Chapter 1

Theophylact of Ohrid, Exposition of the Prophet Jonah

1 Argument

¹ God, the Maker of all things, having created all men, continues to provide for them all alike, even if at one time he was seen to care more for the Israelites; and this too he did for the common benefit of all. For just as, in showing the care that was due to Israel itself, he did not point out what should be done by conversing with each man one by one, but rather by choosing out from them all the one best man — now Moses the great, now Joshua the son of Nun, at another time Samuel, and in yet another season Elijah — and through each of these, whether by laying down laws, or by displaying wonders, or by bringing exhortations, he guided them toward salvation: so also, having marked off the Israelite people from the other nations, by his care for them and by his frequent appearances and unutterable wonder-workings, he was displaying to the other nations as well the road that leads to the knowledge of God. For this is what he taught us through the inspired Hosea: A watchman, he says, is Ephraim with God, a prophet.[1] For he set forth the people as a kind of watchman and prophet, for the benefit and salvation of the other nations.

² So Egypt too came to know the unutterable power of God through these very things; and the report, carrying the news of their destruction to all men, made all marvel at the justice of the divine providence. From this Rahab the harlot, having received the radiance of the knowledge of God, said to the spies: The fear of you and the trembling of you has fallen upon us. For we have heard how the Lord God dried up the Red Sea before you, and led you across; because the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath. And many years later the foreigners, when they beheld the ark, cried out with dread and shuddering: This is the God who smote Egypt. And when he had struck down those many thousands of the Assyrians before the walls of Jerusalem, and had forced their king Sennacherib to flee, he made his own power plain to all men; and in Babylon too, having kept Daniel unharmed among the lions, and having delivered those three children from the furnace, he confounded the boastful king Nebuchadnezzar, and through him taught all who were under him that he alone is God, the God of the Israelites. And under Cyrus the Persian, having granted the people their much-celebrated return, and having brought Jerusalem back to its former prosperity, so that the temple too was built more splendidly than before, he made it clear to all, both to those near and to those far off, that he alone is able to provide for and to defend his own people. And in the time of the Macedonians too he repeatedly showed his own power through the Maccabees. Moreover, through the prophets, who worked wonders and foretold things to come, he guided many of the nations to the truth. Thus the Syrians feared the great Elisha, at one time stricken with blindness by him, at another beholding the cleansing of Naaman; for they held the prophet in such reverence that their king, having fallen ill, sent to him Hazael, whom this same prophet anointed king over the Syrians. And the king of the Babylonians counted the inspired Jeremiah worthy of such honor as to grant him his choice of dwelling; and the rest he led away captive, but to him alone he gave liberty to live where he would.

³ So also did the God of all appoint the blessed Jonah a prophet to the Ninevites; and Nineveh was a very great city, and had received the palace of the king of the Assyrians. For since the only-begotten Word of God was about to appear to men through human nature, and to flood all the nations with the light of the knowledge of God, even before his own Incarnation he shows his divine care for the nations, that he might confirm the things to come to those who came before, and might teach all that God is not of the Jews only, but of the nations also, and might show the kinship of the Old and the New Covenant. For if he had made no provision for the nations before the Incarnation, the Jews would have supposed him to be some other God, as one acting contrary to the Giver of the Law — for that one, they would say, cared only for Jews, but this one made provision for all men. This is what the abominable Marcion suffered, when he declared the God of the New Covenant other than the God of the Old; and that too although in the Old Covenant, as has been said, he beheld God’s providence over all men. For these reasons, then — or rather for certain higher and more hidden reasons — God ordained that Jonah should prophesy to the Ninevites. But to Israel also he foretold many things that were to come, being a contemporary of Hosea, Amos, and Micah. For even if no other writing of his is extant, yet from the Fourth Book of Kingdoms it is plain that he uttered other prophecies as well. For the Scripture speaks concerning Jeroboam — not the son of Nabat, who made Israel to sin so as to worship the golden heifers, but another, who, being the third from Jehu, reigned over the ten tribes, the son of Joash: That he restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath as far as the sea toward the west, according to the word of the Lord God of Israel, which he spoke by the hand of Jonah the son of Amathi, the prophet, who was of Gethchopher.

⁴ This prophecy alone has been written down, perhaps by a divine dispensation: partly for our instruction and admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come, that we may neither despair, even if we fall into the very pit of wickedness, but may know that we have a Lord who loves mankind; and that, when we have turned toward repentance, we may pursue it genuinely, and not feign it loosely and slackly, having these gentiles as our example. And it was written for the reproof of Israel. For what shame will not be theirs, if these men — barbarians, possessed of great power, living in luxury, and never having heard a prophet — so obeyed the proclamation; while they themselves, schooled by the Law and being God’s chosen people, murdered those who proclaimed salvation to them, so that they even killed the Son of God, the Savior and Redeemer, when he came to them? And the mystery of his burial and resurrection is foreshadowed in this very prophecy, even as he himself, conversing with the Jews, said: This generation seeks a sign, and a sign shall not be given it, except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For as Jonah was in the belly of the sea-monster three days and three nights, so also shall the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.[2] But that this Scripture has also been given for the reproof and condemnation of the Jews, the Lord himself bears witness, saying in the Gospels: The men of Nineveh shall rise up and shall condemn this generation, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And behold, a greater than Jonah is here.

⁵ But how is there something greater in Christ than in Jonah? Because the one merely threatened the Ninevites with destruction, whereas our Lord did not preach only, but also performed countless wonders, by which it was likely they would be drawn to faith; yet they disbelieved. So then the mystery of Christ is signified, as in a type, by Jonah; only we must not seek the likeness in every particular, nor are we to be compelled to turn the whole history toward spiritual contemplation. For, to put it generally, whenever we say that one of the saints of old became a type of Christ, we ought not to seek the likeness in every respect. For instance, we say that Moses became a type of Christ, as lawgiver and as mediator. Speak you to us, it says, and let not God speak to us, lest we die. And Christ is both of these — both having given us the Law, and having become the mediator of God and men, and having reported to us the things concerning the Father, and having reconciled us to him. Yet Christ was not slow of tongue, nor weak of voice, as Moses was; nor did he falter upon his lips, and for that fail of the land of promise. Again, Aaron is a type of Christ, as high priest, entering into the Holy of Holies and loosing the sins of the people; since Christ also did all these things, having become a great high priest, and having offered himself, and having run up into heaven, and having himself borne our sins, and having torn asunder the handwriting against us. But Aaron was not without blemish, in that he murmured against Moses together with Miriam, and did not restrain those who made the calf in the wilderness; whereas in Christ there is nothing of the kind. For he did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. So then it is here also: Jonah was sent to preach to the Ninevites, but he was not willing, and set himself to flight; whereas Christ, sent by the Father, became obedient. And the prophet’s being cast willingly into the sea, and his being swallowed by the sea-monster, and his being given up after three days, and his going to Nineveh, are common to Christ; for he too died willingly, and was truly swallowed up by death, and was given up on the third day, and, going to Galilee, commanded that the beginning of the preaching to the nations be made there. But Jonah was grieved at the saving of the Ninevites, whereas to Christ the salvation of the nations is exceedingly dear. Having gathered, then, whatever is useful for the mystery of Christ out of this prophecy here before us, let us yield the rest to the letter, that there may indeed be a type; for an identity in every respect belongs neither to a type nor to a sketch, in the judgment of those who judge rightly.

2 Chapter One

¹ And the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amathi. Why did he begin in this way? For the phrase And it came to pass carries a certain emphasis. It seems, then, that since there was much talk about Nineveh, and a report prevailing over all that, weighed down by its wealth and power, it was full of sin, it was fitting to say, And the word of the Lord came. Or else, since the Israelites were disobedient, he plainly began in this way, as if he were saying: The Israelites were in a bad and disobedient state. And so thereafter the word of the Lord came to Jonah, that he should be sent to the nation of the Ninevites. The name of the prophet’s father is added on account of the likeness of names. For it is likely that others too were so called, but surely they would not also be of the same father.

² Saying: Arise and go to Nineveh the great city. A very great proof of the future reception of the nations is the sending of Jonah to Nineveh; for this was the chief city of the Assyrians, as was said in the prologue. For Asshur built, it says, Nineveh; and the Assyrians were altogether gentiles. This city God wished to save, as a place that was then given over to idolatry and to every sorcery and trickery; and indeed for this reason, having sent the prophet to them as a herald of repentance, he showed what we said above: that God is not of the Jews only, but also of the nations, and that there is no respect of persons with him, but in every nation he that fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him — even as Peter also, in the case of Cornelius, declared this when he had grasped it truly and by the facts themselves. And the words Arise and go are words of urging. For he who does not desire the death of the sinner, but rather that he should turn and live, hastens the prophet on to the proclamation of repentance. Therefore he adds, the great, that he might the more shame him into hastening his journey. For it is not, he says, some paltry little place, but a city — not one of the many, but a great one; so that one must by no means despise it. For if not even the lowly are to be despised, much less the great.

³ And proclaim in it, that the cry of its wickedness has come up to me. Since, he says, they have no perception of their own transgressions and impieties, do you become a herald to them, and teach them that they have so displayed such great wickedness that its magnitude has reached up to heaven, and all but sends forth a voice, crying out against those who pursue it. For he who knows all things before their coming-to-be is ignorant of nothing that exists, however small it be; yet, since he is a lover of mankind, he does not bring punishment for small matters, but when the evils have become great and considerable, and such as to move his kindness to anger, then he rises up to take vengeance. For this reason he says that a cry of the wickedness came up to him, as having been multiplied and as summoning him to cut it off. So too the blood of Abel is said to cry out against the murder committed by Cain; so too the foul deed of the Sodomites cried out against them. For in truth the Ninevites, living in wealth, pursued every lawlessness; among their other licentious doings, they busied themselves with sorceries and magic arts — that practice especially prized among the Chaldeans — even as Nahum also says: A fair harlot and full of charm, a mistress of sorceries. Therefore the Lord sent the prophet to this city, though it was settled very far from Judea; that he might show to all men that even those most of all entangled in the snares of error, and the ringleaders of every lawlessness, even these would receive the knowledge of God and would take virtue to their bosom. For the word of God is not feeble, but mighty and effectual, as was said also to Jeremiah: Behold, I have given my words in your mouth as fire, and this people as wood; and again, Are not my words like fire that burns, says the Lord, and like an axe that cuts the rock? And note also the term “cry,” set down here just as in the case of the Sodomites.

⁴ And Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Here many are perplexed: why ever does a prophet flee, as though he would escape God’s notice? For not even any of the more ordinary men would say this — that he would run away from God, who fills all things and is contained nowhere. Or had he not heard David, even if he himself did not know it: Where shall I go from your spirit, and from your presence where shall I flee? and what follows. It seems, then, either that what is said is absurd, or that he himself is some absurd and strange man. Now it is possible to say that he knew plainly, more than the others, as a prophet, that the Lord of all is present everywhere, and that no place is bereft of his providence; yet he supposed that God made his more manifest appearances in Judea only, and that, if he should get far away from it, God would no longer appear to him so as to send him on this ministry. For this is what from the presence of the Lord signifies — that is, he was fleeing the more manifest appearance of God, and the sending forth from him. That the saints of old thought God appeared in certain set-apart places, Jacob too bears witness, when he saw the ladder and the angels ascending, saying: The Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And David: The Lord chose Zion, he preferred it for a habitation for himself. And even now we ourselves, who are taught to think more perfectly, all the more resort to whatever place we believe the divine grace overshadows, expecting to be sanctified and to reap some divine gift. He declines the ministry, not as disobedient or slothful (for both are unworthy of a prophet), but partly as knowing that the Ninevites would obtain the divine love for mankind, if they should make use of repentance, and that hence it would come about that the prophecy be reckoned false — a thing altogether unseemly and unworthy. And perhaps too the Ninevites might treat him ill, as one who had falsely cast them into the hardships of repentance. This suspicion was put into him by the matter of the Ninevites suffering none of the dreadful things, and this was the underlying purpose of the proclamation. For he reasoned that God would not have proclaimed beforehand, if he had wished to destroy; but plainly the threat of punishment is a turning toward repentance. Besides this, he supposed that the good obedience of the Ninevites would become an accusation of the Jews — since the one party had believed an unknown and foreign man, while the others disobeyed their own kinsmen the prophets, who made their prophecies with wonder-workings. For these reasons he did not at once do what was commanded, but set himself to flee to Tarshish. As for this region, some say it is Tarsus, which is the metropolis of Cilicia, and lies at the foot of Mount Taurus; others say that a region of India is so called, Tarshish — for it was from Tarshish, they say, that Solomon imported costly stones and elephants’ tusks together with apes; and these come from nowhere else than from India, over a two years’ voyage, and over so long a passage Solomon’s ship is said in the Book of Kingdoms to put in. But those who say this are mistaken. For if he were fleeing to India, he ought not to have gone down to Joppa. For this is a seaboard town of Palestine, and lies upon the sea that inclines toward the west. Through this open sea one would by no means, in using navigation, come to India; for between our sea and the Indian sea there is much mainland, both inhabited and uninhabited, and many great mountains, and the Red Sea gulf, to which the Indian sea then joins. But the divine Scripture also testifies that Tarshish is not of India, nor is it Tarsus, but it belongs to Africa; for in Isaiah the Seventy rendered Wail, O ships of Carthage, for your stronghold has perished, while Aquila and Symmachus put “Tarshish” instead of “Carthage”; and when Ezekiel makes mention of Carthage, both in the Hebrew and in the Syriac, “Tarshish” is found. From which it is plain that Jonah was not fleeing to India, but was fleeing to Carthage.

⁵ And he went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish, and paid its fare, and went up into it, to sail with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He makes his flight by sea, supposing that he would most quickly be rid of the ministry of prophesying to the Ninevites. He even paid the fare of the voyage, when not even the loss thereof could hold him back. For all things seemed light to him — the loss of his homeland, the danger of the sea, the paying out of his fare — if only it might seem to him that he had thrown off this burdensome service.

⁶ And the Lord raised up a great wind upon the sea, and there was a great surge upon the sea, and the ship was in danger of being broken up. And the sailors were afraid, and cried out each to his own god, and made a casting-out of the gear that was in the ship into the sea, to be lightened of it. Jonah, then, thought thus to flee the divine service; but the Lord of land and sea raises up a surge against the fugitive, and casts about the ship bonds of the waves, that we may learn not to flee the divine ministry, nor, when called to a work pleasing to God, to put it off and to draw back. And we are taught from this that nothing is unforeseen, but that even the surges come from his counsel, and do not happen by chance or by nature. For the Lord, it says, raised up a great wind. Unless one were to say that, for the most part, the surges come about naturally, by the conjunctions and recedings of the stars — God having altogether implanted this order in the nature of the world; yet they come about often, even such as nature does not require, when God wills it, who both made nature and is able to alter it at any time toward what is willed by him. And in both ways those are saved or destroyed whom he has judged worthy to be saved or to perish. The sailors’ being afraid is a sign of the greatness of the danger, when even those most experienced in the sea were in dread, plainly as men in despair, and were casting out the gear, so that the ship might of course be lightened. And each one besought his own gods as well, the Scripture relating these things not in vain, but that it might teach that both are needful — both to do our own part, and to call upon the divine alliance — and never to commit the whole to God while we ourselves sit idle (for that belongs to lifeless and motionless things), nor again to trust altogether to our own devices and contrivings; for this again belongs to the godless and the desperate. And some say that the surge arose about this ship alone. For they would not, if the surge had been common to all, have undertaken to learn by lot the cause of the surge. But since they saw the others sailing without danger and borne along by fair winds, while their own vessel was in danger of sinking, they sought who among them was the cause of the surge. And the argument seems to have probability, if indeed other ships sailing in company were borne along unharmed.

⁷ But Jonah had gone down into the hold of the ship, and was sleeping, and snoring. The prophet was not so careless, or so given over to sloth, as to be sleeping himself while so great a danger hung over them — and that not simply, but so deeply as even to snore, which is a mark of the greatest unconcern; rather, the sleep was before the danger and the storm, and this too perhaps from the despondency that came of his fleeing. And his going down into the hold of the ship — that is, into the lowest space — is worthy of the prophetic character; for what is solitary and retired is prophetic. So David too: I am alone, he says; and Jeremiah: It is good for a man when he takes up the yoke from his youth; he shall sit alone; and again, I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry; I sat alone, because I was filled with bitterness.

⁸ And the look-out came to him and said to him: Why are you snoring? Arise, call upon your God, that God may save us, and that we perish not. The crowd of sailors is at other times heedless of what is needful and senseless; but here they are so brought to their senses by fear that the look-out not only prays himself, but even comes to Jonah and rouses him too to prayers; so does necessity teach what is needful. And observe how, even though they called upon various gods, they nevertheless had a notion that the one God is greater than all. For he did not say, “that the gods may save us,” but, that God — because they reckoned him one; and while Jonah was praying with them all to his own God, they supposed that some one of the many called upon for help might hearken and be able to save them — this one being perhaps Poseidon, or Nereus, or Thetis, or some other such sea-spirit, according to the Hellenic error.

⁹ And each said to his neighbor: Come, let us cast lots. And the lot fell upon Jonah. Jonah, indeed, would have hearkened to the look-out and have prayed. For even if the Scripture did not say this, yet it is to be understood; just as, though it did not say that he even rose from sleep, no one nevertheless doubts that he rose. But when he had prayed, he was not heard; for it was not likely that the disobedient one should be heard. Rather, the flight took away his boldness toward God. Since, then, the help from their prayers was refused in common, they have recourse to the lot, which is customary among the gentiles. For they knew by nature that there is a penalty laid upon sinners, and that we pay due penalties for the things in which we sin, and that the things here are not unprovided for. Therefore they also believed that Providence, through the lot, would make known to them the cause. For they did not suppose this — that the lot would by chance show them the sinner. Yet let not the hearer, because the lot succeeded among them, now receive the practice of the lot as permitted. But let him consider that God draws each one by the things that are his own, and familiar, and known to him; as he drew the Magi by a star, and the men of Azotus in the Old Covenant by the sign of the oxen that conveyed the ark, since that token showed beforehand the things that would be concerning it. So too, having found fishermen, he said, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men, holding out to them the name familiar to them. So here too, then, since casting lots was customary to the sailors as gentiles, God, condescending to them through the token known to them, made known the cause of the danger. And that the lot is not spiritual the apostles show, who, when the Spirit was not yet present with them, then used the lot; but after the descent of the Spirit, they nowhere again admitted the lot. And yet some maintain that the apostles did not use even such a lot, but by certain more divine signs were shown the one chosen by God.

¹⁰ And they said to him: Tell us, we pray, for what cause this evil is upon us; what is your occupation, and whence do you come, and where are you going, and from what country, and of what people are you? See how reasonable these barbarian men are. For not at once, upon recognizing Jonah as the cause of the storm, do they grow savage against him, but they ask gently and mildly: For what cause is this evil? — that is, From what sin committed by you has this affliction come upon us? And they ask in order that, having learned, they may try to set the sin right, as far as is possible. And they inquire also what occupation he follows — that is, what manner of livelihood he has, and of what nation he is, and his road, whence and whither he is going; so that from his occupation, and from the common practices of his nation, and from the road he travels, they may infer his manner of life, and so propitiate the God against whom he had offended. For they thought that, by appeasing the spirit grieved on his account — perhaps some sea-spirit — they would escape the harm that came from the storm. Let us then imitate the moderate and reasonable character of these men, who were the better when the better things were required of them.

¹¹ And he said to them: I am a servant of the Lord, and I worship the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land. This, he says, is my occupation, and this is my work — to serve the true God by my deeds, even if now I have disobeyed him, and to worship him through faith in him. For many indeed worship the true God, but are not his servants, in that they do not do the works pleasing to him. And perhaps by this too he showed of what country he is — namely, of Judea. For no other nation worshiped this God. And the prophet is worthy of wonder, in that even when near to death he proclaims the power of God, and to the sailors, who were worshipers of created things and idolaters, reveals his majesty, calling him the Maker of all, both of heaven and of the things below. Yet by saying who made the sea he gives them to reason that, since he worships the Maker of the sea, plainly, having offended him, he it was who raised up this surge.

¹² And the men feared a great fear, and said to him: Why have you done this? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. From this, he says, they knew that he was fleeing because he had offended God — from his telling them that he is a servant of the Lord. For since he had said that he worships the true God, they understood that he is a Jew. And it was not lawful for Jews to mingle with foreigners, or to consort with idolatrous cities; so that it was plain that he had offended his own God. And perhaps they supposed that he was also forsaking the life under the Law, and, giving himself over to the customs of the Greeks, was fleeing from the presence of the God of the Jews. Therefore they were afraid, lest, this God being mighty and inescapable, they too should perish together with his runaway. And that to mingle with Greeks seemed to Jews to be outside the Law is plain both from the Old Covenant and from the Gospel. For when the Lord said to the Jews, Where I go, you cannot come, they said foolishly, Where is this man about to go, that we shall not find him? Is he about to go to the dispersion of the Greeks, and to teach the Greeks?

¹³ And they said to him: What shall we do that the sea may cease from us? And here too the character of these sailor-men is worthy of wonder, being so gentle and mild. For they did not set upon him, nor say, “O foul and utterly foul wretch, because of you we shall perish”; but they make him the judge of what is to be done about himself. Whether, then, they were so reasonable even before, they are to be emulated; or whether by fear they were remolded toward greater gentleness, even so they are to be imitated; whereas often we ourselves, falling into misfortunes, grow savage, not only against the authors of our troubles, but already even against our nearest, and against those who comfort us in our misfortunes. Not such were those men; rather they divide their judgments, and neither dare to pronounce death against him — especially having heard that he is a servant of the God of the Jews (and that God had been reported fearful to them) — nor again are they able to despise the danger. Therefore, as a servant of God, they beseech him to say what must be done about him; for plainly, they thought, he was not ignorant of the remedy for the evil either.

¹⁴ Because the sea was going and raising up a surge the more. After the lot, he says, the surge became more violent. For the sea was going — that is, was moved and swollen more. But some copies have was roaring, in the sense that it sounded fearfully, as the waves dashed against one another and against the ship. And these things became more violent after the lot, God plainly showing on whose account the affliction was.

¹⁵ And Jonah said to them: Take me up, and cast me into the sea, and the sea will cease from you. For I know that for my sake this great surge is upon you. Such a thing is a thankful soul. For when the prophet recognized his own sin, he was ashamed of the things in which he had offended by disobeying God; but knowing that the sea would make peace, serving the divine command, if it should take the one who had disobeyed God, he pronounces death against himself. But we are by no means such; rather, even when we plainly know that our sins often deserve punishment, whenever we undergo some long affliction, we murmur against Providence as though we were sinless — so far are we from pronouncing upon ourselves the worthy penalty.

¹⁶ And the men strove to return to the land, and could not, because the sea was going and rising up the more against them; and they cried to the Lord, and said: By no means, Lord, let us perish for the sake of this man’s life, and lay not upon us righteous blood; for you, Lord, have done as you would. Most loving of mankind and of good character, as we said, were these men. For though Jonah had given himself up to death, these still strove toward the land, plying their oars to make for shore; but their toil was in vain. For the sea was raised the more, and not even so do they do anything against the prophet, though they had justice on their side, since he had condemned himself. But they judge it murderous so much as to render such service to his will. Therefore they pray first of all to be delivered from the surge, and not to perish for sparing the prophet’s life, but that both he and they be permitted to live. But if it is necessary, they say, that this man die, by no means lay upon us righteous blood — that is, his blood; do not make it come to our condemnation, for it was righteous, as that of your servant. For not as murderers do we put this man to death, but in service to your will; for you, as you would, have done these things. And see the barbarians, how they do not dispute: How do these things come about? Is this God then a man-slayer? Is he a lover of blood? Rather they cherish the will of God, and worship it, not busying themselves about the causes of what happens.

¹⁷ And they took Jonah, and cast him into the sea, and the sea stood still from its surging; and the men feared the Lord with a great fear, and offered a sacrifice to the Lord, and made vows. Hardly at last do they bring themselves to the deed, and at once the sea grows calm; and they recognize the Lord more perfectly than before, and fear him not a little, as being plainly inescapable, and as knowing well how to come upon those who sin against him. And the things that tend to divine honor they did. For they offered, it says, sacrifices — perhaps having gone ashore as well, for the sea allowed it. And they made vows — that is, they promised to do certain things, perhaps, if they should reach their homeland. Thus they were made better. And those who before reckoned many gods, each in the time of the surge, now recognizing the one who rules the dominion of the sea and calms the tossing of its waves, both sacrifice to him and make their vows. Do you see the divine dispensations? Jonah fled, that the Ninevites might not be saved, and behold, the sailors are saved, and then he too, and the good becomes the greater. Thus Providence turns even our sins to good account.

3 Chapter Two

¹ And the Lord commanded a great sea-monster to swallow up Jonah; and Jonah was in the belly of the sea-monster three days and three nights.[3] The word commanded stands for: he willed that the prophet be swallowed by the sea-monster; and this came to pass. For God does not enjoin upon the sea-monster as he does upon men or angels, sounding into their mind what is to be done; rather, for God to will a thing is a law and a command, of necessity fulfilled. And the manner of the obedience is unutterable to us, though to him at least not unknown. The prophet, then, is swallowed by the sea-monster, in no way harmed in the swallowing; and he passes three days and three nights in the belly of the creature — a thing which seems beyond all belief to those who hear it, and especially to those set in motion by Hellenic misconceptions; who, I marvel, do not perceive that they are caught by their own feathers. For there is among them too something of the kind told of Heracles, that, when he had been swallowed by a sea-monster and then given up, he was unharmed in all else, but lost only his hair, and that by the innate heat of the creature. Either, then, they will accept our things as well, or they will reject their own along with them. But since we must establish the firmness of our truth not from the rottenness of the myths among them, it is to be considered that, first, what could not come to pass, God willing it? And next, let the wonders wrought concerning the embryo be considered, which swims indeed in the natural moisture, and is buried as it were in the womb of her that carries it, yet lives nonetheless and is preserved, nursed in marvelous fashion by the promptings of God. And no human reason reaches to these things; yet they are believed, as things seen daily and confirmed by the effect. Neither, then, are the things concerning Jonah to be disbelieved, but they are both to be believed to have happened, and to be received as a type of a greater and more divine mystery. For human nature was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, on account of disobedience, and was hidden from him, so as to hear, Adam, where are you? And it cast itself upon the sea of this life, using the body for a ship, to which it gave the fare also — the service it rendered to it, making provision for its every desire. When, then, the spirits of wickedness troubled the sea, the waves of the pleasures rose up, and were sinking the body together with the soul. It was necessary, then, that one of those in the ship should die — I mean the body. The Lord, therefore, having put on our nature, and having become one of us, and having entered into our ship — that is, having worn the body of our lowliness, and having tabernacled among us in the likeness of sinful flesh — dies according to a lot, that is, according to the predestination which the Father predetermined, having allotted and purposed before all ages that his own Son should die for us, as Peter says and Paul. And observe: Jonah is interpreted “of the Most High, suffering,” or “a dove.”[4] The Most High, then, suffered pains for us, and is in anguish for us — willingly indeed, yet he does not slay himself, but is fastened to the cross by lawless hands; even as Jonah too, though he had condemned himself to death, does not cast himself, but is cast — the account teaching us also not to be reckless, nor to fall into deaths too rashly. When Christ, then, had died, and had been given over to the all-devouring sea-monster, the spirits of wickedness were thrust down, and the waves of the pleasures were stilled, and full calm and peace took up its citizenship in life, both in souls and in bodies, even as he himself said: Peace I leave with you; and rising again, Peace be to you, he greeted the disciples. And some say otherwise as well: that the prophet is a type of Christ; the ship, of the synagogue of the Jews; the look-out, of Moses; the sailors, of the prophets; the sea, of the sufferings which were owed by us; the lot, of the counsel of the Father, according to which Christ is cast into the sea of the sufferings, and enters into the belly of the great sea-monster of death; where, having spent three days, he rose, and preached to the nations, and those nations that repented were saved.

² And Jonah prayed to the Lord his God out of the belly of the sea-monster, and said: I cried in my affliction to the Lord my God, and he heard me; out of the belly of Hades, the cry of mine, you heard my voice. The prophet, in no way harmed by the sea-monster, but using the monster as a house, and injured neither in body nor in mind, perceives the help of God. And not being ignorant that he had offended him by shrinking from the ministry, he turns to prayers; and he who once thought that God appeared manifestly in Jerusalem alone, now finds him present in the belly of the sea-monster, and gives thanks to the one who saved him, and says that his prayer was received — either understanding this by the prophetic Spirit, or saying it according to what was likely. For I would not have continued living, he says, until now, had you not heard my prayer. And he named the belly of the sea-monster a “belly of Hades,” both because the creature is death-bearing, and because by the nature of what had befallen him he was as good as dead; but he lived by the grace of God alone. And besides, as a type of Christ, who passed three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, it was fitting that he should say he had passed them in the belly of Hades. And observe the paradox: the one who truly tasted death said he would be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, making no mention of Hades or of death; while Jonah, who was in the shadow of death and did not truly die, makes mention of Hades — that you may learn that to the Lord, as God, both death is self-chosen and the resurrection in his own power; therefore he named it the heart of the earth, not death, nor Hades. But for Jonah life was not in his own power; therefore, as being in Hades, so far at least as concerned the nature of what was befalling him, he made mention of the belly of Hades. And the Lord too cried out, in the affliction at the cross, to the Father: Father, forgive them the sin; and he was wholly heard. For it was forgiven to those who did not persist in unbelief. And one might call the cross also a “belly of Hades”; for it gave birth to the death of the Lord on our behalf.

³ You cast me into the depths of the heart of the sea, and rivers encompassed me. Hearing “the heart of the sea,” remember the Lord, who said that he would be in the heart of the earth, and observe the type agreeing with the truth. And the prophet expounds what befell him in many ways, magnifying the grace of God shown toward him, and at the same time displaying his power, as able to save out of every evil, however fearful it be; for he did not say simply, “into the depths,” but he added also, “of the heart.” For since the heart seems to be the innermost and chief part of the living creature, showing here a hyperbole, he said Into the depths of the heart, that is, into the innermost parts; as if he were saying: You cast me into the innermost parts of the sea (for the sea-monster lives in the depths); and the innermost parts of the sea-monster itself encompassed me. And by “rivers” he means the assaults of the waves. Or else, since rivers too empty into the sea, he who is encircled by the sea is plainly encircled by the rivers as well.

⁴ All your surgings and your waves passed over me. When I was, he says, in the ship, I had tossings, since the vessel was tossed aloft by the waves. But to you these tossings and waves belonged, as composed according to your command.

⁵ And I said: I am cast out from before your eyes; shall I yet again look upon your holy temple? At that time, he says, being in the midst of dread things, I supposed that I was cast away from your eyes and from your oversight and watching, and I was in doubt: shall I from now on live, and shall I “add” — that is, shall I be eager and zealous, shall I be counted worthy — to look upon your holy temple that is in Jerusalem? But some take it thus: I know indeed, being in the belly of the sea-monster, that you have saved me marvelously; yet I am in doubt whether I shall even be given up, and come forth into the light outside, so as to reach the divine temple itself, and in it to glorify you. And upon the Lord too there came surgings — the shadows of the lofty and haughty and unstable synagogue; and waves — the various forms of the passion, which, as coming upon him according to the Father’s will, are said to be his. Then indeed he also said: Why have you forsaken me? — like the saying here, I am cast out from before your eyes. And he said this after the human manner. For men say that those who fall into such things are forsaken. What, then, it was likely that others would say of him, this he himself says of himself. Therefore, as toward such a thought, he says: Shall I then yet look again upon the body, which is your holy temple, as fashioned for me by you? Or, as containing you within me, shall I take it up again out of resurrection? And let no one carp at the saying, as though it introduced the Lord as ignorant whether he would rise; but let him attend to what we said, that these things are spoken according to human reasonings.

⁶ Water was poured around me to the soul; the lowest abyss encompassed me; my head sank into the clefts of the mountains. I went down into the earth, whose bars are everlasting fastenings. The prophet, hymning in many ways the grace of God toward him, says both that he was encompassed by water, which had the nature to take away the soul, and that he was encircled by the lowest abyss, and that he came to be in the clefts of mountains. And by this he hints also at the size of the sea-monster, and certain mountains and caves into which the monster was likely to plunge. For there are many such things in the sea, against which the vessels dash and are destroyed. Fearing these, the most experienced of sailors are eager to avoid the sunken rocks. And he says he went down into the “earth” of Hades — not that he went down there (for he did not truly die), but that the greatness of the danger required this, namely, to seem to die, and to come to Hades itself, into which, having descended, he is held as it were by certain bars. And these are “everlasting fastenings,” that is, holding fast forever those who fall in. Or, instead of: firmly and unutterably rooted, and by none from of old loosed, and fallen from their own seat and stability. The lowest abyss for the Lord was death, the last thing he underwent for us, after the countless plots. And his head sank into the cave of the tomb.

⁷ And let my life come up out of corruption to you, O Lord my God. From his having been saved in the sea-monster he begins to believe that he will obtain even to live again; therefore he prays for this too, which he would not have prayed for, had he not from that come to believe this also to be possible for God. For, both being equally impossible, to him to whom the one is possible the other also is altogether possible. My life, then — the life in the sea-monster — let it come up to you, away from this corruption by which I think to be corrupted; that is, to your holy temple, in which you appear and are glorified, so that I too may enjoy your grace therein. And the life of the Lord too — not out of corruption (for he saw none of it), but out of the corruption of death — went up to the heavenly temple and to the Father, even as he said: I am ascending to my Father.

⁸ When my soul was failing from me, I remembered the Lord; and let my prayer come to you, to your holy temple. Afflictions are not unprofitable to the saints. So David too says: In affliction I called upon the Lord, and he heard me, into a wide place. And Isaiah: In affliction I remembered you. And Paul: Affliction works patience; and patience, proof. And Jonah too, then, when his soul was failing him from the fear of the danger, did not fall into blasphemy, he says, but, I remembered the Lord — that is, I called upon him as helper. Or, that I remembered that he is a lover of mankind, and will overlook the sin which I committed in disobeying him; therefore I also entreated him, and so might become worthy that my prayer should go up to you, which I will make toward your holy temple, when I shall certainly come to life again. For if I live again, I will both come to the temple in Jerusalem, and will pray to you. Or also: This present prayer, which I prayed to you, that my life might come up out of corruption — let it come to you, whether to your holy temple, or to the heavenly one, or to the one below. For in this alone, as was said in the prologue, they believed that God made his manifest appearances, and received in it the prayers of all. But the Lord too, when he was about to die, remembered the Father, saying: Father, into your hands I commit my spirit. And having gone up into heaven with his body, he intercedes for us with the Father, his body being for an embassy, and being displayed to the Father in place of a great supplication, that we might be shown mercy; through which this was taken up by the Son. The ascent, then, with the body to the divine and heavenly temple will be understood as a prayer on our behalf, as was said, the one interceding through the body.

⁹ Those who keep vanities and lies have forsaken their own mercy; but I, with a voice of praise and thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you; whatever I have vowed I will pay to you for my salvation, to the Lord. Others, he says, pursuing vain and false idols, and serving gods that are not, do not ask of you the mercy. Or, that, having been shown mercy by you and delivered from misfortunes, they do not hymn and magnify the mercy which you wrought with them. Or also: They forsook you, their mercy; for by your mercy they live; as, if you should mark transgressions, who shall stand? But I, having been saved, will offer you sacrifices, with thankful voices; and whatever I vowed — that is, promised for the sake of this my salvation — I will pay to you. For there were sacrifices “of salvation” under the Law; therefore some copies have, “for salvation.” But some take it thus: Those things, he says, I will pay you, which procure salvation, and profit my soul; and these are, to obey you, and to fulfill the work of the prophetic purpose. And those who kept the Lord were keeping vanities and lies — they who forsook their mercy, that is, the mystery of the resurrection, accomplished for the whole of human nature, and altogether for them too, since they too are men — not being willing to believe that he had risen, whom they kept guard over. And the Lord himself too was their mercy, but they would not have him. But I, he says, your Son, will sacrifice to you — that is, I will become the cause that the mystic sacrifice be offered to you in the world, and I will pay you the salvation of men, which my incarnation promised. And he prayed also before the passion: Father, keep them in your name, that they too may be one.

4 Chapter Three

¹ And it was commanded by the Lord to the sea-monster, and it cast Jonah out upon the dry land. And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying: Arise and go to Nineveh the great city, and proclaim in it according to the proclamation that was before, which I have spoken to you. And Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, as the Lord had spoken. Again the sea-monster is commanded — that is, by a divine and unutterable power it is moved according to what seems good to God, and gives up the prophet unharmed from its flanks, having gained, through suffering, the learning of obedience. For when he was commanded a second time to go to Nineveh, and to proclaim according to the former proclamation (and this was, that its wickedness had come up to God), he does not draw back, but at once rises up — not in body only, but also in eagerness, and with a resurrection of soul — and does what is commanded. So then, to those who give heed, afflictions are a great schooling toward doing the things that seem good to God. And consider for me also the things of the Lord set beside the things of Jonah. The one, before suffering what he suffered, runs away from Nineveh; and the Lord, before the passion, shrank from preaching to the nations, who even forbade his disciples to go into the way of the nations, but rather commanded them to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; since not even he himself was sent elsewhere than to these. But when, having suffered, he had been in the heart of the earth three days and three nights, and had accepted all else that Jonah prefigured, and his life had come up to him out of corruption, then he preaches also to the nations through the apostles, according to the former proclamation. For he did not deliver one thing to those of Israel before the passion, and another to the nations after the passion; but one Gospel is upon all, and one faith, and one baptism.

² And Nineveh was a great city to God, of about three days’ journey. Nineveh was great in size, and for this reason great in the sight of God also, and he made much of its salvation, inasmuch as he had fashioned many men in it, and willed that all these be saved. As for the phrase, “of about three days’ journey,” some have taken it concerning the extent of the city, as being able to be traversed throughout in three days.

³ And Jonah began to go into the city about a day’s journey. And he proclaimed, and said: Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. He did not proclaim going straight through the city, but going about the markets and streets and lanes. And it was a marvel: a Hebrew man, come from a foreign land, and known to no one, going through the town and crying out: Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. But one might ask, how it is that God commanded him to proclaim “according to the former proclamation.” It is possible, then, to say that the prophets relate to us only this in summary, namely, when they were sent; but they do not report at full length and in detail all the words which both God spoke to them, and they to God. Indeed, at the beginning of the prophecy this prophet is not recorded to have spoken anything to God; yet we shall find him saying: O Lord, were not these my words, while I was yet in my own land? Therefore I made haste to flee to Tarshish, because I knew that you are merciful and compassionate. It is no wonder, then, that the words, Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown, were spoken indeed at the beginning by God to the prophet, but were not written down by him. And it is to be known that the rest of the translators said forty days instead of three. [5] And some accepted this number as having the probability. For in three days, they say, it was not possible that at one time the prophet should have gone about the whole city, at another the Ninevites should have offered to God that laborious repentance, and at another Jonah, sitting before the gates, should have awaited the outcome of the prophecy. Therefore they say that the reading of the forty days is the truer; and it is likely that the Seventy too set down forty days, but that those who first wrote it erred, and then the error was spread through all the copies. Yet observe that nothing absurd will meet those who accept the three days. For it was not necessary that the prophet go round the whole city, but, as soon as he had gone a single day’s journey preaching, the proclamation was spread to all, so as to reach even the king; and for the laborious repentance of the Ninevites to be displayed, and to be accepted by God, the days after the proclamation were enough, whether we set them at three or at two; since even a single day would suffice for men who genuinely repent. And Jonah sat before the gates, whether after he saw them so setting themselves to repent — that is, either right after the first day of the proclamation, or after the completion of the three days — knowing that God was still gently disposed toward them, and would not overthrow, that is, utterly destroy; yet awaiting perhaps that some lighter punishment would be brought upon them. We have said what seems good to us, that the ancient reading of the three days may not be set aside; but let the reader choose what he judges the better.

⁴ And the men of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. It is said with emphasis, the men of Nineveh — that is, those who formerly did every absurd thing, the sorcerers, the dealers in drugs, the demon-ridden, believed in the true God; those full of all luxury and licentiousness, fasted; the soft, and the delicate in their attire, put on sackcloth. And such a course did not begin from the small and poorer sort, but, beginning from the great and richer, thus it went down also to the small. Yet consider also what is simply present: that from the great — that is, the men — down even to the small, that is the infants, they displayed the tokens of repentance. But these men, who had never heard a single soul-profiting word, became disciples of a poor and unknown man; whereas the Jews, mocking both Moses and the prophets, and at last disbelieving the Savior God himself, became God-slayers.

⁵ And the word came to the king of Nineveh, and he rose up from his throne, and put off his robe from himself, and put on sackcloth, and sat upon ashes. And it was proclaimed and said in Nineveh by the king and his great men, saying: Let the men, and the cattle, and the oxen, and the sheep, taste nothing, neither feed, nor drink water. Since the great men were the first to begin the repentance, fittingly the word of the proclamation was carried quickly to the king also. And see a man of good understanding, and one who acknowledged his own evils: he did not disbelieve, nor mock the word, nor grow savage at the harshness of the threat; but, knowing that he had lived ill in the time gone by (for naturally the conscience displays the sin), he leaps down from the throne, sitting on which before he had judged and ordained many things ill, and sits upon ashes and dust; and the robe shot with gold, and set with gems, and luxurious, he puts off, and puts on a rough sackcloth, and one of an intolerable stench. Thus on a sudden he becomes a philosopher, and shows to all that in vain men put forward custom, as having power to bind; and he proclaims that the irrational beasts too should fast with them — not as though God required this of the cattle, but as displaying the excess of their own eagerness for the fast, by compelling even the irrational creatures to fast. And besides, they knew that the suffering of the cattle would help them toward a more laborious repentance, reasoning that, if the sinless cattle fast, much more ought they themselves to do so, who are liable to sins; and at the same time they reckoned this also, that, the irrational living things being pressed by hunger, and each using its natural voice, they themselves would be borne toward warmer tears by their fellow-feeling; and God, having compassion, would the more readily bestow his own kindness. But some have invented marvels, that “cattle” here means the more irrational sort of men.

⁶ And the men and the cattle were clothed in sackcloth. By “sackcloth,” understand the affliction; for surely the cattle did not wear sackcloth.

⁷ And they cried out to God earnestly. If you take they cried out in common, both of the men and of the cattle (for the cries too of the famished beasts were a kind of supplication to the kindness of God), you will understand earnestly as meaning intensely, exceedingly; but if of the men only, understand that, stretching out their hands too, they cried — which is somehow natural to us, to stretch out the hands when we entreat, as if longing to lay hold of the one entreated, and to receive the more quickly from him what we ask.

⁸ And each turned back from his evil way, and from the wickedness that was in their hands. Not only by fasting and by sackcloth, that is by affliction, did they entreat God, but they also set their ways right; for this is the definition of true repentance, as it says in Isaiah: Not this fast have I chosen, even a day for a man to humble his soul; but: Loose every bond of unrighteousness. And again: Learn to do good. The poorer sort, then, turned back from the evil way — from drunkenness, lying, licentiousness, insolence, and the like; but the more powerful, also from the unrighteousness that was in their hands, that which is accomplished in violence and oppression; for the hands signify violence. So too in common speech we say: So-and-so did such a thing “by hand.” But the unjust judge too, who judges for bribes, has the unrighteousness in his hands, casting an unjust vote; and he who grows rich by plunder has the unrighteousness in his hands. But when the one votes lawfully, and the other acquires honestly, they turn back from the unrighteousness that is in their hands.

⁹ Saying: Who knows whether God will repent and be entreated, and turn from the fierceness of his anger, that we perish not? See men of understanding: they did not cast themselves into despair, perceiving the greatness of their sins, but reckoned also the gentleness of the Judge, and that he will repent — that is, change his counsel, and alter the threat — and will be entreated, that is, be made gentle. But the Israelites were not such; rather, what did they say? Hear: Our iniquities are upon us, and in them we waste away, and how shall we live? And they said these things, not wishing to turn back from their wickednesses, but taking pleasure in them, and on purpose putting forward the incurableness that comes of despair. But God said to them: With turning, turn back from your evil way; and why do you die, O house of Israel? So ought we also to repent, as the Ninevites; the greater our evils, the more reckoning also the love of the Master for mankind, by what measure it exceeds the multitude of our sins — a thing which cannot even be told.

¹⁰ And turn from the fierceness of his anger, that we perish not. Now “wrath” is the decision that certain grievous things should be brought upon him who deserves them; but “anger” is the pain and the punishment itself, brought on by the righteous Judge. For instance, the physician, having marked the inflamed and festering part, judges the cutting to be necessary: this the Scripture calls “wrath.” And after this decision there follows also the cutting, working pain in the part cut: this is named the “anger” of God. God will turn, then, he says, from bringing upon us the pain and the punishment, which punishment is the effect of his wrath. Such a thing David too said: For anger is in his wrath.

¹¹ God saw their works, that they turned back from their evil ways. He did not see their fasting, but their works — that is plainly, the good things they did, in that they turned back from their wickednesses. For depart, he says, from evil, and do good. So that the fasting was not of itself sufficient to propitiate God, unless their characters too were set right and they displayed good works.

¹² And God repented of the evil which he had said he would do to them. To the repentance of the Ninevites God too grants a repentance — not as repenting in like manner with us (for he does not will now this, now that), but the word names the changing of the threat, as was said above, a “repentance”; for on this account he would not have threatened, but would have punished at once. But since he rejoices in salvation, he threatens the fearful things, that he may not bring them on. And hearing “evil,” do not think of wickedness. For he who takes away wickedness is not a worker of evils; but the word here means by “evil” the affliction, which God, having threatened them with before, was no longer about to bring upon them, since they repented — as it is said in another prophet: There is no evil in a city, which the Lord has not done; and elsewhere, Add evils to them, Lord — that is, the things that afflict and grieve. And in this very Jonah too, a little below: To shade him, it says, from his evils.

5 Chapter Four

¹ And Jonah was grieved with a great grief, and was confounded, and prayed to the Lord, and said: O Lord, were not these my words, while I was yet in my own land? Therefore I made haste to flee to Tarshish, because I knew that you are merciful and compassionate, and long-suffering, and full of mercy, and one who repents of evils. The three days were fulfilled, after which the overthrow had been threatened to Nineveh; but when God brought no such thing upon those who had bitterly repented, and had chastised themselves by the most strenuous affliction, Jonah is grieved — not as envying those who were saved, nor as taking pleasure in the destruction of men (for these things are far from the good and gentle Spirit, whose lodging he was), but because he was in danger of being reckoned a liar, and for this very thing a vagabond, having troubled them in vain, and as speaking not from the mouth of the Lord but speaking from the belly. Hence he also pleads his cause with the lover of mankind, and says: Were not these the things I said, while I was yet in the land of Israel, that you are merciful? For I saw you showing great long-suffering toward Israel also, and by experience I came to know your tender mercies; and on this account I shrank from the prophetic dignity, because I knew that you repent over evils — that is, over afflictions — so as not to bring these upon those who for a while seemed to deserve them.

² Now therefore, Master and Lord, take my soul from me, for it is better for me to die than to live. Before, he says, when I was swallowed by the sea-monster, I prayed that my life might come up out of corruption. But now, on the contrary, I long to die; for this is better than that, while living, I should be reckoned a liar, and that the gift of prophecy should be blasphemed. Now perhaps to someone the prophet might seem faint-hearted, and not yielding to God the things of his own judgments. And perhaps it is no wonder; for he was a man, and that under the Old Covenant, where even those who seem perfect are still imperfect. But perhaps he is despondent not as faint-hearted; for it was not for his own glory, but for God’s, since the prophecy was of his grace, and, this failing, the God of Israel would have been blasphemed among the nations.

³ And the Lord said: Are you greatly grieved? The Lord recovers the grieved prophet by asking whether he is grieved; for in asking he seems to rebuke him, as one not rightly grieved. And this Symmachus rendered more clearly. For he said: Are you justly grieved? And: Are you rightly grieved? — that is, Consider with yourself whether you have just grounds for your grief. But here indeed he sets him up as a physician to himself, rousing him to reckon that he is unjustly grieved, and to cease from his despondency. But since the prophet did not understand, toward the end the Lord himself sets before him most plainly the cause why he ought not to be grieved, having arranged with good method and all wisdom the matter of the gourd.

⁴ And Jonah went out of the city, and sat over against the city, and made himself there a booth, and sat under it, until he should see what would become of the city. This, which happened first, the prophet, as some say, set down last; for, having related the repentance of the Ninevites, he wished to join to it the divine love for mankind, and the despondency that befell him because of it, and the words he spoke to God. Therefore he appears to speak later of things that happened earlier. For when Jonah had preached, he went out of the town, and, having pitched a booth, awaited the outcome of the prediction. And this plainly happened before the despondency. For after the end of the appointed days, having seen the city undergo nothing of the things threatened, he is despondent, and makes that prayer with pain, pleading his cause with God. But some say not so, but that this, his sitting over against the city, came about after the despondency, even as it is ordered according to the Scripture; for, having seen that Nineveh was not overthrown, the prophet was despondent, and said what he said to God; then, going out of the city, he sat before it, no longer expecting an overthrow, but awaiting some other, milder punishment, as we said above; for he did not believe that in three days they had been able to wipe out the records of so many transgressions.

⁵ And the Lord God commanded a gourd, and it came up over the head of Jonah, to be a shade above his head, to shade him from his evils. And Jonah rejoiced over the gourd with a great joy.[6] God contrives a comfort for the prophet, and commands a gourd, as he had the sea-monster — that is, he wills that a gourd spring up, and at once it comes to be, all at once sprouting, and spreading out, and displaying a thick foliage of broad leaves, so as to shade the head of Jonah from his evils — that is, from the afflictions of the sun’s burning. And that the prophet, who had been grieved at the salvation of the Ninevites, should rejoice at the springing up of the herb, shows the character of the man to be simple, and near to the guilelessness of infants. For these too are easily carried, by any chance cause whatever, both to rejoicing and to grieving.

⁶ And God commanded an early worm at dawn the next day, and it smote the gourd, and it withered; and it came to pass, when the sun rose, that God also commanded a burning scorching wind, and the sun smote upon the head of Jonah, and he fainted, and renounced his life, and said: It is better for me to die than to live. By “an early worm” he names the caterpillar, because it has the beginnings of its coming-to-be from the dew that falls toward dawn. And this too is commanded, as was said — the will of God being named a command — to eat the root of the gourd. And so it came to pass, and the herb withered. And God commands, and there comes a burning wind (for not only was the sun fiery, but a burning wind came on besides, increasing the blaze), and the head of Jonah is smitten both by the sun and by that scorching wind; and he, falling into despondency, renounces his life. And these things are arranged with all wisdom, that we may learn the weakness of man, and may not busy ourselves about the reasons of the things done by God at any time.

⁷ And the Lord said to Jonah: Are you greatly grieved over the gourd? And he said: I am greatly grieved, even to death. And the Lord said: You spared the gourd, for which you did not toil, neither did you rear it, which came into being under a night, and under a night perished; and shall not I spare Nineveh, the great city, in which dwell more than twelve myriads of men, who do not know their right hand or their left, and much cattle? The Lord, who cares for sinners and provides for the righteous, asks the grieved prophet whether he is greatly grieved — not as ignorant, but as about to teach him that he ought not to be grieved. For when he had confessed that he was so grieved as even to desire death, “Well,” says God, “I take you for my judge. Consider, then, whether it is just that you should grieve over the gourd, of which you were not the husbandman — for you neither planted nor watered it, but, having come into being toward dawn, again on the morrow toward dawn it became the prey of a worm — while you wished me to deal unsparingly with so great a city, which had its being from me? Wonder, then, at my love for mankind, as having good reason, and do not be despondent, as though the prophecy were failing.” As for the phrase who do not know their right hand or their left, some supposed it was said of the simplicity of the Ninevite men; but it seems rather to be said of the infants in the city, from which the multitude of the city may be reckoned. For if the infants alone were more than twelve myriads, how great was the remaining multitude! And the aim of the things spoken by God leads us to this thought. For if it was not right, he says, to receive the repentance of sinners, yet at least one ought to take pity on so many myriads of infants, which, by reason of the youth of their age, do not know which is the right hand and which the left, and for this reason, not being liable to sin, ought by no means to pay penalties or to be destroyed. Likewise also one ought to spare the cattle; for neither did they owe a penalty for sins. If, then, the righteous man pities the lives of cattle, how much more shall the Maker of these spare his own possession? As, then, he added “the cattle” also, that he might show the city to have been justly saved, so he added the tender age also, since the penalties for sins are justly exacted neither of these nor of those.

⁸ This, then, is the end of the prophecy; but let us hymn our good Master, who, not willing the death of the sinner, but rather that he should turn and live, even bears at times with grieving the holy men who are well-pleasing to him, and, when they are unwilling, holds out the mercy. So, when the great Elijah had held back the rain, he himself comes as an ambassador to his servant, and says: Go, he says, to Ahab, and I will give rain upon the face of the earth. But as Nineveh, with its cattle, was saved, so also Christ, having given himself a ransom, saved all, wise and unwise, rich and poor; to whom we believe it is said by David: Men and cattle you will save, O Lord; how have you multiplied your mercy, O God! And the sons of men shall hope in the shelter of your wings. And the other things of this prophecy are worthy of wonder; but not least is the character of the prophet, which shines forth in it, being so candid and truthful that he speaks all things without concealment, and lays bare his own faults — his disobedience, his flight, his faint-heartedness — and is not ashamed of these, but sets them up as a monument for our profit. Such were all the saints, not seeking their own things, but the things of the many, that they might be saved. So David too set up a monument of his own sin, that he might procure profit for those born after, and inscribed the fiftieth psalm, full of all compunction, and laying down good hopes for those in despair, that there is no sin so great and so manifold but that it is wiped out by tears. For in this very psalm, in which he laments his sin, he prophesies of great and heavenly mysteries, of the Zion above and of the altar there, and of more hidden sacrifices worthy of it — showing out of his abundance that repentance procures not only the forgiveness of sins, but also the increase of gifts.

⁹ And it is not to be unknown that some did not at all accept that the disobedience of Jonah, and his flight, and the rest, came to pass according to the history. But since, they say, he saw the falling-away of Israel, and perceived the prophetic grace passing over to the nations, for this reason he withdraws from the proclamation, and puts off the command; and, leaving the “look-out of joy” (for this is what “Joppa” can mean among the Hebrews), I mean his ancient height and dignity, he cast himself into the sea of grief, and is storm-tossed in his thoughts, and is shipwrecked — that is, he is tossed by the waves, pondering how the Spirit refuses the firstborn son, the royal priesthood, the chosen people, and goes over to the unclean dogs, the nations. Then Jonah falls asleep — that is, he is utterly at a loss, and swallows up his own senses, no longer able to understand how this comes to be. For Paul too, perplexed at this very thing, cries out: O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! But the look-out wakes him — the all-foreseeing Word, who foretold to him that his own kinsmen would be God-slayers, and that justly the grace would depart from them. And so he falls under the lot — the allotment from above, I mean, and the righteous judgment of God, by which he does not see fit to bestow the pure and holy Spirit upon the unclean crucifiers of God. Then too he is swallowed by the sea-monster, yet not consumed; for he ponders the falling-away of unbelieving Israel, but ponders besides the salvation of the remnant according to election; for God has not cast away his people whom he foreknew. And the wonder is shared out three days with Christ; for he believes that, through the washing of regeneration, those baptized into the three-days’ resurrection shall live again, in no way harmed by the sea-monster of the second unbelief. Then the sea-monster more clearly foresees the nations coming, and repenting, and receiving forgiveness of sins from God; and he is grieved, not that these are saved, but that his own tribesmen and kinsmen are cast away.[7] And do not wonder, since to Paul too there was grief and ceaseless pain in his heart — the falling-away of Israel. And Jonah, hinting also at those who in the times of the apostles still clung to the Law, such as Peter was before he saw the sheet, thinking it unlawful for a Jewish man to join himself to gentiles, goes out of the city — the Church of the nations, I mean — judging these not to be admitted to the faith unless they should also Judaize, and sits under the booth, cherishing the transitory covenant, and saying that they must be circumcised and keep the customs of Moses, and rests under the shade of the gourd, which we learn to be the Law, born under a night — when, that is, night held the rule of sin (for the Law was added for the sake of transgressions) — and perishing under a night; for it was abolished, when it could not get outside the said night. For besides that no one is justified by the works of the Law, transgression even abounded the more through it; for apart from law, sin is dead. And how was it destroyed? Through the working of the early worm, of the great power of God, of the grace of the luminous and light-giving Jesus, who shone upon us, and made the dawn both of the knowledge of God and of the upright life, who says: But I am a worm, and not a man; for this it is that brought down and abolished the Law. And then indeed Jonah learns the mystery more perfectly, that the nations are justly received and saved. Or is it not so that in the Acts the others, and Peter himself, at first dispute with the gentiles? Then Peter learns through the sheet the cleanness of the nations, and teaches the others that the Law too is called a “yoke,” which neither they nor their fathers were able to bear. All these things Jonah hints at, and so arranged his prophecy.

¹⁰ But indeed let us be profited by it in other respects as well, and especially by learning that bitter is the recompense for disobeying the commands of God. For because of offending God, we are given over to the seas of temptations, and wrestle with surges. And the all-devouring sea-monster seems — he who takes us as we are given over to temptations — to swallow us up and destroy us, by leading us perhaps even to blaspheme and to murmur against Providence; but let us preserve ourselves unharmed. And this will be, if we pray to him who is able to bring our life up out of corruption, and promise him spiritual sacrifices, to do the deeds that tend to our salvation. For so disposed, we shall not keep vanities and lies, which is the lot of those who forsake the divine mercy and go off into blasphemies. For these are in truth vain, neither letting go their afflictions because of their blaspheming, but still provoking God, and calling down upon themselves heavier scourges, when they ought to call upon the mercy of God. Or is it not so that even worldly servants, when, chastised by their masters, they blaspheme, the more inflame their master’s anger; whereas those who say, Have mercy, soften it, and escape being further punished? So minded, then, and looking to the one who suffered for us and rose on the third day, we too shall rise on the third day, having these three things — faith, hope, love — to enlighten us in the night of afflictions; saying, Faithful is God, who will not allow us to be tempted, and therefore enduring, and receiving the proof out of the endurance, and out of this the hope. And hope does not at all put to shame. And so, coming to the love of the Father of mercies, in the thought that What son is there whom the father does not chasten? and, Whom he loves he chastens; so that we too ought to love him, with him who says: Who shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus?

¹¹ If we set these things aright, we shall also become heralds to others who sin, and shall save them through our own example. So too we shall come to be outside the city — that is, outside this world — as Paul exhorts, bidding us go forth bearing the reproach of Christ, that is, every dishonor and every affliction; so too we shall rest in a booth, reckoning our sojourn here not as abiding, but as passing, like Abraham and the rest of the patriarchs, the joint-heirs of the promise, who dwelt in tents, as awaiting the city that has the foundations. And the shade of the gourd — the glory of this world (for all the glory of man is as the flower of grass) — seems to refresh us in the burning heat of afflictions, and for this reason is desired by us. But let the early worm smite it — our conscience, to which nothing of ours is dark and hidden. Therefore it is also a worm, ever giving us a perception of our sins. For a sensible heart is a moth to the bones. This, setting our evils before our eyes, and teaching that we are worthy even of heavier afflictions for our sins, will smite the desire of glory, and will persuade us to say with the prophet: I will bear the anger of the Lord, because I have sinned against him; and again, “for a few of the things wherein I sinned, I have been scourged.” Thanks, then, to the Spirit, who profits us through all things, and both reveals mysteries through the stripping away of the letter, and not least, through the letter, sets right the souls of those who give heed. To take but one example, then, that from one thing we may set forth the whole: the phrase, Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown, signifies, more mystically, the overthrow, through the Lord’s three-days’ burial, of the wicked adverse kingdom that of old held sway and lorded it, as Nineveh among the nations — against which the Law indeed warred, but was weak; therefore it is said, Yet three days, and this complete overthrow, namely that he will strip off the principalities and the powers, having triumphed over them in the cross — he who through death was about to bring to nought him that had the power of death. And while Jesus was making his sojourn on earth, the rule of the demons was in this way being dissolved; and he despoiled the strong man, plundering his goods, and healing the demon-possessed; yet the complete overthrow of the demonic tyranny was accomplished through the three-days’ resurrection. And through the threefold immersion in baptism also — the truly daylit and illuminating immersion — sin is overthrown. These things, then, are signified mystically through the words, Yet three days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. Yet neither is the letter useless to us, who learn not to despair, but to take courage in the love of the Lord for mankind, who, for a three days’ repentance, overlooked the wickedness of many years.

¹² To him be the glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

6 Life of the Prophet Jonah

¹ Jonah is interpreted “of the Most High, suffering,” or “a dove.”[8] Jonah was of the land of Karathiareim, as some say, near the city of Azotus, by the sea. And having been cast forth from the sea-monster, and having gone to Nineveh, and preached, and returned, he did not remain in his own land; but, taking his mother, he sojourned in the land of Asshur, a country of foreign nations. For he said: Thus shall I take away my reproach, in that I lied, when I prophesied against Nineveh, the great city. And there was at that time Elijah the prophet, rebuking Ahab; and having called a famine upon the land, he fled. And coming to Sarephtha, he found the widow with her son, and abode with them; for he could not abide among the uncircumcised, and he blessed her on account of her hospitality; for he knew her beforehand from the first. And when her son died in the midst of the uncircumcised, God again raised the dead one there through Elijah; for he wished to show him that no one can run away from God. And Jonah, having risen up after the famine, came into Judea, and his mother died on the way, and they buried her beside the oak of Deborah; and he settled in the land of Saraam. And he died there, and was buried in the cave of Kenez, who became judge in the days of the anarchy. And he gave a great portent in Israel, and over the whole land. When, he says, they shall see a stone crying out piteously, and a beetle speaking from the wood to God, then the salvation draws near; then they shall see Jerusalem laid waste to its foundations, all of it; and to it all the nations shall come, worshiping the Lord; and they shall remove the stones toward the setting of the sun, and there shall be the worship of the Anointed One, because Jerusalem was made an abomination, in a desolation of wild beasts and of all uncleanness; and then shall come the end of all breath.