everything else is the Commentary on the Law, go and learn,''^ and he was, for instance, by no means inclined to dispense with the circumcision of Gentiles, in wdiich point he was even severer than his opponent Shammai.^^ And finally, Hillel did not in reality mean to admit a heathen convert to the High-priesthood, but, as in the first case, he relied upon further teaching and study for disabusing the foreigner of his errors and lowering his pretensions. In- deed, the Talmud itself, more ingenuous than its over-ardent champions, reduces the difference in the conduct of the two Rabbis simply to a difference of temper, contrasting the gentleness and patience of the one with the impetuous irritability of the other.^ From all considerations it is clear thatj in receiving strangers within their community, the Jews by no means renounced their belief in the exclusive power of salvation attaching to their peculiar principles and cere- monies; nay the rigid rule was propounded: 'If a heathen comes and is ready to bind himself to all the word^ of the Law except one single command, he must not be admitted;' to which other doctors added, 'not even if he rejects a single tittle of the ordinances of the Scribes' or Rabbins.'^ ^ "IIDJ bn ntJTi^D ^l^NI ; comp. Eom. xiii. 8—12. '^ Comp. Mishn, Pesach. viii. 8; Edjoth V. 2, DnDIN bi^H H^n '2) -iDpn. <^ Talm. Shabb. 31 a, imJriuJ); hbn b^ and 'NDty btif in^-Dp. ^ n:i"D nnN pr^pi )b'Ds P tt'-lIDD rbl}}:] p ty-nsn ! nnSIO; Talm. Bechor. 30 b. IV. HELLENISM AND EABBINISM. 97 But the delight in making converts gradually waned. With increasing determination, a second condition besides circumcision was insisted upon— the rite of baptism (ni?op), which is indeed not mentioned even by Philo and Jos'e- phus as an independent act, but which, probably origina- ting in a much earlier time, was thenceforth made to bear not merely the character of common lustration but of sacred initiation.=^ It is true, that some less rigorous doctors seem to have been content either with the one or the other ceremony; a controversy on the subject was carried on by Eabbi Eliezer and Eabbi Joshua ben Chananjah, both disciples of the great Eabbi Jochanan ben Saccai, and living about the middle of the first Christian century; the former believed that circumcision alone, the latter that baptism alone was sufficient, at least de facto}' But both the one and the other were overruled by the explicit decision of the sages, 'Whosoever is baptised and not circumcised, or circumcised and not baptised, is not held to be a proselyte, until he is both circumcised and baptised.'*^ In the very first generations after the destruction of Jeru- salem by the Romans a dislike for receiving new members be- came strongly apparent; thus the versatile and enigmatical Rabbi Akiva endeavoured to multiply the difficulties of pro- selytism a,nd plainly contended, 'A congregation oigerim is no "* Comp. Isai. i. 16, OIH lifn"), etc. See on this much discussed sub- ject the works of Slevogt, Wahner, Danz, Eisenlohr, Wernsdorf, Mat- thies, Bengel, Schi-eckenburger a. o. "iriynD, though not ntJ^nnDb; thus Izates seems to have been considered a Jew even without circumcision, though he was after- wards induced to perform it {Jos. regarded as equivalent to 'becoming a Jew' (~1'U no), with reference to Exod. ii. 5, ^^ni'p nviD nD urn *" Talm. Yevam. 46 a, N^l ^DD nv -)J TN bcD N^l t50 ^D b)2m blD^iy; comp. Kerith. 9 a; Avod. Zar. 57 a, 59 a; Kiddush. 62 &. In Exod. xii. 44, the Tar- gum of Jonathan not only renders iHN nrhr^i by n^n"' -iium, but Ant. XX. ii. 4, supra p. 10). In i adds H^J^^DDni 'and thou shalt Talm. Megill. 13 a, 'baptism' is j baptise him.' 98 THE HEBEEW AND THE STEANGEE. congregation.'^ One of Akiva's followers, Rabbi Nehemjah, advancing in tlie same direction, declared all those to be no real gerim, who were prompted to the change by the desire of concluding a Jewish matrimony, by the hope of wealth or honour, by fear or superstitious dreams^ — most laudable restrictions, if they had not ob- viously had an ulterior object.^ Then a sacrifice was added as a third term of admission, which, as after the demoli- tion of the Temple sacrifices were impossible, would have operated as a total prevention, had not a sum of money been substituted, though this was later abandoned.^ Every conceivable precaution was devised to guard against undue haste or rashness. A complete 'court' or 'board' of ecclesiastical authorities was alone made com- petentto sanction the reception. The stranger who applied to them was solemnly admonished to consider all the worldly disadvantages and religious burdens attendant upon the contemplated step. 'What induces thee', he was to be asked^ 'to come and to join us? Dost thou not know that, in these times, the Israelites are in trouble and oppression, despised and persecuted, and have to bear end- less sufferings'? If he replied, 'I know it, and I am not worthy to share their glorious lot,' he was to be impressive- ly reminded that, while he continued to be a heathen, he was liable to no punishment for many trespasses such as eating fat or desecrating the Sabbath, but that, as a Jew, he must expiate the one by excision and the other by the death of lapidation. If he still remained firm, he was circum- cised, and then led to the final act of baptism, but even while in the bath, he was instructed by two learned Eabbis in the graver and the lighter duties to which he a Talm. Yevam. 79 h, Dnj ^Hp ^ Talm. Yevam. 24 J; comp. 76 a. ^ Comp. Cuzari i. 115, 'We are not satisfied with a mere profession of faith, but demand unselfish deeds — purity, study, circumcision, and the practice of ah our laws;' Talm. Jer. Kidd.iv. 1 ; Yor. Deah § 268. 12. ^ Talm. Kerith. 8 b, 9 a. IV. HELLENISM AND EABBINISM. 99 was binding himself, and then only he was considered an Israelite.* These proceedings, which are still in force, were indeed partially suggested by praiseworthy motives; yet they prove with sufficient clearness that, in those times, the Jews no longer encouraged or even desired conversions ; and they were, according to one Rabbi, really intended as obstacles, because, as he declared, 'proselytes are obnoxious to Israel like leprosy.'^ How is this decisive change in so important a matter to be understood and explained? It may, indeed, to some extent have been prompted by considerations of expediency; for the extension and increasing worldly power of Christianity, which jealously watched secessions to Judaism, counselled reserve and caution; and by an edict of Theodosius, towards the end of the fourth cen- tury, any one persuading a Christian to apostasy was to be punished with death, while his property was confiscated. But this was not the principal cause. Eabbinism, it must be confessed, was from the beginning unable to conquer a certain abhorrence against the admission of Gentiles into the congregation of Israel; it developed the notions of the 'elected people' and 'the holy seed'<^ with such rigorous consistency that thenceforth Jew was emphatically equivalent to descendant of Abraham; and it reared that towering structure of 'tradition,' which, commenced in the times of Ezra and Nehemiah, was strengthened in each succeeding epoch of history, and at ^ Tahn. Yevam. 47. Talm. Yevam .47 b, strangely derived from the beautiful words in Isai. xiv. 1, =in?:pj] □rr'^py iJn m^:n rpy n^2 ^v'-i comp. Kethuv. 11 a; Kiddush. 70 5; Avod. Zar. 3 5, n^WDT] niD^^ ^b Dnj ]''b2pD ]^n 'DT; Maimom. HOch. Issur. Biah xiii., xiv.; Hilch. Avadim ix.; Yoreh Deah § 268. — The tenn "lit shared this modification also; for to the Aramaic root ")U was attributed the sense of committing fornication, incest, or adultery, which meaning has remained current in Syriac, and is also found in the dialect of Jerusalem (comp. Geiger, Urschrift, p. 54). 100 THE HEBEEW AND THE STEANGEB. last completed the isolation of the Jews by a thousand 'fences' and ramparts. If yet occasionally a proselyte or ger was received, he was, by the Talmudical law, regarded as 'a new-born child;'* he had broken off all connection ■svith the past; his natural kinsmen were no longer his kinsmen '^ it was only for extraneous reasons that he was forbidden to intermarry with his nearest blood relations ; for 'by the ordinances of the Law,' so teaches Talmudism, 'a proselyte may marry his own mother or his sister, his mother's daughter, if they are also proselytes ; though the E-abbins have interdicted such marriages, lest the gerim say. We have descended from a higher to a lower degree of sanctity.'^ But was the proselyte, at least on such terms, equal to the native Hebrew ? Far from it. He was excluded from all public offices.*^ A philosopher like Philo might indeed say honest- ly that the Jews 'admit such foreigners as are disposed to honour their laws, in the same manner as their own fellow-citizens;'^ and the ger, if living virtuously, is by the Rabbins promised the greatest heavenly bliss ;f 'neverthe- less,' says the highly refined and learned Eabbi Jehudah Halevi, 'the strangers who adopt our faith, are by no means on a level wdth the born Israelites ; for these alone are held worthy to receive the gift of prophecy, while the former have fully accomplished their task by obeying the precepts of the Law and becoming men of wisdom and of piety, since prophets they can never be.'§^ Herod, ^^ According to the principle, ^ij Ninti'D )b )^n^ -iti^n -iNii' b^ ')^2 INty p^N. <^ See Talm. Yevam. 22, 48 5; Sanhedr. 58 b, 97 b; comp. Mishn. Sheviith x. 9 ; Maimon. Issur. Biah xiv. 11; Yor. Deah § 269, ]'''l Philo, De lastit. ii. 6, o sTrTj'kvTog Tovg avyysvBig ix^povg aavfJL^ocTOvg sIpyoKjaro iavTM k . t .X. ; Tacit. Hist. V. 3, nee quidquam etc. ^ Comp. Talm. Jer. Kiddush. iv., Hal. 5, r.T N^ 7^;; in^jont:^ "pd ^ Legat. ad Cai. c. 31, ov^ yjTTO'j rcov /o/wv a'Tto^iy^ovrai ttoXituv. ^ Talm. Yevam. 47 a; Yor. Deah § 268. 2. S Cuzari i. 115, DJ'iJy Tvh'^n IV. HELLENISM AND EABBINISM. 101 though the descendant of an Idumaean 'proselyte of justice' through several generations, was by his enemy Antigonus publicly proclaimed to be no more than an Idumaean or a 'half- Jew.' ^'^ For we have here exclusively referred to 'the strangers of justice', and not to 'the strangers of the gate', who, though probably sharing most of the benefits of charity,^ occupied a very inferior position as regards religious privileges.^ Can we, under such circumstances, be astonished to hear, from an early period, the fundamental notes of those Jewish elegies which, during all subsequent ages, were repeated in a thousand variations? The whole nation of the Jews, says even Philo plaintively, may be regarded as a people of 'orphans''^ in comparison with the rest of nations ; for these ever find assistance in times of distress on account of their 'intercourse' and 'common dealings' with others; but 'the Jews are never so assisted on ac- count of the peculiarity of their laws.'^ This lament in- volved both its own cause and its own remedy. It was the misfortune of Judaism that it turned away from the culture of the Greeks, by which, for a time, many of its noblest and most gifted sons were powerfully attracted, and which, fertilised and controlled by the spirit of the Hebrew Scriptures, might have proved sufiicient to engage and to satisfy the whole range of human powers, cravings, D^NUJ N^ in; comp. Talm. Kid- dush. 70 6, rn tf^ nn'Ti"' n^;?io n Ol Dnj"? h^^Z'\ However, ac- cording to Rabbi Mail-, the prophet Obadiah was supposed to have been an Edomite {Talm. Sanhedr. 396). * Jos. Ant. XIV. XV. 2, 'I^ou/z«/w rovTsariv rj/jiuov^aiw ; comp. Mishn. Kiddush. iv. 7; Yalkut, Ruth § 601 (foi. 163 b), "IV "1^2 V^i 0pp. ii. 365, 366. 102 THE HEBEEW AXD THE STRANGEE. and pursuits. It was a fatal day for Israel when the principle was proclaimed, 'Cursed is the man w^ho allows his son to learn the wisdom of the Greeks.'^ Then the writings of the Alexandrian school were described by the con- temptuous names of 'extraneous books' or 'works of here- tics;"^ Rabbi Akiva declared that any one who reads such productions has no share in the future world; his contemporary Rabbi Tarphon protested that if such writ- ings fell into his hands, he w^ould burn them though they contained the holy name of God; and Rabbi Ishmael, when asked at what time it was lawful to study Greek, replied, 'at a time which is neither day nor night,' that is, never,*^ The Palestinian zealots regarded even the Septuagint version of the Scriptures as a work of apostasy, and held the day of its completion as no less calamitous to Israel than that on which the golden calf w^as made and worshipped. Warned by such aberrations as those of Elijah ben Abujah, they Avent so far as to brand and condemn all Biblical interpretations supposed to be tainted by a Hellenistic spirit; thus they severely cen- sured those who referred such humane commands as that enacted against taking from a nest a bird together with her young, *^ merely to God's mercy and not to His rigorous justice.^ For a long time the interdiction was limited to Greek 'wisdom,' or philosophy and literature, but was not extended to the Greek language, w^hich was extolled for its exquisite beauty, and found up to the fourth century A. C. zealous admirers among such distinguished men as Rabbi Gamaliel I. and his successors in the patriarchate, Shimeon, Gamaliel II., and Judah I. ; and these were judged with indulgence even by strict teachers, since they had * HDDn i:d^ ''sd:>w din ^hn fT'jT'; Talm. Sot. 49 h; Menach. ^ D'lJIH^nn DnDD or p^D nDD. Talm. Sanh. 100 6, etc. Lev. xxii. 27, 28; Deut v Kcxkcog scp^sy^aro; i. 17, 0/ jJLSTcc \6yov (SiuaavTcg xp^- aTiavQi slaiv. ^ August. Retr. i. 13, Bes ipsa, quae nunc religio Christiana nun- cupatur, erat apud antiques nee defuit ab initio generis humani etc. ^ Augustin. De Vera Eel. iv. 7, 'proxime Platonici a veritate Chri- stiana absunt vel veri Christiani sunt paucis mutatis verbis atque sententiis'; Doctr. Chr. ii. 40; Bapt. vi. 44. Yet, with a characteristic inconsistency, all virtues of the heathen were in his eyes only 'splendid vices ;' comp. Kom. xiv. 23, Trav 'bs oIk sk Ttlcrsccg ajxapTta iariv. ^ Lactant. Divin. Instit. vii. 7, 'is profecto non dissentiret a nobis;' and 'totam veritatem et omne divinae religionis arcanum philo- sophi attigerunt;' comp. Basilius, De legendis Graecis libris, c. 5, etc. ^ 'Imprimis eruditione Graeca opus est,' says Melanchthon, 'quae naturae scientiam universam com- plectitur,' and 'Post Cln-isti exem- plum hie orbis terrarum nihil habet praestantius quam haec admiranda dona hterarum; 'Una et perpetua ecclesia inde usque a creatione hominis,' etc. IV. HELLENISM AND RABBINISM. 105 Gemisthus, Bessarion, Cardinal Bembo, and Pope Leo X., and later Bossuet and Fenelon, Bourdaloiie and Massillon ; the Jesuits especially have always distinguished themselves in those studies; and in recent times, the same pre- dilection has been shown by men like Movers, Bollinger, and Lassaulx, Sepp, Stiefelhagen, Haneberg, and many others who, with a praiseworthy zeal and impartiality, have compared paganism with Christianity, demonstrated the one as a preliminary or introduction to the other, and pointed out the profitable truths and excellencies of both with unbiassed affection. But in conclusion, we are fortunately privileged to turn to a brighter side of the subject with respect to the Jews also. The teaching of the great prophets of Israel was never entirely lost among their posterity. The noble germs might be buried and struggle under a rocky and arid soil, but they were preserved by their own Divine vigour, and occasionally burst forth into light and surpassing beauty. Side by side with the broad and slothful stream working its lonely course through marshes and deserts, ran a rivulet of limpid and sparkling waters, small indeed and often scarcely visible, but so wonderful in power and virtue as incessantly to refresh and partially to fertilise even those deserted tracts, and irresistibly hastening on towards the ocean of humanity. At no period was Israel wanting in men capable of lifting their eyes beyond the narrow horizon of their own nation, and of embracing in their view all mankind; and it is they who helped truly to solve the mission marked out for their people from primitive generations. The Sibylline writings are replete with that spirit of universalism which yearned to see the religion of Israel raised to the eminence of the religion of the world. In the lessons of Sirach and the Book of Wisdom, it is hardly possible to discover a specific colouring.^ Philo, in elucidating and supporting 'Mosaism' * Comp. Wisd. xii. 19, 'Elihaiexg hs gov tqv Xaov ... or; h7 tqv Ikaiov slyai (f>i).dv%pu7rov, etc. 106 THE HEBREW AND THE STEANGEE. with all available auxiliaries of philosophy and Greek learning, believed at least that he was recommending and unfolding it to the whole civilised world. But in reality, though almost unconsciously, he was far from treating the Law as the supreme and all-pervading authority; for he merged it in the eternal laws of that Divine Reason from which it emanated; he transformed the saint into a sage of Plato or of Zeno, the citizen of the theocracy into a free cosmopolitan of Socrates; he often idealised the Jewish people into the embodiment of a humanity in which nearly all national distinctions are effaced; and in his soaring and refining dialectics, prophecy and priesthood, nay Israel himself and the Messiah, were hardly more than undying symbols. This atmosphere of liberty is felt and breathed by every reader of Philo's works; and the same impression is streng- thened by many clear utterances in which he declared that, irrespective of the Law, God is ^the merciful De- liverer, who bestows on mankind that most precious of all gifts, relationship to His own Word^ from which, as from its own archetype the' human mind was formed.'^ Even Josephus, the priest, occasionally rose to the idea that 'there ought to be but one Temple for one God^ which ought to be common to all men, because He is the common God of all,'^ and that 'we should in the first place pray for the general welfare of all, and then only for our own.'<= ^ De Execrat. c. 8, t^v rtpog tov avTov X070V avyyhsiav^ a(^ ov kk- ^-aTtsp ap-z^sTVTtov yi'yovsv o av^-puntsiog vovg. '^ Cont. Ap. ii. 23, sig -jalg hog passage from his Antiquities: 'Natu- ral justice {to liKaiov) is most con- ducive to the advantage of all men alike, whether Greeks or barbarians, and as our laws most particularly Ssov . . . Koivog ocTravTuy, kqivov €)sov \ aim at that justice, they render us, ccTtavTuv^ if carried out in purity, benevolent ^ Loc. cit., vTtap ryjg Koi'jrjg svyjj^ai j and friendly to all men. There- ^c? TrpoiTov (juTtjpiag, slX iTvsp socvtm'a j fore we have reason to expect from We may here also quote a beautiful 1 others the same sentiments and to IV. HELLENISM AND RABBINISM. 107 And from the vast fields of Talmudical and Eabbinical writings also is it possible to cull a wreath of maxims fragrant with the spirit of genuine liberality and large- hearted love— maxims which the Jews cherish with just pride and constantly have on their lips, which they use as an effectual shield against all hostile or invidious attacks, and which many of them w^ould fain represent as the sole teaching of their religion. It is a grateful task here to offer, in all possible completeness, a collection of such adages bearing on our subject. Eabbi Jochanan said: 'Whosoever renounces the worship of false gods is called a Jew.'^ Eabbi Akiva remarked: 'All men are dear to Grod, for all are created in His image.'^ The same Rabbi declared : "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself" — this is the most important precept of the Law ; but E,abbi Azzai maintained that even a weightier principle is involved in the word's, "This is the book of the genera- tions of man"<^, because they teach the equality and Divine dignity of all human beings.^ Eabbi Shemuel said: 'It is forbidden to deceive any fellow-man, though he be a heathen.'^ Indeed 'all injustice, fraud and theft must be shunned, whether in our inter- course with Jew or Grentile.'^ demand that they ought not to consider difference of ordinances a reason for estrangement (kki hsov ovK s'v T^ hiacpQpa rccv sTtiTTj^svpiaTccv oha%ai TO aXkorpiov), but should also zealously strive after moral excellence (^rpag KcckoKciya^t'ocv)', for this is common to all men, and of itself and alone sufficient safely to direct the lives of men.' '^ Talm. MegiU. 13 a, "iDlDH bj ^l)ri'> N-|pJ HIT niDyD; comp. Maimon. Hilch. Akkum, i. 4. '^ Mtshn. Avoth iii. 14, 3^3 PI d'pHD ^'^2W DIN. <^ Gen. v. 1. ^ Talm. Jerus. Nedar. ix, "1 'D1 ; comp. Midr. Bahh. Levit. xxiv; Siphra, fol. 89 a ed. Schlossb.; see Comm. on Levit. ii. 417. e Talm. Chull. 94 a, ^linh "lIDN f Yalkut § 837 (fol. 267 a), '31 ni"'D;;-] p laay hn pnin""; comp. Talm. Bab. Kam. 113 b; Maimon. Hilch. Genev. vii. 8; on Mishn. Kel. xii. 7 ; Chosh. Ham- mishp. §§348. 1, 359. 1, b)\h "lIDN 108 THE HEBEEW AND THE STEANGER. 'All are bound to live in perfect peace with their brothers, their relations, and in fact with every one, even strange pagans, in order to win the love of Grod and the esteem of men.'^ The Rabbins commanded: 'Support alike the Gentile and the Jewish poor, nurse alike the Gentile and the Jewish sick, bury alike the Gentile and the Jewish dead.'^ 'The j)ious man does not lend out his money on usury, neither to Jew nor to heathen.'*^ 'God said to Moses, Before Me there is no regard of persons ; I call heaven and earth to witnesses, it is according to the deeds of men that they are endowed with the Divine spirit, without any distinction between Jew and Gentile; and whosoever performs the commandments, receives the rewards arising therefrom.'*^ Eabbi Shemuel said: 'The same God who mercifully judges the Israelites, judges also the Gentiles, and He lets the heathen men enjoy the merit of Jethro and the heathen women the merit of Kahab.'^ Only those of the Gentiles who despise God and right- eousness, sink into eternal destruction, while the pious among them share the felicity of heaven with the pious Israelites J mD ]^2 b^i^i/^D ]^D • • •; but B. Isserl. on §. 348, 013^ U))}^ ^ Talni. Berach. 17 a, I'P^DN) ^ Ta^m.Gitt. 61a, ^0^; D^DJ-lDD <^ Talm. Mace. 24 a, N"? IDDD d"d;; nnnn i'p^dn 1^1:1 |n:i; comp. Yalk. § 934 (fol. 295 b), even from the Stt'lD and 1J no more interest must be taken than is sufficient for subsistence (N7 ^ Tana debe Elijahu c. 9; Yalk. Pent. § 76 (fol. 20 b), § 851 (fol. 269 a); Judg. § 42 (fol. 9 a); pNi n^DKTi r\H ^b]) ON t;;d t'DH . . . b^-w |o ^u p y^i~)DnK they have indeed, like the wicked Israelites, first to suffer for a time in hell; but if, on hearing the praises of God sung in heaven, they exclaim 'Amen,' they are by Divine behest delivered from the unfathomable abyss tlirough the angels Michael and Gabriel who open the eight thousand gates of heU, and they are conducted before the heavenly throne, where they worship and adore God's glory, at which sight the perfectly pious and righteous men who always surround God's throne, break forth in hymns of jubilant joy {Yalkut, Isai. § 296, fol. 46 a); comp. Talm. Shabb. 119 h. ^ Talm. Berach. 57 h, r\i^)'\r[ I^N ]r\w -jnn -idin o^'pip-iD " Talm. Berach. 58 a, jH^Iiy "jn^ ^ Talm. Sanhedr. 59 a, I'p^DN Nin ^'^n nninn pDi;;i d"id;; 7nJin pDD; comp. Avod. Zar. 3 a; Bab. Kam. 38 a; Siphra on Lev. xviii. 5 (sect. xiii. 13), 'r[W^])) ^U 'pnji \ro2 Nin nn nnnn hn; see, however, Sanhedr. 1. c. '") "iJ^N n^'in n"nn2 poiyLt^ d""id;; ]:nv nn^O; Chagig. 13 a, V')D^D ^N □"D;;*? nmn n^n ; which differences have been variously harmonised. 110 THE HEBREW AND THE STRANGEE. The same teacher remarked: The Law was designedly given in the free and open desert, lest, if it had been promul- gated in the Holy Land, the Israelites say that the other nations have no share in it; therefore, whosoever desires, may come and receive it.^ E,abbi Acha said: 'Grod exhorts the Glentiles constantly that, if they but reform themselves. He is ready to bring them under His wings.' ^ Eabbi Jochanan ben Saccai declared : 'As the sin-offering works atonement for the Israelite, so charity works atone- ment for the Grentile.''^ It is proper to receive into the Hebrew community anyone who possesses the three characteristics of a true Israelite, namely, modesty, compassion, and charity.^ When the Egyptians were drowned in the Ked Sea, the ministering angels were about to sing a song of praise, but Grod bade them be silent, protesting: 'The works of My hands have perished in the sea, and you will sing a song of praise before Me ?'^ When Israel celebrates triumphs over the Gentiles, God exclaims: 'Those are the works of My hands, and these are the works of My hands ; how can I destroy one people for the sake of the other ?'^ ^ Mechilta on Exod. xix. 2, p. 70 a ed. Weiss, nS^nn bjl ^ Midr. Babb. on Cant. v. 16, PDJiD nnn U2ip^) n:iwn wv'^\ comp. Midr. Rabb. Num. c. x. <^ Talm. Bab. Bath. 10 b, DtJ'D 'd) bN-jK^"' b^ niDDD fiNDnriLS', with reference to Pro v. xiv. 34, and in opposition to the opinion of others ]'^)V ^'^^ "^Dm np"!^ b ]\lb Nin NDn, on account of their unworthy motives. ^ Talm. Yevam. 79 b; Yalk. Chad. 27 b, D^JD^D D W^li:^ ^D Dooni D''JK/i^n " • • b^i^^ b^ Dnon "''PDU; comp. ibid. 28 a, 'A stranger who joins the Hebrews for the honour of God, is vakied by Him not only like an Israehte, but like a Levite.' e Talm. Sanhedr. 39 b, ^K'VO ••JD^; comp. 98 b; Megill. 10 b, U'^W) b\i;]PibQD2ni2\i; n'^pripN. ^ Talm. Sanh. 98 b, IDNN -]M )b^ ""JDO I^N. Comp. also Mishn. Avoth i. 12 (mnnn hn d.-hn n)D^ D-'JO -|DD3 D"lNn ^PD), etc. IV. HELLENISM AND EABBINISM. Ill Who will deny, that no nation on earth can easily boast of finer and loftier tenets?^ We will not, in this place, enquire into the context in which the quoted sen- tences occur, nor ask whether such an examination would not, in more than one case, compel us essentially to modify our estimate of Rabbinical liberality."^ We will accept these aphorisms without any qualification and understand them in that large-minded sense which the Jews commonly attach to them. We cheerfully admit that they were, in this sense, adopted and sanctioned by the best and most learned of Jewish philosophers and theo- logians in the Middle Ages and in modern times, and that they refreshingly pervade their writings. But if this is ^ See, however, the collection of maxims and opinions from classical writers at the conclusion of this volume. ^ Thus, e. g., the beautiful com- mand enjoining equal care for the Jewish and Gentile poor, sick, and dead (Talm. Gritt. 61 a), has the questionable addition: 'do so for the sake of peace' {D)b^ O"","! ^JDD ; comp. ibid., 'the poor of the Gen- tiles must not be refused a share in the gleaning, the forgotten sheaves, and the corners of the fields^ /or the sake of peace;' also Mishn. Gitt. v. 9, n^ l^piTHD ]D)b\i;2 ]'bti;;D); see Mislm. Bab. Kam. iv. 3 and Barten. in loc. ; Av. Zar. ii. 1; Talm. Eruv. 19 a; Pesach. 92 a; Nedar. 31 h\ Bab. Kam. 113; Bab. Mets. 11] 6; Bab. Bath. 10 b; Sanh. 57 a, 76 h ('Di w\2b m^N Tincn), 104 «; Avod. Zar. 4, 8 a, 20 a, 26 6, 36 J, 37 a; Firke Babb. Eliez. c. 29 (I'^ND b')vri ny bD)>iW 'D ^b^ri □;; ^DIN); also YorehDeah §§ 148—158. IV. HELLENISM AND RABBINISM. 113 very name comprises the Incarnation and the Trinity. That confusion is pernicious especially because, both in life and in thought, it leads imperceptibly back to the fatal narrowness of traditional schools and thus assists in prolonging that Sisyphus toil to which mankind has already too long been doomed. Error exists and is powerful only by being blended with elements of truth. Those, therefore, who have truth at heart, should above all scrupulously guard it against a dangerous admixture of error; else it would be far better to profess the bare error, which, dissociated from the truth, soon withers away. The creed which, as an imperishable heirloom of mankind, w^as enjoined by the greatest and noblest of Israel's ancient teachers, is as simple as it is grand and all- embracing. It may be comprised in these three doctrines self-evident as axioms: first, ^The Eternal He is God;'* next. That man dwells in God and God in him, 'who walks uprightly, and works righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart;' and lastly, 'Forsooth, we have ail one Father, forsooth, one God has created us."^ This is the sum of all wisdom and all sanctity. Imbued with these principles, and both knowing and feeling the Divine spirit pervading all creation, all minds, all hearts, all actions, we shall live in intellectual enlightenment, in love, in joy, in unbounded harmony; we shall advance without the hindrance of obscure formularies, of mystic speculations, of deadening ceremonials, without the em- barrassment of doubtful, improbable, or contradictory traditions ; and then there will be no distinction between Hebrew and Stranger, no separation between Jew and Gentile, no division between race and race, because all alike shall be holy. * D\lt'_J;^n Nin nin\ I ^.l KI. xviii. 39; Ps. xv. 2; I Mai. ii. 10. THE BOOK OF JOMH. 1. INTKODUCTION. I. 1. There came the word of the Lord to Jonah the son of Amittai. Who was this Jo7ia]i (ji^^^) the son of Amittai? Is he, as has been surmised, at all connected with that famous Oannes, half man, half fish, now so familiar to us through Chaldaean and Assyrian sculptures, who is fabled to have come from the Erythraean Sea by ship ('•jn) to instruct the Babylonians in art and science, in legislation and civil order ?^ Or was he chosen as the hero of this narrative on account of his popular association with the dove (nJI^), the Syrian Semiramis,^ the daughter of Derceto subsequently changed into a no less sacred Jisli,"^ and the ^ So Ferd. Chr. Baur, Der Prophet Jonas, ein assj^risch-baby- lonisches Symbol, in Ilgen's Zeit- schrift fiir historische Theologie, vii. 1. J). 99; comp. Comm. on Gen. p. 254. ^ In the old Syriac language Semiramis is said to signify wild dove (Hesych. llsfjLipafjLig Trspiarspa opsiog, ^EXkjjviaTi), since that celeb- rated queen was believed to have been fed and saved by doves when ex- posed as an infant, and to have ultimately been transformed into a dove when her son Ninyas at- tempted her life (Diod. Sic. ii. 4). ^ Derceto, in Syriac probably Nnj")!, equivalent to NHJl fish (comp. Diod. Sic. 1. c, avrrj gs to (jih TrpoGUTTOv s'xsi yvjaiKog, to ds akXo aui//.a Ttav Ix^^og; Lucian, De SjTia Dea c. 14, AspKSTovg Is stoog . . . TjfMSSTj fMSV yw;^, TO OS OKOJOV £K fjLTjpuv ig KKpovg Tvo^ag tx^vog Qlprj aitoTsivsrai, r; hs iv ry 'ip-^ ttoKi TruGa yuv^ £(JTi), or Atargatis (Adergatis, Plin. v. 23 or 19.) supposed to be a corruption of Addir-daga (l''"iN NJll) mighty fish (comp. Strabo, XVI. i. 27; iv. 24, 'ArapyuTiy os sKoksaav t^v ' A%apav, AspKST^ oai- rijv KTTjaiag KoksJ ; see Selden, De I]S^TEODUCTION. 115 wife of Onnes^ the governor of Syria, who took her to Nineveh (np"";;), which itself is contended to coincide in meaning with Derceto the fish (|1J)?^ Or was the name, 'which at once suggests to the imagination a clear image/ invented with reference to Jonah's peculiar life and history which recalled the Psalmist's entreaty, 'Oh that I had wings like a dove (nJl-^3)! for then would I fly away, and be at rest; behold, then would I . . . hasten to escape from the stormy wind and tempest?' '^ All these and similar theories are an idle waste of sagacity and learning, as they have no soHd support whatever in the literature and conceptions of the Hebreivs. According to these, Jonah had neither the shape of a fish nor was he holy as a fish; he did not teach the Babylonians but the Ninevites; he did not concern himself with their intellectual pursuits or civil institutions, but exclusively with their morals ; he was in no manner allied with Syria and her mythology; and his flight is not the kernel, but a subordinate accessory, of the story. There is no necessity whatever for departing from the Biblical records, which simply speak of 'Jonah the son of Amittai of Gath-hepher,' the 'prophet,' the 'servant of Jahveh', who taught under Jeroboam II. of Israel (B. C. 825 — 784), and who, by counsel and admonition, encouraged the sovereign to those energetic and brilliant expeditions which restored the kingdom of Ephraim in its whole extent from Syria eastward and down to the Dead Sea, and raised the monarchy to a power and prosperity such as it had not enjoyed from its beginning, and afterwards never enjoyed again.'^ The historical Books Diis Syr., Syntagm. ii. c. 3, pp. 267 | I. iv. 9, Trora/^ov . . . TzXripr, ^x^vuv — 278; Comm. on Levit. i. 368. fJisyakw)) koI rtpaiuy, ovg o'l Hvpoi ^ So Hitzig, Kleiiie Propheten, I %sohg s'vo/i/Cov koI ahicsh ovk si^-j, p. 161, 'the dove led to the fish, and he of the fish c^y^\ ^>, as the Arabians call him, was obliged to prophesy in Nineveh;' comp. Diod. Sic. ii. 4, 5, 20; Xe;i. Anab. | marks. Whether, as has been con- olol Tag TTspiarspag. ^ Ps. Iv. 7 — 9; comp. Hitzig loc. cit. *^ See infra, Pliilological E-e- 116 JONAH I. 1. which mention Jonah's exhortations, do so in terms which, if they are not his own words, we may, from the context, consider as manifesting the tone and spirit of his pro- phecies: 'For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter, and that there was neither slave left nor freeman, nor any helper for Israel ; and the Lord had not said that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash'.=^ These allusions breathe an earnestness and a vigour which make Jonah appear as a worthy rival of his great contemporaries Hosea and Amos, and rouse our keen desire to know whether he left behind any lite- rary productions, and if so, whether they have been handed down to us. However, the Book which bears his name, though writing of him, does not claim to be written hy him; and the supposition which has been warmly defended, that an old oracle on Moab, incorporated in the prophecies of Isaiah,^^ is traceable to the hand of Jonah,^ has not even the appearance of probability.*^ A chief point of interest, therefore, in the exposition of the Book will be to enquire, whether the author, whoever he may be, has so represented Jonah as, from the doubtless authentic notice referred to, we have a right to picture him in our minds — as a man of strong reso- lution, ardent patriotism, and large aims, as a character of such firmness as to exercise a decisive influence upon the king and the people, to direct the impulse to valiant deeds, and to effect a memorable revolution in the jectured, Jeroboam effected a tem- IDorary re-union of the northern and southern kmgdoms under his sole sway, is doubtful: in Amos vii. 12, 13, the land of Judah and that of Bethel are distinctly stated as two different governments. ^ 2 Ki. xiv. 23—29 ; comp. xiii. 4, 23; Am. vi. 14. '^ Isai. XV., xvi. ^ mtzig, Des Propheten Jonas Orakel liber Moab. Heidelb. 1831; comp. also Bunsen on Isai. xv. ^ The thoughts of the writer of those chapters are centred in the royal house of David (Isai. xvi. 5), whereas Jonah was a citizen of the northern commonwealth (comp. INTEODUCTION. 117 destinies of liis country. Was Jonah's identity faithfully preserved by tradition, or was it in the course of time obscured by inconsistent alterations and additions? The prophet's native place Gath (wine-press), designated Gath-hepher (wine-press of the well) to distinguish it from other localities of the same name,* and then, perhaps, simply called Hepher,^^ within the confines of Zebulun, was, according to Jerome, situated two Roman miles east of Sepphoris, on the road to Tiberias, where, on the top of a hill, at the village El-3fes]ied, Jonah's reputed tomb is still shown in a structure, which, formerly a church, has been converted into a tasteful mosque containing a sepulchral cave, in which memorial lamps are constantly burning.'^ It cannot be doubted that, with political counsels and suggestions, Jonah combined moral exhortation, and that, like the historians and all other prophets, he traced national humiliation to revolt against Jahveh, to sin and iniquity. To such zeal and eloquence Jeroboam's time offered ample scope. Every form of idolatry prevailed in the land from the commencement of his reign to its conclusion,^ and after his splendid military achievements, Noldeke, Inschriffc des Konigs Mesa, p. 19; Alttestamentliche Literatur, p. 74; Diihm, .Theologie der Pro- pheten, pp. 71, 109. * As Gatli-rimmon, Josh. xix. Isai. 2, 3p^ D^l 45 ; comp. n nan. ^ Josh. xii. 17. A town of this name near Sepphoris (yi)^'^^,S'ufa- rieh, Diocaesarea) occurs in Talmu- dical writings (Talm. Jerus. She- viith, -iDnn mn n^''n nn Dinjn n '31; see JRe^ancZ, Palaest. p. 719 or 534). But 'the land' or district of Hepher (1 Ki, iv. 1 0), which is coupled with Sochoh, seems to have been a ijart of Judaea, although Jerome, translating in 2 Ki. xiv. 25, 'Gath quae est in Opher,' evidently sup- posed that territory to have formed a part of the northern province of Zebulun. ^ Comp. however, infra on iv. 4 — 11. See also Cyril. Alexandr. Prooem. Comm. in Jon.; Euseb. Onom. sub r£%%cxpxoU\ ^> ('the man of the fish:' Kor. xxi. 87; xxxvii. 145). The name is of course unconnected with the root DJ'' to he violent or destriic- TT tive (as n^l^T D'ln Jer. xlvi. 16; nJl='n T^H Zeph. iii. 1), although it has by some been so understood, for instance by Von der Hardt in support of his strange hypothesis: 'fuisse Jonam, pro nominis omine, Manassen, vere afflictum, 120 JONAH I. 1. ab Assyriis pressum' (see infra notes on iii. 10), by Coccejus and others, unmindful that HJl"" is the feminine of the active participle. Even more curious is the combination of "jI'', who calls himself emphatically a Hebrew (ver. 9), with jr, a Greek (so Grotius). — Jonah was the son of ^PDN (Sept. 'A/>!.a^/, Vulff, Amathi), a word formed from DDN as '''?p2 from t'nn:, shortened into Ma%'^a7og by throwing off the weak initial N, and hence simply meaning *a man of truth/ not ^God is truth' or 'Grod knows the truth.' According to a Jewish tradition, Jonah was that son of the widow in Zarephath, whom Elijah restored to life, after the performance of which miracle she exclaimed, 'Now by this I know that thou art a man of Grod, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth' (D^N, 1 Ki. xvii. 24), and thenceforth called her son Amittai ("TrN; comp. Yalkuf, Jon. § 550, iITI mJD^N n''D")ii p r.^r; see infra notes on iii. 10.) — which is, of course, no more than ingenious play, and is as completely devoid of foundation as the assumption of some that Amittai was Jonah's mother. The Habbinical deductions meant to prove that Jonah's father was of the tribe of Zebulun, while his mother belonged to that of Asher (Yalk. 1. c), are no less precarious. The Talmud (Bab. Bathr. 14 &) observes: Tour prophets prophesied in the same period (p"lS2 "iriN), viz. Hosea, Amos, Micah, and Isaiah;' for Jonah was reckoned to an earlier generation, since he seems to have come forward quite at the beginning of Jeroboam's reign, while Hosea and Amos taught at a later time; yet ILicah and Isaiah reach but remotely into that period. On the other hand, the Babbins assert that the 'one of the sons of the prophets' sent by Elisha to anoint Jehu as king, was Jonah (see Rashi, Kimchi a. o. on 2 Ki. ix. 1), whom they thus put into a still earlier time, as Jehu ascended the throne B. C. 8S4. Indeed Jonah's prophecy recorded in the second Book of Kings (xiv. 25) has by some modern critics also been placed in the time of the unfortunate Syrian wars of King Jehu or Jehoahaz, and by others in that of the encouraging victories of their successor Joash (comp. Friedi-ichsen, Kritische THE CHAEGE. 121 TJebersiclit der verschiedenen Aiisichten von dem Buche Jonas, pp. 7, 8) : but though a comparison of the passages bearing on the subject (2 Ki. x. 32, 33; xiii. 3—7, 22—25) not quite excludes these opinions, none of them has as great probability as that which obviously results from the historian's direct association of Jonah with Jeroboam 11. — Jonah's mission to Nineveh was evidently considered by the author to have taken place after the prophecy to Jeroboam above referred to; but that he supposed it to have happened as late as the reign of Menahem, after the Assyrian invasion under Pul, is indeed possible, but not very likely, as at that time Jonah would have been extremely advanced in age. 2. THE CHARGE. I. 2. Arise, go to Mneveh, the great city, and preach against it; for their wickedness is come up be- fore Me. Is such a mission of a Hebrew prophet incredible? It can hardly appear surprising to those who have fully studied that course of national development which we have endeavoured to unfold in the Preliminary Treatise. In the ninth and eighth century, when no binding code of religious and civil laws had yet immutably stamped upon the people a specific character, there still existed between Israel and the other nations a lively and unrestrained sympathy which constantly manifested itself not only in political intercourse but also in spiritual and religious community. Elijah and Elisha were in close relation to the royalty of Syria, ^ and Amos inveighed against Damascus and Phoenicia, the Philistines and Edomites, Moab and Ammon, on account of their cruelties and ini- quities, with the same fervour and almost the same impres- sive terms of reproof, with which he denounced the tres- * 1 Ki. xix. 15; 2 Ki. \'iii. 7—13. 122 JONAH I. 2. passes of Judah and Israel.^ Is it then inconceivable that, at that time, an inspired man, moved by a holy fire and the dictates of humanity, should have felt a powerful impulse to attempt the moral improvement of that people upon whose moderation and righteousness the well-being of almost the whole of the Eastern world seemed to depend? This will not seem impossible to those who have formed an adequate notion of the exalted aspirations which were then animating the best minds in Israel, and which, in conjunction with a complete freedom and purity of Divine worship, appeared to realise the highest ideals of a uni- ^versal nationality and a universal religion. Naturally, therefore, might Jonah, whose intrepidity and political sagacity had been so splendidly displayed /in his own country, have been credited with a missionary / journey to distant and powerful Nineveh. That tradition busily engaged itself with his life, is proved by the Book which bears his name; while the nature of this Book itself makes it probable that he was a man of such uncommon character or such uncommon experiences that it was safe and probable to connect with him every marvel and every extraordinary adventure. And why should the substance of the story, though the historical annals make no allusion to such enterprise, not be founded on a real fact?' Jonah, being in intimate relations with his sovereign, might have been employed by him for important offices; foreign embassies were not unusual, and some such legation from the king of Israel to the king of Assyria is actually mentioned by Jonah's contemporary Hosea.^ Many and vital interests connected at that period the Jordan and the Tigris. Even Jehu, the founder of the then reigning dynasty of Israel and Jeroboam's third predecessor, had been compelled, as we learn from the inscription and pictures on the *Black Obelisk,' to conciliate the favour of the Assyrian monarch Shalmanezer II. by ^ Am. i., ii. ^ v. 13; comp. supra p. 40. THE CHAEGE. 123 rich presents sent to his capital.^ But for the later author of the Book of Jonah, the prophet's diplomatic mission, supposing that it took place and was faithfully handed down to his time, had no prominent interest. He knew that those efforts had borne no lasting fruit, since a century afterwards the kingdom of Israel was sub- dued by an Assyrian conqueror, while Nineveh still existed and flourished for two hundred years or more after the days of the prophet. He lived at an epoch when the Jews, feeble and imperfectly organised, hardly pretended to national importance, and surveyed the history of the past from a religious, rather than a political aspect.^' He was, therefore, unable to conceive any other object of Jonah^a^]/ journey than moral reformation, and it was from this poinf of view that he endeavoured to estimate its character and significance. He succeeded in his task, or at least in all essential points, to a degree which fully justifies the place his narrative occupies in the Hebrew Canon; for in ideas and conceptions, it breathes the lofty spirit of the greatest and noblest of Hebrew prophets. The mighty force and beneficent sway of that spirit are proved by the undeniable fact that even its very echoes and last vibrations had the power to uplift and to purify, to enlarge the minds, and to cement the sympathies between race and race in an age which, by all its tendencies and a thousand influences, aimed at seclusion and isolation. "With resolute fi^eedom the author of this Book rose above all narrow doubts and faint-hearted scruples, which seemed insurmountable even to readers of much later times. He did not ask whether there had ever lived a Hebrew so daring as to attack the proud and reckless evil-doers in their own luxurious capital. He did not ask whether Jonah could hope to find among the Ninevites , . a capacity for understanding his religion and its doctrines. 1 I To him still, as it had been to the old prophet Jonah ^ '- See Bible Studies i. 292. '' See infra on iii. 1 — ; 124 JONAH I. 2. himself, the religion of Israel was no more than the acknowledgment of Jahveh, the Eternal, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Lord of all nations, in whose eyes i the humhle Hebrew is equal to the lordly Assyrian, because 'before Him all nations are as naught' — no more i than that recognition together with 'doing justice and [ loving mercy.' He so firmly relied on the all- conquering power of these elementary truths that he was sure they needed only be pronounced with clearness and enjoined with earnestness to be accepted by all men and in all lands, and by their piercing rays to scatter the mists of idolatry and falsehood. Therefore God addresses to Jonah no more than the simple charge, 'Preach against Ninevhe, for their wicked- ness is come up before Me.' This is the sole text of the prophet's discourses. He fathoms its full scope and import, and he knows also, what is not expressly stated 'because it is self-understood, that he must not merely reproach the pagans with their depravity, but exhort them to repentance; not merely hurl against them menaces, but rouse their hopes of Divine compassion and of deliverance as the fruits of contrition. For according to Hebrew notions, warning precedes punishment. The gates of amendment and redemption are opened to the sinner. Though the principles of God's rule are unchan- geable, their application is adapted to man's changeful conduct. They are framed by Him who knows and weighs human weakness, and they hence combine eternal justice wdth readily varying mercy.^ From the very outset the author has in his mind the important lessons which he intends to embody in his narrative, and not without reason, therefore, does he ■'^ Questionable, therefore, is Pliilo's expansion of the charge (De Jona c. 5): 'Quid ergo, o pro- pheta? Volo ut praedices huic civitati ruinam, ut acerbior mors superveniat neque spatium temporis eis detur ad placitum vivere futu- rorum spe;' see notes on iii. 1 — 3. THE CHAEGE. 125 repeatedly and emphatically call Nineveh 'the great town/^ although tliis designation was, in primeval times, proverbially and, as it seems, almost technically, bestowed upon Eesen or Nimroiid, the oldest capital of the Assyrian empire.^ A fearful judgment was to be executed upon a vast community which, dazzled by the splendour of its success and prosperity, had reached the very summit of moral depravity, and which, both from its magnitude and presumptuous worldliness, might well be taken as the type and example of the teeming populations of the heathen world and their manifold pursuits. *The great town,' which 'from the days of old was full of people as the pool is full of water,' and 'whose merchants were more numerous than the stars of heaven,'*^ was, therefore, pre-eminently appropriate for the illustration of those laws of Divine government which had forced themselves upon the Hebrews by long reflection and varied experience, which they grasped as the safest anchor in the confusion of perplexing and often disheartening events, and which they, in this point certainly free from national self-love, acknowledged, and desired to see acknowledged by others, as universal and all-embracing. This modest story moves in a moral and spiritual elevation which could only have been attained by the incessant and earnest labour of many centuries. The Gentiles do not merely exist in the world the glory of as a foil for Israel ^ nbn^ri "i'i?n; comp, 111.2, 3; iv. 11; see Strab.XYI. 1.3; Diod. Sic. 11. 3, ryjXiKa-jTriV yap tvoXiv ovhslg v^rspov SKTKJS Kara rs to fisys^og tou Ttspi- jSoMv K.T.X., 23, N/vou fisyakyjg ^aaiXsvaag. ^ Gen. X. 12, nU^J |0 |D1 HNI nb)i:iri n^yn ion n^D pf; for the conjecture that this passage should be read and translated : 'and he built the town Eehoboth, Eesen and Calah, and Nineveh between Eesen and Calah, that Is the great town' (Hitzig In Schenkel's Bibel- Lexlc. 1. 268) — this proposed emen- dation has merely been devised to support a pre-concelved theory. About the extent and component parts of Nineveh and Its district, or of the imperial capital, see infra notes on ill. 1 - 3. " Nah. 11. 9; iii. 16. 126 JONAH I. 2. to whom they are destined one day to do homage in reverential submission; nor are they objects of Divine indifference, still less of Divine wrath rejoicing in their destruction; and these views, with which the enlightened among the Hebrews were deeply imbued, could not be impressed more forcibly than by a narrative which shows God's treatment, not of sinful Israelites, but of sinful pagans, since the measure of His paternal love and solicitude is most strikingly revealed by the manner in which He regards and corrects the iniquity of those who do not know Him. Is it necessary to accumulate evidences of the 'wicked- ness' of the Assyrians in those times ? Their own records furnish proofs in abundance; the very boasts in which they gloried were, in the eyes of the pious Hebrew, their strongest condemnation — their bloody triumphs and relentless massacres, their unsparing devastations and insatiable pillage.^ They were, therefore, called by con- temporary prophets destroyers and ravagers, lions murder- ing for their whelps and filling their dens with ill-gotten prey, plunderers piling up endless treasures of silver and gold and every costly store, overweening criminals who, impiously exceeding their Divine commission in dispensing retribution, devour the wealth of innocent nations, and rise up in rebellion against God Himself as His enemies and haters; while Nineveh was described as the town of blood replete with fraud and violence and spreading misery over the whole earth, as the shameless seducer ruining nations by her witcheries, and as the abode of giddy conceit, unblushingly protesting, 'I and none beside me."'^ But in spite of these misdeeds, the prophets did not abandon the hope of seeing the Assyrians saved and redeemed; * See Bible Studies i. 227—229. ^ Comp. Nah. i. 2, 8, 9, 11; ii. 1, 3, 10, 13; iii, 1, 4, 19; Isai. x. 5 — 15; xxxiii. 1; Zeph. ii. 15; Zecliar. x. 11, etc. See also P/u7o, De Jona c. 27, 'quia juramenta negligitis, quia jura emitis . , . quia pauperes pessumdatis, quia iniquas opes colitis . . . vivos violentia persc- quentes, cadavera exuentes' etc. THE CHAEGE. 127 they longed for the day when Asshur would serve God together with Egypt, and when God would fervently bless them, no less than He blesses Israel, as His own in- heritance. * And the same hopeful affection and common fellowship pervade the Book of Jonah. Though weakened and narrowed in later Judaism, those feelings were never extinguished; though often manifesting themselves with the distrustful timidity of isolation, they were always felt to be Divine. Indeed some of the Rabbinical expositors have entered into the narrative with a most praiseworthy impartiality; and yet one of the ablest and most liberal, with a capriciousness disclosing the pride of race and creed, affirms that God directs His attention upon Gentiles only when He finds it necessary to chastise their ^violence' (ddh), as He punished the generation of the Deluge and the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah,^ because violence depopulates the earth which He desires to see filled with creatures bearing His own image; while with respect to all other ofiences. He watches over Israel alone, since He has declared, 'You only I regard of all the families of the earth.' ^ Philological Eemaeks.^ — Even the few preceding observations \ will have rendered it clear that the chief weight of the Book of Jonah does not lie in historical detail, but in humani- ^^-^ tarian and religious ideas; yet the author, in selecting Nineveh as the scene of Jonah's activity, followed, or meant to follow, not only probable but actual facts, to be con- sidered as such by his readers. Therefore, although he wrote in the Persian period, he cannot be supposed to have really referred to Babylon which, contrary to all prophetic announcements, had not been converted into ruins, and to have chosen Nineveh as the best analogy to Babylon, just as apocalyptic writers of later times speak '^ Isai. xix. 23. j 20, 21. •^ ComiD. Gen. vi. 11, 13; xviii. 1 ^ Am, iii. 2; Kimchi in loc. 128 JONAH I. 2. of Babylon when they mean E-ome (so Knohel, Prophetismus, II. 377, a. 0.). He strove to impart to his story all possible distinctness in points of history and geography by intro- ducing well-known names bearing the stamp of probability; and he could therefore, not even in the most indirect manner, have intended to intimate that 'Jonah the son of Amittai,' who lived in the reign of Jeroboam II., when Chaldaea, as a dependency of Assyria, was without impor- tance to the Hebrews, devoted his labours to Babylon. This conception would invest the tale with an artificiality dividing the reader's attention, if not entirely diverting it from the chief point of interest. — The hazardous boldness of the enterprise seems to be conveyed in the appeal Dip arise, exhorting the prophet to summon his courage, to display the utmost energy, and to fix his eye firmly on the difficult aim (see Bible Stud. I. 202; comp. 1 Ki. xix. 5, 7; etc.). — Jonah is requested to 'go to Nineveh, the great city,' which Josephus, with regard to the deeper sense, renders not inaptly, 'to the kingdom of Ninus' {sk rr,v '^hov ^aGikslcfj^ Ant. IX. X. 2), since destruction was to be menaced to the whole country, which, from the requirements of plastic description, is individualised by the capital. — In Zeph. iii. 1, Jerusalem is called nri^l "V))^ 'the oppressing city,' and it is so called in a context which makes the application of the term to Nineveh at least possible or intelligible (comp. Zeph. ii. 15; and iii. 3 with Nah. ii. 12 — 14); it is, however, little probable that it was that passage which caused the association of the prophet Jo7iah (nri"') with Nineveh (so Hitzig on Zeph. iii. 1), since thoughtful and profound compositions do not easily owe their orgin to an accidental resemblance of sound. — "Whether the words '2] nribviS be translated ^for' or Hhat their wickedness is come up before Me,' makes no diff'erence in the sense, because this fact was certainly the theme of Jonah's ladmonitions; the former acceptation, however, is more in jharmony with the emphatic brevity of the Divine charge; and those concluding words are added for Jonah's guidance, who was to unfold and to impress their import in accordance with THE CHARGE. 129 the notions and capacities of his Assyrian hearers. The com- mand iT'^y N"ip must, therefore, mean ^cry' or 'preach against ii^ (comp/l)eut/xv. 9, Hl.T-'^N ^^hv N')p1 '^^ will cry to the Lord against thee') ; and as the particles bv and ^jsf are occa- sionally interchanged (comp. Eccl. xii. 7, etc.), those words are synonymous with n^^N N"lp] (in iii. 2), which also do not merely imply a 'prophecy' {Targ. NriNHJ) or the an- nouncement of an impending catastrophe {Se^t. Krjpvyixa.; comp. Isa. xh 6; Zech. i. 14, 17), but include, on the one hand, reproach and menace, and on the other hand, admonition and instruction. The latter point is evident from the state- ment that 'the people of Nineveh believed in God'; proving that Jonah, besides uttering 'the cry' of destruction, ex- plained to them the nature of his Glod. While, therefore, N'lp is not inappropriately rendered hy preaching (Vulg., Luth., a. o.), it is insufficient to translate 'preach in it' (so Sept. /c-^pv^ov iv avTJj -y Joseph, /c-^pv^at . . . iv r-fj Trokei, adding inaccurately on rvjv dpxrjV dirokicst ; Vulg. praedica in ea ; Luther predige darinnen, Hitzig predige an sie, etc.); the circumstance that Jonah was to address the Ninevites personally and not, as was frequently done, by Epistles, is implied in the words 'go to Nineveh' (cor- rectly Auth. Vers%, cry against it ; Bosenm. proclama contra earn ; De Wette predige ihr; Targ. r\bv ""DJriNI; Heidenheim ']b)p ))^'0\l:^n nsinu rrt^V ; Artiheim rufe Wehe iiber sie). — 'Their wickedness' (Dnyi, the femin. of the adjective used as the neuter or the abstract noun, Grramm. § 84. &; and the suffix referring, according to the sense, to the people of Nineveh, Gramm. § 77. 14. a] comp. ver. 3 Dnay the people on the ship) 'is come up' (viz. from the earth. Gen. iv. 10) 'before Me' (viz. into heaven, Jer. li. 9 ; Rev. xxviii. 5, sKoXkyj^yjaav avr-^c at a,}j.apriat oq^pi rov ovpavov), that is, the cries of distress and agony caused by their wickedness have reached God or heaven (comp. Gen. xviii. 20, 21, rnpv\ Oilp Djpvt the cry against Sodom and Gomorrah ; iv. 1 0) ; the Sept. therefore has yj Kpavyyj T^g KOLKiaq ccvrijg (comp. however, Exod. iii. 9, Dp^H vN HNn bi<')W^ "1^3 'the cry of the children of Israel has come before Me;' see Gramm. § 87. 2). e: 130 JONAH I. 3. 3. THE FLIGHT. I. 3. And Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; and he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Singular perhaps in the whole history of human civili- sation is the character of Hebrew prophecy. Earnest men felt themselves seized and upHfted by the Divine spirit with a force they were unable to resist. Yet they were only mortals, with all the weakness and frailty appertaining to mortality. Their strength was limited and their courage fluctuated. In the midst of a soaring flight of enthusiasm, they were often checked by unfore- seen obstacles and unheeded dangers, or overwhelmed by a sense of the almost superhuman aspirations of their uncommon career. But in this struggle between the Divine impulse and the human bounds lies the enduring and pathetic interest which brings those extraordinary men near to our hearts and sympathies. In more than one instance, such a conflict is strongly presented to our minds in the Biblical records; it appears, at the beginning of Israel's national life, in Moses who, though armed with the most remarkable powers and signs, yet implores God, 'Send, I pray Thee, by the hand of anyone whom Thou wilt send;'^ and it appears, with a strength and a depth that have perhaps never been equalled or approached, at the termination of the Hebrew common- wealth in Jeremiah who, at first anxiously deprecating the subHme charge, soon feels himself strong 'like a fortified town and an iron pillar and a brazen wall,' to undertake the spiritual warfare against princes and =^ Exod. iv. 13 THE FLIGHT. 131 nations; but then, utterly bent down by failure and persecution, and assailed by mockery and derision, *a man of strife and a nian of contention to the whole earth,' resolves to teach and to warn no more; and yet, ere long, finds silence impossible, since, as he protests, the word of God, violently pressed back, became in his heart like burning fire shut up in his bones ; he wearied himself to bear it but he could not — and so resumed his ungrate- ful task.^ That conflict is apparent in Elijah who, viru- lently pursued by the cruel queen, fled into the desert and prayed that he might die;^ in the simple-minded Amos who, though chased from province to province, exclaimed,*^ 'The lion roareth, who will not fear? the Lord God speaketh, who will not prophesy?' in Ezekiel, who gathered all his energies to keep free from 'the briers and thorns and scorpions' besetting his path;^ and it is also brought before us in Jonah as pourtrayed in this Book. He is well aware of the Divine mission and knows that he is appointed for a great work of instruction and amendment — ^there came the word of the Lord to Jonah the son of Amittai;' but when he prepares himself for execution, all the difficulties and perils of his scheme rise threateningly before his mind, and he abandons it in despondency — 'and Jonah rose to flee from the presence of the Lord.' Thus, in this point, the author is at least not in disagreement with the true nature of the prophetic office. He might, indeed, like Ezekiel, have imagined that a Hebrew prophet would find deference and obedience more readily among a strange nation than among his own people who were 'a rebellious house, shameless and hardhearted;'^ but could he undervalue the troubles and trials to which the unwel- come messenger exposed himself in endeavouring to ^ Jerem. i. 16, 19; xi. 19; xv. 10; XX.7 — 9; comp. 1 Cor. ix. 16,17. ^ 1 Ki. xix. 4. ^ Ezek. ii. 6: Matt. xi. 21. Ezek. ii. 6. ; iii. 4—9; comp. 132 JONAH I. 3. rebuke a community like that of proud Nine veli? He, there- fore, represents Jonah, who had intended to travel eastward, I as escaping in a direction diametrically opposite, and as anxious to reach Tartessus in Spain, the extreme western , boundary of the earth known to the ancients.* He thus i makes him totally and absolutely desert the great enter- prise courageously conceived in moments of a higher fervour. This seems, psychologically, to be the only satis- factory explanation of Jonah's attempted flight. It is not surprising that his conduct has been employed as a proof of the alleged doctrine that the Hebrew seers were considered to prophesy, not from their own impulses, but under Divine constraint, even against their will and inclination, and sometimes uttered the very reverse of what they intended or desired to say; for the history of Balaam has rendered us sufficiently familiar with this paradoxical view of prophecy ;^ yet it is just the free meeting and blending of the Divine and human spirit, that constitute the mystery of prophetic endowment, whether God graciously descends to man, or man resolutely rises up to God, while a want of harmony between the one and the other is the very negation of prophecy. The affinity between the two was supposed to be so generally possible that Moses expressed the wish that all Israel might be prophets, and Joel predicted the time when God would pour out His spirit upon 'all flesh.' <^ The strangeness of the theory to which we have adverted is manifest from its corollary that the prophets, known to speak under Divine compulsion, were held blameless when their predic- tions failed to be realised; and as, in such cases, God Himself, as the real author of the oracles, required a justification, the Book of Jonah was written to exemplify such an apology.^ But how utterly is this at variance * About ti'^K^nr Tartessus see Comm. on Genes, pp. 243, 244. ^ See Bible Studies, i. 49, etc. •^ Num. xi. 29; Joel iii. 1. 2; Isa. liv. 13; etc. *^ See infra on iii. 10. THE FLIGHT. 133 with the Biblical doctrine! Anyone who pronounced predictions that were not fulfilled was regarded as a 'false prophet', that is, as no messenger of God, but as an impious deceiver to be punished with death, because he did not satisfy the only valid test of true prophecy, which was the complete unity with the Divine Mind;* while the assumption that any oracle of God, conveyed through one of His chosen instruments, was not realised, would have been denounced as horrid blasphemy. But what cause does the author assign for Jonah's flight? Does he allude to the impediments which made the prophet anticipate the failure of his enterprise? Though silent in this place, he subsequently states a motive which is indeed astonishing: Jonah abandons his scheme, not be- ; cause he dreads failure, but success; not because he longSi>f to see Nineveh saved, but annihilated.^ From the tenour of the Book, it is impossible to discover any other reason for his uncharitable wish than the sting of offended self-love and vanity, since he foresaw that his announcements of destruction would not be fulfilled.^ It has indeed been surmised that his ill-feeling was patriotic vexation at the undesirable rescue of his people's most dangerous enemies who were sure inflict upon them disaster and ruin.'^ But in the whole story, the Assyrians are brought mto no j^.. connection whatever with the people of Israel. Was the author justified in imputing to an old and honoured prophet such littleness, nay such meanness? That he * Deut. xviii. 20—22; comp. xiii. 2—6. ^ Infra iv. 2. ^ Fhilo, De Jona c. 6, 'propheta, in suam respiciens artem, prophe- tiam nempe, vidit civitatem etiam post praedicationem suam inco- lumem;' and c. 40, 'non adeo eum salus civitatis laetum reddere quibat, quantum praedicationis suae incon- stantia gravem dolorem inducit;' c. 41, 'fugiebam ut meae famae honorem integrum servare decer- nerem.' ^ So Jerome ('scit propbeta . . . quod poenitentia gentium mana fit Judaeorum; idcirco amator patriae suae non tarn saluti invidet Ninives quam non vult perire populum suum'), Babbinical and many modern writers. 134 JONAH I. 3. • himself approved neither of the flight nor its supposed ^' motive, is unmistakable from the later development of the tale. Did tradition afford a foundation for such a surmise ? It would, in this instance, have been unusually capricious, had it attributed baseness to a man to whom it also attributed the rarest courage and the most high- minded self-denial. We must, therefore, ascribe that feature to the author himself, who thus wronged both his hero and his composition. Hardly less unworthy of the prophet Jonah is the conjecture of the Kabbins that 'he was solicitous for the honour of the son, but not for the \ I honour of the Father,'* that is, that he was anxious to spare to the Israelites the humiliation of seeing a heathen people more willing to repentance and reformation than they were themselves in spite of incessant instruction and I warning, while he was indifferent to the glory of God as j the merciful Father of all nations.^ This suggestion L I would stain all Israel with that conceit and selfishness with which the author charges Jonah alone. And when did the Hebrew prophets ever evince so tender a regard for the false susceptibilities of their countrymen ? When did they ever hesitate, for the sake of exhortation, to place them, in intelligence and the fulfilment of all natural duties, beneath the pagans, nay even beneath the irra- tional animals ?<= And why should a public teacher in the vigorous time of the second Jeroboam have been more averse to holding up the mirror to them by the example of a complete conversion of pagans than the author of this story, who most strikingly describes such a change, and who lived in an age when the self-conscious opposition of the Jews to the heathen was much more sharply marked? However, although we have a right to argue with the DNH. ^ Comp. Kimchi and Ebn Ezra in loc. ; see i7ifra on iii. 10. ^ Comp. Isai. i. 3, 10; Jer. viii. 7 ; Ezek. iii. 6, 7, etc. THE FLIGHT. 135 author for explaining Jonah's attempted escape by a contemptible motive, instead of accounting for it by the Ij obvious and inherent obstacles of the undertaking, we must be cautious in ascribing to him rude notions of religion because he makes the prophet flee to Tarshish 'from the ;| presence of the Lord' (mn^ OD^d). It is true that the^'t Hebrews were still clinging to very imperfect ideas of ! the metaphysical nature of God when they had long con- ceived His moral attributes in admirable purity: 'being banished from God's land,' was to them identical with 'being banished from His presence;'^ they never entirely abandoned the view that in Palestine, 'on which God's j; eyes rest constantly,'^ His presence manifests itself more j obviously and more effectually than in all other lands, It which they almost regarded as 'unclean ground j'^ again, in Jerusalem more fully than in any other town of Palestine ; and in the Holy of Holies of the Temple more directly than in any other part of Jerusalem; for which reasons the Eabbins set forth the doctrine that the gift of prophecy falls on no one out of the Holy Land,^ however decidedly the examples of Ezekiel, the second Isaiah, and Daniel are opposed to this opinion. Yet we are no doubt fully justified in understanding the flight of Jonah 'from the presence of the Lord' in that figurative sense which we have above pointed out and which so intelligibly exhibits the human side of the prophet's vocation, who, moreover, specially and emphatically 'stood before the presence of the Lord,'® that is, was seized with Divine impulses, and deemed himself charged with holy missions, in withdrawing from which he was con- sidered to flee from his God who had roused his soul and ^ 2Ki. xvii. 20, 23j comp. Gen. iv. 16, 'and Cain went from the presence of the Lord' (niH"' ""JD^D), because God's favour was with the descendants of Seth. ^ Deut. xi. 12. •^ See supra p. 76. ^ Comp. Yalkut Jon. init., 'Nty a. o. ® Comp. 1 Ki. xvii. 1 ; 2 Ki. iii. 14, 136 JONAH I. 3. worked in his heart. The idea of Divine omnipresence pervading boundless space, was by no means foreign to the Hebrews. It is expressed by Jeremiah in the simple words, 'Can any one hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord; do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord;'* it is, in similar terms, conveyed in Solomon's dedication prayer, 'Will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain Thee;'^ and it is unfolded with incomparable beauty and sublimity in a Psalm which almost seems to illustrate some chief incidents in the Book of Jonah: 'Whither shall I go from Thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascended into heaven, Thou art there; if I made my bed in the lower world, behold, Thou art there. If I took the wings of the morning dawn, or dwelt in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there would Thy hand lead me, and Thy right hand hold me . . . Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee, and the night shineth as the day, the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee'^ — to which magnificent picture later times have no more been able to add new features than to the description which the same ode ofi'ers of Grod as the Searcher of hearts who probes and knows all men, who watches their rising up and their sitting down, under- stands their thoughts from afar, scrutinises their paths, and compasses all their deeds.*^ Therefore, however simple and childhke the form in which the author relates Jonah's 'fleeing from the presence of the Lord,' we should do * Jerem. xxiii. 23, 24. ^ 1 Kj. viii. 27; comp. Deut. x. 14, etc.; also 'Hymn to the Nile,' ver. vi, 'there is no building that can contain him,' the Nile-god (Eec. of the Past, iv. 110). ^ Ps. cxxxix. 7 — 12; comp. Am. ix. 2, 3. ^ Ibid. vers. 1 — 3, 23; comp. 1 Sam. xvi. 7; Jer. xi. 20; xii. 3; xvii. 10; XX. 12; Zech. iv. 10; Ps. xvii. 2; xxvi. 2; xxxiii. 13 — 15; xc. 7; Prov. xv. 11; Job. xxxi. 4; xxxiv. 21, 22; Dan. ii. 22; 1 Chr. xxviii. 9; xxix. 17; 2 Chr. vi. 30; Acts i. 24 (Kvpiog KaphioyvooaTTjg) ; XV. 8; Eom. viii. 27; Hebr. iv. 12, 13; Kev. ii. 23; Plat. Legg. x. 12. THE FLIGHT. • 137 him an injustice by doubting that he was familiar with the notion of absolute infinitude filled by the Divine spirit, since similar speculations were also current with respect to the eternity of God, who exists 'from ever- lasting to everlasting,' and 'in whose sight a thousand years are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.' ^ The author could not have more strikingly signalised the vehement conflict which agitated Jonah's mind than through the double fact that the prophet sought safety by escaping from that country in which alone abides the glory of his God, and that he entrusted himself to that element of which the Hebrews could never conquer a secret horror. The unfathomed depths of the sea reaching down to the very gates of the lower world ;^ the violent dashing of the waters against the rocky shores, as if eager to engulf the earth and to bring back chaos; the restless foaming of the waves ever yearning for new victims; and the awful darkness of the abyss harbouring untold ravenous monsters — all this was re- garded by ihe Hebrews with such alarm and mysterious terror that, in conceiving the felicity and perfection of the new heaven and the new earth, they believed that there would be 'no more sea.' Yet so completely and so consistently did they develop the idea of God as unrestricted Ruler of the Universe that they were certain that, without His will, even the immeasurable ocean with its unbridled tumult is impotent, for pre-ordaining its im- mutable boundaries. He has declared, 'Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and here the fury of thy waves shall be stayed.'^ Need we recall the analogous con- * Ps. xc. 2, 4; comp. 2 Pet. iii. 8, /JLi'a rifispa napa Kvpi'cc ug -^IXia STT, Koi x''^'* s'f^? w? TjfJispa p.ta. ^ See infra notes on ii. 6, 7. 11 ; civ. 25—28; cvii. 23—30; Prov, viii. 28, 29 ; Job. xxvi. 10 ; xxxviii, 8-11, 16, 17; Sir. xliii. 23—25, 'they that sail in the sea, tell of the Comp. Ps. Ixxxix. 10 ; xcvi. I danger thereof, and when we hear 138 JONAH I. 3. ceptions of other ancient nations with respect to the perils and the reckless daring of navigation? analogous, of course, in so far as the difference of religious systems permits.^ As the author probably wrote in Jerusalem, he made Jonah embark in Joppa, the harbour nearest to the capital of Judah, although the prophet, as a citizen of the kingdom of Ephraim, and no doubt living in the then royal capital of Bethel,'^ w^ould rather be likely to choose one of the more northerly Phoenician ports, where he was surer to find opportunities for his intended voyage. Did the author fix upon Joppa because this town was associated with special traditions concerning Jonah? On this point, which will hereafter be more fully examined, it may at present suffice to observe that, according to state- ments of Eoman and patristic writers, there lies, in front of Joppa, a rock bearing the vestiges of the chains by which Andromeda was bound when seen by Perseus, and that, on this coast the people worshipped the goddess Ceto, probably identical with Derceto or Atargatis, the fish deity with a human head/ Analogies will at once rise in the reader's mind — we shall endeavour to point out how far they have real connection with Jonah's history.^ Even the scanty notices which we possess of Joppa from the Biblical times suffice for the purpose of our text. Joppa,® it with our ears, we marvel thereat,' etc.; Revel, xxi. 1; see Comm. on Genes, pp. 26, 27. * Comp. So:ph. Antig. 334—337, TToXXa TO, hsiva kov^sv av^-puntov ^si- voTspov TTsXei • rovTO Kou Tcokiox) Ttspav TCOVTQV ^siiispiM vorcc X'^P^h '^sp'^pv- ^loiaiv TTspuiv VTT o'i2/ji.aaiv; Hor. Od. I. ;iii. 9 — 24, Illi robur et aes triplex Circa pectus erat, qui fragilem truci V. 13 or 14, Jope Phoenicum . . . insidet collem praejacente saxo, in quo vinculonim Andromedae ve- stigia ostendunt; Jerome in loc, hie locus est in quo usque hodie saxa monstrantur in litore, in quibus Andromeda religata Persei quondam sit liberata j)raesidio. ^ See notes on ii. 1, 2, 11. « Hebrew 'iD'' or NlD^ ; ^Syr. '•D^; Commisit pelago ratem Primus etc. Sept. and Greek writers variously ^ Comp. Am. vii. 10, 13. 'loVTy, 'loTTTrrj, 'locntr,, or 'Iuttttti', in ^ See 5t<2?ra p. 112; comp. Plin. \ Sennacherib's Ipscription /a-a^-j^w; THE FLIGHT. 139 builta fortress-like along a hill'' in a district abun- dantly supplied with water,<^ has the blue ridges of the mountains of Judah as its background on the eastern side, while in the west it is bounded by the Mediterranean Sea, and almost everywhere enclosed by beautiful gardens and plantations. It offers a fine view over the rich and undulating plain of Sharon dotted with olive and pome- granate groves; its situation is in fact so elevated that some supposed, though erroneously, that Jerusalem, lying about ten hours to the south-east, was thence visible.^ The town is extremely ancient— Roman writers contend that it was founded before the Deluge and governed by Cepheus, whose memory as well as that of his brother Phineus, was there long preserved by famous altars bearing their names, and whose wife Jope, daughter of Aeolus, is fabled to have given the city its name^ — but in the historical ages it appears first as a Phoenician colony in the ter- ritory of the Phihstines, under the suzerainty of the king and in the Phoenician Inscription of Eshmun-ezer, king of Sidon, "'D"' (see infra); on a coin of Titus lOnHTIiN,- Arab, at present ills: Jdfd or La5^. ^ Lat. 320 3' N., and L. 34^ 44' E. of Greenwich. ^ "Whence possibly the name, since the word means in Phoenician 'elevation' (comp. Movers, Phoeniz. ii. 2. p. 177), although it is more commonly interpreted 'beauty' or 'the beautiful;' so Qregor. Nazian. Apolog. Orat. i, r^v KaraaKdir^v rifg yapuc, a(f>£ig, tovto yap ^E^pccion; 7] loTTTTTj Ivvarai; Origen, Jerome, a. o, ^ Although the explanation of the name as the town 'rich in springs' (like vjapi, Hitzig, PhiHs- taer, p. 133), is extremely strained. Pausanias (IV. xxxv. 6) observes that there was in Joppe a spring with red water, as Perseus mixed with it the blood of the sea-monster he had killed (|a"Aov L^ vlup, ovhh Ti ccTtotsov T^v x^o«v aYfLUTog k.t.\.); comp. also Eeland, Palaest. p. 270. d Strabo XVI. ii. 28, p. 759; comp. Ptolem. V. xvi. 2. ^ Pin. V. 13 or 14, Jope Phoe- nicum, antiquior terrarum inunda- tione, ut ferunt; Mela i. 11, est Joppe ante diluvium, ut ferunt, condita etc. According to some traditions, it was there that Noah constructed the Ark; according to others, the town was built and named by Japheth (comp. Beland, Palaest., p. 865, and in general pp. 864—867). 140 JONAH I. 3. of Ascalon,^ and bordering on the province of the Danites, in which it was not included.^ It possesses a harbour most important from its position at a peculiar point of the Mediterranean coast,^ but small, unfit for larger vessels, inconvenient and even dangerous on account of the steepness of the shore and the rocks rising above the sea for a considerable distance from the land,^ abounding in coral formations, therefore rough and agitated even in calm weather, and having an entrance either imperilled by sands or so shallow and narrow as to be almost useless.^ But in spite of its defects — Strabo calls it pointedly *a haunt of robbers' and hence particularly fit for 'a people of robbers'^ — the harbour was of the utmost usefulness to the Hebrews on account of its proximity to the capital. Hiram, king of Tyre, sent the timber he furnished for Solomon's Temple by sea in rafts to Joppa, to be thence transported to Jerusalem,s^ and thither also were floated the cedar stems which, in Zerubbabel's time, the Sidonians and Tyrians supplied for the second Temple/'^ In those long periods during which the ^ Comp. the Inscription of Sen- nacherib on the Taylor Cylinder, col. ii, lines 58, 66, 67; Flin. 1. c; Stephan. 'Iotttj jroXig ^oiviKrjg k.t.X. ^ Josh. xix. 46. ^ Whether the coast line there takes suddenly a decided direction northward (Strab. 1. c), may be doubtful {Reland 1. c. p. 435.) ^ These rocks, from which Peter is said to have fished, are perhaps the island of Paria mentioned by Pliny (v. 31 or 34), 'ante Jopen Paria, tota oppidum, in qua objec- tam beluae Andromedam ferunt' (comp. Reland 1. c. pp. 699, 923). ® Hence the description of Jo- sephus (Bell. Jud. III. x. 3) is hardly too unfavourable: 'Joppe is not naturally a harbour, for it ends in a rough shore, where all the rest of it is straight' etc. It is not impossible that in primitive times, when the sea had not yet retired so far, the harbour was superior and then came into repute (comp. Hitzig, Phihstaer, p. 132). ^ Strab. 1. c, r« ^sTti'vsia rwv XyIgtuv \yiar7jpia hrjKov on iart, see infra. S 2 Chi', ii. 15; comp. 1 Ki. v. 23, where Joppa is not mentioned; also Jo5e^^. Ant. XIV. X. 6, alluding to the export trade carried on bet- ween Joppa and Sidon; 1 Macci xi. 6; 2 Mace. iv. 21. ^ Ezra iii. 7. THE FLIGHT. 141 eastern conquerors invaded the land beyond the Euphrates, Joppa shared, in a great measure, the changes and vicis- situdes of nearly all the countries and districts of the Mediterranean. Thus Sennacherib did not fail to record in the Annals of his third campaign, in the course of which he extended his victorious march along the whole coast of Syria southward, that among other cities which till then had not been forced to render him homage, he 'at- tacked, captured and spoiled Ja-ap-pu' (Joppa) also.* The successive rise and decay of the Assyrian, Baby- lonian, and Persian Empires brought to the town alter- nately dependence and hberty, till it was by Antigonus, one of Alexander's successors, valiantly taken and incorporated in the kingdom of Syria.^ How eagerly it was coveted as a most valuable possession, is especially apparent from the Prayer which concludes the interesting Phoenician Inscription on the sarcophagus of the Sidonian king Eshmun-ezer of the fourth century (B. C.) : 'May in future the lords of the kings (the gods) give us Dor and Japhi (Joppa), the fertile corn lands which are in the plain of Sharon, and may they join it to the boundary of the land that it may belong to the two Sidons for ever.'*^ In the time of the Maccabaean wars, it was repeatedly con- spicuous, but not always honourably. In the earlier part of those struggles, the inhabitants treacherously drowned in the sea two hundred Jews, but they were terribly punished by Judas, who slaughtered many and burnt their harbour and their ships.*^ Jonathan, his brother, carrying on the hostilities, wrested the town from the Syrians after an effective siege ;^ while Simon, when he succeeded in the com- mand, fortified it and improved the restored harbour,^ and ^ Inscription of Sennacher. 1. c. col. ii, line 66. ^ B. C. 315; Diod. Sic. xix. 59. ^ Inscription, lines 18—20, p'* comp. Eecords of the Past, ix. 114; and Munk a. o. on the text. ^ 2 Mace. xii. 3—7. « 1 Mace. X. 76. f B. C. 140; 1 Mace. xiv. 5; comp. xiii. 11. 142 JONAH I. 3. Simon's son, John Hyrcanus, among other favours, received from the Romans the promise that Joppa was for ever to remain secured to the Jews.^ Pompey indeed made the city independent and joined it to the province of Syria,^ but Caesar soon afterwards re-united it with the Jewish territory, adding the special provision that it was to pay to the ethnarch Hyrcanus 11. and his successors a yearly impost of corn, which privileges were subsequently renewed and ratified in favour of Herod, and then of Archelaus, who, moreover, was empowered to exact from Joppa tribute in money.<= However, in consequence of the depo- sition and banishment of the cruel and detested Arche- laus, the town was shortly afterwards (B. C. 6), together with Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea, again incorporated in Syria^ as a part of which we find it in the first Christian centuries. The new doctrines seem there to have found ready adoption, for Joppa is the scene of Tabitha's works of charity, of Peter's miracle, and of this apostle's remarkable vision of all kinds of animals, warning him 'not to call common what God has cleansed.'^ Disturbance and sedition induced Cestius Grallus, the Roman governor of Syria, to send troops against the town which, after the massacre of more than eight thousand people, was plundered and burnt.^ Soon restored, it became the trysting place of Jewish pirates, who by their daring aggression rendered the coast insecure from Syria to Egypt, till a Roman force dispatched against the town by Vespasian captured and razed it to the ground, al- most without resistance, since the population, about four thousand souls, who had taken refuge in their ships, perished in the sea during a fearful gale; and on its site, the Romans constructed merely a fortified camp.f =^ Joseph. Ant. -XIII. ix. 2. ^' Josejjh. Ant. XIV. iv. 4. *^ Joseph. Ant. XV. vii. 3 ; XVII. xi. 4. ^ Acts ix. 36—43; x. 5 sg^.; xi.5 — 10. ^ Jo*. Bell. Jud. II. xviii. 10. 2 — 4; comp. Strabo 1. ^ Jos. BeU. Jud. in. ix. THE FLIGHT. 143 Yet this, ere long, became the centre of a new town which, under various fortunes, has been preserved to this day. Its destinies were particularly chequered in the times of the crusades, as the place, on account of its situation at once important and exposed, was eagerly desired by both contending armies; it was the first town taken by Godfrey of Bouillon and presented by him to the church of the holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem; then, succes- sively conquered and partially destroyed by Saladin, Safaddin, Richard I. of England, and finally under Melik el-Adil,^ it was more than once the scene of terrible bloodshed. In the earlier Christian centuries, from Con- stantine the Great to the Arabic conquest under Osman (A. C. 636), Joppa was a Bishop's see.*^ This dignity was renewed and endowed by the crusaders, the town was forti- fied and adorned by Baldwin I. and Lewis IX. of France, and the district, raised into a palatinate, given over to the knights of St. John (A. C. 1126); but the city, after its repeated devastations, was so completely impoverished and depopulated that travellers in the sixteenth century only found a few dilapidated huts.^ From the seventeenth century it began to recover; furnished with quays and strengthened by walls, it was enabled to oppose to the French army under Kleber some resistance; it was, however, taken by assault, then fortified by the English, and finally enlarged by the Turks. At present Joppa is the seat of a Kheimakam subordinate to Jerusalem, and has about 8000 inhabitants, of whom at least two thirds are Mo- hammedans.^ Owing to the wonderful and still unim- ^ In the years 1187, 1191, 1192, and 1196, respectively. " Bishops of Joppa are mentioned in the Council of Ephesus (A. C. 431) and at the Synod of Jerusalem (A. C. 536). ^ Eauwolf, writinof in 1575, ob- p. 313), that he found no 'anti- quities' or 'vestiges,' and that he would have doubted that there ever was a town on that site, if he had not seen large remains of old walls. ^ The official census of 1851 showed for the town Yafa 3072 serves (Beschreibung der Baiss etc., | males liable to taxation (comp. 144 JONAH I. 3. paired fertility of the soil, to large exports in corn and fruit, especially oranges, watermelons, and figs of exquisite quality, owing also to a not unimportant trade with Syria and Egypt, and, not least, to its most favourable position as the chief landing place of the pilgrims and visitors to the Holy Land, the town has succeeded in attaining a certain degree of prosperity, which, it may be expected, would be materially promoted by the construction of the con- templated railway to Jerusalem and the improvement and extension of the harbour, provided that the muni- cipal council which has been appointed to support the governing mutesellim, proves efficient. — The handbooks of Porter, Tristram, Socin and others, besides many recent works of travel^ give full topographical descriptions of the town and its buildings (although, on account of the many ravages it has suffered, but few can claim the interest of antiquity), as the Greek, the Latin, and Ar- menian convents (in the last, the room is shown, in which Napoleon is said to have caused the sufferers from the plague to be poisoned, in order to save them from the hands of the victorious Turks), the reputed house of Tabitha, the Egyptian and the German colony, as well as the site of Napoleon's camp, notorious for coldblooded massacres, and the attractions of the road to Ramie, which is situated at about one fourth of the distance between Joppa and Jerusalem. Philological Eemabks. — The town or district of Tarshish (K'"'^''iri) — for this appellation seems to have comprised the whole province adjoining the river Baetis (Guadalquiver), Bitter, Erdkunde, xvi. 833, 574 — | organised in the vicinity of the 580), which would raise the total | town on the left side of the road of the population to a much higher figure than 8,000. The number of Jews, in that census stated at 33, has since considerably increased, especially in consequence of the Jewish agricultural establishment leading to Eamle. ^ As those of C. Niebuhr, 0. von Erichter, Sieber, Eussegger, Prokesch, W. G. Browne, "Wilson, Kinnaer, Irby and Mangles, Lynch, Tobler, a. o. THE FLIGHT. I45 if it was not employed to denote Spain in general—is here, as elsewhere, rendered by Josephus 'Tarsus in Cilicia;' by the Chaldee translator, Jerome, Rashi, Luther, and even some modern interpreters 'the sea' {Targ. nq^^, RasU D^ ^W-)t] HDK'Ly, Luth. und wollte auf das Meer,'etc.); by the Septuagint and Vulgate indistinctly 'Qapaslg' and 'Tharsis,' which, in several passages, the former identifies with Carthage (Isa. xxiii. 1, 14, irXolcc KapiyjUvog, etc.); by some Eabbins 'Tunis;' and by others 'Sardes': all which views are excluded by a comparison of Biblical and classical references (see Comm. on Gen. p. 243).— As an obedient prophet and in the Holy Land, Jonah was r\)T[^ -•jp'p before the Lord; aban- doning the prophetic office and leaving the Holy Land, he escaped njn; \JD^p from before the Lord, which term, though more exact and more expressive than the usual phrase n-lD mn^ \J^p, is precisely synonymous with it ; the distinctions which have been attempted (by Ebn Ezra, Kimchi, Joel Bril in the Biur, Pusey, a. 0.), and which are alleged to explain and fully to justify Jonah's flight, are forced and unwarranted (comp. 2 Ki. vi. 32, rJD^JD ty^N ni'E'^l; Sept. dird or bk TrpoacoTrov Kvplov, Vulg. a facie Domini, etc.); and the import of the words is correctly conveyed by the Chaldee paraphrase, 'Jonah fled '^n NDK^n ^SJnN-? uy^ ]D in order not to prophesy in the name of the Lord,' which is not entirely the same as the Talmudical principle that in foreign lands (that is, all except Palestine) neither dwells the Divine glory (nH^D^), nor is any one endowed with the spirit of prophecy (see supra p. 133); for the conception of the Targum is a rational interpretation of a presumed metaphor, while that / principle emanates from the proud theory of special elec|' / tion. — The expression 'Jonah went down (ly)) to Joppa,' is in as natural and intelligible as 'he went down (Ti^)) into the ship,' not only because Joppa was built on the slopes of a hill (p. 137), nor because the road from Jerusalem north- westward to Joppa leads from a mountainous district to an even plain, but because the town is situated on the sea, the level of which, like that of rivers and springs, is L 146 JONAH I. 3. lower than the land (Glen. xxiv. 16, 45; Ex. ii. 5; 1 Ki. xviii. 40, etc.; comp. Michael, De notionibus Superi et Inferi etc. §§ xxiv — xxvi); and D%~I "T)'» became a current phrase for 'passing' or 'sailing by sea' (Isai. xlii. 10), to which might be added nr^ND 'in ships' (Ps. cvii. 23); although it is, on the other hand, not surprising that disemlmrking from a ship is also expressed by niOND ly (Ezek. xxvii. 29). The reading ID"" "^^M is, therefore, un- necessary. — Jonah found a vessel W^W^t} 7]^'^ ^going^ or ^ready to go to Tarshish,' the verb NID being used for "jSl, as again in the same verse (DHDV ND^) and elsewhere (iii. 4; Ruth iii. 7; etc.); while conversely, "jbn is employed instead of NU (Num. xxii. 37; comp. 2 Ki. x. 12; and also 2 Chr. ix. 21). As a verb of motion, ND is construed with the simple accusative (K/^St^'^n HN!::), although some manuscripts have thrice uniformly nK^iK^*in (see De-Rossi, Variae Lectiones, iii. p. 194). — Jonah gave or paid 'its fare' (n"tD*K'), that is, the fare usually charged for each passenger {Sept. rb vavkov avTov, Vulg. naulum ejus); but some Jewish interpreters, taking those words quite literally and assuming that Jonah, in his anxious eagerness not to delay for a moment the ship's departure by waiting for other passengers or for cargo, himself and alone paid the whole sum the captain expected to realise by the voyage, hence curiously deduced the doc- trine that 'the gift of prophecy descends upon none but the rich' {-r^)} DIN hv N^N Tr\W HND^ |^N).— DHSy, used promiscuously with DD);, both in earlier and later writings (comp. Num. xxii. 12; 1 Ohr. xv. 18; Gen. xviii. 16; Lev. xxvi. 41, etc.), %oith them, i. e. with the men he found in the ship (see supra on ver. 2). IV. THE STEUGGLE. I. 4 — 6. 4. And the Lord cast a great wind upon the sea, and there was a great tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to be broken. 5. And THE STRUGGLE. 147 the mariners were afraid, and cried every man to his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to hghten it for themselves. But Jonah was gone down into the lowest parts of the ship; and he lay down, and fell into a profound sleep. 6. And the shipmaster came to him, and said to him. How canst thou lie in pro- found sleep? arise, call upon thy god, perhaps that god will have regard for us, so that we do not perish. The refractory prophet was to be trained and instructed, and through him the people of Israel. He had fled from himself, rather than from God. He had yielded to human weakness instead of trusting to Divine support and pro- tection. Now he longed to be as distant as possible from the spot which, as his better self warned him, claimed his presence and his efforts. He was calmer when he saw the vessel glide away from his native shore in the direction of the remote western land where he believed himself safe from every tempting impulse and every danger. Yet he found it impossible to stifle the power of the inner voice. His manly spirit, his exalted aspirations, his noble aims, rose up indignantly and reproachfully against him. He had taken the step by which all choice and liberty were cut off. He could not find the heart to mingle with the crowd that surrounded him. His conscience did not cease again and again to attack his conduct and to demolish the feeble arguments which a selfish prudence tried to put forth in his defence. In this tormenting disquietude, in this unavailing and result- less combat, he sought the aid of solitude, in the hope that he might be able to regain his peace of mind by concen- trated reasoning with himself. He descended into the lower parts of the ship and lay down — but his musings and 148 JONAH I. 4 — 6. self-debatings remained fruitless, and finally he fell into a profound sleep, which brought him at least forgetfulness of his agonising conflict. In these tortures, which proved that his mind, though vacillating, was not obdurate, he wrought his own reformation and atonement — as once a similar struggle endured by Jacob before meeting again his wronged brother, secured the erring patriarch's tran- quillity and expiation.* But side by side with this silent strife in the lonely sufferer's soul, raged the warfare of nature. God pur- sued the guilty fugitive not only by the compunctions of remorse, but also by the terrors of the elements; for He is not only the Searcher of hearts, but the Ruler of creation, who makes the forces of the outward world His witnesses and avengers; who hovers on the wings of the winds and appoints them His messengers, executes judgment through the lightning and the foaming sea,^ and may even ordain a swarm of locusts as the in- struments of His wrath.<^ He desired visibly and pal- pably to show, not only to his chosen mouthpiece but to all mankind, that no mortal can escape His watchful eye; that there is no single point in His whole universe, that is not reached by His presence, His omnipotence, and His retribution. He therefore sent a violent tempest to rock and to dash the vessel which carried the guilty man, and to threaten it with destruction.*^ But that frail vessel carried also innocent people: should these be * Gen. xxxii. 7 — 13; see Comm. on Gen. p. 565. ^ Ps. xviii. 11; civ. 3, 4; comp. cvii. 25; cxlviii. 8; Isai. v. 6. *^ Joel ii. 11; comp. Isai. xxxiv. 17. ^ It is true that in those parts of the Mediterranean a most disas- trous gale is common, dreaded by mariners and called by them the 'black northwind' (Jos. Bell. Jud. III. ix. 3, TTvsvfia fLsXa/x.^opsiov) i for the author endeavours as far as is feasible to maintain probability of detail; but in this instance, the hurricane was raised by God for a special purpose; it seems, more- over, to have been an eastwind, since it blew from the land; see tnfra on vers. 7 — 16. THE STRUGGLE. 149 slain with the wicked? 'shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?' Should He who once consented to save Sodom for the sake of ten pious men, allow all that had met on the ship to perish on account of one sinner? And here both the narrator's art and his lofty principles are revealed. Jonah's fellow-passengers — or at least the mariners and their chiefs, who alone are conspicuous in the story— are indeed innocent men. Singularly right- minded and humane, they are scrupulously anxious to extend the most considerate regard to a stranger. They are pagans whO; as soon as they perceive their danger, *cry every one to his god,' and who, having roused the sleeping Jonah, with a touching simplicity request him to pray to his god also, since perchance this god (D\nbNn) might be gracious to them. They are pagans whose piety and religious earnestness stand out in the most favourable contrast to Jonah's actions, as far as they have hitherto been disclosed. The Hebrew writer does not represent the mariners as evil-doers, because they do not adore His God; he does not claim for his creed a monopoly in human virtues; he does not confound the spheres of religious dogma and of morals. On that tempest-tossed vessel prevailed the most perfect impar- tiality and forbearance : from the large heathen pantheon each Gentile has singled out his own deity to whom he pays homage; and as he respects the idol of his pagan neighbour, so he shows deference to the god of the stranger. But that every one has a god or his god, is assumed as certain; the toleration of the Gentiles is not irreligion; is the Hebrew author's toleration indifference to the truth? The future development of the story will prove the contrary. A beautiful Psalm, which is perhaps little older than the Book of Jonah, contains nautical descriptions which, from their clearness and distinctness, are evidently not drawn from imagination and seem to have furnished several features to our author: 'They that sailed on the 150 JONAH I. 4 — 6. sea in ships, passed onward in great waters, they saw the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep; for He commanded and raised a stormy wind which lifted up the ocean waves; they mounted high to heaven, they went down to the abyss; their soul melted in their dis- tress ; they reeled to and fro, and staggered like drunken men, and their wisdom vanished; then they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress; He made the storm a gentle breeze, so that the waves were silent; then they were glad because they were quiet, and He brought them into their desired haven.'* Ancient and modern poets also have thrillingly depicted the power of religious sentiment roused by danger and especially by the terrors of a tempestuous sea.** The supplications of the heathen mariners were, of course, without avail, not only because they were ad- dressed to impotent 'no-gods,' to whom no authority over winds and waves could be conceded, but because the tumul- tuous waters were not to be silenced before they had accomplished their prescribed work of discovering the transgressor and delivering him up to his merited fate. PniLOLOGiCAii E,EMAjEiKS. — The violence of the storm is in- timated by the very first verb h'^\:^ri — a great wind (nn) was throivn or hurled upon the sea (comp. ver. 5, where the word expresses haste and anxiety; Ps. xxxvii. 24, where hl2V is placed in contradistinction to ^1^] ; and Isai. xxii. 1 7, n^D^D ■>pj hurling with manly force); it was so cast by God with the distinct design that 'it should be or become a great tempest ("\VP) on the sea' in which the disobedient prophet was sailing: there is no room for chance; everything is pre-ordained with reference to man, who is the centre of the =^ Ps. cvii. 23—30. ^ Comp. Aesch. Pers. 497—499, %8Qvg Se Ttg To yrph vo/f/'Ccov ov^a;iov, TOT tvxsTo AtraTat; the adage 'Ynep Makeav -nkrjsac, svus^TjC, eay; Lucr. iii. 53; Liv. v. 51; Butler, Hudibras, 'Carnal seamen, in a storm, Turn pious converts and reform;' etc. THE STRUGGLE. 151 universe. The renderings of b'^t^n, both ancient and modern, are for the most part too weak and colourless (Targ. and %r. DnN, Sept. i^-^ysipsv, Yulg. misit, Luther liess kommen; better Ebn Ezra yh^r[, Kimchi Eadic. s. v. nV^nni n^DJn ]''iV; De Wette warf, etc.). — So fearful grew the gale that JT'JNn ISK'n'? HDK^n, i' e. literally, 'the ship thought it would be broken' or 'wrecked' — a personification of the ship which is not unusual in other languages, though Dti'n is nowhere else employed in connection with inanimate objects. The construction cannot even be called a metonomy, as if 'the ship' meant 'the people in the ship' (so Kimchi I'Sl bv ]Wbr{ riDnin; Ebn Ezra after the analogy of ^b NDHn O p^{ Ezek. xiv. 12; or 1ND pNH bD Gen. xli. 57); but it is analogous to the Grerman usage 'das Schiff ivoUte zerbrechen* (comp. Biur in loc). The translators, as a rule, employ some paraphrase suggested by the context, as 'the ship was in danger of being broken' (Sept. tea) to irXolov i/avlvvsvev roij haXv^r^von ] Joseph, teoc) Kivlvvsvovrog KocTalvvai rov aK6c(povg] Yulg. et navis periclitabatur conteri; De Wette, und das Schiff drohte zu scheitern, etc.) ; or 'seemed on the point of being broken' {Targ. Nl^nN^ ^^V^', Bashi VTOW^ NM I'pND fTiDlJ ; Auth. Vers, the ship was like to be broken; Maurer navis in eo fuit ut frangeretur). — "^2^} to be wrecked, as in 1 Ki. xxii. 49; Ezek. xxvii. 34 ('2*6); 2 Chr. xx. 37.— n^p (Sgr. ND^D, Arab. -^), derived from nbp salt in the sense of salt ivater or sea (similar to akg and sal, Horn. Od. iv. 349; II. xviii. 86, 432; Yirg. Aen. i. 35; x. 214), is mariner (like oCkisvg Horn. Od. xxiv. 418; familiar English 'salt;' comp. Ezek. xxvii. 9, 27, 29); while ^:p'n (ver. 6), different from n^D (Ezek. xxvii. 27), is properly one of those who attend to the ship's ropes {U'^b^n, Isai. xxxiii. 23; Ezek. 11. cc); though the word seems to have been applied in a more extended sense also, as ^Dnn Tl is evidently 'the chief of the sailors or mariners,* to whom the safety of the vessel is entrusted, or the ship- master (so Targ. and Syr. N''JDD 31; Bashi W^vh'QT] "IB'; Luther Schiffsherr ; Kimchi □''JDDDtfi' ^HJin, 'for sailors are called U^h^m on account of their drawing up and loosening the ropes of 152 JONAH I. 4—6. the mast;' Sept. and Vulff. perhaps *o specifically Trpapsvg and gubernator.). 'Pphn 31, the second noun used collectively for the plural, is analogous to D''")D !1"1 or ;iD D"^ 'the chief of the eunuchs' or 'magi' (2 Ki. xviii. 17; Jer. xxxix. 3), D") being, in later periods, employed in preference to "^W (Dan. i. 3, 8—11; 2 Ki. xxv. 8—12, etc.). As '?3'n sailor or pilot includes the sense of directing or governing, the abstract noun nl^snri has the meaning of direction (Pro v. xi. 14; comp. Job. xxxvii. 12), and then of counsel or device, whether in a good or bad sense (Prov. i. 5; xii. 5, etc.). — On the ship, which was probably supposed to belong to the Phoenicians, were no doubt present persons from many different countries (Jewish tradition says, persons from all the seventy nations of the earth; Yalk. Jon. § 550), and it is assumed that every one implored the deity which he recognised as his own tutelary god (Sept. i^occv e/caarog Trpdg rbv ^£ov aurwv), to which conception the Hebrew author readily accommodated himself without proving unfaithful to his own convictions. — Invocation of the gods and lightening the ship were the measures at once and under the circum- stances naturally suggested by religion and expediency; but it is unnecessary to connect the one with the other in the manner attempted by the Targum which renders : 'they cried to their gods, and when they saw that these were of no avail, they cast forth' etc. (comp. Acts xxvii. 18, 19, i/c/Sokyjv eTToiovvTo KoCi . . . T^v {jKBVTjv Tov Trkoloij lpi\pcx.v). — Tho words ^ipro DH^pyD, from the analogy of all similar passages, must be translated, *in order to lighten it (the ship) for themselves; for thus we find ^""^yD bpH (Exod. xviii. 22) 'lighten it (the burden) for thee,' properly 'away from thee,' which is a zeugma equivalent to 'lighten the burden by taking it (or a part of it) from thee.' The construction is clearer when an object is added to by>Ti, as f. i. DD^bpD 'n^-flN '?p^ 'He will lighten His hand from off you,' that is, remove His visitation from you (1 Sam. vi. 5; comp. 1 Ki. xii. 4, 10; 2 Chr. X. 10). It is, therefore, inadmissible to interpret 'to lighten it (the ship) of them' (the wares; Sept. tov THE STRUGGLE. 153 KQii(f)id^ijvai av avTUiv, Yulg. ut alleviaretur ab eis, Auth. Vers, etc.), which would require DHD instead of DH^'^VD. — Jonah is placed into strong contradistinction to the mariners (■)*]' HJl''], not nJl^ "I']"'!)- while the latter were anxiously engaged on deck with prayers and schemes of precaution, he was fast asleep below (comp. Grramm. § 95. 8. c). We must suppose that the storm did not arise at once after sailing; time was to be left for Jonah's struggle and exhaustion; he would surely not have composed himself to sleep while the tempest was raging; and it was necessary that the ship should have proceeded a considerable distance away from the shore when vain efforts were made to regain it (ver. 13). The preterite ID^ must, therefore, be understood as a pluper- fect, ^Jonah had descended,' after which the actions of lying down and falling asleep (D"l")^) ^DK'^l) followed in due course, but still before the outbreak of the storm. Thus it is clear why the text does not join *he entered the ship' (ver. 3) immediately with^ 'he descended below' (ver. 5); no trait is superfluous or pointless, and Jonah's conduct need not, nay can not, be attributed to callousness or stubborn self- will, as if he had persevered in his obtuseness even when the terrifying voice of G-od had reached him in his flight. While, therefore, Jerome's assertion that Jonah 'concealed himself lest he beheld the billows of the avenging Deity tower up against him,' is not justified, he rightly observes, that Jonah's sleep was 'not one of security but of grief (quod autem dormit, non securitatis est sedmoeroris); and correct also to a certain extent is Philo's remark (De Jona c. 7), 'propheta, ut puto, oblitum se rerum artificiose fingens, derelicto navis dorso, sub ventre immergitur, et ohlivioni se traclit corde tristV — n:^Dpn ^r\2y is 'the lowest part of the ship,' as -|13 nn3n_^ (Isai. xiv. 15) is 'the deepest pit,' or n^^H ^V\'^y (Am. vi. 10) and n"i;^?3ri TlS"}^ (1 Sam. xxiv. 4), 'the innermost recesses of the house and the cave;' comp. also DnDN "iH inD")^ and pjD^l •'HD-i'' (Judg. xix. 1, 18; Isa. xxxvii. 24), the secluded or remoter districts of Mount Ephraim and Lebanon; Jer. xxxi. 8 ; Ez. xxxviii. 6. Jonah, a prey to one all-absorbing 154 JONAH I. 4 — 6. thought, withdrew as far away as possible from the crowd and the confusing stir of his fellow-travellers, with whom he had no courage to mingle. Targum aptly, ND^^N"! iCiW n^;;*iNb; Sept. correctly, slg tt/v koIX-^v rov ttKoiov ; Vulff. ad interiora navis; Luther, hinunter in das Schiff, etc. "Whether 'sleeping berths' are meant, constructed in or against 'the sides' of the ship, as they are now, may be left undecided. The dual ^n5")^ is here and elsewhere emphatically employed instead of the singular, and need not be taken as analogous to the plural in phrases like nj;'?:i nv? "l^p^T (Judg. xii. 7) 'he was buried in one of the towns of Grilead' (comp. Grramni. § 85. 1); moreover, D^HDV is also occasionally one side (Exod. xxvi. 22, comp. vers. 23, 27; see Grramm. § xxiii. 6). — The verb D~1J does not apply to the ordinary refreshiug sleep, but to a sleep of stupefaction after excessive toil and fatigue (Judg. iv. 21), or after agonising terror (Ps. Ixxvi. 7), and is therefore peculiarly appropriate in our text; comp. niJ*^N ^rip~"}^ (Dan. viii. 18) *I lay stupefied on the ground-/ and nD^"}ri *heavy or oppressive sleep' (G-en. xv. 12; 1 Sam. xxvi. 12); Sept, psyx^'^ ^o snore, of which □"]") is supposed to be onomatopoetic; Yidg. (ver. 5) dormire sopore gravi and (ver. 6) sopore deprimi; Targ. "I^^D* sleeping heavily; Grotius, 'is torpor saepe moerorem comitatur;' comp. Luke xxii 45, svpev KQtix(ii[xhovg avrovg (xtto rr^g XvTryjg] Sail. Bell. Jug. c. 71, 'primo cura, dein, uti aegrum animum solet, somnus cepit,' which expresses precisely the mental process above described. — The question introduced with ^j'^-HD con- veys surprise, indignation, or reproach — all of which are obviously combined in the captain's address to Jonah (ver. 6) : 'How canst thou give thyself up to profound sleep?' (comp. Jer. ii. 18; Ps. 1. 16, etc.; also Luke xxii. 46, r/ ko^stjIsts} dvaarocvTsg TrpQcexi^ed^e, k. t. X.; Matt. xxvi. 40), the participle Dm'IJ being in apposition to 'f^ {Sept. ri av psyx^ig, Vulg. quid tu sopore deprimeris? etc.), and not to be taken as vocative {Auth. Vers, 'what meanest thou, sleeper?' etc.). — If really, as some Jewish lexicographers maintain, nc'V has the meaning of being bright or brilliant (Jer. v. 28; Ezek. xvii. 19, ^I'l'l THE STRUGGLE. 155 nltt'y; comp. Kimchi s. v.), there would be nothing to prevent us from rendering )^h □\"1^Nn C)WV.t)] "h)^ 'perhaps God may show Himself friendly or gracious to us,' the metaphor being similar to that of God letting His face shine upon those He favours (Num. vi. 25; Ps. iv. 7; xxxi. 17; comp. Jer. iii. 12), and the Hithpael understood in a sense which it not unusually bears (so Targ. UTl'^t)'', Kimchi nairT"; comp. Hart- mann, Linguistische Einleitung, p. 250; Hitzig, Kleine Pro- pheten, p. 165). But it seems safer to connect nti^V^n with the Hebrew noun niyr^';^; or ninK'y (Ps. cxlvi. 4; Job. xii. 5) cogitations or thoughts, and the Chaldee verb r\'^W'^_ (Dan. vi. 4) to meditate or intend, and to translate 'perhaps God will think or have regard for us' or remember us benignantly, in which sense the corresponding verb D;i'n and the analogous roots ")DT and "ipD are also used (comp. Ps. xl. 18, "iJlN ''^"DK'n^ 'the Lord takes care of me;' Gen. viii. 1 ; xxi. 1, etc.); thus distinctly Yulg. si forte recogitet Deus de nobis; Luther ob vielleicht Gott an uns gedenken wollte; Auth. Vers, if so be that God will think upon us (like DttTI in Ps. xl. 18); Rashi, Ehn Ezra, rOWVi'O ywih] Kimchi s. v. ^h DK'nn^l nam'' nDKTiDD pain O; Arnheim, vielleicht besinnet sich der Gott unseretwegen, etc.; though few will be disposed to follow the precarious view of some Jewish grammarians who refer to the same root nt^;; the difficult term Tiii'y in itl'V Tst'^ eleven, as being 'the first number which, on the part of the reckoner, requires two calculations (mJlDttTl), those of the ten and the unit' {Ehn Ezra in loc. and niny ^DD fol. 44*^ ed. Lippmann), or the number 'of which the cipherer must think, since ten is the conclusion of the first series of figures' {Kimchi Pad. s. v., and Michlol fol. 211^); which has been improved upon by a later lexicographer who suggests that eleven is the first number which must be conceived by the mind, since up to ten the numbers are counted by the fingers {Jo. Simon. Lexic. sub r\^]3 'cogitationes ultra decem' etc.; comp. Gramm. ii. p. 156). Some ancient trans- lations are mere guesses from the context {Sept. s/Trug liaswaYj o ^eog yjiidg', similarly Syr. and Arab, etc.), — With well-con- 156/ JONAH I. 7 — 16. sidered exactness the shipmaster says, 'perhaps the god or that god (D\i^Nn) will be gracious to us/ viz. Jonah's god (Tri^^)? whoever that may be: the heathen in his distress is indifferent as to the deity from whom help comes, and is certain that any deity chosen by a fellow-man for worship, has the power to help when he has the will (see supra pp. 14, 15). 5. THE VICTORY. I. 7 — 16. 7. And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know, for whose sake this evil is upon us. And they cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah. 8. And they said to him. Tell us, we pray thee — thou for whose sake this evil is upon us — what is thy occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? 9. And he said to them, I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the Grod of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land. 10. And the men were exceedingly afraid, and said to him. Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. 11. And they said to him. What shall we do to thee, that the sea may be calm to us? for the sea grew more and more tempestuous. 12. And he said to them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; then will the sea be cahn to you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is against you. 13. And the men rowed to bring the ship back to the land, but they could not; for the sea grew more and more tempestuous THE VICTORY. 157 against them. 14. And they cried to the Lord, and said, Oh, we beseech Thee, Lord, we beseech Thee, let us not perish for this man's hfe, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for Thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee. 15. And they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea : and the sea ceased from its raging. 16. Then the men feared the Lord exceedmgly, and they offered sacrifices to the Lord, and made vows. Did Jonah, yielding to the shipmaster's request, call upon his God? The narrative is silent on this point. If Jonah offered up a prayer, its tenor was surely very different from that of the other occupants of the vessel. How could he entreat for the cessation of the storm which, as he well knew, was sent for his own retribution? How could God, the Holy and the Unchangeable, rescind His far-reaching decrees on the mere word of the sinner? For the prophet had now again risen to the height of his noble nature. He had purified himself by repentance and contrition; he felt as before at one with his Divine Master; he rehed indeed most confidently on God's long- suffering and compassion; but he did not wish to evade the punishment he had merited by his pusillanimous flight. If he prayed, he could have uttered nothing else but the decla- ration afterwards made by the heathen mariners: 'Thou,0 Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee.' He at first takes a merely passive part in all proceedings. He is certain that both he and his companions are in the hands of an Omnipotence able to find means to call him, the offender, to account without destroying the innocent. He hears, therefore, with equanimity the proposal of the passengers to ascertain the guilty person by lot, in the infalhbility of which he, the Hebrew, beheved as firmly 158 JONAH I. 7—16. as the pagans; and he is neither surprised nor alarmed when he sees himself singled out by the lot. And now we witness a true rivalry in magnanimity and pious resig- nation. "While reading an animated narrative very strongly marking the distinction between the Hebrew and the heathen, we still breathe the refreshing atmosphere of a pure and common humanity; for the Hebrew unreser- vedly pronounces the highest principles of his creed in the firm conviction that they must be evident and in- telHgible to all men; and the Gentiles evince the utmost readiness and alacrity to respect and to adopt those principles; while in their actions, both the one and the others manifest those quahties of moral force and self- denial, which are the ripest fruits of religion. The differ- ences between nation and nation are effaced. We stand before the opened gates of the Temple on the porch of which is written: 'The congregation of the pure-minded.' Even in their supreme clanger the mariners were anxious not only to avoid all violence but all haste. While the fury of the waves and the tempest constantly increased, and every instant was precious to those who prized their lives, they patiently instituted an investigation with al- most judicial calmness.^ Though fully trusting to the reality of the decision by lot, they were resolved neither to execute the judgment without the offender's confession, nor to execute it in an arbitrary manner. They desired to be informed of Jonah's antecedents, from which they expected to derive a confirmation of the Divine voice for the satisfaction of their own minds. Enquiring after his ordinary pursuits, the place whence he had come before joining their ship, his country and his nationality, they hoped to find, if possible, a clue to his offence. His ^ Philo (De Jona Append.) ob- j judices nautae, tortores ad necem serves appositely: 'Erat autem j venti, reus citatus propheta, ergas- videre in mari terribile tribunal: j tulum autem et career custodiae forum enim erat judiciale navis, | cetus et accusator infensus mare.' THE VICTORY. 159 answer embraced more than they had asked for, and more than was necessary for their immediate purpose. Recon- ciled with his God whom he had so culpably resisted, he believed he had again the right and the privilege to acknowledge himself as His worshipper, and to proclaim His power in terms the most emphatic and comprehen- sive — that power by which he had been elected in his country and which was then pursuing him with an aveng- ing arm on sea. He declared to his pagan companions that he was aHebrew adoring the God of the universe, whom he unhesitatingly designated by His holy name of Jahveh; that he was a special servant or prophet of that God; and lastly, so he confessed without concealment or reserve, that he was trying to escape by flight from His commands and charges. Far from attenuating his guilt, he made it appear as a misdeed so terrible that even strangers recoiled from it with abhorrence — 'and the men were exceed- ingly afraid and said to him, Why hast thou done this?'* They were able to conceive the awful audacity and im- piety implied in disobedience to such a god; and they were able to measure the reckless infatuation of fleeing from Him who fills heaven and earth. Yet they did not allow passion or anger to carry them away to rashness. If for a moment they entertained the belief that, by his confession and repentance, Jonah's guilt was pardoned and expiated, they were compelled to abandon that belief when they found that 'the sea grew more and more tempestuous;' but so much at least they concluded from Jonah's confession that he was then acting with honest candour towards himself and his God. Anxious, therefore, to evade the responsibility of surrendering the life of a fellow-man, they desired to leave the issue to Jonah himself, especially as they were convinced that he, as * Comp. Gren. iii. 13; xii. 18, I fession of faith as a confession of etc. 'The words of Jonah,' observes penitence,' as which some, in fact, con- Quandt, 'are not so much a con- | sider the whole Book; see on iii. 1 — 3. 160 JONAH I. 7—16. the prophet of the Most high God, was best fitted to penetrate into the secrets of His will. Their confidence was not misplaced. Composed like themselves, and with a heroism free from boastfulness, he replied simply: 'Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea, then will the sea be calm to you/ He was as clearly aware of the cause of the danger as of the means of averting it, and he pronounced judgment upon himself with greater tranquillity and firmness than he could have shown in pronouncing it upon others. His communion with God was fully restored, and he was again His worthy servant. Were now at last the pagans eager to remove the Hebrew whose fatal presence threatened to bring death upon all ? Awed, as it appears, by Jonah's fortitude and greatness of soul, shrinking from the idea of laying their hands upon a chosen messenger of a powerful God,^ and solicitous, if possible, to save him, they made the utmost efforts to return to the shore, but in vain; again as before, the circumstance that 'the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them,' indicated to their minds God's will and intention; it proved to them that they were doing no act of piety in attempting to rescue the fugitive prophet; and then at length they collected all their energy and courage for the decisive deed which they had eschewed so long; yet before they executed it, they desired once more to calm their consciences and broke forth into a fervent prayer not, like their former suppli- cations, addressed to their own gods, but to Jahveh, the God of Jonah, whose manifest workings they had seen in the tempest and the arbitrament of the lot, in ^ Philo, De Jona, Append., 'tu ! marked, possibly in designed, con- ipse dijudicans elige, nos enim de trast with the readiness, with which servo Dei sententiam mortis deci- the blood of prophets was shed among dere nequimus;' and a modem ! the Israelites' {Ruxtahle in Can. writer observes, 'The tenderness of i Cook's Comm.); though it is hardly these heathen sailors stands in | apparent that the contrast is (Ze6i]^ned. THE VICTORY. 161 the prophet's contrition and resolute self-conquest, and they implored that God that, if they yet mistook His will in all these signs, and destroyed an innocent life — for after Jonah's avowals and fearless request, they could hardly prevail upon themselves to regard him as a criminal — He would not account it to them as wdcked and punishable bloodshed; 'for Thou, Lord,' they added, 'hast done as it pleased Thee.' And when they then threw Jonah into the sea, and beheld the fury of the angry waves suddenly silenced, they were fully con- vinced of what they had before begun to feel so deeply, that heaven and earth, land and sea, are indeed under the absolute sway of the God of the Hebrews; a secret terror seized them in knowing that they, weak mortals, were constantly and resistlessly in the hands of one omnipotent and all-seeing Lord; and they endeavoured to satisfy these newly awakened sentiments by at once presenting to Him sacrifices and offering up vows to be redeemed after they had safely reached the land. The author has omitted nothing to pourtray the pagans as men of the most perfect rectitude and the most tender kindness ; he has raised every part of their conduct to the sphere of natural piety free from all conventional tenets; for although he lets them slaughter victims to Jahveh, he does not hesitate to let them kill those sacrifices where the grateful impulse happened to prompt them, on the ocean, far from the one Sanctuary at which alone they were permitted by the Levitical Law; while vows and votive offerings for voyages happily accomplished were common among all nations.^ And if the mariners be blamed because, in the presence of danger, they had recourse to the expedient of casting lots, we should remember that they shared these notions not only with the whole of ^ Comp. Yirg. Georg. i. 436, I aris jam vota in littore solves; Hor. Votaque servati solvent in littore nautae etc.; Aen. iii. 404, Etpositis M Epist. I. iii. 36, Pascitur in vestrum reditum votiva juvenca; etc. 162 JONAH I. 7 — 16. pagan antiquity,^ but with the most pious in Israel them- selves;^ and we should, moreover, consider that, however strongly ordeals may be condemned, they are a natural and almost necessary emanation of that faith which allows no chance, but places every issue, even the most trivial and accessory, under the direction of an all-guiding Pro- vidence; they were, therefore, a great and a terrible fjower in those ages when faith was strong and real — *the lot is cast into the lap,' says the proverb of Solomon, 'but the whole decision thereof is of the Lord'<= — they were a growth of the same soil from which sprang up the crew's unshaken belief that the storm could have no other, at least no more probable, cause than the presence among them of some sinner who had roused the divine wrath.^ In all positive creeds alike, the connection between cause * Comp. Diocl. Sic. iv. 42, Zrav TO 'ktXY^ov Tcov TSKVcov sKOVGiug Ttapa- Scoa; fjopav too ktjtsi; see infra on ii. 1, 2, 11. ^ Josh. vii. 14 — 18, where the casting of lots is ordained by God; comp. Lev. xvi. 8 — 10; Num. xxvi. 55, 56; xxxiii. 54, 55; Josh, xviii. 6 — 10; xix. 1 sgg-., 51; xxi. 4 .^g-g. ; 1 Sam. x. 19—21; xiv. 41, 42; Esth. iii. 7; Acts i. 24 — 26, etc. ^ Prov. xvi. 33, b mn^DI IDQl^D; comp. Fhilo, De Jona c. 11, 'ex sorte reus convincitur ille, qui ab hominibus ignorabatur . . . Per sortem Adrorum pionim deus judex fit; quia in manifestis unusquisque quo vult movetur movetque manum, in occultis vero suam facultatem, quam vix habent, jDrodit per arca- num sortis;' Jerome ixxloc^ fugitivus deprehenditur non viribus sortium . . . sed voluntate ejus qui sortes regebat incertas; Biur, 'God Himself brought it about that the lot should fall upon Jonah just as He made His spirit rest on Balaam the wicked, in order to bless Israel;' comp. Horn. 1\. vii. 177 — 180, Xao} ^ijpriGavTo, %£07(Jt ^s X^V'^^^ avsaypv k.t.X.; see, however, Joseph. BeU. Jud. III. viii. 7, questionably, ens Itto rvyyig Xpi] "ki-^siv, sirs tno %sqv Tzpovoiag. A modern divine, who makes subtle speculations on the subject, though granting the lawfulness of decision by lot in some cases, counsels cautiousness in others, since 'Satan may readily mix himself unknown in such enquiries, as in mesmerism' {Ptisey, Minor Prophets, p. 270). ^ Comp. Jos. Ant. IX. x. 2, iTtovor^aavTsg, cog sv^sxsrat, riva rwv s/X7rXs6vTuv aiTiov avroTg slvai tou Xs//iwvo$; Orph. Argonaut. 1178 — 1180, IloXXa §£ p.spp.r^pi'Qo'^ ivi (fypsal '7r£VKakifji-/]7iv, '*H fisv a7to(f)%iaiC(Ji koi l-)^vai Kvppia ^akuaiv Ahoksxyj Mr- ^c/av, aTroarpsipcioai (> 'Eo/vyv; Cic. Nat. Deor. iii. 37, idemque (viz. THE VICTORY. 163 and effect is not sought in the nature of things but in the will of a Power ruling all things and able, at any moment and for any purpose, to change their nature. However, the extreme cautiousness which characterises the legislation of the Hebrews in all matters of life and death, seems to have dictated the laudable practice that a conviction by lot was not acted upon without a direct and explicit admission of guilt on the part of the person himself so marked out; thus Achan, after having been, designated by the lot as the sole origin of the people's misfortunes, was solemnly requested by Joshua, 'My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel and make confession to Him, and tell me now what thou hast done.'* Our author, therefore, attributes such conscien- tious carefulness to the heathen mariners not merely because a free acknowledgment was desirable as a public confirmation of God's unerring direction of the lot ; though he does so, less perhaps for the reason which guided Joshua, but from the requirements of his narra- tive as he had sketched it in his mind. It might be asked why Jonah did not relieve the passengers of the honourable and tormenting scruples they felt at the necessity of sacrificing him, by spontane- ously throwing himself into the waves instead of waiting till they 'took him up and cast him forth into the sea.' The reasons seem obvious. As regards his fate after the flight, Jonah was to be delineated as completely passive; he was to await his deserved chastisement, to indicate and demand it, but not to carry it out himself^ and in this instance the execution would have been Diagoras reputed an open despiser of the gods), quuni ei naviganti vec- tores adversa tempestate timidi et pertemti dicerent, non injuria sibi illud accidere, qui ilium in eandeni navem recepissent etc.; Hor. Od. III. ii. 26—30, 'Vetabo, qui Cereris sacrum Volgarit arcanae, sub isdem Sit ti'abibus' etc., adding, in opposi- tion to the Hebrew narrative, 'saepe Diespiter Neglectus incesto addidit integrum;' comp. Antiph. v. 82, avjaiTMKs^a-j rohg o^iccg oicxK3if/.hovg. ^ Josh. vii. 19. 164 JONAH I. 7 — 16. tantamount to suicide, which was looked upon by the Hebrews wdth the utmost detestation, and of which ex- tremely few instances are recorded in the whole range of Hebrew and of Jewish history.* The writer has, so far, introduced miraculous elements enough, but not more than were necessary for the plastic representation of his ideas, nor more than are compatible with a moderate and sober supernaturalism. But Jewish authorities went farther. Anxious to invest the occurrences with every marvel conceivable by fancy, they supposed, not inconsistently in their spheres of thought, that the suspicion of having among them a guilty person was roused in the mariners' minds by seeing other ships right and left sailing to and fro, rapidly and safely, on smooth waters, while their own vessel was tossed and almost wrecked on a wild sea^ — an idea which may have been suggested by the Biblical account of the seventh Egyptian plague, when devastating hail and thunder storms visited all parts of Egypt but did not touch those inhabited by the Hebrews.*^ * See Comm. on Exod. pp. 3^7, 368; on Gen. p. 221; comp. Jos. BeU. Jud. III. viii. 5; Philo, De Jona, Appendix, 'Tradidi me ipsum in manus adversariorum; vos mittite me in mare, quonium me ipsum mittere in mare iniquum est.' ^ Yalkut Jon. § 550; BasM, Ebn Ezra, Kimchi in loc. From the circumstance that HNTn in ver. 7 is furnished with a distinctive ac- cent, it has been concluded that the Masorites entertained the same view, as if they had desu'ed to em- phasize the following 1J7 — 'for whose sake this evil is upon us.' Similarly also Theodoret a. o., and even some recent writers, one of whom observes: 'The supposition would be quite in conformity with the rest of Jonah's history as here related, and it would help to ex- plain the conviction which the sailors had that the storm was a preternatural one' (Huxtable 1. c. p. 587). This conviction must certainly have been entertained by Jonah, though not so surely by the sailors. ^ Ex. ix. 25, 28; comp. viii. 18, 19; ix. 4 — 7, etc. Differently, in the passage of Cicero above quoted (p. 162, note d), the pMlosopher Diagoras 'ostendit (vectoribus) in eodem cursu multas alias laborantes quaesivitque num etiam in iis navi- bus Diagoram vehi crederent.' — The Arabic commentators of the THE VICTOKT. 165 Philological Eemarks. — As ^ has the sense of on account of or for the sake of (aen. xix. 15; xxix. 18, 20, etc.), 'h^;! (ver. 12), equivalent to 'h 1l?!N2, means on account of that which belongs to me or concerns me, that is, on my account, or, in this context, on account of my guilt (comp. Gen. 1. c.) ; and therefore the same combination with the interrogative pronoun ^D instead of the suffix, ^D'pt;/^ or ^xh l^N^ (vers. 7, 8), is on ivhose account? or through ivhose guilt? So Sept. r/vog hsKsv] Syr. p b^D', Kimchi ^D 113^3; Luth. um welches willen? Auth. Vers, for whose cause? And as "^D never signifies ichat? but always ivho? (so also in Gen. xxxiii. 8, ^D ^h ""ID n^non, where the interrogation refers likewise to persons, comp. ver. 5 T]'? n^N-p), the term iQ^ ItJ^N^ cannot be rendered on account of ivhat? or ivherefore? as it is under- stood by the Targum (nn b''12) both in vers. 7 and 8 (though the editions and MSS. vary, some reading |D both times, others the second time), by the Vulg. in ver. 7 (quare?), by Luther, Eichhorn, and others in ver. 8 (warum? um welcher Sache willen?). In the 8th verse this acceptation has been suggested by an unusual construction, since indeed the words i:b HNin ny^n '^b -iIJ^ND, though not without force, are rather involved, if taken, in the only manner possible, as a relative sentence joined to the pronoun which is implied in nl^liTi^ viz. 'tell us, thou on whose account, as the lot has made evident, this distress has come upon us' (similarly Kimchi nxtn niiJn l^^by NUD NIH nm^, Arnheim du, um deswillen uns dieses TJebel trifft, and others). Under- stood as a simple question, those words would be extremely languid, since the sailors, after the casting of the lots the result of which was to them final and irreversible, had no longer need to ask who was the cause of their peril; and therefore it was considered that they enquired what was the cause — contrary to the plain import of "'d'?; while some Koran (on Sur. xxxvii. sub fin.) • eluded that they had a fugitive observe: 'the ship stood perfectly j slave onboard.' Comp.Stfn^.Fr.inc. still, whence the mariners con- 8i8, /jl-^ts ... KoivoTrXovvaTiXkoiaKdifiQg. 166 JONAH I. 7 — 16. manuscripts, both of the Hebrew text and the Septuagint, omit those difficult words (comp. De- Rossi, Y sly. Lect. iii. 194), which are, not very plausibly, accounted for (by Bunsen etc.) as a marginal explanation, inserted later into the text, of the more uncommon phrase 'D1 ^^^^^l"^ (ver. 7). The sup- position that "tp^ is superfluous is inadmissible, as l^ii^l alone would not be 'on account of what?' but 'on account of that which' (see Gramm. § 80. 2). — n^') misfortune, evil, comp. iii. 10; iv. 6; as in Greek KctKia (Matt. vi. 34) or /cocKOTTjg (Horn. II. xi. 382, etc.). — Playfulness can hardly be avoided if the detailed questions addressed by the mariners to Jonah be brought into too close and special relation with the dangerous condition of the ship; for instance, 'what is thy occupation?' "perhaps it is one of fraud and violence" (Kinwhi)] 'whence dost thou come?' "perhaps destruction has been decreed against the inhabitants of thy town, and therefore against thee likewise, although thou hast left it" (Rashi, RosenmuUer 'forsan scelerata est gens tua tuque e regione profectus quam Deus aversatur' etc.). The sailors require no more than a general statement of Jonah's identity, such as he at once furnishes in his reply. Philo (De Jona 0. 12), therefore, enlarges the text in rendering, 'Tu quis es, et unde ad nos venisti? quidque cordis tui consilium, quid in animo contendis, quae ratio tibi vivendi?' Strangers are, in Homer, usually met with the interrogations: r/g 'tto^sv sig dvhpuiv] TTo^i roi irokig r^s roK'/jsg k. t. X. (Od. i. 170, etc.); and similarly in Virgil (comp. Aen. viii. 112 — 114, quae causa subegit Ignotas temptare vias? quo tenditis? inquit, qui genus? unde domo? etc.). — n^N^D is the ordinary pur- suit, trade or avocation (Gen. xlvi. 33 ; xlvii. 3, DD^L^^^DTID, Pharaoh asks the brothers of Joseph ; Ps. cvii. 23 HDNte T]^^ to follow an occupation) ; the word does here not refer to Hhe special object of Jonah's journey' supposed by the crew to have been criminal (in which sense, perhaps, the Vulgate adds the enquiry 'et quo vadis?'); the question is, there- fore, not put in the same pointed way as that addressed by Isaiah to king Hezekiah respecting the Babylonian THE VICTORY. 167 ambassadors (Isai. xxxix. 3, 4).-^^N is both country of hirth (more fully ni>lD pN, in its turn shortened into nii^. Gen. xi. 28; xii. 1; 'xxiv. 4, 7; xxxi. 13), and country of residence (Gen. xxx. 3, etc.; like nDlN iv. 2; Deut. xii. 19; Jer. lii. 27; etc.); the former is here probably meant, and it is more distinctly defined by the last enquiry after 'the people,' since many tribes may inhabit the same country; thus in the present instance, 'the land of the Israelites' would not have been conclusive as to Jonah's nationality.— As the particle ^N converts the demonstrative into an interrogative pronoun (as nr\S', sometimes written HPN, ivho? or which? Esth. vii. 5; Eccl. xi. 6; Job xxxviii. 19, 24, etc.), nTD-"'N is whence? (Gren. xvi. 8, etc.; comp. Isa. Ixvi. 1; Jobxiviii. 12), or with a noun added in the genitive, 1^^ HTD-^N (2 Sam. xv. 2) from ivhat town? or, as in this passage, DV_ HTp-^N from ivhat people? (comp. ^6%ev slg dvlpOiy Horn. Od.'i.'l70; Lat. unde gentium; comp. 2 Ki. iii. 8, etc.; aramm. §§ 20. 3; 79. 5; 81. 7).— In Jonah's pithy words (ver. 9), an answer to all the four questions proposed to him might easily be discovered; for 'I am a Hebrew' implies his 'land' and 'people' (comp. Gen. xl. 15, OnDVn pN), and also the place 'whence he came,' while the' addition 'I fear Jahveh/ in conjunction with other explanations he furnished (ver. 10), disclosed to the mariners his 'occupation' as a preacher of the word of God^ (comp. Joseph. 1. c, who renders the reply: ro ixh ysvog IXsyev 'E^pcchg shai, ^pofti-^r-^g Is rov f^syhrov ^^sov). Emphatically he begins with n^j;, which appellation, having in the author's time long lost the notion of stranger (see supra pp. 2, 27), recalled the idea of God's chosen and privileged people and was, like Israel, borne with pride as an honourable distinction from the Gentiles (comp. 2 Cor. xi. 22, 'E^pcchi, lapayjXsJ^ T«/, a^ipfJ^a 'A^pccau^] Philipp. iii. 5, 'E^palog iVE^poc/co,); and as such characteristic term Jonah evidently uses it here, because it involves the adoration of that God who is not merely the lord of the land of the Hebrews (2 Ki. xvii. 26, 27), but 'the God of heaven' (Gen. xxiv. 7; Zech. 168 JONAH I. 7—16. xii. 1; Ps. cxxxvi 26; Dan. ii. 37, 44; Ezr. i. 2; Neh. i. 4, 5; 2 Chr. xxxvi. 23), before whom all other gods are ^vanities' (comp. Ps. xcvi. 5, CDtf ni.T'l W^b^':^ D^DVn '•H^N b2 n\i/^', Jer. X. 11). The Septuagint, therefore, expresses, not inaptly, i")3j^ by lovXog Kvpi'ov iydo ei[xi, though perhaps reading nin^ "13;; with reference to 2 Ki. xiv. 25, where Jonah is so designated; while the Targum, in harmony with the usage of its own time, renders riNlin'' (comp. also Bible Studies, i. pp. 79 — 81). — In declaring that 'he fears (N*)"") Jahveh,' he does not convey that he stands in awe and slavish terror of His just anger (Mai. i. 6; comp. Gen. xxxii. 12; Dan. i. 10, etc.), nor that he considers himself a righteous and innocent man, but simply that he reveres and worships Him (comp. Gen. xlii. 18; 2 Ki. iv. 1; Isa. xxix. 13; Ps. xix. 10; cxv. 11, 13; cxviii. 4; Eccl. viii. 13; etc.; Sept. ai^ofxai] Grotiiis colo); for on the one hand, he has conquered all fear and is now ready to serve God with a willing heart, and on the other hand, he openly avows his guilt and is eager to expiate it: the mariners do not con- tend (ver. 14) that he is innocent, but merely that he niight be so. — The universe, elsewhere described as 'heaven and earth' (Gen. xxiv. 3; 2 Ki. xix. 15, etc.), is here, as God has before been called the God of heaven, appositely designated by 'the sea and the dry land' (comp. Exod. xx. 11; nK^IM, also ii. 11, like nn'inn Gen. vii. 22; comp. Ps. T T - - ' T T IT V ' ^ xcv. 5, HK/l^] . . . D^n; Matt, xxiii. 15, tt^v ^akexsaav Kai ttjv ^yjpav] and so -^ ^'^poc and ro ^yjpov frequently; Xen. Oec. xix. 7; Herod, ii. 68, etc.). — In the following part (ver. 10) the narrative is indeed irregular in arrangement and perhaps somewhat obscured by the threefold 13, but it is neither illogical nor indistinct through the absence of any essential statement. The author evidently intended that Jonah, in his answer to the sailors, besides informing them of his nationality and religion, should also state the cause of his flight, but he contented himself with embodying in Jonah's Fords the former points only, while he mentions the latter subject parenthetically, as a necessary explanation of the THE VICTORY. 169 acts and sentiments of the crew. After ver. 9 we should expect: 'and from the presence of this Grod I am fleeing,' which is the substance of the words urib T^il "»3. This he did not tell them when he entered the ship, as has been supposed (so Knobel, Prophetismus, ii. 368; Hitzig 1. c. p.- 166); for if so, they would have known from the first all they required to know concerning him, and would pro- bably have refused him admittance, while both the casting of lots and the questions would have been superfluous. As they now learn and believe how mighty is the God whom Jonah is defying, both their terror and their amazement are accounted for (comp. 1 Sam. iv. 8; and on the other hand, Exod. v. 2; also xiv. 14 — 16). — The sea 'is silent' (pnii' ver. 11, as in Ps cvii. 30, and the synonymous verb T\t>r[ ibid. ver. 29), and the sea 'is angry' or 'wroth' (f^^T, ver. 15; comp. Isa. xxx. 30; Prov. xix. 12), are expressive metaphors deserving, as far as possible, to be retained in the translation. phK^^] is rendered by the Se2')t. KOTcaasi, (to abate, prop, to grow tired; comp. Mark iv. 39), the Targum nO""!, Vnlg. cessabit, Luther, stille werden; and Iti^/TD by the Sept. Ik to-j adXov savT-^c^ the Targum H"''p1tJ^njp (like ");yD in vers. 4, 1 1, 13), Yulg, a furore suo (EbnEzra D^D^IT )DD b^D "p"!; comp. Hor. Epod. ii. 6, neque horret iratum mare; Ovid, Metam. i. 330, nee maris ira manet, etc.). Thus the prepositions in Oi'pyD are intelligible: the sea was raging (p]);t) against (7^) the passengers (comp. vers. 12, 13, WD^h^}, DfT'^y), and, in becoming calm, removed that rage away from (^^d) them (see siqjra on ver. 5; Grramm. § 69. 1, 2). — As the continued action implied in a verb is expressed by the addition of "j'^n either in the participle or the absolute inflnitive, the words lybl "T]'?ln WTl mean literally, 'the sea went on and was tempestuous,' that is, as the Auth. Vers, appropriately renders, 'the sea grew more and more tempestuous,' that phrase being elliptical instead of ~ij;bl tj'pln 1)ID □='•]; comp. Gen. viii. 3, 2W) Tjl^n D]^r] W'^) 'the waters continued to retire' (see ibid. ver. 5, and Comm. on Gen. p. 197; xxvi. 13; Exod. xix. 19; 1 Sam. ii. 26; 2 Sam. iii. 1, etc.); while 170 JOXAH I. 7—16. two contemporaneous or collateral actions are expressed by the repetition of the principal verb in the infinitive, as nb2^ ribv ^"^V] 'they wept as they went up' (2 Sam. xv. 30; comp. Judg. xiv. 9; Isai. xix. 22; Joel ii. 26, etc.; see Grramm. § 97. 7); Sept. /ca) s^-fjysipsv jxaXkov kXvIuvu, Targ. "^^pr n"'^1lt'nj1, superfluously preceded by ku) eiropBVBro,^^]^, etc; Luther fuhr ungestiim. — The reason "ij^b] Tjbln D^l ""r (in ver. 11) is not a part of the sailors' question, but belongs to the narrative, as the analogy of ver. 13 proves. — In just appreciation of Jonah's character, Jerome remarks: *Ani- madvertenda fugitivi nostri magnanimitas ; non tergiversatur, non dissimulat, non negat, sed qui confessus fuerat de fuga, poenam libenter assumit, se cupiens perire, ne propter se et ceteri pereant.' How unjust, on the other hand, is a modern critic's estimate of the crew: 'By that which is here related (in vers. 13, 14), the author does not mean to pourtray the pagans credit- ably, but to secure for the servant of Jahveh the proper respect andfor Jahveh Himself a proper veneration!' {Mitzig 1. c. p. 160). The author could hardly represent the Grentiles more favour- ably than by exhibiting them as accessible to the highest truths and sensitive to the most refined morality. If this is 'patriotically religious zeal' {ih. p. 166), his patriotism is his sul-ely the noblest that can be conceived, for it is cos- mopolitan — a quality which, in the province of religion, is both loftier and more desirable, than in the spheres of nationality and politics. And would the whole narrative possess any deeper interest, if, after all, the pagans were nothing more than a convenient contrast to the Hebrews? — In itself, nririjjj (ver. 13) signifies here merely 'and they rowed;' for "inn, kindred with fT^n and ty\, originally meaning to dig or dig through (Job xxiv. 16; Ezek. viii. 8; Am. ix. 2), is, by an easy metaphor, used for digging, ploughing or furrowing the water with oars, or rowing (so Ebn Ezra Dnmn'? D"'Dn niDltS'Dn 'hv'^'^ "iQ;;3; KimcU tt/Oin DU -)mnD Nin W^^ )D^b)D) Dircn), like the Latin verbs arare, sulcare, findere, scindere (Ovid, Trist. III. xii. 36, non nisi vicinas tutus ararit aquas; Metam. xi. 463, Aequalique ictu THE VICTOEY. 171 scindunt freta; Virff. Aen. v. 142, etc.), and perhaps the Greek dpiaaco from dpSco] Tare/, simply pD'l^], Vidff. et remigabant, Kimchi niDllJ'DD IpiTPin, etc. ; the notion of rowing with exertion or all possible might does not lie in the word, though it is implied in the context (Rashi r\inn^2 "imnD ipD^I i;;:^; see Exod. xxii. 1; Jer. ii. 34; AutJi. Vers, they rowed hard; comp. Kimchi Kad. s. v. 'they weighed and considered every ima- ginable device for bringing the ship to the land;' but also 'they threw the anchors to the bottom of the sea as a means of reaching the land;' Sept only TrapsiSid'C^ovro, explained by Jerome 'vim cupiebant facere, et naturam rerum vincere;' Luther die Leute trieben, etc.). The conjecture that nnn is identical with the Aramaic ITPI to turn, so that nnri'l, taken in desiderative meaning, would be 'they endeavoured to turn,' has no probability. — Zi'']^T]b to hririg hack, viz. the ship (Gramm. § 78. 7) — The impossibility of regaining the Palesti- nian shore proves the wind to have blown from the land or the east, and it would therefore have been favourable for a voyage to Spain, had it not been a gale or hurricane (comp. Ps. xlviii. 8, nrJN ")3K^n Dnp nnn; Ixxviii. 2G; Isa. xxvii. 8; Jer. xviii. 17, etc.). — The earnest fervour of the men's prayer is manifest even in the introductory interjection n^N, here as five times elsewhere (iv. 2; 2 Ki. xx. 3; Isa. T T ^ xxxviii. 3 ; Ps. cxvi. 14, 16) used instead of nJN, which is a con- traction of HN and NJ, whence arise the dagesh forte in J and the double accent n^N or nJN annah, Jewish grammarians vainly disputing whether the word is milel or milra, (see e. ff. Kimchi Bad. sub |N); and that particle is still further strengthened by the repetition of NJ (comp. Gen.l. 17; Isa. xxxviii. 3; Ps. cxviii. 25). — 'Let us not perish K^iNH ^D^l HTn/ that is, 'on account of this man's life' or 'for destroying his life:' they would deserve to perish if they were shedding 'innocent blood,' that is, if, in spite of the varied and evident proofs to the contrary, Jonah should yet be guilt- less; and 'do not lay upon us innocent blood' (comp. Deut. xxi. 8), means 'do not account it to us as U^Dl or guilt of blood' (comp. Exod. xxii. 1; esp. Deut. xix. 10); the Targum 172 JONAH I. 7—16. has explicitly 'let us not die ]iin NIDJI K^p^ nnlns, and do not lay upon us ^^f^I D"n nilln/ that is, as Rashi paraphrases, 'on account of the sin which we shall commit in laying hand upon his life.' The renderings of 'D) K'CJ!: by 'instead of this man's life' (as in Deut. xix. 21; 2 Sam. xiv. 7, etc.), or 'on account of this man's crime,' are out of the question. — N"'pJ, with N paragogicum or otiosum for ijpj (as in Joel iv. 19), and so N"'^p (1 Sam. xvii. 17) for '^bp, etc. (see Gi-ramm. § i. 4. 4; Comm. on Lev. ii, 162); but many manuscripts have "ipj (De-Rossi 1. c). — The words, 'Thou, Lord, hast done as it pleased Thee,' in this passage even more than ordinarily emphatical (Ps. cxv. 3 ; cxxxv. 6 ; Eccl. viii. 3), imply that God had directed, if He had not compelled, the mariners to act as they were about to act, by manifesting His will in signs which they deemed unmistakable; and on this ground they implored His forgiveness, if they should yet err. Jerome explains correctly: 'Iram tuam et ipse propheta confessus est, et tempestas loquitur . . . voluntas tua expletur per nostras manus;' and aptly observes Pusey: 'Wonderful, concise confession of faith in these new con- verts . . . resolving the whole mystery of man's agency and God's Providence into the three simple words DifDn "itt'ND n^tyy !' The translation suggested by the Masoretic accents, 'Thou art the Lord, Thou doest as it pleases Thee,' seems in this context less forcible and distinct. — "IDV to stand still - T or cease, as in Gen. xxix. 35; xxx. 9, etc. — About IBj/TD see supra on ver. 11; comp. Luke viii. 24, 6 Be hsyep^iig eTreri- }j.riGVJ ria dvs/xu Kai ru kXtj^uvi rov vharog koCl eTravaaro kcCi iyevsro yakriv^. — riDT (ver, 16), collectively for DiPlDT, as some manuscripts read (De-Rossi 1. c.) ; Vulg. immolaverunt hostias ; Eichhorn, opferten Opfer, etc.; other translations have the singular, Sept. e%vaav %v(7iav, etc., as if one common sacrifice was offered for all. — Pabbinical interpreters, to evade the difficulty, above alluded to, of sacrifices not offered at the national Sanctuary, render n3T iniin, against the usage of the language, by 'they promised to offer sacrifices' (Targ. HD"} Nnil'? HDN) ; Ebn Ezra, Kitnchi, and others), which would THE EESCUE. 173 hardly be different from the vows mentioned as distinct gifts; while some (as Clericus etc.) consider, unnecessarily and improbably, the whole construction as a hysteron-proteron for Hhey offered vows that they would present sacrifices to God.' "What these vows were, it would be idle to speculate, whether the men pledged themselves to give charity to the poor (Kimchi), or as the Rabbins strangely believe, to become Jews, in which sense they also understand the 'sacrifice' (DDT) which, they affirm, consisted in 'the blood of the covenant of circumcision' performed in Jerusalem, whither all afterwards repaired (Yalkuf, Jon. § 550; Yalk. Chad. fol. 28 a, ed. 1868, 'Dl piU nU W^}) D^^D n^Um D^IJin). 6. THE EESCUE. II. 1, 2, 11. II. 1. Now the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the beUy of the fish three days and three nights. 2. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God out of the fish's belly ... 11. And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. Is now the prophet's career closed and does God send another and worthier messenger to the great eastern empire? Whoever has seized the innermost kernel of the Book, will expect neither the one nor the other. But that kernel, as will be evident with growing distinctness, is the poiver of rejjefitance ; and this power is first proved in the prophet himself. He who had deserved death, regains the boon of life by confession and a noble resolve; and God could choose no worthier messenger than him who, through the anguish of remorse, had manfully struggled from confusion and revolt to peace and atonement. This bitter conflict and this happy redemption are once more brought before our minds in a remarkable symbol. The inward experiences of the soul are palpably represented 174 JONAH II. 1, 2, 11. by external events hardly more wonderful or mysterious. Jonah, cast into the sea, finds in the jaws of a monster not death, but a safe refuge,'^ and having brought his soul into unison with the Divine will by prayer, he is delivered from the darkness of the abyss and the monster to the brightness of day and the safety of his familiar land. AVho will insist that Jonah's adventure, thus con- sidered, is strange or incomprehensible? Idea and fact are in precise correspondence and complete harmony. But was this really the author's intention? It was so with that restriction which in all similar narratives is necessarily implied. The ancient Hebrew writer viewed idea and fact as one and inseparable. He recognised no boundary line between the one and the other. He felt himself in the service of an Omnipotence to which nothing is impossible, which 'speaks and it exists.' Confined by no limitation, he was at liberty to embody in a suitable incident whatever doctrine or lesson he considered im- portant. To him indeed Jonah's secure imprisonment in the fish's belly was as decidedly real as it was to Jewish tradition which consistently affirmed that this fish, like the speaking mouth of Balaam's ass, was produced and appointed for its purpose in the very days of creation ;^ but even with him this reality, consciously or unconsciously, w^as subordinate to the truths he desired to proclaim: though usually distinct and accurate in detail, he is content to call the animal vaguely 'a great fish;'^ and why should ive, eagerly enquiring whether there exists in nature an animal in which a man can live for days unhurt ^ Pliilo (De Jona c. 16) observes, 'quam iste bestiam exitialem credi- dit, ilia vero salutifera ac salutis custos erat . . . erat enim submei'so prophetae domiis venter ceti, oculus autem exterius visorum speculum' etc.; and the Midrash says: 'Jonah passed into the belly of the fish hke a man who enters a large house of prayer' (Yalkut, Jon. § 550) ; comp. Orothis, 'oninis locus pro Templo.' ^^ Yalkut, Jon. § 550; see Bible Stud; i. pp. 136, 137. ^ t'l"!-; Ji'n; Sept., Joseph., Matt, (xii. 40) KYiTo;. THE RESCUE. 175 and with unimpaired consciousness, lose sight of the chief point which the author had at heart and which is of supreme importance for the peace of mind and the hap- piness of all men in all ages? However peculiar the form he chose may appear to us, and however convenient a target it may afford to trifling satire, it impressed the oriental mind as sufficiently significant and profound to be employed not only, as the author evidently intended, as a symbol, but even, what of course was not in his horizon, as a type — as a type of that death and resurrection which became the corner-stones of a new creed.^ That interpretation seems, indeed, to have but gradually been adopted in the Christian community. For in St. Luke's narrative, Christ, replying to those who insisted upon 'a sign' confirming his mission, said simply, 'There shall no sign be given but the sign of Jonas the prophet', and added the sole explanation, 'For as Jonas was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall the Son of man be to this generation ;' which words can only signify that, as Jonah's individuality and preaching bore in themselves the certain guarantee of a divine legation and required no other sanction, since we read of no miracle whatever performed by Jonah in Nineveh for the conversion of its inhabitants, so also will the person and doctrine of Christ alone reform the world by their inherent power and truth.^ But in another account, which strives closely to connect the new Covenant and its founder with the characters and events of the old, the 'sign of the prophet Jonah' is distinctly unfolded to mean, that 'as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of man be three days ^ Comp. John ii. 18—22; Luke xxiv. 6 — 8. 'Jonas,' says Dom Calmet (Dictionn. ii. 1077), 'a foumi a la liiei'oglyphe chretienne un sujet dont elle a beaucoup profite; il se I'etrouve partout comme embleme de la resurrection.' '^ Luke xi. 29, 30, 32, crjfisrov ov lo^rYjasrai avTv; si jxi; to (jyj[is7ov ^Iccva K.T.X.; comp. Isai. viii. 18, mn^ ""b in:! iw^ d^i^mi ojn nn 176 JONAH II. 1, 2, 11. and three niglits in the heart of the earth ;'^ and this was necessary and pre-ordained because, 'except a corn of ^vheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."^ As in all other typical applications, a general analogy, determined by no very clearly defined limits,*^ was deemed sufficient; for by no tradition was Christ 'three days and three nights' in the grave; Jonah was not dead in the fish's body; and his character has few appreciable points of resemblance with that of Christ.^ Yet Christian divines in all times down to our days have been irresistibly tempted to exercise upon Jonah's history that peculiar ingenuity so readily called forth and engaged by typical interpre- tations.® But whatever degree of probability and of literary merit may be attributed to this narrative, it seems at least, as far as we can judge from the preserved writings of the ancient world, to be the original conception of the Hebrew author. Some analogies, especially from Greek sources, indeed present themselves and demand a short review. The Argonauts, so it is related, having passed Mount Athos and Samothrace, were by a storm thrown upon the promontory of Sigeum in Troas. Here they found a virgin chained to the coast. For Poseidon who, like Apollo, was incensed against King Laomedon for not having been honoured with the promised sacrifices in ^ Matt. xii. 38—41. ^ John xii. 24; comp. 1 Cor. XV. 36. ^ According to Augustin's prin- ciple, 'non sane omnia quae gesta narrantur aliquid etiam significare putanda sunt, sed propter ilia quae aliquid significant etiam ea quae nihil significant attexuntur' (De Civit. Dei xvi. 2). ^ One adherent of typological ' tuorum, c, 5). conceptions declares that 'the one | ® See Philol. Eem. stcb. fin. was the complete opposite of the other' {Michaelis, Typische Gottes- gelahrtheit, § 71; comp. also his notes on Jonah p. 107; Keil, Com- mentar, 1. c. pp. 272 — 275). Jew- ish, especially Kabbalistic, writers likewise regard this episode in Jonah's life as a symbol of the resur- rection of the dead (comp. Manass. ben Israel, De E-esurrectione Mor- THE EESCUE. 177 acknowledgment of the assistance extended to him in building the walls of Troy, among other plagues sent to the shore an insatiable monster, by which many persons were devoured. Apollo, having been consulted, replied in anger that Poseidon's displeasure would not cease unless the Tro- jans surrendered to the animal one of their children to be determined by lot. The lot fell upon Hesione, the king's daughter, who was left tied by fetters to a rock. Hercules, sailing with the Argonauts and learning the cause of her sad fate, indignantly broke her bonds, and after due preparations, in which he was aided by Athene herself, he killed the dragon, and as a reward received, besides Laomedon's invincible horses, the beautiful Hesione for his wife.^ A comparison between the Hebrew and the Greek legend is highly instructive. A marine monster forms the centre of either ; but in every other point they are as different as earnestness differs from arbitrary playfulness. The animal, beneficent in the case of Jonah, destroys, in the Greek fable, indiscriminately all that come within its grasp. The God of the Hebrews is wroth on account of the loving care He bestows upon a people that does not know or adore Him ; the god of the Greeks on account of gifts he considers his due from his worshippers; the one requires no other expiation than the prophet's repentance, the other must be appeased by countless human victims; and lastly, in the one story the lot falls upon the guilty Jonah, in the other not upon the guilty king but upon his innocent daughter, who yet is finally withdrawn by a mortal from the fate destined for her by the deity. It is sur- prising that these two tales should ever have been adduced as parallels. Almost as if to establish a resemblance at least in one salient point, the legend of Hesione was, in a later myth, ^ Apollod. II. V. 9; Diod. Sic. iv. 42; Hygin. Fabul. 89 (and 31); comp. Bow. II. XX. 145 — 148; xxi. 450 — 457; Ovid, Metam. xi. 199 — 215; Valer. Flacc. Argon. ii. 451 — 549; Philostr. Icon. 13. N 178 JONAH II. 1, 2, 11. expanded and completed in a manner which throws just suspicion on its origin and tendency. For the Greek monodrama 'Cassandra' or 'Alexandra,' which abounds with obscure and almost unintelligible mythological allusions, and is attributed to Lycophron of Chalcis, the erudite grammarian and tragic writer who lived at the court of Ptolemy Philadelphus, though it was probably composed nearly a hundred years after his time,^ has some lines^ which, literally translated, run thus: — 'Woe, woe, unhappy town*^ that reared me, that has before ^this been burnt by the warrior-carrying ships of the lion, 'the offspring of three nights,^ whom once the jagged- 'toothed dog® of Triton lapped up in his jaws, but who, 'remaining alive and tearing the intestines,^ though scorched* 'as at the seething bottom of a cauldron, a hearth without 'fire, merely forfeited the strong hair of his head.''^ Here for the first time, or at so late an age as the second century B. C, we meet in pagan literature, whether of the Phoenicians or the Greeks, with the striking feature of Hercules in the belly of a monster;^ but no heathen author went farther into detail; it is only in Christian writings that we find that novel feature ampli- fied into the statement that Hercules stayed in the monster's belly /or three days; we find it so in the works Troy. ^ Comp. Niehuhr, Kleine histor. Schriften, I. 438—450. ^ Vers. 31—37. ^ Hercules. ® Canis carcliarus. ^ Of the animal. ^ In its hot belly. "^ A/ dl roCh.ai-ja %r}.aiM6:.'j, kskocv- //.r,^V^) n:3 ^^m r\r\r\ "';;Dn ^ Comp. Forhiger 1. c. p. 17; Friedriehsen 1. c. pp. 308, 309, 312. *^ Unless much more convincing evidences be discovered than we possess at present, there seems to be no cogent reason for assuming that the legends of the Phoenician Hercules were the source of Jonah's adventure also. 180 JONAH II. 1, 2, 11. dragon.'^ And as fictions pleasing to the popular mind appeared again and again in varied repetitions, modified in names, localities and times, we find the fable of Hesione with different surroundings and in several altered versions, of which the following especially has often been compared with the Biblical narrative. Cassiope, the wife of the Aethiopian king Cepheus, had boasted that she far surpassed the Nereids in beauty. At the request of the irate nymphs, Poseidon sent a huge sea- monster against the land. Jupiter Ammon, asked for advice and assistance, replied that the god could only be satisfied by the king's daughter Andromeda being exposed as a prey to the beast. The agonised parents were forced by the people to comply with the demand. At that time, Perseus, resuming his aerial travels after his victory over Atlas, happened to arrive in those parts of Aethiopia, and saw the maiden tied to the rock. Captivated by her beauty, he obtained from the king the promise that, if he liberated her, she should be his wife ; and when, soon afterwards, the monster approached the shore, he laid it prostrate by arrows and spears levelled from on high, and then killed it with the sword.^ This legend, which, like that of Hesione, was probably meant to symbolise the natural antagonism supposed to exist between land and sea, would have absolutely nothing in common with the Biblical story, '^ were not its scene by ^ Tzetzes 1. c, rpisuTtspov rov 'HpccKXsa Xsyw koKsIv AvKO^jpova §/« TO iv Tw Ki^rsi rpsTg vjfjt.spag Ttoirjiai, ag soTTspag Koksl ota. to a(f)c>:Tii7T0'j ha) CKOTsiv^v slyai t^v yaariparov %7;piov ; comp. also Ph.Buttmann, Ueber den Mythos des Heracles, lop. 22 sqq. ^^ Ovid, Metam. vi. 665—739; ApoUod. II. iv. 3; Sygin. Fabul. 64. ^ Tzetzes indeed (on Lycophr. vers. 837 sqq.) connects with Per- seus exactly the same -wonderful stay in the beast's belly, wich he relates with respect to Hercules. Others contend that the names of the chief actors in this fable are oriental, that e.g. Cei^heus is kindred with the Hebrew '^3 (Jer. iv. 29; Job XXX. 6) the Chaldee ND''3, the Syriac I.2JL2, all signifying rocTc, whence Peter's (JlsTpog) name Krj(f)ag; John i. 43, (JV sJ JH/jlchv . . . cli K\yj%-^(7yi Kyjtpag, Sp//.7jvvvsTai Tlsrpog, etc. THE EESCUE. 181 several classical writers laid in Joppa. Thus Strabo ob- serves: 'In this place (Joppa), according to some, Andro- meda was exposed to the monster.'^ 'In the Phoenician Sea,' remarks Pliny,^ 'before Joppa, there is the island of Paria, the whole of w^hich forms a town, where An- dromeda is said to have been exposed to the beast;' he states, moreover,*^ that 'in front of Joppa lies a rock, upon which people point out the vestiges of the chains by which Andromeda was bound ;''^ and he adds with a cir- cumstantial fulness which proves the interest still attached to the subject at much later periods,^ that, among other w^onderful things, M. Scaurus exhibited at Rome the bones of the animal to which Andromeda was sur- rendered, having brought them from Joppa, a city of Judaea;^ these bones exceeded forty feet in length, while the ribs were higher than those of the Indian elephant, and the backbone measured a foot and a half in thickness. Similar traditions were vividly remembered even in the time of Jerome.^ Is it really necessary to assume that the Hebrew writer derived his materials from such sources? Is it impossible that he^ though living in Jerusalem, should be ^ Strah. XVI. ii. 28, p. 759; comp. I. ii. 35, 'there are some who transfer Aethiopia to our Phoe- nicia and say that Andromeda's adventure took place at Joppa, and this not out of geograjphical ignorance, but rather in the form of a myth' (sv /iu^ou cyr^iiarL). ^ Nat. Hist. V. 31 or 34. ^ lUd. V. 13 or 14. ^ Comp. Joseph. Bell. Jud. III. ix. 3, speaking of the rocks before the harbour of Joppa, h%ce. koI Tccv ' AvhpofJis'^a; ^safjiwv srt hstKVv/jLs'joi TVTTOl TTtJTOVVTat T7]V apyaiQTflTa XfiX) li\j%w. Those 'chains' of Andromeda so frequently mentioned by ancient writers are supposed to be the rings once used to moor vessels. ^ Ihid. ix. 4 or 5. ^ Beluae cui dicebatur exposita fuisse Andromeda ossa Romae ad- portata ex oppido Judaeae Jope ostendit inter reliqua miracula . . . M. Scaurus etc.; comp. Melai. 11, servatae a Perseo Andromedae clarum vestigium marinae belluae ossa immania ostentant, viz. in Joppa. » Comm. in Jon. i. 3, hie locus est, in quo usque hodie saxa mon- strantur, in quibus Andromeda religata Persei quondam fuit libe- rata praesidio. 182 JONAH n. 1, 2, 11. acquainted with the existence of marine monsters magni- fied by report and fancy? Indeed, the traveller's pro- verbial love of the wonderful appears, in this respect, to have engendered extravagant exaggerations affording a welcome and a fruitful theme to the satirist. Thus Lucian, in a story which may have served as a model to many later inventions, after having described a long voyage on a calm and mirror-like sea^ relates : 'Suddenly we perceived a considerable number of whales and other huge creatares, the largest of which, a whale, was at least fifteen hundred stadia long.^ This monster darted upon us with opened jaws- showing enormous teeth pointed like stakes and white as ivory. It approached and gulped us down together with our ship. For it did not waste time to crush us with its teeth, but made the whole vessel glide through its yawning swallow.' Then follows a long and very detailed account of the men's life in the animal's interior, which teemed with large settlements and populations, and from which they finally delivered themselves by setting fire to a vast forest and thus killing the whale.^' That this story should have been framed by Lucian after the Book of Jonah, is not likely; it was more probably suggested by the fables of boastful voyagers in his own time, whom the humorist desired to ridicule. For similar fictions had always an irresistible charm. Without urging the familiar Greek myths of Thetis passing through the sea on a dolphin and Arion playing the lyre while riding on a creature of the same kind, or of Proteus associating and conversing with seals, an apocryphal Book narrates that, when Tobias once *went down to the Tigris to bathe, a fish leaped out of the river and would have devoured him,' had he not, by the intercession of the angel, laid hold of the fish;<^ and ac- * About 188 Engl, miles. " Lucian f Var. Hist, i. 30 sqq. TO §J 7^5>y Ttapyjv kou avappo(j)r]7av Yj/jt-ag a-jT-7j vTjt KzxTSTTisv', comp. c. 34, Tov caKsayo'j airr, psy%r,iiv; i'-j'^f KTjrsi TTspirvy/jV-s; Kai a-jravcoo; Kctra- 'uO%hrs; /c . r . X. ^ Tob. vi. 2, avsTtr^r^is'j lyV^^, UTTO TOV TTOTcxpioii KaT 7;3o'fA7;%r; KaTU- TilSlV TO TiCCihdoiO'J. THE EESCUE. 183 cording to an Indian legend, 'the ascetic Qaktideva was swallowed by a fish and then vomited out unhurt.'^ But none of all these stories can, in depth and thoughtful- ness, even remotely be compared with the Book of Jonah, in which the moral kernel forms so decidedly the chief interest that it is indeed immaterial whether the frame- work be considered historical or not.'^ Many of the defenders of the authenticity of the narrative have deemed it their duty to prove its possibility in every detail, and with praiseworthy industry and acumen have they, for this end, searched works of travel and zoology, the early poets and modern novelists. They found that the whale, the mammal, which was long considered to be Jonah's 'great fish,'^ though the largest of all creatures now living on our planet, is unsuitable for several reasons, especially because its gullet is too narrow and because it is only found in more northern seas;^ but that all necessary requirements are satisfied by the shark or squalus carcharias, called by the ancients canis marinus or dog of Neptune, the swallow of which is so enormous that seafarers once found in the interior, without surprise, a fully equipped horseman, and another time a whole horse; in connection with which subject the name of Peter Gill has become famous,^ who reported to have met with such a case in the proximity of Nice and Marseille/ and it is explicity related that, when in the ^ Somaveda xxv. 47; see Hitzig, 1. c. p. 159. ^^ Comp. Herder, Briefe das Studium der Tlieologie betreffend, Works, xi. pp. 351, 354, 'das Wunderbare wiirde sodann zweck- massig gewahlte Schonheit.' *= See e. g. A. Pfeiffer, Dubia Vexata, Cent, iv., loc. 86, pp. 947, 948; Praelectiones in prophetiam Jonae; S. A. Pfeiffer, Pro stabi- liendo them. jDiscem Jonae deglu- tinatorem fuisse balaenam; etc. However, the great Spermaceti whale (the Cachalot Macrocephalus of Cuvier), it is contended, has a throat 'capacious enough to give passage to the body of a man,' and is asserted to be found in the Mediterranean {Titos. Beale quoted in Can. Coolers HolyBible I.e. j). 591). ® Eichhorn (Einleitung, iv. 334) calls him 'a generally trustworthy author. ' 184 JONAH II. 1, 2, 11. year 1758 a sailor had during a storm fallen overboard from a frigate in the Mediterranean and was devoured by a carcharias, the captain discharged from the deck a cannon upon the fish, which at once cast out the man who, but little injured, was saved in a sloop kept in readiness; while the animal, harpooned and killed, was afterwards shown in public by the rescued sailor in many towns of Europe.^ With respect to the whale, a few additional remarks will suffice. A young female Rorqual or razor-backed whale,^' driven on shore during a great gale in the first days of 1857 and exhibited in London, though forty-eight feet long and weighing about twenty-five tons, and though having so gigantic a mouth that, kept open by props, 'a moderate sized man could stand upright in it,' had yet a gullet so narrow at the entrance as hardly to admit a man's hand, and only just wide enough for the insigni- ficant mollusks and fish upon which the animal habitually feeds, swallowing them in millions. Similar were the pro- portions of a whale of much vaster dimensions, which, taken at Plymouth in October 1831, weighed two hundred tons, was a hundred and two feet long, and held at one time a hundred and fifty-two children in its mouth, the roof of which 'appeared like an excavated rock overhead.' Another specimen, found dead floating on the coast of Belgium in the winter of 1837, was ninety-five feet in length and two hundred and forty tons in weight, was fur- nished with eight hundred whalebones in the upper jaw, and yielded four thousand gallons of oil extracted from the blubber; and it was by Cuvier calculated to have lived from nine hundred to a thousand years. The whale * It was said to have been 20 feet long and to have weighed 3924 pounds. Gom^. Bochart, Hieroz. lib. v., c. 12, Part ii. pp. 742 — 746; Muller, in Natursystem von Linne, iii. 268; Eichhorn 1. e. pp. 340, 341; Friedrichsen 1. c. p. 22; Keil, Commentar zu Jona, p. 282, etc. " Balaenoptera hoops, the swiftest of all whales and the largest of all known existing animals. THE EESCUE. 185 proper (the northern Balaena mysticetus), though only attaining a length of about 70 feet, has a mouth 16 to 20 feet long, and 10 to 12 feet wide, affording room for a boat and its crew, is furnished with 320 to 350 whale- bones on each side of the jaw, and has a weight of 135 tons, 'equivalent to that of about 30 elephants, 40 rhinoceroses or hippopotami, and 200 bulls.'* Among the carchariae or sharks one of the largest and most formidable is the carcliarias verus, which, with reference to this Book, has also been called carcharias Jonae. It is not unusual in the Mediterranean, which may, in fact, be considered as its ordinary habitat, though, in the manner of migratory fishes, it roams over large portions of the Atlantic from one coast to the other. It haunts predominantly, though not exclusively, the neighbourhood of shores and the upper parts of the water, above which its dorsal fins are frequently seen to stand out. It attains a length of thirty feet and a weight of upwards of four thousand pounds. The rounded mouth in its smooth head is armed with six rows of large teeth, triangular, pointed and sharp, and mostly jagged at the sides — a terrible weapon. Though it is unusually deficient in flexibility, its dartlike directness in assailing, and eager rapidity in pursuing its prey are marvellous; and in these raids it is supported by a remarkable deve- lopment not only of the senses of sight and smell, but also of intellectual faculties evinced in systematic visits to favourable spots, unflinching tenacity in accompanying ships found to be profitable, and skill and calculating shrewdness of attack. In voracious appetite, which is literal- ly insatiable, it yields to no other species of the same class throughout distinguished for ravenous greed. It devours eight or ten tunnies at a time. Nothing seems to resist its power of digestion, from a tender plant or a piece of * £rf7i?M, Illustrirtes Thierleben, I 830, 861—872, and the earlier ii. 868, and in general, pp. 825 — I naturalists there quoted. 186 JONAH n. 1, 2, 11. bacon to wearing apparel and tin utensils: it is at once the hyena and the ostrich of the ocean.^ It is not un- usual to find in its stomach entire men, of course dead.^ ^Modern ichthyologists,' says a careful observer,*^ 'can report a hundred and more such instances; almost any man who, within the torrid zone and even in the Mediterranean, falls from a vessel into the sea, finds his grave in the stomach of a shark; and if this animal has once devoured a human being, it becomes incredibly audacious.''^ Unde- terred by the thunder of the cannon, sharks were seen, during the battle of the Nile, to swim to and fro bet- ween the ships, seizing the bodies of soldiers that were killed or thrown overboard. Yet these rapacious monsters display an extraordinary affection for their young, to which, if necessary, they give a refuge in their mouths or stomachs, vomiting them out again when the danger has passed; and noteworthy is the undisputed fact, that in the stomach of large sharks young ones have been found alive — a proof of the wonderful vigour and vitality of the tribe.^ ^ In the stomach of one such shark, which was only twelve feet long, were found a side of bacon, several legs of mutton, the hind part of a pig, the head and legs of a bulldog, a quantity of horse flesh, a piece of sackcloth, and a ship scraper. The stomach of another was. gorged with many thousands of smaller fishes of everj^ kind, '^ This last cii'cumstance is gener- ally overlooked by apologetic writers (so e. g. by Pusey in his useful collection of facts and accounts bearing on the subject, 1. c. pp. 257, 258). However, a Danish missiona- ry relates that an Indian, who had been swallowed by a shark called by the Spaniards and Portuguese Marraco or Marraxo, was found alive when the animal was captured, though he died soon afterwards (comp. Frieclrichsen 1. c. p. 22). ^ Brehm 1. c. v. 781. •^^ He adds : 'During my stay in Alexandria, it was imj^ossible to bathe in the sea, because a shark had successively carried off several men in the immediate neighbour- hood of the town;' and he quotes other analogous examples. ^ Some identify Jonah's fish with other members of the same class, as the lamna cornuhia, or the selache maxima 'the giant shark' reaching a length of 36 feet, but living mostly in high northern THE EESCUE. 187 The literal acceptation was, of course, generally current among the orthodox in earlier times; we find it in the Apocrypha* and Josephus ;^ in the writings of the Eabbins who, as we have observed, considered the animal to have been created and set apart at the very beginning of the world ;<^ in the early Church and the Christian Fathers f and it has been upheld by many later theologians.^ This concep- latitudes. thoug-h it is by easterly winds occasionally driven to the North Sea and the Atlantic. Comp. Brehm 1. c. v. 775—793. * 3 Mace. vi. 8, tov ts ^v%0Tps- (pov; h yajTp] K-rjTovg 'Iwvav ttjko- fjLsvov acpsiocog ccTt^f/iaTOV Tvaaiy oIkslou; ayshiiag, irarsp; comp. Tobit xiv. 4, Tiiizsiciiai Zaa iXay^riJsv'lwvcig 6 Tvpo- (f>TJr7ig TTsp} N/vrj^ at.t.X. ^ Though he guardedly declares that he merely reports what he has found in the Scriptures, Ant. IX. X. 2, Zaa . . c'jpoy . . iv roug 'E^paiKaTg ^ijdXioig aMaysypa/j.fj.ha^ taldng care to quaUfy the incident with the fish by Xoyog — so the story goes — rov ^i, \6yog, Ltto tov KTjTOvg Kara-iTO- %SVTa K.T.'k. ^ Hence Jewish interpreters curi- ously explain 'the ffreat (^1"!^) fish' to mean one of great age; for, says Rabbi Bechai (on Num. xxii. 28, fol. 63 b, ed. Salat 1864), 'though that fish was indeed large, there were in the sea many larger fishes; but it had been ordained for this object from the six days of creation . . . And when it had swallowed Jonah and had thus fulfilled the appointed purpose for which alone i£ had been called into existence, it died' — exactly like Balaam's ass after it had spoken (see Bible Stud. i. 136, 137). ^ Siopra pp. 174. It is idle to assert that the New Testament, in the passages above quoted, draws a parallel between Christ and Jonah only in a moral and rehgious sense, but does not consider the prophet's miraculous experiences as real events. ® As Von der Hardt, Lavater, Lessing, Lilienthal, Kliper, Sack, Lliderwald, Piper, Hess, Anton, Verschuir, Steudel, Reindl, Heng- stenberg, Laberenz, Havernick, Hesselberg, Preiswerk, Delitzsch (who describes the Book as 'an his- torical picture of the deepest signific- ance both psychologically, dogmati- cally, and typically,' carrying out this view to very questionable conse- quences; see infra on iii. 1 — 3; comp. Friedrichsen 1. c. pp. 16, 17),Baumgarten, Keil (who remarks: 'the Book Avith all its mhacles is true history of a deeply prophetic, symbolic, and tj^pical significance;' 'the alleged mythical character of the story is a pure assumption,' for 'myths may indeed involve religious ideas, and parables maj' embody prophetic truths, but they cannot be types of future facts of salvation (Heilsthatsachen), these can only be prefigured by facts;' which adroit argument moves no less in a vicious circle than that of 188 JONAH II. 1, 2, 11. tion, the difficulties of which, though considerable and obvious,'^ have perhaps often been exaggerated,*^ is cer- tainly more satisfactory than a rationalising interpretation of the narrative, which has resulted in the strangest theories, as for instance, that on the poop of a ship which, happening to pass by when Jonah was cast into the sea, readily received him, was painted, according to the custom of those times, the image of a large tish,<^ or was written the word Fish or Whale as its name, and that thus the Hebrew writer might figuratively say that Jonah was swallowed by a fish, and then again, when the vessel landed, thrown out by the animal;'^ or, what seems to be a redudio in cibsurdum, that 'the great fish' was in reality a bathing establishment called 'The Whale,' where Jonah stayed previous to his journey to Nineveh.^ Or, it was said, a fish did not really devour Pusey 1. c. p. 251, 'a history of miracles, such as those in Jonah, would not be published at the time, unless they were true'), Eadie, Nagelsbach, Bailey, Hasse, Lange, ('a wonderful fact allegorically worked out, like the Book of Esther'), Huxtable, a. o.; comp. also Buddei, Histor. Eccles. Vet. Test. pp. 589 sqq. * Comp. Frtedrichsen 1. c. pp. 38 — 60; they are not merely of 'a subjective kind,' as has been maintained (Kleinert, Jonah, p. 14), but very real and 'objective.' ^ Steudel in Bengel's Archiv, 1817, pp. 401 sqq.; Winer, Keal- Worterb. i. 596. ^ Comp. Acts xxviii. 11, av^- y%7jfi£V g'v r>.o/w . . 7Tapaar;/Jicc Ato- OKOvpoig. *^ So Less, Vom historischen Stil der Urwelt, pp. 157 sqq.; and similarly before him an expositor quoted bj^ Clericus (Biblioth. xx. 2, p. 459), 'le prophete . . . fut sauve par un vaisseau, qu'il decrit alle- goriquement sous le nom d'un grand poisson, ou il demeura trois jours lie a fond de cale, aj)res quoi le capitaine I'avait mis a terre et lui avait donne la liberte.' ^ So Canon Mutianus of Gotha in the sixteenth century ('sedebat in balneis quibus cete nomen erat, et cucurhita erat pileolum stramenti- tium, quo lavantes utuntur;' see Bertholdt, Einleitung, v. 2., Preface p. v.). The conceit that the fish was an inn known as 'The Whale,' has, as it seems, been unjustly imputed to Hermann von der Hardt, who is sufficiently famous for his bold and singular conjectures (see on iii. 10; comp. Friedriclisen 1. c. pp. 292—296). THE RESCUE. 189 Jonah but apiwoaclied him by God's behest,^ so that he, similar to the Greek Arion, floated for three days and three nights on the back of the Hving or in the interior of the dead creature, till he was deposited on the shore.^ Or it was asserted that the tale merely describes a sym- bolical action mentally performed by Jonah, or a prophe- tic vision, or indeed a dream comprising at least the incidents from the prophet's sleep to his second journey:*^ all which expedients have also been proposed in the ex- planation of Balaam's speaking ass*^ and, in fact, of nearly every other wonderful event related in the Bible. But it is, on the other hand, impossible to agree with those who regard the Book of Jonah as a pure fiction — as an allegory, a parable, fable, or moral apologue, as 'a product of playful imagination,' and do not allow it to possess any historical foundation whatever, not even the feeble support of a tradition.^ The truth lies probably between the two extreme views. Narratives like that of the Book of Jonah, as a thoughtful critic observes, were by the ancients never wholly invented/ It can hardly ^ The Hebrew verb ^73 without proof taken as identical with the Arabic ^y^^. ^ N''p being supposed as equi- valent to kS^ 'descendit in terram desertam.' So Anton, Vaupel, Griesdorf; comp. Frieclrichsen 1. c. pp. 29—37. ^ From i. 6 to ii. 11. So in various modifications Abarbanel. H. A. Grimm, Sonnenmayer, Blasche, etc.; but Herder 1. c. p. 351 ('im Propheten ist nicht die kleinste Spur von 'Traum oder Gesicht'), Jahn, Einleitung, ii. 2. p. 529 j comp. BertJioldt 1. c. pp. 2382 — 2386. '•^ See Bible Stud. i. 131 sqq. •^ So Semler, Herder, Niemeyer, Hezel, Michaelis, Eichhorn (ac times), Staudlin, Paulus, Moller, Augusti, G. W. Meyer, Griesinger, Nachtigall, Eosenmiiller, Gesenius, Bohme, Koster, Winer, Gramberg, Jager, Hitzig, Noldeke (1. c. pp. 72, 73, 'an einen geschichtlichen Inhalt ist nicht zu denken'), etc.; so also in a certain sense Krahmer and von der Hardt, and further Frdr. Chr. Baur (a poetical myth con- structed after the two myths of Oannes and Adonis); comp. Bertholdt 1. c. pp. 2387 — 2394; Friedrichsen 1. c. pp. 98—179, 192—224, 246— 256. ^ De Wette, Einleitung, § 241 ; and similarly Thaddaus, Ammon, Eichhorn (partially), Goldhorn, 190 JONAH II. 1, 2, 11 be doubted that the main incidents were derived from legends based on real occurrences, though it would be idle to hazard a reconstruction of the precise facts. A Hebrew prophet in the time of Jeroboam II. may have been in political or spiritual connection with Nineveh, and may have contemplated a diplomatic or missionary journey to this town, whether on his own account or by command of the king;^ disheartened by the difficulties of his office, he may have left his country and, sailing westward, to have suffered distress or perhaps shipwreck in a storm; but providentially saved when already considered lost, he may have regarded this deliverance as a warning to return and to resume his activity as a public teacher of his own and other nations. Who would affirm that the events occurred exactly in this or even a- similar manner? It was sufficient if they harmonised with a prophet's life and career and suggested, or were deemed adapted to illustrate the lessons that were to be enjoined. It may be presumed that first tradition and then the author completed, adorned and modified the story, and it will be one of our main tasks to examine whether this was done in unison with the dignity of the prophetic order, the character of Jonah, and the principles of Hebrew theology.^ The author probably considered that Jonah was thrown out on the coast of Palestine, on the same 'dry land' (nii^B^) whither the mariners had in vain endeavoured to return, and where, on sacred soil, God appointed him Palmer, Bertlioldt, Pareau, Forbiger, Friedriclisen; Gr. L.Bauer; Knobel, Davidson, Bunsen, Bleek, Kleinert, a. 0.; see Friedriclisen I.e. pp.225 — 266; comp. also Ewald, Poet. Bucher, iii. p. 16, 'absolute inven- tion of stories is foreign to all an- cient nations in early times.' ^ See supra p. 121. ^ It is of course impossible to determine which features of the story are attributable to legend and which to the author; all at- tempts at such a separation, how- ever plausible they may be made by sagacity or ingenuity, are ne- cessarily precarious and arbitrary, because deovid of a solid basis (comp. e. g. Friedriclisen 1. c. pp. 277—292). THE RESCUE. 191 anew His messenger.^ Local traditions fix the spot either at a greatly projecting promontory between Berythus and Tripoli,'^ or at the coast of Cilicia, two miles north of Alexandretta.^ Arabic writers allege that the fish, which they call Batha, always swimming with its head above water that the prophet might breathe, steadily followed the ship, and vomited him out when he had reached his destination in Tartessus.^ Hardly less curious is the statement of Josephus that Jonah was taken to the Euxine Sea, from whence, having implored and obtained God's pardon, he repaired to Nineveh: which view is indeed sober compared with a later writer's conceit that the fish, after having m the three days and three nights swum round Africa, left the prophet in the river Tigris in the immediate vicinity of Nineveh.^ Philological Remabks. — God's direct intervention or special providence which, manifesting itself at every step, forms one of the most striking characteristics of the Book, is con- veyed by the verb n^D io appoint, to fix, or ordain (ver. 1, and iv. 6—8), used in this sense only by later writers (Ps. Ixi. 8, ^n-lV*^: ]?; Job vii. 3; Dan. i. 5, 10, 11; also Chald. Ezr. vii.' 25 ; Dan. ii. 24), and being more specific than n?a (comp. Am. ix. 3, tJ^mn HN H.^UN; 2 Chr. vii. 13, nj^N D:n 'h))] 1 Ki. xvii. 4, 9; Luke xii. 13, sItts rca dlskipca /xov [xsphaa'^ac k. t. X.): by Grod's immediate direction it was so arranged that the very moment when Jonah was thrown into the waves, 'the great fish' was on the spot to receive him; God charged the animal to perform this function as He afterwards 'spoke to it' (ver. 11, ;nb mn^ IDN^l) or commanded it to vomit out the prophet on the dry land. The underlying principle that all creation, bound by no fixed laws, is constantly subject to God's plans with regard to ^ i. 13; iii. 1. ^ Calmet, Dictiorm. ii. 1075, 'c'est la tradition de ce pays-la, dit le E. P. Eugene Eoger, 1. i. c. 12.' *^ Tavernier, Voyage en Perse, 1. ii. c. 1, ap. Calmet 1. c. 1 (ver. 3), while the specifie term b^DfT'l (ver. 2) should refer to a mental entreaty which is not quoted: the combination 77Dn"'1 IDN^I is plain and natural (comp. 1 Sam. ii. 1 ; 1 Ki. vi. 17, 18; 2 Ki. xix. 15; xx. 2; 2 Chr. xxx. 18, etc.). There are indeed in the chief prayer allusions to anterior sup- plications "(vers. 3, 8), but these must be understood very differently (see notes on vers. 3 — 10). Other questionable expedients are the translation of ~iDN''1 in ver. 11 as a pluperfect, ^God had spoken;' the assumjDtion that this verse is the interpolation of a later reader {^Eichhorn, Einleit. iv. 348), and similar conjectures necessitated by the erroneous trans- O 194 JONAH II. 1, 2, 11. lation of HJin ^);dd referred to. The whole matter is explained and put into its true light by Kimchi's simple and ingenuous remark: 'It was a great miracle that Jonah was in the fish's belly for three days and three nights and remained alive; and yet another miracle was this that he was not stunned but preserved his consciousness and reason and was able to pray.' The context excludes even Luther's suggestion that the words we read were not articulated by Jonah while in the fish, but that, composed by him after his rescue, they are only meant to indicate his frame of mind and the struggles of his soul in the presence of death; so that Izbl 'in his heart' must be supplied after 'he prayed' (and similarly others, as Grotius, Pusey 1. c. p, 274, 'the waters choked his speech, but he cried with a loud cry to God who knew the heart ... do the ears of God wait for sound?' JSuxtable 1. c. p. 593, 'the sentiments of this ode are those which he had then felt, the form was the production of a later and more tranquil hour;' etc.): the author's statement implies that he does not furnish indistinct thoughts and sentiments but Jonah's actual and verbal invocation. Yet Luther dwells on the subject with considerable freedom: 'Who can really imagine that a man should live three days and three nights so lonely, without light and food, in the midst of the sea within a fish, and should then be restored? That must have been a strange voyage: who would believe the story, and not rather consider it a fiction or a fairy tale (eine Liige oder Mahrlein), were it not found in Scripture?' (Werke, ed. Walch, p. 2641). — An early Jewish conception is reflected in Philo's explanation: 'Jonah used the animal's mouth for his speech ; for the prodigy happened that a sea-monster became the intercessor for a prophet's safety, opened its jaws for the utterance of his prayer, and lent him its tongue for the articulation of his words; and as an artist extracts sounds from a musical instrument by striking its chords with the fingers, so did the prophet' (De Jona c. 18). Accepting the episode literally as a miracle, and inter- THE EESCUE. 195 preting it wholly as a didactic fiction, are both intelligible, though perhaps equally unjustified, positions ; but it is a vain endeavour to bring the story within the bounds of probability even by straining the words to the utmost; as, for instance, by asserting that Jonab, though dying in the monster, was brought to life again after having been vomited out, which, as is maintained, 'would enable us to suppose a much simpler miracle' {Eichliorn, Einleitung, iv. 334); or that 'it was just as possible for Jonah in the whale's belly to breathe, or at least to inhale as much air as he required, as it is possible for an embryo to live and grow in the mother's womb' {A. Ffeiffer, Lavafer, etc.); or that the frequent cases of asphyxia prove that men may really be alive for days though the pulse does not beat and the lungs do not act (Preif^-.^ ivei'k etc.) — which uncertain analogies, taking no account of Jonah's consciousness and praying, may well be classed under Theodoret's avo-^rog irokvrrpayixoGvv'^. Much more worthy of respect is the energetic consistency which declares: 'How God converted the Ninevites, how He sustained Jonah's life in the fish's belly, the author tells not; he mentions only the great facts themselves, and leaves them in their mysterious greatness' {Pusey 1. c. p. 257; comp. p. 273). Strenuous efforts have es]3ecially been made, for apologetic reasons, to render it probable that the 'three days and three nights' (ver. 1) mean here in reality not much more than one full day. It is averred that those words are a proverbial statement of time without claim to literal exactness (with doubtful reference to 1 Sam. xxx. 12, 13, and Hos, vi. 2); or that even a part of a day was counted as a 'civil day' or as 'night and day' (wx^-^pLspov, comp. Esth. iv. 16 and V. 1), and that, in this sense, Christ was in the earth three 'civil days,' which actually amounted to no more than one full day with small portions of the previous and following one, and Uvo nights, or not much above thirty-six hours. But who can affirm that this is equivalent to 'three days and three nights?' In 1 Cor. xv. 4, it is stated quite generally that Christ 'rose again the third day according to the Scriptures' 196 JONAH II. 1, 2, 11. (rrj yjixipa rf^ rpir-^ Kara rag ypa(/)ac), that is, probably, with reference to Isa. liii. 9, 10, and Hos. vi. 2; comp. Gen. xxii. 4; Ps. xvi. 10 (see also Luke xxiv. 46, oCro^g ysypocTrrai 'jT0c%-s7v rb'j XpicTov Kai avaarri'jai Ik vsKpo^v rvj rpirrj yjixepa] Acts xvii. 3); although it has been admitted even by zealous typologists that the application of Gen. xxii. 4 is 'somewhat precarious;' that Ps. xvi. 10 'falls short;' and that Hos. vi. 2 'cannot be regarded as distinctly predictive, but only as faintly allusive' {Huxtable 1. c. p. 577). — We have above (p. 175) pointed out the different views implied in Luke's and Matthew's account with respect to 'the sign' of Jonah; but we must add that the passage in Luke also has fre- quently been understood to refer to Christ's resurrection as the sign analogous to that of Jonah's rescue from the fish's belly. This opinion, excluded as it is by the clear context, disregards the main point that this rescue of Jonah was no 'sign to the Ninevites,' with whom our author brings it into no connection whatever, and who, as far as this Book is concerned, need not even have heard of it at all (see mfra on iii. 4 — 9); though the reverse, as may be expected, has also conveniently been assumed (as by Ncigelshach, Baum- garten, Kleinert, etc.), and has even been elaborately adorned by the help of further conjecture (so e.g. by Puseg 1. c. p. 273: the mariners 'were doubtless enrolled among the people of God, first-fruits from among the heathen . . . Perhaps, they were the first preachers among the heathen,' etc.). As an illustration of typical exposition we may quote a few sentences from a Commentary of the seventeenth century: 'Ut is fuit Jonas i. e. colmnha, filius Amitthai sen veritatis, ita revera et Christus filius veritatis coelestis i. e. patris, columba fuit aKkpaioc^ quae proderat omnibus, nocebat nemini, suoque gemitu apud aeternum patrem pro nobis intercedit . . . Spiritus quoque sanctus in forma columbae super ipso visus est ad Jordanem . . . Quin etiamnum hodie, quam primum nos in navem Christi, hoc est Ecclesiam, ingredimur, statim oritur afflictionis tempestas et ipse videtur dormire. Porro quemadmodum haec procella maris THE EESCUE. 197 tranquillari baud poterat nisi Jona in id projecto, ita' . . . etc. (Jo. Tarnovii in Prophetas minores Commentarius, pp. 805, 806; Friedrichsen 1. c. p. 20); comp. Carpzov, Introd. iii. 361, 362, 'Fatis suis Jonas non minus quam effatis verum se Numinis proplietam comprobavit ; ex more enim omnium prophetarum . . . testimonium Christi perhibuit, ejusque mortem ac resurrectionem hoc volumine delineavit ;' Ballet/, in Smith's Diet, of the Bible, i. 1120, 'The history of Jonah was highly symbolical; the facts contained a con- cealed prophecy; . . . exclude the symbolical (typical) meaning, and you have no adequate reason to give of this history' (comp. however, notes on iii. 10); Klemert, Jonah, p. 18: 'Jonah is the antitype of Israel, and Israel the antitype of Christ, whence the typical relation between Jonah and Christ is clear;' and again, 'All the voluntary efforts of the sailors to reach the shore are of no avail (i. 13), and there is no rest till the expiatory offering singled out by Grod has fallen;' Pusey 1. c. pp. 264, 271, 272, 277, 'Man was tempest-tost and buffeted by the angry waves of this perilous and bitter world; Christ, as one of us, gave His life for our lives, the storm at once was hushed, there is a deep calm and inward peace, and our haven was secured . . . He who had heretofore been the prophet of Israel only, was, after a three days' burial, restored through miracle to life, and then the heathen were converted;' etc. But no one, as far as we are aware, has proceeded in the same direction so resolutely as one of the most recent English writers who has put forth the following theory: 'that most strange and otherwise utterly unaccountable circumstance of Jonah's entombment in the fish' was brought about by Grod 'for the very purpose of furnishing a typical prediction in which both Jesus himself and his Church should recognise the distinct foreshadowing of his preordained death and resur- rection;' therefore, when Jonah requested the sailors, 'Cast me forth into the sea' (i. 12), he was 'doubtless speaking under Divine impulse;' like the all but consummated sacrifice of Isaac, Jonah's three days' burial in the fish is 'a piece 198 JONAH II. 1, 2, IL of history which, regarded by itself, shocks all our sense of probability ;' while either, when regarded as typical, is seen to be in strict coherence with the main purpose of Divine revelation, which is the exhibition to the world of Christ (Huxfable 1. c. pp. 57 7, 578, 5S9). "What is the motive that prompted this theory? Evidently the desire of explaining 'that most strange and otherwise utterly unaccountable circum- stance of Jonah's entombment in the fish,' which 'shocks all our sense of probability.' How is it explained? By a principle which would lead to the most questionable, nay the most offensive inferences. For the ill-treatment, the persecution and murder of the prophets, which are, for instance, described in the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and have, above all other incidents of the Old Testament, ever been deemed typical of Christ and his suffering, were, according to that principle, 'preordained by Grod for the very purpose of furnishing a typical prediction in which Jesus and his Church should recognise a foreshadowing of his death and resurrection;' nay the Hebrews, in committing those deeds of blindness and iniquity, were 'doubtless acting under Divine compulsion.' Who would not recoil from such a conclusion? In order to account for a miracle, which is admitted not to be stranger than many others recorded in the Scriptures, not only the whole course of history is read in a light utterly confusing to reason, and defying all in- telligible laws of regular progress, but the common typo- logical method is almost entirely reversed; for according to the latter — to adhere to the instance quoted — the Hebrews had, from their natural and unconquerable perverseness, outraged and massacred their prophets, and Christ, to fulfil this type, endured the same degradation and fate from his own contemporaries ; although even this view hardly involves a 'vindication of the ways of Cod to man;' for in order to fulfil the type, God allowed Christ's contemporaries to act in the evil and violent manner they did. Could He employ no guiltless means to bring about dispensations meant to pour out the spirit of kindness and goodwill over all mankind? THE PRATER. 199 7. THE PRAYER. II. 3 — 10. 3. And he said, I cried out of my affliction to the Lord, and He hstened to me; Out of the depth of the abyss I called aloud, cmd Thou didst hear my voice. 4. For Thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the heart of the seas. And the floods surrounded me; All Thy billows and Thy waves passed over me. 5. Then I said, I am driven away out of Thy sight; Yet I shall look again upon Thy holy Temple. 6. The Avaters compassed me about, even to the soul: The depth surrounded me, weeds iuere wrapped about my head. 7. I went down to the extremities of the mountains; The earth had dosed its bars behind me for ever: Yet hast Thou brought up my life from the pit, Lord my God! 8. When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer came into Thy holy Temple. 200 JONAH II. 3—10. 9. They that serve lying vanities forget their mercies. 10. But I will sacrifice to Thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord. If this prayer had been preserved to us as a separate composition, few would hesitate exactly to define the suppliant's condition from internal evidence. That sup- pliant is a pious Hebrew who, deeply impressed with the vanity and impotence of idols, worships Jahveh alone.* He bad not merely been in distress,^ but in imminent danger of bis life.*^ For he bad struggled with the tumultuous violence of the waves in tbe deptbs of the sea,*^ wbere be bad expected to find bis grave.® He bad already abandoned all hope of deliverance/ but in bis agony be prayed to Jabveb, who beard bis entreaty §^ and saved bim when destruction seemed inevitable.^ He is still away from bis country, or bas, at least, not yet been able to proceed to the capital, but be rejoices in tbe near prospect of again seeing God's holy Temple, wbere be loDgs to pour out bis praises and to perform the offerings be vowed in bis despair.^ Can the circumstances under which such a psalm was written be doubtful? It is, manifestly, no supplication but a hymn of tbanksgiving ; it does not refer to mis- fortunes threatening but conquered; it does not describe a present state of danger but a calamity that bas been overcome in tbe past. It is hence not difficult to arrive at a distinct conclusion. Tbe bj^mn, which does not dwell * Vers. 9, 10 c. ^ Ver. 3 a. ^ Vers. 5 a, 6 a, 8 a. ^ Vers. 4, 6. ® Vers. 3 b, 7 a. ^ Ver. 5 a. S Vers. 3, 8. '^ Ver. 7 b. ^ Vers. 5 a, 10 a, b. THE PRAYER. 201 on, nor even point to, any extraordinary incident asso- ciated with a 'great fish,' was written without reference to the context in which we now read it. As, however, the author of the Book of Jonah deemed it appropriate in this connection, he did not scruple to insert it, in accordance with a common practice of Hebrew and other eastern writers, especially historians, of adorning their works with poetical compositions supposed to be kindred in matter.^ But it might be asked in astonishment, how, considering the import of that psalm, he could in any sense find it suitable to this place ? Had he been guided by the common rules of a verbal analysis, he would indeed not have ventured to insert it, for nothing could be more inappropriate. But he wrote his Book as a prophet in the spirit of prophecy; and under its direction he was determined by very different considerations. Jonah had been restored to harmony with himself and his Master; he was reconciled to any fate which God, in His love and justice, might impose upon him, and he had, with the utmost tranquillity of mind, adjudged to himself the penalty of death. While being thrown into the sea by the sailors, it was not agony and despair which filled his heart, but praise and resignation. These feelings the author found embodied in an old hymn, which he therefore regarded as eminently adapted to be put into Jonah's mouth during his most critical trials. To him the tone of mind and the spiritual atmosphere pervading the song were the essential points, and they caused him to disregard all other features, however doubtful. The psalm, evidently composed by one delivered from shipwreck and death in the ocean, contains some * Comp. 1 Sam. ii. 1 — 10 (which song-, put mto the mouth of Hannah, evidently refers to a man triumph- ing over warhke and aggressive enemies in the time of the mo- narchy; see vers. 1, 4, 9, 10); aen. xlix. 3—27; Ex. xv. 1 — 18 (ver. 17, in'> UJ13 ''^HN ti'ipD); Num. xxi. 14, 15; 17—20; 27— 30; Deut. xxxii. 1 — 43; xxxiii. 1 — 24, etc. On the last Address of Ja- cob see Comm. on Gren. pp. 720 sqq. 202 JONAH II. 3—10. metaphors, naturally vague and indistinct, ^'^ which could with some plausibility be applied to Jonah's peculiar condition in the dark womb of the sea-monster. A literal gave Vv'ay to an ideal fitness, and to this free conception we are indebted to the preservation of a poem to which it is impossible to deny a high degree of merit and beauty. It is true that, almost from beginning to end, it is compiled of phrases borrowed from earlier writings, as will below be shown in detail;^ but this circumstance proves at least how thoroughly the author was imbued with the standard hterature of his people and with what com- plete freedom he moved in the sphere of theocratic thought and of severe monotheism. He, moreover, displays no mean measure of skill in the treatment of his theme. He is seized by two main thoughts with overpowering force —the terrible danger which had threatened him, and the mercy of God to which he owes his deliverance; and these two ideas he carries out with thrilling fervour in threefold gradation. In the first part,^ he depicts his fearful situation while in combat with the billows, when all hope seemed to have vanished, and he concludes with the simple but confident declaration: 'Yet I shall look again upon Thy holy Temple.' Then he describes, more briefly yet more strongly, how in the gloomy abyss with its appalling horrors, he had believed that he was for ever excluded from the familiar earth by mighty barriers; but then, seeing himself still in the land of the living, he compresses his recognition in the apostrophe: 'Jahveh my God!'^ since it was God who, from the outset, had filled his agitated soul.« And lastly, intensifying this feeling to ^ As 'the depth of the abyss' (y)t<\i; p2, ver. 3), 'the deep in the heart of the seas' (p2':>2 n'7)^D D"'!D^, ver. 4), 'weeds trapped about my head' (W^'^h ^)2n ^1D, ver. 6), 'Thou hast brought up my life from the pit' (nnt^Q ^;;m ""H, ver. 7). ^ See Philol. Kern. "^ Vers. 3-5. ^ \1'PN n)r\\ vers. 6, 7. ^ Ver. 2, mn^-^N n^v b^Dn""! rnt'N; comp. Num. xxii. 18, and Bible Stud. i. p. 13. THE PEAYER. 203 the utmost, he touches but lightly upon the averted disaster and lays solely stress on the fact that, in his distress and agony, he had turned to Jahveh; that, in a firm reliance on Him, he had found a comfort and support heedlessly forfeited by worshippers of idols ; and that he yearns to satisfy the aspirations of his heart by prayer, sacrifice and vow. Then he finishes with not only declaring Jahveh to be his God, but proclaiming Him as the sole source of deliverance and happiness to all — 'Salvation is of the Lord,' thus recalling Jonah's all-embracing con- fession, *I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.' The selfish sentiments of peril and rescue are finally merged in the humble and pious impulses of gratitude and the glorification of God's omnipotence.^ Finding in the hymn a plan so well considered and an execution so skilful, we cannot help being surprised at the injustice of those who disparagingly describe it as 'atomistically patched together' or as 'a product pirati- cally conglomerated by an inexperienced hand.'^ The author availed himself indeed of the religious phraseology that had become common propert}^, but he employed it with independence and ability.*^ It is true that, unless the prayer be considered as a later interpolation by a strange '''■ Comp. also Eivald, Poet. Biicher, i. 120, who divides the poem into four 'strophes' re-iterating the main thoughts, rather than the words; Kleinert 1. c. p. 29, pointing out tliree sti'ophes (vers. 4 and 5, 6 and 7, and 8) with an exordium (ver. 3) and a summarising con- clusion (vers. 9, 10); and others. ^^ Comp. Maurer in loc, ex Psal- morum locutionibus conflatum satis sinistra manu; Oramberg, Rehg. Id. ii. 510, 'in Jona's angeblichem Gesange ist fast ear kein Zu- sammenhang und natiirlicherUeber- gang von einem Gedanken zum andern,' etc. ^ Burk calls the song 'praestan- tissimum exemplum psalterii recte applicati,' and with a just apprecia- tion, Ewald characterises it as 'a beautiful prayer' or as 'a calm and carefully measured hymn of thanks- giving' (Propheten, ii. 557; Poet. BLicher, i. 122); nor can we mate- rially dissent from the strong opi- nion of a recent writer who affirms that it 'takes rank in Hebrew poetry 204 JONAH II. 3 — 10. hand,^ for which assumption there is no solid proof, the author of the Book of Jonah cannot be defended in point of consistency, since he incorporated in his narrative a composition which, taken by itself, disagrees with the tenour of the rest; but this incongruity is more than counterbalanced by the depth with which he was thus enabled to represent Jonah's character and history. At what time the hymn originated, it is not easy to ascertain with precision; but on no account do the phrases and sentences taken from various Psalms and elsewhere, permit us to suppose an earlier date than the time of the second Temple.*^ Philological Eeimaeks. — Viewing the hymn in the manner pointed out above, we shall neither be tempted, with the earlier interpreters, to do violence to the language and take the accomplished fact of safety as a prayer for rescue (so Sept. ver. 7 'd1 b))^l f^oC^ a-ja^-qr^ Ik (p'^opdg -^ t^co-q /jlo-j, Yulg. et sublevabis, Michael, du bringst zuriick; ver. 8, NlDPi" Sept. Ko.) sX^oi TTpog ae ■/] 7rpo7c'j'/;q [xov, Yulg. ut veniat ad te oratio with the most perfectly conceived compositions in the Book of Psalms' (Huxtable 1. c. p. 579) ^ So De Wette, Einleitung, §§291,292; Knobel, Prophetismus, ii. 377, a. o. ^ Ewald (Poet. Biicher, i. 120) places it, questionably, in the last generations previous to the Baby- lonian exile; Noldeke finds that it 'bears, on the whole, the stamp of comparative antiquitj^;' Davidson considers it 'an old and original' hymn, 'preceding the narrative by two centuries and a half;' Bunsen assumes even that it is 'a genuine hymn of the prophet Jonah,' and therefore written in the ninth or eighth century B. C; KeU (1. c. p. 271 note), like his predecessors Moller, Nachtigall, etc., asserts that the reminiscences occurring in the song are 'all without exception taken 'from the Psalms of David and his contemporaries;' and simi- larly some others, as Huxtable (1. c. pp. 580, 583, 584), who has recourse to the supposition that some phrases, used for the first time in this hymn, were borrowed therefrom by later writers, as ver. 3 in Ps. cxx. 1, and ver. 5 in Lament, iii. 54 ; but these passages of the Psalms and of Lamentations, though originating in the time of the exile, seem j'et, from their form and colouring, earher than vers. 3 and 5 of this Prayer. THE PEAYEE. • 205 mea; Biiir, 'All the past tenses in this prayer have the meaning of the present or, as the grammatical term is, of rny nb^H ^rh'2 n^V? the imperfect preterite;' Maurer, 'preces expectas easque habebis simulac quae leguntur perfecta putaveris praesentia esse, "Clamo ad Jovam et exaudit me";' etc.); nor need we suppose that the poem is written in the manner of prophecy which represents a Divine resolve as equivalent to its consummation (so Ebn Ezra in loc. quoting as parallels nONH "1^0 ^^-DP^ ^^^' ^Iviii. 22; and Dpy^D 3DD Ti")1 Num. xxiv. 17); nor that Jonah, feeling himself, against all expectation, alive and sound in the monster's belly, regarded this circumstance as an earnest and as a sure pledge of his ultimate deliverance, and there- fore thanked instead of praying (so Jerome, 'intelligimus eum postquam in utero ceti sospitem esse se senserit, non desperasse de Dei misericordia;' and so KimcJii and some modern expositors, as Michaelis, Friedrichsen, Eosenmiiller, Maurer, Keil, etc.); or, with a slight modification, that he looked upon this very reception by the fish, which saved him from being engulfed in the ocean, as a redemption for which he felt impelled to praise God. This latter view has recently been worked out with particular favour. 'The hymn,' writes Pusey (1. c. pp. 252, 263, 274), 'is the simple thanksgiving of one who had prayed and Jiad been delivered . . . He asks for nothing, he only thanks ... He looked on in full faith to the future completion of his deliverance, not on the actual peril ; it is a thanksgiving of faith . . . When the three days and nights were passed, he uttered this devotion . . . secure that God, who had done so much, would fulfil the rest.' But no unbiassed reader can understand the hymn in this sense; for, without mentioning other points, the words, 'Thou hast brought up my life from the pit' (ver. 7, ^^n nnWD bVi)'i), cannot possibly have been spoken by one who, having prayed in a ship, was at that time enclosed in a monster's belly in the midst of the sea. Perhaps to obviate such objections, another theory has been framed still more at variance with the manifest tenour of 206 JONAH II. 3—10. the narrative and the song. 'Jonah,' it is averred (1. c. p. 273), 'was not swallowed at once, but sank to the bottom of the sea, God preserving him in life there by miracle, as He did in the fish's belly; then . . . when he seemed already buried in the sea, Grod prepared the fish to swallow him.' Does this gratuitous addition of a new miracle solve the difficulties ? It seems to create greater ones. According to that interpretation — ingenious, we admit — the sea is 'the pit' (nn^ ver. 7); this pit from which Jonah 'was raised' is to foreshadow Christ's burial and resurrection; now Jonah is said to have been, besides, three days and three nights in the fish's belly, which also foreshadows Christ's death and resurrection; therefore he was altogether more than three days and three nights in 'the pit,' which would overthrow that typical application upon which divines of the same school lay the greatest stress. And certainly, nn^ cannot at the same time be the depth of the sea vud the belly of the fish, that is, two distinct 'pits.' The matter, though complicated in consequence of the peculiar character of the prayer in relation to the story, is not so hopelessly entang- led as it would be made by such theories and assumptions. These were at least not shared by the Fathers of the Church. 'Grod,' says Chrysostom, 'could as easily have kept Jonah alive in the sea as in the fish's belly; but in order to prefigure the burial of the Lord, He willed him to be within the fish whose belly was as a grave;' and Jerome thus carries out the typical analogy: 'As Jonah passed from the ship into the fish's belly, so Christ from the wood into the tomb or the depth of death' — allowing no intermediate stay in the waves. It is not surprising that these verses are introduced by 'p'?|n]J, which verb indeed commonly signifies to i^ray, but does not necessarily involve a proper supplication, but any devotion or outpouring of the heart before God, and might, therefore, be fitly applied to a hymn of praise and thanks- giving, as in this and other instances (comp. 1 Sam. ii. 1, 'D1 ^2b yb^ "IQNm run i?^Dnni); thus a collection of Psalms, THE PEAYEE. 207 by no means uniformly prayers, is described as ni^DH (Ps. Ixxii. 20), which, according to its etymology from bht) to think or reflect, would mean meditations (comp. Habak. iii. 1, and Hitzig in loc). Ver. 3. Among the many expedients proposed to account for the preterite "TlN'lp I cried, we may mention that of Jerome who refers the invocation to 'that moment when Jonah, thrown into the sea, saw the monster which saved him;' and other ancient interpreters may have understood the past tense in the same doubtful manner (Sept. i^oyjccc . . . koc} i^TjKovasy; Luth. ich rief, etc.). — 'I cried ">'? n~iKD out of my affliction' (the noun with b having the force of the genitive, Grramm. § 86. 8. f, g), equivalent to '>'? nnny? (Ps. cxx. 1) and ''b"^yi (Ps. xviii. 7; 2 Sam. xxii. 7), which analogies prove that rr^H^O is not 'on account' or 'by reason of affliction;' comp. Ps. cxxx. 1, ■j'TlNIp D"'pDVDI2; Lam. iii. 55, '•nNIp niTinn I^DD; Zeph. ii. 11; also Ps. cix. 10. — The sufi'erer, already considering himself lost, called blN^' |DID 'from the womb of the Sheol,' that is, from the interior or depth of the lower world, the meeting place of the dead or the shades (Isai. xiv. 9), or 'of all the living' (Job xxx. 23; comp. Ezek. xxxii. 21, b)^^ ^HD); Sept. sk KotXlag alov] Vulg. de ventre inferi; Luth. aus dem Bauch der Hoile, etc.; the Sheol being elsewhere described as having 'a mouth' or a 'rapacious jaw' (n??, ti^DJ, Ps. cxli. 7; Isa. v. 15); Targ. more vaguely NQlnn niy^iND from the lowest abyss, and similarly Ebn Ezra. The author of the Book may have understood those words like Jerome: ^Yentrem inferi alvum coeti intelligamus, quae tantae fuit magnitudinis, ut instar obtineret inferi;' or like Rashi: ^b b)^t2 Nintl' JIH jDDD (comp. Grotius in loc, 'de ventre qui mihi est vice sepulchri ; sic de vulturis ventre Eunius : "Heu quam crudeli condebat membra sepulchro"'); and this may have partly determined him here to insert the prayer. Very remarkable is Luther's observation on the Sheol: 'What hell is previous to the day of the last judgment, I am not quite certain. That there is a special place where the damned souls now continually are, as the painters paint 208 JONAH II. 3—10. and the carnal slaves ('Bauchdiener') preach, I hold to be nothing. For the devils are not yet in hell (Eph. vi. 12; John xiv. 30). Therefore Scripture employs Sheol to indicate the last anguish of death. In the last days, the matter will, however, be different.' — With great force, the calm statement passes into an invocation, the third into the second person ('•JJ;;''! and n))Dll/). — As additional parallels to this verse may be compared Ps. xxviii. 1, 2, 6; xxx. 4; xxxi. 23; Ixxxviii, 3, 4; cxlii. 2, 3; Isai. Iviii. 9; Lament, iii. 56. Ver. 4. The preceding verse, entering in medias res, con- cisely and clearly stated the whole situation — deliverance from extreme danger. The poet now goes back and first describes the nature of the danger, bl "'JD''b^'nj, 'for Thou hadst cast me into the deep,' depicting the horrid con- dition and the fearful struggle with strong and accumulated traits, and continuing the address to God, since — so the compiler of the Book desired it to be understood — not the sailors, but God who directed their will, threw Jonah into the waves, as these waves are also called His waves, not the sea's; for, observes Luther, Jonah 'feels in his con- science how the sea with its billows serves God and His wrath, to punish sin;' although, according to the narrative, the exceptional fury of the waters had before been appeased and the sea had resumed its normal condition. The verb ''JD"'7li'ri] is therefore the pluperfect, and the vav conversive includes the explanation or reason (Gramm. § 95. 2, 3). — n^^l 33^71 n^^ap, analogous to D^'D^^ nbhn (Exod. xv. 8), is the deep in mid-ocean, far away from the safe coast (comp. Ezek. xxvii. 4, 25; Ps. xlvi. 3, where also the plural U'^'Q^ expressive of vastness of expanse is poetically used in connection with D^; Matt. xii. 40, ev rri Kaphia rr^c yyjc)-^ and D"'D^ DDt'^ is not identical with n^lliD, which accusative is governed by "[h^n, a verb of motion (Gramm. § 102. 1), so that it is unnecessary to supply z from the following Dd'pz (comp. Mic. vii. 19).— The word "iHJ stream or current is here applied to the sea (as in Ps. xxiv. 2), while, on the other hand, D"* occasionally means large streams, and both notions are naturally in other THE PEAYER. 209 languages also interchanged or co-ordinated (comp. Horn. Odyss. xi. 157, Msaaco yap jj.sy6ckoi Trora^ixo) kgc) Isiva psehpx, ^D.K£av6g jxh Trpccrcx. k. r. \.). — The future ''JD^lb^ imports con- temporaneousness with the two preterites between which it is placed (^JD'«biym and n^Vl see Grramm. § 94. 6). — nnzK/?3 properly breakers, and D^^il rolling or toivering waves, both terms graphically describing the wildly agitated waters both near the shore and on the high sea (comp. Ps. cvii. 25 — 27, supra pp. 149, 150; also Ovid, Trist. I. ii. 19, quanti montes volvuntur aquarum, etc, D'»"}2t:'D is rendered by the Sept. jXirmpiGfLol, the Vulg. gurgites, the Targ. ^'TVbWU^, with which word it generally translates "i^^p).— Considering this entire passage, especially the term blNiy jITDD ^from the belly of the Sheol,' a suggestion repeatedly thrown out (by Nachtigall, Maurer, Bunsen, etc.) does not appear to us so preposterous as some have denounced it to be (e. g. E-osenmiiller, Groldhorn, Yerschuir, Bleek, Noldeke) — the suggestion that the author of the Book of Jonah, in framing his narrative, was by this hymn which he had before his eyes, prompted to introduce the incident of the great fish, which he supposed was, or might be, intimated by the words of the prayer. It would be vain to insist upon any such theory, and it would surely be absurd to contend that the phrases alluded to gave rise to the whole Book, since Jonah's adventure in the sea is but a very subordinate feature not at all touching the main object; but ancient and especially Greek literature is replete with stories founded upon significant names or appellations which afi'ord scope for invention and the play of fancy; it suffices to recall Ovid's Metamorphoses and such names as Lycaon, Daphne, Arachne, Syrinx; and metaphors or poetical expressions wrongly or literally interpreted, such as, 'Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon, and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon,' which words were taken from an old anthology of heroic songs, might, among the Hebrews also, have occasioned the most extraordinary narratives, which were then so confidently put forth as plain history that, in the instance quoted, the annalist simply recorded: 'There P 210 JONAH II. 3—10. was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened to the voice of man' (Josh. x. 12 — 14). — 'Water' and 'floods,' 'waves' and 'billows,' are in Hebrew used as figures for peril and misfortune in such a manner that it is often difficult to realise that they are not meant in their literal sense (comp. 2 Sam. xxii. 5, 17; Ps. xviii. 5, 17; xxxii. 6; xlii. 8; Ixix. 2, 3, 15, 16; Ixxxviii. 4, 7, 8, 18; cxxiv. 4, 5; Lam. iii. 54; most of which passages are strictly parallel to that under consideration); and in the present case, the ambiguity is only removed by the addition of a few special traits proving that the danger which menaced the thanksgiver was really that of drowning in the sea (comp. vers. 6, 7 ; and Exod. xv. 5, ID^DD^ nonn). That, on the other hand, water, as the refreshing and fertilising element, is as frequently employed to denote joy, happiness and abundance, has been shown elsewhere (Bible Stud. i. pp. 223, 224). Ver. 5. While God sent such trials, the suppliant was a prey to the gloomiest thoughts: this contrast is signified by ^JN| emphatically placed first; but in this despondency the suff'erer does not remain long; another contrast forces itself upon his mind, and he hastens to express his cheerful confidence that, so far from being expelled from God's presence, he is sure to re-visit His holy abode — for f^^plN "TjiV 'D1 is a determined assertion (not the optative 'modo rursus intuear,' 'o konnt' ich wieder schauen,' Eichhorn, etc.), and ^N iD^Dri'?, for by D''2rh (see Siip7'a p. 129), is to look upon or to behold (comp. Exod. iii. 6 ; Num. xxi. 9 ; also Ps. xxxiv. 6) ; not merely to turn towards the Temple (comp. Dan. vi. 11, D'^Si'n^ "iJlJ), where alone the saved man could present the promised thank- ofi'e rings (ver. 10; comp. Ps. v. 8); nor is it to pray m the direction of the Temple (Kimchi; comp. 1 Ki. viii. 44, TVH ""!" • • • 'P^Dnm; see vers. 29, 30, 35); nor indefinitely to look up to heaven which is God's habitation {Ebn Ezra etc. ; see infra on ver. 8). — That Jonah, a citizen of the kingdom of Israel, intended to worship in the Temple of Jerusalem, would involve no difficulty, even if this prayer THE PEAYER. 211 were not composed without reference to Jonah and possibly by a member of the southern kingdom (comp. Jer. xli. 5 ; 2 Chr. XXX. 11; Hos. iii. 5; also 1 Ki. viii. 38, 'J) DINH b^; Grotius, 'Videbo Templum sanctum tuum: furtim id fiebat a nonnullis, rege Samariae ignorante). — The first half of the verse is almost verbally taken from Ps. xxxi. 23, except that after ■ri'lCJ^ the writer omitted iTDnn in my consternation, which did not seem to harmonise with repose of the prayer, and that he replaced the poetical word "TlpJJ by the easier and more usual ""riLt^^^J (comp. Lam. iii. 54; Isa. xxxviii. 10, 11); while the second half is similar to Ps. v. 8. — The words ^'>j;it' IJilC mean here the earth, or the land of the living, since no one remembers God in the grave, or praises Him in the lower world, or waits there for Eis mercy (Ps. vi. 6 ; XXX. 10; Ixxxviii. 11; cxv. 17; Isa. xxxviii. 18); those words do not refer to heaven {Ehn Ezra), nor to Divine Providence {Targ., Kimchi), nor to the land of Israel {Grotius). — The ad- versative particle TJN for j;dn is here peculiarly appropriate, as it marks a strong opposition, hut on the contrary (comp. Isa. xiv. 15; Ps. xlix. 16, etc.); this contrast would be destroyed by changing 1]N into h^, for which there is no authority {Luther, ich gedachte . . . ich wlirde Deinen heiligen Tempel nicht mehr sehen), or by reading !]N' (for T)"|^?) hoiv? {Hitzig), for which there is no necessity. Vers. 6, 7. The second division of the prayer begins again with a calm, though more specific, picture which leaves no doubt as to the nature of the catastrophe that seemed imminent. Though in the first part of the sixth verse those general terms are used which might be applied to any momentous crisis (see on ver. 4), it is impossible to mis- take the following allusions to the 'sea-weed' (^^D) which enveloped the head, or to 'the ends' or roots and foundations of the mountains (Dnn \3^p) to which the man sank down, and where he considered himself for ever shut out from the earth by impassable barriers — probably the lofty and precipitous cliffs on the coasts — that close it against the Sheol or lower world which is beneath the sea (comp. ver. 3} and 212 JONAH II. 3—10. which, on its part, is secured by bars (Job xvii. 16). These are evidently the poet's notions expressed in this passage, and they harmonise with the 'doors' (D'Tl^l) and 'gates' (niNain), the 'borders' (mDJD) and 'extremities' (D''DDN), which are elsewhere attributed to the sea or earth (Jer. xxv. 32; Job xxxviii. 8, 10, 13; Isa. xl. 28; xli. 5, 9, map, D^b^liN); though we cannot be surprised to find, in other parts of the Hebrew Scriptures, a very different conception of our planet founded on the seas and spread over the waters, on which Grod has clearly marked out its circumference (Ps. xxiv. 2 ; cxxxvi. 6 ; Prov. viii. 27; see Oomm. on Genes, p. 25); and there is cer- tainly no reason for altering ^"iNH (in ver. 7) into blNii^ (Eivald). Yet from that pit, or Sheol (nn\lf), the proximity of which he felt, the sufferer was allowed to return to the regions of light and life — and he condenses the fulness of his gratitude in the single exclamation: "'H'^N ^1^^ — As here ivater penetrates 'to the soul' (li'3:-l^), that is, to the seat of life, causing its extinction (comp. Ps. Ixix. 2; Targ. ly NHID; Ebn Ezra, moi? ^tt^DJ r]^^:in IV, Kimchi, HN^^ DyiDDSt' "^ i^DJ ODD; De Wette, "Wasser umringten mich bis zum Tode, etc.), so elsewhere the sword (Jer. iv. 10, 3"in H^'JJ t^D^M "ly). — nlnri, the abyss, is the vast and unfathomable sea itself (Gen. vii. 11; viii. 2; Ps. xxxiii. 7, etc.). — The sea-weed (f^^D, alga marina, (pvKog, fucus natans Lin., sarguago, Meer- tang), which occurs in the manifold varieties of fucus lati- folius, crispus, trinodis, turbinatus, papillosus, etc., abounds in the Mediterranean and the Arabic Gulf, where it gave the Hebrew name to the Red Sea (?)1D D^ ; comp. Acts vii. 36; Hebr. xi. 29), often covers vast surfaces resembling green meadows, especially during and after gales (comp. Hirt. Bell. Afric. 24; Ovid, Heroid. xviii (xvii). 108, nee magis illius numerari gaudia noctis, Hellespontiaci quam maris alga potest), and is, of course, most dangerous to men swim- ming or floating — and sometimes even to ships — by entangling them in their inextricable masses (comp. Plin. Nat. Hist. ix. 16 or 25; xiii. 25 or 48; xxvi. 14 or 88; xxvii. 6 or 24; xxxii. 6 or 22, 9 or 36; Strabo, xvi. p.- 773; Delile in Descrip- THE PEAYEE. 213 tion de I'Egypte, Tome xix. p. 113, and planches 54 — 58). It was utilised in various ways. By the people on the shores of the Hellespont and Propontis it was dried and, mixed with mould, employed for covering or terracing roofs of houses; on the north coast of Africa, it was in times of want given as food to beasts, after having been thoroughly soaked in sweet water (Caes. Bell. Afric. c. 24); and by the ^Turtle-eaters' (Chelonophagi) on the Arabian Gulf, who hollowed out 'the lofty and hill-like piles' thrown forth by the sea, it was not unfrequently used as dwellings (Strabo, 1. c. rov (f)VKovg . . . ^/vac v^pyjkac Ka) Xo(l)dohsig 'jrotovvrog^ comp. also Diod. Sic. 'iii. 19). But it should not be confounded with the rush or flag (alga nilotica, so here Luther incorrectly 'Schilf'), in Hebrew likewise called ^^D (Exod. ii. 3, 5; Isa. xix. 6) and in Egyptian sari or sarix)ha (Plin. Nat. Hist. xiii. 23 or 45), which grows, in dense thickets, on the hcmks of rivers, especially the Nile, and in the marshy districts of Egypt, but not at the bottom of seas ; it is probably the plant ^j^> given for fjio by Niehuhr (Beschreibung von Arabien, p. xliii) and explained by Freytag, after older authorities, as 'juncus idiomate Iracensi non Arabico^ or as 'storea ex papyro facta.' Comp. Cels. Hierob. ii. 64 — 69; Bochart, Greograph, Sacra, lib. iv., c. 29; JablonsH, Panth. Aeg. ii. 150 — 153; Opusc. i. 266; Michael. Supplem. p. 1726; Gesen. Thesaur. pp. 943, 944, etc.. However, some older translators read r]lD instead of niD; and so render the Si/riac ^tl^n tJ^DHriN NDH nntyNin 'at the extreme end of the sea my head was tied up;' and the Septuagint a^vaaog iKv/ckuaiv jxs zayarri, joining f^lD "'JDDD'' DMn, which necessitated other alterations, since the Se'pt. con- tinues, £^u -q Kc(f)akyj fLov eig ayjaixovg opiuv, representing the Hebrew words Dnn ^'2'^pb "'ti'Nl'P tynn, but it then returns to the Masoretic text, which is in every respect preferable, and which the translators, if their version be literal, must have had before them very greatly corrupted. Some explain F]1D D^ curiously as meaning ^1D Di, the sea of Pharaoh'' s end or destruction; the Vulg. gives simply, pelagiis operuit caput meum ; but most interpreters have correctly tveed or sea-weed. 214 JONAH II. 3 — 10. The Targum, in rendering ''l^^^'C b^^ ^bn ^1D1 ND"" 'the sea- weed Sea was suspended over my head/ points to a Jewish tradition, explicitly stated by the E-abbins, contending that God showed Jonah the E,ed Sea and, for his comfort and en- couragement, allowed him to behold how the Israelites passed over the dry bed in safety; for the fish's eyes were like windows through which the prophet was able to see all that happened in the waters, while the monster had in its interior a large jewel luminous like the sun (Yalkut, Jon. § 550, where also the meeting of the fish with the Leviathan is circumstan- tially narrated, besides many other wonders; Rashi inloc. ; PJiilo, De Jon. c. 21, 'ecce enim . . . per oculos ejus video perque alas moveor . . . et video mundum sicut in speculo;' c. 42, 'per ceti oculos sicut alienum novumque vidi mun- dum . . . Leviathan autem opponens corpus suum gurgiti globulis operiebat loca discerpta,' etc.); while some fancied that the Ked Sea extends to, and mingles its floods with, 'the sea at Joppa' (comp. Ebn Ezra and Kimc-Jii quoting Japheth). — According to the tenour of the Book, the sea- weeds did not cling round the head of Jonah, but of the fish; which discrepancy, however, the author could hardly deem of much importance in a poetical composition. — 2^p_^ (from DlJp kindred with ^iJn, DDPl, DDp to cut or cut offy 2 Ki. vi. 6) is the end; therefore Dnn "iDlip (some manu- scripts write ^lap) is the depths or the bottom of the sea, where the mountains end or have their bases or roots (the nnn ""TDID, Ps. xviii. 8, comp. ver. 16). The Sejpt., though adhering to the etymology of the word, introduces a different notion in rendering (sxig[xcci hpiio-j 'clefts of mountains' (and so Herder, Kliifte der Berge, etc.); -some understand 'the canals' or 'sources' at the foot of mountains, by which the sea is fed {Michael), others 'the submarine caverns beneath the mountains' {Grotius)\ the rest translate correctly, if vaguely {Targ., Kimchi Ni-iltO np^V> %»"• N~Vl31 JImHu^'N, Vulg. extrema montium; Eivald, De Wette, Grriinde, etc.). — pNH precedes in an absolute sense, to direct attention to that which is affirmed of the earth, and which is indeed sufficiently THE PEATER. 215 remarkable, as we have above explained (comp. Gramn]. §. 75, 5). As 'the bars' (DTinD, which are hardly 'the coral reefs which run along all that shore'), involve the idea of shutting up or shutting out, the poet uses the preposition "i;;^ common in connection with "iJD and similar verbs (Gen. vii. 16; Judg. iii. 22, 23; 2 Ki. iv. 4, 5, 33; Isa. xxvi. 20, etc.). Many translations are deficient in clearness and precision ; so Sept. quite generally sic yr^y -^g ol [xo-{ko\ odiTr^Q Kccroypi aioi'Jioi-, Yulg. not accurately, terrae vectes concluserunt me; Targ. NnDpinn n^JlJ N;;iN, etc.; but aptly Be Wette, der Erde Riegel schlossen sich hinter mir fiir ewig ; similarly explains Ebn Ezra: 'the earth closed its bars behind me, so that I was unable to escape and to return to the earth;' and Kimchi, embracing the whole situation: 'at first I believed that the earth or the firm land was shut out from me, so that I could never set foot upon it again, since the sea would become my grave; but now, as I live in the belly of the fish, I know that Thou wilt save me from death and wilt bring me back to the dry land.' — The noun DHtj has here not, if it has at all, the abstract meaning of destruction or corruption (so Sept, (f)hopa, Yulg. corruptio, Chald. and Syr. N^in), but that of pit (Ps. vii. 16; Job ix. 31, etc.) or 'Sheol,' from which the poet had been saved (comp. Ps. xvi. 10; xxx. 4, 10; ciii. 4; Job xvii. 13, 14; xxxiii. 24). — 'Thou hast brought my life (^^n) from the grave,' that is, me (like ^It'D^, etc.; Gramm. § 78. 6. d). Ver. 8. The third or concluding division of the prayer, though once more referring to the disaster and the rescue, lays chiefly stress upon God as the Deliverer, compared to whom all other deities are shadows, vanities or 'nonen- tities,' and to whom alone thanks are due; and this gratitude should be evinced by praise, by sacrifices, and by vows faithfully redeemed. Thus each time beginning with the main theme and then continuing in some new direction, the prayer sustains a skilful combination of repose and progress, of unity and variety. — ^D^, properly to cover or to be covered or clothed (Ps. Ixxiii. 6; Ixv. 14), is more especially to be 216 JONAH n. 3—10. covered as with a cloud of despondency, or to faint and despair, and it is so used both in Kal (Ps. Ixi. 3 ; cii. 1 ; Isa. lvii» 16), Niphal (Lam. ii. 11), and most frequently in Hithpael, in phrases exactly analogous to this passage? 10DJ ^h^} ^toynnz Vhen my soul fainted within me' (Ps. Ixxvii. 4; cvii. 5; cxlii. 4; cxliii. 4; Lam. ii. 12), the con- struction with b^ referring figuratively to the mist or veil that is icpon or over the sufferer, or 'the film which comes over his eyes.' Quite similar to ^LO;;nn, both in the original and metaphorical meanings, is ^':';'nn (Grreek KockvTrroo) to languish, used in a later part of this Book (iv. 8 ; comp. Gen. xxxviii. 14; Am. viii. 13; also Isa. Ii. 20). The Sept. renders iv ru sKk£t'7T£i-j TTjV i^^x'^v J^ov ; Vulff. cum augustlaretur ; Tarff. 0V^^PiZj^2 in languishing or fainting; Luther, Herder, De Wette, verzagen, etc. — Heaven is indeed not unfrequently called God's 'abode' or 'dwelling place' (1 Ki. viii. 30, 39, 43; Ezek. iii. 12, etc.) and His 'holy palace' {Wy_^ bD^ri, Ps. xi. 4 ; xviii. 7 ; xxix. 9), to which men's prayers ascend, and so this term has here been understood by many (as Jerome, Kimchi, Abarbanel, Grotius, 'coeli imaginem gerebat Templum Hierosolymitanum,' etc.); but as it occurs in a preceding verse (the fifth) in the meaning of Temple, which the writer hopes again to behold, it is more appropriately taken in the same signification here also, especially as the allusion to sacrifices and vows, which immediately follows (ver. 10), plainly points to an earthly sanctuary (comp. Ps. v. 8; Ixxix. 1, etc.), — Further parallels to the second part of the verse are 1 Ki. viii. 30, 38, 39; Ps. xviii. 7; Ixxxviii. 2, 30; cii. 2. Ver. 9. As it seems certain that the prayer was composed independently of the narrative of the Book of Jonah, and considerably earlier, the words 'those that serve lying vanities' {^W ^b^n nn^S^D) cannot be interpreted as a con- temptuous reference to the heathen mariners of the ship from which Jonah had been removed; they occur almost literally in a previous Psalm also (Ps. xxxi. 7, ""'^pn D''"}P^»] N]K/), and they would, in this sense, be singularly heartless THE PEAYEE. 217 and unjust in the mouth of Jonah, who had not only been treated by the sailors with the utmost consideration but had witnessed their sincere readiness in acknowledging Jahveh's dominion and acting in accordance with His direc- tions. It is, therefore, most unlikely that those terms were by the author of the Book understood in such an invidious sense, although they have, it is painful to observe, been so inter- preted by not a few Jewish and Christian authorities persistently denying to pagans the possibility of religious or moral excellence. Instead of giving vent to a legitimate and holy indignation at the fatal blindness and folly of ido- latry, the poet is supposed to say in true pharasaical spirit: 'the people on the ship cling to their lying gods; for I know that, as soon as they shall have been delivered from their danger, they will abandon their repentance, and will cease to fear and invoke Jahveh; they will not keep what they have vowed and will surely return to their idols; but I am not so, for I shall sacrifice to God with the voice of praise' (so Kimchi, and similarly Ebn Ezra, Michaelis, etc.). — Considering the context, it appears that the rather obscure words 0'(}}\ D"npn can hardly be rendered otherwise than 'they forget their kindness,' that is, they quickly and heed- lessly forget the mercies they have enjoyed; DTy taken in the sense of deserting, or dismissing, viz. from their thoughts, and the suffix in □'HDn as equivalent to a genitivus objectivus, analogous to the phrase 1)1 ">"ipn (in Isa. Iv. 3) 'the bene- fits conferred upon, or enjoyed by, David' (not as in 2 Chr. vi. 42; comp. Gramm. § 87. 2; Rashi, riND DHi^lLDI DIDH bj DTV"" T]"2pn). The supplicant declares: I was in distress, I prayed, and was saved; and now, unlike the idolaters who gracelessly forget the bounties they have received, I shall evince my gratitude to Jahveh by the voice of praise and by sacred gifts. The usual translation, 'those that worship lying vanities, forsake God, the Bestower of mercies' or of deliver- ance, is a languid tautology or truism, disregards the suffix in D^pn, since Jahveh is not the god of idolaters, and assumes a meaning of Tpn as God, for which there is no 218 JONAH II. 3—10. authority (in Ps. cxliv. 2 the word is signalised and made intelligible in this sense by the following synonyms imiao 'D) "iDJlti^D); a common rendering, Hhey give up their kindness' or 'their piety,' has been suggested by the unfair and unwarranted view referred to, that the sailors, after a brief impulse of benevolence, soon returned to their usual cruelty and ferocity (IDPI 211) being explained as coinciding with iDn ion Ps. Ixxxix. 34, and as the opposite of ipn ~ii2^' Deut. vii. 9, 12, etc.; comp. Gren. xxiv. 27; Puth ii. 20); while other interpretations "svliich have been proposed are either indistinct or quite hazardous; so Sept. sXeoc avrcov syKaTsXiTro^; Vidff. misericordiam suam derelinquunt ; Tarffmn, 'idolaters are ignorant of the source whence come the benefits bestowed upon them;' S?/7'. following the easier reading ^~pn, 'they desert Thy kindness' ("jm^DniD); Luth. verlassen ihre Grnade; Ve Dieii,^ misericordiam eorum deserunt, i. e. nemo ipsorum misereri solet sive miserescat;' Michael, 'werden ihreFrommig- keit verlassen;' Herder, 'irren umher erbarmungslos ;' EichJwim, 'verlasst ihr giitig Wesen;' Hitzig, very questionably, 'die stossen ihr Gllick von sich, i. e., sie geben alle Gnade und Liebe auf, die ihnen irgend werden konnte;' similarly Am- heim, 'verzichten auf ihre Gnade;' PirJce Rah. Eliezer curiously, 'the mariners will no longer show kindness to idolaters, but will become Jews;' other Pabbinical inter- preters, 'they abandon their idols, which are an abomination (non) and impurity' (n^DJ). — ^The circumstance that the Piel of "iDty occurs in this one instance only, is no reason for altering Di^iDl^D into i2''1Db'ri, in accordance with the parallel passage Ps. xxxi. 7, of which that before us is probably an imitation; the verb "iDK^ in the sense of icorshipjnng or serving is itself of very rare occurrence (comp. Hos. iv. 10): Dnsti^?^, instead of nSK^C, the participle retaining the force of the verb (Gramm. § 100. 2). — Idols are frequently called Dvnn vanities (Deut. xxxii. 21; 1 Ki. xvi. 13, 26; Jer. x. 8), or collectively "pDH (Jer. xvi. 19; li. 18), with emphasis t^DHn (2 Ki. xvii. 15; Jer. ii. 5; comp. Comm. on Levit. i. 397); and in order to express this notion with the greatest force, THE PEAYEE. 219 the word Di^DH, in the construct state, is followed by the synonymous term i; Uip It^UD ""^'DJ IJZ"}^-; ^P^^J Auth. Vers, as above, De Wette, bei Jehova ist Eettung, Ewald das Heil ist Jahveh's, etc.). — Those who consider this ode an expression of gratitude for Jonah's safe reception in the fish's belly (p. 205), are compelled to render nnzTN and HO^.ti^N, as optatives, T would fain sacrifice' and 'pay;' for 'it did not 220 JONAH in. 1—3. depend upon him; without a further miracle of Grod, he could do nothing' (so Pusey in loc.) : but those verbs express in this context (comp. ver. 9) rather a strong will and deter- mination on the part of the poet, and a wish only in so far that he may be able soon to visit the Temple (ver. 5). — It is not remarkable that this earnest prayer of a pious Israelite concludes almost with the same promises as those of the mariners (i. 16); it is not enough to say that 'devoted service in the creature is one and the same, although diverse in degree;' for the author represents the mariners, after they had once learnt to revere the God of Israel, in every sense as pious Israelites; he knows no 'diversity of degree' between the religion of Hebrew and heathen, provided only that the name of Jahveh is acknowledged and understood. — nnj^lit'] (Ps. iii. 3) for the more usual Ti'^W^y like ."liTlT^ (Ps. xliv. 27), nnni,^ (cxx. 1), nriD^D (Hos. viii. 7), for n")T3<^ etc. — There are many close parallels, some of which are doubtless the originals of the verse before us, as Ps. 1. 14 (-^mj ]vbvb D^Ef] n-in n^li^N^ npl, the phrase n?j min being more pregnant than mui t'lpi: n2T); cxvi. 14, 17, 18 (more diffuse than this verse); iii. 9 {r\))W^'r[ m.T'?); Ixxxviii. 2; comp. also xlii. 5: 1. 23; Ixii. 2; Ixv. 2; cxxiv. 8; Hos. xiv. 3; Xah. ii. l("!n"i: ^rh\i!)\ Eev. vii. 10 {-^ gut'/j- 8. NEW CHAEGE. III. 1 — 3. 1. And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, 2. Arise, go to ISTineveh, the great city, and preach to it the preaching that I bid thee. 3. So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Xineveh was a great city before Grod, of •three days' journey. The narrative, having been enriched by a fine though not in all respects appropriate psalm, is now resumed in NEW CHAEGE. 221 its even tenour. Jonah, safely brougM to the firm land, is again commissioned by God to repair as a prophet to the great heathen town in the east. But is this second charge exactly identical with the first? The two coincide only to a certain point, and the manifest difference be- tween them reveals the innermost kernel of the Book and its teaching. The first time God had directed Jonah quite generally, 'Arise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach against it;' and in order to furnish to him at least some hint as to the required spirit of his orations. He had added as generally, 'for their wickedness is come up before Me.'^ But in giving the second charge, God enjoins distinctly, 'and preach to it the preaching that I bid thee ;' and it soon becomes clear that He puts into the prophet's mouth the precise and special announce- ment, 'Yet forty days^ and Nineveh shall be overthrown.'^ At first, Jonah was only a messenger sent to warn and to exhort, and to dwell on God's displeasure and inevit- able retribution ; but now he is an inspired proclaimer of God's decrees and councils, in which he is initiated by his Divine Master's particular grace. He had sinned and has made atonement; and through the power of repentance not only are his transgressions pardoned, but his privileges extended. He had fallen and has risen higher, and his mind is restored to a fuller barmony.*^ Thus the Book discloses the completest unity of design; the same important idea pervades even those parts which seem to tend into divergent directions, or seem to have but a distant connection with the main interest of the story ; for Jonah's sin, expiation, and forgiveness are not less strongly marked than the corresponding stages in the reformation of the Ninevites. It is thus not only a matter of course but of intrinsic a Su:pra i. 2. ^ Vers. 2, 4. *^ Philo, Be Jona c. 3, Commen- dans autem ei solam animarum salutem, quum mitteret ad salutem hominum hominem, ilium primum sanavit, qui medicum despiciebat. 222 JONAH Hi. 1—3. necessity that, as soon as God had repeated His com- mand, 'Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.'^ Just as Balak, unwarned by the distinct refusal given to his first envoys, and impor- tuning God and His prophet Balaam by a second and more pressing embassy, brought upon himself destruction, so, on the contrary, was Jonah saved by heeding the Divine rebuke and was enabled to resume his noble mission with a joyful heart.^ It is indeed of interest and importance to ascertain at what period such pure and refined notions prevailed among the Hebrews. Their germs and roots, no doubt, reach back into the remote past, since they appear, as we have seen, even in the Book of Balaam written in the reign of David. But they grew and were developed almost without check or fluc- tuation, till, in the misfortunes and sad trials of the Babylonian and Persian epochs, they attained their full depth and comprehensiveness, and received a worthy, if not quite adequate, embodiment in a systematic legisla- tion on expiatory offerings, which is the crowning stone of Israel's liturgic history.*^ Within the Persian period we believe the Book of Jonah also to have been composed. Everything points unmistakably to this conclusion. It is not the circumstance that Jonah nowhere signalises himself as the writer of the work and is, by its whole tenour, even excluded from the authorship;^ nor is it the expression occuring in these verses that 'Nineveh ivas (nn]n) a great city,' which, according to all sound rules of interpretation, must be understood to imply that, in the author's time, Nineveh existed no longer,^ but lived, in the adornments ^ Comp. Jer. xiii. 1, 2. " M37 jSovXofisvoy hsafjLUTTiy Tzaps- TTsiJL-^s Qsog, says Theodoret (Hist. Rel. c. iv) entirely against the flight, as this offence was absolutely effaced. ^ See Comm. on Lev. i. 249 sqq. ^ Comp. Eicald, Propheten, ii. spii-it of the narrative, which adds | 559; Hitzig 1. c. p. 158, etc.; see not even a single word of censure i infra. or admonition in reference to the 1 ^ Nineveh was indeed not de- NEW CHARGE. 223 of tradition, as a prodigy of extent and splendour;^ but it is particularly the language which, though appropriate, graphic and precise, and often even marked by poetic vividness and beauty, betrays throughout a very late stage of Hebrew.^ Nineveh proper,*^ on the left bank of the Tigris opposite Mosul, at the site of the later hamlet of Kouyunjik (destroyed in 1836), where the magnificent remains of the palaces of Sennacherib and his grandson Assur-bani-pal have been uncovered, formed an irregular trapezium comprising about 1800 English acres,^ traversed by the rivulet Khoser from north to south-west, where it enters the Tigris. The longest or the western and eastern walls were, respectively, 10,500 and 7,800 feet long, while the northern side was 6,000, and the southern only 2,620 feet long. The circumference amounted therefore to not quite 27,000 feet, or about five EngHsh miles, to which the not inconsiderable suburbs must be added. « But the district of Nineveh, or Nineveh in a wider sense, was com- stroyed by Cyaxares (B. C. 625), for Herodotus (i. 106) merely says that the Medes 'captured' it (t^v ts NTvov slXov; comp. ii. 150), and Athenaeus (xii. 39) states that Cyrus 'laid siege' to the town (Kvoov h T'Tj -izokiopKLcc K.r.X.); but after that time it seems to have been in ruins, since Xenophon, passing those regions, mentions the walls and mounds of Mespila, but not Nineveh (see infra note cl). ^ Comp. Jah7i, Einleit. ii. 2, p. 635; and on the other hand, Bertholdt, Einleitung, v. 1, p. 2400. ^ See Philol. Eemarks. ^ mJ^J settlement, of the root nU to dtcell, whence in Hebrew TT m^ and niJ habitation (Isa. xxxii. VT T T 18; Job. viii. 6), with the praefor- mative J. Other, but less probable, derivations are given in SchenkeVs Bibel-Lexicon, Art. Niniveh; and conjectures concerning the relative position of Nineveh, Kesen and Calah, ihid. Art. Assyrien (p. 268). ^ If the 'deserted castle' Mespila of Xenophon (Anab. III. iv. 10), supposed to be identical with the present Yarumjah, really marks the site of ancient Nineveh (Ains- worth, Travels, ii. 142 sqq.; Tuch, De Nino urbe, pp. 41—45, 59), its circumference would be greater, for Xenophon states it at six pa- rasangs or four and a half geogra- phical miles. ^ Comp. Ainsworth, Travels, ii. 137_146 ; i2zc7t, Babylon and Perse- polis, pp. 171 sqci.; Narrative, ii. 224 JONAH III. 1 — 3. posed of that oblong square which is formed by Kouyunjik in the west, Khorsabad in the north, Karamles in the south-east, and a i^oint on the Tigris about five miles north of the mouth of the river Zab or of Nimroud (the old Resen), and it was about fifty-five English miles in cir- cumference.^ The extent of that area, covering about 200 English square miles, is certainly large enough to hold a population of 600,000 or 700,000 souls.^ If it were certain that the author meant by 'Nineveh' this complex aggregate of towns, his statements might, at least partially, be harmonised with those facts ascer- 29 — 65; Tuch, De Nino urbe, pp. 46—63, also pp. 22—25, 39— 41; etc. ^ Viz. from Kouyunjik to Khor- sabad 12 miles, from Khorsabad to Karamles 15, from Karamles to the Tigris 13, and thence north- ward to Kouyunjik 15 miles. This agrees nearly with the account of Dio- dorus Siculus (ii. 3), who states the circuit at 480 stadia (or ab. 55 miles); see Comm. on Genes, pp. 260 — 262, 294 — 298, where we have explained that Nimroud, which is about 20 miles south of Mosul, can hardly have been included in the j)arallelo- gram, and much less Kalah- Sherghat (the ancient Calah), which lies about 33 miles south of Nimroud. We see no reason for changing the identification of Nimroud with Resen in favour of that of Nimroud and Calah. It is liighly improbable that there should be no trace what- ever left of Eesen, which is em- phatically described as 'the great city' (Gen. x. 12), although the name has not yet been discovered in the inscriiDtions, and although it was probably the oldest of the Assyrian settlements, the town hav- ing been founded by Shalmanezer I. about B. C. 1300. Arabic writers stDl call Nimroud 'the destroyed Assyria' {k >lj-i\ ^y^\). Comp. F. Jones, Topography of Nineveh etc. 1855; M. v. Niebtihr, Ge- schichte Assur's und Babel's seit Phul (1857), pp. 274 sqq.; Layard, Nineveh, ii. 242 — 249, and Ai't. Nineveh in Encyclopaed. Britan. 8th ed., vol. xvi.; B.Ferguson, Nine- veh and its ruins ; James Ferguson, The Palaces of Nineveh and Perse- polis restored ; J. BlacMiirn, Nine- veh, its rise and ruin ; Victor Place, Ninive et I'Assyrie, avec des essais de restauration par F. Thomas; Spiegel in Herzog's E.eal-Encycl. XX. 219—225; H. Weissenhorn, Ninive und sein Gebiet; Watten- iach, Ninive und Babylon, etc. ^ M. V. Niebuhr (1. c. pp. 277, 278), like F. Jones, in prolonging the district southward to Nimroud, takes the circuit at 90 miles, and the area at 400 square miles; so also Keil and others, who suppose Nimroud to have been the royal residence in Jonah's time. NEW CHAEGE. 225 tained through recent Assyrian researches; for the fifty-five miles of the circuit of ^Nineveh' would be about a three days' journey, since according to Herodotus ^ a day's journey was considered to be 150 stadia or between 17 and 18 niiles,^ and supposing that the prophet entered the district at the south-western point on the Tigris, one day's journey along this river northward would bring him to Kouyunjik, where he would naturally pause and rest, and where the king would learn the particulars of Ms mission. But it should be observed that, even if Kouyunjik was the royal residence at that time, Khor- sabad, or Dur-Sarrukin,^ that is, Sargon's town, was only founded by this king (B. C. 715), or about a cen- tury after Jonah.^ Moreover, the three days' journey doubt- less refers, not to the circumference, but to the diameter of the town,e which, from the south-western point to Khorsabad, is hardly five-and-twenty miles/ And lastly, the author most probably meant by ^Nineveh,' not the combination of towns and settlements referred to, but merely Nineveh proper or Kouyunjik, which was known to later Hebrew authors as the seat of the Assyrian monarchs in the time of their greatest power.? King Sennacherib especially, ^ V. 53. ^ Iniv. J 01, however, Herodotus computes a day's joiu-ney at 200 stadia or 23 miles; while Assyrio- logists state it at about 14 miles. *^ Dur-Sarhin, Dur-Sarhayan. Comp. Sargon's Inscription of Khorsabad, §. 45 (Rec. of the Past, ix. 18): 'Nisroch, Sin, Samas, Nebo, Bin, Ninip and their great spouses who procreate eternally in the lofty temple of the upper and the nether world, blessed the splendid wonders, the superb streets in the town of Dui'-Sarkin.' *^ See infra Pliilol. Remarks. ^ According to Diodorus (ii. 3), the length of the town was 150 stadia, or one day's joimiey. C. Nie- buhr (Reisebeschreibung nach Arab, etc., ii. 353), writing in the year 1766, observes that, in the opinion of the Christians at Mosul, the area of Nineveh extended from Kadikand to Jeremdsja (Yarumjah), two villages on the Tigris about nine or ten English miles apart. ? Comp. 2 Ki. xix. 36; Isa. xxxvi. 37; Nah. i— iii; Zeph.ii. 13; see infra p. 239. On the monuments, it is admitted on all hands, the name Ninua is 'exclusively given 226 JONAH in. 1 — 3. who in one of his inscriptions calls it *the exalted city of Bel, the city beloved by Ishtar, within which dwells the worship of all the gods and goddesses,' his 'mighty stronghold and the seat of his majesty,' who promoted the health and comfort of the people by bringing streams of pure water into the city and by opening in the plain more than forty springs which were divided into irrigating canals, and who finally boasted to have made the streets of the town 'as splendid as the sun,' while he designated his new palace with a name meaning 'one without equal,'* did much to spread the fame of Nineveh's magnificence to all parts of Asia.^ If we are correct in our supposi- tion, the figures given in the text may be excused as the natural hyperboles of a writer who lived long after the virtual destruction of the city, and who, moreover, was anxious to enhance the impressiveness of his story and lesson by dwelling on the vastness of the population whose fate depended on their moral regeneration. PHTLOLOGiCAii Eemaeks. — Though the embodiment of the Book among the prophetic writings is sufficiently accounted for by the fact that it treats of the mission of a renowned prophet, it is probable that the compilers of the Canon con- sidered it to be the work of Jonah himself (comp. the remark- able paraphrase of the Chaldee translator in Nahum i. 1: ^Oracle of the cup of malediction to be drunk by Nineveh, mrj n^ nNp;i'Nt? DI^I D3 bl2D, against which town Jonah the son of Amittai of Gath-hepher had prophesied before, when to the locality of Kouyunjik and Nebbi Yunas,' being about eight miles in circuit; and Sargon repeat- edly mentions his own new city Khorsabad as 'near to Nineveh,' or as designed to 'resemble Nineveh' (Mmant, Annales desKoisd'Assyrie, pp. 196, 197, 202). * Zakdi nu isha. ^ See Bellino's CyHnder, Hnes 35—64 (Eec. of the Past, i. 28— 32); Bavian Inscription of Senna- cherib, lines 6 — 34 (Eec. ix. 23 — 26), where Sennacherib's efforts to supply the town with drinking water and to improve the irrigation of the arable land round Nineveh by feeding and utilising the river Khoser, are fully set forth with par- ticular satisfaction. NEW CHARGE. 227 it repented of its sins; but as it fell again into wickedness, Nahum of Beth-koshi prophesied also against it, as is written in this Book'); and the same view has been adopted by many and even recent interpreters (as Staudlin, Pareau, Ackermann, and nearly all those who take the narrative to be literally true (supra p. 187 note e; comp. also Carpzov, Introd. iii. 356, ^Jona ergo vaticinii quod prae manibus habemus autor creditus semper fuit, nee est cur dubitemus,' explaining the circumstance that Jonah is spoken of in the third person, as generally in the case of other prophets, by the remark, ^quum non principes essent operum suorum autores sed Spiritus Sancti solum amanuenses;' see on this point, Fusey 1. c. pp. 248, 249, 'to ordinary men it would be conceit or hypocrisy to write of themselves in the third person . . . the men of God were writing of the things of God'). From Spinoza's brief observation, 'Jonae non nisi prophetiae de Ninivitis describuntur, quum tamen etiam Israelitis prophetaverit' (Tractat. Theolog. polit. x. 1 5), it is neither possible to infer with certainty that he considered the Book a work of Jonah, nor that he considered it a mere fragment; though Calvin (Argumentum in Prophetam Jonam) and other theologians conclude from the first word (1."!"')) that this narrative of a heathen mission was originally added to Jonah's earlier oracles relating to the Hebrews ('there was, moreover,' as if God had said to Jonah in effect, 'After seeing how fruitless is the work of the prophets in Israel, try what it will effect in the metropolis of heathen- dom') ; or that it was added to the oracles of other prophets {Fusey on i. 1) ; and this idea has been expanded into the theory that the use of the copula shows 'a consciousness on the part of the writer' that he was composing matter which would connect itself organically with previously existing records ; that it is, in fact, 'an interesting indication of a continuous literary consciousness subsisting among the Jehovists of the Israelite nation' (Huxtable 1. c. p. 585) — all which insinuating speculations are, however, overthrown by the simplest grammatical facts (see supra p. 119). — 228 JONAH III. 1—3. Among the many reasons adduced in support of the author- ship of Jonah, the strangest are those derived from his true or supposed character. *He has exhibited himself in his infirmities,' observes Pusey (1. c. p. 249), ^such as no other but himself would have drawn a prophet of God;' and the same idea has been more fully carried out by another recent commentator who insists that it Vould have been a wanton sacrifice of a prophet's religious character, without a parallel, if a real and eminent prophet, such as Jonah is otherwise known to have been, had been represented as so foolish, so much out of harmony with the mind of God, as he here appears, if he had not in fact so proved himself;' and 'since the delineation which the Book gives of Jonah's beha- viour is so highly unfavourable to his character, it com- mends itself to our sense of fitness that it should have proceeded from no other pen than his own;' thus the Book is 'a frank and self-humiliating confession, and by the very act of penning it, Jonah at once emerges out of his former character, and appears to our view not merely as a pro- phet, but as a remarkably humble and noble-spirited saint' (Huxtahle 1. c. pp. 579, 580, 582; see also Delitzsch in Zeit- schrift von Rudelbach and Guericke, 1840, pp. 112 — 126, who seems to have first suggested this idea by the remark that Jonah wrote the Book under a deep sense of shame and by compulsion of the Holy Ghost, to serve at once as a confession of sins after his repentance and as a type of the future Messiah, 'through whom alone the believers even in the eras of the Old Testament found salvation'). It may suffice to observe with reference to these theories, that it seems psychologically im]30ssible that he who acted in the petty manner set forth in the fourth chapter, should be the same person with him who conceived and wrote the grand rebuke at the conclusion; and that the entire narrative betrays no trace whatever of confessions, such as pious Hebrews were wont to make in the strongest and most ex- plicit terms, and are found in a distinct class of Psalms. — The opinon that the Book was incorporated in the Canon in order to NEW CHAEGE. 229 complete the number of tivelve minor prophets (Noldeke), has little probability. It would, however, be inadmissible to infer the post- captivity composition of the Book from its universalistic tendency (Schrader in De "Wette's Einleitung, § 292), or to assign it to 'a period when the frozen bands of Jewish exclusiveness began to give way under the genial warmth of the approaching Sun of E-ighteousness' (Beard), or to attribute it, for a similar reason, not to a Hebrew, but to a Phoenician, a Syrian, or Chaldee writer, or to a proselyte, or at least to a man of the northern kingdom of Israel ^where freer views of religion prevailed' (Bohme)', since, as we shall soon have opportunity of showing, the most liberal aspirations strongly manifested themselves among'the Hebrews even in early periods. Nor is it possible to place the origin of the Book so far down as the age of the Ptolemies {e.g. Vatke, Bibl. Theolog. i. 580, who puts it in the third century, like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chonicles, as belonging 'to the latest writings of the Old Testament, but not yet breathing that fanatical hatred against the Grentiles which, from the end of the third century, was aroused by the oppressions and persecu- tions of the Syrians'), or, more hazardously still, the age of the Maccabees, which view is doubly unjustified if sup- ported by the assertion that the author wrote at a time when the national barriers had fallen and Judaism more and more abandoned its seclusion from the Gentiles (so Hitzig 1. c. p. 162); because, in the centuries immediately after the Babylonian exile, the seclusion of the Jews from heathen contact was more scrupulously upheld than at any previous epoch (see siq^ra pp. 55, 85. The same critic's con- jecture that 'the legendary and adventurous spirit of the narrative' points to Egypt, the land of wonders, as its home, has as little foundation as his theory that the oracle of Obadiah was written by the same author and in the same country; comp. his 'Orakel iiber Moab,' pp. 36 — 38). That the work existed at the end of the third century B. C, is indubitable from the quotations in the Book of Tobit (xiv. 4, 8) 230 JONAH m. 1—3. and the allusions of Jesus Sirach who speaks of the tioelve minor prophets (xlix. 10, Kai rwv lo^lsKa 7:poff)-/]To:v to. hard dva^akoi i/c rov tottov avrc^v, or /ca) rc^v Icals/ca TrpocpyjrOiv Sivj TO fLT/i/Moavvov iv svKoyiaig: the general authenticity of which passage, in spite of this variety of readings, we have no cogent reason to doubt); and that it should not be assigned to a very advanced period of the Persian dominion is ren- dered probable by a perfect absence not only of dreams and visions after the manner of Ezekiel and Daniel, but of the Persian notions of angels and spirits, with which the whole of the later literature is tinctured (Philo — De Jona c. 12 — lets indeed the mariners say to Jonah: 'quoniam nobis jam non prospere advenisti, angelus quidam dbyssi vel fortassis mutus cetus tibi servet animam'). On the other hand, the opinion that the Book, in its present form, was composed before the exile, is untenable, if for no other reason, on account of the prayer which contains passages taken from very late Psalms. That opinion was formerly often defended (e. g. by Sermann von der Hardt, see i7ifra on ver. 10; by Goldhorn, who believed that the author was a Hebrew exile in Assyria, desirous both to instruct his countrymen and to induce the Assyrians to leniency by showing that the notions they entertained of the Hebrews were erroneous ; Rose^imiiller, before the attack of Nineveh by Cyaxares, 'serioribus taraen regni Judaici temporibus;' Bert- holdt, etc.); but it is at present upheld by few critics. Some place the Book into the time during the Babylonian exile (so Grimm, Jdger considering that Ezekiel may possibly be the author, Kleinert, etc.); others, more probably, into the time after that exile (as Gesenius remarking that ^only at a late age and after the times of the prophets, could such an Agadah respecting an old prophet be framed and gain ground;' Jalm, Knobel, Bleeh, Eicald, Propheten ii. 555 — in the course of the fifth century and representing a new branch of literature, the prophetic legend — Gramberg, Maurer, Beuss, Davidson, Noldeke, S. ScJmltz, AlttestamentL Theol. ii. 7, and many others). NEW CHAEGE. 231 We hope we have proved the injustice of the reproaches that have been raised against the Book of Jonah on the score of want of unity even by thoughtful and judicious writers; for not only has it been contended that the object and teaching of chapters i. and ii. are different from those of chapters iii. and iv., 'the Book being a combination of two moral tales and a poem' {Naclitigall in EichJiorn's Allgem. Biblioth. ix. 221 sqq.', see infra on iv. 1 — 3), but also that the matter is so heterogeneous that it is vain to look for a consistent plan (De Wette, Einleitung, § 291; comp. also Friedrichsen 1. c. pp. 160, 161; etc.). We need not be satisfied with supposing some loose or fortuitous connection between the parts, such as the reason which Jonah gives for his flight (iv. 2), but the main idea runs like a strong and visible thread from the beginning of the Book to its conclusion. Nor is the language of the narrative less uni- form both in tone and phraseology (comp. i. 2 and iii. 2; i. 10, 16 and iv. 1, etc.), though it is of course different in the poetical prayer derived from other sources. — Some Jewish scholars contend that Jonah in reality received from God only one commission, namely that of which we read in the last two chapters, while that mentioned at the beginning of the Book was merely a thought or an ex- pectation on the part of the prophet, the consummation of which he desired to frustrate by his flight, since, knowing God's merciful kindness, he feared he should be regarded as a deceiver; when the charge actually came, he carried it out without hesitation, as it is inconceivable that God would select an envoy of whose obedience He was not certain (so Saadiah, Emunoth Wedeoth, iii. 12). It would be super- fluous to point out the artifices of interpretation necessary to harmonise this view with the plain statement of the text, 'And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time' (n^JKf). Besides, Jonah's 'disobedience' is an essential feature in the economy of the composition. — HipN Nlj!?! (ver. 2), instead of rr'^V N'^p=l used in the previous charge (i. 2), is here also incorrectly rendered by some 'and call out 232 JONAH m. 1—3. in if (Sept. iv avTYJ, Yulg. in ea, etc. ; see supra p. 129); both terms are equivalent and hardly warrant the distintion that the second time 'j^erhaps God gave Jonah an intimation of His purpose of mercy, in that He said no more, cry against her, but cry unto her^ (Pusey); yet that inaccuracy is unimportant compared with the modification and addition ventured by the Sept. and others, 'cry out in it in accordance with the former charge which I have told thee' (Kara to K-/;pvyfccx; TO sfCTrpoa'^sv o iyoi zkakr^aa itpoc, as; Origen, In Num. Horn, xvi, 'praedicationem quam ego locutus sum ad te;' KimcJii, Gold- horn, Mosenmiiller, Friedrichsen, and others, who explain i:;'~ by ^ri'^S'n), since, as we have tried to show, the charge given to Jonah after his repentance differed very significantly from the first commission {Yulg. 'praedicationem quam ego loquor ad te;' Eichhorn, Arnheim, etc., 'den Ruf, den ich zu dir reden werde') ; comp. Isa. v. 5, r(Vjy "»JN I shall do, etc. — ■ It seems evident that the words T^Ti^ "V)) nnTl m2''Jl bear no other interpretation than that given above and that they refer to Nineveh as a town already destroyed, as many Jewish and Christian expositors have acknowledged (e. g. Biur riN"lJ nn-inj HHM "iDD nnon jDDLS'; Eicald, Prophet, ii. 559, 'Ninive wird als langst vergangene Wunderstadt beschrieben;' Hitzig 1. c. p. 158, etc.). Those who attribute the authorship of the Book to Jonah himself, are of course obliged to find in those words the opposite sense (so Paulus, Stdudlin, Gold- horn, Rosenmiiller, etc.); HOM, it is averred, is the 'syn- chronistic imperfect;' when Jonah came to Nineveh, it was a great town, that is, lie found it so (so Keil 1. c. p. 271, Einleitung § 90; and before him Stdudlin etc.; and simi- larly Kaulen 1. c. p. 8, 'vox nn%1 vel synchronistice posita est, vel praesentis temporis vim prae se fert;' Huxtable, 'the author is concerned to show how the city struck the pro- phet's mind when addressing himself to the discharge of his mission'): but nnM is synchronistic with Dp'l and "^^^ in the same verse only in so far that, as these actions lie in the past, so does the fact involved in DDM; the parallel of Gen. i. 2, which is adduced as conclusive, proves the reverse, NEW CHABGE. 233 for the earth was, in the author's time, no longer in^l inn, as it was on the first day of Creation, and the paraphrase, 'he went to preach to the Ninevites, though he knew that Nineveh was so vast a heathen city,' adds to the original both new words and foreign notions, nn^l nU"'J) (not \iri1 nirj) is strictly analogous to 11^ niV] (in i. 5, see supra p. 153) and Jonah had descended, the verb having in both cases the sense of the pluperfect; while with reference to an existing town, we find the clear expression I'yn Nil! n^Tliin (Gren. x. 12). — The term D%1^Nb H^ll^ 1^;^ denoting an exceedingly or wonderfully large town, is intelligible and familiar from many Biblical analogies — for that must indeed be remarkable and extraordinary which appears so to Him, the Almighty, the Searcher of the essence and nature of all things, or which can, even in the remotest manner, be compared to His greatness (comp. Gren x. 9; xxiii. 6; xxx. 8; 1 Sam. xiv. 15; Ps. Ixxx. 11; Acts vii. 20, aarsloc rw ^ew exceedingly fair; perhaps also 2 Cor. x. 4, Ivyara rw ^£«); and «o common grew this usage that not only was the chief notion blended with 'God' in one word (as n v^ND Jer. ii. 31 dense darkness, nTlDH^ii' Cant. viii. 6 an inextinguishable flame) j but that we even find combinations as ^5N~">")"}n3 ^Hp'jV -P^* xxxvi. 7 tliy (Clod's) justice is like lofty mountains. That in these phrases Cod is marked as the Author or Creator (the h in □M^PN^' taken as the b auctoris), it is impossible to acknow- ledge in all instances, such as n IH^ ^}th "i^^—llZJ (Cen. x. 9), though it is not improbable in some, as in ^N \nN and bn nin (comp. Num. xxiv. 6 nlH] y^J C^HNS; see Comm. on Gren, p. 262; Cramm. § 75. 12); but very curious is the opinion of an acute Jewish commentator who maintains, that the statement of Nineveh being 'a great town □\~i^n'?,' does not at all describe it as large or populous, since the extent of a city and the multitude of its inhabitants are matters of no account in the eyes of Glod (see, however, iv. 11), but that it characterises the people of Nineveh as having from early times feared the Lord, who else would not have sent them His prophet; and though they deserted 234 JONAH III. 1 — 3. Him in the days of Jonah and began to do evil, they soon reformed themselves completely; while the fact that, in the account of their conversion, no allusion is made to idols or their destruction, proves that they worshipped none (Ebn Ezra in loc.) : it is hardly necessary to point out how entirely this is at variance with the testimonies of history (see infra on vers. 4 — 9; comp. the Chaldee translator in Nah. i. 1, supra p. 226; see also Lightfoot, 0pp. i. 208). — The Targum renders correctly as regards the sense mn^ Dip (as in Gen. X. 9), the Sept. literally rw Sicw, the Yulg. merely 'civitas magna;' Luther 'eine grosse Stadt Grottes,' which he question- ably explains to mean ^a great town which Grod has enlarged and blessed, which He cares for and governs;' and similarly Grotius, 'Deo eam augente ;' Michaelis, 'a great town in which it was easy to recognise the hand of God's Providence;' Fhilippson, 'by God's will and protection,' etc.; b being understood as dativus ethicus. — The extent of Nineveh is more accurately defined as U^D^ D^db^ "!]bnD, literally, *a walk' or journey of three days' (comp. Neh. ii. 6; also Ezek. xlii. 4), which, taken in connection with the succeeding and corresponding statement that Jonah 'went in the town (~i^5^2) a walk of one day' (ver. 4 ; comp. 1 Ki. xix. 4), can only mean that Nineveh, from one end to the other, had the length of a three days' journey or was about fifty-five English miles in diameter (see supra p. 224), not in circum- ference, as has been contended by those who, anxious to remove the exaggeration, find that the figure of 480 stadia given by Diodorus (ii. 3) for the circumference of Nineveh, substantially agrees with their opinion; or by those who contend that the outer boundaries of the district of Nineveh, supposed to comprise ninety English miles (p. 224 note b), are an easy three days' journej^ (so M. v. Niehuhr 1. c. p. 277; Keil 1. c. p. 288), w^hich, though of course not impracticable, is not the ordinary or standard rate of travelling in the East. According to Diodorus, the length of the town was indeed no more than 150 stadia or one day's journey (p. 225); but if this had been our author's view, he could NEW CHAEGE. 235 not have said that Jonah's one day's advance was a hegin- nififf of his progress in the town (ver. 4). The words "]bnD D^D'' ntS'bty niay, by themselves, signify both the way round the town and through the town, and have, as we believe, in this place the latter meaning; but they can never denote the passage from one street into the other in all directions to and fro (so Theodoret, Maurer, coepit perambulare urbem hue illuc tendens ; Keil, etc. ; and similarly Kleinert) ; this would in no sense be an intelligible description of the extent of a town and would give no notion whatever of its dimensions. Nor is it possible, without arbitrariness, to take the same term *]'?nD differently in two successive verses ; therefore the one day's journey in ver. 4 must also be understood to refer to Jonah's traversing the city along the main street, beginning from the gate at which he entered. The ancient interpreters, translating literally, afford no help (Sept. coas) TTopsi'ag olov yjfxspoiv rpioov; Yulg. itinere trium dierum, Jerome explaining in his Commentary, 'tanti erat ambitus ut vix trium dierum itinere posset circumiri;' similarly Calmet, Ffeiffer, Maurer, Rosenmiiller, Pusey, whose objection that ^unless a city were a circle, as no cities are, it would have no one diameter,' is hardly of great weight, since the 'high street,' representing the greatest length or 'the diameter' of the town, ran from one principal gate to the opposite extremity; so clearly Kimchi n^ipn ^N n)ipn |D, and so also Abarbanel, De Wette 'drei Tagereisen lang,' Bunsen, etc.). Out of the question are the explanations that the three days' journey applies to Nineveh and the surrounding country, but the one day's journey to the town itself (Ebn Ezra); or that the author desired to intimate that Jonah's admonitions reached all the residents within three days — on the first day, the people; on the second, the nobles; and on the third, the king and his many officers (Ephrem Syrus). — The Midrash characteristically describes the dimensions of the town as being a forty days' journey long and consisting of twelve districts, each of which contained 120,000 myriads of men, while each street had twelve entries etc. (Yalkiit, 236 JONAH III. 1—3. Jonah § 550, etc.). — As a curiosity it may be mentioned that Harenberg considers the Nineveh of Jonah to be the little town Neve or Nineve near Mount Hermon on the eastern side of the Jordan in the territory of Manasseh, which was ruled by a king and had about 2400 inhabitants consisting of twelve 'clans' (111 in iv. 1 1 taken as synonymous with D^Dl'PN Gen. xxxvi. 15 sqq.] comp. also Friedrichsen 1. c. p. 57). — As regards the language, we would not, for proving a later Hebraism, lay too much stress on specific words which were more commonly employed in the Aramaic dialects or in the Chaldaean and Persian periods; as the nouns rh'O (i- 5) mariner, rjJ'Dp (i. 5) sliip, 3~) (i. 6) in the sense of chief or master, D^^ (iii* 7) in the meaning of command or decree (comp. Dan. iii. 10, 12, 29; vi. 27; Ezr. iv. 19, 21; v. 3, 9, etc.); or the verbs N"ip (i. 2; iii. 2) in the signification oi preaching, ^iDH (i. 4, 5, 12, 15) to cast, ntJ';^nn (i. 6) to reflect or consider, n^D (ii. 1; iv. 6 — 8) to ajjpoint or direct, "^''?^'l (^^^' ^) ^^ ^^y ^^ ^^ aside; nor on the repeated use of Kf for -)Ii/N in ^D^pl (i. 7, comp. ver. 8), ibw'l (i. 12), and -|^ti> (iv. 10); for, in so fragmentary a literature as that of the Hebrew Scriptures, it is extremely difficult to determine with exactness at what period certain words were first used or received an altered meaning, and the abbreviated particle for the relative pronom {]Lf) occurs in writings of an early time (Judg. v. 7), while the full form (itlfN) is exclusively employed in some of the latest Books (as Esther and Nehemiah); yet those peculiarities in combination with the entire tone and colouring of the narrative leave no doubt as to its recent date; certainly no one imbued with the genius of Hebrew will assert that the language of the Book of Jonah belongs to the same age as that of Hosea or Amos. It is, therefore, of no avail to insist that all those words and forms may be accounted for as 'Phoenician or Assyrian termini technici,^ for which the author could find no equivalents in Hebrew, or that they are idioms of Galilee and EjDhraim or 'Zebulonite provincialisms,' or belong to the language of daily intercourse; and the laborious and often PENITENT NINEVEH. 237 ingenious efforts that have been jnade to prove this position (for instance by Fusey 1. c. pp. 249—251 ; comp. also Keil 1. c. p. 270, Einleitung § 90; similarly Paulus, Nachtigall, G-old- horn, Delitzsch, Havernick, and others; see J^HedHcAsew 1. c. pp. 179 192), even if they were successful, are insufficient to establish the earlier origin of the work. Yet it would not be correct to affirm that the language of this Book resembles that of Ecclesiastes (Schrader in De Wette's Ein- leitung, § 292), or that it 'almost bears a Eabbinical character' (Gesenitis), since it approaches much more closely to the purity and natural simplicity of the classical style {•^r^bp^ in ver. 7 does not contain the Rabbinical particle b^if,' the component parts of that word being !!:, l!f and ^D*^; comp. ver. 8); nor should the didactic method of the com- position, though designed to instruct by historical legend, be compared to the manner of such productions as Judith and Tobit (Reuss). In diction, it is not inferior to Ezekiel; in spirit, infinitely superior to the Book of Esther. 9. PENITENT NINEVEH. III. 4 — 9. 4. And Jonali began to proceed in the city a day's journey, and he cried and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown! 5. And the people of Nineveh beheved in Grod, and pro- claimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6. And the matter came to the king of Nineveh, and he rose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7. And he caused it to be pro- claimed and pubhshed through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd or flock, taste any- 238 JONAH III. 4—9. thing ; let them not feed, nor drink water. 8. And let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry to God mightily; and let them turn every one from liis evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. 9. Who knows if Grod will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not? Let the spectacle be imagined of an unknown Hebrew in a prophet's austere and homely attire passing through the splendid streets of the proudest town of the eastern world, uttering words of rebuke and menace, bidding the people not only to make restitution of their unlawfully acquired property, but to give up their ancestral deities for the one God of Israel, and unmindful of the possible prosecution of the civil authorities, unmindful also of the rage and consternation of a powerful priesthood, the fanatic leaders of an ignorant populace easily inflamed to avenge blasphemy. Was that spectacle real? It is enough that the Hebrew writer deemed it possible. Nay, what might have been is often infinitely more important than what luas, since a principle is both more comprehen- sive and intrinsically more certain than a single fact. We may, therefore, readily admit that the narrative, as far as l^ineveh is concerned, is indistinct and shadowy. Who was at that time king of Assyria?* What was the exact import of Jonah's preaching? For surely, he did not merely proclaim: 'Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!' Was no room left for repentance and reform ? no hope extended of safety or at least of a respite ? If not, wherefore was it necessary to permit a delay of forty days and thus to prolong the horrors of violence and malignity ? The issue proves that such a hope must have been the main burden of Jonah's orations. The king * See Philol. Rem. PENITENT NINEVEH. 239 himself, as if echoing the words of the Hebrew prophet, suggests for his people's admonition and encouragement: 'Who knows if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not?' Let us for a moment recall the threats which, uttered by Hebrew prophets against Nineveh, still breathe out life and reality. Isaiah, who witnessed the troublous times of Senna- cherib's invasion in Judaea, speaks above all of the Assy- rian king's haughtiness and that overweening pride which declares, 'By the strength of my own arm I have achieved it and by my wisdom, for I am shrewd,' and which glories in the triumph of having disturbed the boundaries of nations and plundered their treasures. Therefore the Lord of hosts, the Light of Israel, which appears as a devouring flame, will kindle a terrible conflagration con- suming Ashur's thorns and briers — her cruelty and thirst of blood — on one day; then will He strike the king of Assyria, though towering like the Lebanon, with the destructive iron, so that he shall faint and fall; He will lift up against him the scourge with which He smote Midian at the rock of Oreb, proclaiming: 'Woe to thee, thou ravager, thyself not ravaged, and spoiler who wast not spoiled! When thou hast ended with ravaging, shalt thou be ravaged; when thou hast finished with spoiling, thou shalt be spoiled!'^ About the same time, or not long afterwards, another prophet exhausts the whole depth of his genius and the whole fire of his energy in definite and elaborate de- nunciations of Assyria's crimes. 'What do you devise against Jahveh!' exclaims Nahum; 'He brings destruc- tion ... for entangled like thorns, they are consumed like dry stubbles wholly.' Neither their mighty power nor their vast multitude will save them; their bulwarks shall crumble away at the enemy's approach; palaces and temples will be demolished; the whole wicked race ^ Isa. X. 12 — 34; xiv. 24—27; xxxiii. 1. 240 JOKAH III. 4 — 9. sinks into the grave, no remnant is left to preserve their name. They are seized v^ith a wild terror; they flee; 'stand, stand' ! the leaders cry, but no one turns. The princes are like locusts and their chiefs 'like a swarm of grass- hoppers settling on hedges in the time of frost; when the sun rises, they fly away and no one knows the place where they are.' Their incalculable treasures of gold and silver, of precious vessels and splendid chariots fall a prey to the enemy and the flames. 'Woe to the bloody city, all full of falsehood and robbery! it ceases not from plunder: the noise of the whip and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and prancing horses and leaping chariots ; horsemen draw near, the bright sword ' and the glittering spear — a multitude of slain and a pile of corpses, and there is no end of carcases, they stumble upon their carcases.' A spectacle and a byword Nineveh shall be to the whole earth; it falls without compassion and without comfort: 'no relief to thy wound, deadly is thy stroke ! '^ Not many years before the final overthrow of the great empire, another writer predicted in less soaring, but not less emphatic language: 'God stretches out His hand against the north and destroys Assyria and makes Nine- veh a desolation, sterile like the wilderness; pelicans and hedgehogs lodge on its capitals; rubbish covers the thresholds, for the cedar work is broken down. This is the rejoicing city that dwelt heedlessly, that said in its heart, I, and none beside me . . . Every one that passes by it, hisses and lifts his hand.'^ Compared to such vivid descriptions, manifestly ex- torted by anguish and terror and pointed by aversion and hatred, the allusions to Nineveh in the. Book of Jonah are dim and pale, and above all so calm and dis- passionate that the sufferings inflicted upon the Hebrews by the ruthless Assyrians were evidently seen through * Nahum i. 9—14; ii. 8—14; iii. 1—19. ^ Zephan. ii. 13—15. PENITENT NINEVEH. 241 the softening veil of a distant past, and were overshad- owed, if they were not thrown into oblivion, by more recent disasters and even more cruel torments. This remarkable repose and impartiality, avoiding every need- less detail and introducing only facts of religious signifi- cance, enabled the author to accomplish his high-minded task with eminent success and to link himself to that noble band of compatriots who, in nearly all centuries, pursued the ideal aim of an intimate union of all races with a fervour and a distinctness which have made them the pioneers of the loftiest form of humanity. May we not here at a glance survey the prophetic utterances bearing on a universal creed, and thus endea- vour to exhibit them in their full force? For strong indeed must have been the conviction of a writer who represents the worldly and pitiless Assyrians as they are represented in this narrative — as meekly listening to the denunciations of a stranger armed with no other weapon than en- thusiasm and eloquence; as readily comprehending the demands of the God of Israel and recognising His truth; as vying with each other in acts of self-humiliation and contrition; and as searching their hearts and amending their lives with an earnestness which extends even to the dumb animals of their households. Strong indeed must have been his conviction in pourtraying the God of Israel as lovingly admonishing and saving Israel's fiercest ravagers and as including them in His paternal providence with a care hardly less tender and solicitous than that bestowed upon His own chosen people. These are the elements of a sympathy limited by no other bounds than those of the human race itself. We shall introduce, in the order of time in which they were probably pronounced or written, not those sentiments which describe super- natural hopes and expectations, but those referiing to a possible era of general concord to be secured, at any time, by human efforts and virtues. 242 JONAH III. 4 — 9. It shall come to pass in future days that the mountain of the Lord's House shall be established at the head of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the heights, and all the Gentiles shall flow to it. And many nations shall go and say, 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the House of the G-od of Jacob, and He shall teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths.' For from Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.^ They shall not do wrong nor do evil in all My holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day a root of Jesse, who shall stand as a banner to the nations, to him the Gentiles shall turn, and his abode shall be glorious.^ In that time shall presents be brought to the Lord of hosts from the far-spread and fierce people (the Ethiopians), and from the terrible people farther still, the nation of mighty strength and destruction, whose land is cut by rivers, to the habitation of the name of the Lord of hosts, the mount Zion.*^ In that time shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord of hosts: one shall be called the Town of Deliverance. In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a stone pillar at its border, holy to the Lord. And it shall be for a sign and for a witness to the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the Lord because of their oppressors, and He will send them a rescuer and a defender, and he shall save them. And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord on that da,j, and ofi'er sacrifice and oblation, and they shall make vows to the Lord and perform them. Thus the Lord shall smite Egypt, He shall smite and heal; and they shall return to the Lord, and He shall be entreated of them and shall heal them. In that day shall there be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyrians shall come to Egypt and Egyptians to Assyria, and Egyptians together with Assyrians shall serve the Lord. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My ^ Isa. ii. 2,- 3; Mic. iv. 1, 2. j ii. 14. ^ Isa. xi. 9, 10; comp. Habak. | '^ Isa. x\'iii. 7. PEXITEXT NINEVEH. 243 people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.^ The Lord will be terrible, for He will annihilate all the gods of the earth; and all men shall worship Him, every one from his place, even all the isles of the Glentiles^ Then I will give to the nations a new and a pure tongue, that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia will they bring My worshippers, the children of My dis- persed, as an offering to Me.<^ The Lord shall be King over all the earth; in that day the Lord shall be One and His name One . . . And it shall come to pass that every one that is left from all the nations that have come against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles ... In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses. Holiness unto the Loeb; and the pots in the Lord's House shall be like the bowls before the altar.^ The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.^ It shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and in- creased in the land, in those days, saith the Lord, they will no more speak of the Ark of the covenant of the Lord, nor shall it come to mind, nor shall it be remembered nor missed, nor shall another be made. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, for the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem, nor shall they walk any more after the stubborn- ness of their evil heart.^ Thus saith the Lord against all my evil neighbours . . , Behold, I tear them out of their land . . . but then I will again have compassion on them and bring back every man to his inheritance. And it shall come to pass, if they will learn the ways of My people to swear by My name, 'By * Isa. xix. 18— 25.— B. C. 730— 7C0. ^ Zephan. ii. 11. •^ Zephan. iii. 9, 10.— B. C. 640. •i Zechar. xiv. 9, 16, 20.— B. C. 630. "" Habak. ii. 14.— B. C. 610. ^ Jer. iii. 16, 17. "244 JONAH III. 4 — 9. the life of the Lord!' . . . then they shall be bviilt up in the midst of My people.^ Lord, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Grentiles shall come unto Thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, 'Our fathers have in- herited only lies and vanity, in which there is no profit."' Strong nations shall glorify Thee, the cities of mighty empires shall fear Thee . . . Then the Lord shall prepare on this mountain to all the nations a feast of fat viands, a feast of wines on the lees . . . and he will destroy on this mountain the veil that veileth all nations, the covering that covereth all the Gentiles.*^ Behold My servant, whom I uphold, My elect in whom My soul delighteth: I put My spirit upon him, he shall bring ^ judgment to the nations . . . He shall not fail nor falter till he hath established judgment on the earth, and the isles shall wait for his law. Thus saith Grod the Lord, He that created the heavens and stretched them out ... I the Lord have called thee in righteousness and hold thy hand; and I will guard thee and make thee the covenant of the people, the light of the nations, to open the eyes that are blind, to bring out the fettered from the jail, and those that sit in darkness from the prison house.^ 1 am the Lord and there is none else, there is no Grod beside Me: I girded thee (Cyrus), though thou didst not know Me; that they may know at the rising of the sun and at the west, that there is none beside Me . . . Turn unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth ; for I am God, and there is none else. I swear by Myself, truth goeth out of My mouth, a word that shall not by revoked, that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.® The Lord saith. It is too little that thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the delivered of Israel, I will also make thee a light to the Gentiles, that My salvation may reach unto the end of the earth.^ Hearken unto Me, My people, and give ear unto Me, '' Jer. xii. 14—16. : ^^ Isa. xlii. 1—7. ^ Jer. xvi. 19.-B. C. 600. ^ Isa. xlv. 5, 6, 22, 23. *= Isa. XXV. o, 6—8. I ^ Isa. xlix. 6. PENITENT NINEVEH. 245 My nation, for instruction shall proceed from Me, and I will establish My judgment for a light to the nations.^ Behold, I have made him^ a lawgiver to the nations, a leader and commander to the nations. Behold, thou shalt call many a people that thou knowest not, and many a people that know thee not shall hasten to thee, because of the Lord thy God and of the Holy One of Israel, for He glori- fieth thee.^ Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment, and do justice! . . . Then the son of the stranger who joineth himself to the Lord, shall not speak, saying, The Lord will separate me from His people . . . For thus saith the Lord . . . Those that keep My sabbaths and choose that which pleaseth Me, and cling to My covenant, to them will I give within My House and within My walls a place and a name better than sons and daughters . . . And the sons of the stranger who join themselves to the Lord to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants . . . these I will bring tO' My holy mountain, and make them rejoice in My House of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon My altar; for My House shall be called a House of prayer for all the nations. '^ Arise, be light, for thy light cometh, and the glory of the Lord riseth upon thee ! For, behold, darkness covereth the earth, and a dense cloud the nations, but upon thee the Lord riseth, and His glory appeareth upon thee. And Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness that hath risen upon thee.® The time is come to gather all nations and tongues, and they shall come and see My glory. And I show a sign among them, and of those of them that have been saved I send to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow^, to Tubal and Javan, to the distant islands, that have not heard My fame nor seen My glory, and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles . . . And of them also will I take for priests, for Levites, saith the Lord . . . And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord.f "" Isa. li. 4. I ^ Isa. Ivi. 1—7. ^ David and his house. j ® Isa. Ix. 1 — 3. '' Isa. Iv. 4, 5. \ ^ Isa. Ixvi. 18— 23.— B. C. 540. 246 JOis^AH III. 4 — 9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, There shall yet come nations and the inhabitants of many cities; and the inhabi- tants of one city shall go to another, saying, 'Let us go to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will go also.' Yea many people and numerous nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord.'^ It shall come to pass afterwards, that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My spirit.'^ Erom the rising of the sun even to his setting My name shall be great among the nations, and in every place incense shall be offered to My name and a pure oblation; for My name shall be great among the nations, saith the Lord of hosts.*^ All the ends of the earth shall be mindful and turn to the Lord and all the races of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He is the Ruler among the nations.*^ The nations shall praise Thee, Grocl; all the nations shall praise Thee. The peoples shall be glad and sing for joy; for Thou judgest the nations righteously, and governest the peoples upon earth . . . God shall bless us, and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.® The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of thee, city of God. 'I mention Rahab (Egypt) f and Babel among those that know Me; behold Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia, they were born there.' And of Zion it shall be said, 'This man and that man were born in her, and He, the Highest, shall establish her.' The Lord counteth and writeth down the nations: 'They were born there's" praise the Lord, all ye nations, praise Him, all ye ^ Zechar. viii. 20— 22.— B. C. ! ^ Ps. xxii. 28, 29. 520. I ^ Ps. Ixvii. 4—8. ^ Joel iii. 1— 2.— B. C. 500. I ^ Comp. Isa. xxx. 7; H. 9. <^ Mai. i. 11.— B. C. 430. ! S Ps. Ixxxvii. 2—6. PENITENT NINEVEH. 247 peoples. For His merciful kindness is great toward us; and the faithfulness of the Lord endureth for ever.^ All that have breath shall praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.^ Thus we see the same exalted yearnings, though vari- ously tinctured by the times, constantly enlarged and intensified, till finally all nations join in the same Halle- lujah. But even by the side of these soaring sentiments, the simple Book of Jonah maintains its own high value ; for more important than theoretic doctrine is its embodi- ment in a distinct example. The Book proves that the Hebrews had not merely conceived the idea of a union of all races as an abstract speculation, but that they were ready to adopt it as the practical guide of their lives. Most weighty, therefore, is the simple statement: 'The people of JSIineveh believed in God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them!'^ A few additional points only remain to be adverted to. In no other passage does the number forty^ often used in connection with Divine visitations and punishments, so unmistakably bear a symbolical character as in this an- nouncement of Jonah. For while the forty days and forty nights of rain in the Deluge, no less than the forty ^ Ps. cxvii. 1, 2. ^' Ps. cl. 6.— B. C. 500—400.— Comp. Hos. ii. 25; Am. ix. 11, 12; Zechar. ix. 9, 10; Ezek. xxxvi. 23, 36; xxxvii. 28; xxxviii. 23; xlvii. 21—23; Ps. cxlviii. 11—13. ^ Later Jewish writers vainly endeavour to detract from the importance of this statement by the assumption that the mariners of the ship in which Jonah had sailed, happened to be in Nineveh and, testifying to his miraculous deliv- erance, roused the faith of the population (so Ebn Ezra, Kimchi, etc.; sum\dLY\j Sonnenniayer; Jack- son, On the Creed, Bk. ix., c. 42; Pusey 1. c. p. 273, etc.). The author makes no allusion to such a motive. Moreover, the mariners are no doubt supposed, when the storm had ceased, to have continued their journey to Tartessus; they need not even have been aware of the miracle of Jonah's remaining alive, whether they saw him being swal- lowed by the fish or not; the Ninevites could, in fact, have learnt that miracle from none but Jonah himself. 248 JONAH III. 4—9. years of Israel's wanderings in the desert, are intended as precise figures describing actual events, the forty days of grace or respite accorded to the Ninevites could merely have been suggested by an emblematic significance sure to be appreciated by Hebrew readers ; for the author did not, in the manner of historical writers, mean to convey the notion of a long term or an indefinite period,^ but the more specific idea of impending tribulation.^' When the Ninevites felt their hearts and consciences moved by Jonah's preaching, their natural impulse was — it would have been the impulse in every Hebrew or other Eastern town — to proclaim a fast<= and to mark their penitence by the same acts of self-humiliation by which they were accustomed to manifest their grief in times of bereavement, above all to divest themselves of every ornament, and even to exchange their ordinary garments for coarse and hairy sackcloth, no doubt sealing their contrition and conveying their apprehensions by loud and continued wailing.*^ When the Assyrian king ^ Judg. iii. 11; v. 31; viii. 28; xiii. 1; 1 Sam. iv. 18, etc.; comp. Exod. xxxiv. 28; 1 Ki. xix. 8; Matt. iv. 2; see also Comm. on Gen. p. 185. ^ Comp. Ezek. iv. 6, 'thou slialt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days.' The Jewish Synagogue appointed in each year forty days of penitence beginning on the first day of Elul and cul- minating in the Day of Attonement, the tenth day of Tishri. 'Hierony- mus et Eucherius,' obsei-ves Bochart (Hierozoic. 1. c. p. 746), 'insinuant, poenitentiae convenire quadrage- narium numerum, quia solemnem ilium fecerunt Mosis, Ehae, Christi ! jejunia;' comp. Qrotius in loc, 'certe in Aethiopica aliisque Eccle- ; siis etiam nunc jejunium quod rigidissime exercent Niniviticum appellatur.' ^ See Comm. on Lev. ii. 279. ^ Comp. Jer. iv. 8, W^y^ HJn l'?^b\-I) HDD; Gen. xxxvii. 34; 2 Sam. iii. 31; 1 Ki. xx. 32; xxi. 27, 29; 2 Ki. vi. 30; xix. 2; Isa. 1. 3; Joel i. 13, 14; ii. 22, etc.; Herod, ii. 66; iii. 66; vii. 45; viii. 99; ix. 24, etc.; see Comm. on Lev. ii. 428, 429. Is it necessary to find in the mourning of the Ninevites, and afterwards in the complaints of Jonah, an echo of the laments uttered in the worship of Adonis and expressing deep woe at the transitoriness of every human joy? (so Er. Chr. Bam- according to his theory of the PENITENT NINEVEH. 249 was seized with the same emotions of repentance and fear, he even surpassed his people iu demonstrations of self-abasement; he not only left the splendour of his high throne, laid aside his magnificent and characteristi- cally royal vestments — a short-sleeved blue or white tunic adorned with gold and silver fringes and tassels, a silver tiara with a gold rosette, gold armlet, and gold and silver swordsheath — and put on sackcloth, but like the meanest and most afflicted mourner he sat on the bare ground upon ashes ;^ with the support and sanction of his councillors, he issued an edict commanding that not only the people should fast and be covered with sackcloth, but even their chief domestic animals, their beasts of burden and their herds and flocks; that the fasting should be accompanied by earnest supplications to the God of the Hebrews; and that, above all, 'every one should turn from his evil way and from the violence that was in their hands.' It is impossible to conceive a more complete or a more effectual penance. The Assyrian monarch, swayed by the same cosmic notions which, in almost every age, prevailed among the Hebrews also, and by which the brute creation was brought into the closest ethical relations to man, extended his decree to the animals serviceable to the community either as food or by their labour. It is true that the Hebrews were no strangers to the idea that beasts are indeed capable of moral degeneracy : thus in the Deluge, the animals were annihilated not merely because they had witnessed the iniquity of man, but because, like him, they had been 'corrupted;' and the Rabbins teach that in consequence of Adam's sin, the animals lost their original perfection and ceased to obey him, and that, in consequence of the Book of Jonah being 'an Assja'o- ! xii. 16, 17; xiii. 31; comp. also Babylonian symbol;' see su^ra \ Job i. 20; ii. 8, 12; xvi. 15 p^ p. 114). ^ Comp. Job ii. 8; Isa. Iviii. 5; Jer. vi. 26; Esth. iv. 1—3; 2 Sam. 31 n^J ''b^ TlDin; Matt. xi. 21, TTokai av iv ccckkcc kcc; ffTTohu jJLSTSvir,- aav, etc. 250 JOKAH III. 4 — 9. destruction of the Temple, not only human felicity was in many respects forfeited, but all nature declined and was vitiated.=^ However, such a notion does not seem to have been entertained by the author of this Book; for in a later portion the guiltlessness of the brutes is urged as a reason why Nineveh should be ^paredJ^ Yet the deeper signi- ficance of the edict is not fathomed by assuming that the fasting and consequent groaning and crying of the animals'^ were intended to rouse the compassion of the people and thus to enhance the fervour of their devotion;*^ nor is it sufficiently explained by the usage of the early Greeks and Persians, Thessalians and Macedonians, who testified their grief in heavy bereavement not only by shaving the hair from their own heads, but by cutting off the manes from their war-horses and sumpter- beasts;^ which custom, like the covering of funeral horses with black trappings, was merely prompted by the desire of letting the living iwoperty of the mourners share the external signs of affliction ;f much less is the conduct of the Ninevites meant to illustrate their ignorance of what is really required to secure the grace of God,8^ as it in- cluded the very same acts which the Hebrew author him- self regarded as most pious and most acceptable. ^ Comp. Mishn. Sot. ix. 12—15; see Comm. on Gen. pp. 132, 174, 179. ^ iv. 11. ^ Comp. Joel i. 18, 20. ^ Theodoret, Grotius, Rosen- milller in loc. — 'In Peru and the Canaries it was usual for the people in times of great drought to shut up their animals without food under the notion that their loud cries and bleating would reach heaven and to prevail with Grod to send ■ remarks: they do several 'foohsh rain' (Z^^Yifo in loc.) things' which God did not desire, but ^ Eurip. Alcest. 429; Herod. which He overlooked on account ix. 24; Plut. Aristid. c. 14; Polopid. , of the earnestness they evinced. c. 34; Alexand. c. 72. The lament on the death of Daphnis (in Virff. Eel. v. 24—28) is only a poetical fancy: 'Non ulH pastos illis egere diebus Frigida, Daphni, boves ad flumina; nulla neque amnem Libavit quadrupes' etc.: although such imaginative conceptions prove how easily a cor- responding custom might actually arise among less cultured nations. 8" Dinter and others. Luther PENITENT NINEVEH. 251 Do we find in history any trace of the Mnevites ever having done homage to the God of Israel and of having, even temporarily, renounced their ancestral worship? We can nowhere discover the slightest allusion to such a fact; neither in the Hebrew nor in the heathen annals; neither in that part of the Scriptures which relates the work of Jonah, and where surely so singular a success of his zeal would have been mentioned with pride if it had been achieved, nor incidentally in any of the prophetic or hagiographic writings.^ On the contrary, the prophet Nahum declares distincitly, among other menaces pro- nounced against Nineveh, 'Out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image ;'^ the Books of Kings state by name the eastern idols Nibhaz and Tartak, Nergal and Ashima, Adrammelech and Anammelech;'^ in the remarkable account of Sennacherib's war against Hezekiah, the former, through the mouth of one of his chief officers, bitterly taunts the Hebrew king with his futile reliance on his national god, whose nature the Assyrian understands so little that, in his opinion, Hezekiah must have incurred Jahveh's wrath for having deprived Him of all the heights, and of all the altars except that solitary one in Jerusalem; and he places, in fact, Jahveh on the same level of power with the gods of Hamath and Arpad or any Syrian idol.'i And on the other hand, all Assyrian monuments and records, whether of a date earlier or later than Jeroboam II. ^ There is truth and force in the remark: 'Such a conversion is un- exampled in the whole revelation of God to man . . . Before this stupendous power of God's grace over the unruly will of savage, yet educated, men, the physical miracles, great as they are, shrink into nothing. As many sou^ as there were, so many miracles were there, greater even than the crea- tion of man' {Pusey 1. c. p. 257). If so wonderful a conversion had been accomplished, the ancient historians would certainly have left it on record ; while the prophets would not have failed to use it against the impenitent Israelites. ^ Nah. i. 14; comp. iii. 4. *^ 2 Ki. xvti. 30, 31; see Comm. on Lev. i. 367, 369, 370. d 2 Ki. xviii. 22, 30, 33, 34. 252 JONAH III. 4 — 9. disclose the same vast pantheon which was the boast of king and people alike — Asshur, 'the great lord ruling supreme over the gods,' with his twelve greater and four thousand inferior deities presiding over all manifestations of nature and all complications of human life; for the Assyrians at all times saw their strength and their bul- wark in the multitude of their gods and considered that nation feeble and defenceless indeed which enjoyed only the protection of a single divinity.^ If, then, in spite of all these opposing and evidently authentic facts, and in spite of incessant invectives of honoured patriots recog- nised as divinely inspired^ a Hebrew writer, about a century after Nineveh's downfall, yet depicted the Nine- vites as turning their hearts readily to Jahveh and His messenger, he must have clung, with an irrepressible longing, to that time when 'the Lord shall be One and His name One.' This aspiration is the indisputable title of the simple Book of Jonah to rank among the noblest productions of Hebrew prophets; though not containing a single Messianic prediction in explicit words, it is thoroughly Messianic in its essence and totality, and it might well be used, as it is used in the New Testament, as a most powerful weapon of reproof and admonition: •The men of Nineveh sliall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas. "^ PniLOLOGiCAii Reimaeks. — Hence the view that Jonah's mission was not really meant to effect the conversion of the Ninevites, but typically to show the possibility of the future reception of the heathen in the kingdom of God {Keil 1. c. pp. 272, 275, 291), is but partially correct: to the Hebrew writer, the conversion of the Ninevites was a reality, 'a sort of first-fruit of the re-creation of the Grentile world' (Pusey 1. 0. p. 257), and not merely a type or symbol; he did ^ Comp. Comm. on Gen. p. 301. '' Matt. xii. 41; Luke xi. 32. PEKITENT NINEVEH. 253 not relegate the redemption of the heathen to an indefinite future, "but held it to be possible at once; and we must admit the justice of the remark that 'the whole Book could obtain its full importance only if the readers regarded the penitence and reformation of the Ninevites not as fictions but as facts' (Friedrichsen 1. c. p. 275); comp. also Bailey 1. c. p. 1120, 'Jonah was sent to testify by deed, as other prophets would afterwards testify by word, the capacity of the Grentiles for salvation, and the design of Grod to make them partakers of it;' Huxtahle 1. c. p. 579, 'The example of the Ninevites could only serve to abash impenitent Jews on the supposition that they were real persons, who realh' acted in the way described;' Kaulen, Lib. Jonae Prophetae, pp. 1 — 5; etc. — The first part of the fourth verse (on which see sitpra pp. 234, 235), taken separately, might indeed be under- stood to mean, as Theodoret and others interpret it, that Jonah 'did not pass straight through the city, but went about the public places and streets;' this is, however, rendered impossible by the unmistakable sense of the words □'"D"' r\wb^ ^bnD in ver. 3. From one extreme point to the other Nineveh extended a three days' journey; now Jonah hegan (bn^O ^^ make his progress through the city (nID'7 for n^y^, supra p. 146), delivering his charge and exhorting the people, as he went on, from time to time and in suitable places; when he had thus proceeded for one day, the Ninevites believed and did penance; and then the pro- phet considered his mission as accomplished. Such seems to be the context of these verses, to which no objection can be raised on account of the simple parataxis of Nlp^^ ■^DN"*! after NH^ bn^l, although in other passages a clearer and more specific mode of expression is chosen to convey the contemporaneousness of two actions (see sujpra p. 170; KimcJii fj) nDlNI Nl^p H^H ~i^;;3 IHD^D) ; for the author surely did not intend to say that Jonah began his j)reaching only at the end of the first day's journey — in the evening or the next morning. But such minute details as 'Jonah, who doubtless arrived by the still common caravan road past 254 JONAH III. 4—9. Amida and entered the complex Assyrian town at Nineveh, came after the first day into the vicinity of the palace, which was then probably in Nimroud, where the king heard of his addresses, the distance between Nineveh and Nimroud being eighteen to twenty English miles or a small day's journey' (Keil 1. c. p. 288), — such precise details, supposing even that the theor}^ respecting the 'complex town' were well-founded, are at variance with the character of the narrative, since the aiithor, merely bent upon enjoining his great lessons and truths, interwove no other particulars but such as were demanded by perspicuity and the interest of the story. — 'Jonah's preaching,' observes Pusey, no doubt correctly (1. c. p. 253), 'seems to have lasted only one day; for on that one day only was there still a respite of fort^ days: — The Septuagint is singular among the ancient versions in rendering Dl'' D'';;i"iN* by three days, en rpsJg ■/jixspai, whether from inadvertency or design, and hence the same number is likewise given by Philo (De Jona c. 27), Sulpicius, and the Greek Fathers; but it is also found in the Arabic translation; Justin the Martyr, combining the two figures, has forty-three ; while Josephus writes vaguely 'after a very little time' (/>c£r' okiyo'j 'Trayv xpovoy). Augustin (De Givit. Dei, xviii. 44) curiously defends both numbers as prefiguring analogous events: 'in quadraginta diebus ipsum Christum quaere, in quo et triduum potueris invenire ; illud in ascensione, hoc in ejus resurrectione reperies.' — The verb !]Dn is used to denote the utter destruction of towns and districts, like that of Sodom and Gomorrah (comp. Gen. xix. 21, 25, 29; Deut. xxix. 22; Isa. i. 7; xiii. 1 9 ; Jer. xx. 1 6 ; xlix. 1 8 ; Am. iv. 11; Lam. iv. 11; also Job ix. 5 ; xxviii. 9 ; Tobit xiv. 4, N/vcw^y on Karaarpa- (l)-/jaerai), and the participle HDi-Pj expresses the event as unfailingly impending. Josephus states, that Jonah threatened the Assyrians merely that they would soon lose the dominion of Asia, and he abruptly concludes the narrative at this point (koc) ravra Ir^juidoaag vTriGrpe^e), utterly ignoring the deeper spirit and tendency of the Book. — The people of PENITENT NINEVEH. 255 Nineveh trusted in EloJiim (□\"it'Nn iJ^DN'l); that is, they were convinced that He was the real God and had the power to carry out His menaces (comp. Gen. xv. 6 ; Num. xiv. 1 1 ; 1 Sara, xxvii. 12; see also Ps. cxix. 66; Job xxxix. 12). It is true that in connection with the heathen Ninevites the appellation D'H't'N is employed, not the holy name mH"' (vers. 5, 8, 9; comp. Gen. xiv. 19 and 22); but even if this were a deliberate purpose on the author's part (comp. supra i. 6, 10, 14, 16), it would not justify the inference that the god in whom the Ninevites believed was not the God of the Hebrews, but 'their own chief deity whom they adored' (so, strangely, Ebn Ezra and others), — since it is also DV'lt'vVn who saw their repentance and revoked the evil decree (ver. 10). Yet that view has in our time not only been repeated but enlarged; Jonah, it is maintained, merely 'effected a kind of general conversion of the inhabitants,' for the circumstance that, in their case, no such explicit statement of pious worship is made as with reference to the mariners (i. 14 — 16), proves that they then 'feared and sought to placate God without any break in the continuity of the national wor- ship of Assur' (Huxtable 1. c. pp. 576, 582, 600). This opinion, prompted by the desire to account for the silence of the Assyrian records about so extraordinary an event, is invalidated not only by the whole tenour of the narrative which represents the Ninevites as devoutly revering the God of Jonah, but by the distinct statement DM^NO U^DN^i, which words should not be translated, 'they believed the word or announcement of God' {Targ. in N")D^I23; Ebii Ezra CM^N n3-iD; Engl. Vers, 'they believed God'), but 'they believed in God' Himself (comp infra on iv. 4 — 11). 'It was not necessary to the effect of his preaching,' observes Layard (Nin. and Babyl. p. 632), 'that Jonah should be of the religion of the people of Nineveh. I have known a Christian priest frighten a whole Mussulman town to tents and repentance by publicly proclaiming that he had received a divine mission to announce a coming earthquake or plague.' Although such parallels are valuable in proving 256 JOXAH III. 4 — 9. the Eastern character as most readily impressionable, espe- cially through religious influences (comp. Augustin, De Excid. TJrb. c. 6, etc.), they do not detract from the depth and significance of the story of Jonah, which merges that characteristic in a grand conception of the religious education of mankind. That the Assyrians were not deficient in religious sentiment, is amply proved by all their records which abound in expressions of the most submissive deference to the will of their gods and particularly to their supreme deity Asshur. — D|Dp~"iJ^] D^il^r^ the highest and lowest (comp. Esth. i. 5, 20; Jer. vi. 13, etc.), or the oldest and youngest, the adjectives having the force of the superlative (Gramm. § 89. 7). — The narrative, taken in its most obvious sense, implies a satisfactory progress. First the j^eojyle are moved by Jonah's exhortations and prove their repentance by fasting and other ascetic exercises; and then the whole matter (i3"in) — Jonah's preaching with its effect upon the multitude — comes to the ears of the king (ver. 6), who not only follows the people's example but ordains, besides, much more rigorous measures of penance. It is, therefore, unnecessary to take y-lM (ver. 6) as a pluperfect, as if the people's repentance had only been the result of the King's commands (so Ebji Ezra, Aiith. Vers. 'For word came,' Cornel, a Lapid, 'quia pervenerat verbum, causam reddit indicti jejunii;' Kleinerf. 'es war namlich die Sache zum Konige von Ninive ge- drungen,' etc.); the pluperfect ^Jp"''Pw'r}l in the poetical pas- sage ii. 4 is not quite analogous; in prose a supplementary or epexegetical remark is either simply introduced by '■■7 (as in i. 10, D"'? '^jT] ""D), or by the finite verb following the noun with ), as in i. 5 "in;^ n:l^| (not with vav con- versive, Hjr in^i) 'and Jonah had gone down,' or rather 'but Jonah had gone down,' for this construction implies the contrast that while the mariners were praying in alarm, Jonah was sleeping quietly apart (supra p. 153). For a similar reason, the same mode of expression is used in i. 4 b^'ori n'n^l (not nln^ "^iPU)- Jonah fled and entered a ship, but God, on His part, sent a tempest. Perhaps in order PENITENT NINEVEH. 257 to indicate such a juxtaposition, the Masorites, in both cases, furnished the noun (niH^J in ver. 4, and nrii"! in ver. 5) with the strongly distinctive accent t-evia. — 12^^, instead of ID^^I (Ezek. xxvi. 16, etc.) see supra p. 236.— n'^i-N* (in Zech. xi. 3 splendour, glory), here that costly tunic of Assyrian monarchs above described, is a splendid cloak of honour worn by the wealthy or distinguished, like ermine or purple {Targ. nnj^^ ^^-ch] PJiilo, De Jon. c. 37, rex regalem purpuram cum throno in saccum vertebat; Kimchi Vb^li^ HDI^Dn n-)-N; Luther seinen Purpur; Sept only (jToXf^- but Sgr. n:n his diadem); comp. Josh. vii. 21, nyr^' n")lN, proving that such raiments of particular value were manu- factured in the regions of the Euj^hrates and Tigris (comp. Lagard, Nineveh, i. 136; ii. 319, 321): yet the word denotes also that humble 'hairy garment' (i^jtif n^-^) or rough dress of hair cloth worn by prophets (Zech. xiii. 4; 1 Ki. xix. 13, 19; 2 Ki. ii. 13, 14; comp. i. 8; Gen. xxv. 25); for the roots niN and -)in imply originally the notion of amplitude or largeness, the more costly eastern robes also being wide or falling down in folds. Alexander . the Great, mourning for Hephaestion, threw into the flames of the funeral pile, among other precious objects, eV^-^ra r-^v /xiya, ri^uioc^ iy UspGaig (Ael. Var. Hist. vii. 8). — In Ezekiel's description of the fall and humiliation of Tyre (xxvi. 16), the princes of the sea 'come down from their thrones (amNDrD), put oif their embroidered garments (DnDp*)), clothe themselves in terror (wnb^ nHin), and sit upon the ground' (comp. 2 Sam. xii. 16, 17; xiii. 31). — riDT, in the intransitive sense of covering oneself or being covered, which it more commonly bears in Hithpael (comp. ver. 8), is here construed with the simple accusative (comp. Gramm. § 102. 3), though it occurs also with H (Gen. xxxviii. 14; Deut. xxii. 12); it is therefore unnecessary to assume an ellipsis like pty nLi'3 DJn {Eb7i Ezra etc.).— pj;;''? (ver. 7) has transitive meaning, so that the succeeding iqnM is almost equivalent to nbivb, the king 'caused an edict to be proclaimed as follows' (the Sept. has the impersonal passive, j^a.) ;K'/jp-Jx^-/j Kai spf)s^-/j, as if reading p^p)). — TJ^Sn D^'d^D is S 258 JONAH III. 4 — 9. by decree of the Hng (see supra p. 236), Targ. 'D iT^TilD, Vulg. ex ore regis, Sejyf. merely Trtxpa rov ^aGiksccc, and Jewish expositors vaguely "j^DH DU^^ (Rashi, Ebn Ezra, KimcJii, etc.). "Whether the noun DJ^D or Dj^tp, used for mandate in the Aramaic dialects, was in the Assyrian language also the ordinary term for. the same notion and is hence in this place used by the author technically, is uncertain. The □ "''pm^ are the king's counsellors and grandees (Sept. j^syi- cTocvsc, Tulg. principes), whose authority added weight to the charge in the eyes of the people, comp. Ezr. vii. 28, "jblDH "^bDn nK^ ^"2) ViJ;;n; 2 Ki. x. ll; Nah. iii. 17, where those Assyrian magnates are called D^IT^O and DnODD; Dan. iv. 33; vi. 18, ]''J3")I1'1. It would be unsafe to infer from this passage that the nobles were in some manner con- stitutionally connected with the government of the kingdom and thus tempered its arbitrariness, as we know now from the monuments no less than from the records of history that 'the Assyrian monarch was a thorough Eastern despot, unchecked by popular opinion, and having complete power over the lives and property of his subjects, rather adored as a god than feared as a man' {Layard, Nin. and Babyl. p. 632).— "With our present means of information, it is entirely impossible to determine Jonah's king of Nineveh. He must have been a near predecessor of Pul (Phulukh, Ivalush) who, about B. C. 770, waged war against Syria and Menahem king of Israel, as well as against Edom and Philistia, and exacted enormous tribute (comp. 2 Ki. xv. 19; 1 Chr. v. 26 ; see Comm. on Gren. p. 291); but the names of monarchs in that period read on the inscriptions by various decipherers are too uncertain and conflicting to afford a foundation even for conjecture, and no useful purpose would be served by quot- ing them. The prince who, chronologically, is most probable is Yul-^iirari III. (B. C. 812 — 783), concerning whose reign we have very copious records; but he seems to have dis- played an exceptionally ardent zeal for his national gods; for we learn that he and his wife Sammuramit dedicated PENITENT NINEVEH. 259 two statues in Nebo's temple in the south-eastern corner of Nimroud, built a new sanctuary to Nebo and Merodach at Kouyunjik, and paid constant homage to his deities. — About the year 800, we know, the Assyrian empire was considerably weakened by the revolt and secession of Media and Babylon; but this 'destruction of the older Assyrian monarchy' was followed by a restoration and even a remarkable increase of power finally broken only about two hundred years later. There is something plausible in the supposition that Jonah's arrival in Nineveh and the immediate reformation of the people arrested, for the time, the complete downfall of the empire, which seemed imminent after the successful rebellion of two of the most important provinces. But even this surmise has hardly any historical support. According to our Book, Assyria did not suffer at all in Jonah's time, but was absolutely pardoned; and the king as pourtrayed in the Book is very different from that corrupt, licentious and effeminate Sardanapalus, who is related to have reigned when the older Assyrian monarchy was shaken. Many antiquaries in earlier and recent times have identified that king with Pul (so Calmet, Usser, Grotius, Raivlinson, etc.), others with Sardanapalus {Scaliger, etc.), and others again with anterior or subsequent rulers : but we must resign ourselves till Assyrian discoveries bearing on that epoch are more com- plete (comp. Menant, Annales des Bois d' Assyria, pp. 99 sqq., 130 sqq.; Can. Raiclinson, Ancient Monarchies, ii. 103 sqq.j 122 sgg.)— The Midrash {Yalk. Jon. § 550) considers the king to be that Asnapper (Ezra iv. 10) of whom it cannot even be ascertained whether he was a sovereign (Shalmanezer or Esar-haddon) or only an Assyrian satrap (comp. 2 Ki. xvii. 24). The king's decree or proclamation reaches to the end of the ninth verse ("DnO N^l); the execution of his commands is indeed not expressly stated, but it is implied in the tenth verse, the brevity of which is not abruptness, but harmonises with the pregnant style of the Book. That omission has induced several ancient and modern interpreters to confine 260 JONAH III. 4—9. the order to the seventh verse alone, and to take the verbs of the eighth verse as preterites: 'and they covered them- selves with sackcloth' etc. (reading ^D5n='1 instead of ^D5n^), etc.; so Seiit. Kai 'nzpiz§cCko'jro aaKKOvc . . koCi z^b-qca-j . . Ara/ aTTssTps-'pav)] but they are thereby compelled arbitrarily to add at the end of the verse 'saying' {Sept. XiyovTsc, etc.). — n^^nin (ver. 7) seems to denote the beasts of burden, in contradistinction to the flocks and herds, so that the copula must be supplied before iplH {Se/pt. ku) ol §6ec, Yulg. et boves etc.); there is at least no tangible reason why the former should be excluded from the injunction, and with refer- ence to them the command concerning the covering with sack- cloth has particular force, as the pomp and luxury displayed by Eastern nations in the caparisons and trappings of their horses and camels, mules and asses, are well known. But HLDH^n is surely not to be taken as 'the most brutish and senseless among the Ninevites,' by which conceit, according to Cyril, some have tried to remove from the text the mourning of animals. — The people were to pray to God 'with all their might' (nptni!, ver. 8) — with earnestness and loud invocations (comp. 1 Ki. xviii. 26 — 28, the priests of Baal cried t'IpD 'pnjj from morning to noon); Sejpt. ifcrcvccc] Targ. ^|1pn!3; Syr. Nn-3Jn3 with groaning; Luther heftig; Biur W2^ ^UDND b'2'2, etc.; but others, desirous to detract from the heathen's repentance, render 'with violence,' which, as Bashi strangely explains, they threatened to inflict upon helpless servants, if God did not show them compassion; whereas the Midrash (1. c.) describes the wonderful completeness and fervour of the Ninevites' repentance with the most striking details (see also PMo, De Jon. c. 37, 'judex signum quod indicabat potestatem deponebat, dominus libertate donabat servum, . . . nuptiales lampades facesque extinguebantur' etc. ; comp. Apocr. Esth. iii. 11 — Engl. xiii. 18 — Kai Trdg 'lapayjk i/csKpaqsy i^ hyyog avricv). — Ol II^^N )'2p''], comp. Jer. xxv. 5; xxxvi. 3, 7, etc. — The DDD violence that was in the hands of the people was the property which they had acquired by violence and injustice and were bidden to restore to the lawful owners; PENITENT NINEVEH. 261 DDPi being analogous to nb^^ which is both labour and wages gained by labour (see Bible Stud. i. p. 109; comp. Isa. lix. 6, Dn"'t?D2! DDH bj;^ ; Job xvi. 17; also Ezek. xxiii. 27; Grotius ^rapta restituat, sine quo non est vera poenitentia') With no other crimes are the Ninevites more constantly reproached by Hebrew prophets than with rapacity and plunder (Nah. ii. 13, 14; iii. 1, etc.), and not inaptly observes Kimchi, ^that one offence (DDn) outweighed all the rest, and on that account their destruction was decreed.' — The subject to 'Dl Wlj:5;] 'and they shall cry to God' (ver. 8). is of course only DlNH, not HDn^m □"N'H; for even if, by a frigid metaphor, the beasts might be said to cry to God from hunger and thirst, they can certainly not be said 'to turn from the violence that is in their hands' (comp. Num. xxiv. 24, where NIH refers to ")1LJ'N alone, although this is coupled with 1^^). Such poetical passages as Joel i. 18, 20 ('how do the beasts groan! . . . the beasts of the field cry also unto Thee'), which merely refer to the inarticulated sounds of animal instinct extorted by discomfort and pri- vation, do not prove 'the Biblical conception that the animals likewise invoke God in their distress' (Keil 1. c» p. 290; comp. Ps. xlii. 2). The speaking of Balaam's ass would be a venial miracle compared with the praying of all the animals in the town of Nineveh. — 3;^11''"''P (ver. 9) 2vho Jcnoivs? (2 Sam. xii. 22), that is, perhaps, as in Joel ii. 14, whence the author possibly borrowed the following words also DHJ] y\'^l, the first and vaguer term being ex- plained by the following 'He will repent,' and still more distinctly by the expressions 'He will turn (12^]) from His fierce anger' (comp. Exod. xxxii. 12, 14; Deut. xiii. 18; 2 Sam. xxiv. 16; Jer. xviii. 8; xxvi. 3; Am. vii. 3, 6; but Mic. vii. 19 IJDri"!'' D1ty"> 'He will again show mercy to us'). The Sept. has merely rtc oThsv el ixerawrjaci b 'heoc; the Targum, anxious to remove anthropopathic notions, renders freely: 'whosoever is conscious of guilt, let him turn away there- from and he will receive God's compassion' (Dinin^l; comp. Hos. xi. 8, "'n^H'':! npDJ); the Masorites are supposed ta 262 JONAH III. 10. have followed the same interpretation, since they provided 211!/"' with a more strongly distinctive accent than DnjV, and so also the Syr. \h)J Dn-jDI, Baslii n''3!2' nn^iDV V"1V ^^ 2W\ and others (comp. KimcJd 3] 2W^ nmL^nn Oil 1}1VW ^D). Similar paraphrases have been adopted in ver. 10 and iv. 2 (pnn and DriJ); while some B-abbinical expositors are con- tent with recalling the principle: 'the Law speaks in the ordinary language of men' (Ebn Ezra and others). — ]1")nD liv^} 'from His fierce anger;' comp. Jer. xxxvi. 7 f]Nn 'pHJI HDnm; also Ex. xxxii. 11, 12; Deut. xiii. 18; Hos. xi. 8, 9; Mic. vii. 18 (see sitjn'a on ii. 9). 10. THE GOD or MEECY. HI. 10. 10. And God saw tlieir works, that they turned from their evil way; and Grod repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do to them, and He did it not. Jeremiah relates that, by God's command, he went into the house of a potter, whom he found at his work, and who, as he noticed, whenever a vessel did not succeed to his satisfaction, fashioned it at his pleasure into another utensil which seemed to him superior. Then the word of God came to the prophet: 'At one time I speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot and to crush and to destroy it; but if that nation, against which I have pronounced, turn from their wickedness, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.'* These words of Jeremiah may be regarded as the theme or text of the Book of Jonah, if they did not actually prompt the author to compose it. God says to men: As the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand;'^ and He does not reject them as long as ^ Jerem. xviii. 1 — 10. ^ Ver. 6; comp. Isa. xlv. 9; Ixiv. 7 ; Rom. ix. 20, 21. THE GOD OF MEECY. 263 tlie}^ show the possibility of being reformed and rendered righteous and useful. In this case, He allows them time for contrition and improvement ; and if they repent in truth and sincerity, He receives them again into His grace and revokes the intended decree of destruction. But as some clay is so bad and worthless that it cannot be employed for any serviceable purpose, so some nations may be so utterly corrupt and vitiated that amend- ment is absolutely hopeless ; and if so, they can on no ac- count be saved by the piety of a few good men in their midst, were it even the piety of Noah, Daniel, or Job,^ nor by sacrifice and prayer,*^ nor by the fervent intercession of prophets like Moses or Samuel, *= or of Jeremiah whom God restrained saying, 'Pray not thou for this people, nor urge Me, for I will not hear thee,'<^ or of Ezekiel to whom God declared, 'I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover, for they are a rebellious house.'® Judgment must be executed;^ pardon is impossible.§^ In such extreme emergencies, God is 'jealous and revengeth, He revengeth and is full of wrath, taketh vengeance on His adversaries and keepeth His anger for His enemies . . . and will not at all acquit the wicked.' ^^ But while the Hebrew prophets again and again re- present the Israelites as having sunk to that abyss of sin and the wri the heathen Ninevites as irretrievably lost, delineates them as eminently capable of reformation and as receiv- ing God's ready forgiveness. The great pagan empire, purified from transgression and wickedness, is by Jahveh, it the Israelites as having sunk to that abyss of . id iniquity, which renders annihilation inevitable,^ jX^ riter of the Book of Jonah, far from describing f ^ Ezek. xiv. 12—23. ^ Hos. viii. 13. ^ Jerem. xv. 1. ^ Jer. vii. 16; comp. xiv. 11. ® Ezek. iii, 26. ^ Hos. ix. 7. §■ Isa. ii. 9, 10; xxii. 14. ^ Nah. i. 2, 3. ^ Isa. V. 1 — 6; vi. 10; xxiv. 1—13; xlii. 24, 25; xxx. 9; Ezek. iii. 7; xii. 2—4; Hos. iv, 7, 8; Am. iv. 4—11; vii. 1—9; Mic. vii. 1 — 6, etc. 264 JONAH III. 10. the God of the Hebrews and of the Universe, firmlj re-established in its splendid power and prosperity. And how was this beneficent result achieved? Not by those means of atonement sanctioned, during many centuries, by the usage of the Hebrews and then minutely fixed by the Law — not by special sacrifices and a special Temple and special priests ; but by two other agencies nobler and more blissful — by the abandonment of evil on the part of the sinnerS; and by the merciful attributes of the Lord.* 'Sacrifices of God are a broken and contrite heart."^ 'In every place where I shall let My name be mentioned, I shall come to thee and bless thee.'*^ For prayer and con- fession no intermediary, no Aaronite or Levite, is needed. And the Divine qualities of love became familiar in Israel and lived in the people's mouth like 'winged words': 'The Eternal is merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thou- sands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin.' ^ The restoration of happiness and of peace of mind to all men in all climes through earnest repentance and good deeds, and through God's inexhaustible love and compassion — this is the essence of the Book of Jonah, as it is the burden of numerous prophetic exhortations insisting that ^ Comp. Ps. XXV. 7 — 18; xxxii. 1, 2, 5; li. 3—19; Joel ii. 12—14; Am. vii. 3, 6; Jer. xxv. 5; xxvi. 3, 19; xxxvi. 3, 7; Dan. iv. 24; also 2 Sam. xiv. 13; 1 Ki. xxi. 28, 29. ^ Ps. li. 19; comp. Prov. xv. 8; Sir. XXXV. 1 — 3, etc. The mari- ners presented indeed sacrifices (i. 1 6) ; but it would be precari- ous to infer from this distinc- tion that the author meant to describe two different classes of pagans — the one ready for a more spiritual, the other only capable j of an external conversion (so | Krahmer): the sacrifices of the sailors were spontaneous manifes- tations of gratitude, such as the Hebrews at all times deemed meri- torious; and in representing them to be offered to Jahveh on the ship, the author sufficiently mani- fests his liberality. ^ Exod. xx. 24. ^ Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7; infra iv. 2; see the explanation of these teiTHS in Comm. on Exod. pp. 623, 624, and analogous passages in Comm. on Levit. i. 251; comp. also Philo^ De Execrat. c. 9 (0pp. ii. 436), 'og av^x^iMiir^-i 7:pQ riiMxpia; as) Ti^srai, etc. THE GOD OE MERCY. 265 God does not desire the death of the wicked but his depart- ing from the path of evil that he may hve.^ Appropriately, therefore, did the Synagogue appoint this Book to be read on the holy Day of Atonement, in addition to that subhme portion in the second part of Isaiah, which depicts the true form and value of penitence : 'Is it such a fast that I desire ? a day for a man to afflict himself? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Behold this is the fast I desire, to loosen the bands of wickedness, to undo the fetters of oppression, and to let the enthralled go free, and that you break every yoke. It is to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou dost not with- draw thy hand from thy brother."^ Thus we find in the latest and most developed stages of Hebraism more than the germs and rudiments of a creed universal, spiritual, human and rational ; of a creed pointing the way to inward peace, and upholding man in his struggles with sin by reliance on an all-enfolding Love and Forgivingness. Phtlglogical Eemakks. — So obvious is the main idea which pervades the Book and stamps it with the character of perfect unity — the idea of the wonderful power of true repentance— that it seems surprising that this point should ever have been mistaken and should have called forth the most varied and most fanciful views. Some opinions are at least partially correct. The Book, it is maintained, intends to teach, how much nobler and more merciful God's thoughts and actions are than those of man {Niemeyer)] or to show, that His presence extends beyond the limits of the Holy Land, and His lovingkindness beyond those of His own ^ Ezek. iii. 16—21; xviii. 21— ; ^ Isa. Iviii. 5—9; comp. i. 11— 23, 27—32; xxxiii. 10—20; Ps. | 17; Jer. vi. 20; vii. 21—23, etc. ciii. 3—14, etc. | See Pliilol. Sem. siib fin. 266 ' JONAH III. 10. people (BerthokU) ; or to point out, as a reproach to the Hebrews, that, while pagans readily turned to God, they remained unbelieving and ungratefully recalcitrant in spite of constant instruction and endless blessings; which idea is conveyed in Christ's utterance above quoted (p. 252), 'The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation^ and shall condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonas' (Matt. xii. 41; Luke xi. 32; comp. Acts xiii. 46; E/om. i. 16; but Matt. x. 5, 6; so Kimchi, Rosenmilller, De Wette, BleeJc, Gramherg, Hasse, Koldeke, Hiixtahle, etc.). This may have been a collateral, but is certainly not the principal object of the Book, since it will be admitted that 'a syste- matic depreciation of the Israelites, and a corresponding exaltation of the Gentiles at their expense, are opposed to the character of later Judaism' {Hitzig 1. c. p. 161; see supra pp. 74 sqq.). Or, it is said, the narrative is meant to impress, that the hatred of the Hebrews against other nations is unjustified, as these are watched over by the common Lord with no less tenderness than the Israelites themselves, and especially as many Gentiles, Divinely assisted in their efi'orts for enlightenment, greatly excel the Hebrews in virtue and uprightness (so Semler, Michaelis, Fareau, Eichliorn, Nachtigall, Winer, Rosenmiiller, Friedrichsen, Freiswerh, Davidson, Bleek, Lange, etc.); the author desired, therefore, to expose and to rebuke Israel's national animosities arising from that theo- cratic pride or bigotry which denies to strangers, or at least envies them a share in God's providence, the Hebrew people being represented in the sullen and petulant prophet; and he was anxious, by stigmatising a narrow fanaticism, to exhort his readers to humility and toleration, and thus, 'through Jonah's spiritual schooling,' to improve his people (so Herder 1. c. p. 354; Knobel, Prophetismus, ii. 373; Friedrichsen 1. c. pp. 278 sqq.; Huxtable 1. c. p. 576, etc.). This view is, no doubt, in a certain sense correct, but it should not be strained too much. It is true that no Book of the Old Testament depicts pagans so favourably, none a prophet so unfavourably; but this does not prove that the THE GOD OF MEECY. 267 writer here intended a uniform and decided juxtaposition of heathen and Hebrew (so Friedrichsen 1. c. pp. 113 — 120, 140, 245, 279 sqq., etc.). On the ship, Jonah does not yield to the mariners in noble magnanimity. The Gentiles are simply described as 'men' (iv. 11, DIN), and enjoy, as such, God's loving care in the same manner as the Hebrew prophet. Not even the king of Assyria, in his edict, lays stress on the fact that he and his people are not Israelites. The author is so free from religious exclusiveness that the distinction between Hebrew and heathen is to him hardly more than a distinction between people and people. All men alike are liable to sin, and all men alike participate in the mercy of Jahveh, whom all are able, if not ready, to recognise as the only true God — this is his simple but comprehensive code of morals and theology; and while engaged in impressing these ideas on his fellow-men, he touches as light- ly as possible upon division and separation. It is scarcely necessary to assume that he designed the Book specially for heathen readers (so GoldJwrn and others) ; it would certainly be unjust thus to account for the liberality of the principles he sets forth. But most questionable is the expansion which the view under consideration has received in other directions. The story, it is averred, is designed to show ••( by Jonah's petty and jealous disposition how the Jews, p*- filled with a burning hostility to other races and hence eager to evade their Messianic vocation, will yet be employed by God for the conversion of the Gentile world which, to their bitter vexation, will eagerly turn to Divine truth and far surpass them in piety (so Eichhorn, Bohme, Bruno Bauer, Keil, Kleinert, etc.). Could any Hebrew writer justly and truthfully raise such charges against the bulk of his coreligionists who were at all times strongly animated by the hope and desire of a Messianic diffusion of their faith among all nations? (comp. Gen. xii. 3, etc.). Jonah is represented as being angry not because the Ninevites believed in God, but because their town was not destroyed. It is possible that there were some Hebrews to whom that 268 JONAH III. 10. Messianic idea was 'unbearable.' But even at the time when Paul j)ut forth the question and reply, 'Is He the Grod of the Jews only? is He not also the God of the G-entiles? Yes of the Grentiles also, seeing it is one God who shall justify the circum- cision by faith and uncircumcision by faith' (Rom. iii. 29, 30), some of his fellow-workers required to be taught by special visions 'not to call any man common or unclean' (Acts x. 28, 34, 35): while, on the other hand, Paul's reply at least to such a question is plainly anticipated in this Book (see also 2 Ki. V. 1, 'through Naaman Jahveh gave help to Syria;' Jer. XXV. 9; comp. supra p. 94, note Z>; see Rom. ii. 14, 15; 1 Tim. ii. 4.). Hardly more solid, though less invidious, is the much defended opinion that the Book of Jonah offers a vivid picture of a Hebrew prophet tainted by the two opposite faults of weakness and haughtiness, which prevailed, or might have prevailed, in the prophetic order (He7'cler)f of a prophet as he should not be (Etcald), proving that even members of the theocracy were disobedient and dissatisfied, strove against God, and provoked His indignation (Knobel) ; or that the Book is intended as an encouragement to the prophets patiently to submit to all the dangers of their difficult office, in consideration of the momentous benefits they may be enabled to confer even upon depraved pagans (Bezel, Maurer). It is not probable that the author, who was himself penetrated with the true prophetic spirit, desired to censure or lower the grandest and most revered class of his countrymen, although he incidentally and perhaps unconsciously did so in a certain sense by his peculiar treatment of the subject. And lastly, many able critics have proposed or supported the view, which appears to us even more untenable, that the Book, apolegetic in tendency, is anxious to justify God and His prophets on account of such predictions and menaces against Gentiles as remained unfulfilled, and to silence the doubts and the displeasure thereby aroused in the minds of the Hebrews (so Koster, Faulus, Eitzig, FMlippson 'eine Schutzschrift fiir die Propheten,' Riehm, Noldeke, H. Scliultz etc.); that the writer particularly THE GOD OF MEECY. 269 desired to explain why the destruction of Babylon, which had so often and so emphatically been foretold, had not come to pass, since, although he named Nineveh, he really meant Babylon, in which town, therefore, he Avished to intimate, Grod, ever in His holy love ready to spare, must have discovered redeeming virtues (so Knodel, Jclger, and similarly Krahmer; comp. Ezra vi. 22, where llt^N represents Persia.). A Hebrew writer would have considered it pre- sumptuous blasphemy to defend God and His prophets, whose words were held infallible, and whose announcements, as every one knew, were conditional on the conduct of those against whom they were directed. From early times the doctrine of men's free will and Grod's 'repenting' after their contrition, was understood and diffused among the Hebrews (see Bible Stud. i. 118); it required, therefore, in the late period in which this Book originated no illustration by a special narrative, although, just because it was famili- arly entertained, it might properly be employed for enjoining the momentous lessons of the universal efficacy of repentance and of Grod's mercy. It only remains to advert to the very fanciful theory of Hermann von der Hardt, who contended that the Book, written by the High-priest Hilkiah (2 Ki. xxiii. 4), allegori- cally and symbolically describes the times and fortunes of the two kings of Judah Manasseh and Josiah, since under the name of Nineveh that of Samaria is veiled — which theory may almost be called an abuse of exegetical freedom, and which, in spite of the framer's undoubted ingenuity and extraordinary classical learning, hardly demands a serious refutation (comp. Carpzov, Introduct. iii. 349 — 353, 356, 357; Berthoklt, Einleitung, v. 2, pp. 2369 — 2373; Friedrichsen 1. c. pp. 79 — 91 ; Rosenmilller, Schol. 1. c. pp. 320 — 327, etc.). Yet it seems to have called forth several analogous views in our own time. Thus Kleinert considers the Book as a 'symbolical prophecy' in the following manner (Comment, pp. 16 — 18): Jonah represents Israel, both the one and the other having a prophetic vocation; Nineveh means the heathen world; but 270 JOXAH III. 10. Israel, instead of teaching the Gentiles, prefers gain by commerce and sails in merchant vessels far away from the sacred soil; to punish Israel, G-od sends them into exile, which is indicated by the great fish devouring Jonah; in their misery they pray to God, who releases them from captivity, that is, the fish casts out Jonah — and so on in numerous minute details and parallels. But this 'interpre- tation of the symbol,' which is confidently maintained to be •in the spirit of the Old Testament,' appears simple in com- parison with the very elaborate and comprehensive deduc- tions of Kaulen, a thoughtful Catholic scholar, who explains the Book not only 'literally' and ^morally/ but also ^allegori- cally' and 'mystically,' and who comes to the conclusion that 'in the small Book of Jonah the profoundest mysteries of the Christian faith are wonderfully pre-figured, nay, that the whole history of the New Testament is delineated in these few chapters' (Kaulen 1. c. pp. 85 — 113; on the mystic exposition see ibid. pp. 140 — 145, 'nobis enim visus est Jonas, postquam novissimis Dei monitis emendatus divinae voluntati acquievit, quasi imaginem ejus animae praebere, quae est, ut dicitur, in statu unionis; quippe quae nullis passionum et errorum praestigiis turbata se totam in con- templanda divina natura ac voluntate collocat,' etc.). That the ideas of repentance and Divine mercy form the kernel of the Book, has been recognised by many ancient and modern expositors, although by few only in that remarkable comprehensiveness which is indicated by Jonah's rescue after his flight, since most of them lay almost ex- clusive stress on the deliverance of the Ninevites; comp. Philo, De Jona c. 22, 'salutarem profecto manum tuam et OS promptum ad peccatores profugiumque fugientibus et benignitatem erga eos, discant per mea scripta aures homi- num;' Kimchi on i. 1, the story has been written to 'teach that God has compassion upon penitent sinners, to whatever nation they may belong, especially if they are many;' to which Lightfoot (0pp. i. 201, 202) quaintly observes, 'An expectanda fuit Veritas a Judaeo, aut solatium ab Hispano? THE GOD OF MERCY. 271 Et Judaeus tamen Hispanus hie exhibet utrumque, veritatem solabilem et solatium verum;' Moller, Jona, eine moralische Erzahlung, pp. 159 sqq.; Stdudlin, Symbolische Handlungen der Propbeten, pp. 224 sqq.; Gesenius 1. c; De Wette, Ein- leitung, § 291; Noldeke 1. c. p. 75; Etvald, Propbeten, ii. 557, 558. The objections that have been raised against the view that the Book illustrates more than one instance of expiation and forgiveness; are extremely weak (see e. g. Friedrichse^i 1. c. pp. 123 — 127), since they chiefly consist in a doubt whether so much art may be attributed to a Hebrew writer in the author's age. But to about the same age belongs the Book of Jb&.— Many have ascribed to the work such a variety of tendencies, that it would be difficult to find a central point or to establish a unity (comp. e. g. Carpzov, Introd. iii. 362, the narrative treats ^de vocatione ministrorum verbi, de gentium ad communionem ecclesiae vocatione, de lapsibus sanctorum, et quam tumid a caro etiam in Sanctis hominibus existimationem suam salvam cupiat,' etc.), though the story is indeed fruitful in incidental lessons of the highest interest, and has therefore given rise to a homiletic literature of vast and uncommon extent (comp. Carpzov 1. c. pp. 367—370; lUeinert 1. c. p. 221; etc.). It has often been maintained and allowed that 'in no part of the Old Testament is Grod's paternal love, without respect of persons or nations, brought before us in a manner so impressive and so nearly approaching Christianity as in this Book' (so e.g. BleeJc, Einleitung, p. 574; Davidson 1. c. p. 277; Euxtable 1. c. p. 577, etc.). But this view has not seldom been repeated with modifications implying an unjust principle. 'The chief ideas of this little Book,' it is affirmed, *are greatly exalted above the ideas of the Jews, and it was only by Divine illumination that such truths could in that time be conceived and conveyed;' nay it has been plainly asserted that 'the tendency of the Book is un-Jeivish' (so PreisiverJc, Morgenland, 1841, pp. 36, 50; Davidson 1. c. p. 281, etc.). How is this to be understood? Are the Jews to be made responsible for the narrow or imperfect 272 JONAH III. 10. notions found in their writings, but to be regarded as pas- sive, if not unwilling, instruments in expressing noble thoughts and sentiments? He who, in the Book of Jonah, illustrates the beautiful doctrines of repentance, mercy and toleration, was no less an Israelite than the prophet Jonah whom he rebukes and corrects. Down to a very late period, the Hebrews possessed that self-regenerating vigour which, by its intrinsic energy, discovers and removes error. Would it be right to declare that the philosopher Anaxagoras was U7i' Greek, or Marcus Aurelius un-Roman, because the one, by his conception of the Universal Mind [ISovc), approached closely to a monotheism, and the other, in his elevated ethics, is acknowledged to have often risen to the moral teaching of the Bible? If the Book of Jonah is 'un- Jewish,' then all the Hebrew prophets are ^un- Jewish;' and yet the prophets, as unbiassed critics will be the first to admit, were the true Israel, the very flower and essence of the nation, guiding, teaching and incessantly training their less en- lightened fellow-citizens (see Bible Studies, i. pp. 195, 196). It would be unfair, in estimating a people's character, not to give due consideration to the highest spirits and to those directing influences which impressed upon the nation the characteristic stamp, and through which it has become the teacher of later generations. Next to the lessons of charity, no doctrines have, perhaps, been developed by Jewish tradition so admirably and so suc- cessfully as those of repentance; and in these efforts the Book of Jonah has almost uniformly b"een taken as the foundation and starting point. Besides referring to the beau- tiful chapters bearing on this subject in the first part of Maimonides' great work Yad Chazakah, we may quote a passage from the Mishnah (Taanith i. 3 — ii. 4), which will best show the nature of the E/abbinical ordinances. If rain does not fall in the desired season, the authorities proclaim a three days' public fast of a lighter and then a three days' fast of a severer kind, and if rain still fails to descend, the following observances are to be repeated during PENITENT NINEVEH. 273 the next seven days: 'The ark enclosing the scrolls of the Law is brought out to a large and open place in the town, and strewn with ashes. Ashes are also strewn on the head of the Chief (nasi) and of the first of the Habbis, while all private persons themselves put ashes on their heads. Then the eldest in their midst addresses them in words of contrition thus: "Our brethren, The Scriptures do not say with respect to the people of Nineveh, God saw their sackcloth and their fasting, but, God saw their ivorks, that they turned from their evil loay, and through His inspired prophet (n!?2pDl) He has commanded, Ttend your heart and not your garments (Joel ii. 13)." Then the people pray, while one of the elders, familiar with the subject, having children and bearing a name without reproach, pronounces twenty-four benedic- tions,' that is, besides the eighteen contained in the principal daily prayer, six special blessings appended mostly to Psalms (cii., cxx., cxxi., cxxx., etc.), and framed on the formula, 'May He who answered Abraham on Mount Moriah, answer you;' in which respect it is noteworthy that, with a reversion of the chronological order, the supplication of 'He who answered Jonah in the fish's belly,' precedes that of 'He who answered David and his son Solomon in Jerusalem;' and the Talmud (Taanith 17 a) thoughtfully explains this irregularity by remarking that, while David and Solomon prayed merely for the land of Israel, Jonah desired to conclude all his invocations with the words: 'Blessed art Thou, Lord, who showest compassion to the whole earth' (DnnD'7 "'^m y^lNH b)} DniDn); whence the projDhet takes precedence before the Kings. — "We may add that, in later E-abbinical literature, Jonah, identified with the widow's son resuscitated by Elijah {supra p. 120), is, like some others, considered to be the 'Messiah the son of Joseph,' and is supposed to have been angry at the preservation of Nineveh because he apprehended that, as that Messiah, he would have to fight against Grog and Magog (comp. Tosephoth in Tah7i. Bab. Mets. 115 ft, ^n1^* n%-| »^Dr p n^E^D pi:i^n; and Yalk. Chad. 12 a ed. 1868, ^H^ 'D) n:r n^n pi:^nn imNH'; see Comm. on Lev. i. 305)! T 274 JONAH IV. 1 — 3. 11. VEXATION AND ANGEE. IV. 1 — 3. 1. But it annoyed Jonah exceedingly, and lie was very angry. 2. And lie prayed to the Lord, and said, I pray Thee, Lord, tvas not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? There- fore I fled before to Tarshish; for I knew that Thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest of the evil. 3. Therefore now, Lord, take, I beseech Thee, my hfe from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. It might be supposed that the author has completely accomplished his task. He has exhibited the power of true repentance both by the example of Jonah and of the Ninevites; in the course of his work, he has collate- rally illustrated the truths that the chosen messenger of the chosen people is no less liable to disobedience than the reckless population of a luxurious heathen empire, and that the God of the Hebrews, who is the God of the whole world, does not pardon the one more readily than He pardons the other; and he has, moreover, poured out over his narrative that exalted spirit of tolera- tion, which he evidently prized most highly and which prompted him not only to paint the Gentiles through- out in the brightest colours, but to make them stand forth in the most favourable contrast to the Hebrew. Was all this not sufficient to impart to his production significance and value? What, then, was his purpose in adding a supplementary portion? He evidently desired to impress several points connected with the pith of his composition still more distinctly and more forcibly. Those points are the longsuffering of God and the dignity of man, and they are indeed weighty enough again and VEXATION AND ANGEE. 275 again to claim the most earnest examination. How did the author carry out his object? Did he remain faith- ful to a noble conception so far executed with admirable effect? These questions can only very partially be answered in his praise. With what justice, we are allowed to argue, has a prophet who, in spite of the utmost danger of his life, finally followed the Divine impulse in preaching the truth to a most turbulent community, been represented as so paradoxical and self-contradictory, so mean and base, nay so fiendishly malicious, as to mur- mur at the deliverance of that community in consequence of their sincere repentance, and to prefer death to the success of his own great mission? Had his contrition and his reconciliation with God been insincere and superficial? And how could a man who, with heroic courage, had awarded to himself death in the waves, be pourtrayed as so petty and unmanly as to succumb to utter despair at the fading of a shade-giving plant and petulantly to insist, even in reply to a Divine remonstrance, 'I do well to be angry unto death? '^ The Jonah of the conclusion is not the Jonah of the main narrative. The lofty traditions respecting his person and his career, which could alone have suggested him as the subject of such a tale, are not preserved to the end, and his memory which, before the diffusion of the Book, was pure and bright, has thus been partially tarnished.^ For it would be adding injustice to injustice if, in order to uphold the author's con- sistency, we were to consider Jonah in the chief portions also as whimsical and pusillanimous, and as the unwilling or reluctant instrument in the hands of a superior Power. '^ ^ Ver. 9. ^' From this point of view the untenable opinion of Nachtigall and others who assume a variety of authors (see Phil. Rem.), is at least intelligible and seems even to gain some support; but then the fourth chapter should above all be kejDt distinct, and not be joined to the third as one composition. ^ So he has indeed often been judged, e. g. by Eichhorn (Prophe- ten, pp. 674 — 676 j Einleitung iv. 336 — 339), who asserts that Jcpaah 276 JONAH IV. 1 — 3. Such a mechanical notion of the gift of prophecy, which defies all psychological and rational analysis, we have before proved to be unscriptural.^ On the other hand, we should be obliged violently to strain the text, were we to attribute Jonah's anger to some more generous motive, as, for instance, to a comparison which he could not fail to institute between the pagans and the Israelites who so constantly proved deaf to all prophetic warnings.^ The author's only excuse would be the supposition that, in the person of Jonah, however inappropriately the instance would have been chosen, he desired to stigmatise those of his contemporaries and co-rehgionists, if there were such, who, from blind hatred, disputed to the Gentiles the right to a share in God's providence and mercy, and longed for their misfortune, because, as Luther expresses it, 'they still held a carnally Jewish opinion of God;' so that, reversing the Eabbinical adage above referred to, we should be disposed to say, 'The writer was solicitous for the Father, but not for the son.''^ For while the author, with respect to the prophet, deserted his former elevation, he fully and admirably maintained it in reference to God and His nature. In no other part of the Scriptures, are the Divine attributes delineated with greater force or sublimity. Even Jonah, in his querulous fretfulness, acknowledged that Nineveh was saved because God is 'gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness, and repenting of the evil.' He expressed the cause of his displeasure but indirectly and covertly; yet he made it evident that he was vexed ^has not a single trait of a right- I ter 'very well drawn throughout minded man,' that liis confession \ the Book' (so e. ff. Friedrichsen on the ship and his readiness to 1. c. p. 90); comp. Phil. Eem. on suffer death were worthless, that, j vers. 4 — 11 init. in fact, the first x^art of the story i '^ See supra j). 132. must be interpreted in the hght of j "So Kimcid and manj'- other the conclusion. In this sense, many earher and recent commentators. expositors consider Jonah's charac- i ^ Supra p. 134. VEXATION AND ANGER. 277 from offended vanity and mortified pride because his predictions were not fulfilled, or, if his words be inter- preted in the most creditable sense they will bear, from grief at being possibly considered a deceiver or a false prophet who, according to the recognised Law, had for- feited his life, since he had made announcements in the name of Jahveh, which were not reahsed.* But in so feeling and actings Jonah entirely mistook the varied functions of the prophet and the Divine principles of judgment with respect to sinners. He tried to palliate his flight before God and himself by protesting that he needed not accept a mission which he knew beforehand would be fruitless. But the prophet's duty consists not merely in announcing punishments but in striving, while it is yet possible, to avert them by instruction and admonition.^ Was he cer- tain that the Ninevites would, without special instruction and admonition, have shown that amendment which alone could secure their deliverance? For though God is merciful and longsufferin^, 'He repents of the evil' only if man repents of his evil: on this condition solely a change in the Divine decrees is possible, which, under all other circumstances, are irrevocable. That plea, therefore, on the part of Jonah, is not only totally insuf- ficient but makes his littleness and perversity still more conspicuous. Nor is it clear that he was angry because, identifying his ofiice with the honour of God, he did not wish to see the prophet's authority vilified and God's name exposed to the blasphemies of the heathen, as if He terrified in vain and, weak and vacillating, were unable ^ Deut. xviii. 20—22. 'He dreaded to appear ^sv^osTiTjg rig koi ^ufjLokoxog, xpsvaTTjg, vanus et mendax' (Cyrill. Alex., Theodoret, Calvin). 'Now will the idolaters say, I am a false prophet' (BashiJ, etc. ; comp. also Yalkut, Jon. § 550. ^ Aptly Jerome remarks (on Ezekiel xxxiii.): 'Non statim se- quitur ut quia propheta praedicit veniat; non enim praedicit ut veniat, sed ne veniat . . . Deus ideo immi- natur ut convertatur ad poeniten- tiam cui minatur.' 278 JONAH IV. 1 — 3. to carry out His menaces :* yielding to narrow-minded com- plaint, Jonah is concerned about himself only and regards no higher interest. Yet even these excuses are more plausible than the vindication which many, anxious to defend the prophet's fame, have urged most persistently, that he was grieved at the safety of a people which, as he foresaw, would one day bring upon the Hebrews disaster and ruin.^ Such considerations lie entirely beyond the scope of a narrative which has no direct relation to Israel; and even if they were not irrelevant, they would hardly justify the prophet, since he knew that the Assy- rians were really the rod destined by God for the punish- ment of His people.*^ Philological Eemaeks. — It may he admitted that, if this chapter were wanting, it would hardly have been missed, and that, without it, the story would have concluded almost as satisfactorily as it does in its present form; but there is no reason whatever for doubting its authenticity, or for suppos- ing (with Nachtigall, Moller, and others) that the Book was compiled gradually by different hands (comp. Goldhorn, Excurse, pp. 113—172; Bertholdt 1. c. pp. 2407—2412; Friedrichsen ^ So Calvin, Thaddaeus, etc. ^ E. g. Jerome: Tropheta quo- dammodo loquitur . . . per aliorum salutem niinam meo populo nuncio; nee igitur contristatur, quod gentium multitudo solvatm', sed quod pereat Israel.' And again: 'Propheta mori vult, ne conversa multitudine gen- tium in aetemum pereat Israel;' Kimchi, Abarbanel, Fusey (p. 256), excusing the prophet by the ad- mission that, from the instinct of self-preservation and the implanted love of country, many Christians even in our own time 'would in- wardly rejoice to hear that such a calamity as the earthquake of Lisbon befell the capital' of a hostile people ; adducing as a corroboration 'the awful joy' felt at the victory of Leipzig, when 107,000 men were killed or wounded; etc. — In an analogous manner, Jonah's flight has been explained as prompted by 'scorn of a foreign and hostile race and a false dignity reckoning it beneath his prerogative to offi- ciate among uncircumcised idola- ters' (so J. Eadie in Kitto's Cyclop, ii. 142). ^ Isa. vii. 20; x. 5, 6, etc.; Bible Stud. i. 299. VEXATION AND ANGEE. 279 1. c. pp. 213 — 224), or that two distinct accounts have been worked into one (Kleinert 1. c. p. 19). The author borrowed indeed Jonah's prayer from another source, but he fitted it, aiptlj as he believed, into the unity of the Book. The opinion that the addition of the fourth chapter enhances the abruptness of the tale {Friedrichsen 1. c. p. 299), seems almost paradoxical. — In what light did the author consider the incidents of this appended portion with reference to those of the preceding narrative? The penitential period of the Ninevites evidently lasted forty days (iii. 4) ; and when, at the expiration of this time, Jonah saw the town unharmed and untouched, he gave vent to his disappointment and indignation. The text does not warrant the supposition that God communicated to Jonah the reversion of His decree immediately after the first day or days of repentance (so KimcJii and many others). Therefore, we must take the verbs of this chapter in their natural and obvious sense as simply expressing a continuous course of events, and not in the meaning of pluperfects: when the facts here described hap- pened, the safety of Nineveh and its population was fully secured (comp. iii. 10, ri'Zy N^l). A certain difficulty is indeed involved in the statement that Jonah chose a place outside Nineveh, from whence he could see 'what would become of the town' (ver. 5) ; but this must, it seems, be understood to signify that the irritated prophet clung so tenaciously to his cherished hope of witnessing the destruction of the city that he was unwilling to abandon it even after the fixed term had elapsed, and that he indulged in the possibility that the Ninevites, soon forgetting their repentance and returning to their wickedness, would yet draw down upon themselves a speedy perdition, or would at least suffer some misfortune. This obstinate petulance of the prophet is placed in striking opposition to God's paternal forbearance and compassion. We might indeed suppose that he would have left Nineveh before the fortieth day, since he had to apj)rehend a total overthrow of the town and all the men therein like that of Sodom and Gomorrah (iii. 4); but as Nineveh was not 280 JONAH IV. 1—3. really destroyed, the author may have disregarded this point, if it occurred to him at all as a difficulty. — The phrase n^1"IJ n^^ nJi^-^N Vy,} (ver. l), different from the more frequent combination '^D ''J^^'!? V^l ^^^ oiily occurring in later Hebraism, expresses not only disapproval but, besides, anger and intense vexation (comp. Neh. ii. 10; also xiii. 8, "»? y")""! ; Sept. Kai skuTryf^yj Xvirri'j [/.sycd^viv, Yulg. et afflictus est afflictione magna; Luther, das verdross Jona fast sehr, etc.). — n3"i n]"Nlbn (ver. 2), comp. Exod. xiv. 12. — "'n1%V"i:!; for 'n nl;; or 'n ily^ (Sept. sri oyrog /xov ; Yulg. cum adhuc essem, etc.) ; comp. Judg. iii. 26, DHDri^nn "ly while they tarried; Neh. vii. 3, etc.; or with the participle or finite verb, Job i. 18, ")^*]p HT "\]l (see vers. 16, 17); 1 Sam. xiv. 19; etc. — ^TiDlN, like "i^'-N, i. 8; supra p. 167. — n'~)3^ ""C^^R 'I anticipated' or 'prevented' (another charge) 'by escaping,' that is, 'I fled before' another charge could reach me, the principal verb having adverbial force, and the following infinitive conveying the chief notion (see Gramm. § 103. \)', Sept. literally irpoicf/haaa, rov (pvyslv. Modern interpreters have variously, and often doubtfully, supplied the ellipsis ; e. g. Datlie, propterea etiam cupiebam ad illud vitandum Tartessum aufugere; Eichhorn, drum wollt' ich eilig fliehen; and so Bosenmuller, Winer, cito aufugi, iter maturavi, like the Targum p'l^ob ''ri'iriiN I hastened to flee; Gesenius, praeveni periculum mihi imminens fugiendo; Hitzig, I tried, by fleeing to Tartessus, to preclude this very issue which now compromises me. — nV"in~7V DPIJ] (as in Joel ii. 13, but nowhere else in connection with the Divine attributes of mercy) expresses a quality like the preceding terms — ready to retract the evil He had contemplated, when seeing man's earnest repentance (comp., on the other hand, DH^I in iii. 9). — A few parallels from classical writers, proving that the notions of forgiveness and mercy were not unknown to the ancients, may not be uninstructive. In a most remarkable passage of Homer, which is almost complete as a dogmatic exposition, Achilles is warned 'not to be relent- less in his heart, since the immortal gods themselves can be moved' {oils r! as xp-)^ 'NTjXssg yjTop sxsi'j, arpsitroi Is rs koCi VEXATION AND ANGER. 281 ^£0/ avTol; comp. Eplies. iv. 32) . . . For 'by incense and humble vows, by libation and the fat of sacrifices, men who have trespassed and sinned, may, in coming forward with sup- plications, move the gods to compassion. For Penitential Supplications (A/ra/) are the daughters of great Zeus, lame and wrinkled and shy, who eagerly follow in the footstep of Guilt ("Ar-z^). But Guilt, strong and nimble, far outruns them all and is before them in every land, harming mankind ; yet those come behind as healers (a/ V e'E^aKsovrai otIggco). Now whosoever receives with reverence Zeus' daughters when they approach, him they assist greatly and they hear his prayers. But if any one rejects and stubbornly repudiates them, they supplicate Zeus Kronion, that Guilt may follow him, till he has atoned by punishment' (/'va j3\a(f)'^s}g dTroria-^; Horn, II. ix. 496 — 512). It would not be difficult to point out, in this poetical description, a coincidence with the chief points of the Biblical doctrine. — 'Mercy sits with Zeus, as partner of his throne, in judging all deeds' (Soph. Oed. Col. 1267, 1268, 'AXk! Ian yap ko.) T^rfji Gvv'^aKog '^povcav All^g It: spyoig Trdai). — 'It is better,' says Epicurus, 'to follow the general belief about the gods than to submit to the Fate of the physicists; because the former holds out the hope of forgiveness through the worship of the gods, while the latter offers only inexorable necessity' {Diog. Laert. x. 1, § 134, ekirila irapaiTr^amg -jTroypacpBi). — 'Like loving parents, the gods are never weary of bestowing benefits even upon those who doubt the authors of the benefits . . . and they bear the trespass of erring minds patiently and graciously' (Senec. De Benef. vii. 31, errorem labentium animorum placidi ac pro- pitii di ferunt). — 'He who repents of his failings, is almost innocent' (Id. Agam. 243, Quem poenitet peccasse, paene est innocens; comp. Cic. Philipp. xii. 2, optimus est portus poenitenti mutatio consilii). — 'The immortal gods are not vexed because they are obliged constantly to tolerate so many and such great evil-doers ; nay, they even take care of them in every manner' (M. Aurel. vii. 70, Trpoairt Is koc} K-zjooyrai avTccv Tayrotccg; comp. Matt. v. 45; 2 Tim. ii. 13; also the 282 JONAH IV. 4—11. maxim of Pittacus, 'Forgivingness is better than revenge,' cvyyvcaixvi rijxapiag Kpsiaaoiv, Diog. Laert. i. 4, § 76). Sentences of this import far outweigh opposite utterances, which should be read in their context (e. g. Aesch. Agam. 69 — 71; Theogn. 317, 318, ^Failings follow mortal men, and the gods are unwilling to bear with them,' etc.). Nor is it surprising that the immutability of the divine decrees is insisted upon in so far as the gods are the rulers of the world (comp. Horn. Od. iii. 147^ oxj yap r alipa ^ewv rpeTrsTcci vooc aih iovTuv; Senec. De Benef. vi. 23, nee unquam primi consilii deos poenitet; Nat. Quaest. ii. 36, sapientis quoque viri sententiam negatis posse mutari, quanto magis dei? etc.; Max. Tyr. Dissert, xxx, [xsTarlrsa^ai Kai [xsraytvoiaKsiv 'Ttpoa-qKU u-yj oTi ^cw, oChX ouVs a-jhp) aya^ia K.r.'k.). 12. EEBUKE AND LESSON. IV. 4 — 11. 4. Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry? 5. And Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made for himself a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. 6. And the Lord God appointed a ricinus plant, and it came up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to save him from his evil. And Jonah was exceedingly glad of the ricinus plant. 7. But Grod appointed a worm when the morning dawn rose the next day, and it smote the ricinus plant that it withered. 8. And when the sun was shining, Grod appointed a burning east wind, and the sun smote the head of Jonah that he fainted ; and he wished that he might die, and said. It is better for me to die than to live. 9. And Grod said to Jonah, Doest EEBUKE AND LESSON. 283 tliou well to be angry for the ricinus plant? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. 10. Then said the Lord, Thou hast pity on this ricinus plant, for which thou hast not laboured, and which thou hast not made to grow; which came up in a night and perished in a night: 11. And should not I have pity on Mneveh, that great city, wherein are more than twelve myriads of persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also many beasts? How did God now proceed in order to abash and to correct His messenger's irrational anger? To the impetuous and blamable entreaty, *0 Lord, I beseech Thee, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live,' He replied, almost evasively, by the mild question, 'doest thou well to be angry?' to which, He expected no answer, since He intended to instruct the wayward prophet not by words but by emblematic facts. He so directed Jonah^ who had not yet abandoned the hope of seeing Nineveh's destruction, that He let him select, in the east of the town where it is bordered by mountains, an elevated spot from where, under the protection of a booth of twigs and foHage, all that passed in the city could be fully observed.* For a short time He made him, in that slight structure, feel the extreme discomfort of a tropical sun, and then, to the sufferer's intense relief and joy. He suddenly, over or in the place of that booth, ordained a wonderful plant to grow up, whose spreading branches and large leaves yielded him the completest and most * The highest of these hills is the Djebel Maklub (that is, 'over- turned mountain,' so called from its appearance), on which stands the monastery of St. Matthew, and from which, as Kaswini exjDressly remarks, the whole area of ancient Nineveh and its vicinity can be surveyed (comp. Tuch, De Nino urbe, pp. 24, 27). 284 JONAH IV. 4 — 11. grateful shade. But already on the next morning, He caused the shrub to wither through the sting of an insect and, by means of a scorching east-wind, sent such in- tolerable heat that Jonah, whose unsheltered head was struck by the solar rays with unwonted fierceness, fainted and prayed that he might die. Now the moment had come for reproof and correction. When God asked the prophet, 'Doest thou well to be angry for the ricinus plant ? ' He foresaw the answer, 'I do well to be angry, even unto death ;' for the fading of the shrub was indeed a misfortune to Jonah, if it was not dangerous to his life. And that expected and desired reply formed the ap- propriate theme or foundation for the Divine remonstrance. Even so perishable and comparatively so valueless an object as a ricinus plant has its appointed purpose and usefulness, how much more a large and mighty empire. Slight must be the regret at the loss of a boon which arose during a single night and vanished during a single night, in comparison with the annihilation of a power, the gradual growth of which was witnessed through many generations and centuries. More easily do we bear to be deprived of a possession Avhich we have obtained suddenly as an unexpected gift, than to forfeit a property upon which we have bestowed infinite care and toil. Nothing in all creation is equal to the worth and dignity of man, the image of God and the ruler over all other creatures : does there at all exist a common measure for the relative importance of a human being and an insensible plant? If the premature or unnatural death of a single person causes the deepest pain, how unspeakable must be the grief at the untimely destruction of vast populations through the calamitous overthrow of extensive territories ? Our sorrow would be overwhelming even if all had deserved death by the worst crimes ; but that sorrow is inevitably mingled with the bitterest agony by the reflection that every community and every district include a vast propor- tion of guiltless beings; for why must the irrational EEBUKE AKD LESSON. 285 animals suffer, which are incapable of sin, and yet, as sentient creatures, occupy a much higher place than the plant, and for whose well-being man is bidden to show merciful sympathy?^ and why the innocent children who are unable to distinguish between good and bad, between right and wrong? All this is implied in God's answer;^ and as the weighty words are unfolded before Jonah's mental vision, he must, in shame and mortification, be im- pressed with his despicable folly and reproachful levity. But the principal stress lies on the opposition between 'the ricinus plant' (|1''p''p^) and 'man' (din); to this antithesis all the other contrasts we have pointed out, are subordi- nate.*^ In the eyes of the Hebrew writer, the life of the heathen Ninevites is precious simply because they are men; he knows no chosen people and no exclusively saving faith ; for the spirit of the ancient prophets uplifts him to the sphere of a pure humanity. Thus his con- stant reference to Nineveh as 'the great city' and then, in the most emphatic form possible, 'the great city before God'*^ receives also increased weight; it is an enormous multitude of human beings, whose destiny is at stake; for Nineveh, as another prophet urges, w^as from early times full of men as a pool is full of water; her merchants were more numerous than the stars of heaven, her princes countless as the locusts, and her captains as swarms of grasshoppers.^ ^ Prov. xii. 10, t^DJ pnii )}'V "inDnZi; comp. Deut. xxii. 6, 7, 10; XXV. 4; also Ps. xxxvi. 7; civ. 14, 27, 28, etc.; Ovid, Metam. XV. 116, 120, 121, 'Quid meruistis, oves, placidum pecus . . . Quid meruere boves, animal sine fraude dolisque, Innocuum, simplex,' etc. It was no doubt supposed that Nineveh, like other large Asiatic I *^ i. 2; iii. 2 towns, included pastures also (comp. ^ Xah. i. 12; ii. 9; iii. 16, 1 Curt. V. 4, with reference to Baby- lon, 'cetera serunt coluntque, ut, si externa vis ingruat, obsessis ali- menta ex ipsius urbis solo sub- niinistrentur'). ^ Vers. 10, 11. ^ Comp. Philo, De Jona c. 49, 'pulchi-a est tibi cucm'bitae j)lanta, o prox)heta, et mihi pulchrum est genus humanum,' etc. 286 JONAH IV. 4—11. Nor does this conclusion of the Book occupy a mean place even as an effort of art. It is one of the most effective apologues or parables ever written. From God's first question so gentle and so placid that the tone of reproof is scarcely perceptible, 'Doest thou well to be angry?' down to the last and unanswerable appeal, Jonah's conviction is set forth and brought home with a skill and impressiveness which, perhaps on account of an unpretending simplicity, have often been overlooked or denied, but have been recognised by the most refined readers in glowing terms of admiration.^ The narrative is constructed of slight and common materials — a booth, a transitory plant, a worm, a hot wind — and yet, strongly reflecting the highest in the meanest things, it amply sustains the dignity befitting its lofty subject and aim. It does not break off abruptly, but is most satisfactorily finished and rounded. For all that seems to be want- ing is indifferent for the essence and idea of the com- position, and would, at best, only increase its extraneous interest or gratify curiosity. We require no final rejoinder on the part of Jonah, nor a statement as to the effect produced upon him by God's solemn challenge. Jonah does not answer because one reply only is possible and no other, and his silence is his most powerful self-condemna- tion.^ We can see his confusion and remorse as the well-merited chastisement of an unfeeling selfishness, and are certain that he will thenceforth form worthier notions of God as the Protector of the Gentiles. This peculiar termination proves more clearly than any other feature of the Book, that the author's purpose was not historical but didactic, and that he made the facts and traditions subservient to his lessons. ^ See Philol. Rem. ^ Luther observes: 'Was konnte Jona hiewieder sagen? Er musste verstummen als mit seinem eigenen Urtheil iiberwunden.' Compare God's cumulative questions in Job xxxviii. 1 — xl. 2, and xl. 6 — xli. 26, to which Job answers very briefly, xl. 4, 5; xlii. 2—6; HD EEBUKE AND LESSON. 287 But legend, as may be expected, found it impossible to leave the humbled prophet in his loneliness before the gates of the great heathen town by the side of his withered booth and plant, and it offers many additions, although, as usual, these are far from being consistent. According to one account, Jonah remained and died in Nineveh, and was there interred in a grave which is still shown on a mound a short distance from the Tigris;^ while another report lets him safely return to his native country, where he was ultimately buried in that spot between Sepphoris and Tiberias, which has above been more precisely de- scribed.^ We are indeed almost inclined to suppose that there once existed an apocryphal Book of Jonah, from which the later statements were partially drawn; for we are, moreover, informed that Tobit, before his death, exhorted his son to go with his family and house- hold to Media, and not to stay in Nineveh, because this town would be destroyed as Jonah had announced;*^ it seems, therefore, that tradition attributed to Jonah a second exhortation or prophecy, which, in harmony with the real events, proclaimed Nineveh's actual downfall.^ * See infra. ^ Suigra p. 117; comp. 3 Mace, vi. 8, Tov rs 'Icovav . . . a.'KijfLa'jrov zaaiv QtKSioig avs^si^ag; Ejpi])hanius, De Vita et Morte proplietarum, C. 16, KtxTCtKrjaag h yyj 'Laap (i. e. "liJ, Tyre), iKSi ani^avsv Kat sracprj sv Tu aTtrjXalcp Ksvs^iov (i. e. ^-JJJ^) Kpirov (or Othniel, see sujpra pp. 25, 26, 30); Dorotheus Tyrius, De Pro- phetis, c. 4; Benjam. of Tuclela, p. 44 ed. Asher. ^ Tobit xiv. 4 — 8, an TtsTtzicJi/.ai Zaa tkccXriasv 'Iccvag 6 TTpofpTjrrig TTspi N/v;u?7, oTi KaTaaTpa^TiasTai . . . Kol Zri 01 abiX^oi yjiiS^'J aKop7na%yjaov- rai aiTO rrjg aya^ijg yf,g . . rtavrcag sarai o iXakriCsv 6 ■j:po(f)r;Trjg'lccvag. ^ It has indeed been proposed to expunge, in that passage, the name of Jonah or to change it into Nahum (Naov//.) ; but for this emen- dation there is not the least authori- ty; and of the different texts of the Book of Tobit, which we possess, that generally received by the Church is indisputably the oldest and best (comp. Fritzsche, Libri Apocryphi V. T. Graece, Praefatio, p. xvi). The ^vvords 1. c. ver. 5, Kcc^ug iXakyjasv irsp) avrrjg o'l 7vpo(f)-^Tai, are evidently a quota- tion or reference on the part of Jonah. Pseudo-Epiphanius (De 288 JONAH lY. 4—11. Nor can it be surprising that embellishments of the story found ready acceptance. For the Book of Jonah, owing to a form and tone at once plain and imaginative, and in a rare degree combining the Horatian ;prodesse and deledare, has at all times found particular favour with the popular mind, on which, perhaps with the sole ex- ception of the Book of Daniel, it has obtained a stronger hold than any other of the prophetic writings. Mohammedan legend especially has greatly busied itself with Jonah, to whom Mohammed himself has shown an un- common predilection just on account of the prophet's in- firmities of character, which he desired to shield from irreverent disparagement. To him tradition ascribes the remarks, 'None of the prophets is superior to Yunas bin- Matta,' for *it is preposterous to attribute to some pro- phets greater excellence than to others,' and 'whosoever shall say, I am better than Yunas the prophet, is a liar.' Among all the heathen communities, observes the Koran,^ 'the people of Yunas' (that is, the Ninevites) alone believed the announcement of a Divine judgment and were there- fore saved. It is true, the story adds, that at first they did not evince great alacrity, but insulted Jonah as an impostor and so ill-treated him that he left the town in wrath; when, however, the day specified by him arrived and they saw the heavens enveloped in a black cloud filling the air with dense vapours and at last settling over their city, they all hastened forth in consternation, men, women, and children, prayed, humbled themselves in sackcloth and ashes, and were forgiven. The dispirited and annoyed prophet, whom God was anxious again and again to convince of his perversity, after having left Nineveh, so continues tradition, came to another large town, where he was met by the angel Gabriel in human form, who invited him into his house. Here he saw many Vit. Proph. c. 16) and the Clu'oni- | prophecies of Jonah. con Paschale furnish apocryphal j ^ Sur. x. sub Jin. EEBUKE AND LESSON. 289 earthen vessels ready to be finished; by God's direction or inspiration, he requested his host to break the utensils into fragments, upon which he was angrily expelled from the house as a maniac. Complaining to God, he received the reply: 'He whom thou hast advised to destroy objects of very trifling value, has upbraided and ejected thee; how much greater blame dost thou deserve for having in- voked My resentment against many myriads of men, whom thou hast been charged to recall to righteousness, and for whose imminent ruin thou hast felt no compassion?'^ Another Mohammedan version, not free from a confusion of facts but admirably elucidating the idea of the story, is the following. God sent Jonah to Moussal (Mosul) on the Tigris to preach to the heathen inhabitants and to an- nounce to them annihilation unless they reformed them- selves before a certain day. When this day passed with- out injury to the town in consequence of the people's contrition, the prophet left the country and took ship. On the high sea the vessel suddenly stopped and could by no effort be moved forward or backward. In this distress, the mariners cast lots, which three successive times fell on Jonah ; but having been thrown into the sea, he was caught by a fish which carried him to the uttermost depths of the abyss. Here he pronounced that prayer which the Mussul- mans consider the most pious and the most efficacious of all supplications: 'There is, Lord, no other God beside Thee; be Thou praised for ever. I am a sinner, but Thou art merciful beyond all expression.'^ In the east of the probable area of ancient Nineveh, on the high road leading from Mosul to Karamles, is a conspicuous elevation called NebU Yimus. On this mound,*' according to the belief of the early Christians and the ^ Comp. Hottinger^ Hist. Orient, pp. 67—80; Sale, Koran, p. 174, etc. ^ Comp. D'JSerbelot, Bibliotheque Orientale, p. 495. ^ It is about 50 feet in height, 430 feet from east to west, and 355 feet from north to south. 290 JONAH IV. 4 11. Moslems, Jonah delivered hortatory discourses and the people of Nineveh assembled to do penance,^ and there is the reputed grave of the prophet, once marked by a Christian church, now by a highly revered mosque, which has in more recent times become the centre of a Turkish village of about three hundred houses, proudly called Nunia (Nineveh)J^ At all times up to the present, pious or distin- guished men have been buried on that elevation as on a hal- lowed spot, and there also many valuable relics have been found, such as colossal human-headed bulls, figures of the Assyrian Hercules, and panelled walls inscribed with the names, titles, and genealogies of King Esar-haddon.<^ It would be a vain endeavour to search in the flora of Asia or any other Continent for a vegetable product satisfy- ing all the conditions of the narrative ; for where would it be possible to find one which, in a single night, grows up to such a height that it overshadows a man and the booth in which he dwells, and then again as suddenly withers and decays? As God, for His wise plans, ap- pointed the *great fish' in which Jonah was able to stay ^ It is hence called 'the hill of repentance,' <^^^\ ,3-^. ^ Comp. Tavernier, Travels, i. 76, 'In the midst of the mosque is the grave covered with a beautiful Persian carpet; on its four corners stand four brass candelabra -with torches; while many other lamps and numerous ostrich eggs are suspended from the ceiling' etc.; C. Niebuhr, Reise-Beschreibung nach Arabien etc., ii. 353, 'the Jews, to the present day (1766), greatly revere this grave, but since it has fallen into the hands of the Moslems, they perform their devotions outside the mosque' etc. ; comp. also Migne in Dom. Calmet's Diction, ii. 1077, 1078, quoting from Aucher-Eloi's Journal of 1885, 'la mosque qui renferme ces precieux reUques est situee au sommet d'un monticule autour duquel est construit le village Jonas.' A view of the tomb on Nebbi Yunus, from a sketch by Bomaine, is given in Bonomi's Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 357; comp. ibid. pp. 3, 4, 9, 94. ^ See Comm. on Gen. pp. 297, 298; Tuch 1. c. pp. 50, 51, etc. Dom Calmet (Diction, ii. 1076), however, observes: 'The body of Jonah is beheved to be in Venice, in the church of St. ApoUinaris. Relics of it are also seen in Nocera, in the kingdom of Naples, and in the abbey of Mount Cassin one of the prophet's ribs is shown.' REBUKE AND LESSON. 291 unhurt for days and nights, so He, in His boundless omnipotence, appointed a remarkable tree to serve a yet higher purpose ; and it is sufficient to discover in nature a plant which, like the shark with respect to the fish, may be regarded as the possible foundation of the miracle. Such a production is the Castor-oil plant or Ricinus com- munis, in Greek croton,^ so called on account of the resemblance which its seed grains were found to bear to the little insect ricinus (ac^otcov) or tick infesting cattle and dogs,^ those seeds being oblong and oval, greyish with dark spots and stripes, and by many ancient writers*^ called A:iA:i, a word almost identical with the Hebrew name of Jonah's plant kikayon (ri"'p''p.),^ though they are also termed trixis, sibi (or sili), and tvild sesamimi.^ The plant, supposed to be originally indigenous in India where it bears very ancient Sanscrit appellations, grows wild in northern Africa and Arabia, Syria and Palestine/ and in southern Europe, especially in sandy districts, and often in such abundance as to form impenetrable thickets.* Cultivated in many other Europaean countries, it thrives, in different varieties, almost everywhere with the exception of the frigid zone, maturing its fruits even as far north * A biennial, and in warm coun- tries a perennial plant of the order of Euphorbiaceae, to which the tapioca tree also belongs; Linn. CI. monoecia monad elphia. ^^ Com^D. Plin. xv. 7, nostri earn ricinum vocant a similitudine semi- nis; Dioscorid. i. 38; iv. 164, bi'j(i[ia(JTai KpoTic-j oiu rr]-j Ttpog to Cwov iii^spsia'j rail OTrspiMaToq; and Suidas explains Kporwv thus: slvat ■7:avT0%s'j o/jt-oiov xal fjLTjos/jiiav k'^si:^ 6iaK07:r,v^ aXX' sty at "ki'av ofiakcog; although the proverb Kporccvog lyts- arspog is more probably to be referred to the town Croton celebrated for its salubrity (comp. Bocharf, Hieroz. ii. p. 623). *^ As Strabo, Pliny, Diodorus Siculus, Dioscorides, and others. Jerome transcribes the word ciceion, supposed to represent the reading ]*i^p^p.' ^ Sesamon sylvestre, Gr,aafiov ciypio-j- Plin. 1. c. ; Dioscor. iv. 164. ^ Comp. RoMnson, Eesearches, i. 553, describing the neighbour- hood of Jericho. » Bauioolf, Eeise, ch. iv., p. 54; comp. Herod, ii. 94, ra iv "EXkriOi avT6f/.ara aypia (f)VSTai; Plin. 1. C, arbor in Aegypto copiosa. 292 JONAH IV. 4 — 11. as Christiania in Norway, but it there bears the character and has the dimensions of an herb or shrub, while in the East it attains the size of an ordinary fig-or olive- tree, on the island of Crete a height of five-and-twenty, in tropical lands up to forty feet,^ and grows with such extraordinary rapidity that, under favourable conditions, it rises to about eight feet within five or six months;^ while in America it 'has been known to reach the height of thirteen feet in less than three months.'^ The round and hollow stem is erect, at first soft and herbaceous, then becoming ligneous with many knots and joints. The leaves, attached to long foot-stalks, are large, one and a half and even two feet in length and width, peltate, palmate, five to eight or ten lobed, similar to the leaves of the vine or oriental plane-tree, though broader, smoother, and darker, not unlike an open hand with the fingers outstretched and apart, whence the shrub is also called Pentadadylus and Palma CJiristi (palmcrist), and they afford ample shade, especially when young. The yellow flowers with inner threads of a lively red, which change their colour and appearance so remarkably that the plant has been named in German 'Wunderbaum,' develop into triangular and prickly legumes, the so-called 'figs of Adam,' ^ from which is obtained a colourless oil,^ which. * Bohinson 1. c. found it of very large size, and bearing the character of a perennial tree. ^ Nzebuhr, Beschreibung von Arabien, p. 148; comp. Plin. 1. c. *et in Hispania repente provenit altitudine oleae.' Jerome in loc. observes: 'mh-um in modum, si sementem in ten-am jeceris, cito confota consiirgit in arborem et intra paucos dies, quam herbam videras, arbusculam suscipis.' ^ Henderson, Minor Prophets, in loc. ^ Also named 'Koman' or 'Indian bean,' 'infernal fig,' etc. ^ KiKivov eXaiov, oleum cicinum, oleum de Kerwa, oleum ficus infer- nalis. The mode of gaining it is thus described by Herodotus (ii. 94) : KUpTzov sTTsav avX>J^icvTai, o/ [X-h KQ-d)a'jTcg aTtntomi, oi §s (ppv^cxvTsg CCTTSllJOVai, KCCl TO CiTTOppSOV CCTT CC'JTOV avyKo/jiiXovTai ; by Pliny (1. c): 'coquitor semen in aqua, innatans. que oleum tolhtur, et in Aegypto sine igni et aqua sale adspersum exprimitur;' aud more fully by EEBUKE AND LESSOX. 29- under the name of TcihU was in early times employed by tlie Egyptians, universally by all classes for burning and for anointing the body by poorer people,^ castor-oilseeds having been found in some ancient Egyptian sarcophagi; and that oil was used by the Hebrews likewise, if not in the preparation of food, yet for lamps,^ though it was expressly forbidden by the Eabbins for the Sabbath lights on account of its thickness and the offensive smell it emits in burning.*^ But rapid as the ricinus plant is in its growth, it is no less perishable. The soft, succulent and unsubstantial stem is easily wounded by insects and then it dries up with incredible quickness. The leaves, if broken off or in any way injured, wither in a few minutes. Large black caterpillars often appear on the foliage after a slight shower and consume it in a single night so completely that only the bare ribs are left.^ Dioscorides (i. 38, iv. 164), who dwells, besides, upon the medicinal uses of the oil, about which see also BegnauU in Michaelis^ Supple- menta ad Lexica Hebraica, p. 2187. In Italy the plant is so highly valued both as a palliative and a remedy, chiefly for boils and dis- eases of the skin, that in the bota- nical gardens of Florence it is grown in a special hot-house, in order to secure the fi'esh leaves in all seasons. ^ Herod. 1. c. {kIki, k7ki), who calls the plant itself ciXkiKVTtpiov, obviously identical with the chsXt KVTtpiov of Dioscorides (iv. 164)j comp. Sirab. XVII. ii. 5, p. 824, TO kTki ... e'l oy s'Xaiov oc7To%'ki^sTat slg [x.h "kvxvov . . . sig akst[i[JLa Is K.T.X.; Biod. Sic. i. 34, x/'"*''^"' (viz. the Egyptians) avr iXatov to cci:o%'ki^O[is'jo'j £K rivog <^VToy^ Tzpoaa— yopsvo/xsvov ^s kIki. Flin. 1. c. cibis foedum, lucernis utile (var. lect. exile); Dioscorid. iv. 164, skaiov a^pccTOV [ih, o/jiccg hk Xp-^<7if/.ov slg Xvx-Jovg koI ipnikaaTpavg. ^ Mishn. Shabb. ii. 1, p^j:? |!0^; comp. Herod. 1. c. who observes that, though no less suited to lamps than olive oil, o^/^^yv ^aps'av Trapsx^rai. Some Jewish authorities, however, suppose without probability the PT. i?^ to ^6 t^e fat of a fowl found on seacoasts and identical with ilNjJ (Lev. xi. 18); or the oil obtained from the seeds of the *lana vitis called cotton' (j^Nllpti' jDJ) "iDiJ ]y'D)'p); comp. Talm. Shabb. 21 a. Comp. Michaelis, Su23plementa, p. 2189. The leaves sei-ve as food to the homhyx cynthia of Bengal, the cocoon of which is supposed to be fit for the manufacture of silk. 294 JONAH IV. 4 — 11. Therefore, if we allow the one miraculous element that Jonah's plant almost suddenly grew up into a shade- giving tree, the castor-oil plant agrees with the narrative in every detail, and has long and almost uniformly been recognised as the equivalent of the Hebrew Mkayon.^ Certainly compared to its claims those of other produc- tions are extremely feeble, as, for instance, of the fig-tree, or the small tree or shrub called Mauz or Adam's apple,^ or the w?// or gourd, pumpkin, or ivater-melon^ — all of which are inappropiate either because they are of very slow growth, or spread on the ground, or thrive only in cooler climates. The acceptation of gourd, which in the East is maintained by Jews and Christians,® has there been favoured and strengthened by the Arabic name which this vegetable bears and which is very similar to that of the ricinus tree.^ * Comp. Celsius, Hierobot. ii. 278, and in general pp. 273—282; Bochart, Hierozoic. II. ii. 24; iv. 27 (vol. ii. pp. 293, 623, ed. Lugd. Batav.); Greograpliia Sacra, pp. 919, 920 (ed. 1707); Michaelis, Supplem. pp.2185 — 2190; Layard, Nineveh, i. 123, 124; etc. A good represen- tation of the Bicinus communis from the Flora Graeca is given by Pusey 1. c. p. 259. ^ Hotting er, Hist. Orient, p. 78. *^ Probably conjectured on ac- count of the distant resemblance between fi""!^^!^. and Kiaao^; so Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, Vulgate (hedera), Faber, etc. ^ Thus manj^, induced by the Septuagint which renders kqXokjv- tt;; and so Syr. NNip") N-)n*J (palmes cucurbitae); some Jewish scholars in Spain (comp. Ebn Ezra in loc. n;;?! or >^'^p)'i Luther^ Kiirbis or (in his Commentary) "Wilde Kiibe (vitis alba); Auth. Vers, gom'd (besides palmcrist in the margin) etc. In the Koran also (xxxvii. 145), the term :i, y\ .*'*i 0<^^^^. cy°^ although bearing a more comprehensive meaning, sig- nifies the gourd. • Comp. on this point also Rosen- muller, Morgenland, iv. 400, 401. ^ For the ricinus communis is called ^3yi\ (Kimchi s. v. ynD^N); while ^'ijl is a sort of gourd or iximpkin (lagenaria vulgaris) having very large leaves and 'sending out shoots nearly four inches long in twenty-four hours;' tliis is also the NN")p of the Syriac and the n"lp of Ebn Ezra above cited; and Niebuhr (Beschreibung von Arabien, p. xlvii) gives the equivalent (^ ;■» <^>. The Tahnud EEBUKE AND LESSON. 295 But whether ricinus, gourd, or any other plant, the question is surely not so important as to justify the out- break, in the early Christian Church, of the fierce feud, famous under the name of controversia cucurhitaria, and the popular commotion almost rising to fanaticism, which threatened to embitter the closing years of Jerome, who had unwittingly kindled the strife by the translation of ivy adopted by him after much thought and hesitation.^ In any case, the hikayon serves mainly as an emblem, and the difference in the wonder can only be a difference of degree. But it would certainly be unavailing to lessen the marvel by the supposition that the tree had stood before on the spot where Jonah settled, and that it only grew up so high in the shortest possible time;^ for even if such explanations were not at variance with the style and spirit of the narrative,*^ they would not reduce the event to an ordinary occurrence in harmony with ex- perience or probability.*^ It is well known that, while in the districts near Nineveh, the cold in winter is often intense, the summer brings usually, as Arabic writers express it, 'an infernal heat,' so that the air resembles 'a furnace' dangerous to life; and we know, moreover, that the temperature is frequently increased and made unbearable by sultry breezes (Shabb. 21 a), in explaining the term p^J^ |Dl!f used in the Mishnah, describes hik as a plant similar to N^vl/'iJ, which in the 'Besponses of the Geonim' is interpreted as a fruitless tree from the seeds of which is prepared an oil useful • against cold fevers and called in Arabic '^TO jHl, while the tree itself bears the name V1"^^^N (comp. Aruch and Buxtorf sub ND^?7iJ). The cucumber and melon occur in Hebrew under the names of NK'p and n^ippN (Num. xi. 5; comp. Isa. i. 8). * Comp. Jerome^ Epistol. 89. ^ Michaehs and others. <= ver. 6, D^n^N-mn'' ipn. ^ This miracle and all the others recorded in the story have curious- ly been declared to be nothing else but traits of 'popular wit,' such as might naturally be expected in 'a book for the people' palpably distinguished throughout by 'child- like notions' and meant chiefly for the diversion and amusement of the multitude ! 296 JONAH IV. 4 — 11. among which the most dreaded is the so-called 'Saraceii'=^ or black wind, which, not unlike the samum of Bagdad, rises suddenly from the east and, with furious blasts felt almost like shocks of earthquake, stirs up and scatters immense masses of hot sand, prostrating men and animals. Therefore, although the narrative evidently lays no stress on the virulence of the tempest, there is a pregnant force in the words, 'God appointed a burning east-wind, and the sun smote upon the head of Jonah that he fainted.' ^' It is hardly possible to doubt that the author, evidently familiar with the literature of his people and imbued with its spirit, had especially the history of Elijah before his mind. For in his work and character Jonah is far more like to that old prophet than he is to any of his successors who, Jeremiah alone excepted, tried to influence their con- temporaries not so much by personal intercourse and the weight of their individuality as principally, and after- wards almost exclusively, by literary productions. Similar to Jonah,'^ Elijah 'went a day's journey into the wilderness, and sat down under a juniper tree, and he wished that he might die, and said, It is enough; now, Lord, take away my life!'^ But while the older narrative is mainly designed to describe historically the incidents of the prophet^s life and the character of his time, the work before us, so indifferent to those points that we learn nothing about Jonah's later fate and can but dimly guess the period of the story, employs, with great originality, aU the details only as the garb and medium for clothing in plastic form an abstract idea and for veiHng a didactic tendency. The author indeed seems unwilling to challenge too close a comparison necessarily unfavourable to Jonah. For a ^^-UXJ\, hence Sirocco. ^ Layard (Nineveh, i. 123, 124) remarks: 'The verdure of the plain had perished almost in a day; hot winds coming from the desert had burnt up and carried away the shrubs;' to which many similar observations from the works of the same and other travellers might be added. '^ Vers. 3—5. ^ 1 Ki. xix. 4; comp. Num. xi. 15. EEBUKE AIs^D LESSON. 297 how much nobler is the cause of Ehjah's despah^! . Per- secuted by an idolatrous Queen and compelled to evade her ruthlessness by a perilous flight, he only feels the one bitter pang of having spent his zeal in vain for the honour of the Lord God of hosts, whose covenant his countrymen, beloved by him in spite of their offences, have recklessly broken and whose service they have profaned; whereas Jonah can bear life no longer because his preaching had saved a large community by rousing them to faith and uprightness. Did the author really consider a prophet capable of such motives? Only in a free creation and in the service of a doctrinal purpose could he transitorily invest him with such inconsistent features.^ In abashing Jonah, God justifies His own action respect- ing the heathen town. But far from exulting in a cold or cruel triumph over His messenger, and displaying towards him His mercy and paternal forbearance even more lavishly than towards the repentant Ninevites, He uplifts and purifies him by appealing to his better nature and higher reason; and this is performed with such calm majesty and grand repose, with such gentle tenderness in spite of an irresistible force, that the reproof loses all painfulness and, like a resolved dissonance, rapidly brightens into grateful harmony. PhilologicaIj Eemarks. — It is, from these remarks, difficult to understand the opinion that 'the Book leaves behind an un- pleasant impression,' while the assertion that 'the prophet is painted in very disagreeable colours' (Winer, Eeal-Worterb. i. 596, 597), must be limited to the last chapter, however swee- pingly and indiscriminately he has been described as despicable 'in every respect' and 'throughout the narrative' (EichJiorn, ^ Comp. also 1 Ea. xvii. 2—7, and xix. 11 — 13. containing the account of Elijah's stay at the brook Cherith, and the lesson that God is not in the terrible and destructive elements but in the 'still small voice ;' in either of which pas- sages it is not difficult to discover both analogies and contrasts to Jonah's conduct before and in Nineveh. 298 JONAH IV. 4—11. Hebr. Proplieten, iii. 674—676, Einleitung, iv. 336, 339; Friedrichsen 1. c. pp. 48, 66, 90, 91, 104, 112, 245, etc.): 'his attempt to flee from the presence of the Lord,' says a modern English scholar, 'must have sprung from a partial insanity, produced by the excitement of distracting motives in an irascible and melancholy heart' (.7. Eadie in Kitto's Cyclop, ii. 143). But, on the other hand, the remark that Jonah 'is not an exceptionally wicked man, but one who, with all his bitter prejudices, is, however, sincerely pious' (Huxtable 1. c. p. 578), involves indeed a more discerning estimate; yet in one point Jonah was really 'wicked,' and his praying to Grod even in sullen moods of wayward discontent (vers. 3, 8) was not 'sincere piety,' but an act which the author would have attributed to any Israelite, however bad, provided only he had not openly renounced Israel's God. It seems impos- sible to bring the character of Jonah, as delineated in the concluding portion, into consonance either with the previous picture or with our notions of a prophet; in this sense it might not unjustly be described as 'a mystery.' — As regards the literary merit of the composition. Herder, for instance (1. c. pp. 351, 354), observes: 'The Book has a unity, pre- cision, roundness, as only the best eastern poem can have;' and 'the beautiful conclusion of the story through the gourd is so graceful and so instructive . . . that I can hardly con- ceive anything more distinct or more pleasingly transparent.' Ewald (Propheten, ii. 558) speaks of the 'exceedingly striking art' displayed in the entire narrative, calls the end 'a masterpiece of plastic writing such as there are but few,' and contends, in some respects justly, that by the conclusion only a true light is thrown upon all preceding parts. Similar is the view of Michaelis ('eine schonere und treffendere Antwort lasst sich kaum dichten'), Mbller, Bauer, Gramberg, Noldeke, and many others. Nor can we blame as exaggerated the enthusiastic exclamations of a recent theologian: '0 admi- rabilem incomprehensamque defendendi prudentiam! Hoc summi Dei responsum si tacita mente recogito, nescio magisne inenarrabilem patris clementiam an immensam EEBUKE AND LESSON. 299 moderatoris sapientiam adorem. Quis enim non agnoscat, hoc loco rerum omnium Dominum misericordiam sibi tan- quam peculiarem numinis sui proprietatem vindicare! . . . Quo fit ut magnum scriptoris artificium in eo agnoscas quod istis divinis verbis insistens scribendi finem fecit' (Kaulen, 1. c. p. 77).— The words :]Jj n";n 3D^nri (ver. 4) can hardly be rendered otherwise than 'art thou justly angry?' or ^doest thou well to be angry?' (comp. Deut. v. 25; xviii. 17). For this question begins or introduces Grod's correction of Jonah; and its very mildness is meant to stimulate him to reflection and self-examination (comp. Gen. iv. 6; Symmach. apa liKaioig ilvTryj^y^g ; Vulg. bene irasceris tu? Luther, meinst du, dass du billig ziimest? Grotius, an bonum factum est ira tua? estne haec causa justa? Eichhorn, ist ein solcher Aerger schon? Kleinertj zurnest du mit E-echt? etc.). The translation, which the words indeed also admit, 'art thou exceedingly angry ?' is in this context almost pointless (comp. Deut. ix. 21; xiii. 15; xvii. 4; xix. 18; xxvii. 8; 2 Ki. xi. 18; where DDTI occurs in the sense of 'thoroughly;' so Sept. a(j)ohpa XeXv^TTjaociav; Targ. !]br]pj! Nin|?n; Syr. ^ i^fS ^£^', EbnEzra, Kimchi, Arnheim, etc.). But strained is the interpretation, 'does My acting justly or compassionately grieve thee?' (so Abarbanel and others ; comp. Matt. xx. 15,^0 6(f)%ak;x,6g gov irovyipog eariv on lyw aya'^og £ip^i;). Ewald, though likewise trans- lating, *art thou indeed so very angry?' admirably unfolds the course of the story: 'God becomes cognisant of Jonah's conduct; He allows him to go on and do for a while, without special direction, as he pleases; but imperceptibly the all- embracing and ever weaving (fortspinnende) eternal Wisdom has caught him in his human self-love; and when after his disappointment, God asks him again, whether he is really so full of wrath, He at once humbles him, with exalted superiority and firmness, by the eternal truth of Divine love itself (Propheten, ii. 558). Yet it should be observed that God can hardly be said to have allowed Jonah 'to go on and do as he pleased.' Every particular incident stands here more distinctly under God's immediate guidance and 300 JONAH IV. 4— 11. charge than perhaps in any other narrative of the Old Testament (p. 191), and this absolute supernaturalism, which is not arbitrariness because it is the emanation of the highest wisdom and love, is even externally indicated by the con- stant repetition of the characteristic words niH"' ]p^1 'and the Lord appointed,' since He 'appointed' the wonderful plant, the destroying worm, and the scorching east-wind (vers. 6, 7, 8; comp. ii. 1); and hence even that which in itself is natural and common, appears extraordinary and miraculous by occurring unexpectedly just at the required moment. Therefore we must also regard Jonah's staying outside the town as prompted by Grod's suggestion; and this was no encroachment upon that personal freedom of will which in every part of the Book is most strictly insisted upon, as it was, morally, a step of perfect indifference. — 'd) nr;i NS?'') (ver. 5) 'and Jonah went out of the city,' not 'for Jonah had gone out' (so Ebn Ezra, Clericus, Biur, Heidenheim, Rosen- muUer, 'quum Jonas officio suo, concionando per urbem func- tus esset,' and 'antequam tam graviter doleret, urbe exierat,' mtziff, Drake, Kleinert, Huxtable, etc.; comp. on iii, 6, p. 256; but correctly Keil 1. c. p. 292, 'the rebuke of the prophet can only have taken place after the fortieth day;' see supra p. 279).- — ""^"^b D'lpD 'on the eastern side of the city' (comp. Ezek. xi. 23), in a hilly part {Targ. Nnnj^'? HJl^SD, Yulg. contra orientem civitatis, etc.), not vaguely 'before the city' {Se'pt. aTrhavri ryjc Trokscog, etc.). — T]2D a booth of branches and twigs covered with foliage, after the withering of which the booth ceased to afford shade, so that another protection (b'b ver. 6) was necessary {Vulg. aptly 'umbraculum ;' Targ. Npfeo, Nn'pDp, etc.; comp. Lev. xxiii. 42, 43; Neh. viii. 14 — 17; Isa. i. 8; iv. 6; esp. Jer. xxv. 38; Job xxxviii. 40; im- ply irg the notion of shelter; more generally Sept. cK-qv-^y Luther Hiitte, etc.). — Jonah 'sat down in the booth,' where he intended to remain 'till he might see (HN")^ "iKf'N ly, Eccl. ii. 3) what would become of the city' {'XV,'^ n>"l";"np, comp. 1 Sam. xxii. 3; Targ. Nn"lp J^'DD M"" HD): the combination 1^ * * IW^l is, therefore, to be taken as a zeugma, the particle EEBUKE AND LESSON. 301 ly having its ordinary meaning. — The appellations of G-od seem indeed in this chapter to have been chosen on distinct principles, since God as Euler of the moral world and Judge of men is designated with nin^ (vers. 2, 3, 4, 10), but as Lord of the physical world with U^rib^ (vers. 7, 8), while He is once called DM'^N' n'ln^ (ver. 6) to intimate that the God who is manifest in nature is no other than He who ordains the destinies of men in accordance with their conduct, and once D\i'??< in a connection where the former attribute is but preponderatingly, not exclusively, involved (ver. 9), after which the application of mri'' pronouncing the chief address (ver. 10) has a greater weight and solemnity: the most strik- ing instance of the use of the double name Qini^N nin'' is the second account of the Creation (Gen. ii. 4 — iii. 24), where a scrupulous thoughtfulness is evident in the avoidance of the holy name mn'' in Eve's dialogue with the serpent (iii. 1, 3, 5; comp. G-en. xiv. 19, 22 and supra on iii. 4 — 9). — The plant hikayon was intended 1n;;iD lb b^^rh 'to save him from his evil' (comp. i. 7, 8 ; 2 Sam. xvi. 8), that is, to shield him from the rays of a burning sun, or to relieve him from extreme discomfort, which, however, at this stage, did not yet imperil his life. It is as unnecessary to trace b^^iTh to bba ^to give shade' {Sept. rov aKiaC^Biv^ as it is unsuitable to the context to render 1nV"i> in analogy to nj^~l nn (l Sam. xvi. 14), 'his sadness' or 'ill-humour/ in which he was kept by Nineveh's deliverance (vers. 1, 3) and which God desired to chase away (Auth. Vers, to deliver him from his grief; Biur, Bosenmiiller a dolore et moestitia . . . ut ejus animum parumper recrearet et reficeret; Eiclihorn, bose Laune; Hitzig, sein boser Geist, Missmuthj Verdruss; Arnheim, Maurer, Keil, Kleinert, etc.): the words 'D) )b b^'^rh qualify more precisely the preceding terms W^l b^ bn DVnb (it is unwarranted to insert and between the two phrases), and God meant to effect Jonah's correction by the simplest physical and not by moral means. And what comfort could the growth of the shrub bring to his mental vexation? For the assertion that 'he saw in it a 302 JONAH IV. 4—11. Divine approval of his purpose to await Nineveh's destruc- tion/ cannot easily be deduced from the author's words (Yulg. freely, 'et protegeret eum, laboraverat enim;' but BasM, Ebn Ezra and others ]£!12W7\ DPID, and the earlier Eabbins contend that Jonah's skin, on account of his long impri- sonment in the fish's belly, had become tender and most sensitive to heat, Yalhif, Jon. § 551). It is, however, not impossible that ^""Hn^ was chosen to form a paronomasia with by (see Bible Stud. i. p. 289).— The dative 'h after b^Hnb, according to later or Aramaic usage, instead of the accusative (comp. Am. viii. 9; 2 Sam. iii. 30; Jer. xl. 2; Ps. cxxxv. 11, etc.; supra p. 236. Houbigant conjectures '^^^Dc')-— •"l^"^"'-? '"^C^^ ^^'^V.' comp. ver. 1 ; Gen. xxvii. 33, 34; 1 Ki. i. 40; Esth. iv. 1 ; 1 Chr. xxix. 9; etc.; also John iii. 9 Xocpa, yalpzi, Lat. gaudere gaudia, furere furorem; Gramm. § 102. 7. — There is nothing in the context to warrant the inference that Jonah delighted in the sudden ap2:)earance of the plant because he thought that it indicated God's wil- lingness to grant him, in the end, his wish respecting the ruin of Nineveh. The tree is not meant to have any extraneous importance ; it is to teach the lesson by its very insignifi- cance. — The worm did its appointed work of destruction 'when the morning dawn arose' {yrwr\ mb^:3, Gen. xix. 15; Josh. vi. 15, etc.) 'on the following day' (n^inD^, ver. 7), that is, the day after the appearance and growth of the tree, so that Jonah enjoyed its shade but one day; and on the same day, when the sun had risen higher (ti'DtiTI n")D, comp. Gen. xix. 23; Judg. ix. 33), the fierceness of the solar rays was rendered intolerable and even dangerous by the gusts of a scorching wind. This is clearly the sense of the passage, the statements of time being analogous to those in the account of Sodom's fall (Gen. xix. 15, 23). Although T\'^b^\P\ may certainly be taken in the collective sense of tvorms (as is the case in Deut. xxviii. 39; Joel i. 4j Am. iv. 9; Isa. xiv. 11, H^bin '"'DDD; 2 Chr. vii. 13, etc.), one worm seems more in harmony with the miraculous nature of the story and the plastic character of the style. — EEBUKE AND LESSON. 303 n^ns^ is 'ow,' not ^for the next day' (comp. 1 Chr. xxix. 21 ; Sept., contracting the terms, Trpoaira^sv gk(^\-^ki icanvYJ rri iiravpiov, Yulg. ascensu diliculi in crastinum). — ,13 J in Hiphil is used both with reference to plants so struck as to fade (Ps. cii. 5; comp. Hos. ix. 16; Am. iv. 9), and to the sun's beams striking an object or person (Ps. cxxi. 6; Isa. xlix. 10): the author probably meant that the worm gnawed at the stem, causing a sudden collapse of the plant, not at the root which is hard and furnished with strong fibres. — God sent an east-wind specified as iti'"'"in, that is, probably, that peculiar hot east-wind above described and well explaining the rather obscure Hebrew term as the 'ploughing' or cutting (lj;-in = x«^«^^'^)> penetrating or violent wind (comp. G-en. xli. 6; Ezek. xvii. 10; and the Arabic J^f^ violent). Not appropriate to this context is 'a wind that blows at plough- ing time' (Ex. xxxiv. 21), that is, one cold and dry (p')T\ like tJ^in or DIH; comp. Jer iv. 11; De Dieii, Hitzig ein herbstiicher Ostwind) ; vague is the meaning calm (from W')n to be dumb or silent; Targ. NjP^nti'; Bosenm. surdum seu silent em), not breezy, and hence sultry {Sept. iTvz'oixari kccv- (jca'jog avyKaiovTi', Yulg. vento calido et urenti; Luther ein diirrer Ostwind; Dathe ventum aestuosum; Eichhorn, Arnheim ein schwiiler Ostwind ; Rosenm. qui aestum augeret, quum ventus vehementior eum minuere soleat, etc.); though indeed, as we have above observed, the scorching heat, rather than the violence, of the dreaded wind is emphasised in this passage. But playful are the significations of a wind which silences all the others (Rashi), or which makes people deaf (D'llS'in) by its roaring, that is, a tempest or hurricane (comp. Ex. xiv. 21; Kimchi, Ebn Ezra, Mimster, etc.). — About ^^Vt):i see supra on P]aj;nn p. 215; Sept. oAiyo^vxyjasv ; Symmach., Theod. irapikv'^y} , i'^sXv^y]; Syr. w.dj..^Z|o and he was disturbed in his mind, or jooi j.sj.s2^ioo and he was broken down (comp. Job xvi. 12), but explained by Eield (Otium Norvicense, p. 72) 'motitavit se, palpitavit, palpitans animam exhalavit,' like the Greek a.'KoaKapiX.ziv. — n^D^ iK/D^Tli^ h^t^^i^ exactly as in 1 Ki. xix. 4, literally 'and he desired his soul to die,' a 'kind of 304 JONAH lY. 4 — I'l. accusative with the infinitive/ for ^and he wished that his soul (or he) might die' (Sept. Ka\ aTrsksyero rvj-j '^Tjyyjv avrov; Yulg. petivit animae suae ut moreretur, etc.). But instead of the fretful declaration, *It is better for me to die than to live' (comjD. ver. 3), which implies no distinct reason, as if Jonah were himself ashamed to disclose his mind, Elijah intelligibly urges as a motive of his despondency, 'For I am not better than my fathers,' that is, I have no right to expect greater success in my efforts than my worthier predecessors; and the Syriac translator, to soften the abrupt- ness, adds here those words of the earlier prophet ('it is in Thy power, Lord, to take my life, as I am not better than my fathers;' comp. Tob. iii. 6, Xv^irsXsl jxoi aTro^avslv ^aaXXov '// t^r^y). — niD'iy ''t'TTin 'I am angry to such an extenf or degree that etc.; comp. Judg. xvi. 16, mcb Wo:i iHpm; Isa. xxxviii. 1, did'? n'?n; Matt. xxvi. 38, TrspiXvTrog sVr/y y^ ipv^'^ JJ.OV mg ^avocTou; Sir. xxxvii. 2, o'jy) XvTryj hi sug "^ocvexrov k.t.X. — That Jonah, in his selfish annoyance, should have felt moral indignation at the wanton destruction of a fine and serviceable plant (Biur), it is impossible to assume, though God, in His remonstrance, adverts to the point of usefulness also. — The series of marked contrasts begins with the very pronouns forming the subjects in the two clauses of that final reply, nriN (in ver. 10) and iJNl (in ver. 11), tJiou, a mortal swayed by conflicting passions and hardly able always to act even with bare justice; and J, the Unchangeable, swaying the world with immoveable calmness and delighting in mercy. — npn 'thou sparest,' that is, thou art solicitous for the existence and permanence of a plant; how should I be indifferent to the fate of large communities? (Sept. i(ps/i7ca; not so well, because too definite, Vulg. tu doles; Luther dich jammert, ArnJieim, dir ist leid). The expression that Jonah did not 'toil' (D^oyN^) for the shrub, has also an emphatic antithesis in 'the great city of Nineveh' and the numberless 'persons' (D^N) that are in it: God indeed does not 'toil;' He commands and it is; but all that men do, they accomplish by His assistance and blessing; for 'except EEBUKE AND LESSON. 305 the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it;' and what endless exertion and care are required to found even a small town and make it flourish, or to rear and educate even a single human being! In this sense God has toiled to raise Nineveh to such splendour and prosperity (comp. Job X. 3 ^""trs V^J'', 9), and both His 'delight' and His 'compassion' are extended to 'all His works' (Ps. civ. 31; cxlv. 9). This entire train of thought is implied in the following fine lines of the Wisdom of Solomon: 'The whole world is before Thee as a drop of the morning dew; but Thou hast mercy upon all . . . and overlookest the sins of men, in order that they may amend; for Thou lovest all the things that are and disdainest nothing that Thou hast made . . . Indeed Thou sparest all, for they are Thine, Lord, Thou lover of souls' (Wisd. xi. 22 — 26, ^f/Bjy Is iravrm, on Goc iari, IsaTrora. (pfkSipvxs). — The Tiihayon 'was n7v"j^ and perished ni?''b~p,' that is, it was the creature or creation of a single night's growth, and rapid as its rise was its decay: for on the first day of Jonah's stay before the town, he was shielded by the booth (ver. 5); in the evening he saw its foliage withered; in the succeeding night the hikayon grew up^ was in full bloom the whole of the next day, but perished the following morning even before the sun was above the horizon. Thus the author might say that the plant appeared over night and vanished over night; although possibly, not making so strict a calculation, he simply meant to describe the perishing plant also as 'the creature of a night'. The Sept. has correctly as regards the sense, vrrb voKra. iysvyj'^yj Kai vtto vvktoc ocTrdoksro; Philo (c. 49), nox prima plantam produxit istam, et nox secunda corrupit; Y^ilg. sub una nocte nata est et sub una nocte periit, taking perhaps |i as identical with p:^; Targum, more explicitly, 'in the one night it came up and in the other night it disappeared ;' De Wette, in accordance with the latter alternative above referred to, 'der als Sohn Einer Nacht ent- stand und als Sohn Einer Nacht dahin war;' etc.; comp. Plaut. Pseudol. I. i. 38, 39, quasi solstitialis herba paulisper fui, X 306 JONAH IV. 5 — 11. Kepente exortus sum, repentino occidi. — -|:2, a rarer and shorter form of the construct state instead of ~]2 (see Gramm. § 32. 7). — The phrase n^]^~j2: is here not ana- logous in meaning to the frequent terms K^in~|3 or nJK^'jS (Exod. xii. 5; Lev. xxvii. 5, etc.), which signify 'one month' or 'one year old,^ for ^^'^ is Ho be called into existence' (Gen. i. 3; Ps. xxxiii. 9, etc.), and the sense is not that 'the plant, being strong and sound in one night, perished in another' (Michaelis), as if it had stood on the spot before ; which endeavour of explaining away the miracle is as decidedly against the tenour of the text as the propo- sition to take the whole phrase as a bold oriental metaphor expressing uncommon rapidity of growth (comp. ver. 6, jQi^ b]}">) ' ' ', though here |D''1 is indeed by some, as Eichhorn and others, unwarrantably taken as a pluperfect, 'God had caused the hikayon to arise'). — In DiriN n'? ^JNI the question is only conveyed by the position and the contrast, 'and I should not have pity?' (comp. Gramm. § 81. 9). — ]D TM^X^, in later Hebrew, like |a "iHl'' (Eccl. vi. 6; xii. 12; comp. p. 236). — Ten thousand is 7122"^ (Lev. xxvi. 8, etc.), which in the construct state of the plural is nlDD"} (Ps. iii. 7, etc.); this in the course of time was changed into nl2i"} (Neh. vii. 71), and then, by throwing off the final n, into 12"^ (as here, Hos. viii. 12 Keth., and elsewhere), more frequently written with N otiosum Nl2"l (Ezra ii. 64, etc.), from which was formed the plural nlN2"} or mN2*l (Dan. xi. 12; Ezra ii. 69; comp. Gesen. Thesaur. p. 1255). — D*N l2"i is taken as a collective term, whence the verb ;;"i^ and the suffixes in U^D^ and ibNDtJ'b are in the singular. — Nineveh contained 'twelve myriads of persons' who had not even sufficient experience to know the difference between their right hand and their left hand, and could, therefore, certainly not distinguish between moral good and evil, that is, children of a werj tender age, who, not yet responsible for their actions, cannot sin (comp. Deut. i. 39, yiT DID l^T N^; Isa. vii. 15, 16, 1)112) ^^12 DIND 2)D2; Horn. Od. xx. 309, 310, '^l'/] yap -joiia Ka\ ollcc SKaGra, 'Ej^Xa re ku) ra. yjp'^oi.j 'Ttapog V In vrjiriog r^a; but in 2 Sam. EEBUKE AND LESSON. 307 xix. 36, the same phrase ;;-|^ 2)12 p2 ^l'^ refers to the external senses blunted by extreme old age, *to distinguish between things pleasant and unpleasant'): what limit the author had in his mind, whether the third or seventh year, as has been surmised, it is impossible to decide; in any case, a computation, on such data, of the aggregate population of Nineveh would be precarious. So much, however, seems certain that the figure stated in the text is by no means exorbitant, considering the antiquity, wealth, and extent of the town, which, together with its district, comprised about two hundred English square miles (supra p. 224), and might, therefore, easily have contained between half a million and a million of inhabitants; though Nineveh proper had probably not more than 200,000. The Koran (Sur. xxxvii. sub fin.) observes: *We sent Jonah to a hundred thousand persons (Ninevites), or they were more, and they believed.' — The inability of discerning between right and left does not refer to the Ninevites as 'unenlightened pagans,' since the number of twelve myriads is evidently meant to com- prise only a part of the population (RasJd, Kimchi, D'lJDp, Ebn Ezra INDH ^h^ □'•JDpn, etc.); but it is doubly fanciful to graft that invidious meaning on the concluding words T]2^ nDHDl, as if these terms denoted 'grown up persons resem- bling brutes because devoid of intelligence and living in ignor- ance of their Maker' (Rashi; comp. sw^;m p. 250); which interpretation, apart form its linguistic impossibility, is in flagrant contradiction to the generous spirit of the narrative, which does not represent the men and women of Nineveh as 'brutes,' but as most accessible to religious enlightenment and most ready to moral reformation. APPENDIX. Univeesalism or Greeks and Romans. In order to exhibit the affinity of the highest minds among different civihsed nations with respect to the question which forms the main subject of this volume, we subjoin a number of sentences gathered from Greek and Roman writers expressing or implying universal fellowship and the natural equality of all men. This collection, designed both to illustrate and to supplement the double series of adages and sentiments we have cited before from the Bible and the Talmud,^ will, we trust, prove acceptable as a small contribution to comparative theology, and may help to confirm and strengthen the views which it has been our chief object to impress. I. EELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE. All men of whatever nation have a conception of the gods.^ In the minds of all the notion of gods has been implanted by nature herself, without any instruction.^ ^ Pp. 107—110, and 242—247. ^ Arist. De Coelo, i. 3, § 6, TvavTsg av^puiroi Ttsp) %sS^-j s^ovaiv v7tokr,ypiv . . . Koci ^ap^apoi Ka.Y"EXkriVsg. •= Cic. Nat. Deor. i. 16, § 43, anticipationem quandam deorum, quam appellat '7tpokr,\li-j Epicuinis; comp. ii. 4, § 12; Legg. i. 8, § 24, ipsisque in hominibus nulla gens est etc.; Tusc. Disp. i. 13, 16, §§ 30, 36; Senec. Epist. 117, § 6, deos esse inter alia hoc colligi- mus quod omnibus insita de dis opinio est etc.; Epictet. Disput. i. 22, TrpokyjipsK; KOtva) Tzaaiv av'^pcoTVOig shiK.T.X.: ii. 11; iv. 1. UNIVEESALISM OF GBEEKS AND ROMANS. 309 Among all men it is considered the first duty to revere gods.^ If you travel about, you may find towns without walls, without learning, without proper authorities or dwellings, towns without wealth or such as require none and know nothing of theatres and gymnastic institutions; but a city without temples and gods, one that is ignorant of prayers and oaths and oracles, and does not ofiPer sacrifices for the sake of obtaining benefits or averting misfortunes — such a city has never yet been seen, nor will it ever be seen: for I believe that it is more possible for a town to exist without founda- tions than for a community to exist without a religious belief.*^ All foreign nations^ have in an equal manner a know- ledge of the deity, though the various nations venerate their gods under various forms. ^ However widely men may dift'er in every other respect, all, both Greeks and barbarians, agree in this that there is one Grod, the Euler and Father of all.^ II. CONSCIENCE. To all men conscience is a god.^ "With respect to the chief part of our nature, the soul, we must believe that Grod has given it to every man as a divine guides" raising us from the earth to the similitude of heaven, since we are beings not of earthly but of celestial growth.^ * Xenoph. Memor. IV. iv. 19, •^ Fhit. Advers. Coloten, c. 31, Tj TtokiTsla Tf,g Ttsp) %sc^y o6^r,g avaips- %eiariq TravTaTraar, comp, Senec. Epist. 117, § 6, nee ulla gens usquam est adeo extra leges mores- que projecta etc. ^ To ^ap^apiKOv. '^ Maxim. Tyr. Dissert, xxxviii (p. 396 ed. Davis.), ii/.oloog aVavrs,- p-h ^v'jsTo} Tov %SQV, KocrsuTi^aavro ^s avroTg arip.s7a clXkoi aXkaj comp. ibid. (p. 402), ttX^v ovoh ysvo?, ov ^ccp- ^apiKov olx 'EXX7JV//C0V . . . aviysrai TO p.rj KaTaKrr,'7aG%aL avp.§ok(x arra rfjg riov ^scov ripL-^g. ^ Maxim. Tyr. Dissert, i. (p. 6), Zti %s(ig sig Travrccv . ^aatkshg kcx) ■rrar-^p. ^ Poet. Graec. Gnomic, p. 188 ed. Tauclm., BpoToTg uTtaaiv ■}] GVVsi'^Tjaig '^sog. 8" '£lg apa tov oaip-o-ja %sQg skugtui h Plat. Tim. c. 43, p. 90 A, cog I'jrag (pvrly ovk a'/^istav a\7.a olpdvioy. 310 APPENDIX. Grod undoubtedly dwells in our heart.^— He is with us, in us ; as a holy spirit He resides in our minds, the Observer and G-uardian of our good and evil deeds.^ III. DIVINE AND NATURAL LAWS. All human laws emanate from the one divine law, which rules as far as it desires, and suffices for all, and reaches still farther.*^ One eternal and unchangeable law, which is right reason exhorting men to duty and deterring them from evil-doing, will hold together all nations at all times; and there will ever be one common Instructor and Ruler of all — Grod, by whom that law was devised, determined, and enacted; and whosoever disobeys it, is faithless to himself^ and, aban- doning the nature of man, by this very desertion pays the heaviest penalties, even if he should escape all other punish- ments.® The common law, say the stoics, is that right reason which pervades alH and which is the same in Zeus, the chief of this entire government; and the virtue of the prosperous and the favourable progress of life consist in this that in * Manil. Astron. iv. 878, An dubium est habitare deum sub pectore nostro? ^ Senee. Epist. 41, § 1, tecum est deus, intus est . . . sacer intra nos spiritus sedet, malorum bono- rumque nostrorum observator et custos; comp. Cic. Nat. Deor. ii. 66, § 167. ^ HeracUt ap. Stob. Serm. iii. 84, rps(f)ovTai yap TravTsg oi ccv%-pu- "TTivoi vofioi iiTTO hog Tov %siov, Kparssi yap ToaovTov OKoaov i^sXsi ««} i^ap- Kssi TToiai Kai •nspiylvsrai; comp. Ewip, Hipp. 98, %vyiTo) %soiv voiioiai Xpoifis%a. ^ Ipse se fugiet. ® Cic. De Eepubl. iii. 22, omnes gentes et omni tempore una lex et sempitema et immutabilis con- tinebit etc. The words that precede are even more explicit: 'Est quidem vera lex recta ratio, naturae con- graens, diffusa in omnes . . . Huic legi necabrogarifas est nequederogari ex hac aliquid licet . . . neque est quae- rendus explanator aut interpres ejus alius, nee erit alia lex Romae, alia Athenis, alia nunc, alia posthac' etc. — With regard to this remarkable passage Lactantius (Divin. Inst, vi. 8) observes : 'Hanc legem TuUius paene Divina voce depinxit . . . Quis sacramentum Dei sciens tarn significanter enarrare legem Dei possit?' etc. ^ '0 6p%o; Xoyo^ Old Travrwv ipy/^- UNIVERSALISM OF GREEKS AND ROMANS. 311 all that happens the god whom everyone has in himself, harmonises with the will of Him who rules the whole.^ Grod is the Creator of the whole and, as it were, the Father of all, and at the same time the part which pene- trates through everything.^ Do you know that there are also unwritten laws,^ Hip- pias? — 'Yes, those which are in force in every country about the same points.' — Can you affirm that men made those lawg9 — %piX7roig %soi', TTavrsg fJiS'J TZatJlV K . T . X, ^ Cleanthes ap. Stob. Eel. phys. i. 2, p. 8 ed. Meineke, Kvhar' a%avaTccv, ttoXvocvv/ms, TrayKpaTsg ahl, . . . "X-aTps, as yap kk) iraai ^sfiig ^tVTjTOiui TtpoaavhciV, 'E/c aov yap yivog fxaTpog a/x(f)OT3poi k . r .X. S Plat. Phaedon, c. 6, p. 62 B, Ka)ij[ia<; rovg civ%pu>7iovg 'h tccv KTTjjMa- TK-j To7g %so7g s1vai\ comp. Ps. Ixxvii. 21 ; Ixxviii. 52 ; Ixxx. 2 ; Isa. Ixiii. 1 1 ; John x. 16, etc.; see also Tlat, Kep. iii. 21, p. 415 A, eari /^civ yap %rj -na'^Tsg o'l e'v ryj tzoXsi ahsX^oi] ix. 13, p. 590 D, Tva slg ^vvapio TTocvTsg opLoioi Mfisv Ka) iXoi Tw ai/TU Kv^spvufjLs'joi ; Cic. In Verr. II. v. 67, § 172, civium Romanorum om- nium sanguis conjunctus existiman- dus est. ^^ Eurip. Ion 854, 855, to. h'aXy.a Ttavra ruv iXsv%spuv Ov^sig KaKiccv UNIVEESALISM OF GEEEKS AND EOMANS. 315 Of all the subjects discussed by the wise none is forsooth more important than the distinct proposition that we are born for righteousness, and that right is established, not by opinion, but by nature. This will be obvious to those who fully comprehend the mutual connection and relation of men; for there exists no single thing that is so similar, nay so equal to any other thing as we are all among ourselves . . . Therefore any definition of man holds good for all alike.* Great is that community which is established by benefits mutually bestowed and received.^ It is eminently in accordance with nature to undertake the greatest labours and toils for the protection of all nations, if that be possible.*^ Any avocation which serves to promote the welfare of the community and the safety of society is preferable to pursuits tending only to speculation and the acquisition of knowledge.^ It is our duty to foster, to shield, and to preserve the common fellowship and connection of the whole human race.^ ^oiiXog oaTig ia%-\oi; 77; conip. Phrix. fr. 828, 829, ■ttqWoTji 'hovXoig touvo/^' a'iaxpov, Ti l^ 7] (Lucian, Vit. Auct. 8, Tov KoajMov TTokirrjg); Phit. De Exilio C. 5, "LccKpaTTjg ovk 'A%rjVa7og olos "KWtjv, aXka Koaftiog slvai ./; £771. ^ Cic. Legg. i. 7, § 23, lit jam universus liic mundus una civitas sit communis deorum atque homi- num existimanda. ^ Se7i. De Benef. vii. 1, mundum ut unam omnium domum spectat; comp. John xiv. 2, 'In my Father's house are many mansions' etc. UNIVERSALISM OP GEEEKS AND ROMANS. 319 which forms, as it were, one town; . . . how insignificant will he account all that is commonly considered very important?* The good man lives for his fellow-men.*' — Men are born for each other. — We are born for fellowship and mutual assistance.^ — Men are called into existence for the sake of men, so that they might be useful to each other/^ All rational beings are kinsmen, and to be solicitous for the welfare of all men, is in accordance with man's nature.® — It is base not to lend a helping hand to the distressed ; this is the common right of the human race.^ We are by nature disposed to love men, which feeling is the foundation of right.§^ The good man does not love himself more than he loves his friends.*^ Love the whole human race.^ * Cic. Legg. i. 23, § 61, seseque lion unius circumdatum moenibus loci, sed civem totius mundi quasi unius urbis agnoverit. ^ Eurip. Heracl. 2, 3, '0 /^iv ^iKaiog ToTg jrsXag 7rs(j)VK ocvrip, '0 V sig TO Ksphog \fi[x. k'xccv A'.T.X. ; comp. Cic. Nat. Deor. i. 44, liominum caritas et amicitia gratuita est; also Herod, i. 132. *^ M. Aurel. ii. 1 ; iv. 3 ; viii. 24, 59 ; V. 16 ; vii. 55 ; ix. 1, 9, 23. Tsyi- va/z-sv Ttpog avvspylav. — 0/ av%pcc7roi y$y6va^b P';i?'ii?n"bl^ Tf?'*^!^ ^*^'nn niv-^K b^-I■bK hon nnx nin" ^dk^iio :n^D-i;; ^Vmn D•to^n ~ T J . -:r IT T T :j- \ ' 13- T T : ;- >•• : '• •• : - T V JV -: ^t : - rr t r : >• ibKDfc^!^ ia''D^"p2 };T'^b nt^'K Dnx lin n^fc^:; 5 JONAH m. 4 — IV. 4. DV i^n'D n^i;^ xi::b r\:v bn'^^^i. :d^d^ nt^'bti^ J K- -: r '^ T J T T ■.■<-i- i-T v y : V .T : V r: r : Tt- ^ : - ^< - - tI: — at v pi^ DD^i rb;;D inn^x "iDi;n ikd^d bS^'^ nir:i I - J- :- at't !•• 1. : - - r-^:\-- : • • It t- •• : i- ■^^^n DJ;^^^ ni^'?? ^'9>^'!! pi?r.^'^ ♦^5^?^■bJ; nt^^'.i "bN txisni npan nbn^n^i dSkh nbxb vV-ijn nT>T\'i D^"|■bx•■bx -"ix^p^i HDHsni bnxn xi^^v I at: t : i: v: v j •.\: ". t •• : - : t t >t I- - IV •• - : ^v -: ij- T IV I • 't T IT J : - • •< "•. t; D^-HD iDt^''"^3 Dn^t^;;D"nx b^-I'bx^ xn"') lo nnx: T . - . ^j ,• ... .. ^■. J- ... . v: IT :<— ,.• -nifc^;;^' nzTnt^'x vr^^rrbv D^lbx^ Dnun n;;in I ^l 1- A- • IV -: 'TV T IT '^ • V: IT V jr.- "at T IT IT ^ J ; V.I.- T CHAPTER IV. v: *=- • T : jv -: r : - CHAPTER III. nxnpn-nx hb^ xnp-i nMnjin n^;;n nirri^x nirri^x "^^"i niv Dp^is :;nn^x nni ''Dix nt^^x ibr\i2 D'hbij - -^D D^tL^'ixn i;;n''-^2) n^fc^;; nx-rnD v^^x n^xn I- • T -: IT ^ :iT !• T A- 't j - • T J- • • T It pMp n;;r)::' ^^j;-i:^* Mxt:^' p^D THE BOOK OF JONAH. CHAPTER I. rh Dips nnab \iax-p mv-bi< f-nn^nni Si^v Dni;-) nnbr''^ n'^^;; Nip-i nbin -in -i^;;n nirrbx ...._ ^T . ;;.... T • t " " J I • T I Tt (iii. 10). inwv /v ,^ ^ DATE DUE dujHM"'^'^^^ m^' >RINTEOINU.S.